Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Iron Man, Punisher, X-Men, Cyberpunk 2077, My Friend Dahmer

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops another 7 sales. Plus, Cyberpunk 2077 and more Calvin and Hobbes.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.)

In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

[Housekeeping]: We’re not sure how long that Marvel early Prime Day sale is running, but check out last week for a rundown.

Does Whatever An Iron Can…

Iron Man: The Man Who Killed Tony Stark  Iron Man: Heroes Reborn  Iron Man: Big Iron

The Marvel Iron Man Sale runs through Monday, 6/29.

This would be one of those sales where most of the hero’s run is on sale, so we’re going to follow our usual protocol and start out by breaking out the primary titles and volumes. Iron Man isn’t as goofy to follow as, say, Spider-Gwen… but there are “quirks.” Oddly, this time out, titles with a word other than “Invincible” in front of “Iron Man” are omitted. (Infamous, International, etc.) Intentional or the new digital guy is from a film background and unfamiliar with the catalog? We’re not sure.

  • Tales of Suspense – Iron Man debuted here in what was a split book with Captain America for most of the run. (The Epic Collections have been redirected to the next link)
  • Iron Man ’68-’96 – The original solo run in the era before constant relaunch gimmicks. This is now the Epic Collection link and all other collections from this run appeared to be floating on Amazon, untethered to a series.

OK, sit tight. The ’98 -’04 run is collected in VERY odd ways and poorly cataloged for browsing.  The truly excellent Kurt Busiek/Sean Chen/Patrick Zircher run lasts from 1-25. We can’t find 15-25 collected? (That entire run should be!)  You can catch 1-14  in cheap omnibus form here.  (No idea why the Mike Grell omnibus isn’t on sale.) You can catch Joe Quesada’s scripting run (26-32) and the Avengers: Disassembled tie-in late in this run in single volumes here. (But get the omnibus version for Busiek.)

  • Iron Man ’04-07 – Best known for launching with the “Extremis” storyline
  • Invincible Iron Man ’08-’12 – The excellent Matt Fraction / Salvador Larroca run. Save some money with the omnibus collecting the first 3 volumes.
  • Iron Man ’12-’14 – The Kieron Gillen run with Greg Land as initial artist
  • Invincible Iron Man ’15-’16 – Brian Bendis and David Marquez/Mike Deodato, Jr. start out with Tony Stark in the armor
  • Invincible Iron Man ’16-’18 – Brian Bendis and Stefano Caselli with Riri Williams/Ironheart filling Tony Stark’s shoes (yes, parallel substitute Iron Man runs)
  • Iron Man ’20-’22 – The Christopher Cantwell / Cafu run.
  • Invincible Iron Man ’22-’24 – Gerry Duggan / Juan Frigeri
  • Iron Man ’24-’25 – Spencer Ackerman / Julius Ohta

So what’s good?  We haven’t read ALL the Iron Man out there, but we’ve read a lot of them.

In our opinion Iron Man starts hitting it’s stride when Archie Goodwin arrives toward the end of the Tales of Suspense run and then is pure gold through issue 28 of the ’68 Iron Man series. Artists for this run include Gene Colan and George Tuska. Iron Man Epic Collection: The Man Who Killed Tony Stark collects most of that.

The next “all-star” run is #116-157 of the original Iron Man, that’s the David Michelinie / John Romita, Jr. / Bob Layton run that’s most famous for the “Demon in a Bottle” alcoholism arc, but there’s more to the run than just that arc.  The Denny O’Neil / Luke McDonnell run that follows is solid (make sure you get a collection that includes #200!!!), then Michelinie & Layton return for #215-250 with a few artists, including Mark Bright and Jackson Guice… with Layton even switching to penciller, instead of his usual inking post, for parts of it.  This second run is most famous for “Armor Wars” (originally known as Stark Wars).

When Heroes Return hits, Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen are pop in for the excellent 1998 run, of which only 1-14 are currently collected.

The ’08 – ’12 run by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca is particularly good. You know how modern Marvel titles can get sidetracked by Events? Fraction and Larroca lean into it and produce a lengthy and self-contained arc with Tony Stark on the run and attempting to overwrite his brain to keep everyone’s secrets out of the hands of Norman Osborn. Yes, an honest to goodness great Event tie-in arc. It’s a rare thing.

We were quite happy with the  Christopher Cantwell/Cafu run. Tony Stark chases Korvac into outer space and meditates on the nature of godhood, good intentions and addictions. Lots of character work and action.

Crime and Punisher-ment

Punisher: Circle of Blood   Punisher: The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci  Punisher

The Marvel Punisher Sale runs through Monday, 6/29.

Gosh, you’d think Frank Castle had been on streaming or something…

First, the “general audience” Punisher:

  • The Punisher ’87-’95 – Note that the first Epic Collection here collects the ’86 Steven Grant/Mike Zeck Circle of Blood mini-series that kicked off the Punisher’s rise to prominence. Yes, Whilce Portacio drew Punisher before X-Men
  • Punisher War Journal ’88-’95 – This volume is notable for the Carl Potts / Jim Lee work. Yes, Jim Lee drew Punisher War Journal before X-Men.
  • Punisher War Zone ’92-’95 – Yes, Frank Castle was holding down three titles/month in the early ’90s! Collected here are a pair of Chuck Dixon tales with John Buscema and Joe Kubert as the respective artists.
  • Punisher War Journal ’06-’09 – Probably best known for Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti
  • Punisher ’00 – Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon; Collects the immortal “Welcome Back, Frank”
  • Punisher: The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci (Punisher War Zone) ’08-’09 – Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon team for a sequel to Welcome Back, Frank
  • Punisher ’09-’10 – The Rick Remender run, for which the third volume is Franken-Castle
  • The Punisher ’11-’12 – The Greg Rucka / Marco Checchetto (now more associated with Daredevil) run
  • The Punisher ’14-15 – Nathan Edmondson / Mitch Gerads. Yes, Mitch Gerards as in Mister Miracle and Sheriff of Babylon
  • The Punisher ’16-18 – Starts out with Becky Cloonan / Steve Dillon
  • The Punisher ’18-’19 – Matthew Rosenberg / Szymon Kudranski
  • Punisher ’22-’23 – Jason Aaron / Jesus Saiz / Paul Azaceta
  • Punisher War Journal ’22-’23Torunn GrØnbekk / Djibril Morissette-Phan

