Taking a cue from the Onion A.V. Club, we’ve put together our list of 10 good comic-book series that were canceled after all-too-brief runs:

Young Heroes in Love

June 1997 to November 1998 (DC Comics)

Young Heroes in Love came out in the late 1990s, on the heels of the speculator bust, the death of overblown and unsatisfying megahype storylines and the fall of gimmick covers. DC Comics was experimenting with a lot of new titles around that time, many of which met the same fate as YHiL, such as Aztek, Major Bummer, Chronos and probably other titles that appear on this list — fun, quality stories that couldn’t find an audience in the marketplace.

The soap opera-y group of heroes had personal conflicts and drama on the level of Melrose Place, only with super powers thrown in to make them that much more complicated (and dangerous). And like Melrose Place, it was a “guilty pleasure” kind of book … I was never sure if I should be embarrassed about reading it, but I always looked forward to it every month. – J.K. Parkin

Marvel Knights, Vol. 1

July 2000 to September 2001 (Marvel Comics)

Shortly after Marvel handed over its darker, fringe characters to Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti to develop into the Marvel Knights line, someone had the idea to engineer a team book featuring those characters. Against all probability, it wasn’t a bad idea. Writer Chuck Dixon managed to figure out legitimate reasons for characters like the Punisher, Daredevil, Black Widow, Luke Cage, Shang Chi, Moon Knight, and Cloak and Dagger to team up every month while still keeping them in character. The series worked far beyond anyone’s reasonable expectation for it. For 15 issues, anyway.

Without explanation, the series ended in September 2001. I say “without explanation” because one would think that low sales were the reason. However, the title was re-launched with a new No. 1 a mere eight months later, this time written by John Figueroa. Unfortunately, the second version suffered from the same contrived plots and unlikely characterizations that Dixon had so skillfully avoided in his run. It died after just six issues, lamented by no one. – Michael May

Green Lantern: Mosaic

June 1992 to November 1993 (DC Comics)

So, one of my terrible hidden secrets is that I am, completely and utterly, a Green Lantern fanboy. It’s got the greatest high concept in comics — He’s a cop! In space! With ALIENS! — and that’s before you get anywhere near the wish-fulfillment of having a ring that can do whatever you can think of. What might be less explainable is that my favorite Green Lantern series really didn’t have that much to do with either police procedurals or wish-fulfillment. Gerard Jones’ Green Lantern: Mosaic was a series that came along at the wrong time, written in a way that was almost entirely at odds with what the audience wanted out of a superhero book, never mind a Green Lantern one. All of that said, it’s still the best Green Lantern book that’s ever been done.

In terms of plot, the series was all about John Stewart being the one peacekeeper on a planet made up of cities stolen from other planets throughout the universe. But this wasn’t a book where plot was that important; it was all about everything else, instead. The stories were patchworks, just like the planet they took place on, all about forgotten pieces of pop culture and a society that has to rebuild itself from scratch, and really all about atmosphere and concepts instead of the three-act structure. Sadly, all of this was happening in 1993, when DC had segregated its intelligent, unusual superhero books into the Vertigo imprint — remember when Doom Patrol and Animal Man and Shade were the core Vertigo books? — and was in the midst of trying to reposition the DCU books into being something that could compare to the Image revolution, and so Mosaic found itself looking for an audience that probably didn’t know it existed.

It never lasted two years.

(Almost everything that had happened in the book, in terms of importance to the whole DC Universe — including John Stewart becoming a Guardian of the Universe and bringing his dead wife back to life, as well as Oa becoming a metaphorical new America for the DC Universe, welcoming everyone who wanted to join an intergalactic melting pot — was undone within six months of the end of the book, thanks to Hal Jordan going evil and Zero Hour happening. It was the ’90s, and superheroes were all about gritting teeth and shouting a lot, back then.)

It was the strangest book, while it was around. You’d learn about jazz and race relations and the value of old TV shows and gang warfare and everything that you wouldn’t expect to read in the pages of a series with “Green Lantern” in the title. It was the kind of thing that was years ahead of its time, and just what was needed, all at once. It’s definitely the series I wish had been able to last as long as it was supposed to. – Graeme McMillan

Hourman

April 1999 to April 2001 (DC Comics)

