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

Comixology Sales: The Joker, Transformers, War of the Realms, Vintage Jim Starlin, Young Avengers and Image gets Romantic(ish)

This week’s Comixology Sales highlights start with a celebration of the Joker. Then Marvel highlights the Young Avengers and Ware of the Realms. Valentine’s Day is over, but we look at what’s notable in Image’s romance sale anyway. Plus, Transformers galore and that the glory that is Dreadstar.

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

The Joke’s on who?

DC’s The Joker’s Greatest Jokes Sale runs through Monday (3/1).

If you’re going to get one “Best of” Joker collection, you’re going to want The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years. Being a thicker collection makes it more complete, but moreover, we don’t think you can have a “Best of” that doesn’t include the Englehart/Rogers “Laughing Fish” storyline.

For something that doesn’t necessarily come immediately to mind, there’s the Joker arc of Gotham Central, the classic GPD series by Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka with Michael Lark as the artist for this arc.

There’s a lot more Bat-family material in this one, though we weren’t sure the Joker is integral to (or even appearing in) all the titles in this sale.

Joker: Celebration of 75 Years   Gotham Central

No love for the Old Avengers

The Marvel Young Avengers Sales runs through Sunday 2/28.

Young Avengers by Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung: The Complete Collection is the original, formative run. And for as short as it actually was, this is a fairly influential comic with everything from the recent Empyre Event to WandaVision on streaming having echoes of it.  Oh, there’s more Young Avengers material on sale, but this is one of the times to start at the beginning.  And yes, Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade is conspicuous by its absence.

Young Avengers

Why can’t The Realms just get along?

Marvel’s  War of the Realms Sale runs through Thursday (3/4).

This was a Thor-centric Jason Aarons event. As a Marvel Event, there were a ton of spin-off mini-series that tied in. Explore those at your leisure, but this War of the Realms is the tentpole series around which the Event revolved.

War of the Realms 

More off-kilter romance

The Image Romance Sale runs through Monday (3/8).

No, Image really isn’t a bastion of traditional romance, but they do have a few things that fall vaguely into that territory.

Twisted Romance is an anthology of, well… twisted romantic tales built around a set of Alex de Campi stories with some prose and shorter comics filling in around them. Notably, there’s some intergalactic space pirate romance with Carla Speed McNeil on the art.

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies might not be the most romantic title in the sale, but it’s good book. A entry in Ed Brubaker / Sean Phillips crime catalog (as consistent a catalog as you’ll find these days), this one concerns murder and mayhem at a high end rehab clinic.  As always, recommended if you have an itch for crime comics.

Sex Criminals is the recently completed Matt Fraction / Chip Zdarsky off-color comedy about a couple who can freeze time when they have sex and use their ability to rob banks.  OK, there’s a bit more to it, but that’s the tried and true tagline.  All but the still-new final volume are on sale.

Twisterd Romance   My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies   Sex Criminals

All Hail Megatron has transformed into an omnibus

The IDW Transformers Sale runs through Thursday (3/4).

IDW has effectively treated the Transformers line as a saga. The original run of that is The Transformers: The IDW Collection series of omnibuses and is probably a good place to start here.

Fans of a certain age might also be interested in Transformers: Classics, which is the original Marvel Comics run.

Transformers: The IDW Collection   Transformers: Classics

Thicker editions

The Dynamite Select Omnibus Sale runs through Sunday (2/28).

Dreadstar Omnibus is the first 12 issues (and story arc) of Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar. Dreadstar was Starlin’s major work between wrapping up the original Captain Marvel / Warlock / Thanos saga and returning to Marvel (proper) for Silver Surfer and Infinity Gauntlet. (Sure, he did some Batman before returning, but Dreadstar is just on another level.) It’s the tale of the last survivor of the Milky Way taking on the corrupt Church of the Instrumentality as a rebel insurgency of sorts. An absolute classic of the first wave of creator owned comics in the ’80s.

The Shadow: Year One – Omnibus is an origin tale for The Shadow and Margo Lane, written by Matt Wagner (who’s done a lot with ’30s era heroes over the years) with art by Wilfredo Torres.

There’s a lot of Red Sonja and Vampirella on sale, too, if that floats your boat.

Dreadstar   The Shadow: Year One

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Wolverine, Claremont’s X-Men, (Karen) Berger Books and DC’s First Volumes Sale

This week in Comixology Sales, Claremont’s X-Men gets the nod and “Weapon X” means Wolverine is underfoot. We root out some DC Vol. 1s that are more self-contained and find some highlights from Karen Berger’s imprint.

