Indie Comics Under the Radar: Cluster Fudge from Hero Shack

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Submitted by RJ Carter on Fri, 10/29/2021 - 09:50

Independent comic publishers have been with us for as long as the comics industry has been around. If you had a photocopier and a stapler, you could do your own thing and try to convince people to buy it (and some did so quite successfully).

Now with the advent of technologies like print-on-demand, not to mention the affordability of your average print shop, and the mass-marketing tools afforded by way of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, truly anyone can try their hand at getting into the funny book business. The downside of that is that there are so many competing projects out there for your dollar that it's easy to go unnoticed if you don't raise your voice loud enough.

One of these many titles flying below the radar is the oddly provocatively named Cluster Fudge, a mature readers series about a retired superhero named Cluster who, because of his unique powers, cannot be killed. His long life, and the things he's seen in it, have stripped from him any sense of optimism and hope and left him a bitter, cynical, and not-very-nice old man in a not-very-nice world.

Husband and wife creators Chris and Diana Tamulevich, proprietors of Hero Shack Press, work hand-in-hand as creative and editorial on not only Cluster Fudge, but also The Great Cyclopian, two distinctly different types of books set within the same universe of heroes. Cluster Fudge satirizes and skewers tropes from the Marvel Universe with characters like the Silver Scribe, while The Great Cyclopian has a decidedly more DC feel to it.

Cluster Fudge is filled with irreverent, Tarantino-esque violence and black humor that makes it something of a guilty pleasure to read. Having finally tired of his long life, Cluster sets out to find Death -- not death, but the big guy himself with a capital "D" -- so that he can finally exit this merry-go-round of horrors his existence has become.

You can find the second issue of Cluster Fudge right now on Indiegogo. And be sure to check out our interview with Chris and Diana below!