Comixology Sales: The Big Black Friday/Cyber Monday Roundup – DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Viz, Dynamite and much more

The Black Friday Comixology sales are locked in and most of them are running through Cyber Monday. And there are a lot of them. We’re going to be running through them a little more quickly than usual, though you can go back to the previous two columns for more depth on select sales.

Since we’ve gotten requests for it, there are now links to the Amazon versions of these sales. Amazon and Comixology are in the same ecosphere, after all.

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

DC’s ~2,400 Graphic Novels Sale

DC’s Black Friday deal is in three parts and the whole thing has it’s own page. (Amazon version) Last time we talked about some titles from the $4.99 section of the sale, since DC doesn’t go under $5.99 with great regularity unlike other publishers. Today let’s take a quick look at the rest of the sale.

22 out of 23 volumes of the Vertigo version of John Constantine, Hellblazer are on sale for $5.99/$6.99. Those haven’t all been on sale at once in a while and there’s a reason the series ran so long.

Batman Universe by Brian Bendis and Nick Derington really didn’t make a splash when it it came out, which is a shame. This is a FUN Batman title (yes, that’s possible) as the caped crusader finds himself chasing<spoilers> through time and space. There’s a little old school The Brave and the Bold in it with lots of guest stars and the banter/bickering with Alfred is well done. Lucky you, it’s 59% off.

For an old school option, Jack Kirby’s New Gods is a classic and one of DC’s better values with 424 pages for your $6.99. 2,400-ish graphic novels for you to browse before Cyber Monday ends, so get to it.

The Marvel Deals

The Dawn of X Sale (Amazon Version) – We had plenty to sayabout the Dawn of X collections on Monday. Short version – the anthology reading format is interesting and has merit.

The Marvel Earth Shattering Events Sale (Amazon Version), modestly named as it, runs until Thursday 12/3. We spoke a little more about it last Monday, too. Short version: if you go old school like Kree/Skrull War, Armor Wars or Asgardian Wars, the plots are a little more contained.

Dark Horse, Part 2

Last time out, we talked about some of the goodies in Part 1 of the Dark Horse Graphic Novel Sale. This time, we’ll look at Part 2, as promised. (Amazon has all the Dark Horse material in one link.)

Possibly the greatest samurai manga of all time Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima is a great value. Most of these volumes are around 300 pages for the sale price of $2.99. A disgraced executioner bides his time as an assassin while seeking revenge on those who framed him, all while caring for his 3 year old son. (Be aware, there are very graphic sword fights in this. It’s not a YA title.)

Kabuki is David Mack’s critically acclaimed saga of a Japanese government assassin caught in a struggle between her agency and the yakuza. At 360+ pages for $4.99, these are also good buys.

Light Brigade is Peter Tomasi’s and Peter Snejbjerg’s tale of WWII U.S. soldiers who find themselves charged with recovering the Sword of God before the Nazis and Fallen Angels get their hands on it. An excellent comic that’s largely flown under the radar.

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The Big Comixology Sale Roundup

The Image Black Friday Sale (Amazon version) we discussed last time. It feels like their full digital library is on sale from the recent Brubaker/Phillips Pulp to years of Spawn and Savage Dragon. The best bang for your buck might be the massive Walking Dead and Invincible Compendiums.

The Dynamite Black Friday Sale (Amazon version) is 605 items deep. Interesting items include the sly Watchmen commentary in Kieron Gillen’s Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt and classics like Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! and Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar.

The Comixology Originals Sale (Amazon version) is Comixology’s eclectic line of commissioned comics and manga imports. We’ve spoken a bit about Elephantmen in the past, which moved over from Image. We also like Delver by Spike Trottman and MK Reed, a fantasy comics that might fall into the LitRPG literary genre, but also gets into the economics repercussions of adventurers showing up when the entrance to a mystical dungeon materializes in a remote farming community.

