Month: May 2021

Comixology Sales – Daredevil, X-Factor and a Line-Wide Archie Sale

Highlights from this week’s Comixology sales include Daredevil and X-Factor from Marvel, while Archie offers a line-wide sale that includes some choice horror, crime and superhero titles.

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

Hornhead

The Marvel Daredevil Massive Man Without Fear Sale runs through Sunday, 6/6.

This is a fairly well-named sale, as there’s a ton of stuff here.

Starting out with the original 1964-1998 series there’s a lot to like here. Scroll down to “Collected Editions” and check out the whole thing. We think the Epic Collections are slightly better values than the Masterworks, but pick your poison.  Everybody has their favorite run, but maybe check out the three Epic Collections of the Ann Nocenti / John Romita, Jr. run? Everything from Typhoid Mary to Mephisto, it covers a lot of disparate territory and does it well.

The Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee Collection contains a couple different volumes of ‘ole hornhead. Waid is the constant with Marcos Martin and Paola Rivera providing some of the art early in the run. (Yes.  That’s right. Martin, Rivera and Samnee on the same extended run.  It’s a pretty set of books.) It’s one of the high points of the franchise.

You know what? The current Daredevil series is also pretty good.  Chip Zdarsky is the writer with Marco Checchetto as the artistic throughline.  A highlight of this series is a deep dive into the mind and insecurities of Wilson Fisk as he encounters a different class of political and economic clout as mayor of NYC.

Daredevil Epic Collection   Daredevil by Mark Waid   Daredevil by Zdarsky

Not Max Factor…

The  Marvel X-Factor sale runs through Thursday, 6/3.

Let’s start out with the original X-Factor run. That first Epic Collection is as cheap as you usually see those. If you’re interested in Peter David’s first run on the title (a Larry Stroman-centric art run with a bit of Joe Quesada), the cheapest way to get the whole thing is the All-New, All-Different X-Factor Epic Collection and then V. 4 of the Visionaries series.

Peter David is a little more associated with the long-running (21 collected editions worth) X-Factor as a mutant detective agency series.

X-Factor Epic Collection   X-Factor by Peter David

Everything’s Archie

The Archie line-wide sale runs through Thursday, 6/10. It comes in three links: Graphic Novels, Single Issues I and Single Issues II.

Archie has a few things in this sale that might not come to the top of the mind instantly. Like horror and crime comics. Some highlights?

Afterlife with Archie by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla. This one is Archie vs. zombies as Riverdale is overrun. Yes, it sounds goofy, but they play the concept straight and it is EXCELLENT.  Get the collected edition for #1-5 and single issues for #6-10.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Occult Edition by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack is the basis for the Netflix series. It’s a 70s horror take on Sabrina and it’s also excellent.

Alas, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has been busy with the various Archie TV series and these two titles have gone by the wayside. We wish they’d return.

For a non-horror title, The Black Hood written by Duane Swierczynski with art by Michael Gaydos and Greg Scott (among others). This isn’t a superhero title, it’s pitch black crime story about a vigilante and addictions. A great crime comic, too.  V. 3 is listed here for some reason.

If you flip through the single issues, particularly the second link, you’ll find things like parts of the Impact line DC ran in the 90s and the ’80s Red Circle attempt at reviving the Archie superheroes. A couple things that are worth a look if you’re of the right mind set – The Black Hood, ’80s edition with art by Gray Morrow and Alex Toth.  The Fox by Mark Waid and Dean Haspiel

Afterlife with Archie   Chilling Adventures of Sabrina   Black Hood

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: Batman, Magneto, Secret Wars and a Small Press Round Up

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Magneto and Secret Wars from Marvel, a Batman “spotlight” from DC and a Small Press Round Up.

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

Polarizing

The Marvel Magneto Sale runs through Sunday, 5/23.

For a good value, check out the X-Men Epic Collections (scroll down to collected editions or just look at the main sale link).  High page counts = low cost per issue.

If you want something off the beaten path, Cullen Bunn and Gabriel Hernandez Walta (pre-Vision) did an interesting and dark Magneto series in ’14-’15.

X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live   Magneto

But Is It REALLY a Secret?

The  Marvel Secret Wars sale runs through Thursday, 5/27.