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

Let’s say it’s Chris Claremont-centric

The X-Men Legends Sale runs through Sunday (2/21). It might be a little reductionist to call it a Chris Claremont sale when they’re launching the X-Men Legends comic as a monthly, but… we know what we’re looking at here.

X-Men Forever  is Claremont returning to X-Men and picking up where he left off when he exited the title.  And you know what? It moves with a faster and more deliberate pace than the original Tom Grummett is the primary artist on the run, though Vol. 2 is notable for having some Paul Smith work.

X-Men: Legion – Shadow King Rising is a set of stories featuring Legion and the the Shadow King.  Again, this is largely a Claremont collection and notably includes the excellent Legion sequence from New Mutants with Bill Sienkiewicz.

X-Men: Mutant Genesis is where Claremont got off the airplane, the first time around. It’s the launch of the “adjective-less” X-Men with Jim Lee.

X-Men Forever   X-Men: Legion  X-Men: Mutant Genesis

Wolverine by any other name

Marvel’s Weapon X Sale runs through Sunday (2/21).  Let’s just call it a Wolverine sale, shall we? A couple things stand out here.

Wolverine: Weapon X is the Barry Windsor-Smith serial from Marvel Comics Presents that tales the brutal tale of how the adamantium got into Logan.  You want Weapon X? This is Weapon X. An influential comic.

Wolverine: Weapon X Unbound is the tail end of the Larry Hama/Marc Silvestri run.  Hama had a pretty long run on Wolverine and Silvestri was destined for Image.

Wolverine: Weapon X   Wolverine: Weapon X Unbound

DC’s V.1  sale

DC’s Start Here Sale comes in 2 flavors: Graphic Novels and Single Issues.  DC would probably like you to buy Volume 1 at a discount and keep buying the rest at regular prices. We’re cheap, so let’s talk about some volumes that aren’t the first part of sagas you’ll need another five collections of.

DC’s 1st Issue Specials is an oddball book. In the 70s, it was a sort of tryout book, although the only thing it really launched was Warlord. That said, there are some gems in here. Martin Pasko and Walt Simonson have a stellar Doctor Fate strip.  Jack Kirby has three concepts here that are worth a look. Manhunter actually sorta/presages Englehart’s use of the concept in Justice League, even if Englehart takes the ball and runs in a very different direction.  Atlas would have been an epic fantasy. The Dingbats of Danger Street — your mileage may vary on this one, but it’s an extra goofy updating of ’40s kid gang comics with a little more bite.  This one comes at a good discount, too. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in Bronze Age ephemera or Kirby, jump on it.

Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 is the original Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson run. It is legendary for a reason.

Green Lantern: Sector 2814 Vol. 1 is another Lein Wein project. This is his Green Lantern run with a pre-Watchmen Dave Gibbons and a pleasant run it is.

DC's First Issue Specials   Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age   Green Lantern

Don’t call it Vertigo (while anybody’s looking)

The Dark Horse Berger Books Sale runs through Monday (3/1).

We’re not saying Berger Books is Vertigo, so much as we’re saying Karen Berger is Vertigo and she happened to switch publishers.  There is a certain throughline to Berger’s editorial work.

Incognegro by Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece is a wonderful mystery/crime comic about an African-American reporter from New York sent to Mississippi in the 1920s to investigate a murder his brother’s been accused of… and he does so by “passing” as a white man.  Excellent book that moved over from DC with Berger. There’s also a second volume if you like the original.

Invisible Kingdom by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward is conspiracy tale about a religious sect and an intergalactic religion having some backdoor relations when they’re supposed to be at each other’s throats.  It also won 2 Eisner Awards in 2020.

The Seeds hasn’t been out much more than 6 weeks as a collected edition, but the buzz has been building on it.  Ann Nocenti and David Aja construct a strange and eerie tale of a collapsing ecosystem, an anti-tech movement, click bait journalism and aliens who harvest the seeds of dying races. We’re going to have to invoke those pretentious film students you went to college with and say the real star here is the comic’s mise-en-scène.  The non-pretentious phrasing would be atmosphere, but Seeds has so much texture to the atmosphere, it needs the fancy term to really do it justice.

Incognegro  Invisible Kingdom  The Seeds

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: DC’s Odd Valentine’s Day Selections, Hellboy, Nova, Jeff Lemire and Kieron Gillen

This week’s Comixology Sales are highlighted by DC’s… unusual sense of romance, the many incarnations of Nova over at Marvel, Image’s 2020 highlights and delicate embrace of Hellboy.

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

Not the Nova from Planet of the Apes

Marvel’s Nova Sale runs through Sunday (2/14).

