Alpha Flight Archives - Comics.Cheap

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC discounts Aquaman ahead of the film, while Marvel drops prices on Old Man Logan and Alpha Flight.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

Wolverine… and the Sea?

The Marvel Old Logan and the Wasteland Sale runs through Monday, 12/18.

Yes, the Old Man Logan storyline has spawn a series of miniseries set in “The Wasteland” setting from the original.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven is what started the line.
Old Man Logan V.0 : Warzones! by Brian Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino is the Secret Wars / Battleworld version.
Old Man Logan is the ongoing series, initially by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino.

That’s what the real spread is here with the rest of the sale being side attractions you may or may not be into. The original storyline of a cranky, aged (“Old Man”) version of Wolverine living in a dystopic future came off as a sort of Elseworlds tale and is fairly well regarded as a standalone tale.

It was popular enough that the “Old Man Logan” version of the character was contrived to appear in the present (his past… before the disaster that spawned a dystopia) in the period when Wolverine was supposed to be “dead.” It even lasted 50 issues. We’d say give the Jeff Lemire issues a look if it sounds interesting, particularly the Lemire/Sorrentino issues. This was one of their pre-Image collaborations and it’s much more entertaining than the editorial premise sounds.

The Great White North

The Marvel Alpha Flight Sale runs through Monday, 12/18.

We know what you’re thinking: “If Spider-Man could team up with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, why couldn’t Alpha Flight team up with Bob and Doug McKenzie?” The way we heard it, this was proposed, but Guy Caballero nixed it.

The main item of note here is Alpha Flight Classic, 3 volumes that comprise the John Byrne run on the original series and a Bill Mantlo/Mike Mignola issue and Byrne essentially traded Alpha Flight for The Incredible Hulk. (We recall the Mantlo run being better than advertised, but there doesn’t currently seem to be interest in collecting it.)

Of possible related interest is X-Men / Alpha Flight, which features some early Uncanny X-Men appearances and two crossover mini-series. The 1985 mini by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith is particularly good and the first half of the “Asgardian Wars” story arc.

And for something out of left field, there’s the more recent Gamma Flight, which is an Alpha Flight adjacent spin-off of Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing, Crystal Frazier and Len Medina.

The Deep Blue Sea

The DC Aquaman Sale runs through Monday, 12/18.

You’d think there was a movie coming out?

We’ve heard a few versions of what the new film is supposed to be about. Inspired by Silver Age Aquaman stories with Black Manta as the villain is one story we’ve heard. That it’s incorporating elements from the abandoned “The Trench” spin-off film in another.

We always associated Black Manta a little more with the 70s and the Death of a Prince storyline, but he debuted in ’67 and made some more appearances as the first Aquaman run was ending. And, really, the Steve Skeates/Jim Aparo run was one of the better Silver Age runs, so there you go. That’s collected in a couple books that are a little more expensive than things we’ve seen in recent weeks. Manta pops up in The Search for Mera, but we think what the filmmakers are referring to are the Deadly Waters stories, where Manta tries to usurp Atlantis.

All this business about “The Trench” is from the first two volumes of the Geoff Johns / Ivan Reis (New 52) run, where Aquaman encounters a scary race of creatures from the deepest depths of an undersea trench. The second volume, “The Others,” is particularly good.

Another take was the Peter David / Martin Egeland ’90s Aquaman run, which featured an angrier, more violent Aquaman who’d lost a hand and replaced it with a hook. Popular, but controversial.

But if you want an unusual (and quite enjoyable) run, you’re looking for Aquman: Sword of Atlantis. Kurt Busiek and Jackson Guice added an undersea Conan feel to the feature with plenty of sorcery and a bit of mystery around who various characters really were. We wished this version had a longer run.

Still on Sale

The Titan Ms. Tree Sale runs through Sunday, 12/31
The Zenescope Tis the Saeaon, Zenescope’s Holiday Fear Sale runs through Wed, 12/27
The Kodansha Season’s Savings Sale runs through Monday, 12/18
The Titan The Tenth Doctor Sale runs through 1/15
The Titan Dark Souls Sale runs through Sunday, 12/31
The Titan Life is Strange Sale runs through Sunday, 12/31
The Titan Robotech Sale runs through Sunday, 12/31
The Dark Horse 2023 Star Wars Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/25
The Dark Horse 2023 The Orville-Space Job Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/18

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.

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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.