This is the Secret Wars that’s the endcap to the Jonathan Hickman Avengers run (and to an extent, his Fantastic Four run as well). When the timestream collapses… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?

The main Secret Wars mini-series by Hickman and Esad Ribic is where you want to start with this and you can move on to the myriad of tie-in titles included in the sale if a character’s side-story catches your eye.

Secret Wars

I Shall Become… A Bat

DC’s Batman Spotlight Sale runs through Monday, 5/24.

Keep an eye on the discounts here. Plenty of books are only 40-46% off, which not Cheap.  More are 50%, which is so-so for DC.  A couple things at a better discount?

Batman: Death Mask by Yoshinori Natsume is a manga edition that’s 60% off.

Batman: Tales of the Demon is a collection of Ra’s al Ghul stories. The originals, plus a sequence from ’78-’80. Denny O’Neil is the scribe with Neal Adams and Don Newton dominating the art. This one is 74% off, though it’s starting from higher list price.

Batman Death Mask   Batman: Tales of the Demon

Indie Madness

The Small Press Starter Sale runs through Thursday, 5/27.

These are the first volumes of series put out by smaller publishers.  Highlights?

We do like AHOY Comics here at the Tower of Cheap. The Wrong Earth by Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle and Juan Castro is one of their best.  Think Adam West Batman and Dark Knight Batman switching places and being bewildered by each other’s world.

Watson & Holmes: A Study in Black by Karl Bollers, Rick Leonardi and Larry Stroman is a reimaging of Sherlock Holmes in contemporary Harlem. It’s also very good.

Going a little further off the beaten path, we hadn’t heard of the Shame series by Lovern Kindzierski and John Bolton. John Bolton remains a very underappreciated artist.

The Wrong Earth   Watson and Holmes   Shame

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: Civil War, Doctor Doom, Shang-Chi and 50% off BOOM! (and better for Power Rangers)

Highlights from this week’s Comixology Sales include Marvel revisiting Civil War (and including Front Line for a change), Doctor Doom and Shang-Chi; plus CU subscribers get 50% off the BOOM! line which stacks on top of a Power Rangers sale.

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

50% off BOOM! for Subscribers

In what seems to be a fairly regular thing, we have another half-off sale for Comixology Unlimited subscribers.  This time it’s 50% off BOOM! – log in and the discount appears. The sale runs through 11PM ET on Monday 5/17.  You know the drill by now: go to the release date view to get this week’s new comics half off or move forward to pre-order at the same discount. A couple series you might have heard of that we’re happy to vouch for are Once & Future (Kieron Gillen & Dan Mara) and Something Is Killing the Children (James Tynion IV & Werther Dell’Edera).

And since the discount stacks, that means you’re looking at 75% discounts for the Power Rangers Sale.

Power Rangers

Civil War

The Marvel Civil War Complete Event Sale runs through Sunday, 5/16.

Which is to say, all the copious tie-in volumes are also on sale. We’ve been saying this for YEARS – Marvel has done a lousy job packaging the Civil War reprints. There are two titles you need to read Civil War properly. The titular Civil War mini-series is sort of the action movie version of the story. This is the more famous series by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven.  Civil War: Front Line Vol.1  and Vol. 2 written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by lots of folks, including Ramon Bachs, Steve Lieber and Lee Weeks, is the actual plot of the story as reporters (notably Ben Urich) try to track down who caused the conflict and why.  We firmly maintain you should not read Civil War without also reading Front Line.

You can expand to the rest of the line after these two series.  Maybe start with the Wolverine volume as that has Logan going after the people responsible for the inciting incident.

Civil War   Civil War: Front Line V. 1   Civil War: Front Line V. 2

The Face of Doom

The Marvel Doctor Doom Sale runs through Sunday, 5/16.

The recent Doctor Doom series by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca is an instant classic well worth your time. (There’s a second volume not on sale.)

Avengers: The Private War of Doctor Doom has a lot of creators with Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart and Jim Shooter as the primary writers and George Perez as the primary artist. This is a sort of off-shoot of the Doctor Doom vs. Sub-Mariner Super Villain Team-Up title and a fun enough sequence.

Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Name is Doom by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is one of two Fantastic Four Epic Collections in the sale and we just like this volume slightly better for having a particularly iconic Doom story.