What’s good? Actually, we like the original Marvel Super Action magazine version by Archie Goodwin and Tony DeZuniga, but that’s not on the menu.

Our favorite run of the above is probably the Ennis/Dillon “Welcome Back, Frank.” We also were pretty fond of the Rucka / Checchetto run when it was coming out. It’s also worth going back and seeing where all the fuss started with the Grant/Zeck mini and the Baron/Janson/Portacio ongoing.

Then there’s the Max line. “Mature Readers” Punisher, if you will.

Punisher Max: The Complete Collection is the ’04-’09 run that’s most associated with Garth Ennis returning to the character (with art by Darick Robertson, Leandro Fernendez, Doug Braithwaite and Goran Parlov, among others). This is Ennis doing the serious Punisher, as opposed to the hilarity of Welcome Back, Frank. Mike Benson, Victor Gischler and Jason Aaron pop up at the end of the run. There’s also an omnibus available.

Ultimate… Everything?

Ultimate Spider-Man The Ultimates Ultimate Black Panther

The  Marvel Ultimate Universe Sale runs through Monday 6/29.

Yes, this is pretty much EVERYTHING Ultimate – old and new universes. Perhaps it’s less clunky if we break this into segments?

The New Ultimate Universe

The setup for the new Ultimate Universe is Ultimate Invasion by Jonathan Hickman & Bryan Hitch. The original Ultimate Universe was destroyed, but not everyone from that dimension was destroyed. Miles Morales survived and moved over the “616” or main Marvel universe. As did Reed Richards… except the Ultimate Reed Richards went bad and has been calling himself “The Maker.” That’s the setup before Invasion where The Maker escapes captivity, escapes into the multiverse and causes the origins of a new world’s heroes not to happen. Peter Parker is never bitten by a radioactive spider for instance. He’s just a photographer with a family by the time this series hits and this sets up the new line of titles.

Ultimate Spider-Man is a definite contender for the best thing Marvel’s putting out right now and we’re big on Ultimates, too.

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate Spider-Man   Ultimate Comics Spider-Man   Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Fallout

This is the original Brian Bendis/Mark Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man. The first Ultimate title and (along with Daredevil) what originally made Bendis his reputation at Marvel.  And it’s a good run, too. Afterwards… enter Miles Morales, who’s become celebrated in his own right.

Ultimate X-Men

Ultimate X-Men  Ultimate Comics X-Men

Over on the mutant side of the street, the spread looks like this:

The original Ultimate X-Men run has a very interesting writer rotation. Mark Millar begins and ends it. In between are runs by Brian K. Vaughan (Saga / Y – The Last Man) and Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead). The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Chris Bachalo, David Finch, Brandon Peterson, Stuart Immonen, Tom Raney and Salvador Larocca… among others.

Ultimate Comics X-Men was written first by Nick Spencer and later Brian Wood. Artists included Paco Medina, Carlo Barberi, Mahmud Asrar and Alvaro Martinez.

The Ultimates, Ultimate FF and the greater Ultimate Universe

Ultimates Ultimate Fantastic Four Ultimate Comics - The Ultimates

There a bit more to the sale, but that’s the bulk of the highlights. What’s good? The Millar/Hitch Ultimates are hugely influential (especially to the film world). Ultimate FF absolutely has it’s moments. Not everybody realizes that the Marvel Zombies debuted in V. 3 (omnibus version) and are not played for laughs.  Now, we don’t often issue “avoid” warnings around here, but there are a couple things here that we’ll advise against. The Orson Scott Card Ultimate Iron Man? Don’t bother. It’s awful. Ultimatum? Nope! That very nearly killed the line. There are MUCH better things to read in this imprint than those two.

Red… Like a Valentine

Red Hulk Scorched Earth  Fall of the Hulks - Red Hulk  U.S.Avengers

The Marvel Red Hulk sale runs through Monday 6/29.

The main title is the ’08 – ’13 Hulk series. 17 years after the series launched, we’ll risk the spoiler of the opening arc and say this is where Thunderbolt Ross becomes the Red Hulk. (There’s also an Epic Collection available.)

You might want to add Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk and read it before you get to issue #18. It’s part of the larger “Fall of the Hulks” event that’s not totally collected in the Hulk series. This is by Jeff Parker and Carlos Rodrigues.

After Loeb leaves, Jeff Parker takes over writing and we actually prefer the Parker take on the character. The artists move around a little (it’s that era of Marvel) but Gabriel Hardman / Patrick Zircher / Dale Eaglesham is a pretty good rotation. (And you should have a look at Zircher’s Solomon Kane over in the recent Savage Sword of Conan.)

The more recent title is Red Hulk by Benjamin Percy &Geoff Shaw.

