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.

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.

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.

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.

Still on Sale

Marvel Black Panther Sale through Sunday 2/28
Marvel Miles Morales Sale through Sunday 2/28
Dark Horse Hellboy Sale through Monday 2/22
Best of Image 2020 Sale through Thursday 2/25

Posted on February 19, 2021 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.

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.

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!

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.

Still on Sale

Marvel’s Black Panther Sale through Sunday 2/28
Marvel’s Miles Morales Sale through Sunday 2/28
IDW Top Shelf Sale through Monday 2/15

Posted on February 12, 2021February 12, 2021 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.

x x

…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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Posted on February 5, 2021February 5, 2021 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Still on Sale

TKO Linewide Sale through Sunday, 1/31

Posted on January 29, 2021 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.

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>

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

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.

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.

Still on Sale

Fantagraphics Linewide Sale through Thursday, 1/28

Posted on January 22, 2021 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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

Posted on January 15, 2021 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).

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Posted on January 8, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Holiday Sale Roundup – even more Marvel, Image, BOOM!, Dark Horse and Archie

If you thought the holiday Comixology sales were over, think again. Those sales don’t *start* ending until Sunday. Joining our last batch are even more Marvel titles, wide sales from Image and BOOM!

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

Remember, a lot of publisher listed sales before Christmas that are still going on, including that ridiculously good $0.99 Marvel Masterworks sale – everything we covered last time is still on sale.

Even More Marvel Sales

The “Marvel 2020 Instant Classics Sale” is perhaps a bit overstating what’s in it, but there a bit of interesting material… even if some of it looks like random volumes of ongoing series.

Black Bolt by Saladin Ahmed/Christian Ward/Frazier Irving/Stephanie Hans is the real deal. It won an Eisner and was a Hugo finalist. It opens as Black Bolt’s trying to figure out exactly how he got into this space prison and what happened to his powers. That prison sequence is something else.

Doctor Doom by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca was another delightful title that seemingly came out of nowhere. Doom’s been framed, he’s on the run and his enemies are moving on Latveria.

As with all the Marvel sales right now, this one expires on Sunday 1/3.

Image digital Graphic Novels are 1/2 off

Image has a graphic novel sale that’s broken up into two parts: A-N and O-Z. For the most part, this is 50% off the Image graphic novel catalog. So if you were waiting on something, there’s a good chance it’s among the 1,473 items offered.

If you want some special deals, though… that’s where the omnibuses come into play. Specifically the Robert Kirkman “Compendium” editions. (A lot of Image omnibuses are more expensive than getting the individual volumes, but Kirkman does it right.) The Invincible Compendium 3 volume set is ~1000 pages/9 TPB per volume. And it’s the same story with The Walking Dead Compendium set. Gets it down to roughly ~$2.25 per digital TPB. Best bang for your buck at Image.

Invisible at Dark Horse

For the Dark Horse Best of 2020 Sale, we’d draw your attention to Invisible Kingdom, which won a couple Eisner Awards. This G. Willow Wilson/Christian Ward SF vehicle concerns a the crew of a space freighter and a religious acolyte on the run from her order after discovering that said religious order has some very commercial interests. Suffice to say, the commercial interests aren’t particularly happy about being discovered and the tendrils reach to high places. This is also where we feign shock that Berger Books has a winner. (Some of us occasionally miss Vertigo.) This sale runs through Monday, 1/4.

Sabrina’s Slasher

The Sabrina and the Women of Archie Sale runs through Thursday (1/7) and we absolutely thing that the Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa/Robert Hack Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and it’s 70s horror take on Ms. Spellman is worth your time. We’re not holding our breath for this version to return with the Netflix version wrapping up, but we’d sure welcome it.

Their whole line goes BOOM!

Boom’s linewide sale is broken into 3 parts, all of which run through Thursday, 1/7. You’ve got the graphic novels, single issues I and single issues II. You’ll want to pay attention that the $0.99 single issues aren’t less expensive than the collected edition, too.

For something that’s often overlooked, we really enjoyed the Planet of the Apes series by Daryl Gregory, Carlos Magno and Diego Barreto. Yes, the same Carlos Magno Marvel has since snapped up. This series leads up to the events of the original film and also does a good job of reconciling the original Pierre Boulle novel with the film continuity. We’d elaborate, but… spoilers. The whole run in conveniently in a single omnibus.

