Tag: Daredevil

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Phoenix, Black Cat, Blade

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel’s offering up discounts on Phoenix, Black Cat and Blade. If you look closely, you might also find some unannounced Daredevil and Elektra on sale, too…

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):

Going Down in Flames as a Form of Progression

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

The Marvel Phoenix Sale runs through Monday, 8/18.

Jean Grey, if you prefer.

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

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

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

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

Some other sale highlights:

Scratch

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Nine Lives Has The Black Cat  Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do  Black Cat

The Marvel Black Cat Sale runs through Monday, 8/11.

And that would be Spidey’s occasional girlfriend / frenemy (depending on the author/era).

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Nine Lives Has The Black Cat is mostly a Marv Wolfman / Keith Pollard run and features the debut of a certain Felicia Hardy.

Fast forward to 2002 and Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do by Kevin Smith & Terry Dodson begins. It didn’t actually finish up until early ’06, but it was vaguely the next act for the character.

Jump to ’04, which was the middle of the “pause” on Spidey/Black Cat and you’ll find that the first year of Marvel Knights Spider-Man by Mark Millar and the aforementioned Terry Dodson featured Black Cat in a prominent role.

Black Cat next turns up on the Heroes for Hire team by Jimmy Palmiotti/Justin Gray/Billy Tucci, with Zeb Wells/Al Rio/Clay Mann later in the run.

She pops back into Petey’s life in ’09’s Spider-Man: Return of the Black Cat, with that arc being a Joe Kelly / Mike McKone production.

Jed MacKay starts his Black Cat run in ’19. Lots of artists tagging in and out, with Travel Foreman and CF Villa being prominent on the list. This also is one of those single issue relaunches that they ignore when numbering the collected editions. Since Amazon sorts by single issue series, V.1-3 are here and V.4-6 are here.

Iron Cat is an ’02 follow-up by MacKay and Pere Perez.

Did You Say “Stake?”

Blade: Black and White  Blade  Blood Hunt

The Marvel Blade Sale runs through Monday, 8/11.

Now there’s a character that’s changed a little bit since his introduction.

Blade: Undead By Daylight is a collection of some of the original Tomb of Dracula appearances by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.

Blade: Black and White is built around Blade’s appearances in Marvel’s black and white magazines of the 70s, Marv Wolfman/Chris Claremont/Tony DeZuniga being the primary creators here.

Flash forward not quite 20 years and you get the material in Blade Epic Collection: Nightstalkers, which is (primarily) the ’91 Tomb of Dracula revival by Wolfman & Colan, plus the first six issues of Nightstalkers by DG Chichester and Ron Garney, which was part of the Midnight Sons line.

Jump ahead to ’06 and you get a Blade run (pun intended) by Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin.

The more recent Blade saga comes in a sort of cluster.

First, Jason Aaron’s Avengers run. Then there’s the Blade series by Bryan Edward Hill / Elena Casagrande / Valentina Pinti, where Blade becomes the sheriff of Vampire Nation. All of the above leads in the the Blood Hunt Event by Jed MacKay and Pepe Larraz. (There are a couple tie-ins available in the sale, but the Avengers one strangely isn’t included.)

“Normal” Unannounced Sales

The Curse   Daredevil & Elektra  Daredevil The Man Without Fear

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

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

And if you’re REALLY cheap, the first Powers collection seems to be free at the moment. Great series that sort of fell in the background when Bendis was kicking out all those Events at Marvel. (Seriously, it seems like he was doing 10 comics/month and his creator owned material got put on the backburner.) Powers is the real deal.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Spider-Man; Elektra; Hellboy; Red Sonja

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has discounts on pretty much the full run(s) of Amazing Spider-Man, plus Elektra. Dynamite slashes prices on Red Sonja crossovers. While Hellboy is blowing up on Hulu, that should be on sale, too… right?

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):

A Spider a Day Keeps Doc Ock Away

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

Marvel’s Spider-Man Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 3/24.

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 excellent 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.)
  • Superior Spider-Man – Possibly the high point of the Dan Slott era – Doc Ock takes over Peter’s body and life. Surprise, it’s not part of the sale this week (so maybe look for a Superior Spidey sale next week? See: the Elektra sale below this listing)
  • 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 the next series (and set up portions of it)
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2022-Present) – The current Zeb Wells / John Romita, Jr. / Ed McGuinness run.

Recommendations?  Well, first off Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t really have very many BAD periods until the excesses of the Clone Saga (which some would argue are highlights). 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.

And yes, we did enjoy the recently completed Zeb Wells / (mostly) John Romita, Jr. series. It’s a little more somber than we were expecting from Wells, but it largely a good ride. And this is a series that plays the long game resolving subplots.

A Daredevil Omission Explained

Daredevil & Elektra  Elektra Assassin  Elektra

Marvel Elektra & Kingpin Sale runs through Monday, 3/17.

Remember last week when we were scratching our head about why someone would leave out Daredevil & Elektra from the Daredevil Sale, since it’s the final act of the Zdarsky run?

They were saving it for this week’s sale, but it’s only on sale this week (the DD sale is through the end of the month), so if you want to see how the Zdarsky / Checchetto era ends while it’s discounted, you want to do that now.

Past that, this is really more of an Elektra sale. Elektra highlights over the years:

  • Elektra: Assassin  (’86)– Frank Miller / Bill Sienkiewicz; Originally published under the Epic imprint (to keep it FAR away from the comics code), this is a wild, over-the-top tale of Elektra and a rogue SHIELD agent trying to stop a conspiracy by The Beast (the demon worshipped by the ninjas of The Hand, not the X-Man) from capturing the US presidency through demonic possession. Widely considered a classic and Sienkiewicz gets to really cut loose.
  • Elektra (’96 – ’98) – Peter Milligan / Larry Hama / Mike Deodato, Jr.
  • Elektra (’01 – ’04) – Greg Rucka / Chuck Austen (drawing, not writing) / Joe Bennett / Carlo Pagulayan / Carlos Meglia / Greg Horn

Crossing Over

Red Sonja / Tarzan  Mars Attacks Red Sonja Red Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica.jpg

The Dynamite Red Sonja X-Over Sale runs through Thursday, 3/20.

This would be Red Sonja crossing over with other characters, some obvious and some less intuitive. Some highlights in order of increasingly raised eyebrow:

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy  The Hobbit  The Secret History of Wonder Woman

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

X-Men  Ultimate Spider-Man  Phoenix

The trend continues. 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.

Dropping This Week

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Daredevil; Wonder Woman; It’s Jeff; Superman; Black Widow; Grendel; Green Hornet

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has discounts on Daredevil, Jeff the Landshark, the Women of Marvel and some recent hits. DC also has some recent titles like Wonder Woman, Flash and Superman. Dynamite cuts prices on The Green Hornet. Dark Horse has a Grendel Sale.

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):

Current Events

The Flash  Superman  Wonder Woman

The DC Epic eBooks 2025 Sale runs through Monday, 3/17.

