Tag: Dark Horse

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.

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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: Captain America; Red Hulk; Green Lantern; Power Man and Iron Fist

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has discounts on Captain America, Red Hulk, Power Man and Iron Fist. DC slashed prices on the Green Lantern Corps. Dark Horse offers deals on Cyberpunk 2077 and the work of Evan Dorkin.

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):

Nothing Says Romance Like a Red Hulk Movie

Red Hulk Scorched Earth  Fall of the Hulks - Red Hulk  U.S.Avengers

The Marvel Red Hulk sale runs through Monday 2/24.

Only two titles (and an Event extension mini) in this sale. The main one by far is the ’08 – ’13 Hulk series. 17 years after the series launched, we’ll risk the spoiler of the opening arc and say this is where Thunderbolt Ross becomes the Red Hulk.

You can save a little with the Epic Collection of the first 12 issues.

You might want to add Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk and read it before you get to issue #18. It’s part of the larger “Fall of the Hulks” event that’s not totally collected in the Hulk series. This is by Jeff Parker and Carlos Rodrigues.

After Loeb leaves, Jeff Parker takes over writing and we actually prefer the Parker take on the character. The artists move around a little (it’s that era of Marvel) but Gabriel Hardman / Patrick Zircher / Dale Eaglesham is a pretty good rotation. (And you should have a look at Zircher’s Solomon Kane over in the recent Savage Sword of Conan.)

The other series in the sale is U.S.Avengers by  Al Ewing and Paco Medina, wherein Red Hulk joins up with Squirrel Girl and Sunspot.

Yes, There’s an Obvious Valentine’s Joke and We’re Not Making It

Captain America & the Falcon: Madbomb  Captain America & the Falcon by Christopher Priest  Captain America: Symbol of Truth

The Marvel Captain America: Sam Wilson Sale runs through Monday, 2/24

This would be Sam Wilson, the former Falcon, in the role as Cap. And really there are two halves to this sale. The Sam-as-Captain America side includes:

Then you’ve got the original series where Sam is merely the Falcon. We’d put the highlights of these offerings as:

  • Captain America: Secret Empire and Captain America: Nomad – These are the classic Steve Englehart / Sal Buscema arcs that most people have near or at the top of the Captain America cannon. You hear a bit of shouting about how this was one of the original “political” comics. It’s true – the subtext of Secret Empire is all about Nixon and Watergate, but filtered through more of a Hydra-type lens. Nomad can be read as Steve Rogers reacting to Watergate, but through the Marvel filter, which involves a certain Skull…
  • Captain America: Madbomb is the first big arc from Jack Kirby’s return to Captain America in the ’70s. Steve and Sam face down a conspiracy of billionaires trying to destabilize the country through bombs that makes people explode with rage and riot. Plus… “Killderby.” Another adventure with subtext that seems to remain relevant.
  • Captain America & The Falcon by Christopher Priest – The Complete Collection – Priest / Bart Sears / Joe Bennett; This is an under the radar run that has Steve and Sam chasing nested conspiracies involving a drug cartel, an “anti-Cap” who might be working for the Navy and MODOK.

Sweet Christmas!

Iron Fist  Power Man and Iron Fist  Immortal Iron Fist

The Marvel Luke Cage and Iron Fist Sale runs through Monday, 2/17.

Once upon a time there were two series: Luke Cage, Hero for Hire / Power Man and Iron Fist.

You can get the first 23 issues of Hero for Hire/Power Man in an Epic Collection.  There were several creators involved, including Archie Goodwin, Steve Englehart, Tony Isabella, George Tuska and Billy Graham. There’s a certain amount of camp to it, but the early tale of Doctor Doom trying to skip out on his bill is what we’d call a heart-warming favorite. The listing on Amazon then forks over to Power Man for the rest of the solo run.

Iron Fist had a shorter run and you can get the entire solo series (Marvel Premiere and Iron Fist) in an Epic Collection. The run is most associated with the team it finished with: an early pairing of Chris Claremont and John Byrne. You may have heard of them.

The two books then merged into the longer-running Power Man & Iron Fist. Now here’s something we don’t always say: this one’s in Epic Collections, but not Masterworks format. Claremont & Byrne left shortly thereafter, paving the way for Jo Duffy, who might be most associated with it. Among the creators working on it were Duffy, Denny O’Neil, (a very young) Kurt Busiek, Christopher Priest, Kerry Gammil, Denys Cowan, Greg Larocque and Mark Bright. A stronger lineup than you might have guessed and a comic that remembered to be goofy at times.

It was revived as Heroes for Hire by John Ostrander and Pasqual Ferry in ’97. We also have a soft spot for the David Walker / Sanford Greene Power Man & Iron Fist in ’16.

But the best of the bunch? The Immortal Iron Fist. People are most familiar with the first half of the series, with the celebrated team of Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction/David Aja. We’re here to tell you that the back half by Duane Swierczynski/Travel Foreman is also pretty darn good. Plus, more Fat Cobra! Don’t sleep on the back half. Good value with those collected editions, too!

Seeing Green (Featuring a Few More $1.99 Volumes)

Green Lantern   Green Lantern by Geoff Johns   Green Lantern

The DC Green Lantern Corps Sale runs through Monday, 2/17.

Green Lantern’s been rebooted a LOT over the years (especially post-New 52), so let’s start out by listing the major titles involved here.

  • Green Lantern (’60-’86) – The original, although only certain stretches are collected.
  • Green Lantern Corps (’86-’88) – The original title changed to Corps to wrap up the Steve Englehart/Joe Staton era. We consider this the last stretch of the original series.
  • Green Lantern (’90 – ’04) – Only some of the Kyle Rayner material is collected from this era.
  • Green Lantern (’05 – ’11) – The Geoff Johns era (and one of the character’s best periods), but this is complicated to get the best deal. The omnibus editions  aren’t complete yet and are broken up into different sets than the single volumes though the single volumes are mostly cheaper.  You also should get Blackest Night to go with that volume of the series. There are all sorts of tie-ins for Blackest Night, but the omnibus of that does not seem to be offered in digital.
  • Green Lantern Corps Recharge (’05 – ’06) – Geoff Johns / Dave Gibbons / Patrick Gleason set up the GLC ongoing
  • Green Lantern Corps (’06-’11) – The companion book to Green Lantern, initially by Dave Gibbons / Patrick Gleason
  • Green Lantern (’11-’16) – New 52 relaunch. Starts out with Geoff Johns / Doug Mahnke, then Robert Venditti/Billy Tan start a long run.
  • Green Lantern: New Guardians (’11-’15)-The New 52 Kyle Raynor series
  • Green Lantern Corps (’11-’15) – The New 52 John Stewart / Guy Gardner / Kilowog series
  • Red Lanterns (’11-’15) – Yes, even the Red Lanterns had a New 52 book!
  • Sinestro (’14-’16) – Cullen Bunn / Dale Eaglesham / Brad Walker
  • Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead (’14-’15) – Event crossing over with the entire GL line
  • Green Lantern Corps: Lost Army (’15) – Cullen Bunn / Jesus Saiz
  • Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (’16-’18) – The DCU Rebirth relaunch, initially by Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval
  • Green Lanterns (’16-’18) – Rebirth title starring Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz
  • Green Lantern (’19) – Also known as “Season One” by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp
  • Green Lantern: Season Two (’20-’21) – finishing the Morrison/Sharp storyline
  • Green Lantern (’21-’22) – More of a John Stewart / Jo Mullein / Teen Lantern series by Geoffrey Thorne and Tom Raney
  • Green Lantern: War Journal (’23 – current) – Jeremy Adams / Montos; John Stewart is stalked by a particularly horrific extradimensional incursion

So what’s good? As a consequence of there not being that much reprinted, what’s available of the  original run is pretty solid. The early Broome/Kane. O’Neil/Adams. Wein/Gibbons. Englehart/Staton. All good stuff.

The Geoff Johns era is particularly good. We’d put Sinestro Corps War as the best sequence, if we had to pick.