Starting at the beginning, Nova  Classic is the original Marv Wolfman series that’s probably most associated artistically with Sal Buscema and Carmine Infantino.  And yes, volume 3 does include the wrap up in Fantastic Four.

Nova by Abnett & Lanning is the series that the Annihilation event series spun out of. That would be Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with a rotating roster of artists. This one had some pretty wild concepts, like a city made out of the corpse of a Celestial, long before Avengers Mountain was a thing.

New Warriors was team book that had a definite moment in the sun in the 90s. Nova was a member, as were Namorita, Vance Astro/Marvel Boy, Speedball and their leader, Night Thrasher.  This is a fun title most people associate with Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley.

Nova Classic   Nova by Abnett & Lanning  New Warriors

Image celebrates 2020 so you don’t have to

The Image Best of 2020 Sale runs through Thursday (2/25).

Descender / Ascender  are two titles by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen.  Descender is the tale of a robot cast in the form a little boy and a robot rebellion.  It is a wonderful series that earns it hype.  Ascender is the sequel series that takes things in a fantasy direction.

Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans is the extra dark tale of a group of gamers who thought they’d seen the last of a fantasy realm they’d entered and escaped from. They were wrong.  If you wanted to look at this as a nightmare mirror of the old 1980s Saturday morning Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, that’s not a bad point of reference.  Good series.

Gideon Falls is also by that Lemire guy, with time with Andrea Sorrentino for an excellent time hopping, body possessing horror tale of which we’d rather not say more for fear of spoilers.

Descender   Ascender   Die   Gideon Falls

DC has a strange take on Valentine’s Day

The DC’s Heroes in Love Sale runs through Monday (2/15). We have to say, Birth of the Demon and Longbow Hunters miiiiiiiight not be what we’d push for a romantic theme, but your mileage may vary… we’ll forge ahead with that in mind.

Aquaman: The Search for Mera  is the beginning  of the Steve Skeates/ Jim Aparo run on Aquaman that’s gotten a lot of love over the years. In this arc (and DC didn’t have so many arcs like this in ’68) Mera has been abducted and Aquaman goes on a quest to find her that involves some fantasy tropes, the mob, Black Manta and an insurrection. It covers a lot of ground.  Since this is currently matching the print hardcover price, the sale has it at a heftier discount than most.

Mad Love is Paul Dini and Bruce Timm telling the origin story of Harley Quinn in the Batman: The Animated Series continuity. A very, very influential tale by the two best people to tell it.  Worth a look and yes, Harley’s in love.  Not in a healthy relationship, but in love.

Mister Miracle #18 is the wedding issue for Scott Free and Big Barda. After the Batman non-wedding, we thought maybe it was worth highlighting an actual wedding for Valentine’s Day? It’s Jack Kirby, after all!

Aquaman   Mad Love   Mister Miracle

Go straight to Hellboy

The Hellboy Sale runs through Monday (2/21).

Hellboy (proper) is the regular series you’re most familiar. Do we really have to say anything about something that’s widely considered a classic and has spawned a couple films, among other things?  Didn’t think so.  The Omnibus editions of this are by far your best value.  We also love when Richard Corben popped in.

Hellboy and the BPRD is a companion of series of miniseries filling in the backstory. You’ll find most of these are titled by the year and they’re working their way through the 1950s.  Tip – if the digital collected edition only has 5 issues in it, as is usually the case here, you can save a buck by getting the $0.99 single issues.

Hellboy   Hellboy and the BPRD

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Black Panther, Miles Morales, N.K. Jemisin, George Takei, Alan Moore and quite a bit more

In this week’s Comixology Sales, we start to look at the Black History Month sales, which includes some *choice* Black Panther material, Miles Morales, N.K Jemison and John Ridley at DC, plus George Takei, Alan More, Elektra, the Fantastic Four and the Black Hammer.

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

Wakanda Forever

The Marvel Black Panther Sale runs through Sunday (2/28).

T’Challa has been gifted with some excellent runs and superior creators over the years.  The earlier material was not as visible as the more recent adventures, so we’re going to highlight those.

The Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther’s Rage is the original Don McGregor run with art by Billy Graham, Rich Buckler and Gil Kane (among others) that really fleshes out the Black Panther cast.  This is where Killmonger first turns up, along with the original rogues gallery.  A classic.

Black Panther: Panther’s Quest is Don McGregor returning to Black Panther for a serial in Marvel Comics Presents. Gene Colan provides the art for this serial, which is a much more grounded take on the character as T’Challa sneaks into South Africa looking for his mother.

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection is the Priest run (with a rotating cast of artists, particularly early on). Probably the wittiest Black Panther run, this one really runs the gamut from broad farce to thriller. It also builds firmly on the foundation from the original Panther’s Rage sequence.

