20 cool psychedelic comics to read after seeing Thor: Ragnarok

Nameless (Cover image via Image Comics)

1. Nameless

As you may well have guessed by now, Grant Morrison is one of the modern kings of comic psychedelia. He’s warranted two different entries on this list on the strength of their strangeness alone. Honestly, it took some pretty serious mental back-and-forth to avoid adding Morrison’s Doom Patrol as a third example. If you want your comics to warp your mind and make you stare at your bedroom ceiling in mingled awe and horror, Morrison’s your guy.

Of course, Grant Morrison also clearly thinks deeply about his subject matter. Moreover, I believe Morrison will be remembered at least a little more for the breathtakingly odd one-offs and original series in his repertoire.

All of this to say: you really should read Nameless. It’s full of Lovecraftian beasts and uncanny geometry, as well as space stations and advanced rocketry. Sure, those fancy spacesuits are covered in magical sigils, but you’ll see why soon enough.

A warning

Oh, and there’s plenty of gore. Morrison isn’t afraid to bring on the blood and guts, so be prepared for some pretty realistic and very broken anatomy in between all of the ageless, evil gods and communications with the dead.

Like nearly everything else here, it’s very hard to encapsulate Nameless in such a small space. This is Morrison at some of his absolute weirdest. By the end of the series, you’ll start to wonder if it would all make more sense to read it upside down, or perhaps backward.

Here’s my best go at it, however: Earth is due to be struck by a huge asteroid named Xibalba. In due course, Xibalba is revealed to be a fragment of the planet Marduk, which was destroyed millions of years ago in a battle between huge, uncaring gods.

Next: 20 times Thor was the best Marvel superhero

As Xibalba approaches Earth, it begins to affect the minds of all humans with its ancient madness. A group of scientists (and one occultist) are tasked with approaching the asteroid and attempting to save Earth.

What they encounter, however, will be far more challenging than changing the course of a big space rock. Between the layers upon layers of story and perception, Nameless also trades on the cosmic despair and genetic level of dread carried forth by Marduk. It’s intense stuff, to say the least.