Given that your recs have been spot on, I'm wondering if you can answer another one. Are there any comic books like the Ultimates or Jupiter's Circle in which superheroes interact with modern/historical events and figures? I've heard Valiant is like that (Putin being in Divinity II and all that) but are there any others? And would Valiant be in the same ballpark as the aforementioned stories? Thanks!

Hey there, great question! Being a fellow history nerd, Lou from the podcast crew is here to give you some recs…

Valiant has lots of awesome titles, and I highly recommend the Divinity III books if you’re intrigued by Putin being in Divinity II (the whole Divinity series is great, they were my first introduction to Valiant). 

Your request also made me think of a Jonathan Hickman series called S.H.I.E.L.D.: Architects of Forever.

Leonardo Da Vinci was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. So was Issac Newton. And many other geniuses throughout time. They were the first heroes to defeat Galactus and the Brood and turn Celestials back. They saved the world long before Captain America or Iron Man were ever born, but what does this mean to our heroes of today?

There’s also Gaiman’s Marvel 1602 series (and the more recent 1602 Witch Hunter Angela miniseries was also excellent!).

The year is 1602, and strange things are stirring in England. In the service of Queen Elizabeth, court magician Dr. Stephen Strange senses that the bizarre weather plaguing the skies above is not of natural origin. Her majesty’s premier spy, Sir Nicholas Fury, fends off an assassination attempt on the Queen by winged warriors rumored to be in service to a mad despot named Doom. News is spreading of witchbreed sightings - young men bearing fantastic superhuman powers and abilities. And in the center of the rising chaos is Virginia Dare, a young girl newly arrived from the New World, guarded by a towering Indian warrior. Can Fury and his allies find a connection to these unusual happenings before the whole world ends?

There was some debate around the office about whether or not Hellboy counts as a superhero. Personally, I think anyone who punches Nazis counts as a superhero, so I’m going to also recommend Hellboy because Rasputin is a real historical figure, and the main bad guy in the first few volumes. Granted, Hellboy leans more toward the supernatural than strictly historical, but much of it blends myth into the mid/late 20th century real world pretty seamlessly, and if you get into the BPRD 1950s books, there is some excellent mid-century aesthetic to enjoy.