Hourman, starring the 853rd Century android created by Grant Morrison during his JLA tenure, lasted 25 issues (1999-2001) before becoming, ironically, just another character to be pulled out of Geoff Johns’ toolkit as a JSA plot element. To be fair, this Hourman might have a Golden Age name, but his solo title was definitely steeped in the neo-Silver Age that Morrison and Mark Waid have long championed. A being trained by Metron as his successor, the Hourman android divested himself of much of his time-manipulating powers to return to the 20th Century and learn to be a better person. That sounds like a sappy setup, but when your guide is ex-JLA mascot Snapper Carr, and the Justice League, Justice Society, or Justice Legion A can show up in any given issue, hilarious hijinx frequently ensue. The spine of the book was probably Hourman’s running struggle with Amazo, who as the first DC android was his distant ancestor. Amazo went through a lot of changes in this book, transcending his simple description as a one-man Justice League. (His use also facilitated “Maybe I’m Amazo,” one of the greatest pop-music/JLA-villain issue titles since “Hey There, You With The Starro In Your Eyes.”) Nevertheless, like its title character, Hourman only got to use a small fraction of its potential. Every issue presented something new, strange, and/or wonderful, and one got the feeling that Peyer hadn’t nearly run out of ideas. – Tom Bondurant

Cloak and Dagger, Vol. 2

July 1985 to March 1987 (Marvel Comics)

Launched shortly after Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi’s 1983-84 miniseries, Cloak and Dagger had all the hallmarks of an ’80s “issues” movie: organized crime, teen runaways, class divisions, international drug trafficking, police corruption, vigilantism. This was the social ills of the Reagan Era in comic-book form.

Runaways who were transformed by a drug experiment into a “demon of darkness” and an “angel of light,” Cloak and Dagger dedicated themselves to protecting fellow street kids and fighting drug crime. It was a solid premise that, unfortunately, never was given the chance to hit its stride. The series was saddled with a bimonthly schedule, an early (and very forced) crossover with Secret Wars II, and a rotating (but talented) stable of artists. (Leonardi drew just five issues, with fill-ins by Marc Silvestri, Mike Mignola, Art Adams, June Brigman and others.)

If the Issue 4 appearance by the jumpsuit-wearing, Jeri curl-sporting Beyonder signaled an early loss of momentum for the series, Issue 11 marked, well, doom: Having (probably unwisely) left New York City a few issues earlier on the trail of international drug smugglers, Cloak and Dagger inexplicably end up in Latveria, where they battle Doctor Doom — a villain several rungs above the drug dealers and crime lords they usually fought. It wasn’t a shining moment for the series. Not that it mattered, of course; the series was canceled with the next issue. Since then, there have been a couple of attempts to restart Cloak and Dagger, either as its own series or part of an anthology. But none has ever taken hold. – Kevin Melrose

‘Mazing Man

January 1986 to December 1986 (DC Comics)

A four-foot-tall do-gooder dressed like Hourman (as it happens) by way of Irving Forbush, ‘Mazing Man spent his days patrolling the quiet streets of his Queens neighborhood, often accompanied by his best friend, dog-headed comic-book writer Denton Fixx. This was not a mainstream DC superhero title, so there would be no instructive counterpoints with Superman (outside of a movie reference in Issue 1) or Batman (besides the cover of Issue 12). Ironically, although one could see ‘Mazing Man as a more “realistic” (if a little cockeyed) look at a guy putting on a cape and doing good, it was first published several months before The Dark Knight and Watchmen welded that genre to a dark and gritty tone. ‘Mazing Man was about as far from that as a book can get. Maze is a completely selfless character who tries to make the lives of everyone around him better, regardless of how they feel about him. (And more than a few people do laugh at him, not with him, as Denton points out.) Maze doesn’t do it “because no one else can,” but because everyone should. He’s so humble that, as Issue 5′s series of “imaginary stories” reveals, Maze doesn’t even see himself as the hero of his own story. Thankfully, that’s not true for his many friends, including perfect couple Brenda and Eddie, Denton’s sister KP, and local goombah Guido. Although lost in DC’s Big Events of 1985 and 1986, ‘Mazing Man‘s 12 issues proved popular enough for three specials (1988-90), but nothing more. (They’d still make a nice Showcase volume, DC — or even a couple of color paperbacks…?) – Tom Bondurant

Primal Force

October 1994 to December 1995 (DC Comics)

I know I’ve said this before, but because Alpha Flight was my introduction into hardcore comic-book geekery, I’ve always had a place in my heart for heroes who weren’t as popular as the Batmen and Spider-Men of the world. Steven Seagle is the same way, which explains the concept behind Primal Force, one of the best things (besides Starman) to spin out of DC’s mid-‘90s Zero Hour event.

Featuring characters like Nightmaster (long before Shadowpact was a gleam in Bill Willingham’s eye) and Golem, Primal Force was Seagle’s love letter to DC’s forgotten heroes, but was fascinating because Seagle put new spins on the old concepts. Red Tornado was inexplicably mute, for instance. The new Claw was an unlikable ass – in the tradition of Sub-Mariner or Northstar – who happened to suffer the same curse as the guy in DC’s old Claw the Unconquered series. Jack O’Lantern was the third guy to carry that name as a superhero, but was as inexperienced as he was well-meaning. His interest and success in growing as a hero quickly made him one of my favorite characters and I was sorely disappointed to see the title end at Issue 14.

Primal Force was an eye-opener for me. Before that, my experience with fringe characters had been mostly limited to Alpha Flight, where even a second-string team could last 120 issues. Seeing Primal Force end after only 15 (including the #0 issue that kicked off the series) was a shock. Especially after having spent the time and money tracking down those old Claw the Unconquered issues and the stories about the original Jack O’Lantern in Super Friends and Justice League.

My disappointment was short-lived in that not long after Primal Force’s cancellation, Seagle got a chance to write the adventures of my first love in an all-new volume of Alpha Flight. Unfortunately, I’m one of the only people who also lament the loss of that 20-issue series. – Michael May

Alpha Flight, Vol. 2

August 1997 to March 1999 (Marvel Comics)

Three years after the first series ended, Marvel relaunched Alpha Flight with a drastically different tone, marked by government conspiracies, paranoia and a Sasquatch that really was a sasquatch. Writer Steven T. Seagle envisioned Department H, the Canadian agency that established Alpha Flight, as a sinister organization that manipulated the team to serve its own hidden agendas. And in the age of The X-Files, that approach worked pretty well. At least initially.

The early issues were almost claustrophobic, and dripping with tension, as Seagle brought former team members Vindicator (Heather Hudson) and Puck together with a de-aged clone of Hudson’s often-dead husband, Guardian (don’t ask), squabbling half-brothers Flex and Radius, the cyborg Manbot, the mutant Murmur and, in a case of mistaken identity, a Sasquatch that wasn’t former teammate Walter Langkowski, but an honest-to-goodness Bigfoot. (Really!) Later, a dying Sunfire entered the picture as he sought a cure from Department H, ratcheting up the tension that much more.

Alpha Flight moved along at a pretty good clip until Issue 10, which began an unexpected, and rather inexplicable, two-part adventure into the Microverse, complete with the Micronauts. But following that detour, the next two issues were perhaps the best of the series, as the team battled the Zodiac and a Department H staff member worked to expose the shadowy agency. Then it’s as if someone hit the “abort” button, as Alpha Flight abruptly shifted into fairly standard superhero mode for its remaining seven issues (though they did introduce Big Hero 6, the fun Japanese superteam that deserves another miniseries; I’m serious). – Kevin Melrose

Aztek: The Ultimate Man

August 1996 to May 1997 (DC Comics)

Before Grant Morrison blew your super hero-lovin’ mind with JLA and Mark Millar became Marvel’s go-to guy for big, explosive comics like The Ultimates and Civil War, they created a short-lived title for DC called Aztek: The Ultimate Man. Building on the weirdness Morrison brought to the DCU with Animal Man and Doom Patrol, Aztek was probably about two or three years too early. If only it had come out a little later, maybe it would have lasted longer than 10 issues.

Those 10 issues, though, really pack a punch, as Aztek was a hero with a mission: Save the world from the Shadow God by journeying from the mystic city where he was trained to Vanity, a city in the United States where he ran into all kinds of fun trouble (as well as into Green Lantern, Joker, Batman and eventually the JLA). And with new villains like Bloodtype and Death Doll going up against our somewhat naive hero, you could see where Morrison and Millar were coming from, rebelling against the “darkening” of superheroes and making things fun again. Not that the book was light-hearted or anything, but it did signal a new trend in the approach to super hero writing that went beyond grim and gritty, as well as serving as advance warning that Morrison and Millar had something to say. – J.K. Parkin

Chase

February 1998 to November 1998 (DC Comics)

D. Curtis Johnson and J.H. Williams III’s Chase came out of the same experimental period at DC that produced other slightly off-kilter titles like Young Heroes in Love, Aztek, Chronos and Hourman (three of which, coincidentally, also made this list). The book’s title character, Cameron Chase, is an irritable, cynical, cigarette-smoking new agent in the just-introduced Department of Extranormal Operations who seriously distrusts superheroes. She’s stubborn, neglects her friends and boyfriend, wrangles an unruly Suicide Squad and gets this close to figuring out who Batman really is. What’s not to like?

With Chase Johnson and Williams created a perfect looking glass for the DC Universe: Although Agent Chase had a mysterious ability of her own, and a connection to a costumed hero, she was on the outside looking in, providing a different, and refreshing, perspective on the world of capes and tights. What’s more, her position in the DEO made the long line of guest stars — Teen Titans, Booster Gold, Klarion the Witchboy, Alan Scott, Nightwing and others — not only logical, but necessary. After all, Chase’s job was to monitor metahumans.

Like so many other late-’90s fringe books, Chase didn’t last long; it ended with its tenth issue, part of the “One Million” event. Thankfully, though, the book left its mark: The DEO would go on to become an important part of the DCU, and Agent Chase would reappear as a key supporting character in Marc Andreyko’s Manhunter, a series that owes much to Chase. – Kevin Melrose

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