We know what you’re thinking: “wasn’t Epic a Marvel imprint and one of Marvel’s reprint formats?” And you’re right, but here we are! A lot of more recent volumes in this sale… including several that we think are getting their first discounting (or at least having been discounted until recently):

Of this set, we’d draw particular attention to Tom King and Daniel Sampere on Wonder Woman. It’s a dark and political tale about misinformation and there is a sequence in Vol. 2 juxtaposing imagery of a ’50s housewife with the villain quoting scripture that is quite possibly the absolute darkest thing DC has done in-continuity. (Black Label, maybe not.) A series to watch. Oh, and the sequence at the end is an Absolute Power tie-in that could have been labelled better.

Some slightly older things of interest:

The whole sale is worth a browse with a few more $1.99/$2.99 titles hiding in plain sight.

Hornhead

Daredevil  Daredevil Epic Collection  Daredevil by Zdarsky

The Marvel Daredevil Sale runs through Monday, 3/31.

Let’s break this down by series. Like X-Men, Daredevil has had fewer relaunches than some titles.

  • Daredevil ’64-’98 – The original run.
  • Daredevil ’98-11 – The Marvel Knights relaunch. Kevin Smith / Brian Bendis / Ed Brubaker
    • For the Bendis and Brubaker runs, you want the Omnibus section and scroll down for their respective “Ultimate Collections”
  • Daredevil ’11-15 – This was really two volumes with an arbitrary relaunch in the middle, but the excellent run by Mark Waid / Chris Samnee / Paolo Rivera / Javier Rodriguez is a better buy in this 5 volume set that collects both volumes and treats it like the single run it was.
  • Daredevil ’15-’18 – The Charles Soule era with Ron Garney as the main artist.
  • Daredevil ’19-’21 – Chip Zdarsky’s breakout title as a writer. Marco Checcetto is the primary artist.
  • Daredevil: Woman Without Fear ’22 – Zdarsky / Rafael de Latorre; Sort of a bridge title during the Devil’s Reign event, but part of the ongoing plot. Note: this is included in the final DD omnibus for the ’19-’21 run.
  • Daredevil ’22-’23 – Also known as Daredevil & Elektra. The final act to the Zdarsky/Checcetto era; This doesn’t look like it’s actually on sale, which would be silly — it’s the ending to the story.
  • Daredevil ‘23-present – Saladin Ahmed / Aaron Kuder; Picking up after the Zdarsky finale is effectively a “born again” scenario… bit more literally than with Miller.

What’s good here? Honestly, with the exception of the “Shadowlands” Event at the end of the Marvel Knights run, DD has been consistently good to great since Frank Miller showed up. You don’t hear us saying that about every title! We will say that Gene Colan’s return to DD (with Joe Kelly writing) seems to be under the radar these days.  But starting with Miller, just pick a run (Miller / O’Neil / Nocenti / Chichester / Kessel / Kelly / Smith / Bendis / Brubaker / Waid / Soule / Zdarsky / Ahmed) and dig in. Also, you should probably count Bendis and Brubaker as one long run, which is worth it.

Selective Service

Immortal Hulk  Predator versus Wolverine  Ultimate Spider-Man

“Deals on Select Marvel Collections” – no clue how long this one is lasting, but it’s worth checking out.

Things we are currently seeing and can vouch for:

  • The Death of Doctor Strange – Jed MacKay / Lee Garbett; The opening act of MacKay’s excellent run. Yes, Strange really does die
  • Immortal Hulk Vol. 1: Or Is He Both? – Al Ewing / Joe Bennett; One of the best Hulk runs as Al Ewing takes things in an unexpected horror direction
  • Infinity Gauntlet – Jim Starlin / George Perez / Ron Lim; Thanos has collected the Infinity Gems and harnessed them into a gauntlet. Bad things are about to happen
  • Predator Vs. Wolverine – Benjamin Percy / Marco Checchetto / Greg Land / Andrea Di Vito / Ken Lashley; This is exactly what it’s billed as: Wolverine and a Predator having a series of grudge match encounters over the decades… and it’s the best possible version of the setup. If the premise sounds remotely appealing, you should like the execution. We found it a very pleasant surprise
  • Savage Avengers Vol. 1: City Of Sickles – Gerry Duggan / Mike Deodato; The best way to describe this is Conan assembling a Defenders-style non-team of anti-heroes. More fun than than you’re expecting
  • Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt – J.M. DeMatteis / Mike Zeck; Kraven finally gets the drop on Spidey. One of the darkest Spider-Man tales and the best of the dark ones
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1: Vader – Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca; Opening act of a stellar run… and what a way to end the first volume (you’ll see)
  • Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1: Married With Children – Jonathan Hickman / Marco Checchetto; The excellent start to what seems to be Marvel’s most popular ongoing title

Ladies’ Night

Black Widow  Domino  Mystique

The Women of Marvel Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

This is a deep, 320-item sale and worth some browsing. Do we have some highlights? Absolutely. Particularly where The Black Widow is concerned.

  • Black Widow: Welcome To The Game – Richard K. Morgan / Bill Sienkiewicz / Goran Parlov / Sean Phillips; This collects a pair of good miniseries written by the Altered Carbon author with some enviable artists
  • Black Widow (’16 – ’17) – Mark Waid / Chris Samnee; with that lineup, you already know if you want it or not
  • Black Widow (’20-’22) – Kelly Thompson / Elena Casagrande; All 15 issues of the Eisner-winning series in one volume
  • Captain Marvel (’19 – ’23); Kelly Thompson / Carmen Carnero / Lee Barbett; The Thompson era (which did not have a reboot in the middle!)
  • Domino (’18 – ’19) – Gail Simone / David Baldeon; Oh, look – Gail’s previous stop in the X-verse
  • Hawkeye (’16-’17) – Kelly Thompson / Leonardo Romero; Kate Bishop steps into the spotlight in this “Hawkguy” follow-up
  • Hellcat (’23) – Christopher Cantwell / Alex Lins; A horror / murder mystery as Patsy tries to figure out why her ex- keeps turning up
  • Mystique (’03-’05) – Brian K. Vaughan / Michael Ryan / Jorge Lucas / Manuel Garcia; Yes, that Vaughan guy. Mystique is pressganged into espionage work by Prof. X
  • Spider-Girl (’98-’06) – Tom DeFalco / Pat Olliffe / Ron Frenz; Mayday Parker takes over for her old man
  • X-Terminators – Leah Williams / Carlos Gomez; Hilarious and slightly off-color hijinks and violence occur when Jubilee and Boom-Boom attempt to celebrate Dazzler’s breakup and encounter vampires

Candygram…

West Coast Avengers  King Deadpool  It's Jeff

The Marvel Jeff the Landshark Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

Jeff has gotten a wee bit more popular after his videogame adventures. To translate these offering into a semblance of order, we’re going to default to what Kelly Thompson says… ’cause she actually knows!

Ergo, the reading list becomes:

  • West Coast Avengers Vol. 2: City Of Evils – Kelly Thompson / Daniele di Nicuolo; Wherein we witness the secret origin of Jeff
  • King Deadpool – Kelly Thompson / Chris Bachalo / Gerardo Sandoval; Gwenpool gives Jeff to Deadpool
  • It’s Jeff – Kelly Thompson / Gurihiru; Collections of the “Infinity Comics” from Marvel Unlimited where Jeff’s popularity started growing
  • Venom War: It’s Jeff – Kelly Thompson / Gurihiru; Jeff crosses over with the Venom War Event

From the Batman Influences File

Green Hornet Omnibus  Green Hornet Year One  Green Hornet

The Dynamite Green Hornet Miss Fury Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

We welcome Dynamite back to the land of cheap. It’s been awhile. The Green Hornet, technically a Lone Ranger spin-off (although that was established much further into the show), was popular on the radio in the mid-’30s as one of the first wave of superheroes and an influence on the caped crusader. So yes, we’ve read a little Hornet over the years and have some pointers.

