Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC has *a new* $1.99 Graphic Novel Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC offers up a new slate of $1.99/$2.99 collected editions. We could get used to this.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Isn’t this interesting? DC has another week of much better than usual discounts, so they get a solo post today and we’ll be back for the rest of the week at the usual time.

The question you might be asking yourself: “Will DC have even better discounts next week or did they wisely decide to unleash the good prices while everyone else was waiting for the week of the 20th?”

We won’t have an answer to that until next week, but we’re awfully curious.

The Hit Parade

The DC’s Greatest Hits Sale runs through Monday, 12/19.

There’s a little bit of everything here and a few items, like Far Sector and the George Perez Wonder Woman run, hanging on from previous recent sales.

First a piece of real good advice. This sale is monster to get to the end of. We lost track of how many times we had to click for more books. It you want to examine something, right click it and open it in a new window so you don’t lose your place and have to manually reload everything from the top!

So let’s break this into highlights by price points. Here’s what caught our eye in terms of story and pricing:

$2.99 “Deluxe” Editions

These are great values – they generally contain the equivalent or 2 “regular” collected editions (10-12 issue worth), so you’re paying an effective $1.50 per collected edition. That’s about as cheap as it gets with DC!

  • 100 Bullets – Brian Azzarello / Eduardo Risso
  • Batman: Shadow of the Bat Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Tim Sale/Bret Blevins
  • DMZ – Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli
  • FablesBill Willingham / Mark Buckingham
  • The Flash by Geoff Johns – with Scott Kollins as the lead artist; scroll to the bottom of the page for this, but a couple Flash by Mark Waid volumes are also $2.99
  • JLA – Initially by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter
  • New Gods – Jack Kirby’s classic saga + the ’84 wrap-up from the reprints + The Hunger Dogs OGN

$1.99 Collected Editions

  • Batman (’16-current) – All but the end of the Tom King run, then $2.99
  • Detective Comics (’16-current) – The James Tynion IV & Peter J. Tomasi runs are mostly $1.99, and then $2.99
  • Ex-Machina – Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris; “Deluxe” double volumes – usually 10 issues worth – cheap!
  • Green Arrow (’88-’98) – Best known as the Mike Grell era with Ed Hannigan, Dan Jurgens and Rick Hoberg illustrating the Grell run
  • Green Lantern: Sector 2814 (’60-’86) – at the bottom of the page, the Len Wein/Dave Gibbons run into the Steve Englehard/Joe Staton run
  • Green Lantern (’05-’11) – The Geoff Johns run, a GL highlight
  • The Nice House on the Lake – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno
  • Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil – by Jeff Smith
  • Superman: Emperor Joker – Joe Kelly/Jeph Loeb/Doug Mahnke/Ed McGuinness
  • Superman: Phantom Zone – Steve Gerber / Gene Colan / Rick Veitch
  • Superman: The Man of Steel  – The John Byrne era, also with Marv Wolfman, Jerry Ordway, Ron Frenz and some Roger Stern
  • Superman Vs. Mongul – Len Wein/Jim Starlin are behind the early DC Comics Presents appearances of Mongul, plus the classic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons “For the Man Who Has Everything”
  • Y- The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra; this version is actually the “Deluxe” double volumes for $1.99, so extra cheap!

A little pricier at $4.99, but of potential interest this week, First Issue Special is what Tom King’s Danger Street is based on. This is sort of the ’70s version of Showcase. The only “hit” to come out of it was Mike Grell’s Warlord, which one was of DC’s best sellers into the early 80s. The Martin Pasko/Walt Simonson Doctor Fate issue is a classic. Kirby’s Manhunter and Atlas issues are also worth your time. A mixed bag, but an interesting mixed bag.

What’s the pick of the litter? When all the prices are this good, it really depends on your tastes.  If you emphasize page count vs. price, New Gods might just get the crown. ~420 pages of great comics whose influence is hard to overstate for a mere $2.99. For the uninitiated, this is Jack Kirby’s epic of superhero-esque gods on the planets of New Genesis and Apokolips. Orion is the lead hero, Darkseid is the big bad and Mister Miracle was actually a companion book, not the main title. This is where Darkseid comes from.

Ex-Machina is pre-Saga Brian K. Vaughan and post-Starman Tony Harris telling the tale of the mayor of NYC and his unsuccessful efforts to stay retired from superheroing. A more adult take on superheroes set against a backdrop of politics long before the Kingpin or Luke Cage was mayor. $1.99/volume for the double volumes? Yes, please.

For “traditional” DC capes hijinx, we’ll give the JLA run a slight nod over Flash. As JLA moves forward, the page counts get a little higher than Flash. Particularly the Waid/Hitch volume. The Flash also doesn’t wear a cape, so there’s that, too. And for bonus points, the first volume of JLA is $1.99. Cheap. Really, both of those are fine, iconic runs. Pun intended.

There’s a LOT to look at with this sale. 1300+ items, so if you like the DC cannon, it’s probably worthwhile to carve some time out to browse this before the weekend passes.

New Gods by Jack Kirby   Ex Machina   JLA

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Wolverine, Guardians of the Galaxy, $0.99 Recent Marvel Single Issues

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel opens the discount gates with Wolverine, Guardians of the Galaxy and a ton of recent first issues.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Remember, DC’s got that sale with all the $1.99 collected editions still going. Meanwhile the indies seem to have slowed their sale announcements and are probably massing for the “official” holiday sale announcements…

Marvel’s Friend Finder

The Marvel Start a New Series Sale runs through Monday, 12/12.

