Looking for comics like the show Misfits

June 2, 2015 7:20 AM

I really like the show Misfits, and it makes me want to read comics. Can anyone recommend a comic series or graphic novel with similar wit/humour/exploration of the pros and cons of superpowers?
posted by torisaur to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

Have you read the first couple arcs of Runaways? Superpowered teens, not quite as dirty as Misfits, but it might scratch a similar itch in terms of teens exploring identity in the context of being superpowered.

For comic humor as dirty as the Misfits (but that isn't quite as on-target with the theme of superhero power exploration), have you read Rat Queens? I can't say enough good stuff about it, and the humor/drug references/sex remind me of the Misfits, except better because the main lead team is 100% lady, and 50% WOC.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:41 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I came in here to suggest Runaways too. I think Sex Criminals might be up your alley too though it's a bit more... specific about the powers involved.
posted by gerryblog at 7:48 AM on June 2, 2015

In order from most like what you're asking to least:

Obscure but funny: Quantum and Woody ("The World's Worst Superhero Team!").

Maybe Freakangels, by Warren Ellis? Free online as a webcomic if you want to try before you buy. Explores a bunch of messed up young adults who might have had something to do with the end of the world. Snarky and often crude. Alternately funny and serious. NSFW.

Top-10, a police procedural set in a futuristic city where nearly everyone has some kind of superpower, is zany enough you might enjoy it.

Superman: Red Son is a one-shot based on a very simple premise: what if Superman's spaceship landed on a Soviet collective farm instead of in Kansas. Also fairly "serious" rather than funny, but I got a kick out of seeing the whole DC universe turned on its head.

The canonical "deconstruction of/meta-commentary on the superhero genre" comics would be Watchmen (or really anything by Alan Moore), The Dark Knight Returns, and maybe Kingdom Come but those are all very "serious" works and lack the goofiness of Misfits.

Finally there's Worm, which definitely explores the downsides of superpowers but is dark dark dark.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:32 AM on June 2, 2015

Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Not as dark as some of the above recommendations, but it captures the "we are young and we have superpowers let's party" vibe really well.
posted by shaun at 8:53 AM on June 2, 2015

I was going to suggest Young Avengers, too. Also by Gillen and McKelvie is The Wicked + Divine which is about gods reincarnated as pop stars, the teenagers who worship them, and takes place in London.

You might also like Alias, which is about Jessica Jones, a superhero who has given it up and opened a private detective agency. It's darkly funny and gets into the pros and cons of superheroes. Netflix is doing a Jessica Jones show later this year, which I believe is based off this version of the story.
posted by wsquared at 9:12 AM on June 2, 2015

I really love Deadly Class and The Woods. They don't have powers, but pretty gritty and over sexed like Misfits
posted by Kestrelxo at 10:16 AM on June 2, 2015

Grant Morrison has done some interesting meta-commentary on superheroes and their powers, notably Animal Man and his run on Doom Patrol.
posted by Lorin at 10:38 AM on June 2, 2015

Can't recommend Freak Angels. Absolutely no sympathetic characters.
posted by Billiken at 12:17 PM on June 2, 2015

If you are willing to delve a bit into the recent past, there were certain narrow runs of both Secret Six and Suicide Squad that had the same feel about them as Misfits. Super-powerful non-superheros, cynical with witty dark humor, and an occasional bit of pathos.
posted by rtimmel at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2015

Came in to point you at Runaways (teens, superpowers, relationship drama), Rat Queens (general sensibilities), and Top-10 (superpowers, sense of humor), and additionally there's Rising Stars (by J. M. Straczynski no less) (the curse of powers and the meaning of a paradigm shift IRL-ish) and the amazing, don't miss it, Powers (powers are made illegal, underworld goodness, police procedural meets destiny meets teen and young adult desires).
posted by Mizu at 5:48 PM on June 2, 2015

I'm not saying it's not a good read, but Garth Ennis said he's trying to "out-Preacher Preacher" with The Boys, and if you don't know anything about Ennis' work that means a whole heckuva lot of largely gratuitous sex, drugs, and violence.
posted by Wretch729 at 7:49 AM on June 3, 2015