The Viz Black Friday Sale (Amazon version) isn’t the best deal you’re going to find today at only 43% off, but there’s a ton of Blue Exorcist, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! at a $3.99 price point.

The Kodansha Black Friday Sale (Amazon Version) has the first volumes in various series like Attack on Titan, Beck and Ghost in the Shell for $0.99 each – i.e., cheap.

The Best of Archie Sale (Amazon version) has classic Archie, modern Archie and some Riverdale thrown in for good measure. Some of the V. 1’s are $0.99, too.

The Best of IDW Sale (Amazon version) strangely does not have Ragnarok in it… but it does have some flagship titles like Locke & Key, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony.

The Best of BOOM! Sale (Amazon version) is a small one. You’ll find Giant Days, Irredeemable, Angel (as in Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Lumberjanes and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. We loved Irredeemable, a Mark Waid/Peter Krause superhero tale (universe, really) where the elevator pitch might be “What if Superman had a psychotic break?” – NOTE: the Comixology version of this has some $0.99 first volumes. Amazon does have the same pricing, but not on the sale page. You’ll need to go to the series page on Amazon for that.

The Best of Humanoids Sale (Amazon Version) is mostly $0.99 books on Comixology (be warned – these are $4.99 on Amazon). The Incal sequence by Jodorowsky and Moebius is the publisher’s flagship, along with its many spinoffs. If you’d like something a little more interesting Kabul Disco is an amusing account of ex-pat life in Afghanistan where the laughs come with a chill.

The Best of Valiant Sale (Amazon version) runs through 12/03. We’ve covered this one before, but it’s hard to beat $0.99 Volume 1’s and Archer & Armstrong is a scream.

The Best of Oni Sale (currently no Amazon master link for the sale, but here’s V.1 of Letter 44.) also runs through 12/3. While The Sixth Gun is a glaring omission from a “Best of” list, you’ve probably already heard of Scott Pilgrim and Letter 44 by Charles Soule and Alberto Alburquerque, about political intrigue surrounding a first contact incident, is a real page turner.

Posted on November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Black Friday $4.99 Graphic Novels from DC; Image and Dark Horse have extra wide 50% off sales

The Black Friday Comixology sales are heating up. Joining Marvel in the fray is a $4.99 graphic novel sale at DC and deep rosters of half-off books from Dark Horse and Image.

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

DC’s Got a $4.99 Sale

DC’s got multiple sales going on… they even have their own special Black Friday Sale page. At the top of that page is the $4.99 section we’re going to pay a little more attention to, as DC doesn’t go down to $4.99 every week. You’ve got until Monday (11/30) to browse this one.

The Unwritten is a long-running Vertigo title by Mike Carey (perhaps better known these days as M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts) and Peter Gross. Tom Taylor’s father wrote books about a boy wizard named Tom Taylor. Is Tom his father’s son, the actual character from the books or something else? Magic, conspiracies and unwanted celebrity collide in this one. Save a couple bucks – Unwritten Deluxe Book One collects the first two tpbs for less.

Prez may not have seen it’s natural end, but it’s so timely right now. This Mark Russell/Ben Caldwell/Mark Morales book tells the tale of the Corndog Girl when a series of coincidences involving social media and a contested election sent to Congress for a vote land her in the Oval Office. Worth it just for the “how to pick a Vice President” sequence.

Batman: Gothic is one of Grant Morrison’s early Batman tales. Drawn by Klaus Jansen, it finds Batman drawn into a conflict between Gotham’s mobsters and killer who won’t stay dead. It’s called “Gothic” because Morrison was heavily influenced by gothic horror when writing it.

Dark Horse discounts for Black Friday

Dark Horse has just about everything except the original run of Dark Horse Comics Presents on sale. Today, we’ll have a look at Part 1 of their Graphic Novel sale. (We’ll hit Part 2 on Friday, but feel free to skip ahead if you’re itching for Lone Wolf and Cub.) As is our custom, we’ll try and highlight things that haven’t been part of recent sales, but rest assured that the usual suspect are also 50% off.