And if you were wanting some Marvel single issue sales, there’s a bunch of them here.

The premise is that Marvel would like you to sample the discounted issues and maybe stick around for more issues, so these are all recent issues.  Let’s break this into new titles (i.e., #1 is on sale) and continuing titles (the sale picks up partially into the series). Here are the highlights:

New

Continuing (Standard disclaimer – you’ll probably need to scroll down a bit before the discounts kick in)

Gosh, seems like there are a lot more “new” titles than “continuing” ones, doesn’t it? And not all the X-Men family relaunches are listed here, either!  Such is the nature of relaunches, but let’s talk about some of those new titles that we can recommend from personal experience.

Captain America: Symbol of Truth by Tochi Onyebuchi and R.B. Silva came out of nowhere and knocked our socks off. This is Sam Wilson as Cap and the series has Sam and the new Falcon on the trail of super soldier serum smugglers, which leads them to human traffickers, which leads them to Latveria, which leads them to Wakanda. A vaguely Ludlum-esque chase from one facet of the conspiracy to next. Bonus points: it can be difficult to fit goofy ‘ole Deadpool in an otherwise serious plot, but it’s pulled off very well here!

Defenders Beyond by Al Ewing and Javier Rodríguez is their second go-round with everyone’s favorite “non-team.” We’re two issues into this one and so far, a spell cast by Doctor Strange from beyond the grave has assembled a new group of heroes, some familiar, and a notable artifact from the the last series. The threat they’re confronting? The Beyonders. Including that Beyonder. Wild cosmic stuff that starts with the Celestials and the destruction of universes. Great art and writing.

Carnage by Ram V and Francesco Manna is a deeply weird relaunch with the atmosphere of a horror comic. The Carnage symbiote has become separate from Cletus Kasaday and is seeking a new host. Or hosts. Preferably with superpowers and the symbiote might just have a plan. The symbiote also has a sort of groupie in tow and is pursued by a detective who’s been… touched by Carnage. And that’s before the Dark Elves show up. When we said deeply weird, we weren’t joking. But Ram V does well when the going gets weird.

Captain America: Symbol of Truth   Defenders Beyond   Carnage

SNIKT!

The Wolverine: The Best There Is Sale runs through Thursday, 12/15.

Wolverine sales are goofy because these issues have been packaged in so many different ways.

If you want early Wolverine, the Wolverine Omnibus will get you, among other things, the first Hulk appearance, the first mini-series, the Kitty Pride & Wolverine mini-series, a couple Marvel Comics Presents serials and the first 10 issues of the ongoing Wolverine comic.

Here’s the link for the original Wolverine ongoing series. Yes, that’s a bit of an overlapping mess. There are those who prefer the Larry Hama run. For this sale, we’d probably point to a couple self-contained arcs: Wolverine Classic V. 3 is “The Gehenna Stone Affair” written by Peter David with art by John Buscema inked by Bill Sienkiewicz. It’s romp with Logan and Jessica Drew racing against vampires trying to retrieve an artifact. Wolverine Classic V.5 is “Spore” by Archie Goodwin and John Byrne with Klaus Jansen inks. Logan runs up against a sentient bio-weapon and… cocaine. Did you notice both of these have some unusual penciller/inker combos?

Wolverine Omnibus   Wolverine: The Gehanna Stone Affair   Wolverine: Spore

Here’s the link for the ’03-’09 version of WolverineThe highlights here are the lower key Greg Rucka / Darick Robertson / Leandro Fernandez run and two Mark Millar runs.

Enemy of the State is Millar with John Romita, Jr. having Logan encounter an unholy alliance between The Hand and Hydra, which ends up with his getting brainwashed before extracting a bloody revenge. Also introduces Gorgan.

Old Man Logan by Millar and Steve McNiven is probably the most famous arc of this run. Movie-inspiring, even. In a dystopian possible future, an aging Logan is trying to mind his own business, but will anyone leave him alone? Nope. And a road trip ensues. This format has had more legs than anyone could have imagined when it was pitched!

Wolverine by Greg Rucka   Wolverine: Enemy of the State   Wolerine: Old Man Logan

After that, you might have a look at the current Benjamin Percy/Adam Kubert Wolverine (First two volumes are cheaper in omnibus form.)

Finally, don’t sleep on All-New Wolverine by Tom Taylor / David Lopez / Juan Cabal. Yes, it’s an X-23 book, but it’s really good.

All-New Wolverine

Groot? Groot. Groot!

The Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 12/19.

Wow, but this sale has become a sprawling thing with “legacy” even pulling in Adam Warlock… although Starlin’s Warlock is amazing, so there’s that.  Let’s try to break down the highlights.

Original Guardians of the Galaxy

New GoG (The DnA cast or movie version if you must)

Solo titles

What’s good here?  Well, we’ve always liked the original. Particularly the Steve Gerber bits. We also loved the recent Al Ewing / Juan Cabal run. And if you like the current incarnation, you should probably go back to the source with the DnA run.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers   Guardians of the Galaxy by Al Ewing   Guardians of the Galaxy Omnibus

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC Breaks Out $1.99 Collected Editions / $0.99 Single Issues

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC opens up with some grown up discounts: $1.99 collected edition and $0.99 single issues rule the day.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

DC’s Stealth Holiday Sale

The DC Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 12/12.

$1.99 recent collected editions? Yes, this got our attention and we’re popping in mid-week to point this out to you. We applaud DC for bringing the cheap this week.

