Month: March 2021

Comixology Sales: Invincible (and The Walking Dead), X-Men, Giant-Size Man-Thing and the DCU

Highlights of the Comixology Sales this week include Robert Kirkman taking a discount victory lap for the debut of the Invincible animated series, X-Men and Steve Gerber’s Man-Thing at Marvel and a DC universe mass sampling event.

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

Foundational X-Men Spin-Offs

The Marvel X-Men Universe Sale runs through Sunday, 3/28.

There’s a lot of X-Men material here, some of which we’ve discussed before, so we’ll look at some ’80s foundational pieces here.

X-Men: Kitty Pride & Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Al Milgrom was a sequel of sort to the Wolverine mini-series and is where Kitty got her martial arts training.

Longshot by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams is the original Longshot/Mojo tale. Nocenti’s having a moment over at Berger Books with The Seeds and… it has been awhile since we’ve seen Art Adams doing extended interior work.

Magick by Chris Clarement with a succession of John Buscema, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema all finished by Tom Palmer on the art. This was a fairly dark story when it came out: the tale of how Illyana Rasputin was kidnapped to Limbo, taught sorcery by the demon Belasco and emerged as the Magick we know today.

Kitty Pride & Wolverine   Longshot   Magick

Includes Giant-Size Man-Thing (yes, that’s a real comic)

The Marvel Man-Thing Sale runs through Sunday, 3/28… but let’s call this a Steve Gerber sale because his runs on the feature are the prize here.  Gerber being one of the finest writers to grace a comics page.

The original run is collected in Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection.  Yes, these do collect the infamous Giant-Size Man-Thing issues. A third volume isn’t out yet (thus, not on sale) and it even contains the late 80s Marvel Comics Presents serial, so they aren’t kidding about complete.

The Infernal Man-Thing is more recent, a posthumously published tale by Gerber with art by Kevin Nowlan. (!) It’s actually a sequel to “Song-Cry of the Living Dead Man” from the original run (which is included in the book).

Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection is probably Gerber’s signature work. It’s also a Man-Thing spin-off. Here at the Tower of Cheap, we try to avoid non-Gerber Howard the Duck (though we’re quite happy with Destroyer Duck), you need the first two volumes. Past that… it ain’t Gerber.

Man-Thing by Steve Gerber   Infernal Man-Thing   Howard the Duck

 

Across the Multiverse

The DC Explore the Multiverse Sale is split into to parts, A-L and M- Z.  The sale runs through Monday, 4/1.  There’s quite a bit here, so it’s worth and extended browse.  Some of the better material:

Man and Superman (Deluxe Edition) by Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini is something of a miracle. It was sitting in a draw at DC for YEARS before someone had the good sense to publish it. There have been several “how Clark Kent came to Metropolis and became Superman.” This is one of, possibly THE best of those.  They’d be well served to make it the jumping off point next time Superman gets reset. Excellent comic and a love letter to the Man of Steel.

Speaking of Superman, you’ve probably heard good things about Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Yuen Yang and Gurihiru. Believe them. This is the top shelf of the Young Adult superhero comics from DC.

If you’d like something rare, Batman Death Mask, the manga by Yoshinori Natsume is one of the few comics DC is discounting over 50%.  60% off is not common for DC these days!

Man and Superman   Superman Smashes The Klan   Batman Death Mask

Everything’s Coming Up Kirkman

The Robert Kirkman Sale Featuring Invincible runs through Tuesday, 5/4.

You might have heard that the Invincible animated series has dropped on Amazon Prime, but this is actually a sale on pretty much all of Kirkman’s Image output.  As always, the “Compendium” omnibus editions are incredible values, particularly Invincible and Walking Dead.  The Astounding Wolf-Man Complete Collection is not quite as good a buy, but you know what?  It still comes out to less than 99-cents per issue and it’s not on sale as often.

