Comixology Sales: Eternals, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and all the Halloween Sales

In this week’s Comixology Sales Highlights, King Kirby hits with the original Eternals and The Demon, Jim Butcher’s comics adventures of Harry Dresden are discounted and more Halloween sales than you can shake a bag of candy corn at.

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

Eternals… It’s Like There Was a Film or Something…

The Marvels Eternals Sale runs through Sunday, 11/14.

This is one where we have a very strong preference for the original run. You just can’t duplicate Jack Kirby. Over the years, Marvel’s not done the best job keeping this in print over the years and some (including us) might say it’s been overpriced at times.  But guess what? There’s a good price on The Eternals by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection, which has the whole run in one volume.  This one has been overlooked a lot, so don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with it.

Eternals by Jack Kirby

It Sucks (Blood)

The Marvel Halloween Sale runs through… you guessed it, Halloween!

What’s the best horror comic Marvel did in their best horror period?  Tomb of Dracula by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. (With a few other creators at the beginning before the format was set.)  Hard to beat it.

And for something completely off the beaten path, there’s Greenberg the Vampire. The what? From Bizarre Adventures magazine and the eponymous Marvel Graphic Novel by J.M. DeMatteis, Steve Leialoha and Mark Badger.  The story of a lovelorn vampire who’d really rather his mother didn’t know his condition. It’s a little different tone that you usually see at The House of Ideas.

Tomb of Dracula   Greenberg the Vampire

When Vertigo Was a Thing

The DC Halloween Sale runs through Monday, 11/1

Yes, DC has a lot more horror and spooky stuff on sale than Marvel.  Partially because they used to have the Vertigo imprint.  Speaking of which, there’s a whole bunch of stuff by what’s one of the last remaining traces of Vertigo – American Vampire by Scott Snyder and (mostly) Rafael Albuquerque on the art… with a bit of Stephen King at the beginning, but he might be too obscure for Halloween.  It’s the sprawling tale of a new strain of vampire developing and spreading through the decades.  We’d put it at or near the top of the Snyder cannon.

Deadman is one of the original cult heroes of the Silver and Bronze Ages. Originally in Strange Adventures by Neal Adams, Boston Brand is an acrobat whose spirit is seeking his killer. He can possess people’s bodies to interact with the world of the living.  The first two volumes collect the Adams run and then Deadman floats around the DC Universe (pun intended). He pops up in Challengers of the Unknown and Phantom Stranger, has a run in the Dollar Era of Adventure Comics and then the collections end with the ’80s mini-series.  A character the creative community loved to bring back and a Halloween superhero if ever there was one.

We started out talking about Kirby, so let’s talk about his most sorcerous run – The DemonAs Camelot falls, Merlin binds a hell-spawn to a human host. That host survives across the centuries and in modern times, Jason Blood will summon the demon Etrigan to do battle with all manner of unnatural scourges.  It’s the high adventure version of horror.

American Vampire   Deadman   The Demon by Jack Kirby

Wizard Dresden

The Dynamite Horror Sale runs through Monday, 11/1

Since it’s the season, let’s talk about something a little different from Dynamite: The Dresden Files. Jim Butcher’s collaborated with Dynamite for some original, in-continuity comic stories.  Mark Powers is the co-writer and for art, you’ve got Carlos Gomez, Chase Conley, Joseph Cooper and Adrian Syaf.  The Omnibus editions are slightly better deals and the second one is all original material.  Now, if someone would send over a bottle of Mac’s beer…..

Dresden Files

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The Rest of the Halloween Sales

We’ve highlighted most of this in previous weeks, but if you want to do trick or treating for discounts, here’s a ton of stuff for your browsing:

Comixology Sales: 70+% off for Wonder Woman’s 80th Anniversary

DC’s celebrating Wonder Woman’s 80th Anniversary with a Comixology sale… a sale with a lot of 70%+ discounts. No, we were NOT expecting that level of discount two weeks in a row… but we could get used to it.

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

Sappho Suffered For This Sale

The Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary Sale runs through Monday, 10/25.

Yes, Wonder Woman has been around for a bit… and in a shock move, DC is celebrating with good discounts!  Trick or treat, my friend!

Have you ever sampled the original William Moulton Marston / H.G. Peters stories? Wonder Woman: The Golden Age collects the tales from Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman, suddenly on the cheap.  V. 1 is 77% off for $3.99.  V.2 & 3 are 75% off for $4.99. Cheaper if you’re stacking a Comixology Unlimited discount.  This run features a lot of bondage and submission themes that will make your jaw drop, but apparently flew under the radar at the time.  The early rogues gallery includes The Cheetah, Mars and The Duke of Deception.

“Modern” Wonder Woman is considered by many to start with the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths George Perez run. This volume of the title starts with Perez’s now classic and mythology-centric revival, then you get William Messner-Loebs/Mike Deodato, Jr. Run, a John Byrne run, Phil Jimenez gets a turn and then it ends up with the highly regard first Greg Rucka era. You can pretty safely go wild with the Omnibus section for this volume and what’s not collected there is $0.99 per issue. Each run has it’s fans.