First, let’s just run through a list of some of the $1.99 collections that made us raise an eyebrow. This is NOT a complete list of the selections and not all of the material is that recent… just most of it.

There’s a lot of quality there. Quality on the cheap! Much of this we’ve spoken of before.  We especially like those Hellblazer books (both versions listed) and The Human Target. This run of The Human Target is an out of continuity Black Label book where Chance is investigating his own poisoning and the suspects are the Bwa Ha Ha era Justice League International. It manages to be hardboiled AND Bwa Ha Ha on alternating pages, which is not easy to pull off!

And if you’ve never encountered Kirby’s  OMAC, it’s something of a science fiction social satire. One of the more unusual things Kirby did.

John Constantine, Hellblazer   OMAC   The Human Target

At slightly higher price points, our eyebrow went up for:

That’s a nice set of books. The one we haven’t really mentioned before, largely because the price point is usually on the high side, is Hard Time. One of Gerber’s lessor known and later works, this is an odd one even by Gerber’s standards. A prank goes wrong. Some students die and a teenager is quickly made an example of and sentenced to 50 years hard time. Except the teen has super powers… or perhaps some sort of super entity living in him. Prison drama. Teen hero. Incarceration politics. Yes, it goes to some dark places.

Hard Time   Far Sector   Wonder Woman by George Perez

And then there were the $0.99 single issues.  Like… a lot of them. And a few larger format comics reduced to $1.99.  Note: these are recent issues, so you may need to scroll down a bit to get to where the discounts start.  Here are some highlights, since these are all the way at the bottom of the sale:

This is definitely a sale that’s worth taking some time to scroll through, as annoying at the current Amazon UIX may be. Plenty more on sale than we highlighted and these are the best prices we’ve seen from DC in some time. (And we’re curious if they can actually top this in a couple weeks.)

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: A.X.E. Judgement Day, Conan, Spider-Man, DC on TV and Boom!’s Tynion Catalog

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts the recent A.X.E Judgement Day, plus Conan, Spidey and the X-Men. DC slashes prices on the source material for its TV adaptations and Boom! opens the James Tynion, IV catalog.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Lest Ye Be Judged…

The Marvel A.X.E. Judgment Day Sale runs through Thursday,  12/8

If you have been pining for single issue Marvel comics on sale, here we are with this very recent event.  There are a few more single issues in the sale, but here are the broad strokes:

The Event itself ($0.99/$1.99 single issues):

And from the lead-in titles:

The Eternals:

Avengers

A.X.E. Judgement Day   Avengers by Jason Aaron   Eternals

By Crom!

The Marvel Conan Sale runs through Thursday, 12/29.

We weren’t expecting this one, but we suppose we should have, considering Conan is moving over to Titan soon. (We’re still unsure how this is going to work for the older material.) Here, we’d like to highlight the omnibus editions of the original Marvel material, which goes further then the Epic Editions and… we’re not sure if the omnibuses have been on sale before?

Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years is the monthly color comic that most people think of by default when they think of Marvel at Conan. 600-800(ish) pages per volume, although V.5 is a 1000 page monster.

King Conan (we’ll call it by the original title) is the spin-off book taking place when an older Conan has captured the throne. Yes, you get some John Buscema art here, but it was also an early stop for Marc Silvestri.

Savage Sword of Conan is the black & white magazine version of Conan. As such, it operated outside the comics code and is little darker than the regular comic. Still lots of John Buscema, plus some Neal Adams, a little Barry Windsor-Smith, Ernie Chan, Gil Kane, Alfredo Alcala… let’s face it, more often than not, the Conan books had good artists.

There’s some of the current Marvel version on sale two, but those ominibuses, particularly King Conan and Savage Sword are a little more unusual to see discounted.

Conan the Barbarian   King Conan   Savage Sword of Conan

Spiders and Mutants

The Marvel X-Men/Spider-Man: Crossovers and Events Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

This one is somewhat of an Event/”landmark storyline” sale and you can pick your flavor, therein. Some things that caught our eye?

God Loves, Man Kills is a classic X-Men story by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson (originally from the old Marvel Graphic Novel program). It’s also very much a stand alone unit, which is nice.

X-Men: Deadly Genesis is the launch of the Ed Brubaker era of X, with Trevor Hairsine providing the art. A bit of a retcon/embellishment on the origin of the new X-Men, it features the full story of the X-Men’s trip to a certain mutant-eating island (that shall become more prominent later) and debuts Vulcan, the lost Summers brother you may have recently been reading about in X-Men Red.

With Spidey… you ever notice the Event-type stories tend to be darker than the rest of the Spidey stories? Well, if you’re going dark, Kraven’s Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatties and Mike Zeck is one of the best.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills   X-Men: Deadly Genesis   Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt

As Seen on TV

The DC on TV Sale runs through Monday, 12/5.

And yes, there is a reasonable amount here… particularly if you count the supporting cast. DC’s been hitting things like Sandman pretty hard over the last few months, so here are a couple other suggestions.

We’re really big fans of the Christopher Priest era of Deathstroke. There was a bit of artist rotation on that title, with the primary artists being Carlo Pagulayan and Diogenes Neves. Deathstroke contemplates changing his ways amidst conspiracies and family drama… and also includes a very big wink to Priest’s Black Panther run. Note: While it’s listed as a Titans book, The Lazarus Contract is really a crossover and integral to the storyline.

We’re also big on the Grant Morrison / Richard Case Doom Patrolwhich is a big influence on the current streaming show.