The Hela You Say…

Thor Modern Epic Collection  Journey Into Mystery  Thor Epic Collection: The Fall Of Asgard

The Marvel Hela Sale runs through Monday, 6/29

Hela as in Marvel’s version of Hel, the Norse goddess of death. What we have here is largely a set of Thor collections (a ton of those between this sale and the Pride sale).

Some highlights:

Living in the Past

X-Factor  X-Force  X-Factor by Peter David

The Marvel X-Men ’97 Sale runs through Monday, 6/29.

This… is perhaps a misnamed sale. X-Men ’97 is a continuation of the ’90s cartoon. In this sale we find everything for the ’24-’25 X-Factor by Mark Russell & Bob Quinn (which we liked) to the first adventures of The New Mutants from the early 80s. It’s worth browsing for your mutant fix.

Also of note:

Kitty’s Name Is Spelled Differently

The Marvel Pride Sale runs through Monday 6/29.

Unusual to see Marvel having a Pride Month sale and DC not. My, how the times are changing.

This is a wide-ranging sale and not everything in it is particularly Pride-centric (like every appearance of Hercules going back to the 60s). There’s a LOT of books here, so take a browse at your leisure. We’ll be pointing out some books that are a little more appropriate for the sale and are good reads.

Unannounced Sales

Cyberpunk 2077 Big City Dreams  My Friend Dahmer Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Looks like there’s an unannounced sale on Dark Horse’s Cyberpunk 2077. A video game adaptation with an interesting award to its credit.

The first five collections can be found here.

After which, the property went to the album format Dark Horse sometimes uses for titles with a higher bookstore profile, which are listed with the single issues:

There’s also The World of Cyberpunk 2077.

Masters of the Universe (otherwise known as He-Man) is still on sale.

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel’s Early Prime Day Omnibus / Epic Collection Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel hits Prime Day early with plenty of Omnibuses and Epic Collections. Plus, Calvin and Hobbes.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.)

In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Marvel Celebrates Prime Day Early?

Spectacular Spider-Man By Dematteis & Buscema Omnibus  Avengers Omnibus  Wolverine Omnibus

OK… there’s a page for this sale, but it’s not the Deals page. It appears to be an early Prime Day sale (Prime Day is towards the end of the month). We have no idea at all how long this one is going to last, so this week we’re publishing early! (And you can guess how we were spending our evening.)

Here’s the Marvel Page in question.

[UPDATE: They put a Deals page link up, and it’s even less organized!]

All sorts of interesting things. Omnibuses, Epic Collections and everything in between. Looks like over 800 items. Kind of a June holiday sale, really. You’ll want to browse through it at some point, but let’s try to put some order to Amazon listings chaos:

Omnibuses

Starting at $11.99

Epic Collections

Starting at $5.99

Masterworks

Starting at $5.99

Plenty more comics, including a lot of “regular” collections if you care to browse.

Unannounced Sales

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury Masters of the Universe: Revelation DC Encyclopedia New Edition

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Masters of the Universe (otherwise known as He-Man)

Dark Horse still has a big block of Brian Bendis titles on sale. Jinxworld, if you prefer. Let’s hit the numbers first:

We encourage you to give the crime/thriller work of Bendis a look. Scarlet has gotten more relevant since it came out and Goldfish is really what got him started. Yes, he got famous doing capes, but he’s a Mamet guy at the end of the day.

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Brian Bendis / Jinxworld

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s Brian Bendis / Jinxworld getting the discounts.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.)

In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Unannounced Sales

Scarlet Goldfish Fortune and Glory

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Dark Horse has a big block of Brian Bendis titles on sale. Jinxworld, if you prefer. Let’s hit the numbers first:

We encourage you to give the crime/thriller work of Bendis a look. Scarlet has gotten more relevant since it came out and Goldfish is really what got him started. Yes, he got famous doing capes, but he’s a Mamet guy at the end of the day.

Yes, it’s still going strong, AND it’s still on sale: Groo by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier. Also included:

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman; Marvel Omnibuses and Epic Collections; Groo

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has a Batman sale. Marvel adds some random Omnibuses and Epic Collections to the discount pile. Plus, Groo.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.)

In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Holy Mixed Bag Batman!

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns  Batman: Knightfall  Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin

The Lego Batman Sale runs through Monday, 6/1.

It’s a DC sale, so you might expect it to be a corporate synergy event. And it would appear you’re right as the Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight video game launches.

Not all of these prices are great. We would also hasten to remind you that DC typical drops the recent digital collections to $9.99 after a few months… or to mimic the stylings of Frank Gorshin: “Riddle me this: when is a sale, not a sale?” We’re also not fond of some of the prices on the Tales of the Batman volumes, but will concede some of those $9.99 prices could be the best we’re getting (as we curse the phenomenon of HC pricing for digital). The rest of them… well, judge for yourself.

That being said, here are a few things where we were OK with the prices:

Epics and Omnibi and Marvel, Oh My!

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus  Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus  Power Man and Iron Fist

Marvel has an unnamed sale with no dates attached to it. We’re double-not-sure how long it’s going to last, but there are a few worthwhile things we would draw your attention to:

What’s good?

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus V. 2 will get you the bulk of the Archie Goodwin run, which is where Iron Man really takes off, as far as we’re concerned.

Rom is not always on sale and these licensed books sometimes disappear, so if it’s your jam, consider getting it while available at a better price.

The full run isn’t discounted, but Miracleman Vol. 1: A Dream Of Flying is the beginning of a classic run.

There’s a bit more to the sale than the above, should you care to browse.