Wonder Woman: The Golden Age   Wonder Woman by George Perez

You may have heard of Jill Thompson’s Wonder Woman: True Amazon? It won the best original graphic novel Eisner and was kind of a big deal.  $3.99 – cheap.

If you want a particularly out there version of Princess Diana, there’s always the Black Label Wonder Woman: Dead Earth by Daniel Warren Johnson.  It’s a heavy metal version of Wonder Woman awakening in a post-apocalyptic dystopia and slaying monsters as she gets a grip on what’s happened while she slept. Very fun book.

Wonder Woman - True Amazon   Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

The 2006 series of Wonder Woman is probably best known as the Gail Simone era, so this is where you seek her out.

Wonder Woman by Gail Simone

We’ll assume you know the regular series since New 52. In general, we like the Azzarello/Chiang (most find it a sacrilegious take on the character, but that’s Brian’s motif) and Ruck / Sharp / Scott runs quite a bit.

Lots of 70%+ discounts and most of the single issues are $0.99, so have a good browse while the prices are low.

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Thor, Deadpool, 70%+ off at DC (and Batman), plus Image Horror

This week in Comixology Sales, there’s pretty complete run of Thor on sale and DC’s still over 70% off on many of their graphic novels.  Plus Deadpool and Image’s horror line is on sale for Halloween.

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

Bringing the Thunder

The Marvel Thor: Massive God of Thunder Sale runs through Sunday, 10/17.

This is pretty much Thor on sale up and down all the various titles for ~60-67% off per volume and some $0.99 single issues.  The sale page is incredibly poorly organized, so we’ll walk you through the titles and point to some better stuff.  Our rule of thumb is that Epic Collections and Marvel Masterwork editions are the best values. We like Epic’s a little better, but the Masterworks are published in the right order, so pick your poison.

Thor starts in Journey into MysteryFair warning, the earliest issues can be a little rough as they figure out the format. As Lee and Kirby lock in, it improves greatly, but the first Masterworks’ worth is for completists.

As we all know, Journey into Mystery changed the title to Thorand just as things were getting interesting. You’re good with the initial Stan Lee / Jack Kirby (the Mangog and Galactus sequences are particularly good circa #154 – 169). Fine when John Buscema tags in for Kirby, but then opinions vary quite a bit when Stan exits.  What everyone agrees on is then when Walt Simonson shows up, it’s the best Thor since Lee/Kirby.  The “Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson” set of books is more complete than Thor by Walter Simonson, FYI. Visionaries has the end of the run.

Journey into Mystery   Thor: To Wake the Mangog

We’ll ignore Heroes Reborn, and then the new Thor series is an extended run written by Dan Jurgen with John Romita, Jr. as the initial artist.

The  next volume starts out with a good run by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Copiel, then has Keiron Gillen popping up around a Siege tie-in and then starts the Matt Fraction / Pasqual Ferry run.  It’s a pretty good volume.

As we enter the Relaunch Era of Marvel, Fraction/Copiel gets a new #1 as it relaunches as The Mighty Thor. Note: Comixology (and Marvel) have some weird housekeeping at the final act of the Fraction run, Everything Burns, is collected all by itself.

Thor by Dan Jurgens   Thor by JMS   The Mighty Thor   Everything Burns

This is when Jason Aaron popped on board. First with Thor confronting The God Butcher and then Jane Foster’s time as Thor. This is a funky one to keep track of by individual titles, but Marvel has a Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection that simplifies things quite a bit.

Which leaves us with the current  Donny Cates/ Nic Klein run.  And that’s the nickel tour of Thor.  That sale page is pretty jumbled up.  This is where you’ll find your $0.99 single issues.

Thor by Jason Aaron   Thor by Donny Cates

Rare “Good” Discounts at DC

The DC Fandome Sale marches on through Monday, 10/18. It’s in two links: Part 1 and Part 2. It’s a disorganized batch of titles, but very good discounts for DC in the ~69%- 75% off range.  Very good discounts for DC.  Last time we looked at oddities and value buys. This time we’re going to look at some the stuff with higher list prices where you’re saving more actual dollars.

One of the very best Batman runs was the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers era.  Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart contains that Detective run, the much later Dark Detective miniseries and basically all the Batman Englehart wrote. 452 pages, 74% off.

All-Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever is the 70s Justice Society run (All Star Comics and Adventure Comics) in one large volume. Gerry Conway and Paul Levitz are your writers. The art line up is most associated with Joe Staton, but Keith Giffen and Wally Wood are notable here.  449 pages, 74% off.

Marv Wolfman once told us his favorite work was Night ForceYou may not have heard of it, but that’s why we’re here. It’s time travel horror caper of a comic about a mansion in Washington D.C. that’s a portal into time and the mysterious Baron who lives there.  Gene Colan does the art. Yes, it’s the Tomb of Dracula crew back in the saddle at a different publisher.  Really good stuff and this edition collects the original 14-issue run.

Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart   All-Star Comics  Night Force

More Halloween!

The Image Horror Sale runs through Monday, 11/1.

And Image has a lot of horror. It was one of the beneficiaries when DC made the questionable decision to throw Vertigo to the curb.  A few things that bubble to the top of our list:

We’re in the bag for KilladelphiaRodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander serve up a neo-noir horror thriller (with great punchlines sprinkled in here and there) about father and son detectives trying to head off a vampire takeover of Philly.  That’s the non-spoiler version. It’s much darker and intricate than a spoiler-free description can describe.  Highly recommended for Halloween.

Dracula, Motherf**cker! by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson is… an experience. And we mean that in the best possible way. Think a ’70s exploitation era crime film with vampires. Dracula is in LA and not everyone is happy about it. An absolute tour de force for Erica Henderson, too.  She really catches that early 70s vibe and sets a unique tone you should see for yourself.

Kill or Be Killed is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips spinning a tale of a young man at war with the Russian mob who’s either possessed by a demon or insane. Which is it? That would telling, but a superior and creepy entry in the Brubaker & Phillips library.

Killadelphia   Dracula, Motherf**cker!   Kill or Be Killed

Deadpool or Treat

The “Marvel Deadpool World’s Greatest Sale” runs through Sunday, 10/17.

Let’s translate that for you – it’s the 2015-2017 Deadpool series that’s on sale. It’s called Deadpool: World’s Greatest on Comixology, but the actual covers just say “Deadpool” with the Fantastic Four’s “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” tagline above the logo in sardonic fashion.  Were you go to the actual series page for the comic and scroll down to the Omnibuses section, you can save a small amount by getting it in that format.  As it the case with most of the sales this week, the sale page is a jumbled up mess.

Deadpool: World's Greatest

Still On Sale

Comixology Sales: DC’s “Fandome” Sale Brings Back the GOOD Discounts For a Week

DC breaks out the grown-up discounts to Comixology this week, so it’s a special Tuesday edition!

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Real Discounts Return to DC

The DC Fandome Sale comes in two parts: Part 1  and Part  2 . Strangely, these listings aren’t really alphabetical, so just dive in. Lots of 69% – 75% off prices here.  Higher if you have a Comixology Unlimited membership.

Yes, the usual suspects are in the sale. After all, there are something like 2500 items… but let’s take a stroll for the garden looking for some forgotten items and better values, shall we?

Do you like the Wally West Flash of the 80s and 90s? Have a look at the series page for that run of The FlashSpecifically, look at the omnibus section. The Mark Waid volumes are good buys and the Geoff John volumes are ~300 pages each for $3.99.  Two excellent runs for the taking.

Before Southern Bastards and before Thor, Jason Aaron wrote Scalped, with art by R.M. Guéra. It’s a neo-noir about an FBI agent reluctantly returning to the reservation of this youth to investigate organized crime at the casino there. Hit up those omnibus editions at 75% off.

The Flash   Scalped

The Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / John Totleben / Stan Woch / Rick Veitch Saga of the Swamp Thing run at $3.99 per volume?  That’s a can’t lose proposition.

A couple years back, Robert Venditti and Eddy Barrows had a 12-part Freedom Fighters serial that was SOLID and did not get enough love. It’s the Man in the High Castle premise of their Silver Age revival – the Nazi’s won the war, but Uncle Sam and company are leading the resistance… with a slight complication springing from a Kryptonian escape rocket the Nazi’s found back in the ’30s. At $3.99, that’s 12 issues for the price of one.

Swamp Thing   Freedom Fighters

You’ve heard of The Great Darkness Saga, where Darkseid appears in the future the vex The Legion of Super-Heroes? It’s an absolute classic tale by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. This particular volume also has some lead-in stories with Pat Broderick on the art. $3.99 for 414 pages makes this one of the best values on the site!

Legion of Super Heroes The Great Darkness Saga

Lots and lots of material here, so we encourage you to browse on your own. DC has not been having discounts like this very often, so while we hope they keep it up, it’s more likely it’ll be back to 50% off next week.

Still On Sale

 

 

Comixology Sales: Avengers, Spider-Man, Batman, James Bond and Dark Horse Celebrates Halloween

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Hickman’s Avengers, the chronology of once and future Spider-Man, Ben Reilly, Dark Horse’s Halloween sale and a whole bunch of DC graphic novels… which is to say, Batman.

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

The New Spider-Man (Again)

The Marvel Ben Reilly: Spider-Man Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

If you’re not up on this, it’s going to take some explaining. When Nick Spenser leaves Amazing Spider-Man, the Ben Reilly character will be putting on the Spidey suit and taking over. (Yeah, we know. It almost certainly won’t be forever.) So this sale is about catching you on the character.  You’re going to need a score card, so let’s walk you through this.

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga is where this kicks off, way back in the 70s. (Yeah, we’re talking clones, so this is a long and winding road.)  The clone saga truly starts with a plot by The Jackal spawning the first clones at the end of the Gerry Conway/Ross Andru run. Then we fast forward to the first encounter with Carrion in the Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man run as the clones return.  This is where Ben Reilly comes from, though you won’t read that name yet.

Flash forward to the ’90s. Nobody really called the “Original Clone Saga” anything like that until the “Clone Saga” took over the Spidey line in the 90s. It’s collected in the 5 (thick) volume “Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic” series. This is where Ben Reilly, Peter’s clone,  shows up as the Scarlett Spider. So you’ve got the Jackal back running around, and hijinks with Venom and Carnage in the middle of it.

At the conclusion of how Marvel’s collecting the Clone Saga, Ben Reilly takes over as Spidey. This run is collected as Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic. At the end of it, we’re done with Ben Reilly for awhile and many would say that’s the real end of the Clone Sage (90s version).

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga   Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic   Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic

Of course, this is comics, so of course Ben Reilly is back from the grave in the Dan Slott-era Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone ConspiracyAnd then he spins off into his own series, as you knew he would in the current era.  But hey, we warned you all this clone stuff is a long and winding road. That’s your primer for the new Spidey era.

Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy

Hickman’s Revenge

The Marvel Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Hickman’s Avengers run is really one long story and you need to treat it as such.  Do not try and read Avengers and New Avengers as separate collections.  That’s not how the material was published.

Fortunately, Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection seems to be taking that approach. Yes, this sequence includes Infinity, so you don’t need to buy that on its own.  Next up is Time Runs Out, which is the ending arc of Avengers and New Avengers. All in one oversized volume. And finally, after the collapse of known universes, the story wraps up in Secret Wars.

“Epic” is a word that gets thrown around a lot at Marvel. Hickman’s Avengers tale earns that word. The sheer scope of the story is stunning and is really a vital part of the experience. Don’t jump in at the end. Start at the beginning and take the full ride. In for a penny, in for a pound.  Or maybe five pounds in this case.

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Avengers: Time Runs Out    Secret Wars

Let the Halloween Sales Begin

‘Tis the season for horror-ish sales and The Dark Horse Halloween Sale kicks it off (and runs through Monday, 11/1).

There’s a lot of stuff in here, since Dark Horse has always published a lot of horror. We’ll assume you already know about Hellboy and B.P.R.D – both are in there and both are worth your time if you haven’t partaken, but we’ll focus on some different offerings.

Point in case, one of the… outer resident of the Mignola-verse is Baltimore, the tale of a world where the vampires rose at the end of WWI and the bloody quest for vengeance Lord Baltimore sets out for against those vampires. Now conveniently contained in two omnibus editions, we had a good time reading those a few months back. Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden are the authors with Ben Steinbeck and Peter Bergting tagging off on art.

It seems like this is the season for some Neil Gaiman, and there’s plenty on sale. Perhaps it’s a good year for Snow, Glass, Apples? That would be Colleen Doran adapting Neil’s twisted retelling of the legend of Snow White. (Also available in The Neil Gaiman Library V. 3)

And for something extra below the radar, we offer up The Marquis.  Originally published by Oni, this is a supernatural affair written and drawn by Guy Davis. Yes, the same Guy Davis who rocked B.P.R.D. The Marquis concerns an ex-inquisitor in the 18th century who can see the demons who are possessing members of society as he dons a mask to root them out… in a hail of bullets. It’s Guy Davis with the gloves off, slinging horrors at the reader.

Baltimore Omnibus 1   Snow, Glass, Apples   The Marquis

The Road to PR

The DC Road to FanDome Sale comes in Part 1 (100 Bullets to New Teen Titans) and Part 2 (New Teen Titans to Zero Hour). FanDome is DC’s attempt to pass off a PR event as their own convention, so they’re pretty much putting most of their graphic novels up for 50% off.

If you’d like a little bang for your buck, you could do a lot worse than Batman by Ed Brubaker V. 1. That’s Brubaker with Scott McDaniel and Karl Story as the primary art team. 317 pages for $5.99. There’s a second volume, but heads up that it’s in the middle of the “Bruce Wayne: Fugitive” event, so parts of it might read a little odd – not an uncommon problem with single-creator themed Batman collections.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby is essentially the Fourth World Superman title and it’s a little under-rated.  Jimmy Olsen hooks up with the Cadmus Project as Intergang and Darkseid loom over things and Superman keeps watch. A more influential series than you might realize – these additions to the mythos have largely stuck around over the years.

The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman is Liam Sharp’s tale of Batman and Wonder Woman investigating the death of a Celtic god from a couple years back (before Sharp hooked up with Grant Morrison for Green Lantern).

Batman by Ed Brubaker   Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby   The Brave and the Bold

No Time to Die Shop

The Dynamite James Bond Sale runs through Monday, 10/18.

If you like Ian Flemming’s novels, have we got a comic for you.  Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida bring Bond back into the crosshairs of SMERSH. One of the best 007 updates, period.

James Bond Kill Chain

Still On Sale

Comixology Sales: Wolverine, Venom/Carnage, (Solo) X-Men, Justice League, Spawn and Cursed Pirate Girl

This week in Comixology Sales, Marvel discounts Wolverine’s demise and the solo X-Men adventures, DC cuts the Justice League pricing, we have a look at some under-the-radar Image titles in their large Fall sale and… Cursed Pirate Girl!

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

Dead Again

The Marvel  Death of Wolverine Sale runs through Sunday, 10/3.

Spoilers: he gets better.

This sale is pretty straight forward. If you want the full Event experience, Death of Wolverine: The Complete Collection gets you a little more bang for your buck.

Death of Wolverine

Mutants Without Partners

The Marvel X-Men Solo Series Sale runs through Thursday, 10/7.

This would be a collection of some of the mini-series and otherwise short lived titles featuring the various members of the X-family off on their own.

Of the set, Legion (or Legion: Legacy as it’s sometimes referred to) by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat is probably the one with the most lasting influence.  You might also be interested in a bit of Chris Claremont.  Everyone once in a while, Marvel will give him the greenlight and this 2014 Nightcrawler series drawn by Todd Nauck is one of those.

Legion   Nightcrawler

Symbiotes

The Marvel Venom-Carnage Sale runs through Sunday, 12/17.

Gosh, it’s like there was a movie out or something…

The Venom saga starts with this Amazing Spider-Man Epic CollectionThat puts you in the David Michelinie/Todd McFarlane era of the book.

Maximum Carnage isn’t the first appearance of Carnage, but it’s the BIG story arc where Carnage really gets the spotlight, a few years after Venom debuted.

Amazing Spider-Man - Venom   Maximum Carnage

Justice over the Years

The DC Spotlight: Justice League Sale runs through Monday, 10/4.

This is one of those mezzanine level, 50% off sales that are becoming the norm for DC.  What’s on sale?  A whole bunch of Justice League, naturally.  And the older single issues are $0.99, so make sure it’s not cheaper to get single issues than the collected edition. (It’s usually cheaper to get the collected edition if it’s on sale, but not always.)

The original Justice League of America run is here.  You can get the first 41 issues or so in collected editions and another batch in the #80s-#90s, but this is mostly a single issue affair.  We always thought the Steve Englehart/Dick Dillin era was Peak JLA: #139-146; 149-150. The Gerry Conway/Dick Dillin/George Perez era that followed has it’s fans, too.  Conway was on the title a looooooong time.

For an oddity, long before he was doing Deathstroke and Vampirella, Priest did a run on Justice League Task ForceA title you really don’t hear the name of very often. The cleanest place to start (darn those pesky cross-overs) is probably #17, which Mark Waid writes and Priest pops back in with the next issue.

For pure Bang For The Buck, it’s hard to beat Justice League Quarterly. The ’90-’94 series is eclectic as all get out for creators (see for yourself) and it’s 70+ pages for $0.99/pop.  Definitely cheaper getting the single issues on this one. If you see a creator lineup you like on an issue, it’s cheap!

The more recent material is also available, but we figure you’re already familiar with that.

Justice League of America   Justice League Task Force   Justice League Quarterly

Hidden Treasure From Image

The Image Fall Reading Sale runs through Friday, 10/15.

Normally, we don’t recommend $20+ digital collections… but we’ll make an exception for Spawn Compendium V.1 because it’s a 50 issue collection and that comes out to roughly $0.48/issue, which is as cheap as it comes.  Spawn’s pretty hot right now and this is a good way to see how it started. Todd McFarlane is even penciling Spawn before Greg Capullo and Tony Daniel enter the picture. Plus all those early guest writers like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.

Speaking of things that are hot right now, Kyle Higgins seems to have a hit on his hands with Radiant Black, but not that many people remember his previous indie superhero vehicle, C.O.W.L. Co-written by Alec Seigel and drawn by Rod Reis concerns a labor union for superheroes in ’60s Chicago.

Spawn Compendium x C.O.W.L.

The Monolithwritten by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray and illustrated by Phil Winslade is a comic that was originally published by DC, with the rights having returned to the creators. (Do not say that last part around the Marvel legal offices this week. Someone might get alarmed.) A troubled young woman discovers golem in her basement in this one. A very angry golem who thirsts for revenge. It’s something you may not have heard of and we’re saps for Phil Winslade’s art.

Another lesser-known series by a now more prominent creator is twenty-seven by Charles Soule and Renzo Podestá.  Yes, Soule is on the prolific side. This one explores why all those famous musicians die at the age of 27. An occult conspiracy?  That would be telling.

The Monolith   27

Curses!

The BOOM! YA All Day Sale runs through Friday 10/1.

We would draw your eye to a wonderfully idiosyncratic comic: Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl. We’re not sure we’d necessarily call it YA, so much as living in it’s own space in sort of an surreal Alice in Wonderland kind of way… but with pirates and ghosts.  Such a unique work!

Cursed Pirate Girl

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Marvel Buy One, Get One Free adds a Deadpool Sale

The Marvel Buy One, Get One Free sale at Comixology adds Deadpool to the extra discount lineup.

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

BOGO!

We’re in the home stretch of the Marvel Buy One, Get One Free is back. Click that link, get that code and stack the BOGO on top of the current sales.  The sale ends on Monday, 9/27 at 11PM ET.  Fine print says the offer is no good on comics that came out after 8/25/21, pre-orders or Max titles, among other things.

The absolute best deals on with a Marvel BOGO sale are when you put a couple a books that are already on sale into your shopping cart and then add that BOGO code.  You effectively get another 1/2 off the sale price and you enter the real of EXTRA CHEAP

The Discounts with The Mouth

And Marvel has added a new sale to  the lineup. The Marvel Deadpool Vs. Sale runs through Thursday, 9/30.

What’s “Vs.” mean? It’s a Deadpool Team-up sale, with titles like Deadpool Team-Up, Deadpool vs. X-Force (featuring early Pepe Larraz art) and the Cullen Bunn / Dalibor Talajic  classic of milieu, Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe.

Deadpool Team-Up   Deadpool vs. X-Force   Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe

And if you head back to our last installment, we’ll give you the scoop on stacking the BOGO discounts on top of the Doctor Strange and X-Men: Inferno sales.

Comixology Sales: Black Panther, Punisher, What If…, Captain Britain, Miracleman, Astro City and Cullen Bunn

Highlights from this week’s Comixology sales include just about all the Black Panther material, What If, Marvel Max selections including The Punisher and Miracleman, Captain Britain, Astro City and Cullen Bunn’s Dark Horse work.

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

T’Challa Gets Cheap

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

The Don McGregor material is now in “print” and on sale. It’s also a little goofy to follow, the way it’s arranged. The Epic Collections and Masterworks are not all on the same page outside the sale, so let’s give you the (cheap) cheat sheet.

You can pick up the Jungle Action run for four bucks less in the Black Panther Masterworks V. 1.  That McGregor with Billy Graham, Rich Buckler and Gil Kane.  While there’s nothing wrong with the Kirby run, which is the next volume for both the Masterworks and Epic Collections, we’d probably have you skip ahead to the Panther’s Prey Epic Collection. This one collects McGregor’s return to the character with the much more grounded Marvel Comics Presents serial drawn by Gene Colan and the Panther’s Prey mini-series (prestige format, back in the day) painted by Dwayne Turner.

You can then proceed to Black Panther by Christoper Priest: The Complete Collection, the Marvel Knight era series that’s truly excellent and builds directly on that original Jungle Action run.

Black Panther Masterworks   Black Panther Panther's Prey   Black Panther by Priest

If Not, Why Not?

The  Marvel What If Sale runs through Thursday, 8/12.

Gosh, it’s like there’s a new TV show coming out or something…

Anyway, here’s the deal – there’s no significant price difference between the larger “Complete Collection” versions and the What If Classic volumes.  2 Classics = 1 volume of Complete.  Since it’s an anthology, we’re going to list some notable issues of the original series and let you figure out what you’re most interested in and which format to go for. Some of these are going to sound awfully darn familiar, too.  What If seems like a gold mine for pitching your editor!

  • #1 – What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?
  • #2 – What If The Hulk Had the Brain of Bruce Banner?
  • #10 – What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?
  • #12 – What If Rick Jones Had Become The Hulk?
  • #13 – What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?
  • #23 – What If The Hulk Had Become a Barbarian?
  • #30 – What If Spider-Man’s Clone Had Lived?
  • #35 – What If Elektra Had Lived?
  • #37 – What If The Beast and The Thing Continued to Mutate?
  • #43 – What If Conan Were Stranded in the 20th Century?

Gosh, we’re sure NOBODY ever picked up those topics a decade or four later…

What If

Marvel For the Mature

The Marvel Max Sale runs through Thursday, 8/12. This would be Marvel’s mature reader line.

The flagship title here is probably The Punisher: The Complete Collection, which is Garth Ennis returning to write non-satirical tales of Frank Castle with artists like Darick Robertson, Leandro Fernandez, Doug Braithwaite and Goran Parlov. (The Ennis run goes through V. 4.)

And yes, tucked in amongst a pretty eclectic set of comics is Miracleman.  Don’t let the credits fool you, this is Alan Moore’s run, along with Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Rick Veitch and John Totleben (among others). A man remembers his magic word and transforms into a superhero, only to start unravelling the conspiracy that created it him, which was certainly not magical. A landmark tale that’s lost some of its place in history because of the lawsuits and being buried for so long.

Punisher   Miracleman

UK Officer Material

The Marvel Captain Britain Sale runs through Sunday, 8/8.

And a strange tale this is.  The best Captain Britain is still the Alan Moore/Alan Davis serial through Alan Davis’ solo run on the Captain Britain magazine. There’s a sampler collection here, but not the full run.  As such, we’re going to have to fall back to Excalibur.What you want here are the Alan Davis issues, we like it a bit better when he returned to writing and drawing the series, but the initial run with Chris Claremont is also quite good.  The Epic Editions are the best buys, but you need to finish up the second run with the Visionary editions.

Excalibur

Astro City Returns to Image

The Image Astro City Sale runs through Tuesday, 8/17.

As you may recall, Astro City said farewell to DC awhile back and the title disappeared from digital. It’s now gone full circle. Astro City started out at the Homage imprint under Wildstorm at Image and moved over to DC when Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to them.  Astro City is back at Image and the whole lot is on sale.  Amazingly, Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross have been in this one for the long haul and we look forward to new material soon-ish.

While Astro City is written such than you can drop in just about anywhere in the run (with the exception of The Dark Ages spanning 2 volumes), we’d still recommend starting at the beginning a letting the scope of the worldbuilding grow as you read along.  Astro City is the perfect antidote for when your favorite DC or Marvel title gets into a rut. It’s everything that’s good about the super hero format.

Astro City

Horse on a Bunn

The Dark Horse Cullen Bunn Sale runs through Monday, 8/9.

Prolific dark fantasy/horror writer Cullen Bunn’s major Dark Horse work is Harrow County. This Tyler Crook (yes, we were talking about his Petrograd last week) drawn series about witches and demons with a long and contentious history is starting to be available in multiple formats.  As of right now, the cheapest method of consumption would be to grab the Omnibus Editions.  V. 1 is half off and V.2 is the same price as getting the 2 Library Editions it collects on sale (which is still cheaper than getting the regular collected editions).

Harrow County Omnibus 1   Harrow County Omnibus 2

Still on Sale:

Comixology Sales: Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Suicide Squad, Groo, Whiteout, Kaijumax and a whole bunch of Oni GNs

This week in Comixology Sales, Marvel serves up Rocket & Groot; DC slashes the Suicide Squad (you’d think there was a movie coming out…); Sergio pops up with a Groo sale; and Oni has a very nearly line-wide graphic novel sale.

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

Like Moose & Squirrel… but with Tree

The  Marvel Rocket Raccoon & Groot Sale runs through Sunday, 8/1.

We’d say the Rocket Raccoon & Groot Complete Collection (Comixology says Ultimate Collection, but we’re going with what’s on the cover) is the place to start for the original appearances and some Annihilation-related material.  Then it’s time for that rascal Skottie Young’s Rocket Raccoon run.

Rocket Raccoon & Groot Complete Collection   Rocket Raccoon

Suicide Sale

The DC Suicide Squad Sale runs through Monday, 8/9.

DC didn’t exactly make it easy on the recommendations here. Our favorite runs are the original John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell and the recent Tom Taylor/Bruno Redondo runs. The Taylor/Redondo run is too recent to be on sale and DC just reissued V.1 of the Ostrander run, so this is an imperfect sale.

So here’s the Ostrander/McDonnell work around: go to the series page for their Suicide Squad run, get the $0.99 single issues for #1-8 and then proceed to the collected editions.  As we said, imperfect sale.  Good comics, though.  (We’ll ignore the comedy of putting the movie cast on the new cover for V.1 for the moment.  Might not be consistent with the contents.)

Suicide Squad

Groo is Getting OLD

The Dark Horse Feeling Groovy Sale runs through Monday, 8/2.

The title is a bit of a pun, since the object of the sale is Groo the Wander. How long have Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier been telling tales of the none-too-swift barbarian? It’ll be 40 years in 2022!  (And we have that issue of Destroyer Duck around here someplace.) This sale is for the Dark Horse material.  Groo is pretty darn portable, but if you want to start at the beginning of the Dark Horse run, then go with Sergio Aragones’ Groo: The Most Intelligent Man in the World. That’s where the Dark Horse era begins. The bottom line here: it’s Sergio and if you don’t love Sergio, we can’t help you.

Groo

Oni Opens the Vault

The  Oni Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 8/9.

There’s a lot of territory to cover here and we’re going to assume you already know what a Scott Pilgrim is.  And we’ll go a little deeper here because the full monty seems to be on sale.