Deathstroke   Titans: The Lazarus Contract   Doom Patrol

And since we know a lot of .cheap readers pine for $0.99 single issues, here are some highlights of the batch all the way at the bottom of the sale. Remember it’s the most recent batch of issues on sale, so you’ll need to get all the way to the bottom of the list for the longer running titles. That said, Nightwing is on sale through the October issue, so this really is a good catch up.

Boning a Sale

The Bone and RASL Sale runs through Monday, 12/19.

Now there’s something you don’t see on sale all that often! The works of Jeff Smith. If you prefer, the excellent works of Jeff Smith, since they are.

His best known work is, of course BoneThis fantasy series entered the “classics” category really fast. We’re kind of traditional about this and thing the $9.99 for 1300 pages in one volume of the original black & white comics is the way to go and MASSIVE bang for your buck. The smaller color volumes will run you $4.99 a pop.

Not as famous, but something we thoroughly enjoyed, is RASL, a dimension hopping conspiracy comic as an art thief attracts the wrong kind of attention and the chase is on for the technology he possesses. A little science fiction, a little crime, a little noir and unlike Bone, this one isn’t for the kids.

Bone   RASL

Something Is Discounting Tynion

The Boom! James Tynion Sale! runs through Thursday, 12/15.

You can flip through the entire Tynion catalog – at least the Boom! catalog – with this sale.

His big hit over there, and our favorite of his Boom! work, is Something Is Killing the Children. And if you prefer your monster-hunting goodness in $0.99 single issues, you might even find that’s a cheaper way to read the series.

Something is Killing the Children

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: More Black Friday Sales From Marvel, BOOM!, IDW and Image

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s time for even more Black Friday Sales. Possibly, because it’s Black Friday? Another Marvel sale, plus BOOM!, IDW and Image.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

And with Black Friday now in place, here’s another batch of sales for the occasion. Earlier in the week, we broke down the Marvel Epic Collection Sale and the DC Black Friday Sale, so go back and have a look at those if you haven’t seen them.

What Have You Done For Me Lately ?

The Marvel Latest and Greatest Sale runs through Thursday, 12/1.

And yes, we’ll happily recommend three things we’ve been enjoying from this bunch:

Jed MacKay’s emerged as a writer to keep an eye on and two V. 1’s of his pop up here:

The Death of Doctor Strange is an accurate title for this MacKay/Lee Garbett series that does kill off Stephen Strange, though to say much more about this clever and twisty series would move into the realm of spoilers.

Moon Knight: The Midnight Mission is the opening act in the MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight revival that’s one of the more unpredictable comics out there right now. “Mr. Knight” is trying to get his act together. He’s seeing a therapist. He’s started a sort of night mission to offer Konshu’s protection as it used to be intended. And then the vampires show up. And another avatar of Konshu. (And the subsequent acts only have more curveballs.) This one’s also an entertaining ride.

Defenders: There Are No Rules is the Al Ewing / Javier Rodriguez Defenders revival. This time out, Doctor Strange and company go dimension hopping looking to retrieve the Eternity Mask. Different realities are governed by different laws of physics (or magic), hence the title. Oh, and Galactus is involved. This story plays out on a BIG canvas and for as much of a hot streak as Ewing is on right now, Rodriguez still manages to steal the show… which is to say both writing and art are popping here.

The Death of Doctor Strange   Moon Knight   Defenders

Walt Simonson’s Other Thor

The IDW Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

IDW could have called this a “Best of Sale” and we’d have backed them. Plus, $0.99 for a V.1 and $1.99 for subsequent volumes on everything? What’s the word we’re looking for…  CHEAP.

Ragnarok is Walt Simonson’s return to Norse mythology. It is glorious and might just be Walt’s best work… which is saying something. And the old sales charts (back when we had sales charts) suggest a LOT of people were sleeping on this one.  Twilight of the Gods has come and gone. The Nine Worlds are reduced to the Dusk Lands and all is not well. Thor is raised from the dead, not altogether successfully, and starts a quest to set things right. Highest recommendation, especially at these prices.  Note: V.3 is listed separately from the first two.

Richard Stark’s Parker is the late Darwyn Cooke adapting Donald Westlake’s score-settling thief, Parker. Some of the best crime comics you’ll ever see, as we’ve said before. And these are the best prices we’ve seen for them, if memory serves.

Ragnarok   Ragnarok   Richard Stark's Parker

Prices Go Boom

The Best of Boom! Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

And yes, we have another holiday V.1 for $0.99 and subsequent volumes for $1.99 sale! Cheap!

The centerpiece here is probably Once and Future, the Kieron Gillen / Dan Mora contemporary fantasy adventure about the power of stories manifesting as Merlin returns to raise King Arthur… and Arthur doesn’t care for all these immigrants. It starts out fairly breezy and is starting to get fairly dark by the time V. 4 rolls around.  V.5 wraps things up at the end of December, so this is a cheap catchup on a book we’ve enjoyed.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade chronicles Death’s relationship with the inventor of immortality and is probably the best reviewed book of the sale.

House of Slaughter by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Werther Dell‘Edera and Chris Shehan is a spin-off from Something Is Killing the Children, set in a school run by the Order of monster hunters that Erica Slaughter is butting heads with. Tonally, this is a very different book. It’s more of an angsty CW series set in the same universe.

Once & Future   The Many Deaths of Laila Starr   House of Slaughter

Sale of Large Sizes

The Image Omnibus & Deluxe Edition Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

A heads up we hope you heed: Image Deluxe Editions are hardcovers and the discount is based on the HC price. Depending on the sale, it’s frequently cheaper to get the digital edition of the two “regular” collections than a Deluxe Edition containing the equivalent of two regular collections. Keep an eye on what you’re buying.