Panther's Rage x Panther's Quest x Black Panther by Priest

…or you could call it a Spider-Man sale

Marvel’s Miles Morales Sale will run through Sunday (2/28).

These comics can be a little hard to keep track of because of how often Marvel’s felt compelled to give the series a new first issue.  It’s best to start with Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection. This omnibus sequence starts from the beginnings in the old Ultimate Universe, where introducing Miles seemed to re-energize Bendis and set him on the path for another long character run.

Miles Morales - Spider-Man

A couple BIG writing names from other fields

The DC Black History Month Sale runs through Monday (2/8).

We seem to recall enjoying American Way when it first came out as a collected edition several years ago.  It’s a well regarded superhero saga that came out from the Wildstorm long before author John Ridley won his Oscar for 12 Years a Slave.  Georges Jeanty and Karl Story provide the art. Interestingly, there’s no collected edition in digital, so you’ll need the single issues here.

Far Sector is a Green Lantern tale by multiple Hugo award winning author N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell. A rookie Green Lantern on the far side of galaxy investigates a murder in a world where emotions have been suppressed.  This series hasn’t actually wrapped up yet, but you can get a chunk of it for $0.99 a pop.

Michael Cray  by Bryan Hill and N. Steven Harris might be an odd one to pick up solo, but it’s a good one. A companion piece to the Warren Ellis Wildstorm revival, Cray is an assassin for International Operations and is leaving the bodies of the Wildstorm universe’s funhouse mirror versions of the Justice League in his wake.

American Way   Far Sector   Michael Cray

Ninja Assassin

Marvel’s Elektra Sale runs though Sunday (2/7).  Elektra’s one of those characters that’s so strongly associated with her creator, we’re also going to recommend the early material as a starting point.

Elektra Assassin is probably the artistic high point. This Frank Miller/Bill Sienkiewicz series involves Elektra and a SHIELD agent named Garrett chasing and being chased by The Beast. It’s a very subversive take on Elektra and extremely influential.

You also can’t go wrong with Miller’s original run which is contained in 3 volumes of Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson.

Elektra Assassin   Daredevil by Frank Miller

Hammered

Dark Horse has the Black Hammer Sale running through Monday (2/8).  No, we don’t think this is a Black History Month sale. This is the much celebrated superhero tale by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. It starts out with a group of heroes trapped for years in rural community and eventually builds out an entire universe around it. It’s probably best to start with the main series before branching out into the supporting mini-series.  It’s a comic that’s earned it’s way over the years.  Head up: the “regular” collections are slightly less expensive that the “library” editions.

Black Hammer

All kinds of FF on sale

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Sale runs through Thursday (2/11).

This is a challenging one to provide links for.  There are tons of digital collections crammed into long running series and you’re probably better off going through the main sale link for individual items.  But what do we like?  The Epic Editions are nice and thick. You can get the whole Lee/Kirby run there, as well as later material.  The best volume is probably The Coming of Galactus or The Name is Doom… but we’ve nothing but good things to say about the Walt Simonson run.

Past that, Fantastic Four by Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo is awfully good.

The Coming of Galactus  Fantastic Four by Walt Simonson  FF by Waid and Ringo

The inverse of “well” comics

The (IDW) Top Shelf Sale runs through Monday (12/15).  Top Shelf being an imprint IDW pulled into its orbit a few years ago with a longer history of alternative and arts comics.

The Bojeffries Saga is one of the thinner volumes we’ll recommend, but it’s one we’ve always liked.  The easiest way to describe it is Alan Moore’s British Adams Family.  Yes, Alan Moore’s pretty darn funny when he has a mind to be. This is him and Steve Parkhouse telling tales of a monstrous family.

They Called Us Enemy is George Takei’s multiple award winning memoir of his childhood in a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. It’s co-written with Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger with art by Harmony Becker.

The Bojeffries Saga   They Called Us Enemy

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Star Wars, X-Force, Atomic Robo, Iron Fist, Captain Ginger, Frank Miller and Douglas Rushkoff

This week’s Comixology sales have Marvel putting Star Wars, Iron Fist and X-Force up for discounts. DC’s goes “deluxe” (and we sidestep their superfolks). Indie science fiction is highlighted and Dark Horse crime is on sale.

