Open Season

Jim Bricker and Chuck Austen brought a gritty, paranoid vision to Renegade Press with Open Season (1986–1988), a six-issue series that follows a group of suburbanites forced to survive after their town is sealed off and turned into a hunting ground. Bricker, who wrote and co-illustrated the run, crafted a tense, survival-horror premise that played on Cold War anxieties and the dark side of American conformity. Though short-lived, the series stands as a distinctive entry in the indie comics boom of the late 1980s, showcasing raw storytelling and a brutal, no-holds-barred approach to its high-concept thriller.