Badger (comics)

The Badger
Norbert Sykes as the Badger. Badger #25, published by First Comics
Publication information
Publisher	IDW Publishing (current); Capital Comics, First Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics
First appearance	Badger #1, July 1983
Created by	Mike Baron
In-story information
Alter ego	Norbert Sykes
Species	Human
Abilities	expert martial artist and talking to animals

IDW Publishing (current);

The Badger is a fictional character, a superhero in American comic books publisher by the short-lived Capital Comics company and then First Comics. He was created by writer Mike Baron in 1983 and published through the early 1990s in a titular series that ended when First Comics also ceased all publications. Since the ongoing series ended in 1991, new Badger titles have been released through Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics and IDW Publishing.

The first four issues of Badger were published by Capital Comics (under the name The Badger), beginning in 1983. Capital ceased publishing in 1984, and in 1985 Baron took his creation to First Comics to then be illustrated by artist Bill Reinhold. First reprinted the first four issues, and then published monthly issues of Badger, including the Hexbreaker graphic novel in 1988. A spin-off 4-issue miniseries ran concurrently with the regular series in 1989, called Badger Goes Berserk, which explored Norbert's childhood and his abuse at the hands of his stepfather and stepbrother, now white supremacists who he encountered again in the mini-series. Badger sometimes guest-starred in Mike Baron's other series, the space opera Nexus, which took place in the future. Badger would imagine these episodes to be psychotic hallucinations, which he took in stride as being no more bizarre than the rest of his life. In 1991, First Comics published Badger Bedlam, a one-shot "First Publishing Deluxe-Format Special" by Baron, Butler, and Ken Branch, but then went bankrupt and the series ended with #70. Badger also featured in First's 5-issue Crossroads series.