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

Marvel Comics Presents: Stars, Fists and Force

Marvel’s X-Force Sale runs through Sunday (1/31). There are several eras to X-Force over the years, two of the stand out to us:

The Rick Remender years, where X-Force went black ops and the storyline was extra dark was a standout – particularly in regard to it’s contemporaries at Marvel during that time period.  Jemore Opena was the primary artist, but there were a lot of artists tagging in and out in that period. It’s collected Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender  Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

The polar opposite of that would Peter Milligan’s and Mike Allred’s run on the title.  A goofy period of the feature that would soon be renamed X-Statix.  It’s collected inX-Force Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

X-Force   X-Force   X-Force by Milligan and Allred   X-Force by Milligan and Allred

The Star Wars Legends Sale runs through Sunday (1/31).

This sale is largely about the Dark Horse titles (and we’ll note that neither Agent of Empire or Legacy are present), but we’re thinking you might be interested in a couple older things: The Star Wars newspaper strip, which begins with Russ Manning and ends with a lengthy Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson run. Mmmm… Goodwin/Williamson.  Then there’s the original Marvel run, which has even more Archie Goodwin.  That said, we’ve always thought the David Michelinie/Walt Simonson run that’s part of V.4 of the Epic collections hasn’t gotten enough love.  Especially when they were working under the constraints of the time period between Empire and Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Newspaper Strip   Star Wars

The Iron Fist Sale runs through, you guessed it, Sunday (1/31).

Three things stand out here. You can start at the beginning with the  Iron  Fist Epic Collection that collects the original Marvel Premiere run and the Claremont/Byrne solo title.

That, of course, leads directly into Power Man & Iron Fist, which has Epic Collections on sale and is more of a fun-forward, occasionally goofy take on the character.

Finally, there’s Immortal Iron Fist, the excellent (and more recent) take on Iron Fist and the guardians of K’un-Lun.

Iron Fist   Power Man and Iron Fist   Immortal Iron Fist

Let’s talk about non-cape DC books

The DC  Deluxe Sale runs through Monday (2/1). This sale is theoretically about DC’s hardcover collections, which is a little counter-intuitive when talking about digital. It also might not make for the best price points, which is a common complaint about DC’s sales.  So let’s look past the usual superhero fare that you can find most weeks and concentrate on the unusual.

Frank Miller’s Ronin is what Miller originally left Marvel for. It’s a sort of science fiction/fantasy mashup concerning a samurai’s quest to kill a demon that lands the titular Ronin in a dystopian future, adding a touch of cyberpunk to the mix.

Marshal Law by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill is most easily described as Judge Dredd with superheroes. Quite possibly an inspiration for The Boys, too. Marshal Law is charged with policing superheroes. It’s a vicious satire of the genre and something of a trendsetter that the general audience wasn’t always quite sure what to make of when it came out.

Sheriff of Baylon is a bit more recent. It’s Tom King’s and Mitch Gerads’s mystery/thriller tale of murder and political maneuvering inside the Green Zone as a contractor attempts to train the new Iraqi police force.  One of King’s best works.

Ronin   Marshal Law   Sheriff of Babylon

Indie Science Fiction Comics

The Small Press Sci-Fi Sale runs through Monday (2/1). Which is to say indie comics and it’s an unusual mix.

Atomic Robo by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener is pure, distilled fun. A robot created by Nikolai Tesla takes on mad science, Nazis and dinosaurs.  As one does. A delightful amusement.

Captain Ginger by Stuart Moore and June Brigman is a space opera about evolved cats on a spaceship built by humans after all the humans were wiped out by an invasive alien species… that’s still chasing the cats. Another fun comic from Ahoy, which has a fairly tight lineup.

Testament by noted cyberculture/media critic/journalist/academic Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp (currently wrapping up on Green Lantern) was actually a Vertigo comic, back in the day. It appears the rights reverted.  It’s a tale about history repeating itself split between the near future and Biblical times and the evolution of religion with a resistance cell’s struggle in parallel with Biblical actions. You can save a dollar by buying the $0.99 single volumes instead of the omnibus.

Atomic Robo   Captain Ginger   Testament

Cops and Robbers… but mostly Robbers

The Dark Horse Crime Sale runs through Monday (2/1).

We really can’t say enough about Blacksad: The Collected Stories. Wonderful hardboiled detectives stories and amazing art. Click through and look at the preview.

You also really can’t go wrong with the EC Archives.  In this case, Crime SuspenStories Vol. 2 and  Vol. 4

Blacksad   Crime SuspenStories  EC Crime SuspenStories

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: DC’s Vertigo (The Whole Thing), Alpha Flight, Hawkeye and Excellent Deals from TKO

This week’s Comixology sales include some big value in a surprising place as TKO takes a bow. DC puts Vertigo in the discount category for the week and Marvel goes for a wide thematic spread.

