Done With Stranger Things? Here Are 5 Comics to Fill the Upside Down Hole

by Kyle Willis January 8, 2026

If you just wrapped up Stranger Things and now feel that familiar post-binge emptiness, you are not alone. The show leaves behind a very specific vibe. Small towns hiding secrets. Kids facing impossible horrors. Government experiments. Reality bending just enough to feel dangerous.

The good news is that comics have been doing this kind of storytelling for decades. If you are looking for something that scratches the same itch as the Upside Down, these five series are a great place to start:
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1. The Department of Truth

If your favorite parts of Stranger Things involved secret programs, government lies, and reality being shaped by belief, The Department of Truth should jump to the top of your list. The series explores a world where conspiracy theories become real if enough people believe in them.

It feels like the grown-up cousin of Hawkins Lab. Online commenters are saying this book nails the paranoia and dread that made the early seasons of Stranger Things so compelling.

2. Paper Girls

If you loved the kid-centric adventure side of Stranger Things, Paper Girls should be first on your list. Set in the late 1980s, the story follows four newspaper delivery girls who get caught in a bizarre conflict involving time travel, alternate realities, and factions battling over the future.

Online commenters often point out how Paper Girls captures that perfect mix of childhood innocence and cosmic danger. It starts grounded, then quickly spirals into something much bigger, much stranger, and surprisingly emotional.

3. Something Is Killing the Children

This series leans harder into horror, but the DNA will feel familiar. Children are disappearing in a small town. Adults refuse to believe what is happening. Monsters exist, but only kids can see them.

Something Is Killing the Children taps into the same fear that Stranger Things thrives on. The idea that kids understand the danger long before anyone else does. Online commenters are saying this series feels like what happens when the Upside Down starts winning.

4. Gideon Falls

For readers who were drawn more to the psychological and reality-warping aspects of Stranger Things, Gideon Falls is essential. The story revolves around a mysterious black barn that appears across different locations and timelines, bringing madness and violence with it.

This series plays with fractured realities, unreliable narrators, and creeping dread. Online commenters often describe it as unsettling in the same way the Upside Down feels when it bleeds into the real world.

5. Black Hammer

Black Hammer is less about monsters and more about trauma, legacy, and being trapped in a reality that feels wrong. A group of heroes find themselves stuck in a quiet rural town after a catastrophic event, unable to escape and unsure why they are there.

If Stranger Things resonated with you because of its emotional weight and long-term consequences, this series delivers. Online commenters are saying it captures the feeling of characters being shaped and broken by forces they barely understand.

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Why Comics Are the Perfect Next Step

Stranger Things works because it blends horror, nostalgia, and character-driven storytelling. Comics do the same thing, often with fewer limitations and bigger risks. These series do not just mimic the Upside Down. They expand on the ideas that made it so effective in the first place.

If you are looking to fill that void, your next obsession is probably waiting on a comic shop shelf.

You can find many of these series at Cowabunga Comics, and if you are not sure where to start, we are always happy to help you dive in.

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Whether you’re chasing:

Obscure comics with wild histories
Failed adaptations that deserve a second look
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Or just something different than what’s on the rack everywhere else

You’ll find it at Cowabunga.

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