1) Agents of Atlas
The roots of Agents of Atlas date back to the post-WWII late 1940s/early 1950s when Timely Comics (publishers of Captain America and Human Torch to name a few) cut back on its super-hero line in order to pursue other growing genres, such as horror, romance, and western comics. By the early 50s, Timely's name changed to Atlas Comics. Some of the new characters introduced during this period included Venus (the Roman Goddess of Love), Jimmy Woo (a federal agent assigned to defeat the villainous Yellow Claw), and Marvel Boy (a early predecessor of the Marvel Comics character Quasar). After Atlas transitioned to Marvel Comics, most of the characters lapsed into obscurity aside from a few appearances once or twice a decade. In the late 1970s, a story in What If paid homage to the Atlas characters by showing what might have been if a team of Avengers had been active during the 1950s. The team was also mentioned in the Avengers Forever mini-series of the late 1990s when Kurt Buseik made mention of every 'potential' Avengers team across all realities. Flash forward to about three years, and a new writer stepped up to take a chance on one of the most unlikely Avengers teams of all-time. Redubbed 'Agents of Atlas', Jeff Parker has weaved together not just a story in the present day, but also filled in an intriguing timeline starting with the group's debut in the 1950s. The current adventures usually have some historical conotation complete with flashbacks to earlier Atlas adventures. The group started by getting introduced in their own 8 issue mini-series and later graduated to an ongoing series after Secret Invasion. Now they are teaming up with the X-Men and Avengers in individual minis before getting a second ongoing series in a couple of months. The team is unusual, but they are worthy of attention. Including the three I mentioned, the team also includes the robot M-11, the scientist trapped in a gorilla's body Gorilla Man, and Namor's cousin Namora. Several other characters fill in the supporting cast.2) Azrael
Like the Agents of Atlas, the roots of Azrael date back several years. The original Azrael was the assassin for the Order of St. Dumas, a secret holy order with mysterious plans (how many of those does DC have?), and introduced in a popular Batman mini-series written by veteran writer Dennis O'Neil and drawn by rising star Joe Quesada. The character was forced into the mainstream when he was chosen to replace Bruce Wayne as Batman for about a year. After that, he graduated to his own ongoing series written by creator Dennis O'Neil and drawn by a variety of decent artists. Speaking as someone who read all 100 issues of Azrael, I don't know how the series was allowed to last so long. I imagine most of the reason was because of Dennis O'Neil's influence, because I doubt the sales or fanbase were overwhelming. I feel the stories suffered from a stagnation in the writing. O'neil was well past his prime and his later stories tended to be contrived, nonsensical, or just plain boring. What's worse is that there seemed to be a moratorium on Azrael appearing in any other books, including other bat-titles (with very few exceptions). The title was thankfully put out of its misery, but the damage to the character was too immense. No writer seemed interested in touching the character for a ten-fot pole. Thankfully, a writer eventually saw promise in the idea of a holy assassin. During the Battle for the Cowl storyline, Fabian Nicienza weaved a story of a former police officer being forced to take on the mantle of Azrael as a result of his own personal demons while mixing current and past Bat-continuity, such as the Order of St. Dumas and the League of Assassins. As before, the character graduated to an ongoing series where each month the new Azrael, Michael Lane, finds himself confronted with strong moral, political, or religious issues and solves them in interesting 9and often lethal) ways. So far, each issue has been satisfying. It's nice to get a full story in each issue, and not feeling forced to read the previous or next issue.3) Guardians of the Galaxy
Up until the late 1990s, Marvel Comics did a good job of promoting their 'cosmic' characters. People like Quasar and Silver Surfer had ongoing titles supplemented by endless mini-series and one-shots. Sadly, with marvel's bankruptcy, many of the cosmic books were cut back with Silver Surfer being the last title to fall. After that, the various space characters were relegated to minor supporting parts with few stories dealing with the multitude of alien races that had been introduced up until then. Even the popular Shi'ar and Skrull races only showed up every few years, and rarely in a features role. Fortunately, a few years ago, Keith Giffen masterminded a crossover that changed all that. The mini-series Annihilation, spotlighted several notable space characters (Ronan the Accuser and Nova to name a few) in the wake of a Negative Zone invasion by the Fantastic Four foe Annihilus (where the event