That said, some of the omnibuses are good deals, so let’s have a look at those and see what they cost per issue, shall we?

Saga Compendiumby Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples is $23.99 and collects #1-54. That’s less than 45 cents/issue ($0.444/issue). That’s a good deal and Saga’s reputation speaks for itself.

Paper Girls: The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang is $19.99 and collects all 30 issues.  That’s a hair under 67 cents/issue ($0.666/issue). Not as cheap as the Saga Compendium, but beats a $0.99 single issue sale. You may have seen the Amazon Prime video adaptation. The comic is better.

Saga   Paper Girls

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips isn’t really an omnibus, it’s just the whole 12 issue miniseries in one volume. This one’s a noir murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s Brubaker and Phillips. They’re pretty gosh darn consistent, so you probably already know if you’ll like it. We certainly did, but we’re easy marks for those two.

Curse Words: The Hole Damned Thing Omnibus by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne is roughly 30 issues worth for $19.99, so basically the same deal as Paper Girls. This is a dark farce about an evil Wizard named Wizord who’s feuding with some wizards who are more evil and maybe… maybe… he’s open to changing his ways. Another quality piece of entertainment.

Astro City Metrobook V. 1 by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross is $11.99 for the first 18 issues of the various incarnations of Astro City… which ends up being the same price per issue as Paper Girls and Curse Words. In a nutshell, Astro City is everything good about superheroes distilled into a new universe. Everything will feel a little familiar and the early issues are about capturing the magic of the Silver Age. Astro City is a great palette-cleanser if Event Comics are trying your patience!

The Fade Out    Curse Words   Astro City Metrobook

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s Black Friday Sale = Lots of Batman and Recent $0.99 Single Issues

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’sDC’s Black Friday Sale! Better than normal discounts on collected editions – yes, lots of Batman – plus a lot of recent $0.99 single issues.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Surprise! DC’s Black Friday Sale dropped while we were writing up Marvel’s (annual Black Friday) Epic Collection Sale – which you should absolutely have a look at – and we’ve been getting prodded to annotate DC’s, too.  So… DC today and then we’ll get back with the rest of the Black Friday sales on Black Friday… since sales are definitely starting to drop.

I See a Sale and I Want It Painted Black…

The DC Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

This sale is a mix of some more recent material and some classic material… and some of the prices are good. But let’s hit some highlights and then try to run down the single issue options, since those are buried at the bottom of the sale and most people don’t have kind of patience it takes to click that far down.

’80s Batman

Gosh, you think a DC Sale will have a lot of Batman?  Duh.

For 80s Batman, a primo deal is V. 1-6 of Batman: The Dark Detective (click and scroll down a little, you’ll see them). That’s the 80s Detective Comics run starting with Mike W. Barr / Alan Davis and continuing through the Alan Grant / Norm Breyfogle run. V. 3 includes the sequence by Batman screenwriter Sam Hamm and Denys Cowan. A really nice run for $3.99/$4.99 a pop.

Speaking of Sam Hamm, his Batman ’89 is the Two-Face story he would have done for the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton era Batman films, had the franchise not moved over to Joel Schumacher. Joe Quinones does the art. It’s on our “to read list,” but we haven’t gotten there yet, HOWEVER we would like to point out this was an August release and that awfully fast for DC to put the discounts on it. ($3.99)

For whatever reason, we don’t usually see the first volume of Batman and the Outsiders on sale. More often, it’s just V. 2 & 3 – which aren’t on sale this time, so go figure. This is #1-13 of the Mike W. Barr / Jim Aparo series, so if you’ve been curious, this is not a bad time to stick a toe in.

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective   Batman '89   Batman and the Outsiders

Current Batman

We think this is the first time the Josh Williamson run of Batman has been on sale (again, an August release for $3.99). You’ll also find the James Tynion 4.0 run at this link for $2.99/$3.99 if you scroll down a bit.

We’ve always loved the continuation of the animated series, but we love Batman: The Adventures Continue V.2 (Alan Burnett/Paul Dini/Rich Burchett/Ty Templeton) even more for $2.99! The Court of Owls enters the animated universe!

Is that a new volume of the Tom Taylor / Bruno Redondo Nightwing? Why yes, we think this is the first time V. 2 has been on sale and we know it’s a popular series with .cheap readers.

Batman: Abyss   Batman: The Adventures Continue   Nightwing

Recently On Sale

Not new, but not really that old, either. At least we’ve seen them on sale before.

Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell was a jaw-dropping debut for Jemisin (who’s won just about every major Science Fiction/Fantasy prose award that comes to mind). A new Green Lantern with an experimental ring is off in a far corner of the galaxy and finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation on a world where murder hasn’t happened in centuries. Superior world building! 12 issues worth for $3.99

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber is an utter delight. One of the funniest comics DC has ever produced. Again, $3.99 for a 12-issue series is as good as it gets with DC.

The Nice House On the Lake by James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno is a creepy SF/Horror genre bender (and more than a bit of a hit). A group of people are summoned to an isolated vacation home, only to witness the end of the world beginning outside their safe hideout. The mutual friend who invited them there… well, they have some questions about him. $2.99?!? Yeah, you can get it on the cheap right now.

Rorschach by Tom King and Jorge Fornés is a really odd creature. Set in the Watchman world, after the end of the book, it’s more about the mythology that has sprung up around Rorschach. It’s a mystery about political killings and muses about ideology and identity. It’s something of a unique book. While we were nervous picking up ANY non-Moore/Gibbons Watchmen title, we really enjoyed this one.