Have you tried Blacksad yet? Blacksad is a Raymond Chandler-esque detective series that happens to be done in anthropomorphic style. The characters are animals, but it’s absolutely not a funny animal comic, it’s hard boiled detective stories. Old school. It’s by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. It’s one of the best illustrated comics out there, too.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years is just what it says it is: Kubert’s complete early 70s Tarzan run for DC. A labor of love from one of the most influential artists… and that complete edition is a lot more convenient than when I had to go tracking down the archive editions in print!

Finder is Carla Speed McNeil’s long running science fiction series. It’s heavy on world building and especially culture building. Finder racks up awards: Igantz, Eisner and even an LA Times Book Prize. It’s criminal that its not better known. Also, the first two “Finder Library” volumes are over 600 pages each, so an excellent value on top of the quality work.

This sale runs through Monday (11/30). There are also two single issue sales: Part one takes you from the beginning of the alphabet into “I.” Part 2 finishes the set.

Image goes Black Friday, too

Image also has pretty much the entire catalog on sale for Black Friday. 1,463 items for you to browse between now and Cyber Monday (11/30). This is a 50% off sale, so if you were meaning to pick up a digital collection, dig around for it and the odds are good it’ll be there. A few items of possible interest?

Die (as in “dice”) is a fantasy adventure by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans about a middle-aged group of friends discovering an otherworldly incident involving a role-playing game in their teen years isn’t over after all. If you wanted to do the Hollywood cliche elevator pitch on this one, “The Dungeons & Dragon cartoon meets It” would not be unreasonable. It’s very good, but be aware it’s as darkly-themed a comic as there is on the market.

Kane is Paul Grist’s cult harboiled detective series about a cop in corrupt department. He might be a little better known in the U.S. for Jack Staff or his Doctor Who work, but this is where he made his name.

Kick-Ass has been over at Image for a spell. This comes in two flavors: the better known “Dave” years are by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. After the opening arc for “The New Girl,” they tag out for Steve Niles and Marcelo Frusin.

Still on Sale

Marvel Dawn of X Sale – through Sunday (11/29)
Marvel Spectacular Spider-Man Sale – through Sunday (11/29)
Marvel World Shattering Events Sale – Through Thursday (12/3)

Posted on November 24, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Marvel’s Black Friday Push Starts with X-Men, Spider-Man and Events

As Black Friday approaches, Marvel’s brought out some bigger names for their Comixology sales. Hickman’s X-Men is on center stage with the Spectacular version of Spider-Man and their Events flanking them.

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

Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men Universe

Let’s start things out with X-Men, because the Dawn of X Sale also features an interesting collection format that’s worth talking about. Dawn of X is the umbrella title for the X-Men family of titles as overseen/showrun by Jonathan Hickman. Whichhas been a nice run, truth be told.

This all starts out with the House of X / Powers of X collection that sets the table for this X-Men format. I suppose you don’t absolutely have to read it before diving in, but it’s definitely helpful.

Once you’re past that, there are two options for reading the Hickman era (both of which are on sale): the collected editions of the individual titles or the Dawn of X collections. Dawn of X is an interesting construction. Generally speaking, they’re taking 6 of the X-Men comics and packing them as a book format of that month’s titles for $10.99 in digital (the first seven volumes are $3.99@ in this sale). Now, sometimes they’ll have two issues of one title in the package and so on, but it’s an interesting way to read the story of the X-Men universe as it unfolds in the monthlies, as opposed to how collected edition readers usually only read things title by title. Personally, as someone reading the X-line in single issues, I find I do get a little more out of the line by reading the entire set. Some of the story elements bleed into other books, particularly early on, and it does help with the worldbuilding. This format is probably the best way to experience that in collected editions.

