In 2022, M.O.D.O.K producers Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum created their own superhero universe with Minor Threats. Now they are teaming with writer Tim Seeley and artists Christopher Mitten and Tess Fowler for the sequel, The Alternates.
Who Are The Alternates?
In a city full of superheroes, The Alternates are among the least known and least respected. Made up of The Persona, Mary The Multi-Monster, Crab Louie, Kid Curious and The Tripper, The Alternates are to The Continuum what the Doom Patrol are to the Justice League. Yet that did not stop them from sacrificing themselves to patch a hole in reality.
Five years later, The Alternates are more support group than superhero team. They still meet regularly to discuss their three years in the other dimension, nicknamed The Ledge, where they lived several lives at once. Different lives that some of them miss.
When elements of The Ledge start to turn up in Twilight City as a dangerous new street drug, The Alternates must confront their pasts to save the world again. But can they resist the pull of The Ledge and the knowledge that somewhere, somewhen, they could be something more?
Patton Oswalt describes The Alternates as “our collective mash note (to) the entire universe of 90s alt-comics.” Thankfully, as Minor Threats went beyond simple satire of comic book clichés, The Alternates also delivers a stunning story about real people in a fantastic world. The first issue evokes the spirit of Hellboy and the Vertigo Universe, without specifically parodying any one character or concept.
Oswalt is quick to credit Tim Seely for his contribution to the new partnership, describing him as “one of our (favorite) writer/artists.” The concept for The Alternates was apparently devised by Seely after reading Minor Threats. Oswalt also praised artists Christopher Mitten and Tess Fowler for making “an already amazing comic even better!”
The Alternates #1 arrives in comic shops on September 13, 2023.