Unannounced Sales

Groo Meets Tarzan Groo These Savage Shores

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Yes, it’s still going strong, AND it’s on sale: Groo by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier. Also included:

Dark Horse is still having a sale on their Mark Millar line of comics, AKA Millarworld, including:

For our money, Starlight is way under appreciated. The Hollywood elevator pitch would be along the lines of “Flash Gordon’s retirement isn’t going well.”

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Millarworld

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales,  Dark Horse slashes prices on the Millarworld line of comics.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.)

In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Unannounced Sales

Reborn Library Edition Star Light Vatican City

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Dark Horse is having a sale on their Mark Millar line of comics, AKA Millarworld, including:

For our money, Starlight is way under appreciated. The Hollywood elevator pitch would be along the lines of “Flash Gordon’s retirement isn’t going well.”

Dark Horse is also still having a sale on their Avatar: The Last Airbender line of comics

Also on sale, The Legend of Korra

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Hulk, Fantastic Four, Venom

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops a fistful of sales (including Hulk, Fantastic Four and Venom). Plus, Avatar the Last Airbender.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.) In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Hulk Is Cheapest There Is

Planet Hulk  Immortal Hulk  Incredible Hulk The Marvel Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 5/25. And what we have here is basically a Hulk Legacy sale. Let’s run down the various titles.
  • Incredible Hulk (1962 – 1999) The original run and then the long running series that picked up a few years later. (For some reason, the Epic Collections have a separate listing.)
  • Tales to Astonish (1964-68) In between the two Hulk solo runs above, Hulk was splitting Tales to Astonish with Ant-Man/Giant Man and then Namor. A lot of the foundational work was really in this run, with Stan Lee/Steve Ditko responsible for a lot of it. Included for the sake of completeness, for you shall find no discounts here
  • Incredible Hulk (1999-2007) – Best known for the Bruce Jones / Lee Weeks/ Mike Deodato run towards the beginning and the Greg Pak / multi-artist “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” epics at the end… though World War Hulk is at this different link.
  • Hulk (2008-13) This is the Red Hulk run (and the title changes to that after awhile). It starts out with the better known Jeph Loeb/Ed Mc Guiness run and then Jeff Parker takes over with Gabriel Hardman, Dave Eaglesham and Patrick Zircher in the artist rotation.
  • Incredible Hulk by Jason Aaron (2011-12) – Lots of artists rotating through here, Marc Silvestri, Steve Dillon and Carlos Pacheco among them
  • Indestructible Hulk (2012 – 14) – Mark Waid’s the writer with an artist rotation including Leinil Francis Yu, Matteo Scalera and Walt Simonson draws the Thor team-up.
  • Hulk by Waid and Duggan (2014-15) – That would be Mark Waid and Gerry Duggan with Duggan doing the bulk of the run. Mark Bagley is the main artist here.
  • Immortal Hulk (2018-21) – Al Ewing’s masterpiece as the Hulk slides over towards horror and find a green door that leads to Hell.
  • Hulk (2021-23) – The Donny Cates / Ryan Ottley run
  • The Incredible Hulk (2023 -25) – Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Nic Klein
For the main series, you can’t go wrong with the Peter David years (now complete in Epic format) and the Bill Mantlo era seems to have gained fans over the years.
The sequence from Planet Hulk to World War Hulk is highly enjoyable.
Let’s be real – Immortal Hulk is a masterpiece. Highly recommended with an approach almost like Gerber’s Man-Thing or Moore’s Swamp Thing.
We’re really enjoying the current run, too. (OK, there was a relaunch. As far as we’re concerned it’s the same book with different numbering and a title tweak.) It’s a return to horror, like the Immortal Hulk run, but it feels a bit more like the Bruce Jones run. Banner is on the run, but this time the conspiracy pursuing him is supernatural in nature. Nic Klein is doing ridiculously good work on this title, too.
Also included in this sale: the original Defenders series (which could use more Gerber discounts than are provided).

Four Play

Fantastic Four - The Coming of Galactus    Fantastic Four by Waid   Fantastic Four by Hickman Marvel’s Fantastic Four Sale runs through Monday, 5/25. Marvel would like to remind you this was a film. First let’s break down the various FF titles/volumes on sale:
  • Fantastic Four ’61-’96 – The original run (In a truly bizarre turn, the Epic Collections are tied to the original series and all the Masterworks are floating in the system untethered to ANY series.)
  • Fantastic Four ’98-’12 – Heroes Return era through Hickman
  • Fantastic Four ’12-’14 – The Matt Fraction / Mark Bagley era
  • Fantastic Four ’14-’15 – The James Robinson/Leonard Kirk run
  • Fantastic Four: Fate of the Four (Marvel Two-in-One) ’17-’18 – Chip Zdarsky / Jim Cheung; Zdarsky’s MTIO run has been rebranded as FF… which is probably fair – not in this sale, but included for the sake of completeness
  • Fantastic Four ’18-’22 – The Dan Slott run with a rotating cast of artists
  • Fantastic Four ’22-’25 – Ryan North / Iban Coello / Carlos Gomez
Yes, Fantastic Four has been relaunched less than other Marvel titles.  As to what’s good, the gold standard has always been the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run. (And yes, we do think you can draw a straight line from Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown at DC to Fantastic Four.) We’d say they start to hit their stride a few issues before Galactus shows up – V.3 of the Epic Collections (“The Coming of Galactus“) or V.4/5 of the Masterworks editions and you can ride a very fun train from there to the end of Lee/Kirby. And at this point, we should talk about the “pick your poison” of Epic vs. Masterworks.  The Masterworks are built out straight into the Byrne era. We think the $6.99 Epic Collections are the best value here, though some of the newer ones are priced higher. The discounted Epics are now into the Byrne run and then skip ahead to Englehart. Pick the format that works for you and has the issues you’re looking for. Speaking of Byrne’s run, that’s the next highpoint that everyone agrees on.  How to read Byrne? Well, there are 7 volumes of Masterworks on sale (V. 21-27) or you can hop on to Fantastic Four Visionaires: John Byrne. These comics really ought to be in an Epic Collections, and that’s started, but Marvel doesn’t seem in any hurry to roll the Visionaires up into a more economical package. (Or should we say, economical when it’s on sale?) Move ahead a bit and Walt Simonson had a stint that may be a little more notable for being an early appearance of the Time Variance Authority (which actually debuted in his Thor run). This is most easily grabbed across Epic Collections V.20 and V.21. Fast forward a bit to the Heroes Reborn era and there is a LOT to love about the Mark Waid / Mike Wieringo run. They brought back the “explorer” vibe from Lee/Kirby era that isn’t always there and upped the sense of wonder. You’d want the four Ultimate Collection volumes that start here. The “regular” collections don’t go all the way to the end. Dwayne McDuffie and Paul Pelletier jumped in for an arc with Black Panther and Storm briefly joining the team. And then, of course, there’s the the Hickman era. A long storyline that laid the groundwork for his Avengers run and you can certainly argue that his Secret Wars endcap to that is a Fantastic Four / Doctor Doom story. The omnibus editions we highlighted above include his FF spin-off comic that frequently crossed over with Fantastic Four, much like the Avengers titles flowed together. That packaging will be a better experience. But that’s not all we have in a fairly expansive sale:

Ultimate Fantastic Four

The original Ultimate Fantastic Four had Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar and Mike Carey (yes, The Girl With All the Gifts M.R. Careytagging off on writer duties. The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, Jae Lee, Greg Land, Pasqual Ferry, Mark Brooks and Tyler Kirkham.  And a bit of trivia for you: Marvel Zombies?  It’s an Ultimate Fantastic Four spin-off.  Check out V.3 of the omnibuses. That’s where it all begins.

Doctor Doom

A little bit from the arch foe:

Silver Surfer

Skull the Slayer

That’s right. Skull the Slayer.

No, Not Bane’s Juice

Venom by Remender   Venom by Cates   Venom

The Marvel Venom Sale runs through Monday, 5/25. This is a fairly scattered sale, with multiple formats and a lot of random early miniseries floating around. Browse for a better accounting of the listings. For the early stuff, the better values are the somewhat scattered Epic Collections. The early (mostly) Spider-Man appearances can be found in Venom Epic Collection: Symbiosis. That’s largely the David Michelinie / Todd McFarlane / Erik Larsen material.  That’s followed by Venom Epic Collection: Lethal Protector which has a few more villainous appearances and the original Lethal Protector mini. And then Venom Epic Collection: Carnage Unleashed continues the 90s appearances. Eventually Venom gets his own series:
  • Venom  (2003-4) – The Daniel Way era
  • Venom  (2011-3) – Rick Remender/Tony Moore, then Cullen Bunn/Declan Shalvey
  • Venom (2016-8) – Mike Costa / Tradd Moore / Mark Bagley
  • Venom (2018-21) – Donny Cates / Ryan Stegman
  • Venom (2021-24) – Al Ewing / Ram V / Bryan Hitch
  • Venom War (2024) – Al Ewing / Iban Coello
  • All-New Venom(’04-’05) – Al Ewing / Carlos Gomez
Let’s talk about the last 12 years or so. The ’11-’13 series is more interesting than you might think. That’s when Flash Thompson has the symbiote and uses it (among other things) to replace the legs his lost in the war. There are some interesting pathos floating around, particularly in the Remender/Moore run. The Cates/Stegman run is probably the most famous right now. That’s where Venom gets Cosmic and leads into the King In Black Event. The Ewing / V / Hitch run, is an evolution and big leap forward from the groundwork laid by Cates. Al Ewing drives the Cosmic elements, which are the most interesting part. Eddie Brock is dead. But he isn’t. He’s separated from his body and he’s bouncing around in time as his son becomes Venom in the present. It’s a much, much stranger take on Venom than most others and really dives into the King in Black mythos and timeline, eventually culminating in Venom War. Ewing’s basically picked up the ball and ran with it, creating his own saga.

Carnage

Yes, the other symbiote Bobbsey Twin is also included in the sale (at least part of the catalog) This is an odd set compared with something like Fantastic Four, since Carnage has been a guest villain or mini-series dweller for part of the time, so here’s the highlights and short tour. For early Carnage, your best best is probably Carnage Epic Collection: Born in Blood. That gets you the first Carnage tale from Amazing Spider-Man _and_ the Maximum Carnage arc. For more of those early villain and mini-series appearances, there are two more Epic Collections with their own series page. Carnage then relaunched in ’22 by Ram V and Francesco Manna. This one weaves in and out of serial killer thriller / fantasy (with a trip to Asgard) / and capes. The next series of Carnage follows that up with the team of Torunn GrØnbekk & Pere Perez. Also in the mix:

52 Pick Up

Gambit: The Complete Collection  Gambit Classic  Mr. and Mrs. X The Marvel Gambit sale runs through Monday, 5/25. Lots and lots of misc. X-titles in the one. In terms of Gambit (and his Mrs.), you’re looking at: If you’d rather have some X-Men books, there’s plenty to browse, though these two spots might float near the top of the list:

Seeing Ghosts

Spider-Gwen  Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse  Spider-Gwen The Ghost-Spider The Marvel Ghost Spider Sale runs through Monday, 5/25. Ah, the always amusing struggle to balance a character’s movie name with their comics name. Yes, this is really a Spider-Gwen sale.