It’s also a format we could see more of in the future. You frequently hear apocalyptic stories about the death of print comics and single issue comics. While we’re not seeing any imminent danger of that, this is the sort of format that could effectively bundle single issue comics in a way more compatible with bookstore shelves. It’s also potentially the way to handle anthology comics, which there are always questions about when industry figures discuss new formats and alternate strategies.

Dawn of X is a themed anthology, though one where the stories are more tightly interwoven than most. You could picture something similar being down with Batman, especially, as well as properties like Spider-Man, Superman, Avengers and Justice League. It would take a lot of work to make one of those franchises into its own little corner of a greater superhero universe the way Dawn of X is architected, but it’s certainly an experiment we could see more of and I think it’s worth contemplating the possibilities if reading the X-line in this format is interesting to you. This sale runs through Sunday (11/29).

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man

Next up on Marvel’s Black Friday trail, The Spectacular Spider-Man Sale. Not Amazing, Spectacular. The major flavors here are: original series / Peter Parker, the under-rated ’03 -’05 Spectacular Spider-Man that was primarily written by Paul Jenkins with art by Humberto Ramos or Mark Buckingham and the more recent Chip Zdarksy/Adam Kubert Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Of particular note, while it’s on the dark side for Spidey, The Death of Jean DeWolff is considered a classic. This sale runs through Thursday (11/26 — gobble, gobble).

Marvel does like big crossover Events

Finally, there’s the “Marvel World-Shattering Events Sale.” You’re probably familiar with the more recent events, since Marvel’s marketing typically runs through them. Have a browse through the sale for those, but I’ll recommend some older Events instead that are a little more contained and with tighter circles of creators.

Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War is the granddaddy of Marvel Events in many ways. This Roy Thomas / Neal Adams / John Buscema / Sal Buscema reverberated through future events like the Annihilation sequence and Empyre.

Iron Man: Armor Wars(or “Stark Wars” as it was originally known) has Tony looking to repossess some of his stolen technology and finding himself in all manner of trouble over it. This David Michelinie/Bob Layton/Mark Bright run was a trendsetter.

X-Men: Asgardian Wars has Loki causing all manner of trouble for the X-Men, New Mutants and Alpha Flight. Written by Chris Claremont with A+ art from Paul Smith and Arthur Adams, this is one of the more fun X-Men sequences.

This sale runs through Thursday, 12/03.

Still on Sale

DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels Part 1 and Part 2, through Monday, 11/23
Titan Doctor Who Sale, through Monday, 11/23

Posted on November 22, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales – The Kingdom Come Sequel, Luke Cage, Legion of Super-Heroes, Archer & Armstrong and a Valiant Sampler

As Black Friday approaches, the Comixology sales continue to have that flavor. DC favors graphic novels. Marvel favors Luke Cage and… “Brute Force.” Valiant’s showcasing their early titles.

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

DC’s Graphic Novel Sale Marches On

Last time we looked at Part 1 of DC’s Black Friday runup sale for Graphic Novels, so this time we’ll have a look at some overlooked gems from “DC Road to Black Friday – Graphic Novels II.” (We do not know who comes up with these catchy names…)

While it’s not the best value in terms of price per pages, the ’07 version of Justice Society has 3 volumes where Alex Ross joins Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham for “They Kingdom Come,” Ross’s follow up to Kingdom Come. DC never really pushed it when it was coming out and not everyone knows it exists.

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse might be the best value of this batch. It contains “The Great Darkness Saga” where Darkseid pops up to…. well, that would be telling. It also has the material on either side of that classic arc. It’s the beginning of the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen run and one of the very best Legion of Super-Heroes periods. It’s also a fat 544 pages for $6.99. Great stories and great bang for your buck.

Night Force by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan has the Tomb of Dracula creative team reuniting at DC for a horror series about a mansion that’s a portal to different times and places with the mysterious Baron Winter inhabiting it like the spider controlling its web. Marv told me it’s his favorite work and it really should be better known. I’ve always enjoyed it and it always comes back for another round every decade or so. This is the original run.