Swamp Thing by Ram V and Mike Perkins. This is the current run and we haven’t seen V.2 on sale before. The set up here finds Levi Kamei as the new Swamp Thing/Avatar of the Green. He’s not entirely sure what’s happened to him, but it might involve a corporation and it might involve his family. Interesting setup that has some echoes to The Anatomy Lesson as V. 2 nears its conclusion. Worth at look when it’s a rock bottom $2.99/volume.

Far Sector   Jimmy Olsen   Nice House on the Lake   Rorschach   Swamp Thing

Older Material At Good Prices

A couple ~20 issue/$5.99 volumes that are at a better price than we recall seeing lately:

Kamandi Jack Kirby’s take on Planet of the Apes, although that’s a reductionist description. Many, many years after The Great Disaster, the last boy on Earth navigates a strange wasteland of warring kingdoms of bipedal, talking evolved animals, where most humans are little more than livestock. An incredibly fun adventure book.

The Flash: Savage Velocity – this is the launch of the Wally West Flash era, post-Crisis. It contains the entire Mike Baron/Jackson Guice/Mike Collins run and the beginning of the William Messner-Loebs/Greg LaRocque run. (Yes, run is a pun.) Chunk! Red Trinity/Kapitalist Kouriers! Vandal Savage! Velocity 9!

Kamandi   The Flash

$0.99 Single Issues

This is going to be a little goofy for links, since you’re going to need to scroll down to the more recent issues on any of these pages, but you’ll get a good idea what’s out there. These are all fairly current issues… in the case of Batman,  January ’22 through August ’22.

 

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales – Marvel’s Black Friday Sale! $3.99/$4.99 Epic Collections (and a List of What’s New This Year)

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s Marvel’s Black Friday Sale! $3.99/$4.99 Epic Collections… and we keep track of what’s new to this year’s version of the sale.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Cheap Marvel Epic Collections

The Marvel Epic Collection Sale runs through Thursday 12/1.

The holiday sale season is officially here. Call it a pre-Black Friday sales if you like. The majority of Marvel’s Epic Collections are $3.99/$4.99 and this is an good time to fill in gaps in your collection. This is one of Marvel two best sales of the year, so we’re popping in early to give you the rundown on it.

First we’re going to give a quick overview of what’s in it (for quicker browsing).

Then we’re going to try and root out what’s new in the sales since last year — yes, we know some of you stock up on your Epic Collections every year when this sale drops and this ought to save you some time.

Then some recommendations.

What’s On Sale

Here’s a list of the series involved in the sale. You may need to scroll down past the Masterworks editions to the Epics in some of the links… and that’s OK, because you should remember the Masterworks are usually on sale in December! The material from the mid-80s to present, tends to be in Epic Collections only. (So this is the time to get Avengers West Coast, Conan, Silver Surfer, New Mutants and the more recent material and discounts for those will dry up on the 1st. You have more sale options with material in both formats.)

What’s New Since Last Year’s Black Friday Sale

Near as we can tell, these are the new releases since last year’s Black Friday Epic Collection sale dropped. Compare them to what you’ve already purchased, just in case, but this is what it’s looking like to us, and yes, Marvel was almost averaging 4 Epics/month:

What’s Good?

A lot’s good, really. But with an eye on things that don’t have Masterworks version yet, this is what comes to mind:

Since one of the last year’s new releases plugged major hole, if you were to pull the first four Silver Surfer volumes here, you’d get the Steve Englehart/Marshal Rogers run, followed by the Jim Starlin/Ron Lim run, which re-introduces Thanos and takes you into Infinity Gauntlet. A very good run of cosmic Marvel!

New Mutants Epic Collection: The Demon Bear Saga gets you the entire Chris Claremont/Bill Sienkiewicz run, probably the high point of the franchise, for a lousy $3.99.

Captain America Epic Collection: Man Without A Country is the first Mark Waid / Ron Garney run, widely considered a highlight of the franchise (and we’d agree about that).

Silver Surfer - Englehart   New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga  Captain America: Man Without a Country

And we’ll be back at the end of the week for the rest of the holiday sales that are starting to drop.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Ultimate Spider-Man; DC’s Golden and Silver Ages; Marvel Villains; Resident Alien

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel lowers prices on Ultimate Spider-Man and their villains; DC slashes the Golden and Silver Ages; Dark Horse discounts Resident Alien.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

The Eensy Weensy Bendis Sale

The Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 11/21.

Yes, this essentially one very long Bendis-written run, broken up across two people wearing Spidey’s mask. And for the most part, its a very good run. 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 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.

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

The Naughty List

The Marvel Villains Sale runs through Monday, 11/21.

This is a potpourri mix of villain-centric titles, but it’s really a decent mix if you sift through it and there are a few things we definitely recommend, the top three of which are:

Doctor Doom by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca.  A fun and out of left field adventure that finds Doom framed for an at of international terrorism, deposed from the throne of Latveria, on the run and seeking revenge while engaging in an oddly bickering relationship with Kang the Conqueror.  Good comics!

M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Scott Hepburn was another unexpected delight. You might be expect a farce with Oswald and Blum involved and it is a farce… sometimes. Other times it’s a fairly serious plot and flows between the two moods fluidly. M.O.D.O.K. is concerned he might be losing his mind. He’s seeing things. Like a wife and little M.O.D.O.K.s. And he’s trying to figure out what’s gone wrong and how to fix it, which will lead to encounters with Iron Man, Gwenpool and his maker.