Not A Big Red Cheese?

Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin Captain Marvel Captain Marvel The Captain Marvel Sale runs through Monday, 5/25. It’s back and now it has the Masterworks. First off, the original Kree Captain Mar-Vell as Captain Marvel: Is Starlin’s Mar-Vell, the best Mar-Vell? We’d say so. You can also look at the  Captain Marvel Masterworks series, but the other one we’d put at the top of the list is V.4 with the Steve Englehart / Al Milgrom run. Carol Danvers as Ms./Captain Marvel: OK… brace yourselves… this one has a ton of relaunches: We think that’s the overly complicated chronology, anyway. For recommendations, we’re not really experts on this set of books, but we’re inclined to say go with the recent Thompson run. Kelly Sue DeConnick has a very dedicated fanbase, so maybe browse the sample pages there and see if that catches your fancy, too? Then there’s Mar-Vell’s son Genis: This one is a Peter David joint, through and through. We did read the ’22 version last year and enjoyed it. It has a little more going on than you might think at first.

Unannounced Sales

Avatar: The Last Airbender Star Wars A Vader Family Sithmas

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end. Dark Horse is having a sale on their Avatar: The Last Airbender line of comics Also on sale, The Legend of Korra Dark Horse still has discounts on their Star Wars line of comics: Also on sale: And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Star Wars, These Savage Shores, Money Shot

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Dark Horse rolls slashes prices on their Star Wars line, plus These Savage Shores and Money Shot.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.) In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Unannounced Sales

Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit Money Shot These Savage Shores

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end. Dark Horse has applied discounts to their Star Wars line of comics: Dark Horse still has a Minor Threats sale going on, which comes in a couple of flavors: Also still on sale: Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. This is an old school classic that’s still coming out after relaunches and… we think Dark Horse is it’s fourth publisher? Bendis first started transitioning to super heroes from crime stories with Powers which concerns the police who investigate super powered crimes. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but to explain would involve spoilers and some of the early reveals are memorable. Also on sale: We would bring your attention to These Savage Shores, which we haven’t seen on sale for a bit. This was where Ram V got his initial reputation. It’s a very odd mix of vampires and colonialism that’s particularly well done and worth your time if you like subtext with your horror. And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Minor Threats, Powers

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Dark Horse rolls out discounts on Minor Threats and Powers.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.) In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Unannounced Sales

Minor Threats Powers Clock Striker, Volume 2: The Sharing Society 

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Always popular around here, Dark Horse has a Minor Threats sale going on, which comes in a couple of flavors:

Also on sale: Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming. This is an old school classic that’s still coming out after relaunches and… we think Dark Horse is it’s fourth publisher? Bendis first started transitioning to super heroes from crime stories with Powers which concerns the police who investigate super powered crimes. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but to explain would involve spoilers and some of the early reveals are memorable. 

Dark Horse still has their EC Archives on sale. Tales From the Crypt, Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales and that whole family of famous titles.

Resident Alien is a comic by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhose about a stranded alien posing as a doctor and solving murders. It got a little more famous when a TV adaptation hit and a lot more famous when the TV show moved over to Netflix.  We read the first omnibus and if your point of reference is the TV show, the comic is a little more mystery-oriented. It’s available in

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Superman, Resident Alien, EC Archives

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC shows their face with a Superman sale. Plus, Resident Alien and the EC Archives.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.) In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

Superman Returns… To Having Discounts

Superman Love and Mercy  Superman: Phantom Zone  Lobo

The DC Superman Day Sale runs through Monday, 4/28. This is a little different than DC’s last (Vertigo) sale, which generated a few complaints. This is by no means what we used to seeing, but it’s a step in the right direction. Lots of $4.99 books. The number of books in a run that are _properly_ discounted is all over the place (more so for Action, kind of like Detective was super spotty during the last Batman sale and you’re not sure if the person setting the discounts is totally aware which title came first). That said, there’s a whole lot more on sale this time and not just the first volume in a series. And yes, feel free to ignore the things that are only discounted ~20%.

Superman

Supergirl

Something about a film…

Lobo

Something about that same film.

  • Lobo (’90) Alan Grant / Keith Giffen / Simon Bisley

One of the somewhat rare ’80s reprints that we’ve enjoyed is Superman: The Phantom Zone by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan. This is a very odd, horror-flavored Superman tale as he confronts something unnatural that’s been living in the Phantom Zone… but you weren’t expecting Gerber & Colan to give you the ’50s TV version, were you?

Superman Smashes the Klan has Gene Yang and Gurihiru revisiting and revising the original Superman radio show arc, “Clan of the Fiery Cross.” It’s on the YA side of Superman, but has picked up a LOT of good reviews.

Superman, the current series by Josh Williamson and Jamal Campbell is also on sale and it’s a good one.

While the discount could be higher, Lobo by Giffen/Grant/Bisley is really good stuff… as long as you have a dark sense of humor and aren’t easily offended.

Unannounced Sales

 

  Tales From the Crypt  Resident Alien  Let Me in Your Window

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Dark Horse has their EC Archives on sale. Tales From the Crypt, Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales and that whole family of famous titles.