This runs through Monday (11/23) so there’s still a little time to browse. If you don’t mind the elevated price and packing the Steve Gerber/Michael Golden/Russ Heath pairing on Mr. Miracle is pure gold that was entirely too short lived.

Marvel’s Offerings

Marvel leads with a Brute Force Sale. It’s animal-centric and… you need to see this one for yourself.

Then it’s on to the Luke Cage Sale. The traditionalist view would be the original Hero for Hire / Power Man series. For an alternate take, perhaps Cage! by animation legend Genny (Samurai Jack) Tartakovsky?

Both sales run through Sunday (11/22).

Valiant Origins

I might quibble that The Best of Valiant Sale doesn’t include any Britannia, but Valiant has some nice offerings. To pick three?

Archer & Armstrong by Fred Van Lente with Clayton Henry and Pere Perez as the main artists is a hilarious romp with a cult escapee and a drunken immortal trying to foil a conspiracy by “The 1%.” It’s great.

Bloodshot, particularly the first 3 volumes by Duane Swierczynski , Manuel Garcia and Barry Kitson, is a rare creature. An action shoot ’em up with some genuinely interesting subtext. Bloodshot isn’t completely sure who he is… or rather who he was. His current existence is as a nano-tech enhanced supersoldier, but his employers are rewriting his memory. So as he escapes from his less than equitable terms of employment, he also has to figure out who he is and who he was. It’s an action epic that’s also about personal identity.

Harbinger by Joshua Dysart and Khari Evans is sort of the mutant title for the start of the Valiant universe. Except they’re “psiots” at Valiant. It’s a psychologically dark tale of a particularly powerful psiot trying to stay out of the system and a group of psiot friends that assemble around him as the clash with the mysterious billionaire psiot who’d really like to have them in his charitable foundation / school / indoctrination center from which conspiracies spring forth.

And yes, the Bloodshot and Harbinger conspiracies are most definitely on a collision course. Bottom line? The first volumes are all $0.99 (cheap) and that’s hard to beat.

Still on Sale

Miles Morales: Spider-Man through Sunday, 11/22

The Witcher through Monday, 11/23

Doctor Who through Monday, 11/23

Posted on November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Big DC Sale, Batman, Spider-Man, James Bond, Fear Agent, Bendis’s Goldfish and More

This week’s Comixology sales include a wide ranging DC graphic novel sale, Spider-Man’s married years, James Bond and the end of the Image Science Fiction blowout.

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

DC Graphic Novels

DC is having their 2-Part “Road to Black Friday” graphic novel sale, so here’s DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels I. (We’ll come back for a closer look at Part 2 of the sale on Friday.) Part 1 is essentially Action Comics through Justice League and features a whole lot of Batman.

In fact, several of Part 1’s value buys involve Batman. As you may recall, James Tynion IV is the current Batman writer. When the “Rebirth” relaunch started, he was the writer for an extended run on Detective Comics and it was very much what I’d call a “Batman Family” affair. The “deluxe editions” of that run are $7.99 a pop for roughly 12 issues of material per volume. That’s a decent value and the volumes are linked below:

Even you’d like even more bang for your buck, Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin gets you 471 pages of Batman written by one of the best writers (and editors) in comics for $7.99. Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart is a couple dollars more for roughly an issue less of material, but I believe it’s the complete collection of one of the most influential Batman scribes. Plenty of Batman to sift through if you go to the main sale page.

Stepping away from Batman, other titles of interest include: Boy Commandos V. 2 – That’s the second collection of the highly influential 1940’s Simon & Kirby comic about a kid gang that punches Nazis. It seems highly unlikely you’d ever see the print edition for $5.99. (85% off list)

Dial H is weird fiction legend China Miéville’s dark, quirky and surreal take on Dial H for Hero with Mateus Santolouco and Alberto Ponticelli on art. This was criminally overlooked by most people when it came out and 398 pages for $7.99 is a good buy, too.