Invincible   Walking Dead   Astounding Wolf-Man

 

Still On Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Marvel Buy One, Get One Free with Falcon & the Winter Soldier; plus Carnage, Justice League, Baltimore and Peanuts

This week’s Comixology sale include a BOGO sale at Marvel, with Falcon & The Winter Soldier and Carnage lined up for discount multipliers.  Plus, the Justice League, Mignola’s Baltimore and Peanuts.

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

Marvel Bogo!

Yes, that’s right – click here for the Marvel Buy One, Get One Free sale running through 11PM EST on Monday, 3/22.  Enter the code in your cart and the second comic of an equal (or lessor) price is free. Remember, you can stack the BOGO on top of the existing sales! Get yourself some extra cheap Captain America comics!

It’s like there was a TV show debuting or something…

Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier Sale runs through Sunday (3/21)

There’s a lot to like in this sale, so let’s take it chronologically.

First, you have selections from the original Captain America & The Falcon.  We’d point you to 4 of the 5 sales items here.  From the Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema era: Secret Empire and Nomad. Secret Empire (if you’re picking between the two, pick this one) has Cap and the Falcon tracking a conspiracy to the highest levels of government. Nomad has Cap so shaken from the fallout of said conspiracy, he gives up his costume.  From Jack Kirby’s 70s run, you have Madbomb where Cap and Falcon track down a plot by wealthy would be revolutionaries to use psychic bombs to start riots.  It’s pretty relevant today. You also have The Swine, which brings back The Red Skull.

Flash forward ~25 years and we still think too many people were sleeping Captain America & The Falcon by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection. There are several artists involved with this one – Bart Sears and Joe Bennett being the leads.  The signature tale has Cap and Falcon crossing swords with a drug cartel and a military black ops super soldier program.

If you’re looking for Winter Soldier, the Captain America crew of Ed Brubaker / Butch Guice / Michael Lark have 3 volumes here as Bucky Barnes and the Black Widow chase Russian sleeper agents from the Winter Soldier’s old program.

 x Captain America & the Falcon by Christopher Priest   Winter Soldier

When Venom isn’t enough

The Marvel Carnage Sale runs through Thursday (3/25).

We prefer a more unusual take on the character – the Gerry Conway/Mike Perkins Carnage that involves the Book of Darkhold and is an updated 70s horror-style series in many ways.

You might prefer the more recent Donny Cates / Ryan Stegman Absolute Carnage.

Carnage   Absolute Carnage

Gosh, could there be a Director’s Cut involved here?

The DC Rise of the Justice League Sale runs through Monday (3/22) and they’ve broken it into three links: Graphic Novels, Single Issues Part 1 and Single Issues Part 2. DC is offering lower discounts on the graphic novels than other publishers, so remember to keep an eye on how many issues are collected in each volume.  Most of these issues are going to be available for $0.99, so in some cases it will be cheaper to grab those.

Ignore the omnibus and head for the Justice League International collected editions. This is the bwa ha ha era (which did have a few dramatic moments) with Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon as the originating creative squad. This collection format branches to include Justice League Europe when that debuts. A good era, if one of the most unconventional.

If you’re looking for something a bit more current, the Scott Snyder Justice League run is on sale. The first post-Snyder volume (with Robert Venditti writing) is not on sale, but most of the single issues of that arc are $0.99, if you’re so inclined.

Justice League International   Justice League

Definitely Not Hot L Baltimore

The Dark Horse Baltimore Sale runs through Monday (3/29).

One Mike Mignola’s secondary historical fictions, this Mignola/Christopher Golden/Ben Stenbeck collaborations takes us back to the end of WWI, where Lord Baltimore discovers the hard way that’s there’s a whole bunch of vampires floating around Europe.  He departs on 1000+ page quest of vengeance that’s now conveniently collected in two omnibus editions. We had a real good time revisiting BPRD in Omnibus format last summer and have this on our entered on our “to  read” list.