So, we were talking about Carlos Magno? He was BOOM!’s secret weapon for awhile. Deathmatch is a 12-parter written by Paul Jenkins and drawn by Magno. You know the old trope about superheroes getting kidnapped and forced to fight to the death? Well, this time Jenkins and Magno create their own cast of characters, so they can actually play out that concept. No backing off at the last minute. It’s also nice to see Jenkins with the gloves off, not worried about tying into an Event.

Oh, you wanted something current? Once & Future by Kierron Gillen and Dan Mora is a very fun series. Someone’s looking to resurrect King Arthur and… how to put this… Arthur never took kindly to foreigners. Arthur might want to do a little ethnic housekeeping if it were. A monster hunter must come out of retirement and coerce her grandson into the family business. It’s actually a breezy page turner.

This sale ends on Thursday, 1/7.

Posted on January 1, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: $0.99 Marvel Masterworks and Holiday Sales from DC, Dynamite and IDW

Looking for some Comixology sales? Welcome to the holiday sale season. All these new sales are running into January, too. $0.99 Marvel Masterworks are good and Cheap. DC, IDW and Dynamite are also catering to your discount needs. Many of these sales are “linewide,” which means pretty much everything is on sale from those publishers. Been waiting for something to go on sale? It’s probably there.

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

Marvel gets CHEAP

Do you like classic Marvel? If so you will LOVE the Marvel Masterworks sale (Amazon link) and might not get any further than this. Volume 1’s are $0.99 and the rest are $1.99. The page counts are always good and sometimes GREAT and you can’t beat the price.

The best buy here, and maybe the best buy on all of Comixology, is probably Black Panther Masterworks V. 1. That’s the entire Jungle Action run written by Don McGregor with art by Billy Graham, Rich Buckler and Gil Kane. A truly excellent run that established a LOT of the character’s cast, especially Killmonger. 330 pages of excellence for $0.99? If you haven’t tried it, this is the time.

You want a LOT of pages for your 99 cents? Check out Killraven (AKA War of the Worlds). This post-apocalyptic band of freedom fighters throwing off the Martian yoke clocks in at 471 pages. A lot of creators were involved with this, but it’s fondly remembered as a Don McGregor/P. Craig Russell feature. And yes, it includes the graphic novel.

For something a little more off the radar, everyone remembers Jim Starlin’s Captain Marvel run. It was the first round with Thanos. Hardly anyone remembers that Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom had an enjoyable run right after Starlin. That would be Captain Marvel Masterworks V. 4 and can be yours for a lousy $1.99 (V. 3 is the main Starlin run and grab that one if you haven’t read it.)

Head to the main link for an extended browse. There’s a lot of very cheap classic comics and you don’t need me to tell you about Avengers and X-Men. I will say that Doctor Strange is pretty solid the whole way through and if you like Golden Age Marvel and Atlas-era Marvel, pay close attention to the final two sections on the page.

Next up, we have the Marvel “Greatest Runs” sale. Yes, it sounds like they need more fiber, but there are some superior deals here, too.

We’ve always been big fans of the Matt Fraction / Salvador Larroca run of Invincible Iron Man and the whole run is alternating $2.99 and $1.99 per volume. Great prices.

Mark Waid’s superlative Daredevil run gets the omnibus treatment at $3.99 a pop. This one starts out with Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera as the main artists and then settles into Chris Samnee as the lead for the duration. It probably falls into the modern classic category.

Immortal Iron Fist is an incredibly fun series that’s collected in 2 omnibuses. Volume 1 (482 pages) is primarily written by Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction and primarily drawn by David Aja. Volume 2 (474 pages) is primarily written by Duane Swierczynski and drawn by the criminally under-rated Travel Foreman. Yes, you’ll want both volumes and you’ll probably want more Fat Cobra, too.

DC’s Holiday Sales

DC has a couple different sales conveniently located on one page. And really, this one looks a lot like the Black Friday sale.

First up is a Wonder Woman sale… with 69 items! <eye roll> Yes, DC… we see what you did there. </eye roll>

For Wonder Woman, you can click here and two classic runs begin and end the Omnibus section. Wonder Woman by George Perez is the post-Crisis rebirth and actually wraps up with the War of the Gods volume. Towards the end of the Perez run, you get some early Jill Thompson art, too. That run really set the table for modern Wonder Woman. At the end of the section is Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka, which is also an absolutely fantastic run.