Before he ever set foot at DC or Marvel, Brian Bendis did crime comics. He didn’t just write them, he drew them. Goldfish is the story of a con man returning to Cleveland looking for his son and it’s one of the tales that put Bendis on the map. You don’t hear about it much, these day, but it’s good one. There’s over 900 graphic novels in part 1 of the sale, which runs through Monday (11/23)

Spider-Man’s Married Life

Meanwhile, over at Marvel, the Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows Sale is running through Thursday (11/19). That would be the adventures of a married Peter and Mary Jane, along with their daughter, Annie. It started out as a Secret Wars spin-off mini by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert. Then it came back as a regular series, initially by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman.

Dynamite’s First Volumes

Also ending on Thursday (11/19) is the Dynamite Vol. 1’s Sale, which is Dynamite putting the first volumes in various series on sale. The Shadow, Vol. 1: Fire of Creation is Garth Ennis’s take on the pulp character with art by Aaron Campbell (who’s been killing on Hellblazer).

If you enjoy the original Ian Fleming novels, James Bond: Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida will put you in a happy place – it brings SMERSH back into the Bond equation and it’s old school in all the best ways.

Red Sonja: Scorched Earth by Mark Russell and Mirko Colak is a very unusual Red Sonja tale. It works as a satire of the philosophy of kings and it also works as an adventure. Who knew Mark Russell would adapt so well to sword & sorcery? Worth a look.

Image’s Science Fiction

Thursday (11/19) is also last call for the Image Science Fiction Sale. Here are a couple more things of note from that sale.

Fear Agent is a SF series from Rick Remender, Tony Moore and Jerome Opena about a booze-soaked alien exterminator that was a critical darling when it was coming out.

Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is trippy, dimension hopping espionage caper that has a certain Jerry Cornelius vibe to it.

Still on Sale:

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (through Sunday, 11/22)

Dark Horse Witcher Sale (through Monday, 11/23) Note: The Omnibus is the best deal by a lot.

Posted on November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Ant-Man, Hellboy & The BPRD, Saga & Image Science Fiction, Miles Morales: Spider-man and More

Marvel’s so excited about their Ant-Man sale on Comixology, they renamed Tales to Astonish! Plus Hellboy & the B.P.R.D., Saga, Outer Darkness, Elephantmen, Miles Morales: Spider-Man and a bunch more digital comics at deep discounts.

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

Marvel leads the weekend with its Ant-Man Sale. Ant-Man comes in primarily two flavors: Hank Pym and Scott Lang. (We’re going to ignore O’Grady.) For Hank Pym’s original Tales to Astonish run, your best deal is picking up the two Marvel Masterworks volumes. You should, regardless, click that link and see how Marvel has rebranded those Tales to Astonish issues as “Ant-Man.” Even the ones after Pym had switched his identity to Giant Man. It’s a hoot. Those pre-Hulk Tales of Astonish are also available in the original format (i.e., as Tales to Astonish), but those versions aren’t on sale. This sale runs until Sunday (11/15).

For Scott Lang, there have been a few recent titles and they’ve tended towards tongue-in-cheek. There were two Nick Spencer/Ramon Rosanas runs: Second Chance Man sets up the new status quo as the bumbling hard luck father seeking approval. Astonishing Ant-Man then continues that arc.

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Lost and Found by Mark Waid and Javier Garron finds Scott Lang and Nadia Pym lost in subatomic space. Ant-Man: World Hive by Zeb Wells and Dylan Burnett finds Scott Lang wearing out his welcome as a house guest in an ant hill while encountering an insect conspiracy and is forced to team up with Swarm. Yes, that would be the Swarm whose body is made of bees.

Then there’s the Dark Horse Hellboy & BPRD Sale through Monday (11/16). I had occasion to go back and re-read most of these a few months ago and it’s high quality work. BPRD is also very much an ongoing saga told in large acts. There are a lot creators involved in the saga, with Mike Mignola and John Arcudi being the primary writers through Hell on Earth. Guy Davis is the primary artist for most of Plague of Frogs and Hell on Earth.

