Tag: Batman

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Comic-Con Edition – Batman; The Hunger and the Dusk; Line-Wide Dark Horse Discounts

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC celebrates SDCC with discounts, Dark Horse goes half-off and The Hunger and the Dusk should be cheap enough for you.

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):

We’re smack dab in the middle of San Diego Comic-Con, which is partially reflected by this week’s sales. We say partially, because Marvel didn’t see fit to issue a new sale this week. They’re content to keep a Wolverine and a couple Deadpool sales we’ve covered in previous weeks active (see links at the bottom). But that’s not to say there aren’t some new things to look at:

Unannounced Sale of the Week

The Hunger and the Dusk

The Hunger & The Dusk, V.1 – G. Willow Wilson / Chris Wildgoose; This collected edition has only been out for around 6 weeks. It really should not be $1.99, but somehow it is. (And we’re not sure for how long, so don’t sleep on it.)

As it happens, we read this very collection a couple weeks back and loved it. It’s an Epic Fantasy where despite deteriorating land conditions drawing the humans and orcs into deeper conflict, the two must form a shaky alliance to fend off invaders. Invaders that just might be smarter than they let on. And it’s character-driven, to boot.

We think this is Wilson’s best work since maybe Cairo and Air back at Vertigo. (Cairo is vastly underappreciated.)  If you like Epic Fantasy / sword and sorcery, take a $2 flier on this one.

For the Love of Comic-Con

Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Winning Card  The Human Target  World's Finest

The DC at SDCC Sale runs through Monday, 7/29.

Yes, the San Diego Comic-Con is going on through the weekend. You might even be there? (We’re not. This is comics.cheap and there is no such thing as ComiconHotel.cheap!)

This week sees another mix of DC products whose display is incredibly random on the Amazon/Comixology page, so let’s run down some of the things we found interesting:

  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Winning Card – Tom King / Mitch Gerads… we’re assuming you’re familiar with that pairing by now?
  • Batman: Killing Time – Tom King / David Marquez; Something of a villain-centric noir caper… that comes recommended from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, no less
  • Gotham City: Year One – Tom King / Phil Hester; A proper hardboiled detective story about a kidnapping that also details how Gotham City got the way it is. This is Slam Bradley story with a little Batman around the outer edges
  • Human Target – Tom King / Greg Smallwood; All-round excellent 2-volume series where the Human Target looks for who poisoned him and the Bwa Ha Ha Ha Justice League are the main suspects; Manages to dance between a dark mystery and Bwa Ha Ha flawlessly. And that art!
  • JLApe: The Complete Collection – A collection that just might make a monkey out of you
  • The Nice House on the Lake – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno; This very effective horror tale of the end of the world (with imminent sequel) is now in one volume
  • One-Star Squadron – Mark Russell / Steve Lieber; A brilliant seriocomic send-up of the gig economy as Red Tornado tries to run a sort of heroes for hire app
  • Superman (’23) – Josh Williamson / Jamal Campbell; The current series is a rock solid “classic” Superman series; recommended
  • World’s Finest – Mark Waid / Dan Mora; A serious contender for DC’s best title. Mora will be taking on the “normal” Superman title soon, too.

Events

You may have noticed DC’s been leaning into the Events lately. Here are the last few:

Feeling Grimm About Comicon?
Grimm Tales of Terror  Grimm Tales of Terror

The Zenescope Grimm Tales of Terror Sale runs through Saturday, 8/17

This sales comes in two flavors:

Wide-Scale Unannounced Sale

Goldfish  Martha Washington  Nexus

It seems that Dark Horse has a mostly line-wide 50% off sale, excepting recent releases and a few things where perhaps the price wasn’t updated. This is stilted towards the collected editions. The question is how does a person properly browse this?

Not very easily. Amazon does not make it easy to sort by publisher.

This link will get you a _very_ unsorted stream of Dark Horse titles to pick through.

And let’s drop links for some of the usual suspect series while we’re at it:

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Deadpool; Wolverine; Umbrella Academy; Batman; Manhunter

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops the “real” Deadpool and Wolverine sales. DC discounts some more Batman, Superman and friends. Dark Horse celebrates the comics of Gerard Way and Umbrella Academy.

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):

The Cheapest at What He Does

Wolverine  Wolverine: Enemy of the State  

The Marvel Wolverine Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.

You ever see Wolverine pay for expensive beer? Our boy is CHEAP!

This is the sale on the “main” Wolverine titles we said would be coming. Let’s start out by listing the various titles involved. (Relaunches? At Marvel? <faints>)

  • Wolverine (’82) – Chris Claremont / Frank Miller / Paul Smith; The miniseries that kicked off the solo stories and an X-Men 2-parter that’s a sort of follow-up
  • Wolverine (’88-’03) – The original ongoing solo title. Yes, it took six years after the mini… it was a different time
  • Wolverine (’03-’09) – Greg Rucka / Darick Robertson; Mark Millar / John Romita, Jr.; Jason Aaron/Ron Garney… among others
  • Wolverine: Origin (’06-’10) – Daniel Way / Steve Dillon
  • Wolverine: Weapon X (’09) – Jason Aaron / Ron Garney
  • Wolverine (’10-’12) – Jason Aaron / Renato Guedes / Ron Garney; “Wolverine Goes to Hell” was not a metaphor
  • Wolverine (’13-’14) – Paul Cornell / Alan Davis
  • Wolverine: Savage Land (’14) – Frank Cho
  • Death of Wolverine (’14) – All the mini’s in one volume
  • Old Man Logan (’16-’18) – Jeff Lemire / Andrea Sorrentino; While Logan is “dead,” his future dystopian self journeys to the present day. (And it’s actually pretty good, despite the premise.)
  • Return of Wolverine (’18-’19) – Charles Soule / Steve McNiven; “They always come back”
  • Wolverine (’20-’24) – Ben Percy / Adam Kubert

So, what’s actually good?

The  original miniseries is generally regarded as a classic.

With the original series, you’re pretty good from the beginning through the end of the Larry Hama run (a bit after #100), though towards the end of that, the X-Events get annoying. We’re particularly fond of the Archie Goodwin / John Byrne arc from #17-23. Since there are multiple formats for these issues, you can pick your format.

The Greg Rucka / Darick Robertson / Leandro Fernandez run is an enjoyable, lower key run.

Mark Millar did two great runs shortly after Rucka:

  • Enemy of the State w/ John Romita, JR introduces Gorgan and has Wolverine up against an unholy alliance of the Hand and Hydra
  • Old Man Logan w/ Steve McNiven has an aging Logan trying to keep to himself in a dystopian future when trouble comes looking. Yes, this should sound an awful lot like one of the films!

We’ll Put $20 on Uncle Ben
Deadpool Classics  Cable & Deadpool  Deadpool by Posehn and Duggan

The The Marvel Deadpool Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.

Deadpool is… oddly collected. There have been a lot of titles and lot of relaunches. Most of these are absorbed into the Deadpool Classics line of collected editions.  Some, but not all, of the series, have omnibus editions and those are the cheaper way to collect those runs… which means, if you’re a completist and you’re cheap, you’re going to want to be wanting to fill in the Classics volumes around the omnibuses.  And Deadpool Classics V. 1 collects the various miniseries that kicked things off.  In a sense, the easiest way (but perhaps not cheapest – and certainly not the most current) to keep things chronological is to follow the Classics line

Hey, when was getting Marvel collected editions in the proper order ever easy?

So let’s run down the main titles:

  • Deadpool Classics (’93 – as far as they’ve gotten)
  • Deadpool (’97-’02) – Known as the Joe Kelly era (at least what’s collected here)
  • Cable & Deadpool (’04-’08) – Fabian Nicieza / Patrick Zircher / Mark Brooks (among others)
  • Deadpool (’08-’12) – The Daniel Way Era
  • Deadpool Team-Up (’09 – ’11) – all sorts of creators for this Deadpool variant on Marvel Two-In-One
  • Deadpool Max (’10 – ’11) – David Lapham / Kyle Baker in a Max (“adult”) series
  • Deadpool Max 2 (’11 – ’12) Lapham / Baker, back for more
  • Deadpool (’12-15) – The Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan Era
  • Deadpool (’15-’17) – Gerry Duggan and many, many artists
  • Spider-Man / Deadpool (’16-’19) – Initially, Joe Kelly / Ed McGuinness
  • Despicable Deadpool (’17-’18) – Duggan/Mike Hawthorne
  • Deadpool (’18-’19) – Skottie Young / Nic Klein
  • King Deadpool (’19-’21) – Kelly Thompson / Chris Bachalo

Pick your preferred creator and pay attention to the Epic Collections in the ’97 run.

Did Oberon Authorize This?

Batman / Superman: The Archive of Worlds  Manhunter  Superman: Man of Tomorrow

The DC Midsummer Sale runs through Monday, 7/22.

The sale page on this is possibly the most disorganized one we’ve seen in months. Not much order to it, if any. Let’s have a peek at some highlights, though.

  • The Authority – Warren Ellis / Brian Hitch, then Mark Millar/Frank Quitely; The hugely influential spin-off (OK, continuation) of Stormwatch
  • Batman: Reptilian – Garth Ennis / Liam Sharp; There’s something nasty in the Gotham sewers
  • Batman / Superman: The Archive of Worlds – Gene Yang / Ivan Reis; We’re big fans of this dimension hopping tale that distills a lot from the Silver Age tales.
  • Batman: The Detective – Tom Taylor / Andy Kubert; Batman scours Europe for the perp – and yes, Tom Taylor will be taking over Detective Comics soon
  • Fables – Bill Willingham / Mark Buckingham; The first half of the classic series about refugee fairy tale beings hiding out in NYC while plotting to regain their lands in on sale for $5.99@ in the “Deluxe Format.”
  • Justice League: Last Ride – Chip Zdarsky / Miguel Mendonca
  • Manhunter – Archie Goodwin / Walt Simonson; One of the best adventure comics of all time
  • Strange Adventures – Tom King / Mitch Gerads / Doc Shaner; Possibly not for Adam Strange fans, this is a political thriller about war crimes and political identity
  • Superman: Man of Tomorrow – Robery Venditti / Paul Pelletier; It flew under the radar as a digital-first title, but this sequence is a witty delight

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

White Widow

The trend we noticed last week is still moving forward. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Released this week

Pre-Order for Next Week

  • No prices are making us raise an eyebrow next week? Is this a pricing experiment that’s winding down? It’s unclear.

We’re not quite sure what’s going on with these prices, but we’ll give you a heads up if it looks like it’s cheaper than it would normally be.

Unannounced Indie Sales

Umbrella Academy   The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Dark Horse has put the works of Gerard Way on sale. At Dark Horse, that means two series:

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales – Flash, Iron Man, Suicide Squad, Thor, Groo, Dune

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel revisits “Heroes Return” with discounts. DC drops a 750 book “MAX” sale with Flash, Superman and the Suicide Squad. In unannounced sales, we find Groo, Stranger Things, Dune and… Quentin Tarantino?

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):

Is That a Streaming Pun?

The Flash  Superman Y the Last Man

The DC to the MAX Sale runs through Monday, 7/15.

This is a large (750 items) and fairly wide-ranging sale, so it’s perhaps worth a bit of browsing time, but here are some highlights we noticed:

  • DMZ – Brian Wood / Riccardo Burchielli; During a second Civil War, an embedded reporter becomes stranded in the DMZ that Manhattan has become and promptly gets embroiled in local political/warlord scene.
  • The Flash (’59-’85) – The Silver Age volumes highlight this section
  • The Flash (’87 – ’09) – The prices on the Geoff Johns run are good.
  • The Flash (’16-’23) – Initially, Josh Williamson / Carmine Di Gianmenico. Later, Jeremy Adams / Roger Cruz
  • Hawkworld – Tim Truman leans into the science fiction side of the character in this excellent Hawkman reboot
  • Jonah Hex (’06 – ’11) – Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray write a very fun Western with what turns into a jaw dropping parade of artists like Darwyn Cooke, Paul Gulacy, Jordi Bernet, Russ Heath, Phil Winslade, Eduardo Risso and so on…
  • Rorschach – Tom King /Jorge Fornés; A very well done follow up to the ideas of Watchmen
  • Suicide Squad (’87-’92) – John Ostrander / Luke McDonnell / Geoff Isherwood; There’s been some comments lately about how Amanda Waller was a much more nuanced character in the original incarnation… and we’d have to agree. This is a classic.
  • Suicide Squad: Blaze – Si Spurrier / Aaron Campbell; A darker than dark take on the Squad various DC mythos in this Black Label edition.
  • Superman  Vol. 1: Supercorp (2023-)- Josh Williamson / Jamal Campbell; The opening to the quite enjoyable current Superman run.
  • Superman/Batman (’03  – ’11) – Initially Jeph Loeb / Ed McGuinness; These double-volumes are a good value
  • Unstoppable Doom Patrol – Dennis Culver / Chris Burnham; First time discounted?
  • Y: The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan / Pia Guerra; The last man on Earth (and his monkey) navigates a dystopian landscape and tries to piece together what happened.

Come Again?

Iron Man: Heroes Reborn  Captain America Heroes Return

Marvel’s Heroes Reborn Sale runs through Monday, 7/15.

This is the 90s experiment when Marvel outsourced some of their titles to Image and then took them back. “Heroes Reborn” is the Image experiment and “Heroes Return” was when Marvel resumed production. Now, for our money, the gems here are from the “Heroes Return” period.

Heroes Reborn: The Return is the Peter David / Salvador Larroca tale that brings the heroes back to the “normal” Marvel Universe.

Iron Man: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection V. 1 has Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Sean Chen as the primary creative team, re-establishing shell head back in the Marvel Universe. You get some Mandarin, there’s a side trip with Captain America and MODOK. This collects the first portion of one of our favorite Iron Man periods.

And speaking of high points, this sale also has Captain America: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection,  which is the Mark Waid/Ron Garney run resuming. (It had just started, and was abruptly halted, for Heroes Reborn.) A little Hydra, a lost shield… that MODOK tale from Iron Man is also reprinted here (a shared Annual). It’s a solid run.

Fantastic Four: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection Vol. 1  takes a longer view of the Heroes Return timeframe than the other do. This was starts out with a Chris Claremont/Alan Davis run and ends up with an underrated Carlos Pacheco run. Essentially, Heroes Return is deemed to stop right before the Mark Waid / Mike Wieringo run.

Why the Kurt Busiek / George Perez Avengers run isn’t included here… that’s a good question. In some ways it was the flagship of the returning titles.

Marvel revisited it in ’21 with the minor Event Heroes Reborn, headlined by a Jason Aaron / Ed McGuinness miniseries.

The Image-produced Heroes Reborn titles were:

And, to be complete, it’s not in the sale for inexplicable reasons, but Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four by Jim Lee & Brandon Choi.

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Thor Modern Epic Collection White Widow

The trend we noticed last week is still moving forward. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Released this week

Pre-Order for Next Week

We’re not quite sure what’s going on with these prices, but we’ll give you a heads up if it looks like it’s cheaper than it would normally be.

Unannounced Indie Sales

Groo Meets Tarzan  Dune  Quentin Tarantino

Over at Dark Horse, everyone’s favorite stupid barbarian is on sale. Yes, that’s right… it’s Groo by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier! Yes, this includes Groo Meets Tarzan with Thomas Yeates.

Also from Dark Horse, the Stranger Things line of graphic novels.

Plus, further removed from the Direct Market:

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: World’s Finest; DC Elseworlds; Dark Horse Horror; Alison Bechdel

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC looks at more recent titles with their Summer Reading sale and towards the past with an Elseworlds sale. Dark Horse discounts a wide range of horror books and… is that Alison Bechdel?

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):

Summer Loving Reading

World's Finest Lobo  Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes

The DC Summer Reading Sale runs through Monday, 6/24.

Another eclectic title mix from DC, but plenty of $2.99/$3.99 titles and a few things are new (or at least recent) to having a discount. Let’s run down some notables by the bullets:

  • Batman: The Adventures Continue – Alan Burnett / Paul Dini / Ty Templeton; The extremely well done return to the continuity of the 90s animated series by two of the show runners (and Ty Templeton’s been on this version a loooooooong time).
  • Batman: The Golden Age – Big chunks of the original 30s/40s stories for $3.99/volume.
  • Batman/Superman: World’s Finest – Mark Waid/Dan Mora; Probably our favorite DC ongoing title at the moment. Popular with .cheap readers, too. Third volume recently entered discount territory.
  • The Dead Boy Detectives (’05) – Jill Thompson’s manga style adventure of what’s now a Netflix series.
  • Gotham Central – Ed Brubaker / Greg Rucka / Michael Lark / Stefano Gaudiano / Jason Shawn Alexander / Kano; The excellent series where the Gotham PD tries to cope with Gotham Crime without Batman. Double volumes for $2.99. Very worth taking a flier on if you’re unfamiliar.
  • Green Arrow (’23)-Josh Williamson / Sean Izaakse; First time discounted?
  • The Huntress: Origins – Paul Levitz / Joe Staton; All the Bronze Age solo appearances in once place.
  • JLA (’97) –    The 90s run that started with Grant Morrison / Howard Porter, mostly $3.99 for double volumes. A good era for the Justice League.
  • Justice Society of America (’23) – Geoff Johns / Mikel Janin; We can’t tell you when the next few issues will ship, but the collection of the first 7 issues is discounted.
  • Lobo (’90) – Keith Giffen / Alan Grant / Simon Bisley; The original off-color, ultra-violent humor series starring The Main Man. An effective tool for the offending of the easily offendable, but very funny if you aren’t.
  • Mister Miracle (’17) – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; In this much-lauded series, Mister Miracle attempts to escape death itself.
  • The Nice House on the Lake – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno; $2.99/volume ahead of the next series. High school friends are gathered at a remote house as the world ends… and the rest is spoilers. Very well done and a surprisingly big seller for a Vertigo book without the Vertigo imprint behind it.
  • The Omega Men: The End is Here – Tom King / Barnaby Bagenda; Under-appreciated early Tom King meditation on modern terrorism with the Omega Men reimagined as political terrorists who’ve kidnapped Kyle Rayner. Also one of the best Kyle Rayner stories you’ll find.
  • Peacemaker Tries Hard! – Kyle Starks / Steve Pugh; A recent addition to the ranks of the discounted at $3.99.
  • Rorschach (’20) – Tom King  / Jorge Fornés; The rare Watchmen sequel(ish) that we’ll endorse! It’s a political thriller in the Watchmen universe.
  • Superboy & The Legion of Super-Heroes – Paul Levitz / James Sherman / Mike Grell / Joe Staton / Jim Starlin – better than usual prices for big chunks of the first Paul Levitz run.
  • Superman (’23) – Josh Williamson / Jamal Campbell; Best “traditional” take on Superman in a few years. V.2 came out (at regular price) recently.
  • Superman: Birthright – Mark Waid / Leinil Francis Yu; 12 issue mini about Superman’s early years for $2.99
  • Superman: The Golden Age – Big chunks of the 30s/40s Superman tales for $2.99/$3.99.
  • The Wild Storm – Warren Ellis / John Davis-Hunt; A reimagining/updating of WildCATS and the Jim Lee Wildstorm characters. Davis-Hunt is vastly under-appreciated.
  • Wonder Woman: The Golden Age – It’s hard to describe how deeply strange the early 1940s Wonder Woman comics are… and not just the submission and bondage elements. Blow your mind for $3.99
  • World’s Finest: The Silver Age – Big chunks of the original series (starting with the ’54 material) for $3.99 a pop.

Elsewhere
The Nail  Bizarro Comics  Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

The DC Elseworlds Sale runs through Monday, 6/17.

Elseworlds were originally DC’s answer to Marvel’s What If series, frequently re-imagining heroes in different settings and time periods. And you know what? Some of the were legitimately great comics. This sale has a few things that haven’t traditionally been referred to as “Elseworlds” (and we have no idea why some of the high end Batman collections are at the end, so we’ll leave it you to browse those) and there are several  things we are happy to recommend without reservation:

  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller; the classic tale of Batman coming out of retirement
  • Batman: Gotham By Gaslight – Brian Augustyn / Mike Mignola; a Victorian/Steampunk/Jules Verne reimaging of Batman who comes in conflict with Jack the Ripper and a version of Verne’s Robur the Conqueror
  • Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader – Neil Gaiman / Andy Kubert; A Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow – style send-off to Batman that starts at his funeral.
  • Batman: Year 100 & Other Tales – Paul Pope; Pope spins a future tale of a new Batman appearing, as Commissioner Gordon’s grandson pursues him. You don’t want to pay the hardcover price for this one.
  • Bizarro Comics: The Deluxe Edition – Genuinely odd anthology where alternative cartoonists like Peter Bagge, Ivan Brunetti, Tony Millionaire and Carol Lay do shorts with the various DC characters. Yes, that’s a Matt Groening cover.
  • Justice League of America: The Nail – Alan Davis; Ma and Pa Kent get a flat tire and never find Kal-El’s rocket, so the Justice League forms without Superman and things do not go smoothly.
  • Kingdom Come – Mark Waid and Alex Ross; You don’t get Injustice: Gods Among Us without this dystopian tale of a new generation of heroes running amok. It’s really a critique of the 90s grim ‘n’ gritty comics movement.
  • Superman: Red Son – Mark Millar / Dave Johnson / Killian Plunkett; What if baby Kal-el’s rocket crashed in the Soviet Union and he was raised to be Stalin’s secret weapon? Also, Dave Johnson doing interiors!
  • Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? – Alan Moore / Curt Swan; After Crisis on Infinite Earths wrapped, but before Superman relaunched under John Byrne, Moore and Swan did a two-part story to tie a ribbon on the saga of the original Superman. (Theoretically the Silver/Bronze Age Superman, but this is pretty all encompassing.)

Unannounced Sales – The Horror, The Horror…

Not listed on the Deals page, it seems Dark Horse is having a horror sale.  Indeed, Dark Horse has done a LOT of horror over the years. You might even say it’s a specialty for them. Here are some things we found:

What’s good here? The Mignola-verse is the standard bearer, and a many threaded thing it is. Before you get to the last B.P.R.D. Omnibus (in many ways, the real backbone of that universe), it helps to have read all of Hellboy, plus some Abe Sapien (which gets into his true origins) and Witchfinder. And that’s the _major_ highlights.

Horror’s a pretty strong genre for Dark Horse.

Even More Unannounced Sales
Heathen  Wrassle Castle  Fun Home

From Vault / Wonderbound

The Alison Bechdel Section

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Guardians of the Galaxy; DC’s Greatest Hits; Scarlet Witch; Rogue & Gambit; Mass Effect

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel slashes prices on the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Scarlet Witch and Rogue & Gambit. DC drops a “Greatest Hits” sale and Mass Effect gets a discount at Dark Horse.

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):

DC’s Besties

All-Star Superman  Far Sector  Sandman

The DC Greatest Hits Sale runs through Monday, 6/10.

Something of a “best of” or “classics” sale… and some of the prices are good, particularly on older volumes. This is more of a “what haven’t I gotten around to reading” sale and it’s worth a browse.

A few things that caught our eye and/or are at a particularly good price:

  • All-Star Superman – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely – a love letter to the Silver Age tales and recommended by James Gunn
  • Batman: The Adventures Continue – Alan Burnett / Paul Dini / Ty Templeton – return to the world of “Batman: The Animated Series” and it doesn’t miss a step
  • Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – Brian Augustyn / Mike Mignola – a Victorian/Steampunk Elseworlds with a new sequel coming out
  • Batman: The Long Halloween – Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale – since a final installment has been announced, here’s the original
  • DC: The New Frontier – Darwyn Cooke – Cooke’s stone cold classic about the dawn of the Silver Age heroes. A+
  • Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles – Mark Russell / Mike Feehan – Snaggletooth recast as Tennessee Williams facing down the House Unamerican Activities Committee
  • Fables – Bill Willingham / Mark Buckingham – $2.99/volume for the long-running Epic of fairy tale heroes and villains in exile
  • Far Sector – N.K. Jemison / Jamal Campbell – A new Green Lantern at the edge of the galaxy investigates the first murder in 500 years. Good luck finding better world building.
  • The Human Target – Tom King / Greg Smallwood – It’s a serious noir that also has all the goofiness of the bwa ha ha era Justice League International. Great book.
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us – Tom Taylor / Mike S. Miller / Bruno Redondo – You wouldn’t think this was a video game adaption + enter the team of Taylor & Redondo
  • Kingdom Come – Mark Waid / Alex Ross – the original dystopian DC epic
  • Saga of the Swamp Thing – Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / Stan Woch / John Totleben – Moore’s hugely influential run for $2.99/volume
  • Sandman – Neil Gaiman / a rotating cast of artists – Gaiman’s fantasy classic at $2.99/volume
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons – you already know what this is.
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth – Daniel Warren Johnson – Diana wakes up in a dystopian hellscape and tries to piece together what destroyed civilization. “Metal” is a good way to describe it.
  • World’s Finest – Mark Waid/ Dan Mora; contender for DC’s best current title and V. 3 is now discounted.
  • Y: The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan / Pia Guerra – All the men have died, save Yorrick and his monkey. $2.99 per DOUBLE volume. As cheap as it gets!

Groot? Groot Groot.

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

The Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 6/10.

Let’s break this into incarnations.

Original Guardians of the Galaxy

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

What’s good here?  Well, we’ve always liked the original. Particularly the Steve Gerber bits. We also loved the recent Al Ewing / Juan Cabal run. And if you like the current incarnation, you should probably go back to the source with the DnA run. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t point out that Kev Walker did an amazing job on the art with the most recent run.

Which Witch?

Vision and the Scarlet Witch   Avengers West Coast   House of M

The Marvel Scarlet Witch Sale runs through Monday, 6/3.

The value buy here is Vision & The Scarlet Witch: The Saga of Wanda and Vision. It’s a sort of faux-Epic Edition, clocking in at 467 pages and including the wedding of Wanda and Vision from Giant-Size Avengers #4, the ’82 Bill Mantlo/Rick Leonardi mini-series and the ’85 Steve Englehart/Richard Howell 12-parter.

There’s a lot of West Coast Avengers in this sale, largely for Wanda’s heel-turn in the John Byrne Vision Quest/Darker than Scarlet era — the Epic Collections are the better buys here.

House of M by Brian Bendis and Olivier Coipel might be a little over-hyped at this point, but it’s the tent-pole “Wanda rewrites reality” story that’s central to the TV adaptation.

We might reserve our largest praise for Wanda’s once and future husband, though. Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta is an excellent tale. The Vision has a synthezoid family in the suburbs and things slowly go horribly wrong.

‘Til Death Do Us Discount

Mr. and Mrs. X   Gambit Classic   Gambit: The Complete Collection

The Marvel Rogue and Gambit Sale runs through Monday, 6/3.

The series the best lives up to the sale’s theme is Mr. & Mrs. X by Kelly Thompson, Oscar Bazaldua and David Lopez. That would be Rogue and Gambit, if you missed the wedding.

While Gambit is the newer character, he’s had more exposure in solo titles. Gambit Classic collects the original Uncanny X-Men arc and the early mini’s, including the 1995 Rogue mini-series in V.2.

Gambit: The Complete Collection is the slightly better known 1999 series primarily by Fabian Nicieza / Steve Skroce / Yanick Paquette

Plenty of assorted X-Men volumes to go with all this, too.

Unlisted Sales

Mass Effect  Killer Queens

Over at Dark Horse, we find a Mass Effect sale, as in the video game from Bioware. It’s available in:

Also with a discount: Killer Queens by David M. Booher & Claudia Balboni, which sports the tagline, “putting the SASS in assassin.”

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Punisher; Batman; Superior Spider-Man; Detective Chimp; Dark Horse Fantasy

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts the MAX version of The Punisher and Superior Spider-Man. DC has a Memorial Day Sale on recent items. Dark Horse cuts prices on fantasy titles.

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):

Momento Mori

Justice Society of America  Detective Comics  The Detective Chimp Casebook

The DC Memorial Day Sale runs through Monday, 5/27.

This is an extra eclectic mix of books and there seem to be a fair amount that are new to being discounted or recently started being discounted. A few things we found notable:

Warner Must Find Punisher MAX Confusing…
Punisher PunisherMax

The Marvel Punisher MAX Sale runs through Monday, 5/27.

Yes, Marvel’s been using the MAX label for mature reader comics longer than Warner’s been using it for streaming. One of those quirks of branding, we suppose.

This sale really breaks down into two titles:

Punisher Max: The Complete Collection is the ’04-’09 run that’s most associated with Garth Ennis returning to the character (with art by Darick Robertson, Leandro Fernendez, Doug Braithwaite and Goran Parlov, among others). This is Ennis doing the serious Punisher, as opposed to the hilarity of Welcome Back, Frank. Mike Benson, Victor Gischler and Jason Aaron pop up at the end of the run.

Then you’ve got PunisherMax, the ’09-’12 relaunch by Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon, where Frank mixes it up with The Kingpin and Bullseye.

Superiority Complex

Superior Spider-Man Superior Spider-Man Companion Superior Spider-Man

The Marvel Superior Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

Yes, that would be the run when Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker’s body. One of the greatest moments of “wait… this is actually good” in recent history. (Everyone we knew winced at the high concept, but the execution was on the money!)

The primary Superior Spider-Man series by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman is best packaged in the 2-volume Complete collection, that also includes the “Dying Wish” arc that sets up the run.

Superior Spider-Man Companion gets you the first 12 issues of Superior Spider-Man Team-Up and some tie-in issues.

Superior Spider-Man (’18-’19) is the Christos Gage / Mike Hawthorne revival that returns Otto Octavious to his Spidey persona.

And for something a little different? The absolutely hilarious Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer & Steve Lieber. Boomerang tries to organize a gang of Spidey’s b-list foes and make a big score. Things… do not go as intended. Think an even more absurd Dortmunder novel with super villains and you won’t be far off.

Unlisted Sale

Air  Beasts of Burden  Elfquest

Dark Horse has a number of fantasy series on sale this week, including:

We’re going to stump a little for Air. This series was way under the radar at Vertigo and prior to G. Willow Wilson being a name author. It’s out there (in a good way) enough to be a little hard to describe, but it’s a strong book and it looks like the reissue is now complete.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Iron Man; DC in the ’90s; Absolute Carnage; Powers

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts most of their Iron Man catalog, plus Absolute Carnage. DC revisits the 90s. Dark Horse cuts prices on the many works of Bendis & Oeming.

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):

Does Whatever An Iron Can…

Iron Man: The Man Who Killed Tony Stark  Iron Man: Heroes Reborn  Iron Man: Big Iron

The Marvel Iron Man Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 5/27

This would be one of those sales where most of the hero’s run is on sale, so we’re going to follow our usual protocol and start out by breaking out the primary titles and volumes. Iron Man isn’t as goofy to follow as, say, Spider-Gwen… but there are “quirks.”

  • Tales of Suspense – Iron Man debuted here in what was a split book with Captain America for most of the run.
  • Iron Man ’68-’96 – The original solo run in the era before constant relaunch gimmicks

OK, sit tight. The ’98 -’04 run is collected in VERY odd ways and poorly cataloged for browsing.  The truly excellent Kurt Busiek/Sean Chen/Patrick Zircher run lasts from 1-25. We can’t find 15-25 collected? (That entire run should be!)  You can catch 1-14 and the Mike Grell run (50-59)  in cheap omnibus form here.  You can catch Joe Quesada’s scripting run (26-32) and the Avengers: Disassembled tie-in late in this run in single volumes here. (But get the omnibus version for Busiek.)

  • Iron Man ’04-07 – Best known for launching with the “Extremis” storyline
  • Invincible Iron Man ’08-’12 – The excellent Matt Fraction / Salvador Larroca run. Save some money with the omnibus collecting the first 3 volumes.
  • Iron Man ’12-’14 – The Kieron Gillen run with Greg Land as initial artist
  • Invincible Iron Man ’15-’16 – Brian Bendis and David Marquez/Mike Deodato, Jr. start out with Tony Stark in the armor
  • International Iron Man ’16 – Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev (And yes, we’re in the thick of the relaunches now)
  • Invincible Iron Man ’16-’18 – Brian Bendis and Stefano Caselli with Riri Williams/Ironheart filling Tony Stark’s shoes (yes, parallel substitute Iron Man runs)
  • Tony Stark: Iron Man ’18-’19 – The Dan Slott era with Valerio Schiti as the principle artist in the rotation.
  • Iron Man ’20-’22 – The Christopher Cantwell / Cafu run.
  • Invincible Iron Man ’22-current – Gerry Duggan / Juan Frigeri

If you’re keeping score at home, you’ll have notice Superior Iron Man and Infamous Iron Man are not on sale. Why? We cannot say.

So what’s good?  We haven’t read ALL the Iron Man out there, but we’ve read a lot of them.

In our opinion Iron Man starts hitting it’s stride when Archie Goodwin arrives toward the end of the Tales of Suspense run and then is pure gold through issue 28 of the ’68 Iron Man series. Artists for this run include Gene Colan and George Tuska. (That’s collected in both Masterworks and Epic formats, but only the Epic is discounted right now..)

The next “all-star” run is #116-157 of the original Iron Man, that’s the David Michelinie / John Romita, Jr. / Bob Layton run that’s most famous for the “Demon in a Bottle” alcoholism arc, but there’s more to the run than just that arc.  The Denny O’Neil / Luke McDonnell run that follows is solid (make sure you get a collection that includes #200!!!), but Michelinie & Layton return for #215-250 with a few artists, including Mark Bright and Jackson Guice… with Layton even switching to penciller, instead of his usual inking post, for parts of it.  This second run is most famous for “Armor Wars” (originally known as Stark Wars).

When Heroes Return hits, Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen are pop in for the excellent 1998 run, of which only 1-14 are currently collected.

The ’08 – ’12 run by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca is particularly good. You know how modern Marvel titles can get sidetracked by Events. Fraction and Larroca lean into it and produce a lengthy and self-contained arc with Tony Stark on the run and attempting to overwrite his brain to keep everyone’s secrets out of the hands of Norman Osborn. Yes, an honest to goodness great Event tie-in arc. It’s a rare thing.

We were quite happy with the  Christopher Cantwell/Cafu run. Tony Stark chases Korvac into outer space and meditates on the nature of godhood, good intentions and addictions. Lots of character work and action.

Be Kind, Please Rewind

Hellblazer  League of Extraordinary Gentlemen  The Nail

The  DC 90s Rewind Sale runs through Monday, 5/20.

Yes, it’s a 90s sale… with a little late 80s/early 00s around the edges. It’s worth a browse, particularly if you want to go wide on the Batman of that period, but let’s hit some highlights, shall we?

  • Animal Man – Initially Grant Morrison / Chas Truog, the full run is on sale this time.
  • The Authority – Ellis & Hitch, then Millar & Quitely; Hugely influential at the end of the ’90s, this is what effectively started the “widescreen comics” trend. (Pity the Stormwatch lead-in isn’t in the sale.)
  • Batman: No Man’s Land: The epic line-wide crossover Event, where Gotham is cut off from the rest of the country and the villains set themselves up as Warlords. (Yes, this predates DMZ by several years.) We thought this was the peak of the 90s Bat-Events.
  • Green Arrow (’88-’98) – Mike Grell / Ed Hannigan / Dan Jurgens – the Grell version that did away with most of the trick arrows.
  • Hellblazer – The first 13 volumes are on sale from the original Vertigo run. Delano / Ennis / Jenkins / Ellis.  Strong, strong run and for what it’s worth, we enjoyed the less-talked about Paul Jenkins/Sean Phillips issues. Don’t sleep on them.
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentleman – Alan Moore / Kevin O’Neil; Yes, DC (via Wildstorm) still has the first two volumes. And they’re good! It’s a literary team-up with satirical elements around the edges (pay attention to the ads…). Note: there is a demise in V. 2 that is very much NOT for kids.
  • The Nail – Alan Davis presents the tale of a world where the Kents didn’t find Kal-El’s rocket and the Justice League forms without Superman to bail them out.
  • Preacher – Garth Ennis & Steve Dillion; Since adapted for TV. God’s gone missing and Jesse Custer would like a word with him. A series as wrong as it is praised.
  • The Spectre – John Ostrander / Tom Mandrake; This would be on our best of the 90s list. Jim Corrigan is dead and tethered to the Wrath of God. He’s trying to work through that. It’s a lot.
  • Superman: The Death of Superman – The most famous line-wide Superman Event. The “Funeral for a Friend” and “Reign of the Supermen” sequences worked far better than one would have expected when solicited. This is also where John Henry Irons / Steel is introduced.
  • Transmetropolitan – Warren Ellis / Darick Robertson; The science fiction satire about a Hunter S. Thompson-esque future journalist and his war against a corrupt establishment. One of the more influential titles of the late 9os.

Absolute Hyperbole

Absolute Carnage  Venom: Absolute Carnage

The Marvel Absolute Carnage Sale runs through Monday, 5/20.

Absolute Carnage was, by Marvel standards, a small scope crossover between Donny Cates’s Venom run and the Nick Spencer era Amazing Spider-Man. Yes, in the context of an Event, only generating eight collected edition counts as restraint.

The Event miniseries holding it together is Absolute Carnage by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman.

Venom: Absolute Carnage by Cates & Iban Coello collects the Venom tie-in issues.

Amazing Spider-Man: Absolute Carnage by Nick Spencer & Ryan Ottley collects, you guessed it, the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in issues.

From there, fill-in as your tastes dictate. We will say that the lead story in Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk And Other Tales is worthwhile, if not central to anything. Immortal Hulk being a high water mark in general.

Unannounced Sales

Powers  Goldfish  Fortune and Glory

Dark Horse has a big block of Brian Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming titles on sale. Let’s hit the numbers first:

We’d like to talk a little about the early Bendis, which doesn’t seem to be widely remembered after all his time at Marvel and DC. Bendis started out doing the full cartoonist and working on crime comics like Goldfish and Jinx.

He started getting a little more notice when he jumped over to Image for Powers w/ Oeming. Powers starts out as a police procedural in a world where super powers have to be registered (this is LONG before Marvel’s Civil War) and follows a police unit that handles “powers”-related crimes. There’s a lot of worldbuilding involved and things get quite a bit more complicated as the backstories of the main characters unfold.

Powers left Image for Marvel’s Icon imprint when Bendis blew up there and as he got deeper into Marvel, the shipping schedule got erratic. It’s relaunched a few times and seemingly lost a lot of audience momentum. Shipping schedules, have very little to do with the quality of the comic, however. It’s a good one and an influential one that’s worth dipping into the collected editions of. (And trust us, its so much easier with omnibuses where you don’t have to remember which relaunch a given issue is from!)

Also very worthwhile:  Fortune & Glory is Bendis recounting tales of interacting with Hollywood when Goldfish got optioned. It’s hilarious and multiple folks who work in TV/Film have assured us it’s frighteningly accurate.

We’d also point you to Scarlet as a more recent example of Bendis returning to that early crime vibe. It’s a strong comic.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Amazing Spider-Man (all of it); Blade; Dracula; Lazarus Planet; Dark Horse’s Cullen Bunn catalog

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel puts pretty much the full run of Amazing Spider-Man on sale and follows that up with Tomb of Dracula and Blade’s various titles. DC… has issues this week. Dark Horse celebrates the work of Cullen Bunn.

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):

So Many Spiders…

Amazing Spider-Man  Amazing Spider-Man  Amazing Spider-Man - Kraven's Last Hunt

Marvel’s Spider-Man Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 4/29.

There’s a lot of ground to cover here, so let’s break it down by series.

  • Amazing Spider-Man (1963-98) – The original run before Marvel became quite so obsessed with rebooting titles.
  • Amazing Spider-Man (1998 – 2013) – This run starts out with the controversial J. Michael Straczynski/John Romita, Jr./Mike Deodato, Jr. run, then goes into the Brand New Day era with rotating creative teams and segues into the beginning of the Dan Slott era. (Slott’s written a LOT of Spidey.)  Now… this Amazon’s listings, so you knew something had to be messed
  • Superior Spider-Man – Possibly the high point of the Dan Slott era – Doc Ock takes over Peter’s body and life. The Complete Collections are the way to go here.
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2014 – 15) – Peter’s back in control and the Slott era continues.
  • Amazing Spider-Man(2015-2018) – It’s a relaunch. (Hey, Spidey’s been relaunched a lot less than Captain Marvel!) This is the end run of the Slott era, culminating in the Red Goblin affair. The “Worldwide Collection” omnibuses are the better buy.
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2018 – 22) – The Nick Spenser era is here, PLUS the 4 volumes of Spider-Man Beyond with Ben Reilly stepping in that take place prior to:
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2022-Present) – The current Zeb Wells / John Romita, Jr. / Ed McGuinness run.

And there are a few more Slott era omnibus editions floating around.  That’s probably not getting cleaned up anytime soon.<sigh>

Recommendations?  Well, first off Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t really have very many BAD periods. Oh, some runs are definitely better than others, but there aren’t huge swaths of duds.

You can definitely pick your poison between the $5.99 Masterworks and $6.99 Epic Collections for the original run (although a few Epic’s run a little higher). The Epics are typically much larger collections for only a buck more, but it depends on which format you started buying and which era you’re interested in. Some stretches are only in Masterworks, some are only in Epic.

Of possible interest, since there’s a sequel mini-series out, but NOT included in the link for the V.1 of Amazing is the Kraven’s Last Hunt Epic Collection, so we’ll call that one out directly. You get the J.M. DeMatteis/Mike Zeck classic, plus the issues of Amazing around it, plus Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine for about the price of just getting the regular Kraven collection.

We’d also recommend a look at the Brand New Day collections. It’s not a run that’s immediately talked about, but we found it entertaining and a much better set of creators was assembled than Marvel was necessarily given credit for: Mark Waid, Bob Gale (we wish he did more comics), Marc Guggenheim, Joe Kelly, Dan Slott, John Romita, Jr., Steve McNiven, Salvador Larroca, Phil Jimenez, Barry Kitson, Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera, Lee Week and… others. I’m not sure there are “hidden” gems with Spidey, just runs that get discussed less.

And yes, we are enjoying the current Zeb Wells / (mostly) John Romita, Jr. series. It’s a little more somber than we were expecting from Wells, but it’s been a good ride so far. And this is a series that plays the long game resolving subplots.

Could There Possibly Be an Event Approaching?
Blade: Black and White Tomb of Dracula Greenberg the Vampire

The  Marvel Blade and Marvel Vampires Sale runs through Monday, 4/29.

That would be the Daywalker and vampire slayer who’s better known through the films than the comic.

We feel pretty strongly that Blade is best experienced in his original context – a supporting character in Tomb of Dracula. It’s not clear you can call Tomb of Dracula an under-the-radar 70s classic anymore, since it’s gotten a fair amount of exposure since the Essentials line (finally) collected it ~20 years ago, but now it’s in color reprints. One note, though – you need to give the series six or seven issues to get moving. There were some false starts until Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan were paired up… but after they’ve got a couple issues under their belt, this one really takes off.

Blade: Black & White is a collection of… that’s right, the black & white adventures over the years and is built around some magazine appearances in Vampire Tales and Marvel Preview. Wolfman and Chris Claremont are the primary writers for that period. Colan and Tony DeZuniga are the primary artists.

If you’re looking for something has resembles the film franchise a bit more, there’s Blade: The Complete Collection by Marc Guggenheim (with Howard Chaykin as artist).

For something completely out of left field, J.M. DeMatteis, Steve Leialoha and Mark Badger present Greenberg the Vampire. He tries to avoid drinking blood, loves his Mama and occasionally has writer’s block.

DC’s Almost-Sale

Legion of Super Heroes The Great Darkness Saga  Batman Beyond: The Final Joke  Lazarus Planet

The DC Multiverse Sale runs through Monday, 4/29.

*Sigh* It appears to have happened again. Most of these books are are at higher price points than we’ve seen in months or set to a really strange price point. Precedent would suggest that someone at DC did not enter the sale data correctly. This was a BIG problem at various point last year. (Especially August.)  As we type this up, no prices have been corrected… maybe they will be by the weekend?

If not, here’s the much shorter list of things we think are at “normal” price points & discounts. Hopefully this doesn’t linger for a month like it did in August.

Not on the sale page, but good prices:

An Unannounced Bunn in the Oven

Harrow County Omnibus 1  Tales From Harrow County  Shock Shop

It appears Dark Horse is having an unannounced sale on Cullen Bunn titles.

His flagship work for Dark Horse is most likely Harrow County with Tyler Crook. The two omnibus editions in that link are the best value here by a LOT.  Go to the bottom of the “regular” collection links for the Tales From Harrow County continuation.

Also on the list:

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman (at good prices); Thor; Black Widow; Hawkeye; Blue Book

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC’s big Batman sale has REAL discounts. Marvel slashes prices on Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Plus, an unannounced Blue Book sale from Dark Horse.

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):

The Batman Sale

The DC Batman Anniversary Sale runs through Monday, 4/8.

Yes, this is the big one. Most of the collected editions are on sale and at good prices. You see $2.99 at DC and it’s time to pull the trigger, so tell your friends.

Let’s try and make things a little easier list and light some highlights of the various series included in the sale:

Batman Special Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles  Batman '89

What’s good? That depends on what flavor of Batman you like. It seems the caped crusader is flexible and has had different tones over the years.

Do you like the 90s Event era where the Batman family of books crossed over?  Most of those collections are $2.99/$3.99. Here’s a cheat sheet for that (we have a soft spot for No Man’s Land):

Prefer the mid-to-late 80s era? Starlin/Aparo or Grant/Breyfogle? Those collections are running $3.99/$4.99.

“The Caped Crusader” branded volumes collect the Batman issues and start here

“The Dark Knight Detective” branded volumes collect the Detective Comics issues and start here.

We’re also going to call out a few things that are a hair more expensive, but normally have a much higher price point:

Jan Hammer?

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

Marvel’s Thor Sale runs  through Monday, 4/1.

Pretty much the full Thor line, with the caveat that the Marvel Masterworks volumes are not on sale, so that trend from recent months continues. Which is to say, Epic Collections are your friend.

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 current Donny Cates run with Nic Klein as the primary artist; Torunn GrØnbekk tags end toward the end while Cates was recovering from his accident (and filled in well, we might add).

The current Al Ewing Immortal Thor gets a big thumbs up from us… but it’s too recent to be on sale yet, alas… or perhaps “fie!”

Of your point of reference for Thor is the most recent 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.)

These Ex-‘s Aren’t From Texas

Black Widow  Hawkeye  Black Widow by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee

The Marvel Black Widow & Hawkeye Sale runs through Monday, 4/1.

That’s right. These two used to be an item.

First, the Natasha highlights:

There are two Black Widow Epic Collections that collect what were largely guest or co-starring spots (with a couple notable exceptions) through the early 80s.

Flash forward to 2004 and the highlight of a series of miniseries was a pair written by Richard K. Morgan with an art rotation of Bill Sienkiewicz, Sean Phillips and Goran Parlov. (!) Conveniently collected in a single volume.

A decade later, the team of Mark Waid & Chris Samnee (a known quantity) did their own Black Widow run. Predictably, another highlight. (Also conveniently collected in a single volume.)

Shortly after that, the Eisner winning Black Widow run of Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande kicked off. Yes, we enjoyed this run, too… and were kind of thinking there might be a follow up, but we haven’t seen one yet.

As for Mr. Clint Barton, let get it out of the way.  While there’s some debate to how well it fits into continuity, the series that towers above all other is Hawkeye by Fraction & Aja: The Saga Of Barton And Bishop. That would be the extremely quirky and beloved “Hawk-guy” series featuring Pizza Dog.

A bit further down on the listing page are two volumes of “Hawkeye and the Thunderbolts.” Mark Bagley is your lead artist and this covers the transition from Kurt Busiek to Fabian Nicieza as writer, while Hawkeye was leading the group.

If you want some older Hawkeye, there are a couple Epic Collections:

Unannounced

Blue Book

It has come to our attention that Dark Horse has placed Blue Book V.1: 1961 by James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Oeming on sale. “True stories of UFO abductions.”

 

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: The New X-Men Writers; Batman; Patton Oswalt

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts the work of the three new X-Men writers… plus, Ghost Rider. DC has an essential sale (read: Batman) and Patton Oswald experiences unannounced price slashing.

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):

X-Writers of the Future

With the initial X-Men relaunch announcements dropping at SXSW, it looks like Marvel is inviting you to get to know the new writers of the X-line with 3 sales (and perhaps more to come as announcements continue).

Jed MacKay

Moon Knight  The Death of Doctor Strange  Taskmaster

The Marvel Jed MacKay Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Of the three announced writers, MacKay’s written the most material for Marvel and most of it in the last ~6 years or so. If you want to see him on a team book, the first volume of his Avengers with C.F. Villa is on sale.

Our favorite work of his is the Doctor Strange sequence, which should absolutely be read in order:

  • The Death of Doctor Strange – w/ Lee Garbett… and yes, Stephen gets himself killed.
  • Strange – w/ Marcelo Ferreira & Garbett, where Clea becomes Sorcerer Supreme.
  • Doctor Strange – w/ Pasqual Ferry, where Stephen’s back (and there IS fallout)

The breakout title for him was probably Moon Knight w/Alessandro Cappuccio, which we’ve also enjoyed quite a bit. And let’s give some credit here: piecing together the various incarnations of Moon Knight of the last 10-15 years is not a small task! Yet, it was done well.

And for something a bit more off the radar… Taskmaster w/ Alessandro Vitti. Maria Hill has been murdered. Taskmaster has been framed. The Black Widow wants blood for said murder. Taskmaster finds himself on the trail of a doomsday weapon as he tries to extricate himself from a situation not of his making. And it’s a very witty farce.

Gail Simone

Domino  Deadpool Classic

The  Marvel Gail Simone Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Gail’s big break was Deadpool, but she’s written less Marvel over the years that you might realize. She’s not the main scribe for most of the volumes listed in the sale.

The closest you’re going to get to an X-Men preview is probably the Domino series she did with David Baldeon. (Note, there was a follow-up to this: Domino: Hotshots that is not part of the sale.)

Her Deadpool / Agent X run with art by Udon Studios & Alvin Lee is collected across Deadpool Classic V. 9 and Deadpool Classic V.10.

The final “solo” collection in this sale is The Variants, a Jessica Jones mystery with art by Phil Noto.

Eve Ewing

Black Panther  Ironheart  Champions

The Marvel Eve Ewing Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Eve Ewing has the smallest backlist of the three newly announced X-scribes.

Her current run on Black Panther w/ Chris Allen is probably her highest profile project.

Ironheart with Luciano Vecchio is probably the title Ewing is most strongly associated with.

If you’d like to see an example of Ewing on a team book, there’s Champions w/ Kim Jacinto.

Shouldn’t He Be In the Sky?

Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider / Wolverine

The Marvel Ghost Rider Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

This one is similar to a legacy sale, with the recent caveat that most of the original series in only in Masterworks editions and those aren’t included in the sale, just the single Epic Collection.

Let’s run this one down by series… and yes, there have been a TON of relaunches and mini’s.

As a bonus, the absurdity of Cosmic Ghost Rider:

Essential Equals… Batman?

Batman: The Court of Owls  Detective Comics by Tynion  Watchmen

The DC Essentials Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

What’s essential? Flipping through this sale, one gets the impression that New 52 (and forward) Batman titles are what DC considers it’s most essential product and there are a ton of them here.

Lets do a quick look at some notable items:

  • Batman ’11-’16 – The Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo era (You may have heard of them.)
  • Batman ’16 – present – Starts with the Tom King run, then James Tynion IV, currently Chip Zdarsky
  • DCeased – Tom Taylor / Trevor Hairsine; Kicking off the series of miniseries about the Anti-Life Equation getting loose, turning most of the population (including the metahuman community) into a sort of zombie and the survivors trying to stay alive.
  • Detective Comics ’11-’16 – Starts with Tony Daniel, then John Layman / Jason Fabok, then Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato
  • Detective Comics ’16 – present – Starts with James Tynion IV’s run, then Peter Tomasi, then Mariko Tamaki (Ram V’s run isn’t yet on sale, it appears). And way too many artists to list.
  • Mister Miracle – Tom King / Mitch Gerads – The Eisner winner
  • Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age – Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson; A legit classic and trendsetter… even before Alan Moore showed up
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons; this one needs no introduction
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth – Daniel Warren Johnson; Wonder Woman awakens in a post-apocalyptical hellscape and has some monsters to slay. “Heavy Metal” may be the best description. A great ride.

Unannounced…

Minor Threats

Minor Threats by Patton Oswalt / Jordan Blum / Scott Hepburn is an exercise in subverting tropes (subversion from that group… surely not…) as some low level supervillains go after the A-list villain who’s been bringing the heat down on them.

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