Specifically like the weirder occult, dark storylines that Marvel and DC have done. Any recommendations?
sandman obviously like others have said.
Locke and Key: the netflix show is pretty awful unfortunately, because the comic is probably my second favorite of all time. great dark heavy shit. very graphic and wonderful.
not as dark, and my favorite of all time: Y: The Last Man . The FX show is not bad. I never finished the first season but i didn't hate it, even though the comic is incredible.
hellboy is always good for occulty stuff.
Transmetropolitan isn't occulty, but definitely strange and dips into some darker themes. but it's mostly gonzo futurism a la Thompson, but zanier.
The Invisibles - read this when I was in college, but actually dont remember a ton about it . I remember it being real fuckin weird though.
Bunch of stuff I've never heard of here so I'll check em out
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing is weird and cool and good. Basically a trippy eco-warrior swamp monster super hero
Yeahhhh I wanted to check that out which was the starter of this interest
Conan and Red Sonja both hit a lot of occult and dark fantasy elements. They're also extremely horny so YMMV.
Conan I'll probably check out eventually in any case, I've read some of the original stories during a weird fiction phase
Watchmen is an easy recommendation, one big graphic novel and that's that. Before Watchmen kinda sucks, not worth picking up in comparison. Basically anything by Alan Moore is good shit.
Pretty much the only one I've actually read before, might be fun to go through again as a commie adult instead of a teen though
Yeah that's one I forgot about, seems like good reading
I've really enjoyed Home Sick Pilots so far. Image Comics book about a girl who encounters a haunted house that turns into a ghost powered wooden mecha.
Definitely over the top sometimes, but the ghosts are also horrifying.
EDIT: first one is free here:
https://imagecomics.com/read/home-sick-pilots
EDIT 2:
Also Monstress, I'm behind on it, and don't remember a ton of plot details, but it's a pretty dark fantasy story with art that consistently looks like this.
First issue:
https://imagecomics.com/read/monstress
From Hell is pretty much the weirdest and occultiest thing I've read but I don't know if I'd recommend it for someone looking to get INTO comics per se.
Seconding Hellblazer though. If you dig that, maybe add From Hell to your list.
From Hell is so fantastically written and also gave me nightmares, 10/10 would absolutely recommend to anyone who's read a lot of comics
Hellblazer has some pretty good runs, it's pretty much exactly what you're looking for, just start at the beginning
Moon Knight is also good, except the Bendis run where he gets split personalities based on Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine, start with the From The Dead collection, it's a good place to start
Yeah there we go, didn't know the Hellblazer name but that's exactly what I was looking for.
I'll check out moon knight as well, thanks
The Goon is an all time favorite of mine. It's set in a Cthulhu type 1920s about an enforcer for crime syndicate. It's freaking hilarious and definitely a lot darker then most comics.
The Immortal Hulk was a fun run that recently ended, and was fairly self contained.
Black Monday Murders by Hickman is one of my favorites...but he'll never finish it.
East of West is good imo and has plenty of that. Alternate history but set in the future and a good chunk of occult things.
In terms of capeshit, Spider-Gwen is my favorite but I've only read a few comics
You'll probably find better stuff outside of capeshit — I really enjoy the companion comic series to Coheed & Cambria's discography, and some of Alan Moore's comics. There's a lot more stuff outside of Marvel/DC