For the general graphic novel sale — and this is linewide, so while almost everything is there, here are a some ideas of things that might not immediately jump out:

Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra is getting a TV show pretty soon and it’s a great series. Make sure you scroll to the Omnibus section — they’re same price as the “regular” collections, so double up the page count!

Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 is the original Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson run. There’s a reason it’s a classic and it’s well worth your time.

We were always fans of Paul Levitz’s Doctor Fate and it sure didn’t hurt our feelings that Sonny Liew drew most of it. Killer creators and an interesting way to get back to Fate’s Egyptian roots.

DC’s sales are running through Monday, 1/4.

Dynamite’s Holiday Sale

The Dynamite Linewide Sale comes in three parts: Graphic Novels and then single issues broken up into A-P, P-W and W-Z. (Amazon link) It pretty much is the entire line. When you’re looking at the graphic novels, remember that the majority of single issues are $0.99, so 6 single issues = $5.94. Be pure, be vigilant, be cheap!

As for what we’d draw your eye to, three things come to mind as we flip through the pages. Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! is a hugely influential science fiction series with liberal does of satire.

The Shadow Masters Series is the absurdist and subversive take on The Shadow from the late ’80s by Andy Helfer, Bill Sienkiewicz and Kyle Baker (with a an extra special appearance by Marshall Rogers that almost defies description… old vendettas, children acting out and a nurse who used to be a professional wrestler. It’s really something else.

Here at the Tower of Cheap, we’ve been waiting… and waiting… on the collected edition of the Christopher Priest/Ergün Gündüz Vampirella run and it keeps getting pushed back. We keep hearing good things and the ever-reliable Priest on Vampi is so counter-intuitive, it’s probably worth it. Guess what? The single issues are (mostly) $0.99 if you want to get a jump on the collections.

This sale runs through Monday 1/4.

IDW Holiday Sale

The IDW Linewide Sale is broken into SIX parts: Graphic Novels I, Graphic Novels II and then single issues I, II, III and IV. (Amazon link) Which is to say, a whole lot o’ stuff. What might we point you at the might otherwise slip your mind?

Bloom County: The Complete Library – A classic comic strip by a classic cartoonist. Essentially, the whole archive is on sale.

Like Walt Simonson’s Thor? Then you need to check out Ragnarok. Valhalla has fallen and the survivors of the realm are picking up the pieces. Although not everyone who survived is necessarily alive. Walt returns to the Norse mythos and it’s some of his best work. Possibly the best thing IDW’s published.

Richard Stark’s Parker is another contender for the best thing IDW’s published. Darwyn Cooke adapts the crime novels about a professional thief who takes double-crosses extra personal. You might know the source material from the films like Point Blank and Payback.

This sale runs until Tuesday, 1/5.

Still on sale

Dark Horse Aliens Predator Sale through Thursday, 12/31
Best of Small Press Sale – Graphic Novels and Single Issues, through Thursday, 1/7

Posted on December 18, 2020December 18, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Immortal Hulk, Billionaire Island, Avengers: The Initiative, Pat Mills has a new anthology, Lady Mechanika

The Comixology sales this week include the wonder that is The Immortal Hulk, a stroll through Event tie-ins past with Avengers Academy and a deep dive into the big Small Press Sale.

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

All You Need Is Hulk

Probably the best sale currently going on is Marvel’s Immortal Hulk Sale which runs through Thursday (12/17). Simply put, this comic would be our pick for Marvel’s best comic of the last couple years. Al Ewing writes and Joe Bennett is the primary artist on this horror take on ‘ole Jade Jaws. Psychological horror, body horror, resurrections and that green doorway to <spoilers>. It’s a great comic and $2.99/tpb is cheap!

The Marvel Avengers Academy Sale is, at its core, a series of Event spin-offs about teen superheroes. Avengers: The Initiative spun out of Civil War and continued through Secret Invasion, then morphed into Avengers Academy with the Dark Reign era of Marvel. This will come as no shock to folks who’ve been watching the Marvel documentaries on Disney+, but Avengers: The Initiative started out as a Dan Slott written title that transitioned over to Christos Gage taking it over. Yes, that trend really does go back to 2008.

Sifting Through the Small Press

The “Best of Small Press Sale” is running through 1/7 and comes in two flavors: Graphic Novels and Single Issues. That’s a lot to plough through, so let’s take a bit of time and take a look at some of the more interesting bits.