The Rucka Trilogy

Greg Rucka’s had a good run with Oni over the years. It starts with Whiteout with Steve Lieber, a outright classic about a murder at Antarctica. Yes, there was a film, but we don’t talk about that. The next title was a sidestep towards espionage with the long-running Queen & CountryPossibly the best spy comic of them all, this one rotates artists with each arc and you see everyone from Chris Samnee to Jason Shawn Alexander to Carla Speed McNeil. Q&C channels a cult UK spy show called The Sandbaggers, which is also worth your time. More recently, Rucka teamed with Matthew Southland and later Justin Greenwood for Stumptown, a Rockford Files-esque PI show set in Portland that has a TV adaptation. (We might like V.4’s stolen exotic coffee beans plot the best.)

Whiteout   Queen & Country   Stumptown

Normally, we’d be pushing The Sixth Guy, but Oni’s being a jerk about it with this sale. The “Deluxe” editions are on sale — as in hardcover pricing for digital.  The regular collected editions mostly aren’t on sale — and they’re still cheaper than the Deluxe sales price.  Great series, but this sale is not the one.

There’s a similar situation with Kaijumax by Zander Cannon. In this case, the regular collected editions are on sale, so avoid the Deluxe version in the Omnibus window and their HC pricing and stick with the normal ones.  So what is Kaijumax?  A criminally overlooked delight.  Oh, yes… it looks like a funny animal book, but it’s a DARK tale about an island that’s a supermax prison for giant monsters.  Think Godzilla goes to jail and you’re not far off. Prison gangs, contraband and breakout attempts. Cannon plays this one straight and the contrast between the art style and the subject matter is part of the fun. Seriously, your jaw will drop as you get used to the format.

And for something in a different direction, there’s PetrogradPhillip Gelatt’s and Tyler Crook’s tale of a British spy sent to arrange Rasputin’s demise.

Kaijumax   Petrograd

Still on Sale:

Comixology Sales: Marvel Buy One Get One Free; DC’s Black Label; 50% off BOOM!, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Fantagraphics, Harlequin, Humanoids, Lion Forge, IDW, Kodansha and Oni

This week in Comixology Sales: Marvel’s still running a BOGO with two sales you can stack discounts on; DC slashes prices on Black Label titles and subscribers get 50% off a bunch of indie publishers.

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

Half Price Marvel

As you may have heard, Marvel has one of their mostly line wide Buy One Get One Free sales going on. Click here for the codes. (Type it in with ALL CAPS) The sale runs through 11PM ET on Sunday, 7/11. The sale is on material released prior to 6/4/21. No bundles, etc.  You know the drill by now.  HOWEVER, since these discounts stack, let us point out:

The Black Widow Sale (with strange Epic Collections)  that runs through Sunday, 7/18.

What’s good for Black Widow?  We always liked the Richard K. Morgan (yes, as in Altered Carbon)/Goran Parlov/Sean Phillips/Bill Sienkiewicz run that’s collected in Welcome to the Game.

You also can’t go wrong with the Mark Waid/Chris Samnee run, that’s also conveniently collected in a single volume.

Black Widow - Welcome to the Game   Black Widow by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee

And coming in fresh is the Exiles Sale. This title was an X-Men / Age of Apocalypse spin-off of sorts with a team of mutants drawn from various realities dimension hopping and trying to fix the time stream. The original version had a healthy 100 issue run.

Exiles

Someone at DC likes Johnnie Walker?

Hmmm… we wonder what DC likes to drink? At any rate, DC has a Black Label sale on through Monday, 7/12.  Black Label being sorta/kinda the new Vertigo imprint, but with a little more emphasis on alternate versions of their superhero lineup, not just horror and genre material. And the discounts aren’t as punk as in recent weeks. Collected editions are all over 50% for a change, about half are 60%+.  Single issues are 50-60% off, depending on title.  None of this miserly 45% off business this time out.

Our highest possible recommendation goes to John Constatine, Hellblazer by Si Spurrier / Aaron Campbell / Matias Bergara. It’s horror. It’s occasionally laugh out loud hilarious. It’s insideous and sneaky. Join us is being angry there were only 12 issues. One of the best Hellblazer runs in years and some of DC’s best recent work.

An excellent example of Black Label’s alternate takes on superheroes is Daniel Warren Johnson’s Wonder Woman: Dead Earth.  Yes, “hero in a post-apocalyptical wasteland” is a subgenre at this point, HOWEVER… this is one of the better examples because of just how gosh darn kinetic and fun Johnson’s art is.  There’s mayhem aplenty and we can confirm that his work is just about as “metal” as it gets.  Excellence of execution!

There’s more to browse in the single issues here, as DC hasn’t put all the collected editions on sale yet. Please note, some of these titles are Euro-style albums in single issue format.

Hellblazer   Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

50% off all sorts of Indies for Unlimited Subscribers.

So the holiday sale comes after the holiday?  It’s another blow out for Comixology Unlimited subscribers, with 50% off BOOM!, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Fantagraphics, Harlequin, Humanoids, Lion Forge, IDW, Kodansha and Oni. All through Monday, 7/12. Details here.

Now remember – the discounts stack, so if you’re a CU member, prices just got a lot more interesting for the following sales: