Rensselaer Lustgarten

Walter Simonson — the legendary hand behind Thor and Manhunter — brought Rensselaer Lustgarten to life in Malibu's Star Slammers #1 in 1994, a sci-fi comics series that crackled with the kinetic energy Simonson fans had come to love. A figure of the early Modern Age, Lustgarten moves through a world populated by a vivid military cast — Captain Salardo, Sergeant Kali, Commander Rojas, and the rest — suggesting a richly layered universe of rank, conflict, and interstellar stakes. With only a handful of appearances, this is a character for the dedicated collector, the kind of deep-cut discovery that makes digging through Malibu's ambitious mid-'90s catalog so rewarding.