Comixology Sales: Ant-Man, Hellboy & The BPRD, Saga & Image Science Fiction, Miles Morales: Spider-man and More

Marvel’s so excited about their Ant-Man sale on Comixology, they renamed Tales to Astonish! Plus Hellboy & the B.P.R.D., Saga, Outer Darkness, Elephantmen, Miles Morales: Spider-Man and a bunch more digital comics at deep discounts.

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Marvel leads the weekend with its Ant-Man Sale.  Ant-Man comes in primarily two flavors: Hank Pym and Scott Lang.  (We’re going to ignore O’Grady.)  For Hank Pym’s original Tales to Astonish run, your best deal is picking up the two Marvel Masterworks volumes.  You should, regardless, click that link and see how Marvel has rebranded those Tales to Astonish issues as “Ant-Man.”  Even the ones after Pym had switched his identity to Giant Man.  It’s a hoot.  Those pre-Hulk Tales of Astonish are also available in the original format (i.e., as Tales to Astonish), but those versions aren’t on sale. This sale runs until Sunday (11/15).

Ant-Man Masterworks

For Scott Lang, there have been a few recent titles and they’ve tended towards tongue-in-cheek.  There were two Nick Spencer/Ramon Rosanas runs: Second Chance Man sets up the new status quo as the bumbling hard luck father seeking approval.  Astonishing Ant-Man then continues that arc.

Ant-Man: Second Chance Man  Astonishing Ant-Man

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Lost and Found by Mark Waid and Javier Garron finds Scott Lang and Nadia Pym lost in subatomic space.  Ant-Man: World Hive by Zeb Wells and Dylan Burnett finds Scott Lang wearing out his welcome as a house guest in an ant hill while encountering an insect conspiracy and is forced to team up with Swarm.  Yes, that would be the Swarm whose body is made of bees.

Ant-Man and the Wasp  Ant-Man: World Hive

Then there’s the Dark Horse Hellboy & BPRD Sale  through Monday (11/16). I had occasion to go back and re-read most of these a few months ago and it’s high quality work.  BPRD is also very much an ongoing saga told in large acts.  There are a lot creators involved in the saga, with Mike Mignola and John Arcudi being the primary writers through Hell on Earth.  Guy Davis is the primary artist for most of  Plague of Frogs and Hell on Earth.

The prequel is B.P.R.D. 1946 – 1948 featuring Prof. Bruttenholm and his original agents running down Nazi vampire experiments.  That’s a 469 page volume with three series in it.

The BPRD sequence really starts with The Plague of FrogsSpecifically, it starts picking up about halfway through the first omnibus as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense investigates the increasing appearances of frog-like monsters and slowly come to realize something very bad is on the way.  This leads into the next sequence, Hell on Earthwhich is accurately named.  Ancient powers get unleashed and the world is just trying to survive.  You know how with a lot comics, you can be pretty sure they’re not going to that dark, disaster-ridden place?  Well, BPRD goes there.  And does it well.  The best value for these titles is the omnibus editions, which are all 400+ pages (i.e., 3 of the regular collected editions).  There’s a bit more in the series, but those three sequences are the backbone and everything I’ve ever read of the series has been high quality.

BPRD - Plague of Frogs  BPRD - Hell on Earth

Let’s also talk a little more about the ongoing Image Science Fiction Sale that runs through Thursday (11/19).  So much good stuff in this one. Farmhand by Rob  Guillory is about a farm that grows replacement organs instead of corn and the strange things that are starting to happen to the transplants. You may remember Rob as the artist of Chew.  If you liked Chew, you should like Farmhand. It might be a little darker, but the two are very much compatible.  Speaking of Chew, Outer Darkness  by Chew writer John Layman and Afu Chan is also on sale.  Outer Darkness is about ghosts and demonic possessions in the outer reaches of space and it’s fantastic.  It also ends with a Chew crossover.  Saga  is also on sale.  What else really needs to be said about the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples classic, other than we’re all impatiently waiting for new issues to resume?  Note: as is often the case with Image, it’s slightly less expensive to get the “Collected Editions” than the “Omnibuses” in digital.  It usually works the other way with Dark Horse digital sales.

Farmhand   Outer Darkness  Saga

The Elephantmen Sale contains the Image run of Richard Starking’s long-running Elephantmen series.  Comixology scooped this series up as an exclusive title, post-Image.  The “elephantmen” are genetically engineered human/animal hybrids bred and trained to be mercenaries by a company the sought to own them and rent them out.  Eventually, things changed and the survivors seek to integrate back into society with a lot of baggage from their wars and old scores that pop up wanting to be settled.  Starking assembled a wonderful set of artists like Moritat and Ladronn for the series and it’s definitely worth a look.

Elephantmen

Still on sale

The Miles Morales: Spider-Man Sale through Sunday 11/22.
The DC Back in the 90s Sale through Monday 11/16.

Miles Morales - Spider-Man  

The Eternals through Sunday 11/15
The Image Donny Cates Sale  through Monday 11/16

Eternals by Jack Kirby  Redneck by Donny Cates

The IDW Judge Dredd Sale through Monday 11/16
Resident Alien 
through Monday, 11/16

Judge Dredd   Resident Alien

Comixology Sales: Miles Morales – Spider-Man, DC in the ’90s, Image SF Titles, The Eternals and More

Current Comixology sales include Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby’s The Eternals from Marvel, an eclectic selection of 90s comics from DC and Image has a big batch of science fiction on a deep discount.

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

Let’s start things out with a Spider-Man sale.  Specifically a Miles Morales sale.  If you’re looking for Miles in solo spider-adventures, the best value is the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set.  300+ page volumes for $7.99 – and the first one includes the Spider-Men mini-series, which lives up to the hype. If you want to maximize pages for your dollar, there are a couple things of extra interest here.  The All-New All-Different Avengers Collection which is the Champions precursor by Mark Waid/Adam Kubert/Mahmud Asrar gets you 401 pages for $7.99.  And then Champions: Because The World Still Needs Heroes is the first 12 issues of that title, 305 pages for $4.99.

Miles Morales - Spider-Man All-Different Avengers Champions

DC’s sale of the week is a *strange* one.  The “DC Back in the 90s Sales” has some 90s comics, a few 80s comics (like the Byrne era Superman reprints), only the end of some series.  If you browse the single issues, you’ll see the first issues of some titles are missing.  It’s an odd one.  Browse for a variety of Superman, Batman, Justice League and mid-to-late period Hellblazer.  Here are some of the more off the beaten path choices, since my experience has always been that the best titles of the 90s weren’t always the best sellers.

Starman by James Robinson and (initially) Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger was one of DC’s best titles of the mid-to-late 90s.  An early legacy title, this one was heavy on the character development and a sense of history. It’s one of the more glaring absences from DC’s reprint library.  Both collections are on sale, but the rest of the series is available in digital.

Sandman Mystery Theater was the rare early to mid-90s non-horror Vertigo title.  It told the pulp-ish adventures of the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds – you know, the one with the gas mask – against a pre-WWII backdrop.  Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with Guy Davis being the most regular artist, this is another one where only two collections have been produced, despite a lengthy run and you need to go to digital singles to finish it.  And it’s worth finishing.

Sandman Mystery Theater

The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and you’re going to a pattern here, also has two collections out and then the rest of the run is available as digital singles.  A surprisingly philosophical horror series by the end, set in the DCU, Jim Corrigan tries to come to grips with his death and existence as the host for a brutally vengeful and extremely powerful spirit.

In the early 90s, Lobo  was the baddest bastich there was.  We will not speak of New 52 Lobo.  The original series of mini-series and specials by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley and company, was edgy and filled with off-color humor.  An effective tool for offending the easily offended, as MTV used to say about Monty Python. You want the original, not the revival.

And for something that’s frequently overlooked, have a look at The Atlantis Chronicles in single issues.  (Yes, they rudely kept the first issue at $1.99).  These double-sized issues written by Peter David and wonderfully illustrated by Esteban Maroto are the trident and sorcery story of the rise and fall of Atlantis.  It’s a real achievement that flew under a lot of radars.

 Lobo The Atlantis Chronicles

Running through next Thursday (11/19) is the Image Science Fiction Sale where a number of their SF collections are sale.  Suggestions?  

Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (who one an Eisner for his art on the series) is the tale of little boy who happens to be a robot, searching for his family as humanity against the backdrop of an uprising.  Wonderful series.  The collected editions are less expensive than the omnibus editions during the sale.

Paper Girls is a time travel adventure about four twelve year old girls who deliver newspapers and stumble into something far bigger.  It’s by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang.  This is another title where it’s less expensive to get the regular collected editions than the Omnibus editions during the sale.

Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov is a one-off where a Flash Gordon-type adventurer is pulled out of retirement in his golden years when the planet he saved 40 years earlier runs into trouble.  A breezy space opera with superior art.

 Paper Girls Star Light

Running through Sunday (11/15) is Marvel’s Eternals Sale. Yes, there’s going to be a movie out eventually and it’s also where the Celestials came from.  This is a case where you absolutely want to start at the source: the original Jack Kirby series (save a couple bucks and get the omnibus). If that floated your boat, and it should, move on to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita, Jr. Mini-series.

Eternals by Jack Kirby   

Still on Sale:

Wolverine Legacy Sale through Thursday (11/12)

Wolverine

Star Wars Bounty Hunters and Jedi Sale through Thursday (11/12)

Star Wars

Image Donny Cates Sale through Monday (11/16)

Redneck by Donny Cates