Baltimore Omnibus Volume 1 and Volume 2

Baltimore Omnibus 1   Baltimore Omnibus Volume 2

All this and a beagle, too…

The Fantagraphics Peanuts Sale runs through Monday (3/29).  Yes, that’s a lot of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

The Complete Peanuts collects the dailies and Sundays in black & white. (And has the most strips for the price.)

Peanuts Every Sunday collects just the Sunday strips, but has them in color.  There are fewer pages for the same price with these volumes.  Yes, that’s silly… but color printing is more expensive and the business side of comics has decided that digital prices have to be based on print prices, so here we are. It’s still Charles Schulz’s masterpiece.

The Complete Peanuts   Peanuts Every Sunday

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Empyre, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Kelly Thompson, Invisible Kingdom

Highlights from this week’s Comixology Sales include Marvel offering up Empyre and most of the Kelly Thompson catalog.  Women are in the spotlight at DC and  Dark Horse with Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Invisible Kingdom and She Could Fly.

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

2020’s Big Marvel Event is Now on Sale

The Marvel Empyre Sale runs through Sunday, 3/14.

Empyre was the big Marvel (universe-wide) crossover Event in 2020 where the Kree and Skrulls get a new Emperor and gang up on Earth.

Empyre: Road to Empyre is the optional introductory reading by… a little bit of everyone.  There’s some minor prologue material, but it’s most useful for people who aren’t familiar with the Kree/Skrull War or Steve Englehart Avengers.

Empyre is the collection of the actual Empyre miniseries, plus the prologue/epilogue issues.  The main series is by Al Ewing / Dan Slott / Valerio Schiti.

That’s the core. It’s a Marvel Event, so there are all kinds of spin-off titles you can opt into if you like.  We thought the X-Men tie-in was the best read. Captain Marvel V. 4 in the Kelly Thompson sale below had some impact on the overall plot.  Maybe avoid the Captain America mini?

Road to Empyre   Empyre

It’s the Kelly Thompson Weekend at Marvel

The Marvel Kelly Thompson Sale runs through Sunday 3/14.

Is Kelly Thompson better known at Marvel for Captain Marvel or Hawkeye?  We’re thinking it’s Captain Marvel.  (We think it ought to be Black Widow, but that’s a newer title and not on sale yet.)

Captain Marvel   Hawkeye

DC’s Ladies

The Wonderful Women of DC Sale runs through Monday, 3/15.

This would celebrating characters, more than creators.  As has been the case lately, these aren’t always the biggest discounts, so keep an eye on how many issues there are per collection.  Making this goofier is that fewer of the single issues are on sale right now, so you can’t always save a little extra with $0.99 single issues.

Promethea is the metaphysical masterpiece by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray. A young woman is transformed into the embodiment of imagination… which brings some ancient detractors out of the shadows.

Wonder Woman there’s a LOT of Wonder Woman on sale, as you might expect.  We’re pointing towards the Heroes Reborn Rucka/Scott/Sharp run. (Vol. 1-4 or single issues 1-25 + the rebirth special.) Getting the single issues is ever so slightly cheaper than getting the collected editions which are slightly cheaper than the omnibuses.

Harley Quinn by Amanda Conner / Jimmy Palmiotti / Chad Hardin always made us chuckle. It’s an absurdist excursion into the DCU.

Promethea   Wonder Woman   Harley Quinn

Invisible or Fly?

The Dark Horse Women in Comics Sale runs through Monday, 3/15.

This is not the first time we’ve sung the praises of Invisible Kingdom by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward. It’s a science fiction tale of a conspiracy when a religion and a corporation attempt to rig the game.

Something else that might be of interest is She Could Fly. Before Christopher Cantwell blew up over at Marvel, he teamed up with Martín Morazzo for this pair of tales about a mentally disturbed 15-year old girl tracking down the secrets of, and technology behind, a woman seen flying across the Chicago skies.

