Tag: Apocalypse

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman; Spider-Man; Captain America; X-Men; Hellboy

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has a Batman sale, Marvel drops six sales (including a horror one) and Dark Horse adds Hellboy to the mix.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Batman Returns

Batman: The Court of Owls  Detective Comics by Tynion  Detective Comics

The DC Batman in July Sale runs through Monday, 7/20.

Now there’s something you don’t see every day: DC running back to back sales. It’s been awhile.

This is a more abbreviated Bat-sale than others we’ve seen and concentrates more on New 52/Rebirth to present.

Here are the bullets:

  • Batman (’11-’16) – The Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run
  • Batman (’16-’25) – starts with the Tom King era and the discounts run midway through the Zdarsky run.
  • Batman and Robin (’22 – present) – intially Joshua Williamson / Simone Di Meo
  • Detective Comics (’16-current) – initially James Tynion IV / Eddy Barrows / Alvaro Martinez

What’s under-rated here? We’d say a couple of those Detective runs. The Tynion / Barrows / Martinez run that started that volume of Detective is something of a Batman Family arc. We’re also big fans of the gothic horror arc by Ram V / Rafael Albuquerque / Ivan Reis that starts here.

Super Soldier Sale

Captain America: Secret Empire  Captain America Heroes Return  Captain America

The Marvel Independence Day Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

Looks like Marvel’s current posting schedule caused them to post the Independence Day sale after the holiday. Nothing like proper planning and being aware of the calendar, eh?

There’s a lot of material to cover here, so we’ll go with the usual format and start by breaking out the major series involved:

So… do you think Captain America gets relaunched enough? The current Chip Zdarsky relaunch isn’t even in the sale (and we enjoy it).

Some recommendations? Absolutely.

For Silver/Bronze Age adventures,  “Captain America Lives Again“ catches the bulk of the early Lee/Kirby run. Jump ahead to “Hero or Hoax,” which you’re getting for the final arc, which begins the superlative Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema era. “The Secret Empire” is the bulk of the Englehart/Buscema run. “The Man Who Sold The United States” wraps up Englehart/Buscema and includes Madbomb, the beginning of Jack Kirby’s return run that is way more timely than it should be in the age of social media outrage.

Jump ahead to “By Dawn’s Early Light,” which you’re looking at for the all too brief Roger Stern / John Byrne run.  The highlight of the J.M. DeMatties / Mike Zeck run is their wrap up with the Red Skull in “Sturm und Drang.”

“The Captain“ is the sequence from the Mark Gruenwald run where Steve Rogers loses the shield and his Captain America identity for a time. That’s the famous one. You might consider backing up a volume for “Justice is Served,” which introduces the Super-Patriot and leads into the more famous sequence a bit.

Once you get past around the middle of the Gruenwald run, your best of the best is anything written by Mark Waid or Ed Brubaker, and know that Brubaker’s first run is basically one long and epic story – and be sure to get Reborn or you’re missing a piece.

But wait… you want more?  Sure.

All-Winners Comics – The Golden Age series that culminates with the All-Winners Squad, the Cap/Torch/Subby/Whizzer/Ms. America group that inspired The Invaders.

Speaking of that, there’s Invaders Classic, which collects the 70s series of the WII adventures of Captain America, Submariner and original Human Torch. (The Whizzer and Ms. America show up towards the end.)

More? How about some Winter Soldier?

Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker, which is Brubaker and Butch Guice in a spin-off from their classic Cap run.

Also of possible interest:

And a bonus recommendation:

  • U.S.Agent: American Zealot – Christopher Priest / Georges Jeanty; In something of a deadpan political satire, John Walker develops some issues with his handlers when sent to a small town threatened by a corporate entity… if only the optics matched reality. Smart, but you figured that with Priest involved.

Spooky Season Comes Early?

Immortal Hulk  Tomb of Dracula  Moon Knight

The Marvel Summerween Horror Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

There’s more than a little horror on sale this week. Marvel’s entry in the trend is collection of mini-sales:

Doctor Strange

Dracula

  • Tomb of Dracula – Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan; One of the best Marvel books of the ’70s

Ghost Rider

Hulk

We really like the Johnson/Klein Hulk and Immortal Hulk was an instant classic.

Moon Knight

The original Moon Knight run is mostly in Epic Collections, but it’s in two separate links because… well, we shouldn’t be surprised by this, should we?  The first link has two volumes that are not closely related. Bad Moon Rising is the Werewolf by Night appearances through the backups in Hulk Magazine and the first issues of 1980 solo series. The other volume in that link… we’re not as big on. That was later volumes.

You can go here for the rest of the 1980 Moon Knight series, which was the most famous version for quite some time. If you came into the character through the TV series, know that the original Moon Knight was a lot closer to Batman and The Shadow. Oh, sure the werewolf showed up, but most of the mystical things around Konshu were kept in the background and a lot more mysterious. The multiple identities were originally more like the cover identities adopted by the Shadow (and the original series editor, Denny O’Neil, adapted The Shadow for DC). This is where Moon Knight got popular. Pity the “main” volume is mysteriously omitted from discounts…

We also have been enjoying the current Jed MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight series. This one takes up the unenviable task of rationalizing the various incarnations over the years (and there have been a lot of different takes on the character). Mr. Knight is in therapy for his multiple personality issues. He’s running the Midnight Mission and conduct himself as Konshu’s ambassador… after a fashion, although he’s not really happy with Konshu. And there are vampires. Lots of vampires.

Marvel being Marvel, this was then relaunched as Vengeance Of The Moon Knight with the same creators.

The novelist corner:

And the Rest of the Gang

…And Frightened Miss Muffet Away

Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks   Spider-Man Brand New Day Omnibus  Superior Foes of Spider-Man

The Marvel Select Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

This is a fairly eclectic swatch of volumes from various Spidey runs:

What’s good here?

The Superior Foes of Spider-Man is straight up hilarious and under-rated.

We also think you’re pretty safe with Gerry Conway, Len Wein and the Brand New Day rotation.

Going Down in Flames as a Form of Progression Fantasy

X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix  Phoenix Rising  Phoenix

The Marvel Phoenix Sale runs through Monday, 7/20.

Jean Grey, if you prefer.

For many, the character is defined by “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” arguably the high point of an already great run by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Pick up X-Men Epic Collection: The Fate Of The Phoenix and get “Days of Future Past” in the same package.

Then Jean/Phoenix was dead for several years. Phoenix Rising is slightly mislabeled as being an X-Men book. The resurrection of Jean Grey is the birth of X-Factor, which crosses over with Fantastic Four and Avengers for the tale. Which means you get John Byrne, Roger Stern, John Buscema, Bob Layton and Butch Guice all contributing to the tale.

New X-Men is the Grant Morrison run with a fairly sick rotating cast of artists including Frank Quitely, Leinil Francis Yu, Igor Kordey, John Paul Leon, Phil Jimenez, Chris Bachalo and Marc Silvestri. As you’ve doubtless heard, it’s a very good run.

The recent Phoenix series is by Stephanie Phillips / Alessandro Miracolo and is more of a cosmic adventures series.

Some other sale highlights:

Apocalypse Now?

House of X / Powers of X  X-Force  X of Swords

The Marvel Apocalypse Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

It’s a villain sale, which means the listings are a bit all over the map. Let’s hit some highlights:

What’s good? Not the first thing you’d think of when you hear “Apocalypse,” necessarily, but the Remender Uncanny X-Force run is dark run with a distinctive personality and quite the artist rotation. We think it had emerged from under the radar by the end of the series but it isn’t always discussed today.

Running with the Devil

Devil Dinosaur by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection  Moon Girl  Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

The Marvel Devil Dinosaur Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

If you’re curious about  the original 70s Jack Kirby series, it’s right here.

Then there isn’t just a ton of material until Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur pops up.

These larger page count editions of the Amy Reeder / Brandon Montclare / Natacha Bustos main series are the better buy.

Moon Girl: Endangered Species is a collection of team-up issues outside the main title.

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy The Mystery Knight Watership Down

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Dark Horse has Hellboy on sale. (This summer of horror trend is all over the place)

The Dark Horse James Tynion IV / Tiny Onion titles are also still on sale:

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Panther, Thor, Apocalypse/X-Men

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has discounts on Black Panther, Thor and the mutant misdeeds of Apocalypse.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

T’Challa Forever

Black Panther Masterworks  Black Panther by Priest  Black Panther

The Marvel Black Panther Sale runs through Sunday, 8/31.

Please note the unusual Sunday end date on this one before we break this one down.

That first McGregor / Graham run really is the foundational work for everything that comes and should be read first. As a major bonus, it’s great work and ahead of its time.

Priest’s extended run lives up to it’s reputation for excellence, so that’s your second must-read for exploring the Panther.

We like Hudlin’s run, too.

For something a little off the beaten path, Range Wars is something you get for the titular arc that’s the last two issues of the collection. John Ridley and German Peralta offer a particularly savage satire of colonialism.

There’s a bit more to sale, but the above is the core.

Sturm und Hammer?

Thor - The Wrath of Odin  Thor by Walt Simonson  Thor Road to War of the Realms

Marvel’s Thor Sale runs  through Monday, 8/25.

Pretty much the full Thor line and this time both the Masterworks and Epic Collections are on sale. (We don’t get to say that as often as we’d like to.)

As per our custom, here’s the breakdown by series/volume:

  • Journey Into Mystery ’52-’66 – The earliest Thor stories from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
  • The Mighty Thor  ’66-’96 – From Lee & Kirby until the relaunches started
  • The Mighty Thor ’96-’04 – The Heroes return Dan Jurgens era, initially with John Romita, Jr.
  • Thor ’07-’11 – Starts with J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel, ends with Matt Fraction & Pasqual Ferry. Gillen in the middle.
  • The Mighty Thor ’11-’12 – Fraction gets a relaunch with Coipel, Ferry and early Pepe Larraz
  • The Jason Aaron era ’12-’19 – It’s a LOT easer to look at the omnibuses across all the relaunches here
  • Thor ’20 to ’23 – The Donny Cates run with Nic Klein as the primary artist; Torunn GrØnbekk tags in towards the end while Cates was recovering from his accident (and filled in well, we might add).
  • Immortal Thor (’23 -’25) – Al Ewing / Martin Coccolo;

If your point of reference for Thor is the last film, you want the Jason Aaron era. The God Butcher is the first arc. If you go with that set of omnibuses, Jane Foster picks up the hammer in V.2. We don’t think that starting with the first Jane Foster issues (and slimmer volumes) is a great jumping on point. It’s a saga and you’ll get a lot more out of it if you start at the beginning of Aaron’s run.

Past that, we’re all about the Walt Simonson Thor. It’s probably the most influential run since early days and it’s great. You’ll want the Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson set that starts here. (The Thor by Walter Simonson version of the reprints seems to be missing the final volume, or at least the last few issues. *sigh* These things happen.)

We also like to go back to the original Lee/Kirby. Not too early. We’d say stay closer to where it changed from Journey Into Mystery to Thor. The first year of JIM was a little rough. The Wrath of Odin  Epic Collection is a good chunk of prime Lee/Kirby Thor and also features the first time Jane Foster was elevated to godhood, since it turns out to now be foreshadowing.

Something under the radar? Ignore this being marketed as a kid’s comic – Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee had a short run on Thor: The Mighty Avenger that was just a good Thor comic, full stop. And you might expect that from those two.

If you want to move in the opposite direction, Thor: Vikings is a seriously violent Marvel MAX title from Garth Ennis and Glenn Fabry that has Viking zombies invading Manhattan. (No, not Fleet Week. That’s different.)

We also have naught but love for the current Immortal Thor run. It’s smart and has an endgame in mind.

Apocalypse Now?

House of X / Powers of X  X-Force  X of Swords

The Marvel Apocalypse Sale runs through Monday, 8/25.

It’s a villain sale, which means the listings are a bit all over the map. Let’s hit some highlights:

What’s good? Not the first thing you’d think of when you hear “Apocalypse,” necessarily, but the Remender Uncanny X-Force run is dark run with a distinctive personality and quite the artist rotation. We think it had emerged from under the radar by the end of the series but it isn’t always discussed today.

The Hickman era rotation – House Of X/Powers Of X, X of Swords, X-Men: Reign Of X By Jonathan Hickman, Immortal X-Men–  is all first rate.

Unannounced Sales

Elfquest  The Giver  Will You Still Love Me if I Wet the Bed?

As usual, we’re not sure when these sales are ending, but here’s what we’re seeing:

Additionally, it looks like most of the Wolverine and Deadpool material from recent weeks is still on sale. The Under $5 Page has the lower priced volumes. Go back a couple columns for the links to find the Epic Collections.

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