The prequel is B.P.R.D. 1946 – 1948 featuring Prof. Bruttenholm and his original agents running down Nazi vampire experiments. That’s a 469 page volume with three series in it.

The BPRD sequence really starts with The Plague of Frogs. Specifically, it starts picking up about halfway through the first omnibus as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense investigates the increasing appearances of frog-like monsters and slowly come to realize something very bad is on the way. This leads into the next sequence, Hell on Earth, which is accurately named. Ancient powers get unleashed and the world is just trying to survive. You know how with a lot comics, you can be pretty sure they’re not going to that dark, disaster-ridden place? Well, BPRD goes there. And does it well. The best value for these titles is the omnibus editions, which are all 400+ pages (i.e., 3 of the regular collected editions). There’s a bit more in the series, but those three sequences are the backbone and everything I’ve ever read of the series has been high quality.

Let’s also talk a little more about the ongoing Image Science Fiction Sale that runs through Thursday (11/19). So much good stuff in this one. Farmhand by Rob Guillory is about a farm that grows replacement organs instead of corn and the strange things that are starting to happen to the transplants. You may remember Rob as the artist of Chew. If you liked Chew, you should like Farmhand. It might be a little darker, but the two are very much compatible. Speaking of Chew, Outer Darkness by Chew writer John Layman and Afu Chan is also on sale. Outer Darkness is about ghosts and demonic possessions in the outer reaches of space and it’s fantastic. It also ends with a Chew crossover. Saga is also on sale. What else really needs to be said about the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples classic, other than we’re all impatiently waiting for new issues to resume? Note: as is often the case with Image, it’s slightly less expensive to get the “Collected Editions” than the “Omnibuses” in digital. It usually works the other way with Dark Horse digital sales.

The Elephantmen Sale contains the Image run of Richard Starking’s long-running Elephantmen series. Comixology scooped this series up as an exclusive title, post-Image. The “elephantmen” are genetically engineered human/animal hybrids bred and trained to be mercenaries by a company the sought to own them and rent them out. Eventually, things changed and the survivors seek to integrate back into society with a lot of baggage from their wars and old scores that pop up wanting to be settled. Starking assembled a wonderful set of artists like Moritat and Ladronn for the series and it’s definitely worth a look.

Still on sale

The Miles Morales: Spider-Man Sale through Sunday 11/22.
The DC Back in the 90s Sale through Monday 11/16.

The Eternals through Sunday 11/15
The Image Donny Cates Sale through Monday 11/16

The IDW Judge Dredd Sale through Monday 11/16
Resident Alien through Monday, 11/16

Posted on November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Miles Morales – Spider-Man, DC in the ’90s, Image SF Titles, The Eternals and More

Current Comixology sales include Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby’s The Eternals from Marvel, an eclectic selection of 90s comics from DC and Image has a big batch of science fiction on a deep discount.

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

Let’s start things out with a Spider-Man sale. Specifically a Miles Morales sale. If you’re looking for Miles in solo spider-adventures, the best value is the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set. 300+ page volumes for $7.99 – and the first one includes the Spider-Men mini-series, which lives up to the hype. If you want to maximize pages for your dollar, there are a couple things of extra interest here. The All-New All-Different Avengers Collection which is the Champions precursor by Mark Waid/Adam Kubert/Mahmud Asrar gets you 401 pages for $7.99. And then Champions: Because The World Still Needs Heroes is the first 12 issues of that title, 305 pages for $4.99.

Starman by James Robinson and (initially) Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger was one of DC’s best titles of the mid-to-late 90s. An early legacy title, this one was heavy on the character development and a sense of history. It’s one of the more glaring absences from DC’s reprint library. Both collections are on sale, but the rest of the series is available in digital.