The Morrison / Sharp run is also interesting. It starts out as more of a police procedural in space and then progressively gets stranger, with Sharp embracing the fantastical elements and leaning into that with the art. But remember, the two seasons (One and Two) form a single story.

Unannounced Sales

Cyberpunk 2077  Eltingville Club The Hunger and the Dusk

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 four 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:

Or save a little with the Cyberpunk 2077 Library Edition Volume 1, which collects 3 volumes.

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

The Dark Horse works (some of them technically Slave Labor material from back in the day) of Evan Dorkin are also on sale:

Also on sale:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Daredevil  The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse

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: Fantastic Four; Black Panther; Miles Morales; Doctor Doom; Black Lightning; Hard Case Crime

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts the full run (mostly) of Fantastic Four, plus Black Panther, Miles Morales and Doctor Doom. DC offers a “Power” sale (Black Lightning, John Stewart and friends). Titan slashes prices on Hard Case Crime titles and Dark Horse has a manga 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):

Four Play

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

Marvel’s Fantastic Four Sale runs through Monday, 2/17.

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 #191 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 6 volumes of Masterworks on sale (V. 21-26) or you can hop on to Fantastic Four Visionaires: John Byrne. You’d need to cut over to the Visionaries run in the middle of  V. 7 to pick up where the discounted Masterworks leave off.  These comics really ought to be in an Epic Collections, 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?) We figure the run will at least need to finish up in Masterwork format first and V. 27 is scheduled for June ’25, so there you go.

Move ahead a bit and Walt Simonson had a stint that may be a little more notable for being an early appearance of the Time Variance Authority (which actually debuted in his Thor run). This is most easily grabbed across Epic Collections V.20 and V.21.

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.

Dwayne McDuffie and Paul Pelletier jumped in for an arc with Black Panther and Storm briefly joining the team.

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.

T’Challa Forever

Black Panther Masterworks  Black Panther by Priest  Black Panther

The Marvel Black Panther Sale runs through Monday, 3/3.

  • The Don McGregor era (AKA, pre-Priest), where Don McGregor was primary author… with a notable Kirby interlude. The best way to navigate the multiple editions is:
  • The Chrisopher Priest era  – with art by Mark Texiera, M.D. Bright and Sal Velluto (among others)
  • The Reggie Hudlin era (yes, “House Party” / “Boomerang” Hudlin) – with art by John Romita, Jr., Scot Eaton and Denys Cowan (among others)
    • Separate from the regular series is the excellent Flags of Our Fathers by Hudlin and Denys Cowan, which features a WWII era tale of Captain America “visiting” Wakanda and meeting T’Challa’s grandfather, the Black Panther of that period.
  • The Ta-Nehisi Coates era (yes, from The Atlantic) – while the volumes are numbered consecutively, it’s split into two listing
    • Part one – with art by Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse (among others)
    • Part two – with art by Daniel Acuna and Kev Walker (among others)
  • The John Ridley era (Yes, Oscar-winner Ridley from 12 Years a Slave) – with art by Juann Cabal and German Peralta
  • The Eve Ewing era – with art by Chris Allen

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

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

We like Hudlin’s run, too.

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

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

The Once and Future Ultimate Spidey

  Miles Morales: Spider-Man  Miles Morales

The Marvel Miles Morales Sale runs through Monday, 3/3.

Miles, of course, was the second Ultimate Spider-Man, but that world no longer exists and now there’s a new Ultimate Spider-Man and… we wouldn’t want to explain that to somebody walking in off the street.

For the first Brian Bendis/David Marquez/Sara Pichelli run, you’re probably best off with the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set.

Then pop over to the  ’16-18 Bendis /Pichelli Spider-Man run.

And after that wraps, it’s time for Miles Morales by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron.

The current series is Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Cody Ziglar and Federico Vicentini. 

Victor Von Doom Bows Before No Man!

Doctor Doom  Avengers - The Private War of Doctor Doom  Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment

The Marvel Doctor Doom Sale runs through Monday, 2/17.

The top dog here is the Doctor Doom series by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca. Its an instant classic well worth your time. Doom has been framed. For now he’s on the run, but his vengeance will be terrible. Featuring Kang in a highly amusing frenemy role.

Avengers: The Private War of Doctor Doom has a lot of creators with Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart and Jim Shooter as the primary writers and George Perez as the primary artist. This is a cross-over between Super Villain Team-Up (a better than you might think series that was basically Namor and Doom plotting against each other) and Avengers.

Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern and Mike Mignola has Strange and Doom invading Hell to free Doom’s mother from the clutches of Mephisto.

Also of possible interest – Iron Man: Doomquest collects a famous pair of David Michelinie / Bob Layton tales (w/John Romita, Jr. on the first) that have a time travelling Doom clashing with Iron Man.  Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is the lesser-known Michelinie/Layton/Ron Lim follow-up.

While we’re not sure we’d call it a Doom story, per se, Blood Hunt‘s ending certainly sets up the next big Doctor Doom story arc. This would be a Jed MacKay/Pepe Larraz tale. We’re thinking this is Blood Hunt‘s first time discounted?

Power Up

Black Lightning  Green Lantern War Journal  The Terrifics

The DC Power 2025 Sale runs through Monday, 2/10.

A few things we saw that caught our eye:

  • Black Lightning – Tony Isabella / Trevor Von Eeden; Then Denny O’Neil / Gerry Conway / Dick Dillon / Marshall Rogers; V.1 is the original solo series, V.2 is the backups that rounded out the ’70s.
  • Green Lantern: War Journal Vol. 1: Contagion – Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Montos; Particularly horrific extradimensional beings hunt John Stewart
  • Justice League by Christopher Priest – Priest / Pete Woods – An ode to toxic fandom
  • The Terrifics – Jeff Lemire / Gene Yang / Ivan Reis / Doc Shaner / Steven Segovia; Mister Terrific, Metamorpho, Plastic Man and Phantom Girl in a team book. Whatever made you think it’s offbeat? The only DC New Age of Heroes title to get traction.

Theft

Gun Honey  Ms. Tree  Tyler Cross

The Titan Hard Case Crime Comics Sale run through  Friday, 2/28.

Hard Case was originally a publisher of pulp-influenced crime novels that eventually came into Titan’s publishing orbit and added a line of comics, often written by well known crime novelists. Most of these titles come in two flavors: collected editions and $0.99 single issues. Watch the page count, but you’ll usually find the single issues are cheaper when available.

  • The Big Hoax – Carlos Trillo / Roberto Mandrafina
  • Breakneck – Duane Swierczynski / Simone Guglielmini
  • Frank Lee, After Alcatraz – David Hasteda / Ludovic Chesno
  • Gamma Draconis – Eldo Yoshimizu / Benoist Simmat
  • Gun Honey – Charles Ardai  / Ang Hor Kheng
  • The Millennium Trilogy – Sylvain Runberg / Stieg Larsson / Jose Homs  / Manolo Carot / José Homs / Belen Ortega; as in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
  • Ms. Tree – Max Allan Collins / Terry Beatty; Collins riffs on Mike Hammer decades before working on those novels. V. 1-2 are actually the Ms. Tree Quarterly issues from DC at the end of the run. The original run starts in V. 3. Beatty now works on the Rex Morgan, MD and Phantom comic strips
  • Normandy Gold – Megan Abbott / Alison Gaylin / Steve Scott
  • Peepland – Christa Faust / Gary Phillips / Andrea Camerini
  • The Prague Coup – Jean-Luc Fromental / Miles Hyman; Graham Greene is reimagined into a coup attempt
  • Quarry’s War – Max Allan Collins / Szymon Kudranski; The novels about the assassin, Quarry, go all the way back to ’76 and precedes Collins writing Dick Tracy
  • Ryuko – Eldo Yoshimizu
  • Tyler Cross – by Fabien Nury / Bruno

Ms. Tree is probably the most famous comic here. Max Allan Collins has all his bona fides from Dick Tracy to The Road to Perdition to getting named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.

What you might not realize is that Charles Ardai, the head of Hard Case, is actually an Edgar and Shamus winner in his own right.