Doctor Doom   Avengers - The Private War of Doctor Doom   Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Name is Doom

Master of Kung Fu

The Marvel Shang-Chi Sale runs through Thursday, 5/20.

As you may have heard, Marvel has a movie coming out with their 70s Kung Fu hero, Shang-Chi. There’s a bit of controversy around the character, as it was originally a licensed feature spinning out of the Fu Manchu franchise. Marvel’s currently re-inventing Shang-Chi without Fu Manchu as more of a fantasy-tinged Kung Fu strip.  We’d suggest checking out the original version, which was much more of an espionage comic. Sort of Shaw Brothers crossed with Ian Fleming.  There are two Epic Editions on sale: Master of Kung Fu Epic Edition: Weapon of the Soul and Master of Kung Fu Epic Edition: Fight Without Pity. Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin launch it, then Doug Moench takes over as writer with several artists rotating through including Jim Craig, Keith Pollard and (most famously) Paul Gulacy. Potential trigger warning on ’70s tropes and color palettes, but a lot of people place MOKF at the top of Marvel’s 70s titles alongside Tomb of Dracula and Man-Thing.

Master of Kung Fu   Master of Kung Fu

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: 50% off Dark Horse, plus House of M, Squadron Supreme and Image Science Fiction

Highlights from this week’s Comixology sales include a line-wide 50% off Dark Horse for CU subscribers, Squadron Supreme and House of M from Marvel and a big batch of “Sci-Fi” titles from Image.

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

50% off All Dark Horse

The parade of Comixology Unlimited half-off sales continues.  In the latest installment, all Dark Horse comics are 50% off through 11PM ET on Monday, 5/10 if you’re a Comixology Unlimited subscriber.

This includes new releases and pre-orders, so do yourself a favor. Go to the release date view and click forward to pre-order on the cheap.

And this discounts stacks on the “regular” sales, which means the current Stranger Things sale is extremely cheap! Especially the 50-cent single issues.

Stranger Things

The Pastiche Evolved

The Marvel Squadron Supreme Sale runs through Sunday, 5/9.

Yes, what started out as a pastiche of DC’s Justice League grew into something a little bigger Marvel, as these things have a way of doing.

The centerpiece here is the Mark Gruenwald / Bob Hall / Paul Ryan Squadron Supreme series that’s still the bar by which this franchise is judged.

For a more old school version, the Squadron appears in their traditional sinister mode in Avengers: Serpent Crown by Steve Englehart and George Perez.

Squadron Supreme   Avengers: Serpent Crown

Not WandaVision, but…

The  House of M Sale runs through Thursday, 5/13.

For those unfamiliar, this is the series where the Scarlet Witch snaps and rewrites reality to bring her children back into existence. It isn’t exactly the comics version of WandaVision, but it was surely an influence on it.  Also, “no more mutants.” As a comic, it may have broken more things at Marvel than it fixed, but you can’t deny it’s influential.

The way to go here is to start with the actual Brian Bendis / Olivier Coipel series and then go back for the supplemental titles if you want more.

House of M

She Blinded Me With Science Fiction

The Image Sci-Fi Sale runs through Wednesday, 5/26.

Lots of good stuff on sale here and it’s worth flipping through when you have a chance. Some highlights?

Saga: Compendium One is the first 54 issues for $23.99. That’s a bit under 45 cents/issue. That’s CHEAP.  We assume you haven’t been living under a rock and know what this Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples masterwork is.  We keep hearing whispers that its return is imminent. Hopefully we hear something a little more concrete soon.

Farmhand is written and drawn by Chew’s Rob Guillory. If you like Chew, you’ll probably like Farmhand. Agriculture and pharma intersect as Jeddidiah Jenkins grows replacement organs on his farm. Harvest one and drop it into a patient – it’s plug and play. Except there’s a rot sinking to the organs and something lurking in the shadows.

That Jonathan Hickman guy who’s running the X-Men right now? He’s done a few things at Image.  One of them is The Manhattan Projects with Nick Pitarra. It’s a sort of alternate history where the Manhattan Project brain trust is working on mad science experiments far beyond the atomic bomb, taking them to space and other, stranger, destinations.  Sometimes silly and sometimes dark. It’s a good one.

Saga   Farmhand   The Manhattan Projects

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