Dr. Valus Droog

Emerging from the singular imagination of Gilbert Hernandez in 2017, Dr. Valus Droog is the kind of character only Fantagraphics would dare publish — a Modern Age creation born into the gloriously strange, boundary-pushing world of underground-inflected alternative comics. With appearances across Blubber, Psychodrama Illustrated, and the legendary Love and Rockets, this is a figure who keeps genuinely remarkable company, sharing pages with Hernandez mainstays like Rosalba "Fritz" Martinez and Mila Castellon. Eleven catalog appearances may sound modest, but in Gilbert Hernandez's dense, layered storytelling universe, every panel counts — and Dr. Valus Droog is exactly the kind of deep-cut discovery that rewards the devoted reader willing to dig into one of alternative comics' most celebrated ongoing sagas.