And even further up the farce scale is Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber. Boomerang has got the gang back together and he’s looking for a big score. things go off the rails in the most entertaining ways…

(If you’re looking for something a bit more serious and enjoy 70s Marvel, you could a lot worse than Super-Villain Team-Up, which is essentially Doctor Doom and Namor butting heads for the bulk of the run.)

Doctor Doom   M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games   Superior Foes of Spider-Man

DC’s Other Metals

The DC Golden Age and Silver Age Sale runs through Monday, 11/21.

And by “Golden Age and Silver Age,” they really mean the reprints with that in the title. In general, these tend to be high page count volumes. They vary a little from volume to volume, but it’s usually good bang for your buck, particularly the lower priced editions.

There’s also a selection of $0.99 single issues mostly corresponding to the collected editions, but usually extending a little past what’s in the book versions. If you go to the single issues listing, you’ll see not everything is on sale, just sections.

So let’s break this down by title:

What’s good here? We’ve always thought Doom Patrol was one of DC’s stronger Silver Age offerings, and its hard to undersell the deep weirdness of the original Wonder Woman comics… but let’s talk about the some of those ’40s single issues, which have a slight different appeal. There’s that Alfred Bester Green Lantern.  Past that Detective Comics and Sensation Comics were originally anthologies, so if you dip into the single issues, there are other features in them. Depending on the exact issue, Detective will have The Crimson Avenger, Slam Bradley, The Boy Commandos (some of it by Simon & Kirby) and Airwave. Sensation will have Mr. Terrific, Wildcat, Black Pirate and Gay Ghost. You need to check the individual issues, because lineups swap and some of them only reprint the Batman or Wonder Woman lead.

Green Lantern   Detective   Sensation Comics

Let’s See That Passport

The Dark Horse Resident Alien Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

This would be the Peter Hogan / Steve Parkhouse series about a stranded alien hiding out as a small-town doctor. It’s better known as a TV series on Syfy.

At $4.99, the Resident Alien Omnibus V.1 is a good deal. It collects the first three “regular” collected edition. Speaking of which, while they’re not yet in an omnibus, V.4-6 of the “regular” collections are also on sale for $4.99 to underscore that the omnibus is a good deal.  Single issues are $0.99.

Resident Alien

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Star Wars, Superman, Daredevil, Deadpool and Lone Wolf and Cub

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Superman’s “recent” work; Marvel discounts Star Wars, Daredevil and Deadpool; and Lone Wolf and Cub does some slashing.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Last Sale of Krypton

The DC Superman Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 11/14.

The somewhat recent critical darling here is definitely the Gene Luen Yang / Gurihiru Superman Smashes the Klan which is a reinterpretation of an old Superman radio serial. Good comic and definitely YA-appropriate.

The slightly more recent and totally under most radars option is Superman: Man of Tomorrow by Robert Venditti and Paul Pelletier. Solid “classic” Superman tales with a sly sense of humor that quietly lead into a finale. The running gag about Clark Kent’s clothes is very well done, indeed.

And from the “we have no idea how this counts as recent” category, All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely really is a great Superman comic and a love letter to the Silver Age. Very much worth your time if you’ve never partaken of it.

Superman Smashes The Klan   Superman: Man of Tomorrow   All-Star Superman

Not the Holiday Special

The Marvel Star Wars by Aaron and Gillen Sale runs through Monday, 11/14.

That would be Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen.

The Janson Aaron run is conveniently collected in the Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus. Aaron writes most of it (you’ve got some Kieron Gillen crossover issues in there) and there’s an artist rotation of John Cassaday, Stuart Immonen, Leinil Francis Yu, Mike Deodato, Jr., and Salvator Larroca, among others. And when we say “conveniently,” it also includes crossover issues of Darth Vader, Vader Down, Doctor Aphra, The Screaming Citadel and so forth. Saves a lot of reading order headaches, so thumbs up to that.

There is a convenient Star Wars by Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca Omnibus, but it’s not sale. (Booo…) It’ll put you back $40. You can pick up their run as volumes 7-11 of the regular Star Wars collections for $3.99@ and it’s effectively half price compared to the omnibus. (And you’ll note there are a couple Greg Pak/Phil Noto volumes in the sale after the Gillen/Larocca run.)

Star Wars by Jason Aaron   Star Wars

Zdarksky’s Event

The Marvel Daredevil Devil’s Reign Sale runs through Monday, 11/21.

And really, this is a Chip Zdarsky Daredevil sale.

The order you want to follow goes like this:

  • Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky: To Heaven Through Hell is what they’re calling the double volumes of his excellent run. And no, the comics aren’t as pretentious as the name it’s been given. Marco Checchetto is the lead artist for this. The through lines of the series are the competing gang interests in Hell’s Kitchen, the saga of Mayor Fisk and insurgencies by some sinister billionaires.
  • Devil’s Reign is the Event mini-series where Mayor Fisk makes his moves, declares super heroes illegal (in a sort of spin on Civil War’s Superhero Registration Act) leaving Hornhead and the heroes of New York City to resist. Let’s be honest… these are really Daredevil issues with guest stars for the purpose of the series. Zdarsky and Checchetto are still the creative team.
  • Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear by Zdarsky and Rafael de Latorre is the adventures of Elektra during Devil’s Reign. Why it’s called this would be mild spoilers territory, though you can probably guess.

The other spin-off minis are purely optional.

Daredevil   Devil's Reign   Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear

The Merc with the… Discounts?