got it's name). The epic story was on par with the space battles of Star Wars, with dozens of characters playing a part. The sequel to Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, was helmed by the immensely-talented partnership Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (who are no strangers to large casts, as their run on Legion of Super-Heroes will prove). This story brought in a new foe, with Avengers baddie Ultron joining forces with the Phalanx to assimilate all biological life in the universe. The stars of this story were a small team led by Star-lord (an obscure Marvel character who had a minor part in the first Annihilation) who made up just one of the groups battling Ultron's forces. His team included a ramshackle crew of alien misfits such as Groom (a giant tree with a very high opinion of himself), Bug (a former member of the 1980s Micronauts), and Rocket Raccoon (a sentient raccoon with incredible commando skills). By some miracle, most of the team survived the defeat of Ultron. These characters formed the core of a new ongoing series once more helmed by Abnett and Lanning. The Guardians of the Galaxy were reborn for the first time (with the name itself being a reference to a long-running series from the 90s about a team of survivors in an alternate 31st Century). So far the stories keep getting better as the size of the team continues to grow, adding cosmic staples such as Adam Warlock, Moondragon, and Drax the Destroyer. Even Earth-based misfits like Jack Flag, a former sidekick of Captain America, joined the team after a trip to the Negative Zone (in a story that makes perfect sense if you read it).4) Secret Six
The Secret Six was originally a spinoff of the Infinite Crisis event, a group of villians that chose not to join the larger Secret Society of Super-Villains and found themselves targets for their former allies. The team started as a variant of the old Suicide Squad, where members who couldn't cut it found themselves with an early retirement and replaced with a more effective teammate. After a battle with the Society, the Six went underground. Some of their members even rejoined the Suicide Squad only to be abandoned on a desolate alien planet during the Salvation Run mini-series, eventually escaping with several other super-villains. Now, the team is still a group of rogue villains, somewhat like a villainous A-team if anything with no clear purpose but to keep eachother safe. The current team includes notable bat-foes Deadshot and Bane, Scandal (the daughter of Vandal Savage), and Catman (a character humiliated during Brad Meltzer's Green Arrow run and redeemed in the Villains United mini). Gail Simone has helmed the series through all the minis and cureent ongoing, and she has a good feel for the mix of old and new characters in need of a new home. Her recent collaboration with john Ostrander (the incredible writer of the original Suicide Squad) was even better, as Ostrander brought his own group of misfits to play with the Six.5) The Blade of the Immortal
Unlike the other books, Blade of the Immortal was not a concept, character, or group given a new perspective. The series was created by Hiroaki Samura who was continued writing and drawing since the early 1990s. Fortunately, the title character does fit the misfit theme I've used for this article. Blade of the Immortal is an amazing manga about a disgraced swordsman cursed to live forever. He makes a deal with a wise woman to have the curse removed in exchange for killing a thousand wicked men, seemingly absolving himself of the murders he committed earlier. This concept is only a minor part of the larger story. Manji, the lead, is a skilled fighter and morally dubious man who arms himself with several intriguing and deadly weapons. He likes to enjoy himself, but often finds himself chastised by his side-kick, Rin. Rin is a young woman whose parents were killed by members of the rogue sword-school the Itto-Ryo, who draw members from all types of fighting styles and walks of life. This provides Manji with a good variety of swordsmen to fight throughout the series, while showcasing many of the fighting styles of Japan. A second group, the Mugai-Ryo, even works with Manji to eliminate the Itto-Ryo on the orders of the Shogunate. Still, not all Itto-ryo are necessarily evil, and the Mugai-Ryo are hardly angels, showing that there are plenty of grey areas for the characters ot inhabit. Other characters and groups come and go, insuring that there are always new and interesting characters to meet throughout the series, each with their own agendas. Aside from the characters themselves, the setting has a life of it's own. Blade of the Immortal sometimes reads like a movie done by Akira Kurosawa, as Samura pays close attention to the culture and styles of the time. While the series is no longer published in monthly-issue format, it is currently being released in manga-trade format, with a new one every six months.
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