Minor Threats, the genre-bending superhero mystery by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn, will get a spinoff miniseries in September. Oswalt and Blum will be joined by co-writer Tim Seeley, with Christopher Mitten and Tess Fowler on art.
“I love the first Minor Threats series so much that I couldn’t help but imagine another team of lovable losers in their world–this time, a squad of forgotten superheroes who got rebooted, and now crave their old lives so bad it borders on addiction,” Seeley said. “Jordan and Patton not only liked the idea, they added their creativity to make something that fits their universe perfectly!”
While Minor Threats paid tribute to the Bronze Age of comics and the “grim and gritty” titles of the 1980s, From the World of Minor Threats: The Alternates has a different era in its heart.
“If the first Minor Threats series was a love letter to the c-list working class supervillains, then The Alternates is one for the early Vertigo comics of the 90s like Doom Patrol, Swamp Thing and Animal Man,” said Blum. “Forgotten goofy heroes pulled into a suddenly ‘mature’ existence that both humanizes and alienates them. Tim is such a master and historian of comics, we were so thrilled with the new sandbox he built for us all to play in — once again offering a fresh and unique point of view we hadn’t yet seen explored in superhero comics. This story of existence, addiction, recovery and monster smashing was beautifully rendered thanks to the art of Christopher Mitten and paintings by Tess Fowler. “
Here’s how Dark Horse describes the series:
Mary the Multi-Monster! The Tripper! Crab Louie! Kid Curious! Persona! Formerly the offbeat b-list superheroes, The Alternates, who seemingly sacrificed themselves to stop an invasion from another dimension. Instead, they were transported to a mirror reality where they lived complex lives in a more four-dimensional existence–expanding both their powers and consciousness. Five years later, they’ve returned to Twilight City, struggling to re-acclimate to their old lives in a traditional two-dimensional superhero world–in withdrawal from the vivid ones they left behind. When elements from this alternate reality turn up as a dangerous new street drug, some of the heroes band together to destroy it, while others succumb to its temptation.
Seeley is the current writer of Local Hero, which expertly mines the early Image comics of the 1990s for a small-town mystery story. So he seems like a naturla for a series like this.
“Tim Seeley has LONG been one of our fave writer/artists,” said Oswalt. “So, it was a thrill when we heard that our first run of Minor Threats sparked his imagination to further expand the world of Twilight City. If Minor Threats was a love letter to the moment where the Silver Age 70s gave way to the grim ‘n’ gritty 80s, then Seeley’s The Alternates is our collective mash note or the entire universe of 90s alt-comics. The fantastic inks by Christopher Mitten and lush paintings by Tess Fowler make an already amazing comic even better!”
Here’s a look at all the variant covers for the first issue, by Seeley, Fabio Moon, Hepburn and Martin Simmonds:
Look for the first issue on Sept. 13.