Sandman Mystery Theater was the rare early to mid-90s non-horror Vertigo title. It told the pulp-ish adventures of the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds – you know, the one with the gas mask – against a pre-WWII backdrop. Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with Guy Davis being the most regular artist, this is another one where only two collections have been produced, despite a lengthy run and you need to go to digital singles to finish it. And it’s worth finishing.

The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and you’re going to a pattern here, also has two collections out and then the rest of the run is available as digital singles. A surprisingly philosophical horror series by the end, set in the DCU, Jim Corrigan tries to come to grips with his death and existence as the host for a brutally vengeful and extremely powerful spirit.

In the early 90s, Lobo was the baddest bastich there was. We will not speak of New 52 Lobo. The original series of mini-series and specials by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley and company, was edgy and filled with off-color humor. An effective tool for offending the easily offended, as MTV used to say about Monty Python. You want the original, not the revival.

And for something that’s frequently overlooked, have a look at The Atlantis Chronicles in single issues. (Yes, they rudely kept the first issue at $1.99). These double-sized issues written by Peter David and wonderfully illustrated by Esteban Maroto are the trident and sorcery story of the rise and fall of Atlantis. It’s a real achievement that flew under a lot of radars.

Running through next Thursday (11/19) is the Image Science Fiction Sale where a number of their SF collections are sale. Suggestions?

Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (who one an Eisner for his art on the series) is the tale of little boy who happens to be a robot, searching for his family as humanity against the backdrop of an uprising. Wonderful series. The collected editions are less expensive than the omnibus editions during the sale.

Paper Girls is a time travel adventure about four twelve year old girls who deliver newspapers and stumble into something far bigger. It’s by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. This is another title where it’s less expensive to get the regular collected editions than the Omnibus editions during the sale.

Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov is a one-off where a Flash Gordon-type adventurer is pulled out of retirement in his golden years when the planet he saved 40 years earlier runs into trouble. A breezy space opera with superior art.

Running through Sunday (11/15) is Marvel’s Eternals Sale. Yes, there’s going to be a movie out eventually and it’s also where the Celestials came from. This is a case where you absolutely want to start at the source: the original Jack Kirby series (save a couple bucks and get the omnibus). If that floated your boat, and it should, move on to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita, Jr. Mini-series.

Eternals by Jack Kirby

Still on Sale:

Wolverine Legacy Sale through Thursday (11/12)

Star Wars Bounty Hunters and Jedi Sale through Thursday (11/12)

Image Donny Cates Sale through Monday (11/16)

Posted on November 11, 2020November 12, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comics.Cheap

The Best of Comixology Sales and Cheap Digital Comics

Comics.Cheap

Month: November 2020

Comixology Sales: The Big Black Friday/Cyber Monday Roundup – DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Viz, Dynamite and much more

DC’s ~2,400 Graphic Novels Sale

The Marvel Deals

Dark Horse, Part 2

The Big Comixology Sale Roundup

Comixology Sales: Black Friday $4.99 Graphic Novels from DC; Image and Dark Horse have extra wide 50% off sales

DC’s Got a $4.99 Sale

Dark Horse discounts for Black Friday

Image goes Black Friday, too

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Marvel’s Black Friday Push Starts with X-Men, Spider-Man and Events

Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men Universe

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man

Marvel does like big crossover Events

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales – The Kingdom Come Sequel, Luke Cage, Legion of Super-Heroes, Archer & Armstrong and a Valiant Sampler

DC’s Graphic Novel Sale Marches On

Marvel’s Offerings

Valiant Origins

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Big DC Sale, Batman, Spider-Man, James Bond, Fear Agent, Bendis’s Goldfish and More

DC Graphic Novels

Spider-Man’s Married Life

Dynamite’s First Volumes

Image’s Science Fiction

Comixology Sales: Ant-Man, Hellboy & The BPRD, Saga & Image Science Fiction, Miles Morales: Spider-man and More

Comixology Sales: Miles Morales – Spider-Man, DC in the ’90s, Image SF Titles, The Eternals and More