Unannounced Sales

Astro Boy Elfen Lied Path of the Assassin

Dark Horse has a wide selection of their manga titles on sale this week. Some titles we noticed:

Also on sale:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

The Ultimates  Daredevil  The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe

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

  • Ultimates By Deniz Camp Vol. 1: Fix The World – Deniz Camp / Juan Frigeri; While not the cheapest thing listed, we’ve been pretty happy with this dark and twisted world builder. Doom and She-Hulk? Not necessarily what you were expecting. $12.99

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel Cosmic; DC’s Milestone Team; Spider-Woman; Resident Alien; Richard Corben

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts their cosmic titles. DC cuts prices for the Milestone Team; Dark Horse highlights Resident Alien and Richard Corben.

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):

All McDuffie, All the Time

Justice League  Hardware  Lobo

The DC Team Milestone Sale runs through Monday, 2/3.

You may notice that there’s a lot of Dwayne McDuffie material on sale, which is always a good thing. Some McDuffie books we like:

The Justice League of America run (despite his issues with editorial): The Injustice League, Sanctuary, The Second Coming, and When Worlds Collide w/Ed Benes (and Alan Burnett).

We also think extremely highly of Hardware: The Man in the Machine w/ Denys Cowan and JJ Birch, which is pretty much how intellectual property worked in the tech industry in the early 90s.

Some interesting books by other people:

  • Batman: Second Chances – Max Allan Collins / Dave Cockrum; Jim Starlin / Jim Aparo; The Collins run and revamping of Jason Todd and the beginning of the Starlin/Aparo run
  • Deathstroke (’16) – Christopher Priest / Carlo Pagulayan / Diogenes Neves; A dark and psychological take… and definitely a lead who’s a villain, not an anti-hero
  • Lobo by Keith Giffen & Alan Grant Vol. 1 – Keith Giffen / Alan Grant / Simon Bisley; The over-top exploits of The Main Man from the early 90s.

If you haven’t had a look at the DC Start Here sale, that’s still running through Monday and has lots of bargains.

Cosmic Slop

The Marvel Cosmic Sale runs through Tuesday, 2/4.

This is, after a fashion, a convergence of smaller sales as we follow the thread of cosmic tales and characters through Marvel. The threads weave in and out, but for the sake of easy processing, let’s look at them this way:

The Marvel World of Jim Starlin
Warlock Rebirth of Thanos

Jim Starlin defined “cosmic” for Marvel in the 70s and then returned in the late 80s to revive it (and his signature villain, Thanos) in the run-up to The Infinity Gauntlet, after which things kinda blew up.

Starlin’s Captain Marvel is missing, but Warlock by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection is available on the cheap. It’s highly recommended and a foundational work for a lot of what is to come.

The lack of Epic Collections hampers the availability of Starlin’s Silver Surfer run in this sale, but The Rebirth of Thanos w/ Ron Lim, which sets up The Infinity Gauntlet is included.

Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer: Parable Silver Surfer: Requiem Silver Surfer

Most of the “classic” Surfer runs are missing with the lack of Epics and Masterworks in the sale

Original Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers   Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino

No, not like the movies or spinning out of Annihilation (we’ll get to that in a bit), this was a super team in the future that occasionally returned to our present. They weren’t created by Steve Gerber, but he built them up in Defenders and then Marvel Presents before moving on.

Honestly, this is our preferred GoG. The originals are solid. The Valentino run is a trip (and seems like it must’ve been an influence on Bendis when he rebooted Legion of Super-Heroes). Very different from what came later, though.

Nova

Nova Classic   Nova by Abnett & Lanning

High school student Richard Rider becomes a centurion of the Nova Corps and tries to figure out his powers in the initial run. By the time DnA get ahold of the character, he’s a veteran and the road to Annihilation has begun.

  • Nova (1976-78) – The original Marv Wolfman/John Buscema/Sal Buscema/Carmine Infantino run
  • Nova (2007-10) – The Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Paul Pelletier/Kev Walker/Andrea di Vito era – the Complete Collection is the better deal.
  • Nova (2013-15) – Gerry Duggan / Paco Medina was probably the longest tenured creative team of this volume.
  • Nova: Resurrection (2015) – Jeff Loveness / Ramon Perez
  • Nova: The Human Rocket (2015-16) – Sean Ryan / Cory Smith / John Timms

What’s good here?  We’d go with the original run or the DnA run (complete with a space station carved out of a Celestial’s head – yes, the concept predates Avengers Mountain).

Annihilation

Annihilation

Annihilation was a crossover Event for Marvel’s fledging “cosmic” line in which Annihilus mounted a deadly invasion from the Negative Zone. It struck a nerve.

Annihilation is the first series of mini-series.

Annihilation: Conquest is the sequel as Ultron and the Phalanx make their move.  This leads into the formation of the new Guardians of the Galaxy.

Annihilation: Scourge is 2019 entry in the series.

New Guardians of the Galaxy (The DnA cast or movie version if you must)

Guardians of the Galaxy   Guardians of the Galaxy

We LOVED the final Ewing/Cabal series, which ends with “The Final Annihilation.” And if you liked Nova and the Annihilation Events, the DnA run is the continuation of that format. The ’23 version of GoG is indisputably the Kev Walker show.

Eensy Weensy

 Spider-Woman  Spider-Woman

The Marvel Spider-Woman Sale runs through Tuesday, 2/4

Last week, we noted a lack of Masterworks in the X-Men sale. This week, in the Cosmic sale. Guess what? Same deal with Spider-Woman, so the ’78-’83 original run is off the table. Is this going to be a trend for ’25? Time will tell.

Unannounced Sales

Resident Alien  Den  Stephen King's the Dark Tower

Resident Alien is a comic by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse about a stranded alien posing as a doctor and solving murders. It got a little more famous when a TV adaptation hit and a lot more famous when the TV show moved over to Netflix. (And will now be moving over to the USA cable network.) We read the first omnibus a few months back and if your point of reference is the TV show, the comic is a little more mystery-oriented. It’s available in

Note: the 7th series is only available as a collected edition at this time.

We’re also seeing an assortment of Richard Corben’s Dark Horse publications on sale:

Also on sale:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Hellverine: Resurrection  Jango Fett

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

  • Ultimates By Deniz Camp Vol. 1: Fix The World – Deniz Camp / Juan Frigeri; While not the cheapest thing listed, we’ve been pretty happy with this dark and twisted world builder. Doom and She-Hulk? Not necessarily what you were expecting. $12.99

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Uncanny X-Men, DC “Start Here,” Original Sin, Elfquest, Bendis at Dark Horse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts Uncanny X-Men and Original Sin. DC cuts pricing for their “start here” titles. Dark Horse has sales on Elfquest and Bendis.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

DC’s Starting Line

All-Star Superman  Far Sector  Swamp Thing

The DC Start Here sale runs through Monday, 2/3.

Hello, more holiday prices and plenty of $1.99 books in the mix. It looks like this is largely, but not completely, a first volume in the series sale. Well, let’s be rebels and concentrate on good reads that are a little more self-contained, shall we? (But it’s worth your time to have a good browse through the actual sale. It’s quite long and the prices are good.)

  • All-Star Superman – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely; A love letter to the Silver Age Superman and something a certain Mr. Gunn has been recommending as a touchpoint
  • Batman: The Complete Hush – Jeph Loeb / Jim Lee; It’s not like they’re doing a sequel… or are they?
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller; One of the books that launched post-modernism
  • Batman: Killing Time – Tom King / David Marquez; A noir heist caper with Gotham’s villains bickering over the loot as Batman’s pursuit gets closer
  • Batman: The Long Halloween – Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale; The classic tale of Batman hunting a murderer who slays on holidays
  • Batman: Tales of the Demon – Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams / Don Newton; The original Ra’s al Ghul tales, including the ’79-’80 return in Detective.
  • Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart – Englehart / Marshall Rogers / Walter Simonson; All of Englehart’s Batman. If the original Detective run isn’t the best Batman run, it’s at least top 3. Highly recommended
  • Batman: Year One – Frank Miller / David Mazzucchelli; Miller’s take on Batman’s origin
  • Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams – Get their complete collaboration with this volume. Great run.
  • Camelot 3000 – Mike W. Barr / Brian Bolland; The Knights of Camelot return to fend off an alien invasion
  • Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby – Dave Wood / Jack Kirby; Kirby’s ’58 hit for DC is a pretty much a dry run for the Fantastic Four, except the villains are the ones with powers
  • DC: The New Frontier – Darwyn Cooke’s masterpiece about the dawn of the Silver Age. All in one volume. 500 pages / $2.99 and a highest possible recommendation
  • The Demon by Jack Kirby – Kirby’s horror-adventure series about a man bound to a demon by Merlin
  • Dial H – China Mieville / Alberto Ponticelli / Mateus Santolouco; OK, Mieville has been the dean of “weird fiction” for quite some time, but now that he’s collaborated with Keanu on a BZRKR novel (quite good, btw), you might take interest in his take on Dial H for Hero. Mostly under the radar, but wonderfully bizarre
  • Far Sector – N.K. Jemisin / Jamal Campbell; A rookie Green Lantern with an experimental ring investigates a murder on a planet that hasn’t seen violence in 500 years. Excellent worldbuilding. Highly recommended
  • Final Crisis – Grant Morrison / J.G. Jones / Doug Mahnke / Carlos Pacheco; Darkseid takes over in this Event and this has the necessary tie-ins. 456 pages for $1.99
  • The Flash: Savage Velocity – Mike Baron / William Messner-Loebs / Jackson Guice / Mike Collins; The beginning of the Wally West Flash era with the full Baron run and beginning of Messner-Loeb’s tenure
  • The Forever People by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; A Fourth World collection
  • Gotham City: Year One – Tom King / Phil Hester; The story of how Gotham City got so bad as Slam Bradley involves the kidnapping of the Wayne baby
  • The Huntress- Origins – Paul Levitz / Joe Staton; The collected solo adventures of The Huntress, back when the character was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman.
  • Jonah Hex: Welcome To Paradise – John Albano / Michael Fleischer / Tony DeZuniga; Early (70s) stories we don’t always see at a discount
  • Jonah Hex: Shadows West – Joe R. Lansdale / Tim Truman; All three of the Lansdale/Truman series with a weird western/horror angle on Hex. Under the radar these days, but high octane weird. 387 pages
  • Kingdom Come – Mark Waid / Alex Ross; A dystopian confrontation between the old guard and new heroes… or a critique of the the grim’n’gritty era?
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill; Just pretend the godawful film doesn’t exist. Moore & O’Neill assemble a team of reluctant government operatives from ~1880s SF/F and Horror literature. And a bit more accurately than many of the media adaptions (particularly Nemo). Wonderful series with very funny and subversive advertisements (you’ll see)
  • Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga – Paul Levitz / Keith Giffen; A 400+ page volume with arguably the greatest Legion tale… for $1.99, cheap
  • Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson Deluxe Edition – Simply one of the best adventure comics of all time, as you might guess from Archie and Walt collaborating. Highest possible recommendation
  • Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s Fourth World series about a son of New Genesis who was raised on Apokalypse and became the greatest escape artist across all those worlds
  • Mister Miracle (’17-’19) – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; The Eisner winning series where Scott Free tries to escape death itself
  • The Multiversity – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely / Ivan Reis; A tale that hops across parallel Earths as Morrison goes wild with world-building. 450 pages
  • New Gods by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; The original tale of Darkseid and Peak Kirby. Highly recommended
  • Night Force (’82-83) – Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan; The Tomb of Dracula team reunites at DC for a horror book about a mansion that contains a portal through space and time and its mysterious owner. Marv told us this is his favorite of his work and we happily recommend it
  • OMAC : One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s adventure-satire about a corporate dystopian future has aged well and has more bite than you might expect
  • One-Star Squadron – Mark Russell / Steve Leiber; A pitch black satire of the gig economy as Red Tornado attempts to run a heroes for hire app
  • Ronin – Frank Miller; Something of an experimental comic at the time, this is Miller’s mashup of cyberpunk and samurai mixing reincarnation, demons and cyborgs
  • Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow – Tom King / Bilquis Evely; Another James Gunn favorite
  • Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; A fourth world entrant, this is effectively Kirby’s Superman book. Also where Project Cadmus and the DNAliens come from. Don’t shun it because it’s ’70s Jimmy Olsen. It’s Kirby doing adventure
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction / Steve Lieber; A comedy masterpiece. Jimmy wakes up hung over and freshly married in Gorilla City… and that’s before he has to figure out who’s trying to ice him. Tour de force
  • Superman: Red Son – Mark Millar / Dave Johnson Killian Plunkett; What If baby Kal-El’s rocket landed in the Soviet Union? (See what we did there?)
  • Superman Smashes the Klan – Gene Yang / Gurihiru;
  • Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age, Vol. 1 – Len Wein / Bernie Wrightson; The original run, which is universally considered a classic for good reason
  • Top 10 – Alan Moore / Gene Ha / Zander Cannon; Eisner-winning mixing of superheroes with a Hill Street Blues style police procedural; highly recommended
  • V for Vendetta – Alan Moore / David Lloyd; A tale of resistance in an authoritarian dystopia. And it seems it’s listed as an “eTextbook.” Such a world we live in
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons – We assume you don’t need this one explained to you

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, 2/4.

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 as with the later series, and there are some Event collections in the sale, too.

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. (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.

Point of Origin

Original Sin   Original Sin: Hulk vs. Iron Man   Original Sin: Thor & Loki

The Marvel Original Sin Sale runs through Monday, 1/27.

This would be the Marvel Event by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato where the Marvel heroes investigate the murder of The Watcher.

Original Sin is the core series.

Original Sin: Hulk Vs. Iron Man by Mark Waid, Kieron Gillen and Mark Bagley is really Original Sin 3.1-3.4

Original Sin: Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm by Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, Simone Bianchi and Lee Garbett is really Original Sin 5.1 – 5.5

As with most Marvel Events, there are plenty of tie-ins and all manner ways to read them (that involve flipping between collections), but that’s the most central set.

Unannounced Sales

Elfquest  Nancy: A Comic Collection

Dark Horse is having an Elfquest sale.

The Complete Elfquest is the omnibus series that will take you all the way from the beginning through The Final Quest. It’s a very good value.

ElfQuest: Stargazer’s Hunt Complete Edition, illustrated by Sonny Strait, is Skywise’s adventure that follows The Final Quest.

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

And also Masters of the Universe (otherwise known as He-Man)

Also on sale:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Alien: Black White & Blood  Hellverine: Resurrection  Jango Fett

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: Aquaman and the Justice League; Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel Library; Cable and Bishop; The Millarverse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has some holiday-esque pricing on Aquaman and the Justice League. Marvel discounts the works of Jonathan Hickman, pluc Cable and Bishop. Dark Horse has deals on the Millarverse and The Witcher.

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):

Administrative Note

Earlier in the week, we looked at which titles are newly included in this year’s annual Marvel Masterworks Sale.

He’s All Wet

Aquaman  Aquaman by Peter David  Justice League of America

The DC Aquaman Sale runs through Monday, 1/13.

OK, it’s really an Aquaman and the Justice League sale… but here’s the real wrinkle: holiday-like sales pricing. Could DC be turning over a new leaf? Wouldn’t that be a thing?

Things that caught our eye:

Aquaman

  • Aquaman (’62 – ’78) – You’re looking at 2 volumes of Steve Skeates / Jim Aparo that ended the original run, then Death of a Prince primarily written by David Michelinie/Paul Levitz with art by Jim Aparo/Mike Grell/Don Newton; $2.99 is a lot cheaper than these used to get listed for
  • Aquaman: The Legend of Aquaman (’89) – Keith Giffen / Robert Loren Fleming / Curt Swan; Sometimes you need to see Swan doing something other than Superman to really appreciate him
  • Aquman (’94- ’01) – Peter David / Martin Egeland; The controversial run where Aquaman loses a hand
  • Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis (’06-’07) – Kurt Busiek / Butch Guice; We really enjoyed this entirely too short-lived “Conan under the sea”-type take on Aquaman
  • Aquaman (’11-’16) Geoff Johns / Ivan Reis; We thought V.2 was the peak here with “The Others” and the Trench’s aftermath
  • The Atlantis Chronicles – Peter David / Esteban Maroto; A gorgeously illustrated high fantasy tale of this history of Atlantis and its sorcerers. This is where all the “Orin” business comes from.

Justice League

  • Justice League of America (’60-’87) – The Silver Age editions are $1.99@
  • JLA (’97 – ’01) – Grant Morrison / Howard Porter -> Mark Waid / Bryan Hitch -> Joe Kelly / Doug Mahnke -> Chris Claremont / John Byrne; There’s more to this classic run than just Morrison and it’s $1.99/volume
  • JLA Year One – Mark Waid / Brian Augustyn / Barry Kitson; An extended Justice League origin tale
  • Justice League by Christopher Priest (’18) – Christopher Priest / Pete Woods; Priest’s meditation on toxic fandom in a single volume
  • Justice League (’18) – Scott Snyder / James Tynion IV / Jorge Jiménez / Francis Manapul / Jim Cheung; The Snyder era is best enjoyed with double volumes for $2.99
  • Justice League of America: The Nail: The Complete Collection – Alan Davis made a stone cold classic with his tale of a world where a flat tire caused the Kents to miss the rocket and the Justice League tries to form without a Superman. Suffice it to say, things go sideways

Hickman

Fantastic Four by Hickman   Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Secret Wars

The Marvel Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Monday, 1/20.

The big opus was the story that ran through Fantastic Four, Avengers and then ended in Secret Wars. And it’s infinitely easier (yes, that was a pun) to read that in the Complete Collection editions, because that puts the issues in the correct reading order and includes the mini-series tie-ins. Otherwise, at a certain point, you’re reading an issue from an Avengers collection and then having to open a New Avengers collection for the next issue. Or an issue of FF. We had to do that back in the day and it was REALLY annoying. This is just a better way to read them.

That’s all you need. “Time Runs Out” is even in the final Avengers Complete Collection volume. And here’s something that cannot be understated, the sheer scope of this tale makes it increasingly compelling the further into it you go. Once you’re past the Infinity sequence, it really starts getting jaw-dropping. And this falls under the category of “in for a penny, in for a pound.” You start the sequence, you need to finish through Secret Wars. Especially with the Avengers.

House of X / Powers of X   X of Swords  Secret Warriors

For the X-Men material, House of X / Powers of X is self-contained. X of Swords is relatively self-contained (and a very successful cross-over). Past that, we think the Hickman era is best enjoyed with the Dawn of X collections to better appreciate what an unusual tapestry was being weaved. Reign of X, as well.

Past his more famous outings, The Human Machine is the complete version of Hickman’s second S.H.I.E.L.D. series. (The first series, Architects of Forever, is not discounted here.)

Secret Warriors, launched under Bendis, but continued under Hickman and Alessandro Vitti, is a Nick Fury/S.H.I.E.L.D. series.

G.O.D.S. Ultimate Invasion  Ultimate Spider-Man

G.O.D.S. is the recently ended Hickman / Valerio Schiti series that’s effectively a traditional Urban Fantasy tale in the Marvel universe (guest starring Stephen Strange). We liked it quite a bit and are up for a sequel.

Ultimate Invasion with Bryan Hitch is the set up for the current incarnation of the Ultimate universe as The Maker (Ultimate Reed Richards) escapes and decides to make a parallel world his personal experiment.

Ultimate Invasion leads right into the excellent Ultimate Spider-Man with Marco Checchetto, where an older, married with children, Peter Parker suddenly becomes Spidey.

You Were Expecting Disney+?

Cable   Cable & Deadpool   Cable

The Marvel Cable and Bishop Sale runs through Monday, 1/13.

There really have been a lot of Cable titles over the years.

New Mutants Epic Collection: Cable by (mostly) Louise Simonson & Rob Liefeld contains the original appearances of Cable as he stalks the Mutant Liberation Front.

The original Cable series was the longest-lived. It starts out as Cable Classic with the original mini’s, but we might lean a little further down the page – Ladronn art and early stories by Joe Casey and James Robinson.

The other long-running title was Cable & Deadpool. Fabian Nicieza was the writer, with Patrick Zircher and Reilly Brown as the primary artists.

The most recent Cable ongoing series was the HoX/PoX era series by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto which finds Cable much younger, but still up to his neck in time paradoxes.

X-Men Epic Collection: Bishop’s Crossing is where Bishop first pops up, at the beginning of the post-Claremont, Jim Lee / Whilce Portacio era.

Unannounced Sales

Nemesis Reloaded  Night Club  Witcher

Dark Horse has a Millarverse Sale going on:

Dark Horse has put their adaptations of The Witcher on sale. They’re available in:

Also on sale:

  • Run: Book One – John Lewis / Andrew Aydin / L. Fury / Nate Powell

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Symbiote Spider-Man 2099  Venom: The King in Purple

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: DC’s Best of 2024; Best of the Marvel Epic Collections; Titan Horror

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC discounts their best of ’24. A look at the best of the Epic Collections on sale. Plus, Horror from Titan.

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):

Best of the Marvel Epic Collection Sale

Fantastic Four - The Coming of Galactus  New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga  X-Men Epic Collection

What are the best Epic Collections available? Let’s add a constraint. Since this is .cheap, what are the best Epic Collections currently on sale for $6.99? (Which is not to say there aren’t EXCELLENT collections at higher price points, but there is an image to maintain, yes?)

Speaking of Best…

The DC Best of 2024 eBooks Sale runs through Monday, 1/6.

It probably would have been better for you if you picked this up in the last two weeks of December, but there are some legit good books in this stack.

The Horror! The Horror!

Bloodborne  Lenore  V.E. Schwab's Extraordinary

The Titan Comics: The Horror, The Eerie & The Strange Sale runs through Friday, 1/31.

We sometimes hear digital comics readers bemoaning the lack of single issues in these sales. Guess what? We have $0.99 single issues and that will color what format is the cheapest, too.

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy  Martha Washington  Minor Threats

It appears that Dark Horse has most of their collected editions on sale, but not the newest material and not the single issues.  Here’s a link that will *eventually* get you through their catalog in a very laborious way and with the single issues mixed in. (It’s not perfect, but we’re trying.) We think this will run through the weekend, possibly to Monday.

Here are some direct links to various series:

Under the radar alert: you don’t hear about this much anymore, but     The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century is a Frank Miller / Dave Gibbons collaboration with a different tone than Miller’s commonly associated these days. It’s a lot closer to Halo Jones than it is to Sin City or the later Dark Knight volumes.

Also on sale

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin  Darth Vader  Vengeance of the Moon Knight

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: DC’s $1.99 Mania Pt IV – Mister Miracle to World’s Finest

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, part 4 of our look at DC’s $1.99 Mania – Mister Miracle through World’s Finest in the $1.99 catalog. Plus, a Dark Horse 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):

Administrative Notes

Ho, ho ho – the holiday sales march on. This is the fourth holiday sale installment. The DC sale is running through 12/30. The Marvel sales are all running through 1/6.

  • Installment one of the holiday columns covered what’s new in this year’s Marvel Epic Collection Sale and the current DC titles in the $1.99 sale
  • Installment two covered 1st Issue Special through Fables of the DC $1.99 sale, Marvel’s Star Wars Omnibus Sale, Best of ’24 Sale and What If? Sale
  • Installment three covered Far Sector through Marshal Law of the DC $1.99 sale.

DC $1.99 Mania Continued (Part IV)

Mister Miracle  New Gods by Jack Kirby  Night Force

The DC Holiday All eBooks Sale runs through 12/30.

We’re still rolling through DC’s very nearly line-wide sale. Not everything from September to the beginning of time is $1.99, but the vast majority of collected editions seem to be. You should probably have your own scroll through it, but we’re looking at it alphabetically and calling out interesting books based on readability, value/larger page count and if it’s infrequently discounted.

  • Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s Fourth World series about a son of New Genesis who was raised on Apokalypse and became the greatest escape artist across all those worlds
  • Mister Miracle by Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber – Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers and Steve Gerber / Michael Golden / Russ Heath; This book requires a little explanation. This is the late ’70s revival of the series. Englehart & Rogers (of the famous Batman/Detective run) don’t quite gel, but it’s a high floor. Gerber starts exploring the nature of godhood after that and it gets extremely interesting before getting caught in the DC Implosion and cancelled. You need to see Heath inking Golden for yourself. It’s a treat and you’ll end up angry this wonderful experiment was cancelled. Seldom discounted and usually a little overpriced… but not this week
  • Mister Miracle (’17-’19) – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; The Eisner winning series where Scott Free tries to escape death itself
  • The Multiversity – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely / Ivan Reis; A tale that hops across parallel Earths as Morrison goes wild with world-building. 450 pages
  • New Gods by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; The original tale of Darkseid and Peak Kirby. Highly recommended
  • New Gods by Gerry Conway – Gerry Conway / Don Newton / George Perez; The ’77-’78 revival (and material moved over to Adventure Comics), plus the JLA/JSA/New Gods crossover (w/ Perez) that cemented Darkseid as a DCU big bad, not just off in the Fourth World corner of the room; Another volume that’s usually a little more expensive, even on sale
  • New Gods (’89 – ’91) – Mark Evanier / Paris Cullins / Rick Hoberg
  • New Teen Titans (’80-’88) – Marv Wolfman / George Perez; One of the titles that saved DC in the early ’80s and a classic of the era. Really due for the omnibus treatment, too
  • The Newsboy Legion – Joe Simon & Jack Kirby; One of the Simon & Kirby kid gangs (along with The Boy Commandos), the Newsboy Legion were watched over by a superhero called The Guardian. Kirby would return to them… with some twists… in his ’70s Jimmy Olsen run; Another title usually subject to abnormally high HC pricing
  • Night Force (’82-83) – Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan; The Tomb of Dracula team reunites at DC for a horror book about a mansion that contains a portal through space and time and its mysterious owner. Marv told us this is his favorite of his work and we happily recommend it

Orion  Plastic Man  Sandman Mystery Theater

  • OMAC : One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s adventure-satire about a corporate dystopian future has aged well and has more bite than you might expect
  • Orion – Walt Simonson; Yes, that’s Walt doing New Gods / the son of Darkseid with an approach not so different to his Thor. Excellent book that never seemed to get a push and fell under the radar. Highly recommended
  • Planetary – Warren Ellis / John Cassaday; The full series in two 400+ page volumes
  • Plastic Man: Rubber Banded – Kyle Baker; Baker’s full 20 issue run is hilarious. We’d say there’s two people to have done Plas that came anywhere near the spirit of Jack Cole. Baker is one of them (Hilary Barta is the other). This one is usually at a bizarre price for a digital book, due to the fancy HC edition. Currently $2.99
  • Preacher – Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon; God has gone missing and Jesse Custer would like to have a word with him. Double volumes
  • Promethea – Alan Moore / J.H. Williams III; A beautifully illustrated fantasy/occult adventure with an extra side of philosophy. Double volumes. Recommended
  • Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter – Denny O’Neil / Ric Estrada; The full 70s series at a good price for the completist in your life
  • Robin – In the 90s, there were three miniseries of Tim Drake as Robin that led into the ongoing title, so of course they’re not all listed on the same page
  • Sandman Mystery Theater – Matt Wagner / Steven T. Seagle / Guy Davis; The adventures of Wesley Dodds as the Golden Age Sandman, replete with gas mask and gun, ably assisted by Dian Belmont. This excellent title had a 70 issue run under the old Vertigo label and the first 24 issues are available across two volumes. If you like ’30s pulp detectives, this will be your jam
  • Scalped – Jason Aaron / R. M. Guera; This neo-noir about an undercover FBI agent infiltrating the casino at the reservation he grew up on and thought he’d escaped was Jason Aaron’s breakthrough series. Double volumes
  • Secret Six – Gail Simone’s cult series about a crew of villains that flirt with the straight and narrow. We’d put it at or near the top of her catalog.
    • Secret Six V.1 – Gail Simone / Dale Eaglesham / Brad Walker; Villains United, which this spun off from, and the original mini-series
    • Secret Six V.2-4 – Gail Simone / Nicola Scott / Jim Calafiore; Double volumes of the ongoing series
  • Seven Soldiers of Victory – Grant Morrison / J.H Williams III / Simone Bianchi / Frazier Irving; Morrison crafts a story across a series of mini-series, including Zatanna and his reinvention of Frankenstein
  • Sheriff of Babylon – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; An political thriller as an ex-cop contracted to train Iraq’s new police force looks into the murder of one of his recruits and finds a maze of conflicting agendas and duplicity. The full series in one volume

Superman: Phantom Zone  Jimmy Olsen  World's Finest

  • Superman: Birthright – Mark Waid / Leinil Francis Yu; An expanded origin tale that spends a little more time than most on the period between Smallville and Metropolis.
  • Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; A fourth world entrant, this is effectively Kirby’s Superman book. Also where Project Cadmus and the DNAliens come from. Don’t shun it because it’s ’70s Jimmy Olsen. It’s Kirby doing adventure
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction / Steve Lieber; A comedy masterpiece. Jimmy wakes up hung over and freshly married in Gorilla City… and that’s before he has to figure out who’s trying to ice him. Tour de force
  • Superman: Phantom Zone – Steve Gerber / Gene Colan / Rick Veitch; A Superman tale that veers into horror as a Phantom Zone escapee causes Superman to look a little deeper into the Zone’s origins. Also includes the DC Comics Presents sequel.
  • Superman: The Man of Steel – John Byrne / Marv Wolfman / Jerry Ordway; The Byrne era of Superman in 450+ page chunks for $1.99
  • Saga of the Swamp Thing – (initially) Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / John Totleben, with some Stan Woch and Rick Veitch; This volume starts out not quite two years into the series (see next listing) with Alan Moore’s arrival to spark an absolutely legendary run.
  • Swamp Thing (’72 – ’76) – Len Wein / Bernie Wrightson; The “Bronze Age” collections on this link are three distinct things. V.1 is the original Wein/Wrightson run, which completely lives up to its reputation. V. 2 is the remainder of the original run, with David Michelinie and Nestor Redondo being the longest serving creative team, plus some extra’s like Swamp Thing’s guest star run in Challengers of the Unknown. V.3 is really the pre-Alan Moore issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing from 1982. Martin Pasko writes, artists include Tom Yeates, with Stephen Bissette and John Totleben arriving a couple issue prior to Moore.
  • Transmetropolitan – Warren Ellis / Darick Robertson; The 23rd century adventures of Hunter S. Thompson-esque journalist Spider Jerusalem as he feuds with corrupt presidents.
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons – We assume you don’t need this one explained to you
  • Wonder Woman (Golden Age) – William Moulton Marston & H.G. Peter; It’s hard to understate how wild, over-the-top and bondage-driven these original tales are. It reads differently to an adult audience.
  • Wonder Woman (’87 – ’06) – We’re  big fans of the George Perez and Greg Rucka runs. Walt Simonson & Jerry Ordway, too. This is the post-Crisis reset, and for a lot of people this is where Wonder Woman begins. NOTE – to get the V.5 and V.6 of the Perez run, you need to go to this page. (Hey, don’t look at us, we didn’t put it there.)
  • Wonder Woman (’11-’16) – Brian Azzarello / Cliff Chiang; The first six volumes are the Azarello/Chiang run. Some feel it’s sacrilegious to the character (Azzarello being less than reverent? That’s his brand!), but regardless of that aspect, it’s a highly entertaining adventure as Wonder Woman discovers… let’s call it a possible new origin. A high point of the New 52 initiative.
  • Wonder Woman (’16) – Greg Rucka returns in a refutation of the Azzarello run that’s GREAT. Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp alternate issues (and plot threads). Get in two volumes. Wonder Woman: The Rebirth – Book 1 and Wonder Woman: The Rebirth – Book 2
  • World’s Finest (’22-current) – Mark Waid / Dan Mora; We’re still leaning towards calling the series about the early team-ups of Batman & Superman DC’s best current series.

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy  Martha Washington  Minor Threats

It appears that Dark Horse has most of their collected editions on sale, but not the newest material and not the single issues.  Here’s a link that will *eventually* get you through their catalog in a very laborious way and with the single issues mixed in. (It’s not perfect, but we’re trying.)

Here are some direct links to various series:

Under the radar alert: you don’t hear about this much anymore, but     The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century is a Frank Miller / Dave Gibbons collaboration with a different tone than Miller’s commonly associated these days. It’s a lot closer to Halo Jones than it is to Sin City or the later Dark Knight volumes.

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin  Darth Vader  Vengeance of the Moon Knight

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 Next Week

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We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC $1.99 Mania Pt 2; Star Wars; Marvel’s Best of ’24; What If?

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, part 2 of our look at DC’s $1.99 Mania. Marvel applies discounts to Star Wars, What If? and their best of 2024 list. Dark Horse also is slashing price on Star Wars.

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):

Administrative Notes

Ho, ho ho – the holiday sales march on. Last time out, we flagged all the new Marvel Epic Collections since the last time those had a dedicated sale and pointed out DC’s $1.99 collections of recent/active series. We’ll probably be breaking the DC sale into two more installments… it’s just that big and those rock bottom prices demand attention.

DC $1.99 Mania Continued (Part II)

Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart  DC: The New Frontier  Fables

The DC Holiday All eBooks Sale runs through 12/30.

So, last time we were taking a quick glance at the current titles that are $1.99 (which is our kind of madness). Now we’re starting on a deep dive through the sale catalog. We’re not really going to be putting an emphasis on titles from the last few years, unless they were exceptional or there’s a Deluxe format (double volumes) you should be aware of. You know how to look up the current run of Batman without our help. We’re looking at good (but perhaps less visible) reads, large collections with exceptional value and things that might not get discounted very often as our compass points.

  • 1st Issue Special – A very odd Showcase type anthology that for this price, you’re looking at specific issues/feature: Atlas and Manhunter by Kirby. The debut of Warlord by Mike Grell. A Mike Fleisher/Steve Ditko Creeper issue. Most definitely a masterful Doctor Fate tale by Martin Pasko and Walt Simonson. This is normally more than $1.99
  • 52 – Johns/Morrison/Rucka/Waid/Giffen writing (and laying out) a 52 issue weekly series… which you can now have the entirety of for $3.98? Madness.
  • Action Comics ’38-’11 – Everything here is $1.99, including large Golden Age volumes and the Gil Kane collection, which is usually much more expensive.
  • All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever – Gerry Conway / Paul Levitz / Wally Wood / Keith Giffen / Joe Staton; The complete ’70s JSA revival, including the Adventure Comics stories; 449 pages, usually more than $1.99
  • American Vampire – Scott Snyder / Rafael Albuquerque – America gets it’s own breed of vampire
  • Animal Man (’89) – The Grant Morrison / Chas Troug is cheaper in omnibus format here, then cut back to “regular” volumes for Peter Milligan, Tom Veitch and Jamie Delano/Steve Dillon
  • Aquaman (’62-’78) – Apparently, I lied last week. This is the cheapest you’ll see these. 2 volumes of the Steve Skeates / Jim Aparo run and then a collection of the Adventure Comics and last few issues of the regular series by David Michelinie / Paul Levitz / Jim Aparo / Mike Grell / Don Newton. (Death of a Prince is listed at 337 pages.) These are all usually priced like HCs.
  • Aquaman: The Atlantis Chronicles – Peter David / Esteban Maroto; This one is usually priced at a premium. What it actually is, is an undersea sword and sorcery epic about this history of Atlantis. Epic Fantasy, beautifully illustrated and deserves a much wider audience. $1.99? Bargain for 337 pages
  • Aztek: The Ultimate Man – Grant Morrison & Mark Millar / N. Steven Harris; Can a Morrison/Millar collaboration be under the radar? Yes! Infrequently discounted, too.
  • Batman (’40-’11) – Lots of worthy books here, but we’re going to focus on good collections that are usually a lot more expensive.
    • Batman: Birth of the Demon – Mike W. Barr / Denny O’Neil / Jerry Bingham / Tom Grindberg / Norm Breyfogle; Collects the graphic novels: Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon and Birth of the Demon; A Ra’s al Ghul trilogy
    • Batman: Tales of the Demon – Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams / Don Newton; The original Ra’s al Ghul tales, including the ’79-’80 return in Detective.
    • Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart – Englehart / Marshall Rogers / Walter Simonson; All of Englehart’s Batman. If the original Detective run isn’t the best Batman run, it’s at least top 3.  452 pages of QUALITY for $1.99. Highest possible recommendation.
    • Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway – For whatever reason, V. 1 is listed with Batman and subsequent volumes are listed under Detective. What you need to know – if you want to read the Gene Colan or Don Newton runs, get them in the Gerry Conway titled collections. The stories frequently jumped between titles in this era and the stories will make a lot more sense this way!
    • Batman: The Caped Crusader: V. 1 – There are six volumes, starting here, that collect the 80s run, which is a good period. (Although watch you don’t duplicate materials, particularly with Grant/Breyfogle.)
  • Batman (’16 – present) – The “Deluxe” double volumes of Tom King’s run are at $1.99 in the “Omnibuses” section
  • Batman and the Outsiders – Mike W. Barr / Jim Aparo / Alan Davis; Batman’s mid-80s team book. Seldom are all three volumes on sale the same time and they’re usually on the pricey side
  • Batman Eternal – The weekly Batman serial led by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV. 52 issues across 3 volumes for $1.99@
  • Batman: Shadow of the Bat – Slightly longer volumes of the Bat-title launched by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle
  • Batman: The Adventures Continue – Excellent continuation of the Batman: The Animated Series from the ’90s by people qualified to continue it: Alan Burnett / Paul Dini / Ty Templeton
  • Bizarro Comics – DC shorts done by an all-star set of alternative cartoonists
  • Booster Gold – The original Dan Jurgens series from the ’80s
  • Boy Commandos by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby – Simon & Kirby’s very popular WWII series, normally subject to HC pricing
  • The Brave and the Bold (’59-’83) – The team-up issues start with Haney and occupy most of the Jim Aparo titled volumes, with some large page counts. Then you have the classic Neal Adams Batman filed here
  • Challengers of the Unknown by Jack Kirby – Dave Wood / Jack Kirby; Kirby’s ’58 hit for DC is a pretty much a dry run for the Fantastic Four, except the villains are the ones with powers
  • DC: The New Frontier – Darwyn Cooke’s masterpiece about the dawn of the Silver Age. All in one volume. 500 pages / $1.99 and a highest possible recommendation
  • DC Through the 80s – Paul Levitz curates two large anthologies highlighting DC high points in the 80s.
  • Deadman – Neal Adams / Paul Levitz / Len Wein / Jim Aparo / Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez; The very definition of a cult series, this collects the Adams original and the various spots Deadman was kept alive (pun intended) in the 70s/80s
  • The Demon by Jack Kirby – Kirby’s horror-adventure series about a man bound to a demon by Merlin
  • Detective Comics (’37 – ’11) – Lots of good things that are worth a browse, including the Golden Age reprints and the “Dark Detective” volumes containing the 80s issues, but let’s specifically call out a few things:
    • Batman: New Gotham V.1 and V.2 – Greg Rucka / Shawn Martinbrough / Rich Burchett; Very stylish (and stylized) run that’s not as recognized as it could be.
    • Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle Vol. 1 & Vol. 2; Get the Alan Grant / Norm Breyfogle run in larger chunks (before switching over to Caped Crusader and Shadow of the Bat); Heaps of good stuff for $1.99
    • Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin – Archie is one of the best ever to write comics (and we can 100% confirm the stories of what a nice guy he was). These are his Batman stories.
    • Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams – Get their complete collaboration with this volume. Great run.
    • Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson Deluxe Edition – Simply one of the best adventure comics of all time, as you might guess from Archie and Walt collaborating. Highest possible recommendation
  • Detective Comics (’16 – present) – That link takes you to the “Deluxe” double volumes (still $1.99) of James Tynion IV’s Detective run. It has a “Batman Family” flavor and we prefer it to the more recent, higher profile run on Batman
  • Dial H – China Mieville / Alberto Ponticelli / Mateus Santolouco; OK, Mieville has been the dean of “weird fiction” for quite some time, but now that he’s collaborated with Keanu on a BZRKR novel (quite good, btw), you might take interest in his take on Dial H for Hero. Mostly under the radar, but wonderfully bizarre
  • Doctor Fate (’15-’16) – Paul Levitz / Sonny Liew; Would that all re-imaginings be so good. This Egyptian mythology-centric take on Fate deserves more love. Plus, Sonny Liew!
  • Doom Patrol (’64-’68) – Arnold Drake / Bruno Premiani; The Doom Patrol was effectively (if not intentionally) DC’s version of the X-Men. Outcasts as heroes
  • Doom Patrol (’87 – ’95) – Grant Morrison / Richard Case; The Morrison run (and the Brotherhood of Dada) in three volumes, $1.99@
  • Ex Machina – Brian K. Vaughan / Tony Harris; NYC’s first superhero is elected mayor and then things get complicated; 10-issue volumes
  • Fables – Bill Willingham / Mark Buckingham; The excellent saga of fairy tale characters hiding out in NYC after being driven from their lands by a despot. Why yes, The Big Bad Wolf is their sheriff. “Deluxe” double volumes for $1.99

There will probably be two more installments of this before the sale is over. Next time we start back with the remarkable Far Sector.

May the Sale Be With You

Darth Vader by Gillen Omnibus  Star Wars Omnibus  Star Wars Wild Space

The Marvel Star Wars Omnibus Sale runs through Monday, 1/6.

This is similar to the previous Marvel Omnibus Sale, just with Star Wars instead of Spidey.

What’s good? Dark Vader really seems to bring out the best in creators.  Darth Vader by Gillen & Larroca Omnibus is at the top of the mountain. Star Wars: Darth Vader by Charles Soule Omnibus isn’t too far behind it.

The New Republic  V.2 is a decent way to get the Dark Empire and Thrawn material that effectively re-energized Star Wars in the 90s.

The Best of the Best of the Best

Avengers, Inc.  G.O.D.S.Ultimate Spider-Man

The Marvel Best of 2024 Sale runs through Monday, 1/6.

OK, some of the single issues in these collections might be from ’23, but you know the drill here. If you’re looking for recent Spidey or the last act of the Hickman/Krakoa/HoX-PoX era of X-Men, that’s definitely here. As for the best, we’ll narrow that down a little in the World According to Cheap:

  • Avengers Inc.: Action, Mystery, Adventure – Al Ewing / Leonard Kirk; The Wasp, out of uniform and investigating superhuman murders with an amnesiac partner who isn’t the Vision, but uses one of his old aliases. Great little series.
  • Avengers: Twilight – Chip Zdarsky / Daniel Acuna; In a possible future, an aging Steve Rogers assembles a new team to revolt against a world controlled by corrupted media
  • Doctor Strange by Jed Mackay Vol. 2: The War-Hound Of The Vishanti – Jed MacKay / Pasqual Ferry / Juan Gedeon – Strange confronts a splintered off version of himself who’s spent 5,000 years fighting a war for the Vishanti. Suffice it to say his other self has been changed by the experience. Doctor Strange has been MacKay’s finest work at Marvel
  • G.O.D.S. – Jonathan Hickman / Valerio Schiti; This one is more of a literary urban fantasy plopped down in the Marvel universe, such that Doctor Strange and the Living Tribunal are supporting players. In what might be called a variation on Michael Moorcock’s battles between Order and Chaos, we find two… let’s call them “agencies” patrolling around the entities that govern magic and reality, but with competing philosophies. We could really do with another series when Hickman has a break in his schedule.
  • Immortal Thor – Al Ewing / Martin Coccolo; Thor finds himself caught in a series of plots involving the power of stories
  • Marvel Unleashed – Kyle Starks / Jesús Hervás; This is one of the more unusual things Marvel has released in recent years. It’s a Pet Avengers book, but don’t let that scare you off. It’s fine for adults. Lockjaw has been abducted and the Pet Avengers are helping a pet look for a missing master who had dealings with A.I.M. Oh, it’s funny, but the underlying plot is serious. Very good book and likely won’t be quite what you were expecting
  • Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age – Neil Gaiman / Mark Buckingham; After all these years, The Silver Age is finally completed. Now, about the next issue of THB? I’ve been waiting almost as long…
  • The Incredible Hulk – Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Nic Klein; As Banner roams the country, a conspiracy of monsters is looking for him. They seem to recognize the Hulk from ancient times and wish to use him to awaken their mother. Klein is really killing it, too. Horror, but more occult than Immortal Hulk’s horror
  • Predator Vs. Wolverine – Ben Percy / Ken Lashley / Andrea Di Vito – Exactly what it sounds like, but better. Wolverine encounters a Predator and it keeps coming back. It definitely scratches an itch and it’s all in the execution.
  • Ultimate Invasion – Jonathan Hickman / Bryan Hitch; The set-up for the new Ultimate line as The Maker (aka Ultimate Reed Richards) escapes captivity and seeks to reshape a new universe to eliminate the competition
  • Ultimate Spider-Man – Jonathan Hickman / Marco Checchetto; In the best of the Ultimate line, a married with children Peter Parker becomes Spidey later in life, meets a new Green Goblin and explores a world that is not what it seems. Emphasis is on world building, early on.

If Not, Why Not?

What If?  What If

The Marvel What If? Sale runs through Monday, 1/6.

We have a preference for the original What If, here, but we’d like to point something out to you first. When you go to the series link for the original, toward the top of the page, you’ll see a new navigation feature that’s a little more relevant here. Under the series graphic on the left hand side is a pulldown menu where you can select “Volumes” or “Omnibus.” Volumes being the “normal” sized collections.  We’ll have to have a longer look at how that’s implemented. It might be useful… IF it works.  In this case it only shows the omnibus on sale. Yes, that’s right, there are actually four omnibuses containing ~12 issues each of What If. Only one of them is on sale and that’s the only one that shows up on the Omnibuses page, ergo the Omnibuses page appears to be broken. (Why are you acting surprised?)

So, here’s the link for the “regular” volumes. Here’s the link for the lone omnibus on sale (which is issues #1-12).  And we’ll look at some of the more interesting stuff in the individual volumes, since What If is all over the map. 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? (V. 1 / Omnibus)
  • #2 – What If The Hulk Had the Brain of Bruce Banner? (V. 1 / Omnibus)
  • #10 – What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor? (V. 2 / Omnibus)
  • #12 – What If Rick Jones Had Become The Hulk? (V. 2 / Omnibus)
  • #13 – What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?  (NOPE, no longer collected)
  • #23 – What If The Hulk Had Become a Barbarian? (V. 4)
  • #30 – What If Spider-Man’s Clone Had Lived? (V. 5)
  • #35 – What If Elektra Had Lived? (V.6)
  • #37 – What If The Beast and The Thing Continued to Mutate? (V.6)
  • #43 – What If Conan Were Stranded in the 20th Century? (No longer collected).

We’re not saying this was a try-out book like Marvel Premiere or Showcase, but flash forward a couple decades and some of the topics started turning up nice and regular… and still are.

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Immortal 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

  • Immortal X-Men Vol. 5 – X-Men Forever – Kieron Gillen / Luca Maresca; Technically, this is the X-Men Forever mini-series that tied in with Fall of the House of X. But, yeah, it’s really the final installment of Immortal X-Men. $6.99

Unannounced Sales

Vader's Castle  40: A Doonesbury Retrospective  Bad Dreams in the Night

It’s a double team on Star Wars as Dark Horse has their current tiles on sale:

Also on sale:

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Still on Sale

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