In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s a movie week – comics with The Flash, Black Panther (with a screen writer pedigree), Spider-Man and Avatar.
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):
The Flash (Featuring Batman)
DC’s Flash Sale runs through Monday, 6/19.
It’s like there’s a movie coming out! And that means there’s a ton of Batman and Supergirl in the sale, too.
Let’s start with the two most obvious things here:
The Flash film is based on the Flash-centered crossover Event, Flashpoint. That Geoff Johns / Adam Kubert series has The Flash altering the timeline with very unexpected effects and leads into the New 52 relaunch. (Our acquaintance saw a preview of the film, liked it and thought it improved on the comic.)
And since Michael Keaton returns to the Batman role in the film, the obvious tie-in here is Batman ’89. Sam Ham, the original 80s Batman screenwriter, joins artist Joe Quinones to tell the tale he had in mind for the third Keaton Batman film, had the franchise not had a creative shuffle. And that’s Bill Dee Williams as Two-Face. We enjoyed this one.
There’s plenty of Batman on sale here at good prices (particularly the 80s material), but let’s have a look at the Flash material, since this is theoretically a Flash sale.
Perhaps the most interesting thing here is the ’87 – ’09, post-Crisis Wally West Flash. It starts out with a collection of the Mike Baron / Butch Guice / Mike Collins run (with William Messner-Loebs tagging in for Baron towards the end of the collection).
Then pop over to the omnibus page of that series for some of the better prices we’ve seen on The Flash by Mark Waid (with Greg Larocque, Mike Collins and Salvador Larocca, among others); the Grant Morrison / Mark Millar / Paul Ryan run; and The Flash by Geoff Johns (with Scott Kolins and Howard Porter, among others). Those are some classic runs and the Flash runs we prefer by Waid and Johns.
The current run of Flash is here, and it starts with a lengthy Josh Williamson run. (It’s a little cheaper to get these three double-volumes which are the equivalent of the first 6 at the first link.)
Ultimate Spider-Bendis
The Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 6/12.
Is this a companion piece to the Spider-Verse sale? It might as well be, because Miles Morales is the centerpiece of that sale and the saga of the Ultimate Peter Parker runs right into the origin of Miles. And yes, the two Ultimate Spider-Men could be looked at as one really long Brian Bendis tale.
This sale is easily broken into three parts:
- Ultimate Spider-Man – essentially, the Peter Parker years. Mark Bagley is artist for most of the run. Skip the omnibus (too expensive for V.1-3 of these larger collections), get the regular editions.
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – with art by Bagley, Pichelli, David Lafuente and Chris Samnee. It’s a relaunch, continuing the Parker years and leading to the <spoilers>
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Fallout – with art by Bagley and Sara Pichelli. This is the transition to Miles Morales.
- Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection with art by Chris Samnee / David Marquez / Sara Pichelli is Miles in the Ultimate Universe.
Black Pantherama
The Marvel Black Panther Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 6/12.
It’s a Legacy sale, which means the whole catalog, so first lets break down the highlights
- The Don McGregor era (AKA, pre-Priest), where Don McGregor was primary author… with a notable Kirby interlude. The best way to navigate the multiple editions is:
- Black Panther Masterpieces Vol. 1 – The original and ground breaking Jungle Action run by McGregor / Rich Buckler / Billy Graham / Gil Kane
- Black Panther Epic Collection: Revenge Of The Black Panther – Kirby’s run, the ’88 Gillis/Cowan mini, the Marvel Premiere follow-up to the first series
- Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther’s Prey – Dominated by Don McGregor’s return on the Marvel Comics Presents serial with Gene Colan and Panther’s Prey with Dwayne Turner.
- The Chrisopher Priest era – with art by Mark Texiera, M.D. Bright and Sal Velluto (among others)
- The Reggie Hudlin era (yes, “House Party” / “Boomerang” Hudlin) – with art by John Romita, Jr., Scot Eaton and Denys Cowan (among others)
- The Ta-Nehisi Coates era (yes, from The Atlantic) – while the volumes are numbered consecutively, it’s split into two listing
- The John Ridley era (Yes, Oscar-winner Ridley from 12 Years a Slave) – with art by Juann Cabal and German Peralta
Honestly, most of the Panther pantheon is pretty good. If you haven’t read the original McGregor run, it’s truly the foundational work on the character and almost everyone calls back to it. (That’s also where Killmonger originates.)
The Priest run might be the most celebrated – and it is extremely good.
And while it’s lesser known (possibly because it’s new), we’ve been pretty happy with the Ridley run, in particular the second volume with its extra biting commentary on colonialism.
Speaking of Movies…
The Dark Horse Avatar Sale runs through Monday, 6/26.
Yes, there are Avatar comics. And they’re displayed in a somewhat confusing way. (Yes, yes… we were shocked, too.)
This link is for the $0.99 single issues AND the three High Ground 88 page “graphic novels.”
The collected editions are here. 6 issues to a $5.99 collected edition, so there’s a 5-cent difference between the two formats, if you’re keeping count.
The Green Hood
The Zenescope Character Spotlight Sale runs through Saturday, 6/24.
And the character in question is Robyn Hood (the Grimm’s Fairy Tales version).
This is available in 3 formats:
- $0.99 single issues, of which there are 103.
- Collected editions, of which there are 12.
- An Omnibus containing the first 3 collected editions
And as we were looking at this, we saw a couple names we weren’t expecting to see. The volumes “The Curse” and “Justice” are written by Chuck Dixon. “Outlaw” is written by Howard Mackie.
Still On Sale
- The Marvel Spider-Verse Sale runs through Monday, 6/12
- The DC Pride Sale runs through Thursday, 6/15
- The Dark Horse 2023 Usagi Yojimbo Digital Sale runs through Monday, 6/19
- The Kodansha Manga Dads Love Sale runs through Monday, 6/19
- The Dark Horse Plants Vs. Zombies Sale runs through Monday, 6/19
- The Viz Summer Reading Sale runs through Friday, 6/30
- The Caliber Digital Comics Sale runs through Thursday, 6/15