Resident Alien is a comic by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhose about a stranded alien posing as a doctor and solving murders. It got a little more famous when a TV adaptation hit and a lot more famous when the TV show moved over to Netflix. (And will now be moving over to the USA cable network.) We read the first omnibus and if your point of reference is the TV show, the comic is a little more mystery-oriented. It’s available in

Critical Role from Dark Horse is still on sale. That would be the comics based on the campaigns from the popular web series about Dungeons & Dragons campaigns… and this will take a moment to explain. There’s an omnibus format  and a “regular”  collected edition sale. There are some OGNs/albums filed under the single issue format. (Hey, don’t look at us.) Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Deadpool, Wolverine, Miles Morales and more

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s Marvel week and we’ve got discounts on Deadpool, Wolverine, Miles Morales, Alien, Captain Marvel (all the Marvel ones) and even the Eternals. Plus, Critical Role and they fixed the missing discount on One Piece.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

(Disclosure: If you buy something we link to on our site, we may earn a commission.) In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

$20 on the Clone
Deadpool Classics Deadpool by Posehn and Duggan Deadpool by Joe Kelly

The Marvel Deadpool Sale runs through Monday, 4/27.

Deadpool is… oddly collected. There have been a lot of titles and lot of relaunches. Most of these (except Cable/Deadpool and the Daniel Way era) are absorbed into the Deadpool Classics line of collected editions.  Some, but not all, of the series, have omnibus editions and those are the cheaper way to collect those runs… which means, if you’re a completist and you’re cheap, you’re going to want to be wanting to fill in the Classics volumes around the omnibuses.  And Deadpool Classics V. 1 collects the various miniseries that kicked things off.  In a sense, the easiest way (but perhaps not cheapest – and certainly not the most current) to keep things chronological is to follow the Classics line.

Hey, when was getting Marvel collected editions in the proper order ever easy?

So let’s run down the main titles (Warning – the discounts are more than a little random in some titles):

  • Deadpool Classics (’93 – as far as they’ve gotten)
  • Deadpool (’97-’02) – Known as the Joe Kelly era (with Priest and Gail Epic Collections expanding the section)
  • Cable and Deadpool (’04-’08) – Fabian Nicieza / Mark Brooks / Patrick Zircher (included for completeness – this isn’t on the discount list)
  • Deadpool ( ’08-’12) – The Daniel Way Era
  • Deadpool Team-Up (’09 – ’11) – all sorts of creators for this Deadpool variant on Marvel Two-In-One (and selectively discounted this time)
  • Deadpool Max (’10-’11) – David Lapham / Kyle Baker  (included for completeness – this isn’t on the discount list)
  • Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe (’12) – Cullen Bunn / Dalibor Talajic
  • Deadpool (’12-15) – The Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan Era
  • Deadpool (’15-’17) – Gerry Duggan and many, many artists
  • Despicable Deadpool (’17-’18) – Duggan/Mike Hawthorne
  • Deadpool (’18-’19) – Skottie Young / Nic Klein
  • King Deadpool (’19-’21) – Kelly Thompson / Chris Bachalo
  • Deadpool (’22-’23) – Alyssa Wong / Martin Coccolo
  • Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII (’24) – Joe Kelly / Adam Kubert
  • Deadpool (’24 – ’25 ) Cody Ziglar / Rogê Antônio

Pick your preferred creator and go to town.

The Once and Future Ultimate Spidey

  Miles Morales: Spider-Man  Miles Morales

The Marvel Miles Morales Sale runs through Monday, 4/27.

Miles, of course, was the second Ultimate Spider-Man, but that world no longer exists and now there’s a new Ultimate Spider-Man and… we wouldn’t want to explain that to somebody walking in off the street.

Start with Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (’11-’13) by Brian Bendis / Sara Pichelli / David Marquez. 

Followed by Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man (’14-’15) by Bendis / Marquez.

Then pop over to the  ’16-18 Bendis /Pichelli Spider-Man run. 

You know what’s good and not talked about as much? Spider-Men: Worlds Collide -Brian Michael Bendis / Sara Pichelli / Mark Bagley. This collections the two Spider-Men mini-series where Miles and Peter team up.

And after that wraps, it’s time for Miles Morales by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron.

The most recent series is Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Cody Ziglar and Federico Vicentini. 

Also of interest:

The Spectacular Spider-Men – Greg Weisman and Humberto Ramos bring more Miles / Peter team-ups

And since Miles is a player in the most recent incarnation of the Ultimate Universe:

The Cheapest at What He Does

Wolverine  Predator versus Wolverine  All-New Wolverine    

The Marvel Wolverine Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 12/16.

You ever see Wolverine shell out for expensive beer? He understands cheap.

This is the sale on the “main” Wolverine titles we said would be coming. Let’s start out by listing the various titles involved. (Relaunches? At Marvel? <faints>) The warning from earlier in the week still applies here: the Epic Collections are not on sale this time out and we’re waiting to see if they turn up on sale at a later date.

  • Wolverine (’82) – Chris Claremont / Frank Miller / Paul Smith; The miniseries that kicked off the solo stories and an X-Men 2-parter that’s a sort of follow-up
  • Wolverine (’88-’03) – The original ongoing solo title. Yes, it took six years after the mini… it was a different time
  • Wolverine (’03-’09) – Greg Rucka / Darick Robertson; Mark Millar / John Romita, Jr.; Jason Aaron/Ron Garney… among others
  • Wolverine (’10-’12) – Jason Aaron / Renato Guedes / Ron Garney; “Wolverine Goes to Hell” was not a metaphor
  • Wolverine: Savage Land (’14) – Frank Cho
  • Old Man Logan (’16-’18) – Jeff Lemire / Andrea Sorrentino; While Logan is “dead,” his future dystopian self journeys to the present day. (And it’s actually pretty good, despite the wonky premise.)
  • Return of Wolverine (’18-’19) – Charles Soule / Steve McNiven; “They always come back”
  • Wolverine (’20-’24) – Ben Percy / Adam Kubert; The Krakoan era Logan. The first link is the “omnibus” page, here’s the individual collections page, which are discounted a little further into the series.
  • Predator Vs. Wolverine – Benjamin Percy / Greg Land / Andrea Di Vito / Ken Lashley; Everything you could possibly want in a Predator vs. Wolverine comic — for real
  • Wolverine (’24-present) – Saladin Ahmed / Martin Coccolo
  • Wolverine: Revenge – Jonathan Hickman / Greg Capullo
  • Ultimate WolverineChristopher Condon / Alessandro Cappuccio 

So, what’s actually good that’s discounted this time out?