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

A Marvel Comics Variety Pack

Marvel’s Alpha Flight Sale runs through Sunday (1/24). For Alpha Flight, we recommend the original series, Alpha Flight “Classic”  as they’re calling it for the reprints.  That’s the John Byrne run currently available. There’s nothing wrong with the unreprinted Bill Mantlo/Mike Mignola run that this catches the tail end of, either.

Alpha Flight

Marvel’s Hawkeye Sale runs through Thursday (1/28).  And if you’re going to do Hawkeye, then you want the Matt Fraction/David Aja Hawkeye.  It’s an odd run that’s off in its own little corner of the Marvel universe and not necessarily consistent characterization with, say, Avengers… but it’s awfully entertaining. <insert Pizza Dog reference here>

Hawkeye

The Marvel Dark Reign Sale runs through Sunday (1/24). Dark Reign was an attempt to do a thematic event, as opposed to a mini-series and tie-in books.  This was effectively an event that was all tie-ins, without that central mini-series.  The premise is that after Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn manages to take over SHIELD, which he remakes in his own image and he starts to try and track down the various heroes  and expand his power base.

There is one Dark Reign sequence that stands high above the others.  Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca stopped their Iron Man storyline and moved over the “World’s Most Wanted” storyline.  Osborn wants the information in Tony Stark’s brain. Stark’s on the run and attempting to overwrite his brain so Osborn can’t get at everyone’s secret identity.  It’s a self-contained story within the Dark Reign framework and it’s available in two volumes: Iron Man: World’s Most Wanted V.1 and Iron Man: World’s Most Wanted V. 2

.Iron Man   Iron Man

Vertigo Lives On In Sales

DC’s Vertigo Sale runs through Monday (1/25).  DC cancelled Vertigo, but son of a gun if it doesn’t keep popping up as a dedicated category when things go on sale. It’s almost like people like Vertigo or something…

Since the whole thing is here, let’s highlight some of the foundational Vertigo comics.

  • Saga of the Swamp Thing – Alan Moore lit the inspirational fuse with Swamp Thing and took him on a tour of America and to the stars. Along the way, a certain Mr. Constantine was introduced.
  • Hellblazer – The Swamp Thing spin-off has been through a LOT of hands and it was the longest lived Vertigo title. Sometimes the de facto flagship, sometimes not. You can dive into pretty much any era and enjoy it.
  • Sandman – Neil Gaiman’s breakthrough project started out being grounded in the DC superhero universe and horror anthologies, then broke out into it’s own mythologies. We’ll see on TV soon enough.  This was probably the most influential title.  Sandman: The Dream Hunters with P. Craig Russel is listed separately.

If you want to throw in Doom Patrol and Shade as OG Vertigo titles, I’m probably not going to argue with those, either.  Lots of history with the imprint.

Saga of the Swamp Thing   Hellblazer   Sandman   Sandman: The Dream Hunters

TKO Has the Best Value of the Week

The TKO Linewide Sale runs through (Sunday 1/31).  You may not be familiar with TKO.  That’s OK, here at the Tower of Cheap, we hadn’t really read of their titles until last week… but we came away impressed and at $1.99/$2.99 for full graphic novels, there are great values here.

Sentient by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta is the best value of the week! The solicitation is about a ship’s AI having to raise the children left on the ship after the adults perish.  You might read this and expect it to be some kind of sweet, kindly YA story. And you’d be wrong. This is a DARK, blunt and brutal science fiction tale that still fits the same description. It’s also excellent all the way around. Sentient earned it’s Eisner nomination.  Just don’t go into when you’re craving a light fluffy read.  It’s almost trigger-warning level dark.  Highly recommended.

The Fearsome Doctor Fang is written by TV writer Tze Chun and Mike Weiss with art by Dan McDaid, who’s done some Judge Dredd work over at IDW. This one is a steampunk adventure that takes the old Fu Manchu trope and inverts its it. Our mysterious science villain is actually a hero. Tech suits, missing siblings and deadly ancient treasures. Something of a steampunk Indiana Jones romp, it’s a fun comic.

Sara is by Garth Ennis and Steve Epting. While we haven’t read this one yet, it’s not really being flip when we say that you’ll already know whether or not you’ll like Ennis & Epting on a book about Russian women snipers in World War II.  Ennis WWII books are a known quantity.

Sentient   The Fearsome Doctor Fang   Sara

Still on Sale

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Spider-Man, Vision & The Scarlet Witch, DC’s Rebirth and Fantagraphics Goes Linewide

The Comixology sales this week include Marvel slashing prices on Dan Slott’s lengthy run on Spider-Man, The Vision & the Scarlet Witch as their show drops, DC revisits Rebirth, Dark Horse has Neil Gaiman at a discount and Fantagraphics has their digital catalog on sale.

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

Spidey Gets Slotted Ahead of WandaVision

Running through Sunday (1/17) is the  Spider-Man by Dan Slott Sale.  This is not the easiest sale to navigate because Marvel has relaunched Spidey several times and during the “Brand New Day” era, weren’t even sequentially numbering all the collected editions.  Seriously, it’s a mess.  The rule of thumb is it’s easier to read the omnibus editions, which tend to be slightly better deals anyway.

We’d tell you to start at the beginning with the Spider-Man: Brand New Day omnibuses. For context, this starts back when Marvel decided to publish Amazing Spider-Man three times each month and cancel the secondary titles, so you’ve got a rotating cast of creators including Slott, Mark Waid, Joe Kelly and Zeb Wells (among others) as writers and the likes of John Romita, Jr., Barry Kitson, Phil Jimenez,  and Marcos Martin (among a wide cast) as artists.  It’s a fun era and Slott eventually ends up helming Spidey.  It also ends with a certain Doctor Octopus storyline that sets up what might be Slott’s pinnacle: Superior Spider-Man. That’s the run where Doc Ock takes over Peter’s body.  It sure sounded strange when first announced, but Slott made it work very well.

If those two runs didn’t keep you busy, they’re followed by The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Spider-Man: Worldwide.  Yes, Slott wrote a lot of Spidey AND Marvel can’t help themselves when it comes to relaunches.  Those last two series are really separate because the monthly relaunched.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day   Superior Spider-Man

Probably because there’s a TV show debuting, Marvel also has a Vision & The Scarlet Witch Sale running through Thursday (1/21).

If you want the actual couple, the Steve Englehart/Richard Howell Vision & The Scarlet Witch: A Year in the Life, which sets up a lot of mythology, include the birth of their children.

If you’d like to see where the suburban setting reared it’s head, there’s the superb Tom King/Gabriel Walta Vision series, which is paced a lot like a horror tale as The Vision experiments with having a wife and children. (What could go wrong?  Plenty.)

Vision and the Scarlet Witch   The Vision

DC Gets Born Again (and again)

DC has their Rebirth Sale  running through Monday (1/18), which is to say a big chunk of the titles from the previous relaunch.

We’re firm in the pick of the litter being Deathstroke. (You’ll also need The Lazarus Contract, which crossed over with Titans.) At first glance, that’s an unlikely pick, but Priest and a rotating cast of artists including Carlo Pagulayan, Denys Cowan, Joe Bennett and Larry Hama.  Yes, it’s a comic about an assassin, but Deathstroke has intricate plotting, emotional depth and one of the best treatments of Damian Wayne.

After that, we’d direct you to Greg Rucka’s return to Wonder Woman conveniently collected as Volume 1 and Volume 2. With Liam Sharp, Nicola Scott and Bilquis Evely sharing art duties, this is where Rucka resets Wonder Woman after the New 52 era and has Wonder Woman and The Cheetah searching for the truth behind what’s happened to Paradise Island and Diana’s past.

Deathstroke  Titans: The Lazarus Contract  Wonder Woman x Wonder Woman

Dark Horse Gets The Bends

The Dark Horse Mind Benders Sale runs through Monday (1/18) and is dominated by two titles.

American Gods is the Neil Gaiman/P. Craig Russell/Scott Hampton adaption of the the novel of the same name.  Yes, that IS an interesting creative cast and yes, we’ve been to the House on the Rock — it’s real.

Mind MGMT is Matt Kindt’s psychic espionage tale that got quite a bit of critical acclaim back in ’12-’15.  The omnibuses are the best deal for Mind MGMT.

American Gods   Mind MGMT

 

The Fantagraphics Linewide Sale runs through Thursday (1/28).  Fantagraphics doesn’t do sales quite this wide vary often, so it’s well worth giving this an extended browse.  There’s everything from EC to imports to classic comic strips.  Here are a few highlights:

Remember Harold & The Purple Crayon? Before switching to children’s books, Crockett Johnson wrote Barnaby, a delightful strip about a boy, his talking dog and his fairy godfather.  Even Dorothy Parker was a big fan.

You could make a case for calling Love & Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernendez the flagship title of Fantagraphics and few comics have been been as critically acclaimed over the years.

And if you really want to go classic, there’s the Carl Barks Library.  Barks set the gold standard for Disney ducks (and arguably for all Disney comics) with his Donald Duck work and especially Uncle Scrooge McDuck.

Barnaby   Love & Rockets  Uncle Scrooge

 

 

Posted on by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales Roundup: Darth Vader, Miracleman, Punisher, Metal, Astro Boy, Umbrella Academy and Imports

This week in Comixology sales finds Marvel opening some slightly different vaults, DC venturing to dark place, Dark Horse being media-friendly and the joy of Jazz Maynard.

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

Darth Vader = Good Comics

Let’s start with the good stuff: the Marvel  Darth Vader Sale.  Darth Vader has been the best Star Wars title.  We’re mainly looking at two runs here: the all-caps EXCELLENT Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca run and the very good Charles Soule / Giuseppe Camuncoli run.

Two things to pay attention to:

1)Vader Down is the real V. 3 of the Gillen/Larroca run, you’ll need it.
2)We’d say the Soule/Camuncoli doesn’t really hit it’s stride until V.2 and the Jedi librarian.  Remember, you want the 6-issue original tpbs of this run, much cheaper than the 12 issue collections.

This sale runs through Sunday (1/10).

Vader  Vader Series 2  Vader Down

“The Original Writer” and Marvel Max Titles

Then you’ve got the Marvel Max sale that runs through Thursday (1/14).  Marvel Max being theoretically for grownups and usually is more violent (although you have your odd adult situations and a childbirth scene).

Let’s start off with Miracleman – Parental Advisory Edition. Yeah, there’s a childbirth scene in there.  Sense 8 wasn’t the first to have one of those, even if they were, perhaps, a bit more fixated on it.  The “Original Writer” in the credits is Alan Moore. He doesn’t have the best relations with Marvel.  Artists on this include Gary Leach, Alan Davis, John Ridgeway, Rick Veitch and John Totleben. It’s an early more post-modern deconstruction where Miracleman (originally Marvelman, a UK knock-off of Captain Marvel after it Fawcett lost the DC lawsuit and ceased publication) awakens after a time… away and all sorts of unpleasantness follows.  Hugely influential comic that was out of circulation for quite some time.

This sequence is followed by Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham, Vol 1.: The Golden Age. Yes, that would be Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham. One day, there might be another volume in this series. It’s been talked about for a very long time.

Miracleman   Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham

The Garth Ennis Punisher runs have always been a big part of Marvel Max.  You can still get his excellent and hilarious “Welcome Back Frank” sequence with Steve Dillon in this sale, but we’d point out the more serious Punisher run Ennis did with Leandro Fernandez, Darick Robertson, Doug Braithwaite and Goran Parlov, among others.  It’s a quality, hard as nails run that doesn’t always get the fanfare of the lighter version.  Punisher Max: The Complete Collection V. 1-4 covers the Ennis run.

Punisher Max

A Trail of Infinity Events

The Infinity Gauntlet sale runs through Thursday (1/14). We say go back to the originals.  Avengers Vs. Thanos collects the original Captain Marvel and Warlock sequences by Jim Starlin, the father of this saga.  Infinity Gauntlet started the current cycle, written by Starlin with art by George Perez and Ron Lim.

If you’re looking at the Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers sequence – and it’s a true epic – know that you can’t do into it halfway.  It’s all or nothing.  Avengers, New Avengers, Infinity, Time Runs Out AND Secret Wars.  That’s one long, complex story.

Avengers Vs. Thanos   Infinity Gauntlet

DC Goes Dark

DC’s Darkest Hour Sale runs through Monday (1/11) and it’s a fairly small sale.  DCeased and the Dark Night: Metal titles.  It’s quick to browse, but we feel obliged to point out you can save a little money getting the DCeased and Dark Nights: Metal (the main book) as $0.99 single issues.

Dark Nights: Metal

Import Goodness

The Magnetic Press New Year’s Linewide Sale runs through Monday (1/11) and it’s filled with some absolutely lovely European imports.  Seriously, browse some of those books.  Top flight art.  What we’d really like to draw your attention to here is Jazz Maynard by Raule and Roger Ibanez Ugena.  Formally, it’s about an ex-con getting dragged back into his old world, but this comic is more about how the story is told.  A noir-ish tale of a rogue, it reminded us of a modern setting for Corto Maltese and we’re not ones to invoke a Corto Maltese vibe lightly.

Jazz Maynard

DH Transmedia Options

The  Dark Horse Screen to Comics Sale runs through Monday (1/11) and has a fair amount of comics to screen. It’s comics based on TV & movies AND comics that have been adapted.  Things like Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy manga.  (Note: the first bundle is really V.1 & 2 in the same package. $3.99 for 424 pages is good deal.)  Hellboy is one of Dark Horse’s flagship properties. Your best value there is the Omnibus editions, some of which have pretty generous page counts. Umbrella Academy is the current Dark Horse media adaption star over at Netflix.

Astro Boy   Hellboy   Umbrella Academy

Posted on by comics_p1pusl