7 Best Superhero Pastiche Comics of All Time, Ranked

Superheroes are big business in the 21st century, thanks to superhero cinema. However, even before the MCU made everyone a “Marvel fan”, they were still an important part of pop culture. Characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and teams like the Avengers, the Justice League, the X-Men, the Teen Titans, and more have all been favorites of readers, whether they were young kids at the newsstands or older fans going to the comic store. People love the familiar; Marvel and DC were able to set the standard for the superhero, and over the years, many creators have wanted to pay homage to the various superheroes they loved over the decades.

Superhero pastiche comics have been a part of the industry since the very beginning; in fact you can say that every character after Superman has been a pastiche. Over the years, pastiche comics have been used to talk about the superhero and what it means to the world, giving readers some of the best comics ever. These are the seven best superhero pastiche comics of all time, groundbreaking comics that had a massive effect on the comic industry.

7) Supreme Power

Supreme Power looked like the next big thing, but Marvel dropped the ball. This mature readers reboot of the Squadron Supreme followed Hyperion, who was raised by the government to be the ultimate American hero (sound familiar?), and the rise of other superhumans across the world. J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank took the characters of the Squadron and tweaked them, placing them in a more modern context. You can honestly tell this was Marvel’s first time doing this kind of prestige comic; they don’t use the mature elements of the book correctly. There’s a feeling of, “Look, violence and nudity, kids!” It’s kind of quaint. The book ended after 18 issues and Marvel moved the sequel away from the MAX line; this hurt the title and its story was never actually completed. However, this pastiche of a pastiche is still outstanding, taking a different look at what a superhero would be in a more realistic world.

6) Black Hammer

Dark Horse Comics has some amazing properties, and Black Hammer is one of the best of them. Created by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormond, the book followed a group of heroes based on Marvel and DC characters who had just saved their world and found themselves trapped on a farm near a small town that was the extent of the world. This mystery led into even more, and Lemire and numerous artists have created a whole superhero universe based on the first series. If you haven’t read Black Hammer yet and you love superheroes, you need to remedy that ASAP.

5) Alan Moore’s Supreme

Supreme was created by Rob Liefeld at Image, meant to be the Superman of his characters. His book was a typical Extreme Studios comic of the time (meaning it was the essence of blah), but eventually Liefeld was able to get Alan Moore to write book. Moore made him into the Silver Age Superman and wrote issues #41-56 and a six-issue miniseries called Supreme: The Return. This was Moore doing old school Superman stories with a Rob Liefeld character, and it was honestly amazing. It’s extremely hard to find nowadays, but if you can find it, get it.

4) Astro City

There are great non-Marvel/DC superhero universes out there, but even among these Astro City is something special. Created by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, Astro City was home to a variety of superheroes based on Marvel and DC properties, with the two creators telling the readers the story of their history, with stories set in the past and present. Astro City was never anything short of amazing from the moment it dropped at Image Comics, and has remained one of the best superhero comics ever made that doesn’t get enough attention. Nowadays, it’s easier to find than ever, with compendia in print for the entire run, so it’s child’s play to get in on the ground floor and be amazed.

3) Squadron Supreme

The Squadron Supreme was created in Avengers comics, and it existed for one purpose – so that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes could fight a Justice League pastiche. This alternate Earth team made numerous appearances, and in 1984, it got an amazing 12-issue series. Squadron Supreme, by Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall, Paul Ryan, and John Buscema, saw the team decide that the best way to save their world was to create a benevolent dictatorship. However, not everyone is down with that, leading to a conflict that will blow your mind. This was one of the first modern “superheroes in a realistic world” books and while it’s not as great as some of the others (including the next two on his list), it’s still a masterpiece

2) Miracleman

Alan Moore is known for being the writer who started the superhero deconstruction trend and he did it for the first time with Miracleman, or Marvelman in the UK. The original Marvelman comics were the British answer to Captain Marvel, down to the magic word and the sidekicks, and Moore brought the property back in the early ’80s. The story followed Mike Moran, who rediscovers his magic word when he’s taken hostage at a nuclear power facility. Working with artists Gary Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen, and Jon Totleben, Moore is able to tell a story about man realizing that he’s no longer a man, learning his secret history, and facing off against Kid Miracleman, his insane former sidekick. This book is a classic, and now that Marvel owns the rights, it’s extremely easy to find and well worth the money.

1) Watchmen

Watchmen is considered the greatest comic ever and it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t belong in the conversation. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons had an idea for the newly acquired Charlton characters, but DC had other plans for them. The company allowed the two of them to create a pastiche of those characters to tell their 12-issue story, one that changed comics forever. Moore and Gibbons do a fantastic job, but if you’re here, you already know that. It’s an amazing work that you can re-read over and over again (believe me, I know; I used to read several times a year).

What’s your favorite superhero pastiche? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Best DC Comics Stories No One Talks About