The  original miniseries is generally regarded as a classic.

With the original series, you’re pretty good from the beginning through the end of the Larry Hama run (a bit after #100), though towards the end of that, the X-Events get annoying. We’re particularly fond of the Archie Goodwin / John Byrne arc from #17-23.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan [Marvel Premier Collection]– Mark Millar / Steve McNiven; Pardon the silliness of only a specific print format being discounted in digital, but this is pretty darn influential.

The Krakoan era, while it almost merged with X-Force (kind of like the triangle era Superman line), was quite enjoyable.

All-New Wolverine is the Tom Taylor / David Lopez / Juan Cabal / Leonard Kirk run on Laura Kinney as Wolverine while Logan was “dead.” It is delightful.

A Corporate View on Extraterrestrials

Alien: Galaxy of Nightmares  Aliens Epic Collection  Aliens vs. Avengers

The Marvel Alien Sale runs through Monday, 4/27    

Marvel’s been doing Aliens for a few years now and there’s one version we liked a LOT.

The Philip Kennedy Johnson Alien sequence (now conveniently in one volume) with Salvador Larroca, followed by Julius Ohta; is essentially one winding tale of Weyland-Yutani Corporation conspiracies that starts out with hiding a few of those eggs that couldn’t possibly get out of control, moves on to interstellar pioneers and religion, then comes back to the living conditions of rogue androids. Effective slow burn storytelling.

We’ve also heard good things about Aliens vs. Avengers by Jonathan Hickman & Esad Ribic, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

Also on the Marvel side:

  • Declan Shalvey’s Alien run
    • V.1 w/ Andrea Broccardo
    • V.2 w/Danny Earls
  • Alien: Paradiso – Steve Foxe / Edgar Salazar / Peter Nguyen

From the original Dark Horse material:

Not A Big Red Cheese?

Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin Captain Marvel Captain Marvel

The Captain Marvel Sale runs through Monday, 9/16.

This one is ALL the Captain Marvels and has a lot of guest appearances, like Avengers collections, on the side. Which means it’s worth a browse. We’re hitting the highlights.

First off, the original Kree Captain Mar-Vell as Captain Marvel:

Is Starlin’s Mar-Vell, the best Mar-Vell? We’d say so.

There are a couple non-Starlin volumes of the  Captain Marvel Masterworks series, but the other one we’d put at the top of the list is V.5 with the Steve Englehart / Al Milgrom run and that’s not discounted as we type this.

Carol Danvers as Ms./Captain Marvel:

OK… brace yourselves… this one has a ton of relaunches:

We think that’s the overly complicated chronology, anyway. For recommendations, we’re not really experts on this set of books, but we’re inclined to say go with the recent Thompson run. Kelly Sue DeConnick has a very dedicated fanbase, so maybe browse the sample pages there and see if that catches your fancy, too?

Then there’s Mar-Vell’s son Genis:

This one is a Peter David joint, through and through. We did read the ’22 version last year and enjoyed it. It has a little more going on than you might think at first.

Hope Springs Eternal

Eternals by Jack Kirby  Eternals  

The Marvel Eternals sale runs through Monday, 4/27.

Always return to the mothership with the Eternals: Eternals by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection. This series originally got a bad rap as something akin to New Gods-lite. We don’t think that’s really accurate. It’s Kirby doing a science fiction-action series while playing with mythological tropes and creating a mythology of his own. (This is where the Celestials start.) It’s also largely staying in it’s own corner of the Marvel universe.

Thor And The Eternals: The Celestials Saga is largely the Roy Thomas / John Buscema / Keith Pollard follow-up to Kirby’s saga, with Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Machio jumping in as writers at the end.

Eternals: The Dreaming Celestial Saga (’85) was a 12-issue maxi-series revisiting the format, initially by Peter B. Gillis / Sal Buscema and then Walt Simonson / Keith Pollard.

Eternals by Gaiman & Romita Jr. (’06) is the (as you might have guessed) Neil Gaiman and John Romita, Jr. trying their hand at the mythos.

It did well enough for Marvel to commission another series in Eternals: To Defy The Apocalypse by Charles Knauf / Daniel Knauf / Fred Van Lente / Daniel Acuna / Eric Nguyen / Pascal Alixe.

Eternals by Kieron Gillen by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic was the ’21 comeback series which fed into the A.X.E.: Judgment Day Event

Unannounced Sales

Critical Role  One Piece  Witchcraft: A Graphic History: Stories of wise women, healers and magic

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Critical Role from Dark Horse is currently on sale. That would be the comics based on the campaigns from the popular web series about Dungeons & Dragons campaigns… and this will take a moment to explain.

There’s an omnibus format  and a “regular”  collected edition sale. There are some OGNs/albums filed under the single issue format. (Hey, don’t look at us.)

Dark Horse still has a Witcher sale going on:

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale