One of the real pleasant surprises of the 90's amid the avalanche of really awful comics was Claypool Comics. This began as a trilogy of "horror" comic soap operas all connected indirectly, kind of a Kirby's Fourth World of vampires, ghosts, and demons. It was directed by longtime comic book man Richard Howell, a veteran who has worked for all the big companies over the years.
The Claypool books were witty, smart, and entertaining. They were also black and white which suited the material which was delivered by solid storytellers like Steve Englehart, Amanda Conner, Peter David, and Howell himself among others. when finances forced me to turn away from nearly all new comics in the late 90's, I was mostly okay with it since many of them were boring me anyway, but the Claypool stuff was still fun. I missed it.
The homage above to a classic Jack Kirby and Wally Wood Marvel cover is doubtless intentional (the name "Kirby" is a lead character and a call out to boot) and well crafted by Howell for one of the later issues of Deadbeats, his vampire saga.
And while we're talking homages, here's another from the very next issue of Deadbeats, this time using Fantastic Four as its inspiration. It even features Joe Sinnott inks.
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