The Marvel Deadpool Massive Sale runs through Monday 11/14.

And yes, there’s a LOT here. Let’s hit the highlights of the longer running series:

  • Deadpool Classic – Starting at the beginning, it’s something of a catch-all series of collections
  • Cable & Deadpool (’04-’08) – Most associated with Fabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher
  • Deadpool (’08-’12) – The Daniel Way era
  • Deadpool (’12-’15) – The Brian Posehn/Gerry Duggan era
  • Deadpool (’18-’19) – Skottie Young / Nic Klein

Deadpool by Posehn and Duggan   Deadpool by Joe Kelly   Deadpool & Cable

The Baby Cart Assassin

The Dark Horse Digital Manga 2022 Sale runs through Monday, 11/26.

We highly recommend Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. The Shogun’s executioner’s family is killed and the executioner framed for treason. He escapes with his infant son and undertakes work as an assassin while biding his time to gain revenge on those who plotted against him.

Lone Wolf and Cub

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman and The Joker, Black Panther, Venom, World War Hulk and Eight Billion Genies

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC cuts prices on Batman, The Joker and the 90s, Marvel discounts Black Panther, Venom and World War Hulk, and Image goes a little more recent with their sale.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Bat-Sale

DC’s Batman and The Joker Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 11/7

What does recent mean? On the Collected Edition side of things, it means Tom King’s Batman run through James Tynion, IV’s run  (you can save a little on King’s run with the Deluxe Editions, which are double volumes.), plus the Joker War Saga collection. If you prefer the single issues ($1.79 each), you can get most of the way through the Josh Williamson era.

Speaking of single issues, there two title a bit more current:

For this era, we have a soft spot for the Tom King / Mikel Janin War of Jokes and Riddles.

Batman   Joker War Saga   Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles

Children of the 90s

The DC 90s Rewind Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

Here’s a 90s book that had a bit of a following, but has perhaps faded from the fan consciousness a bit: Gotham By Gaslight. Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola but a Victorian era Batman on the trial of Jack the Ripper and then “Master of the Future,” the sequel, does a Jules Verne / Master of the World riff with Eduardo Barreto tagging in for Mignola.

While the prices bounce around a little, $2.99 volumes of the original run of Hellblazer are always a good deal.

The Flash by Mark Waid can certainly be characterized as a quintessential 90s DC run. The first 4 omnibus-sized volumes are $5.99. (Volume 2 being the one with the famous “Return of Barry Allen” storyline.) If your memory is hazy, Greg Larocque is the initial art on the run with Mike Wieringo starting in Volume 3.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight   Hellblazer   Flash by Mark Waid

Wakanda Month

The Marvel Monthly Black Panther Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

As much as we love the Don McGregor / Billy Graham, we’d say wait and see if there’s a better Masterworks sale as the holidays hit. Unless you’re burning to see the original run (and it’s good).

The first big Black Panther revival is the  Christopher Priest run. (Which cycled through a ton of artists.) Originally a Marvel Knights book, it’s actually an expansion on the old Jungle Action run with a few new characters added and it’s very, very good.

The next big run is the Reginald Hudlin era. (Again, lots of artists here, starting out with John Romita, Jr.) Time was, this run was probably best known for T’Challa marrying Storm, but now it’s probably better known for introducing Shuri into the mythos.

Then comes the Ta-Nehisi Coates era, which starts out with Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse on art. We would be remiss if we didn’t point out the first two volumes here are a cheap $2.99

Black Panther by Priest   Black Panther by Reginald Hudlin   Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This Means War

Marvel’s World War Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

Yes, this is absolutely a highlight of the Hulk cannon (along with Planet Hulk that proceeded it). And what you need is the Greg Pak / John Romita, Jr. collection.

Take on the side series as interest dictates, they’re optional.

World War Hulk

You Were Expecting… Johnny Cash?

The Marvel Venom: King in Black Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

The Event the sale is named after is sort of the finale to the Donny Cates/Ryan Stegman/Iban Coello run on the book. We like the middle portion where The Maker (aka Ultimate Universe Reed Richards) is scheming.

The current series is an Al Ewing/Ram V/Bryan Hitch collaboration which bounces between cosmic horror and more grounded incidents on Earth.

And for something more different than you might expect, we were surprised how enjoyable the old Rick Remender / Tony Moore / Tom Fowler run with Flash Thompson becoming the symbiote’s host.

Venom by Cates   Venom   Venom by Remender

No, Not That Kind of Hit

The Image Recent Hits Sale runs through Sunday, 11/20.

There are some collected editions here, but let’s have a look at some current buzz books that are still in single issues only:

Starhenge is Liam Sharp’s Arthurian space fantasy epic. Technically, this is the first act, but 4 of the 6 issues of it are here for $0.99 each. Sharp is really pushing the artistic envelope with this one and it looks more like a European album (with a little extra Sienkiewicz influence) than a run of the mill US comic. The art just feels big. (Amazon’s thumbnail previews don’t do it justice.)

Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne (the team from the highly enjoyable Curse Words) really blew up at launch and we don’t think it was solely because speculators swooned over the media rights auction. In this one, every person on Earth gets their own genie. What could possibly go wrong? It might make one want to hide out in a bar…

Public Domain is Chip Zdarsky’s satire of the business side of comics. And he’s actually illustrating this one. We’ll even give you his description to set the tone properly: “a WILD ALTERNATE WORLD where comic book creators aren’t properly acknowledged or compensated for their creations!! Crazy, I know!!” No sarcasm in this comic… nope, none at all.

  Eight Billion Genies   Public Domain

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