The Dynamite Hornet stories start out with an adaption of Kevin Smith’s unproduced screenplay by Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau is a legacy tale of Britt Reid, Jr. taking up the mantle of the Hornet. The first omnibus collects the Smith tale and this version runs for awhile after it.

Green Hornet: Year One has Matt Wagner (Grendel / Mage) and Aaron Campbell (Hellblazer) doing a proper ’30s origin story for the Hornet.

The ’13 Green Hornet series by Mark Waid / Daniel Indro / Ronilson Freire is a favorite here at the Tower of Cheap. The Hornet starts buying his own hype and ends up in over his head with an increasingly guilty conscience. The two volumes form one story.

Green Hornet: Reign Of The Demon by David Liss / Kewber Baal is a pulpy adventure as a rival masked crime lord arrives in Chicago.

Unannounced Sales

Grendel  Door to Door by Night  Murder Book

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

The Spectacular Spider-Men  NYX X-Men

The trend continues. 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.

Dropping This Week

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Huge Batman Sale; Justice League; Black Hammer; Matt Kindt

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC breaks out a very deep and cheap Batman sale with lots of $2.99 ebooks… and the Justice League, too. Marvel cuts prices on Elektra. Dark Horse highlights Black Hammer and Matt Kindt amidst a line-wide sale.

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):

You Had Me at $2.99 Batman

The DC Batman: The Caped Crusader Sale runs through Monday, 8/12.

Well, now… this is certainly an interesting and relatively exhaustive sale. 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 take note and lord it over your friends.

And yes, it’s named after the new animated series, which we’ve started watching and is starting out astonishingly dark and pulpy. (Both good things in our book.)

Let’s try and make things a little easier list and mark off the more notable of the various series included in the sale:

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

What’s that? You’re still not satisfied? *Sigh* Fine, there’s some Harley Quinn in this one, too.

  • Harley Quinn ’00-’04 – Karl Kesel / Terry & Rachel Dodson
  • Harley Quinn ’13-’16 – Jimmy Palmiotti / Amanda Connor / Chad Hardin
  • Harley Quinn ’16-’20 – Jimmy Palmiotti / Amanda Connor / Chad Hardin
  • Harleen ’19 – Stjepan Sejic
  • Harley Quinn ’21- current – Stephanie Phillips / Riley Rossmo

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 and filed under the original Batman and Detective runs.

“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:

Coincidentally, This Title is Returning Soon

Justice League of America  Justice League International Justice League

The DC Justice League Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.

That’s right, as it’s announced at Comic-Con that Mark Waid & Dan Mora are launching a new Justice League Unlimited series, a sale on the Justice League follows. To paraphrase Casablanca, “We’re shocked. Shocked to find Justice League on sale.” We also note some decent prices and a chunk of $2.99 books sprinkled in.

Let’s start out by counting down the many flavors available:

For some of the side series:

What’s good?

The Nail is Alan Davis with an A+ Elseworlds take on a Justice League on a world where Superman did not emerge as the first hero.

You can get a big chunk (500+ pages) of the BWA HA HA era in omnibus format for $5.99.

$2.99 for Dwayne McDuffie’s run (starting here) is a good deal.

$2.99 for the first pair of Silver Age collections is also a good deal.

Under the radar?  The Christopher Priest / Pete Woods arc from ~3 years back. It’s just good comics without silly crossovers.

Miss Natchios If You’re Nasty…

Elektra Assassin  Daredevil: Fall From Grace  Daredevil The Man Without Fear

The Marvel Elektra Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.

That would Elektra, the former Hand assassin and on-again-off-again love interest of a certain Mathew Murdoch.  Strangely, the original Daredevil run isn’t included here, but let’s do a quick rundown in rough chronological order.

What’s good here? Elektra: Assassin is the undisputed classic. A very odd series, originally from Epic (not for kids) about Elektra rebelling against The Beast (the demon behind The Hand, not the X-Man) and stalking a politician controlled by The Beast.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is essentially Miller doing “Daredevil: Year One.” It isn’t Elektra-heavy, but it’s good.

Daredevil & Elektra by Chip Zdarsky is quite good, though it’s also the final act of Zdarsky’s run and isn’t the best place to start.

The Chichester / McDaniel Daredevil era seems to be getting a critical reappraisal these days. We liked it the first time around and it’s when Elektra was re-introduced into the supporting cast (on order from editorial, IIRC).

Unannounced Sale of the Week – Held Over

The Hunger and the Dusk

The Hunger & The Dusk, V.1 – G. Willow Wilson / Chris Wildgoose; We were startled this was on sale for $1.99 last week (it hasn’t even been out for 2 months yet), we’re still startled… but it was probably our favorite read of the last month and it’s well worth a look if you like intelligent Epic Fantasy.

All Kinds of Unannounced Dark Horse Sales

Apache Delivery Service

There are two new unannounced Dark Horse Sales:

1)  The wide world of Matt Kindt, who’s done quite a bit of work for them:

2) Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire & Dean Ormston

And then the line-wide sale

Goldfish  Martha Washington  Nexus

.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. It’s been going on since last week and we think it should still be active through Monday, maybe Tuesday? 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: Silver Surfer; DC Pride; Marvel Knights; X-Men; DH Manga; Dragon Age

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel slashes prices on the Silver Surfer, Marvel Knights and X-Men “Crossovers.” DC has their annual Pride sale. Dark Horse discounts most of their manga, plus Dragon Age.

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):

Surfin’ Bird

Silver Surfer by Lee/Kirby  Silver Surfer - Englehart  Silver Surfer

The  Marvel Silver Surfer Sale runs through Monday, 6/10.

For the most part, the solo adventures of the Silver Surfer fall into three periods:

First, the classic original series by Stan Lee and (mostly) John Buscema. This ran from ’68-’70 and is a minor legend for a reason. It does not appear to be on sale this time, but we’ll list it for the sake of completeness.

There wasn’t much solo Surfer for the better part of 17 years because the Surfer was considered to be Stan’s character in a similar way to how Sandman is Neil Gaiman’s. That changed in ’87 when Silver Surfer relaunched under the team of Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers. (Yes, the Batman pairing.) Predictably, it was excellent. The next team was Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, another great run. Starlin used this run to bring back Thanos (mostly unused since he finished his Warlock run) and set up the Infinity Gauntlet.  We think very highly of the first 50 or so issues of this run. The first four Epic Collections will take you through #50 (that would be through Thanos Quest).

Then next major addition to the cannon was the Dan Slott / Michael Allred Silver Surfer in 2014. It is confusing listed in two places. The first three volumes here and the final two volumes here.

For something that ends up being off the radar because of it’s short length, there’s always Parable, which is Stan Lee teaming up with Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal) legend Moebius for an adventure.

And if you’re interested in cherry picking the Surfer’s original appearances in Fantastic Four, the very definition of classic, there’s an Epic Collection that does just that.

Who Exactly Did the Knighting Ceremony?

Daredevil Marvel Knights   Punisher  Spider-Man

The Marvel Knights Sale runs through Monday 6/10.

It’s probably best to put this in historical context. Prior to becoming Marvel EIC, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti were co-running an imprint at Marvel called “Marvel Knights.” This started when Marvel was not exactly at a high point and Quesada & Palmiotti reinvigorated several titles. Eventually, Quesada got promoted.

The flagship title for Marvel Knights was probably Daredevil. It started out with Kevin Smith and Quesada as the creators, which was a hit. Then Brian Bendis & Alex Maleev had a storied run on it.

Garth Ennis wrote The Punisher for Marvel Knights, both the comedic series and the later series crime version that eventually moved over the MAX imprint.

Very little of it is in the sale, but the Christopher Priest version of Black Panther is still hugely influential.

Grant Morrison did a Fantastic Four mini-series with Jae Lee and Marvel Boy with J.G Jones.

Mark Millar and Terry & Rachel Dodson did a Spider-Man run.

There was also the infamous “we’re just going to pretend that never happened” Punisher miniseries where Frank returns from the grave as an angel of vengeance. No, really.

There’s a bit more there, but those are the highlights (and the famous misfire). It was a pretty influential imprint.

X Marks the Event

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga  X of Swords  Sins of Sinister

The Marvel X-Men Crossovers sale runs through Monday, 6/17.

This is really a sale on the various Events in the X-family of books. Some of them mostly internal to the X-line, some of them crossing over outside.

The bulk of the sale is the X-Men Milestones line which collects Events from Dark Phoenix through  Age of X.

For something like Onslaught, you can simply get the Milestone edition or you can go whole hog:

Ditto for the slightly earlier Age of Apocalypse:

And then a couple more recent events are too new for the Milestones:

What’s good? We’d go back to that original “Milestone” – The Dark Phoenix Saga. There’s a reason it’s a classic and sent the X-Men into a legendary surge of popularity. Hard to go wrong with Claremont & Byrne. We also think extremely highly of the two most recent events: X of Swords & Sins of Sinister.

Pride

Batwoman  The Invisibles  Wonder Woman by George Perez

The  DC Pride Sale runs through Monday, 6/10.

This is a 288 book set of books related to Pride Month. (Some of them more closely related than others.) A few things we saw that were interesting, including some off the more beaten path:

  • Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III – Rucka /Williams; The excellent solo series from Detective
  • Batwoman (’11) – W. Haden Blackman / J.H. Williams III / Amy Reeder; Blackman & Williams mount a good follow-up to the above Detective run, but an editorial decision to nix the wedding hampers the ending
  • Doom Patrol – Grant Morrison / Richard Case; The classic… although it’s a shame there’s no Rachel Pollack Doom Patrol in this sale. It would be appropriate.
  • The Invisibles – Grant Morrison / Steve Yeowell / Jill Thompson / Chris Weston; An underground society battles a conspiracy to keep humanity in it’s place.
  • Seven Soldiers of Victory – Grant Morrison’s series of interlocking mini-series isn’t always mentioned, when Morrison’s name is brought up, but we thought it was the execution was on the money.
  • Shade: The Changing Man – Peter Milligan / Chris Bachalo; Early Vertigo as Milligan & Bachalo retool the Ditko hero. The original marketing description of “mind-bending” is apt.
  • Wonder Woman (’87) – There’s a lot to like about this run – George Perez. Phil Jimenez. The first Greg Rucka run. Even a Walt Simonson / Jerry Ordway collaboration. Be aware you need to toggle between the Omnibus page and Volumes page to see all the material

Unlisted Manga + Dragons

Astro Boy  Blade of the Immortal Lone Wolf and Cub

Dark Horse is having an extensive manga sale. By the numbers:

Also on sale, Dark Horse’s comics adaptations of BioWare’s Dragon Age line of video games:

Dragon Age

Even More Unannounced Stephen King Comics
Stephen King's Dark Tower

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: X-Men and Daredevil (nearly) Full Runs; Batman; Infinity Gauntlet; Usagi Yojimbo

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel puts nearly all the Daredevil and Uncanny X-Men collections on sale. And an Infinity (Gauntlet / War / Crusade) sale on top of that. DC does another installment of their “Epic” sale and Dark Horse slips in Usagi Yojimbo.

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 Marks the Price Tag

X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live  X-Men Epic Collection  X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix

The Marvel Uncanny X-Men Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 3/11.

It’s a legacy sale, so it’s the Uncanny X-Men core… although this may shorter list than some of the legacy sales. For instance,  X-Men wasn’t part of Heroes Reborn, so no relaunch there.

As is our custom, let’s run through the key series included, first:

  • Uncanny X-Men ’63-’11 – The original X-Men, the “new” X-Men, Morrison… it’s a long run.
  • Uncanny X-Men  ’11-’12 – The original Kieron Gillen era
  • Uncanny X-Men ’13-’15 – The Brian Bendis / Chris Bachalo era (Battle of the Atom fits in with this run as a crossover)
  • Uncanny X-Men ’16-’17 – The Cullen Bunn / Greg Land / Ken  Lashley era
  • Uncanny X-Men ’18-’19 – The Mathew Rosenberg era

And you might be asking yourself, “aren’t there usually more than one X-Men title and don’t they cross over a lot?” Yes, that would be a potential issue… pun intended. Not so much with the Epic Collections and the Masterworks as with the later series, and there are some Event collections in the sale, too.

You should know our general advice right now. There’s a slight preference for the value of Epic Collections over Masterworks collections, but it depends on the exact price point and the Epic Collections sometimes have gaps.  That still applies here.  The wild card with X-Men is that it can get impenetrable with continuity and all the characters floating around. You can’t always just jump in.

So, recommendations with that in mind.

If you’ve never tried the original X-Men, we’d say go with The Sentinels Live Epic Collection. It’s at the very tail end of the original run that the original X-Men run is at its best: a bit of Jim Steranko and then a Roy Thomas / Neal Adams sequence that ended all too quickly.

For the “new” X-Men, we’re cool with the theory that Giant-Sized X-Men #1 / Uncanny X-Men #94 through #200 is one big arc. That’s where we’d start if we were new. The Epic Collections that are discounted only take you to #153, at which point you need to start cutting in the Masterworks editions with V. 7 through 12. (The next Epic with a discount only takes you to #198, which is short of the finish line!)

For an alternate jumping on point, perhaps the Ed Brubaker era, which is collected in three volumes starting with Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire.

We thought the Bendis era was better than it’s reputation, but aware that it runs parallel with All-New X-Men, which isn’t in this sale.

If you were wondering, Grant Morrison is filed under New X-Men and not part of this sale.

Also be aware that X-Men: Reload is effectively the omnibus version of Uncanny X-Men: The New Age, where Chris Claremont returned to the book with Alan Davis.

Hornhead

Daredevil  Daredevil Epic Collection  Daredevil by Zdarsky

The Marvel Daredevil Sale runs through Monday, 3/11.

Let’s break this down by series. Like X-Men, Daredevil has had fewer relaunches than some titles.

  • Daredevil ’64-’98 – The original run. Oddly, as we type this up, the Epics are on sale and the Masterworks mostly aren’t?
  • Daredevil ’98-11 – The Marvel Knights relaunch. Kevin Smith / Brian Bendis / Ed Brubaker
    • For the Bendis and Brubaker runs, you want the Omnibus section and scroll down for their respective “Ultimate Collections”
  • Daredevil ’11-15 – This was really two volumes with an arbitrary relaunch in the middle, but the excellent run by Mark Waid / Chris Samnee / Paolo Rivera / Javier Javier Rodriguez is a better buy in this 5 volume set that collects both volumes and treats it like the single run it was.
  • Daredevil ’15-’18 – The Charles Soule era with Ron Garney as the main artist.
  • Daredevil ’19-’21 – Chip Zdarsky’s breakout title as a writer. Marco Checcetto is the primary artist.
  • Daredevil: Woman Without Fear ’22 – Zdarsky / Rafael de Latorre; Sort of a bridge title during the Devil’s Reign event, but part of the ongoing plot. Note: this is included in the final DD omnibus for the ’19-’21 run.
  • Daredevil ’22-’23 – Also known as Daredevil & Elektra. The final act to the Zdarsky/Checcetto era

What’s good here? Honestly, with the exception of the “Shadowlands” Event at the end of the Marvel Knights run, DD has been consistently good to great since Frank Miller showed up. You don’t hear us saying that about every title! We will say that Gene Colan’s return to DD (with Joe Kelly writing) seems to be under the radar these days.  But starting with Miller, just pick a run (Miller / O’Neil / Nocenti / Chichester / Kessel / Kelly / Smith / Bendis / Brubaker / Waid / Soule / Zdarsky) and dig in.

Infinite Jest

The  Marvel Infinity Sale runs through Monday, 3/11.

On the one hand, this sale would seem to be a continuation of last week’s Cosmic sale, which naturally segues into The Infinity Guantlet. On the other hand, they’re throwing in anything else with “Infinity” in the title, so we’re going to have to separate this out a little more than we normally would.

Starlin’s Infinity Saga

As you may recall from last week, Jim Starlin returned to Marvel and re-introduced Thanos in Silver Surfer, which lead up to Thanos getting his hands on the Infinity Gems and kicking off a series of Event mini-series.

Alongside those titles, Warlock & the Infinity Watch (Starlin / Angel Medina / Tom Grindberg and others) ran parallel and filled some gaps between Events.

And then some more Thanos/Infinity mini’s and graphic novels:

Avengers

Not part of the Starlin Infinity world, but thrown in for… reasons (?)

Avengers Infinity by Roger Stern / Sean Chen is a cosmic/Avengers in space tale.

Infinity is roughly the middle act of Jonathan Hickman’s massive Avengers run. That volume pulls in all the various parts and is how you want it, although we’ve said in before and we’ll say it again – Hickman’s Avengers is one long epic and if you’re going to sample, read the whole thing. The sheer scope of it adds to the experience when you start at the beginning.

Sounds Like a Marvel Brand – Week Two

Batman: Venom   Manhunter  Jimmy Olsen

The  DC Epic eBooks Part 2 Sale runs through Monday, 03/11.

This time out it’s a seriously eclectic set of volumes. Occasionally just one or two from the middle of a run.  Some things that jumped out at us?

  • Batman: Venom – Denny O’Neil / Jose Luis Garcia Lopez / Russ Braun;  Long before Knightfall, or even Vengeance of Bane, O’Neil and company did a Legends of the Dark Knight arc to introduce “Venom,” the drug that originally fueled Bane’s strength.
  • DCeased – which they really ought to file together, but don’t. It’s still entertaining stuff (and, of course, the opening volume isn’t included):
  • Fables – Bill Willingham / Mark Buckingham; the first half of the series is on sale (in double-volume format) for the classic tales of fairy tale creatures hiding out in Manhattan after their worlds are overrun by invaders.
  • Freedom Fighters: Rise of a Nation – Robert Venditti / Eddy Barrows – in a world where the Nazis discovered the payload of a certain rocket from Krypton and over-ran the world, the Freedom Fighter form up as the resistance. A vastly overlooked take on the original concept.
  • Manhunter – Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson tell a superb tale of spies, ninjas, clone and a certain caped crusader. One of the best adventure comics of all-time.
  • The Road to Perdition – Max Allen Collins / Richard Piers Rayner – A mob enforcer and his son go into hiding after a betrayal. You may have seen the film version.
  • Superman: The Phantom Zone – Steve Gerber / Gene Colan / Rick Veitch – Leave it to Gerber to come up with a creepy, horror-tinged take on Superman. There are much stranger things in the Phantom Zone that you realized. (Big thumbs up.)
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction / Steve Lieber – Jimmy wakes up hungover and married in Gorilla City… and that’s not even the silliest part. One of the funniest comics of the last few years. A+

Rabbit Rabbit

Usagi Yojimbo

We have an unannounced Dark Horse sale on Usagi Yojimbo.

This is Stan Sakai’s revered and long running series about a samurai/ronin rabbit. “Beloved” is a good word for it.

The real bargain is the $6.99 “Saga” omnibus editions.

Filed separately, is the  Saga “Legends” volume, which includes things like Space Usagi.

If you’re in the market for single volumes, those are $4.99… but only for Vol. 8 and higher. (Hey, don’t look at us! We think that’s peculiar, too… but the Saga volumes are a better buy.)

Also Unannounced…

BAKEMONOGATARI

Vertical’s manga series BAKEMONOGATARI is on sale for $3.99/volume (although we can’t tell you where V. 1 went to…)

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Fantastic Four (all of it); Moon Knight; 90’s X-Men; Devil’s Reign; Cyberpunk 2077

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, practically the entire Fantastic Four catalog is on sale. Plus, Marvel offers discounts on Moon Knight, Devil’s Reign and the world of the 90s X-Men. And, in what seems to be another unannounced sale, Dark Horse presents Cyberpunk 2077.

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):

Four Play

Fantastic Four - The Coming of Galactus    Fantastic Four by Waid   Fantastic Four by Hickman

Marvel’s Fantastic Four Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 1/29.

So, first let’s break down the various FF titles/volumes on sale

Yes, Fantastic Four has been relaunched less than other Marvel titles.  As to what’s good, the gold standard has always been the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby run. (And yes, we do think you can draw a straight line from Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown at DC to Fantastic Four.) We’d say they start to hit their stride a few issues before Galactus shows up – V.3 of the Epic Collections (“The Coming of Galactus“) or V.4/5 of the Masterworks editions and you can ride a very fun train from there to the end of Lee/Kirby.

And at this point, we should talk about the “pick your poison” of Epic vs. Masterworks.  The Masterworks are built out straight into the Byrne era. We think the $6.99 Epic Collections are the best value here, though some of the newer ones are priced higher. The discounted Epics are now a little past the Lee/Kirby era, but stop with #146 and then pick up again after Byrne’s run. Pick the format that works for you and has the issues you’re looking for.

Speaking of Byrne’s run, that’s the next highpoint that everyone agrees on.  How to read Byrne? Well, there are 5 volumes of Masterworks on sale (V. 21-25; note: V. 25 is here and not linked in with the rest of the series) or you can hop on to Fantastic Four Visionaires: John Byrne. You’d need to cut over to the Visionaries run at V. 6 to pick up where the discounted Masterworks leave off.  These comics really ought to be in an Epic Collection, but Marvel doesn’t seem in any hurry to roll the Visionaires up into a more economical package. (Or should we say, economical when it’s on sale?)

Fast forward a bit to the Heroes Reborn era and there is a LOT to love about the Mark Waid / Mike Wieringo run. They brought back the “explorer” vibe from Lee/Kirby era that isn’t always there and upped the sense of wonder. You’d want the four Ultimate Collection volumes that start here. The “regular” collections don’t go all the way to the end.

And then, of course, there’s the the Hickman era. A long storyline that laid the groundwork for his Avengers run and you can certainly argue that his Secret Wars endcap to that is a Fantastic Four / Doctor Doom story. The omnibus editions we highlighted above include his FF spin-off comic that frequently crossed over with Fantastic Four, much like the Avengers titles flowed together. That packaging will be a better experience.

The Light of the Silvery Moon

Moon Knight  Moon Knight Epic Collection   Moon Knight

The Marvel Moon Knight Sale runs through Monday, 1/29.

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

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

If you came in through the TV show, there really isn’t a comic that quite matches that version of the character, but the series did draw on the Jeff Lemire / Greg Smallwood Moon Knight series in which Moon Knight has a run-in with the Egyptian gods and his personalities run amok. It’s also a good run.

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

Highlights of the rest:

  • Moon Knight ’89-’94 – Most of this is only collected in omnibus form for some reason for the longest running volume. This is largely the Terry Kavanaugh years with Gary Kwapisz and James Fry on art. Possibly more interesting, it also includes a Bruce Jones/Denys Cowan special and a Doug Moench/Art Nichols team-up with Shang Chi.
  • Moon Knight ’10-12 – Brian Bendis / Alex Maleev; Controversial to say the least, this one really leans into Moon Knight’s multiple personality disorder and breaks the character if you prefer the original concept. On the other hand, it’s surprisingly witty and funny. One of the oddest takes on the character.
  • Moon Knight  ’14-’15- Most notable for the style-forward Warren Ellis/Declan Shalvey reworking (introducing the business suit)

Deviltry

Devil's Reign   Devil's Reign X-Men

The Marvel Devil’s Reign Sale runs through Monday, 1/29.

Devil’s Reign is effectively a section of the excellent Chip Zdarsky/Marco Checchetto Daredevil run where The Kingpin, in his capacity as Mayor of NYC, declares war on superheroes and organizes his own version of the Thunderbolts to hunt them down. This main mini-series in the main thing you’re looking for, here.

That said, in term of tie-ins, Devil’s Rain: X-Men by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto has a little more, by way of echoes moving forward, than you might expect. It establishes the ongoing relationship between Emma Frost and the Kingpin, which does crop up again further down the line in both the Daredevil and X-Men worlds. Plus, Phil Noto.

Hot Tub Mutant Machine

Wolverine   X-Factor Epic Collection   Generation X

The Marvel 90s X-Men Sale runs through Monday, 1/29.

We know what you’re thinking and, yes, this is about the time the X-world got a lot more complicated and Event-heavy.  And this is a pretty eclectic set. What do we recall as the winners from this period?

For X-Men (proper) we’d start with Mutant Genesis, which has the last bit of Chris Claremont’s original run as Jim Lee started to steer the boat a bit more.

For a lot of people, ’90s X-Men is about Onslaught. If you’re in that camp, there’s The Road to Onslaught  and the actual Onslaught Event.

Open things up a little wider and X-Factor pops to the top of the list. The selection of Epic Collections includes the Lousie & Walt Simonson run *and* the delightfully off-kilter first Peter David run (featuring Joe Quesada and Larry Stroman on art duties).

The Larry Hama Wolverine run is also on sale in Epic Collections. A fairly long run, too, and one of the most popular titles of the 90s. Marc Silvestri and Adam Kubert figure prominently on the artist lineup.

Now, a lot of people associate Scott Lobdell with 90s X-Men. If you want to read Lobdell’s best mutant work, that’s Generation X. It’s sort of a new New Mutants, since that title had morphed into X-Force, and we don’t think it’s even close. Chris Bachalo is the originating artist and sets the tone nicely.

There’s a bit more here for you to browse.

A Hugo Winner in an Unannounced Sale

Cyberpunk 2077   Cyberpunk 2077 Big City Dreams  The Nasty

Looks like there’s an unannounced sale on Dark Horse’s Cyberpunk 2077. A video game adaptation with an interesting award to its credit.

The first three collections can be found here.

After which, the property went to the album format Dark Horse sometimes uses for titles with a higher bookstore profile, which are listed with the single issues:

Big City Dreams was the 2023 Hugo Award winner for Best Graphic Story or Comic. And there you have it.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Daredevil (All of It); Gotham Central; OMAC; Masters of the Universe

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel’s big Daredevil sale and DC’s Labor Day Sale return… with actual sale prices! Plus, Masters of the Universe and Van Helsing.

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 Daredevil Sale Returns

Well, well, well… look who showed up Thursday morning:

The Marvel Daredevil Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 9/11.

Yes, they fixed last week’s sale.  The usual discounts now apply. So first, let’s run through the various series. Believe it or not, Daredevil hasn’t been relaunched as many times as, say, Hulk has.

  • Daredevil ’64-’98 – The original run. Plenty o’ Epics and Masterworks on sale.
  • Daredevil ’98-11 – The Marvel Knights relaunch. Kevin Smith / Brian Bendis / Ed Brubaker
    • For the Bendis and Brubaker runs, you want the Omnibus section and scroll down for their respective “Ultimate Collections”
  • Daredevil ’11-15 – This was really two volumes with an arbitrary relaunch in the middle, but the excellent run by Mark Waid / Chris Samnee / Paolo Rivera / Javier Javier Rodriguez is a better buy in this 5 volume set that collects both volumes and treats it like the single run it was.
  • Daredevil ’15-’18 – The Charles Soule era with Ron Garney as the main artist.
  • Daredevil ’19-’21 – Chip Zdarsky’s breakout title as a writer. Marco Checcetto is the primary artist.
    • Omnibus formats (the final omnibus is not on sale)
  • Daredevil: Woman Without Fear ’22 – Zdarsky / Rafael de Latorre; Sort of a bridge title during the Devil’s Reign event, but part of the ongoing plot.
  • Daredevil ’22-’23 – Also known as Daredevil & Elektra. The final act to the Zdarsky/Checcetto era

Since it’s been a couple years since this sale was run, let’s have a look at the Epics and Masterworks that might not have been in the last one, shall we?

New(ish) Epic Collections:

  • Going Out West – #87-107; Gerry Conway era ends; Steve Gerber begins
  • Watch Out For Bullseye – #108-132; Gerber era ends; Then Tony Isabella, and enter Marv Wolfman and Bullseye debuts
  • It Comes With Claws – #234 – 252; Ann Nocenti’s run begins. John Romita, Jr. arrives to start that famous pairing towards the end of the volume.
  • Dead Man’s Hand – #301-11, plus some crossover/event issues; The D.G. Chichester / Scott McDaniel era

New(ish) Masterworks:

Oh, look… this is when they got to the Frank Miller run!

What’s good? Honestly, Daredevil has been one of the best curated characters of the last 40 years. There haven’t been very many bad issues since Frank Miller showed up. (Some people complained about the Chichester/McDaniel/Weeks run and the new armor, but we like that run and “Last Rites” seems to be more popular now than at the time.)

The usual advice on Epics & Masterworks – you need to check the page counts, but the Epics are usually a little longer and more bang for your buck, but not all Epics are priced the same.

For $5.99 for ~300-ish pages/~12 issues, it’s hard to beat these collections of the Waid/Samnee(/Rivera/Rodriguez) run. A side thread to this run. It starts out with “Daredevil wasn’t originally such a dark book” and then it proceeds to go to dark places after a bit! Seriously, an excellent run.

Currently not in a larger collection, Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli is a very, very effective story and maybe Miller’s high point on the character. It doesn’t have the page count of some these other collections, but at $4.99, it’s still a truly classic 8-parter for the price of a new single issue.

The Last Rites Epic Collection is 500 pages for for $6.99. It’s the end of the Ann Nocenti run and the beginning of the D.G Chichester era. Lots of art by the always under-rated Lee Weeks. Bullseye, The Hand, Typhoid Mary and The Kingpin all show up. Plus some Punisher and Ghost Rider, so there’s something for pretty much everyone in this.

(If A Touch of Typhoid was $5.99, it would go to the head of the line. That’s the meat of the Nocenti/JRjr run and earned its rep.)

Still, plenty of good reads in this sale and we’re glad it got fixed!

Daredevil by Mark Waid   Daredevil: Born Again   Daredevil: Last Rites

Speaking of Sales That Got Fixed…

The DC Labor Day Sale runs through Monday, 9/11.

We’re not sure those $4.65 price points are supposed to be there, but there’s plenty of graphic novels for $2.99 (and $4.65 is a considerably better price than we were seeing last week).

Some items of possible interest:

Gotham Central for $2.99 per (double) volume? Um, yes!  GREAT comic. Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano and Kano on tales of the Gotham PD trying to handle things when Batman is otherwise occupied.

OMAC: One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby. You might have run into this concept in a movie recently. This is Kirby’s original dystopian satire. It’s… well, you kind of need to experience this one for yourself. Describing it doesn’t do it justice, just know that it’s REALLY over the top. $2.99

Final Crisis by Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones and Doug Mahnke. The Event itself, plus the Batman and Superman tie-ins (which are important to the plot). 391 pages for $2.99? From Morrison/Jones/Mahnke?  That’s a good buy!

Gotham Central   OMAC   Final Crisis

Deadman – The 60s/70s cult series in 5 volumes. The first two are the Neal Adams run, then a volume that’s largely Paul Levitz/Jim Aparo picking up the reigns and popping in and out of various titles. V.4 is largely the Len Wein/Jim Aparo/Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez Adventure run. V.5 is the Andy Helfer/Garcia-Lopez miniseries and the Challengers of the Unknown appearances. $2.99 a pop.

Creature Commandos – We’re not sure when the cartoon is coming out or if the strike affects it, but this is the original material from Weird War Tales. Lots of people worked on this, including J.M. DeMatties, Robert Khaniger, Fred Carillo, Jerry Ordway and even Dan Spiegel.

And for something under the radar: Lobo: Portrait of a Bastich. In the mid-90s, Lobo had a series of miniseries and specials that were the gold standard for rude humor. Keith Giffen, Alan Grant and Simon Bisley were the original team and this collects the first two mini’s. It is, as MTV used to say about Monty Python, an effective tool for the offending of the easily offendable.

This sale is worth a deep browse over the weekend. There are a lot of good runs with a single $4.65 volume in the middle of $2.99 ones.

Deadman   Creature Commandos   Lobo

Masters and Servants

The Dark Horse 2023 Masters of the Universe Digital Sale runs through Monday, 9/25.

Yes, that would be He-Man. Two sections to the sale:

Classic material

Current Comics

He-Man Newspaper Comic Strip   Masters of the Universe: Masterverse   Masters of the Universe: Revelation

Grimm Vampire Tales

Zenescope’s Van Helsing Character Spotlight Sale runs through Sunday, 9/24.

This would be the daughter of Professor Van Helsing doing battle with the forces of darkness. You expect to see Zenescope regulars Pat Shand and Raven Gregory here, but Chuck Dixon also shows up for a few runs.

We’re looking at 99 cent single issues (with the odd higher price for things like #50) and $5.99 collected editions, which means the single issues will likely be a little cheaper or a wash.

Also in the sale 99-cent issues of the spin-off Hellchild.

Helsing   Van Helsing   Hellchild

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Star Wars, Superman, Daredevil, Deadpool and Lone Wolf and Cub

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Superman’s “recent” work; Marvel discounts Star Wars, Daredevil and Deadpool; and Lone Wolf and Cub does some slashing.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Last Sale of Krypton

The DC Superman Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 11/14.

The somewhat recent critical darling here is definitely the Gene Luen Yang / Gurihiru Superman Smashes the Klan which is a reinterpretation of an old Superman radio serial. Good comic and definitely YA-appropriate.

The slightly more recent and totally under most radars option is Superman: Man of Tomorrow by Robert Venditti and Paul Pelletier. Solid “classic” Superman tales with a sly sense of humor that quietly lead into a finale. The running gag about Clark Kent’s clothes is very well done, indeed.

And from the “we have no idea how this counts as recent” category, All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely really is a great Superman comic and a love letter to the Silver Age. Very much worth your time if you’ve never partaken of it.

Superman Smashes The Klan   Superman: Man of Tomorrow   All-Star Superman

Not the Holiday Special

The Marvel Star Wars by Aaron and Gillen Sale runs through Monday, 11/14.

That would be Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen.

The Janson Aaron run is conveniently collected in the Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus. Aaron writes most of it (you’ve got some Kieron Gillen crossover issues in there) and there’s an artist rotation of John Cassaday, Stuart Immonen, Leinil Francis Yu, Mike Deodato, Jr., and Salvator Larroca, among others. And when we say “conveniently,” it also includes crossover issues of Darth Vader, Vader Down, Doctor Aphra, The Screaming Citadel and so forth. Saves a lot of reading order headaches, so thumbs up to that.

There is a convenient Star Wars by Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca Omnibus, but it’s not sale. (Booo…) It’ll put you back $40. You can pick up their run as volumes 7-11 of the regular Star Wars collections for $3.99@ and it’s effectively half price compared to the omnibus. (And you’ll note there are a couple Greg Pak/Phil Noto volumes in the sale after the Gillen/Larocca run.)

Star Wars by Jason Aaron   Star Wars

Zdarksky’s Event

The Marvel Daredevil Devil’s Reign Sale runs through Monday, 11/21.

And really, this is a Chip Zdarsky Daredevil sale.

The order you want to follow goes like this:

  • Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky: To Heaven Through Hell is what they’re calling the double volumes of his excellent run. And no, the comics aren’t as pretentious as the name it’s been given. Marco Checchetto is the lead artist for this. The through lines of the series are the competing gang interests in Hell’s Kitchen, the saga of Mayor Fisk and insurgencies by some sinister billionaires.
  • Devil’s Reign is the Event mini-series where Mayor Fisk makes his moves, declares super heroes illegal (in a sort of spin on Civil War’s Superhero Registration Act) leaving Hornhead and the heroes of New York City to resist. Let’s be honest… these are really Daredevil issues with guest stars for the purpose of the series. Zdarsky and Checchetto are still the creative team.
  • Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear by Zdarsky and Rafael de Latorre is the adventures of Elektra during Devil’s Reign. Why it’s called this would be mild spoilers territory, though you can probably guess.

The other spin-off minis are purely optional.

Daredevil   Devil's Reign   Daredevil: The Woman Without Fear

The Merc with the… Discounts?

The Marvel Deadpool Massive Sale runs through Monday 11/14.

And yes, there’s a LOT here. Let’s hit the highlights of the longer running series:

  • Deadpool Classic – Starting at the beginning, it’s something of a catch-all series of collections
  • Cable & Deadpool (’04-’08) – Most associated with Fabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher
  • Deadpool (’08-’12) – The Daniel Way era
  • Deadpool (’12-’15) – The Brian Posehn/Gerry Duggan era
  • Deadpool (’18-’19) – Skottie Young / Nic Klein

Deadpool by Posehn and Duggan   Deadpool by Joe Kelly   Deadpool & Cable

The Baby Cart Assassin

The Dark Horse Digital Manga 2022 Sale runs through Monday, 11/26.

We highly recommend Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. The Shogun’s executioner’s family is killed and the executioner framed for treason. He escapes with his infant son and undertakes work as an assassin while biding his time to gain revenge on those who plotted against him.

Lone Wolf and Cub

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Comixology Sales: Darth Vader, Gotham Knights (and Batman); Daredevil; Image’s Fall Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Darth Vader, Daredevil and MAYBE Namor get the discounts at Marvel, DC unleashes the Bat-Family with “Gotham Knights” and Image opens a seasonal sale.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

Sith-Tober

There’s supposed to be a Darth Vader sale right now, but the link to the overall sale isn’t posted yet for whatever reason. Our understanding is that it’s supposed to be running through Thursday, 11/3. Maybe it will be by the time you see this? Lucky you, we can see the sale prices and have a couple recommendations:

We still haven’t read a Darth Vader comic to top the Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca run.  It’s slow clap territory, especially the scene at the end of the opening arc when Vader figures out he’s been lied to.  This series picks up right after A New Hope and follows Vader as he goes rogue, looking for that rebel pilot who blew up the Death Star.  Note: You also need to get the Vader Down collection, which is the cross-over between the Darth Vader comic and the Star Wars comic.  Key plot points there. Did we mention these volumes are $2.99/$3.99?  Good prices for superior material.

The second best Vader series we’ve read is the Charles Soule / Giuseppe Camuncoli run. It might be the favorite series at the Lucasfilm offices, seeing as how they gave Soule a promotion. This run really hits second gear in V.2 when the librarian of the Jedi Temple turns up.

Vader   Vader Down   Vader Series 2

Sub-Prices

Namor, the Sub-Mariner is another sale that’s supposed to be running, but isn’t posted. Our understanding is it’s supposed to be running through Monday, 10/31. Maybe it will also be up by the time you see this?  Right now we’re not seeing the discounts on this material, but keep an eye out for it. It’s not in the system on Friday evening like it’s supposed to be.

We did enjoy King In Black: Namor (which has very little to do with King in Black) by Kurt Busiek and Benjamen Dewey, for instance… should the discounts materialize.

King In Black: Namor

Marvel Dares You

The Marvel Daredevil: Born Again and Other Tales Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

Clearly, since it’s being filmed, Daredevil: Born Again is the flagship title of this sale. This is the landmark Frank Miller / David Mazzucchelli tale of the Kingpin discovering Daredevil’s secret identity and tearing down his world, brick by brick. A classic tale that has earned its reputation.

Daredevil: Parts of a Hole written by David Mack and drawn by Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti (remember that team… it’s been a minute) is the arc that introduces Echo and we find it interesting that this should be in a born again sale. Foreshadowing?

Daredevil: End of Days is the biggest oddity of this sale, but it’s also a series we enjoyed. At the time, Marvel was doing a lot of “the last <insert character here>” stories and this one brings back Brian Bendis, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Klaus Jansen and Bill Sienkiewicz assemble for what starts as the tale of Ben Urich trying to solve the mystery of Daredevil’s final words… and then heads off in unexpected places. It serves as nice “20 years later” sort of endcap to the Bendis/Brubaker era of Daredevil and is something that’s semi-off the radar.

Daredevil: Born Again   Daredevil: Parts of a Hole   Daredevil: End of Days

But Can You Download a Patch?

The DC Gotham Knights Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

We’d have probably put the Tynion Detective run in here for “Gotham Knights,” but what do we know?

The “Batman-proper” offering here is  the Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo run that kicked off the New 52 era by introducing the Court of Owls. We suspect you’ve heard of it and it’s _mostly_ $4.99/$5.99 per volume. HOWEVER, there are a couple volumes not properly discounted as we type this, so keep an eye on the price. (Perhaps that will fix itself, since DC discounts used to really lag earlier in the year.)

For Nightwing, we’re in the apparent majority opinion that you want to be looking at the Tom Taylor/Bruno Redondo Nightwing.  There were single issues of this at the bottom of the sale page, but they weren’t discounted when we looked at them. Again… this might change. It’s deja vu.

And for an old school selection, the Chuck Dixon / Tom Lyle / Tom Grummet Robin run from the 90s (which is to say, Tim Drake), definitely has a following. Amazon is weird and breaks it up into three listings/links: V. 1, V.2, and V.3-5.

Batman: The Court of Owls   Nightwing   Robin: Reborn

We All Fall Down

The Image Fall Sale runs through Sunday, 11/13.

700+ items makes for a deep list, but there are a few things here we’re more inclined to point out.

For instance, God Country by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. While that duo is probably best known for Thanos Wins, we think God Country is the better book. Frankly, we don’t think Cates has topped it, period. The elevator pitch isn’t quite so unique – a magic sword cures an old man’s dementia and gives him the vigor of youth to fight off the invading demons. But the meditation on losing one’s mind and character work? Top notch and elevates everything. We weren’t ready for it.

The Black Monday Murders by Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker is a murder mystery. A murder mystery amongst secret and elite cults where financial institutions and banking cartels wield black magic behind the scenes to control the world and get one up on rival sects. Oh, there’s a touch of satire, but it’s mostly played straight. Excellent series and we’re looking forward to the final volume which ought to be popping back on the schedule soon. Hickman’s said he’s done with the scripts and Image is waiting for Coker to have the art in the can before soliciting, so… soon?

Seven to Eternity by Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña is fantasy quest about a man who goes on a quest to save his family and depose his father’s old enemy, the king.  Except this one inverts some tropes and goes to some very dark places as devil’s bargains are struck. It’s also a real showcase for Opeña. It’s hard to praise the art enough.

God Country   The Black Monday Murders   Seven to Eternity

 

 

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