Over at The Tower of Cheap, we’ve been suitably impressed with what we’ve seen out of Ahoy, an indie publisher with bent towards satire and fun. The majority of their material is on sale right now, so as a shortcut, here’s their Publisher Page. The Ahoy single issues are $0.99, so keep in mind you’re going to be saving money if you get those instead of the collected editions. We will personally vouch for The Wrong Earth and Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror. Billionaire Island is currently in our reading queue.

The Wrong Earth by Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle and Juan Castro fits the elevator pitch of “what happens when Adam West’s campy TV Batman and Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Batman end up in each other’s universe?” It’s funny _and_ satisfying.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror is a sort of funhouse mirror of a horror anthology. A blind drunk Edgar Allan Poe stands in for the Crypt Keeper: our host guiding us through snarky horror stories. It’s well worth your time.

Billionaire Island by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh – the sublime team behind The Flintstones at DC a few years ago – has the Billionaires escaping the ravages of climate change to their own artificially made island… a tax-free domicile, naturally…

You remember Pat Mills? One of the original architects of Judge Dredd. Famed for things like Nemesis the Warlock, Charley’s War (which is excellent and almost totally unknown in the US) and Marshall Law. It seems he has his own “Millsverse” publishing imprint at Comixology. Of particular interest may be the Requiem Vampire Knight series with art by Olivier Ledroit. I’m given to understand this is a particularly dark one, not for kids, and was originally written for the French market.

And then there’s his current project – Spacewarp, which has Mills creating a new 2000 AD-esque science fiction anthology. Something he’s well qualified to be doing. From the description:

“Featuring Special Forces One at war with Giant Viruses! Jurassic Punks versus Dinosaurs! Xecutioners: authorized to terminate Aliens! Slayer – one Robot in a Galactic war against a million Space Knights. Hellbreaker escapes from Hell to punish the Living. Fu-tant – a terrifying school for Mutants! Space Cops! Mutant secret agents! Killer robots! Virus armies! Alien invasions! Interacting in a unique Spacewarp Universe! Inventive, action-packed, heartfelt, heroic, humorous, fast-paced and fantastic value for money – as only the Brits know how. Aimed at ordinary readers of all ages. ”

Speaking of folks doing their own publishing, if you follow the Diamond sales charts for the US Direct Market, very few people are having much luck being their own publisher. One of the two exceptions that come to mind is Joe Benitez, who steampunk cyborg adventure/SF/F series Lady Mechanika has outsold a lot of comics from larger publishers.

Still on sale

The DC Event & Mini Series Sale through Thursday 12/17.
Spawn Sale through Thursday, 12/17.
Marvel Stormbreakers through Thursday, 12/17.
Dark Horse Aliens Predator Sale through Thursday 12/31.

Posted on December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

The Best of Comixology Sales and Cheap Digital Comics

Let’s say it’s Chris Claremont-centric

Wolverine by any other name

DC’s V.1 sale

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

Still on Sale

Not the Nova from Planet of the Apes

Image celebrates 2020 so you don’t have to

DC has a strange take on Valentine’s Day

Go straight to Hellboy

Still on Sale

Wakanda Forever

…or you could call it a Spider-Man sale

A couple BIG writing names from other fields

Ninja Assassin

Hammered

All kinds of FF on sale

The inverse of “well” comics

Marvel Comics Presents: Stars, Fists and Force

Let’s talk about non-cape DC books

Indie Science Fiction Comics

Cops and Robbers… but mostly Robbers

Still on Sale

A Marvel Comics Variety Pack

Vertigo Lives On In Sales

TKO Has the Best Value of the Week

Still on Sale

Spidey Gets Slotted Ahead of WandaVision

DC Gets Born Again (and again)

Dark Horse Gets The Bends

Darth Vader = Good Comics

“The Original Writer” and Marvel Max Titles

A Trail of Infinity Events

DC Goes Dark

Import Goodness

DH Transmedia Options

Even More Marvel Sales

Image digital Graphic Novels are 1/2 off

Invisible at Dark Horse

Sabrina’s Slasher

Their whole line goes BOOM!

Marvel gets CHEAP

DC’s Holiday Sales

Dynamite’s Holiday Sale

IDW Holiday Sale

Still on sale

All You Need Is Hulk

Sifting Through the Small Press

Still on sale