Invisible Kingdom   She Could Fly

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales – Justice League, Deadpool, James Bond, The Witcher, Critical Role and The Guild

The highlights of this week’s Comixology sales include all manner of Justice League comics, a birthday for Deadpool, James Bond, Tini Howard’s Marvel work and some gaming properties over at Dark Horse.

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

Wade Wilson is how old?

The Deadpool 30th Anniversary Sale runs through Sunday,  3/7.  And there’s all kinds of Deadpool on sale.  That said, there’s one thing that really took us by surprise:

Did you realize there are 23 volumes of Deadpool Classic? Some of the more recent runs of the flagship series are listed as their own sets, but that’s a lot of Deadpool!

Deadpool Classic

Marvel’s writer of the week

The Marvel Tini Howard Sale runs through Thursday, 3/11.

We’re happy to recommend Excalibur by Howard and (primarily) Marcus To.  The first two collections feature the mechanizations of Apocalypse and shenanigans in Otherworld.  The pair will take you right to the precipice of X of Swords.  And yes, you’ll eventually want to read X of Swords. That was the best comics crossover Event in recent memory.

Excalibur

And by “teamwork,” they mostly mean Justice League

The DC Teamwork Sale runs through Monday, 3/8.  It also is divided into three sections – Graphic Novels, Single Issues I and Single Issues II. You’ll want to keep a close eye on prices for this one. Some of the offerings, particularly the ones that are hardcover in print are not at particularly good prices for a digital sale.  Pretty much everything in the graphic novels will be available for 99-cents/issue  and the single issues might be cheaper.  There are also more single issues available that haven’t been collected as graphic novels, so the single issue sections are worth a browse if you have the time.

JLA is the ’97 series that launched with the Grant Morrison/Howard Porter run. The collections  are priced lower than the singles here and there are some more unusual runs later in the series you can cherry pick as singles if you don’t like what they’re packaged with in the graphic novels: #94-99 is a Chris Claremont/John Byrne arc.  (We wouldn’t say it’s quite up to their X-Men run, but it’s sure a novelty.) #107-114 is a Kurt Busiek/Ron Garney run.

Justice League of America is the original ’60s into ’80s title.  The “Silver Age” collections offer a better rate per issue, but the entire run is available as single issues.  You can cherry pick some 100 page spectaculars or pick up the Steve Englehart/Dick Dillon run (starting with #139).

JLA Year One doesn’t seem to have a graphic novel edition available in digital right now.  This is a 12-part series written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn with art by Barry Kitson. It’s a fun 90s take (yes, there were comics embracing fun in the 90s… just not that many) on the Justice League’s origin.

The Brave and the Bold in this case refers to the recent Liam Sharp series teaming Batman with Wonder Woman in an adventure through Celtic mythology.  This one is cheaper to pick up the single issues.

JLA   Justice League of America   JLA Year One   The Brave and the Bold

Games people read

The Dark Horse Video Game Sale runs through Monday, 3/15.

This might really be more of a gaming sale than strictly a video game sale.  A few things of note:

Critical Role is the adaption of the popular streaming show of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The digital issues were some of the best selling comics on Comixology while it was being serialized.

The Guild is an adaption of the Felicia Day web comedy about a group of gamers. Day does the writing and Jim Rugg provides the art for Volume 1.

The Witcher Omnibus… you could say this is a comic based on a game or you could say its a comic based on a series of books.  The Witcher is as transmedia as a property can get these days. Paul Tobin is your scribe with a rotating cast of artists.

Critical Role   The Guild   Witcher Omnibus

007

The Dynamite James Bond Sale runs through Thursday, 4/1.

Dynamite has several 007 titles, but there’s one that stands above the others for our dollar: Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida. It might just be the perfect repositioning of Bond for the modern era.  Finding himself in the middle of a “Kill Chain” of assassinations, Bond discovers his old foes at SMERSH have reemerged and are trying to draw MI6 and the CIA into conflict.

James Bond Kill Chain

Still On Sale

The  Image Romance Sale through Monday, 3/8.
Sex Criminals

Posted on by comics_p1pusl