Tag: Dark Horse

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Moon Knight and a Deep Dive into Dark Horse Horror

This week in Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we try to explain Moon Knight comics to the uninitiated – it’s complicated – and then we take a deep dive into that big Dark Horse horror sale that Amazon has no idea how to display with any semblance of organization!

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

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

By the Light of Moon

Marvel’s Moon Knight sale runs through Sunday, 5/1.

First things first, you need to understand that Moon Knight is sort of Marvel’s version of Hawkman, in terms of there being wildly varying takes on the character. Having seen the first episode of the TV show… that sort of looked like yet another take on the character and we’re not sure if any of the comics will really reflect that version… we’ll know more after a couple episodes.

So, Moon Knight starts out in Werewolf by Night, has some guest appearances, a solo run as backup in Hulk magazine (non-code and its bloody for the time period) and starts his own solo comic.  The team most associated with the original Moon Knight is Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. (Moench and Don Perlin being co-creators back in Werewolf by Night.) In the beginning, Moon Knight was considered Marvel’s Batman. More accurately (that fan-driven tagline lacks nuance), Moon Knight was drawing from Batman’s pulp magazine influences. One of those influences was The Shadow, a proto-superhero of sorts who adopted multiple identities to further his goals… including assuming the identity of a millionaire.

In the beginning, much like the Shadow, ex-mercenary Marc Spector adopted the identity of Steven Grant, millionaire (much like The Shadow’s Lamont Cranston) and Jake Lockley, cab driver. There was no disassociated identity disorder in the beginning. The identities were tools and perhaps there was a bit of drama with method actors having trouble getting out of character.  (It’s also worth noting Denny O’Neil was the editor on the Moon Knight solo series and had written The Shadow at DC a few years earlier.) There was occasionally a supernatural element lurking in the background, but there was a certain degree of plausible deniability about what was happening and to what extent spooky things were really magical.

The original run is in the Epic Collections. In typical Amazon fashion, they screwed up the listings, so let’s fix that:

V. 1, “Bad Moon Rising,” is all the original guest appearances, the Hulk Magazine appearances and the first 4 issues of the ongoing series.

V.2 -3 contain the rest of the original run. Now – fair warning. Moench eventually leaves for DC to write Batman after issue #33 and the series ends with 38. It’s not same without him.

  Moon Knight Epic Collection

And after Marvel must have realized they were having trouble replacing Moench, they decided to tweak the character with the next series, Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu, which… does not appear to have been reprinted. Possibly because we don’t personally know anyone who liked it. But it played up the mystical elements and Marc Spector’s resurrections.

There were a few attempts to continue the series. Nothing really took and the West Coast Avengers appearances could be the most notable for the middle section of Moon Knight’s history. Much of this solo period isn’t reprinted.

And things got to the point where Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev did a 12 part series where Moon Knight is delusional and so mentally ill as to be barely functional. If you’ve never read the character before, it’s a fairly entertaining comic. We interpreted it as frequently playing for laughs. If you liked the Moench character… oof. And this series pretty much broke the character and Marvel’s been trying to “fix” him ever since.

Seems like every series since has been attempting to establish a new status quo for the character, picking up pieces from the previous incarnation.

If you want something close to the TV show (and again, we’re working with only having seen the first episode here), we think your best bet might be the excellent Jeff Lemire / Greg Smallwood series where Marc Spector is confronting his many identities and his… unusual relationship with the Egyptian deity, Khonshu.

Moon Knight

And actually, we’re enjoying the current Moon Knight series by Jed Mackay and Alessandro Cappuccio, which finds Specter alternately billing himself as Mr. Knight and Moon Knight, going to therapy, operating a “Night Mission” to fulfill his obligations as a priest of Khonshu (albeit something of a renegade priest) while mixing it up with vampires, a rival priest and a madman initiating a conspiracy against him. We’re six issues in and it’s one of the better takes on the character in a while.

Moon Knight

Horror <> Hodor

The Dark Horse Horror Sale runs though Monday, 4/4.

This is one of those very large sales that the Amazon UIX is ill-equipped to handle, in terms of easy browsing, so we’ll flip through it so you don’t have to.

  • The Hellboy Omnibus series at $6.99 a pop is a helluva good deal (pun intended). Mike Mignola’s iconic horror adventure series is a classic and you should already be aware of it.
  • The E.C. Archives are also (mostly) $6.99 each. An all-star lineup of talent that inspired the comics code! For the unfamiliar, these were most famous as prestige horror comics in the early 1950s, as well as the beginning of Mad. There’s some well known war material, too. Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Al Williamson, Jack Davis, Al Feldstein… even a little Ray Bradbury, if memory serves.
  • Witchfinder Omnibus (both of them) – another Mignola verse historical horror series, with John Arcudi, Chris Robeson and Ben Stenbeck, among others.
  • Falconspeare – A recent (January ’22) Mike Mignola / Warwick Johnson-Caldwell Victorian murder mystery… about the disappearance of a vampire hunter. New enough we haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
  • Baltimore Omnibus – In a world where the vampires ran wild at the end of WWI, Lord Baltimore pursues a vendetta against them.  We read the set a few months back and enjoyed it. Mignola/Christopher Golden writing, Ben Stenbeck leads the art roster.
  • Creepy Archives – The ’60s/’70s horror magazine from Warren.
  • Eerie Archives – Also from the old Warren files, Creepy’s companion magazine
  • Grendel Omnibus – The collected Grendel, going back to the ’80s by Matt Wagner and friends. Hmmm… is there a TV show coming?
  • Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey – Matt Wagner’s latest Grendel series, released in January, ’22.
  • B.P.R.D is NOT centrally listed, so we’ll put it all under this heading. These are the adventures of Hellboy’s colleagues at the BPRD and it’s one long saga. It’s also really good. We revisited it a couple years back and it holds up. You _do_ need to read it in this order, though:
  • Abe Sapien Omnibuses – They actually have done quite a bit of Abe solo material.
  • The Seeds – An excellent science fiction tale by Ann Nocenti and David Aja that mashes up themes of eco-disaster, alien invasions and forbidden love.
  • Harrow County Omnibus – The long running Cullen Bunn / Tyler Crook backwoods witchcraft series.
  • Beasts of Burden – The neighborhood dogs (and a cat) battle the forces of darkness. Critically acclaimed series by Even Dorkin, Jill Thompson and Benjamin Dewey.
  • Lobster Johnson – We do love The Lobster, Mignola’s homage to ’30s pulp heroes with a rotating cast of co-creators. This is an odd series of mini-series, that run from silly to horror to thriller. The omnibus will finally come out… next week in HC, so these are “regular” collections.
  • Kabuki Omnibus – A nearly forgotten buzz book of the 90s by David Mack, as an assassin in Japan reassess her lot in life amidst conspiracies. Is the Sony TV adaption still happening? We haven’t heard anything about that lately.  An influential comic.
  • She Could  Fly– Before Marvel snagged him, Christopher Cantwell was working on this super powered series from Dark Horse with Martin Marazzo. We’ve been meaning to give it a look and have heard good things.

If you want to just browse the collected editions, your least bad option (Amazon doesn’t give you a good, sorted option) might be to sort the price from high to low.  The 99-cent issues will then start on page 38 (or did for us).

There’s a LOT more in there, but those were the highlights we noticed. In general, the omnibus editions are, by far, your best bang for the buck.

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Comixology Sales: Black Panther, Falcon and The Winter Soldier/Captain America, Hardware and Neil Gaiman

This week’s Comixology sales include the world of the Black Panther, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Hardware and the world of Neil Gaiman.

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

This is going to be a shorter run-through of the sales than normal because of the upcoming absorption of Comixology into the Amazon website.  Comixology’s communications on this have not been particularly helpful.  What do we officially know?

Pre-orders will be honored for next week’s books, if you’re in the US. If you’re not in the US, readers are getting notified their subscriptions are cancelled and they’ll need to buy the new comics off Amazon. (Have a look on  Twitter.  People are NOT happy.)

If the non-US folks are being told to go to Amazon to buy next week’s book, we strongly suspect the Comixology site is offline by Tuesday or Wednesday.

It would be nice if Comixology could actually put a date on their intentions, but ever since they first started teasing the changeover all the way back in September, they’ve been avoiding giving an actual date. Honestly, we didn’t post last week because we weren’t sure if the Comixology site would be up the next day. We’re pretty disappointed in the lack of communication at Amazon, up and down the tree.

So, a link to the Amazon version of the sale will follow the top level Comixology link. The Amazon links will be good longer than the Comixology ones will… at least that’s our understanding.

We’ll see what the landscape looks like next week.   The Amazon site has not been nearly as good at displaying what’s on sale as the Comixology site.

Paid For in Vibranium

The Marvel Black Panther and the World of Wakanda Sale runs through Sunday (2/27). (Amazon link)

The old Marvel Knights run, collected in omnibus form as Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection is our favorite of all the Panther runs.  High adventure and the comic relief of Everett Ross, befuddled diplomat. This run hits just about every note there is to hit. Much (but not all) of the film flows from here… even as the Priest run flows from the original Jungle Action run of Don McGregor and Billy Graham (also worth your time.)

Black Panther by Priest   Panther's Rage

Soldiering On

The Marvel Falcon and the Winter Soldier Sale runs through Thursday, 2/17

There’s a lot to like with this sale.  Love the Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema era of Captain America. We’ve always thought the Priest Captain America and the Falcon run was criminally under-rated.  But you know what? Madbomb is just too darn topical not to give it the nod today. Cap and the Falcon track down a conspiracy to topple the government using bombs that drive people crazy and cause riots.

A Cautionary Tale of the Tech Industry

The DC Black History Month Sale runs through Monday, 2/14. (Amazon Link)

Of all the original Milestone titles getting brought back right now, our favorite was Hardware. The opening arc by Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan and J.J. Birch still rings true. Let’s face it, feeling trapped by an unscrupulous employer in the tech industry who lawyered up and wanting you to sign all sorts of paperwork is still a thing.

Always Check the Prices

The Dark Horse Neil Gaiman Sale runs through Monday, 2/14.

And we’re going to leave you on this note to illustrate how weird it can sometimes get swapping between the Comixology and Amazon versions of the sale.  We’re just going to list the prices we’re seeing and suggest if you want some Gaiman, you hit the Amazon version of the sale early.

The Neil Gaiman Library (any volume): Comixology – $12.49 / Amazon – $11.99
Snow, Glass, Apples: Comixology – $5.49 / Amazon – $4.99

Not everything is priced differently, but it’s always been goofy back and forth between the two sites.

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Comixology Sales: War of the Realms, West Coast Avengers, Tynion’s Early Batman and Critical Role

This week in Comixology sales, Marvel drops a discount on War of the Realms and West Coast Avengers, DC offers up samplers of the “Rebirth” era, Dark Horse spotlights Critical Role… and don’t forget that Saga sale is still in effect.

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

A little heads up here – as you may have heard, Comixology has been saying that their website will be absorbed into the Amazon website since… September?  The date of the switchover has been pushed back. A lot. But we’ve been hearing around the water cooler that it should be any day now and we’re honestly not sure whether or not it’s going to flip over between now and February 1st.  Maybe it will and maybe the changeover will get pushed back again.  If you get redirected to Amazon, that’s why we’ve been putting the Amazon links for the sales in.

This Means War

The Marvel War of the Realms Sale runs through Sunday, 1/30 (Amazon link)

Yes, the Thor Event.  What you get depends on how you want to read it.

For deep background, the Thor of the Realms anthology will give a selection of stories from Lee/Kirby, Walt Simonson and other. This falls under “classic material.”

Thor V.2: Road to War of the Realms by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo is the lead-in to the actual event, so starting there would also be appropriate.

And then there’s finally War of the Realms, the actual Jason Aaron/Russell Dauterman Event mini-series wherein Malekith invades Midgard after conquering the rest of the ten realms.

You get through that and want more, there are plenty of spin-offs available.

Thor of the Realms   Thor Road to War of the Realms   War of the Realms

Turn Left (Coast)

The Marvel West Cost Avengers Sale runs through Sunday, 1/30. (Amazon link)

We can sum this one up very easily.  Much more easily than most sales. Get the Epic Collections.  “How the West Was Won” has the original Roger Stern/Bob Hall limited series and then jumps into the Steve Englehart/Al Milgrim ongoing series. The Epic’s take you through the beginning of the John Byrne run, so when you get to “Vision Quest,” get that and stop. (Unless you don’t like Byrne, in which case stop before that.) The next Epic Collection, “Darker Than Scarlet,” has been released, but is too recent to be on sale.  If we have learned one thing, it’s that it _will_ be on sale, so exercise a little patience there.

Avengers West Coast

X’d Out

The Marvel X-Force Legacy Sale runs through Thursday, 2/3. (Amazon link)

We have a clear favorite run of X-Force: The Rick Remender era. A dark era, to be sure, but the X-Force concept was supposed to be a little dark. The best way to pick that run up is to scroll down to the Omnibuses section and grab the two “X-Force by Rick Remender” volumes.

If you want something a LOT different, you can opt for the much loved (a little too popular to be “cult”) Peter Milligan/Mike Allred version, which is farcical take on the team.

X-Force   X-Force

When One Birth is Not Enough

The DC Rebirth eBook Sale runs through Monday, 1/31. (Amazon link)

This would be the deluxe editions of the Rebirth era DC titles, which contain the first two “normal” volumes of those titles.

The creative star of Rebirth, as far as we’re concerned was the relaunch of Wonder Woman under Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott. A repositioning of Diana’s origins after the New 52 version (an excellent story, but perhaps better suited to the Elseworlds line), this one has Diana probing her origins and why Paradise Island has disappeared.

While the Tom King Batman was the sales star of Rebirth (and it’s here), we honestly like the James Tynion IV / Eddy Barrows Detective Comics run better. It’s really a sort of Batman Family title as Batman taps Batwoman to assemble Gotham’s vigilantes into more of a cohesive unit in the face of a mysterious force targeting the younger heroes.

We also thought the Dan Jurgens / Patrick Zircher / Tyler Kirkham Action Comics run was a lot more fun than it got credit for.  Let’s be brutally honest: DC hasn’t really been able to find a take on Superman to stick with since New 52 dropped.  This one was a throwback to the tone of late 80s through mid-90s Superman and worked well for what it was… until that ridiculous Jor-El plot got inserted into it towards the end of the run.

Wonder Woman   Detective Comics by Tynion   Action Comics

Game Night

The Dark Horse Critical Role & Vox Machina Sale runs through Monday, 2/7. (Amazon Link)

This would be the *cough* D&D-like comics exploring the backgrounds of the characters from the extremely popular podcast.  Does that make it the story within the story?  Um, maybe?

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins combines the previous two volumes into a single edition.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins — Jester Lavorre chronicles the early years of Jester Lavorre… as if you couldn’t guess by the title…

Critical Role   Critical Role - Jester

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Comixology Sales: Spider-Man, Marvel Max / Punisher, She-Hulk, Silver Surfer, DC’s Joshua Williamson, Spawn and DH’s Matt Kindt

This week’s Comixology Sales includes a bunch of Marvel titles as they break out the Marvel Max line for a rare appearance, plus Sabretooth, She-Hulk and the world of Dan Slott. Speaking of creator spotlights, DC shines one on Joshua Williamson, Dark Horse on Matt Kindt and Spawn has always been a Todd McFarlane spotlight.

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

X-Villain

The Marvel Sabretooth sale runs through Sunday, 1/9. (Amazon link)

Victor Creed, the Wolverine villain who Marvel’s never quite turned into a leading man/anti-hero.

You can go back to the beginning in Iron Fist Masterworks V. 2. Yes, Sabretooth is a Chris Claremont/John Byrne creation and started out in Iron Fist’s sphere. (Later teaming with the Constrictor in Power Man and Iron Fist.)

If you think of Sabretooth as an X-Men villain, Mutant Massacre is likely a major touchpoint for you. That would be the Claremont/John Romita, Jr. era, plus crossovers.

If you think of him as a Wolverine villain… well, there’s plenty there, but we’ve also had a soft spot for the lower key Greg Rucka run. Sabretooth shows up at the end of that sequence when Darrick Robertson was on art duties.

Iron Fist   X-Men: Mutant Massacre   Wolverine by Greg Rucka

Spiders and Surfboards and Avengers, oh my

The Marvel Dan Slott Sale runs through Sunday, 1/9.

And yes, Slott has spent a fair amount of time at Marvel, so this sale covers some territory.

His most famous work has probably been Superior Spider-Man with art by Humberto Ramos and Ryan Stegman. This is the saga of when Doc Ock inhabited Peter Parker’s body. The two omnibus editions are the best deal here.

Slott’s most critically acclaimed work might be his Silver Surfer run with Mike Allred. Ah, mid-aught Marvel, OF COURSE there was a relaunch and despite the numbering, the collections are listed with series 1 and series 2. (Oh, Marvel…)

For something a little more off the beaten path, we always enjoyed Slott’s Mighty Avengers run, now conveniently collected in one volume. Back when Bendis was doing his New Avengers run, this was the only thing that felt like a traditional Avengers title for some time.

Superior Spider-Man   Silver Surfer   The Mighty Avengers by Dan Slott

Hulking Out

The Marvel She-Hulk Sale runs through Thursday, 1/13. (Amazon link)

You have a few different directions in the She-Hulk cannon. The ones that seem to get revisited the most are She-Hulk as broad farce, like the Sensational She-Hulk run of John Byrne and lawyer She-Hulk, such as the Charles Soule/Javier Pulido run.

Sensational She-Hulk   She-Hulk

Not For Kids

The  Marvel Max sale runs through Thursday, 1/20. (Amazon link)

Yes, this the Marvel imprint for ages 17+ that’s a little darker, more violent and not on sale quite as often.

The flagship here is probably Punisher. Particularly the first 4 “Complete Collection” volumes that pair Garth Ennis with Leandro Fernandez, Goran Parlov and Doug Braithwaite. This isn’t the comedy of “Welcome Back, Frank.” This is a quite serious and brutal sequence. It’s also a very good one… just not for kids.

Speaking of Welcome Back, Frank, it’s been moved over to Marvel Max. For those who haven’t heard of it, this is an Ennis/Steve Dillon/Jimmy Palmiotti Punisher series that takes a very idiosyncratic direction – Frank is still a very angry, death dealing man… but he’s thrust into the middle of an absurdist farce as he tries to bring down the Gnucci crime family. It’s utterly hilarious and something multiple directors have unsuccessfully tried to translate the screen. Influential and impossible to replicate.

There’s a lot more to the sale, but our off-the-radar pick is Dominic Fortune, Howard Chaykin’s pulp homage that also includes the character’s original appearances.

Punisher Max   Welcome Back Frank   Dominic Fortune

The Flash and Beyond

The DC Spotlight: Joshua Williamson Sale runs through Monday, 1/10. (Amazon link)

This is one of the smallest DC sales we’ve seen – only 20 items.  Williamson’s profile at DC has been raised in recent months and outside of $1.99 Robin single issues, that’s not really reflected in the sale.  What is here is the first six volumes of his popular Flash run where Carmine Di Giandomenico is the headlining artist.

Now, if you want to fly under the radar, there are a couple Vertigo volumes here pairing Williamson with artists we tend to associate with Image… and if you’re a .cheap regular, you know we mention his Image work fairly often.

Frostbite with art by Jason Shawn Alexander concerns a post-apocalyptical wasteland of a future where a plague is freezing people from the inside out.

Deathbed with Riley Rossmo finds a reporter sent to investigate the deathbed confessions of a 90-year old man who was once a famous adventure and who resurfaced after a 20-year disappearance. Could something unnatural be behind all this?  Surely not.

Flash   Frostbite   Deathbed

Capes and Chains

The Image Spawn Sale runs through Thursday 1/20. (Amazon link)

Did you know Spawn has more issues out than Cerebus?  It’s true!

Your best buy here is Spawn Compendium Vol. 1. That’s the first 50 issues and that comes out to roughly $0.48/issue. That’s the original run with Todd McFarlane doing full art, guest writers Alan Moore, Dave Sim, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. Early Greg Capullo art and some Tony Daniels , too.

The off-beat book here is Sam and Twitch, where a young Brian Bendis teams with Angel Medina, Alberto Ponticelli, Clayton Crain and Alex Maleev for some quirky horror detective stories about Spawn’s police acquaintances. It’s not always remembered, but it certainly helped launch some careers.

Spawn Compendium   Sam and Twitch

Underwater Minds

The Dark Horse Matt Kindt sale runs through Monday, 1/10.

Kindt’s most celebrated work at Dark Horse is definitely Mind MGMT.  It’s a bit of a genre mashup about conspiracies and psychic espionage. Kindt writes AND draws it.  One man gang, as it were.  The omnibus editions are the best deal here.

If you’re looking for something similar to Mind MGMT, we’d point you towards Dept. H, wherein an investigator is sent to an underwater base to investigate sabotage and there are much stranger things going on than meets the eye.

Mind MGMT   Dept. H

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Comixology Sales: Wolverine and the X-Men, Watchmen, Doctor Strange, Doomsday Clock, Avengers and Grendel

This week’s Comixology Sales include Marvel dropping the price on Wolverine and the X-Men, Doctor Strange team-ups and alternate versions of the Avengers. DC discounts Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, while Dark Horse slashes prices on Grendel.

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

Strange Bedfellows

The Marvel Doctor Strange Team-Up Sale runs through Thursday, 12/16. (Amazon link)

Hmmm… you’d think there was a movie about that or something? At any rate, this is an odd set of books and Stephen Strange isn’t exactly at the center of much of them. Are there a few we like? Yes. Yes, there are.

As we’ve said before, Tom “I just signed an exclusive with DC” Taylor and David Lopez do a wonderful job with All-New Wolverine.  That would be X-23 / Laura, not Logan, but it’s a genuinely fun book and their run hits all over the emotional spectrum by the end.  Plus, not unlike Spidey, there’s a bunch of clones.

Another thing that stands out are a couple of volumes of Marvel Two-In-One from the Mark Gruenwald/Ralph Macchio era of the title.  Project Pegasus,  with George Perez, Sal Buscema and John Byrne along for the ride, has Ben Grimm running security for a super villain lock-up, but all is not as it seems.

The Serpent Crown Affair with George Perez, Jerry Bingham and Ron Wilson is a sprawling adventure as The Thing teams with Stingray, Triton, Scarlet Witch, Spidey, Quasar and Doctor Strange as Roxxon (and their catspaws, The Serpent Squad) try to get their hands on the Serpent Crown in a sequel of sorts to the Avengers storyline. This is the better-priced, if shorter, of the two Thing volumes.

All-New Wolverine   Project Pegasus   The Serpent Crown Affair

Snikt and Friends

The Marvel Wolverine & the X-Men Sale runs through Sunday, 12/13. (Amazon link)

This sale is pretty straightforward: the Wolverine & the X-Men run written by Jason Aaron with Nick Bradshaw and Chris Bachalo as the main artists.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Alternate Avengers

The Marvel Avengers of the Multiverse Sale runs through Sunday, 12/12. (Amazon link)

We’re so glad they didn’t call this “Avengers of the Metaverse.”

Our favorite of this selection of Avengers incarnations is definitely Avengers Forever. This collection of a twelve issue series by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Carlos Pacheo is one big epic about the war between Kang and Immortus… with callbacks to the Kree/Skrull War, as Rick Jones summons up a team of Avengers from throughout the timestream to save him from Immortus.

The Ultimates seems to be a love it or hate it book. This Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch title is a reimagined Avengers for Ultimate Marvel line (as Ultimate Comics was originally called). This time around it’s the government assembling the heroes and the heroes are a little rougher around the edges. A very influential run, especially for the film division. You can go ahead and get Ultimates 2 if this floats your boat, be we’d advise against Ultimates 3.

Avengers Forever   Ultimates

Watchmen and Spinoffs

The DC Spotlight: Watchmen & Doomsday Clock Sale runs through Monday, 12/13. (Amazon link)

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is one of the most famous comics of the last 40 years. Technically, Marvelman/Miracleman preceded it as a post-modern deconstruction of superheroes (and Moore’s Captain Britain was heading in that general direction), but this is title that gets the credit for that particular mid-80s revolution. It’s a milestone and basically part of cultural literacy at this point.

Now… for the rest of the sale…

Here at the Tower of Cheap, we don’t really take a kind view of the cash grab nature of some of the Watchmen brand extensions. (Pardon us for using the marketing department’s lingo, but we feel it’s the reality of the situation.) Oh, there’s A-list talent involved, but we’d have preferred it if things were left well enough alone.

That said, Doomsday Clock might be of interest to some. This was the Geoff Johns / Gary Frank attempt to bring the Watchmen into the DC Universe and set up the next era of storylines. Those grander ambitions did not quite come of, partially due to how behind schedule the single issues were.  We enjoyed the first… maybe 2/3 of it, but didn’t think they nailed the ending. Lovely art, but you’d expect nothing less from Frank. So put this one down as a partial recommendation with reservations.

Watchmen   Doomsday Clock

Not Beowulf

The  Dark Horse Grendel Sale runs through Monday, 12/13.

Grendel is a very old school indie comic character/saga that goes back to the early ’80s… and is still going. Matt Wagner started the saga back at Comico with an assassin anti-hero. It grew to include new characters taking up the mask and mantle. It grew a little more to reveal Grendel is a sort of spirit of violence and aggression that possesses hosts over the years. And it becomes a science fiction epic as it goes on. Wagner is the writer and guiding force. Sometimes he draws, sometimes its other folks like the Pander Brothers or Tim Sale

This is one of the rare instances where the sale page is laid out well and easy to navigate. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Grendel Omnibus V. 1-4 are the core story. Definitely start with V. 1, which is the original Hunter Rose character across the years.
  • Grendel Tales Omnibus is the tribute album series – other creators doing… Grendel tales.
  • Grendel: Behold the Devil is collected in Grendel Omnibus V. 1, so don’t get it twice
  • Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey is the the most recent series (wrapped up in July) and the $0.99 single issues are the cheapest way to get it.

Grendel Omnibus

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Comixology Sales: Daredevil, Hawkeye, DC Annuals and Beasts of Burden

This week’s Comixology Sales include a big Daredevil sale from Marvel (and their Black Friday steals are still going), DC’s annuals through the years and Beasts of Burden.

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

Hornhead

The Marvel Daredevil Legacy Sale runs through Thursday, 12/9. (Amazon link)

Let’s start this with a stern warning: most of the original Daredevil run is available in Epic Editions and those are on sale for $3.99 each through Sunday. The notable exceptions being the Frank Miller era (and the interim Denny O’Neil run that’s mostly out of print).  Do that instead for the older material!

So, in terms of ‘ole hornhead in the Marvel Knights era to present… honestly, it’s mostly been pretty good.

Marvel Knights Daredevil is collected oddly. In the Omnibuses section of the page, you start with Daredevil Marvel Knights Vol.1, which gives you the initial Kevin Smith/Joe Quesada arc and the David Mack arc that introduces Echo.  Then you can switch to the Bendis and Brubaker collections.  The Bendis and Brubaker runs being what most people think of for the Marvel Knight years. (And they’re GOOD.) This is Daredevil as a crime book.

But what about the Bob Gale/Phil Winslade run? That is an EXCELLENT question. And the answer is drop down to the collected editions section for Marvel Knights Daredevil: Unusual Suspects which collects that and some related mini’s.

After Marvel Knights folded up the DD tent, the  Mark Waid era began. Another excellent era, which has its own set of omnibuses to simplify explaining things. (So many new #1s…) This starts out as an attempt to lighten things up a bit, but darkens up pretty quickly.  It’s a return to more of a superhero flavor. Among other things, Daredevil moves back to San Francisco, tangles with Mr. Fear and the Purple Man and eventually deals with the problem of his public identity from the Bendis/Brubaker era.  Waid’s run is also has an embarrassment of riches on the art side: Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martin and Khoi Pham all passed through before Chris Samnee settled in.

After Waid, is the Charles Soule/Ron Garney era. This one is a very pulpy take on Daredevil with the hand, a serial killer who makes “art” and Mayor Fisk.

The current run is by Chip Zdarsky with Marco Checchetto as the lead artist. This run is more focused on character development, politics and use the power. Zdarsky picks up the Mayor Fisk threads from Soule and goes in darker places with them.

There not a bad run in the lot (with the exception of the Shadowland crossover at the end of Marvel Knights). It’s just about what flavor you’re looking for.

Daredevil Marvel Knights   Daredevil by Mark Waid  Daredevil  Daredevil by Zdarsky

Marvel’s Better Deals

Still running through Sunday (12/5) are the best deals Marvel’s had so far in ’21:

Daredevil Epic Collection   Hawkeye

Once A Year

The  DC Annuals Sale runs through Monday, 12/6.  (Amazon link)

This is something of an odd sale. DC has traditionally been less active with annuals than Marvel. They also have a tendency to be part of crossover stories or the finale to a longer storyline. [Warning – beware the Detective / Green Arrow / Question crossover where the Green Arrow Annual isn’t available.]

So here are some ideas of annuals that are a little more self-contained.  99 cents for an extra long issue is not a bad thing, after all.

Superman Annual #11 might be the pinnacle of DC annuals. This is the famous “For the Man Who Has Everything” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, wherein Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin arrive at the Fortress of Solitude for Superman’s birthday party, only to discover Mongul has ambushed the Man of Steel and trapped his mind in a fantasy world.  An excellent tale that’s reprint a few places and has been adapted for TV.

Justice League International Annual 2 finds the Joker entering into a bargain with the Dictator of Bialya. He’ll kill the members of the JLI and Bialya security forces will go through Max Lord’s rolodex and figure out Batman’s secret identity.  What could possibly go wrong?  Written by the usual 80s Justice League team of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, drawn by Bill Willingham and Joe Rubenstein.  Yes, Bill Willingham was a sought after penciller earlier in his career.  Check out The Elementals in the back issue bins for his breakthrough writer/artist series.

And for something a little offbeat, there’s DC Comics Presents Annual #3 (Superman & Shazam), wherein Doctor Sivana has stolen the power of the gods from Captain Marvel. Roy Thomas and Joey Cavelieri have the writing chores, but the biggest draw here is Gil Kane strutting his stuff on the Big Red Cheese.

Superman Annual 11   Justice League International Annual 2   DC Comics Presents Annual 3

Paranormal Pets

The Dark Horse Beasts of Burden Sale runs through Monday, 12/6 (Amazon link)

This multi-Eisner Award winning series by Evan Dorkin, Jill Thompson and Benjamin Dewey concerns a group of dogs (and a cat) who confront supernatural threats.  This sale is pretty straightforward, but it might help to know the reading order:

  • Animal Rites
  • Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men
  • Neighborhood Watch

Followed in single issues by Occupied Territory.

Beasts of Burden

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Comixology Sales: The Final Black Friday Deals Roundup and Recommendations

It’s Black Friday time at Comixology, so we’re pulling all of the week’s posts into this master list, so you can have all the recommendations in one place. Since Comixology keeps threatening to merge their site into Amazon, we’ll toss in an Amazon link for the sales that Amazon has provided one. Amazon is not good about linking to individual sales.

Yes, there’s a lot of things to look at… as you’d expect on Black Friday.

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

Marvel Has the Best Deals

The Marvel Epic Collection Sale runs through Sunday, 12/05. (Amazon link for the sale)

$3.99 Epic Collections.  Figure all of them that are older than ~6 months from debut. Since most of those collect around 20 issues, we’re serious about that 20 issues for the price of 1 headline.  ~80%-89% off, depending on list price.  If you like Marvel, this is a SPLENDID time to fill in the holes in your collection, so do some browsing.

Some suggestions?

Conan is on sale less often than other Marvel titles, so if you like the Cimmerian, you might want to grab these first. Two runs are here: The Conan Chronicles is the title for the collections of Dark Horse material. That starts out with a very strong Kurt Busiek/Cary Nord run, followed by Tim Truman tagging in as writer and adding Paul Lee and a few other to the artist rotation. Recommended for barbarian fans!  Conan the Barbarian is the classic Marvel run. Scroll down to the Collected editions on the series page for the Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor-Smith/John Buscema/Gil Kane/Neal Adams classic. This one needs no introduction.

Conan Chronicles   Conan the Barbarian

Seriously, take a good browse through this sale.  It’s hard to go wrong with ~400-500 pages for $3.99. We will make one small suggestion: you can get the widely-loved, yet under-hyped Ann Nocenti/John Romita, Jr./Al Williamson Daredevil run across three volumes and that’s sure worth a look. (This is where Typhoid Mary debuts, among other things.

Daredevil Epic Collection   Daredevil Epic Collection

Slings and Arrows…

The Marvel Hawkeye Sale also runs through Sunday, 12/5. (Amazon link for the sale)

This one is of a similar flavor to the Epic sale. You remember the Matt Fraction/David Aja (with special guest appearance by Steve Lieber) Hawkeye series that was all the rage a few years back an inspired the Disney+ series that’s about to debut? $0.99 for the first collection, $1.99 each for the rest.  It’s good AND it’s cheap. What more do you want?

We also particularly recommend the Steve Englehart Avengers West Coast run, but you’re better off with the Epic Collections with those (and the rest of the run, where available.)

Hawkeye   Avengers West Coast

Marvel has two other sales that fall into the more common ~60-67% off range, Both running through Sunday, 11/18.  We’d say hit the Epics and Hawkeye before you venture further — those are the holiday discounts!

  • The Marvel Latest and Greatest Sale (Amazon link)is an eclectic set of releases. There is a little bit of Conan – old and current – sprinkled in at random, if you’re seeking that.
  • The Champions Sale is for both the 70s and current incarnations of Champions. To illustrate our point about where the deals lie this week, The Champions Classic: The Complete Collection is the same size as an Epic Collection, but will run you $3 more.

Lowest Prices for Indie Comics ($0.99 Collected Editions)

Yes, comics reader – we know you love the race to the bottom when it comes to sale prices and there are some publishers that are catering to that love for $0.99 digital trade paperback collections.  Those same publishers are offering the next few volumes in a series for $1.99 each. That’s a really good, coming close to the Marvel Epic deal.  We even have some favorites to look for as we wade through this.

Hasbro and Friends

The IDW Best of Sale (Amazon version) runs through Monday, 11/29 and features some of the usual suspects (Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Wars) at $0.99 for the first Volume and $1.99 for subsequent volumes.

Transformers: Classics

Spies & Monsters

The Best of Oni & Lion Forge Sale follows the same pricing formula and runs through 12/3.  Among the handful of feature titles are some that we hold in very high regard at The Tower of Cheap. (Amazon link)

Queen & Country by Greg Rucka and a new artist every storyline is probably the best American spy comic… even if it’s set in the UK and is an homage of sorts to an old UK TV show called “The Sandbaggers.” Highly Recommended

Kaijumax by Zander Cannon is a tale about a supermax prison for giant monsters. Think Godzilla and his foes. Does this sound cute and campy? It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s gritty with prison gangs, smuggled drugs and assassination attempts… with giant monsters.  A unique comic that’s also Highly Recommended.

We wouldn’t sleep on Stumptown or Letter 44 either.

Queen & Country   Kaijumax 

Prices Go BOOM!

The Best of BOOM! Sale runs through Thursday, 12/2.

We’re big fans of Once and Future, a paradoxically light and breezy horror/dark fantasy adventure by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora wherein old myths and legends are arising to herald the return of Arthur… who’s not a fan of all the foreign blood floating around modern Britain. It’s hard to make such a dark premise fun-first, but Gillen and Mora do it with aplomb.

Dune: House Atreides has seen a bump with the movie release. This is Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson adapting their prequel novel with Dev Parmanik on the art. This would be the tale of young Leto Atreides and the secret origin of Duncan Idaho.

Once & Future   Dune: House Atreides

A Universe

The Best of Valiant Sale runs through Thursday, 12/2 and – that’s right – $0.99 for V.1 and $1.99 for the rest. (Amazon link)

This is also a bit of a starter sale as the early years are highlighted here. Lucky you, these are all solid SF/F adventure comics with superhero trappings.  Harbinger is very similar to X-Men with a teens on the run twist… but much darker. We’d probably call it the center of the Valiant Universe’s beginnings. X-O Manowar‘s elevator pitch is “what if Conan was abducted by aliens, stole Iron Man’s armor and then returned to Earth in modern times?” It’s the flagship book and fun.

Harbinger   X-O Manowar

The Rest of the Rock Bottom Pricing Club

The Dynamite Artbook Sale runs through Thursday, 12/2 and is $0.99/per book. These usually go for $25 or so. (Amazon link)

The Art of The Boys

The Best of Mad Cave Studios sale runs through Monday, 12/29.  We really aren’t familiar with Mad Cave, but $0.99 collected editions is a great way to get our attention. We can’t recommend anything specifically, though.

Honor and Curse

I See a Friday and I Want It Painted Black

The DC Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/29.
(Amazon link if you prefer that)

Glancing through this sale, which is a smaller set of books than others, we’re seeing a discount range of 69%-75%, which is definitely on the high side for DC.  Not quite up to the Marvel standard or independent $0.99/$1.99 scheme, but up there for what they’re offering.

A lot of the usual suspects are on sale, but for some suggestions:

We always through Sinestro Corps War was the peak of the Geoff Johns era of Green Lantern.

Longtime readers know that we appreciate Tom Taylor around these parts. One of the first times he made us raise an eyebrow and say “this shouldn’t work as well it does — how did he do that?!?” was the video game adaption of Injustice: Gods Among Us. We especially like his Green Arrow. Mike S. Miller & Jheremy Raapack provide the art and later Bruno Redondo… yes, the same fellow on Nightwing with Taylor.  Comics work like that sometimes.

And finally, we’re a bit after that holiday, be Batman: The Long Halloween is still our favorite of the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale collaborations. For those new to the series, it has Batman chasing a serial killer who strikes each month on a holiday, as DA Harvey Dent starts to spiral…

Green Lantern - Sinestro Corps War   Injustice: Gods Among Us   Batman: The Long Halloween

Image Organizes a Sale

The Image Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 11/29.

This is pretty much their full digital catalog at half-off. If you’ve been meaning to try something and the tpb is at least a few months old, go digging for it.

Some recommendations?  Sure!

Fatale was the comic that brought Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to Image. When it blew up, those two had a new trajectory. It was an important book for both the publisher and the creator. More importantly, it’s a good comic. A bit of a genre-bender adding horror to the noir formula as a reporter stumbles into a feud between immortals: a mysterious beauty who leaves a trail of dead suiters and mobster whose humanity is very much in question.

Another Image title we’d consider complimentary to Fatale is Ghosted by a pre-DC stardom Josh Williamson, Goran Sudzuka and Miroslav Mrva. Its first arc was promoted as “Ocean’s 11 meets The Shining,” with a team of thieves hired to steal a ghost from a haunted house. While the criminal element stays for the long haul (pun intended), this one dives into some deeper occult horror after the first volume and is a nice little package. We also like that the volumes of this one are a little cheaper than some of the current offerings.

Saga is due back soon and it occurs to us that it’s been on hiatus long enough, not everybody has read it.  If you haven’t yet, it’s probably time to get caught up. This Brian K. Vaughan / Fiona Staple title is a masterclass in worldbuilding. Let’s be clear – Staple’s design sense is a BIG part of how immerse Saga can be. The tale itself is not complex: star-crossed lovers of warring races have a child and go on the run, as both sides would like to destroy the evidence of what’s happened. It’s cast of characters that makes the book. Scientists, magicians and a lot of bounty hunters. The unusual… appetites of Prince Robot IV. A ghost. Spaceships that grow like trees.  Saga is its own beast and well worth your time.

And finally, one of Image’s recent hits. $3.99 for the first volume of The Department of Truth is worth taking a flier on if you haven’t already. James Tynion IV (no relation to Prince Robot IV) and Martin Simmonds spin an X-Files-ish tale about willing conspiracies into reality through the power of belief. Creepy and oddly current… but with historical through-lines.

    Saga   Department of Truth

Is It a Turkey?

The “Dark Horse Turkey Five Sale” runs through Monday, 11/29 and comes in three parts: 1 ( graphic novels, 300 – The Last of Us), 2 (graphic novels The Legend of Korra – Zombie World; single issues 47 Ronin – Hellboy) and 3 (single issues, Hellboy – Zodiac Starforce).

Graphic novels are 50% and single issues are $0.99.

What’s interesting? Let’s avoid the usual suspects this time.

Dark Horse has always been good at anthologies and Dark Horse Presents gets a lot more interesting when it’s $0.99 per issue. Good creators, real variety and those early issues are 80+ pages, so good value. We just wish we could figure out where they put the first issue!

If you want to go old school, there’s always The Complete Elfquest by Richard and Wendy Pini. One of the original Direct Market titles, it’s an acknowledged classic. The elves are burned out of their home by the humans and so begins the quest. (Which is to say nothing of the trolls.)

Finder by Carla Speed McNeil has been running under the radar for ~20 years, but the most recent graphic novel, Chase the Lady, came out in June. This is a very anthropological science fiction series where cultures play a central role. The lead character for most of the journey is Jeager, a sin eater and “Finder” whose abilities to track things and appear anywhere are almost as mysterious as the past he can’t remember.  It’s been around 20+ years for a reason and is worth a look.

Nexus by Mike Baron and (mostly) Steve Rude is a science fiction adventure with superhero trappings that dates back to the 80s, but still pops up once in awhile. The omnibus editions go back to the beginning and are definitely where you should start. Horation Hellpop dreams of murders and the nightmares won’t stop until he’s murdered the murderers. The alien Merk has granted him cosmic powers and the title of Nexus. This is set against a political backdrop as the independent planetoid where Hellpop lives struggles to remain free of the Sov Empire, the religious fanatics of the Elvonic Brotherhood and slave traders. Plus… Judah the Hammer.

Dark Horse Presents   Elfquest   Finder   Nexus

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Comixology Sales: Spider-Man/Doc Ock, Red Hulk, DC in the 90s and Berger Books

This week’s Comixology Sales highlights include Marvel wheeling out Spidey’s old pal, Doctor Octopus; the Red Hulk; DC’s 90s nostalgia sale and Dark Horse’s Berger Books.

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

Tentacle Comics – Marvel Version

The Marvel Doctor Octopus Sale runs through Sunday, 10/14.

Personally, we would’ve included the Fraction/Larroca  Iron Man arc with Doc Ock in this say, but what do we know?

As usual, we think the Epic Collections are your value buys here. They’re semi-conveniently  grouped at the top of the sale page (and are an absolute mess on the Amazing Spider-Man page).  It’s hard to go wrong with Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Great Power, the first half of the Lee/Ditko run.

If you’re looking for Superior Spider-Man, the landmark run where Otto is occupying Peter’s body, your best buy are the two “Complete Collection” volumes in the Omnibuses section.

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Great Power   Superior Spider-Man

Hulk See Red

The Marvel Red Hulk Sale runs through Sunday, 11/14.

Yes, there are times when the Hulk extended family starts to resemble the Green Lantern Corps with all the colors of the spectrum. This sale is about the Red Hulk… or as we like to put it: Ross, Stress For Less.

Honestly, we weren’t in the bag for the Jeph Loeb/Ed McGuinness run that opened that volume of Hulk. We thought the Jeff Parker / Gabriel Hardman / Patrick Zircher / Dale Eaglesham run was the more interesting stretch of that era.  The collected editions for this volume aren’t well numbered, so go to the Collected Editions section of the series page and start with “Scorched Earth.”

Red Hulk Scorched Earth

Age of the Super-Mullet

The DC Back in the 90s Sale runs through Monday, 11/15.

And some of the discounts are even 60%-ish. On the high side for DC!

Sales stunts and character deaths aside, the quintessential 90s DC title was probably the Grant Morrison / Howard Porter JLA. A sort of back to basics reboot, although Justice League really had already been resetting from the BWA HA HA era of the late 80s/early 90s.

A lot of the better 90s material was in the smaller books. Titles whose full runs haven’t been collected (and, of course, the single issues aren’t on sale to go along with the theme… we do wonder who makes these sales sometimes.)

John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake had a superlative run on The Spectre. Underneath the magic and horror-adventure lies a philosophical tale about the dead man who’s become the earthly host for the Wrath of God and his attempts to come to grips with his situation.

Starman by James Robinson and Tony Harris (or at least its the Tony Harris era currently collected) was another high point of the 90s. While people like to talk about Justice Society as a “legacy hero” title, this is the REAL legacy hero title.  Jack Knight very reluctantly picks up the cosmic rod of Starman after his brother is shot. He wanted no part of the Knight heritage, but he’s dragged in anyway. Aside from the heroics, it’s a tale of families and family traditions that should be celebrated more than DC has.  Also, The Shade. And the steady editorial hand of Archie Goodwin.

Take some time to sift through the haphazard selection of $0.99 single issues, which are more comprehensive than the collected editions… yet still have odd gaps.  You might take a close look at Legends of the Dark Knight, too.

JLA   The Spectre   Starman

Definitely Not Vertigo II (Said the Lawyer)

The Dark Horse Berger Books Sale runs through Monday, 11/22.

Yes, that’s Karen Berger who ran Vertigo (and editing Legion of Super-Heroes before that). She set up shop at Dark Horse after DC shut down Vertigo.  Berger Books is a little more genre-diverse than Vertigo was, but there’s a similar vibe.

Invisible Kingdom by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward might be the de facto flagship book. This Eisner Award winner finds a religious acolyte and a starship freighter crew on the run after discovering corporate interests conspiring with religious leaders for control and profit.  We wouldn’t have minded a fourth volume.

The Seeds by Ann Nocenti and David Aja got an awful lot of attention towards the beginning of the year and it’s certainly an interesting one that blends a lot of dispirate elements: climate collapse, aliens, exclusion zones, journalism and conspiracies.  Plus… Aja’s art!

Invisible Kingdom   The Seeds

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Comixology Sales: Wolverine, Joker, Avengers, My Hero Academia, Hellboy

This week’s Comixology sales include Marvel throwing the mutant gate open for Wolverine and Excalibur, plus New Avengers. DC puts the spotlight on The Joker. Dark Horse drops a discount on Hellboy and Viz has a My Hero Academia sale.

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

The Best at What He Does

The Marvel Wolverine Legacy Sale runs through Sunday, 11/14.

We’re not entire sure when Logan became “Legacy” Wolverine, instead of just “Wolverine,” but this is a sale on the original material.  Some highlights:

Here’s the original ’88-’03 series. Yes, it’s probably best known for the Larry Hama/Marc Silvestri run, but we’d draw your attention to the “Basic to Basics” Epic Collection, which has a nice arc by Archie Goodwin & John Byrne AND includes Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure by Walt Simonson & Mike Mignola.

From the reboot that followed, we’ll offer two more recommendations:  Wolverine by Greg Rucka is a low-key, ditch the costume, anti-hero run by Rucka, Leandro Fernandez and Darick Robertson that doesn’t get talked about as much.  Wolverine: Enemy of the State is much better known. Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. drag Logan through the wringer with a brainwashing by The Hand and Hydra, it also features the debut of Gorgon. The polar opposite of the Rucka run, this is the high octane action movie version.

Wolverine: Back to Basics   Wolverine by Greg Rucka   Wolverine: Enemy of the State

I’ve Got To See a Man About a Sword

The Marvel Excalibur Sale runs through Sunday, 11/7.

We’ve said it before, but when it comes to Excalibur (and Captain Britain, for that matter), you want to look for the stories where Alan Davis is involved – artist or writer, it doesn’t matter. He’s there for the best.  If you pop over to  the original series, the Epic Collections of The Sword is Drawn and The Cross-Time Caper cover the Chris Claremont/Alan Davis collaboration. Skip ahead to Curiouser and Curiouser to start the Alan Davis writer/artist run and then finish that run with V. of Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis.  All that Davis goodness will keep you out of trouble.

Excalibur

Bendis Assemble

The Marvel New Avengers Sale runs through Sunday, 11/7.

Brian Bendis revamped Avengers as New Avengers as stayed on it longer than some people realize. Nearly 100 issues worth across two volumes of the title… and that’s before the specials, aligned miniseries and so forth.  That’s a pretty long run. As you might expect, lots of artists passed through the run. Steve McNiven and David Finch early on. Frank Cho, Mike Deodato, Jr.,  Leinil Francis Yu – all sorts of A-listers.

The simplest way to read this is with New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection, which pulls in some of the spin-off material, specials and minis.  Otherwise, it can all get a little complicated to keep track of.

New Avengers by Bendis

The Joke’s on You

The DC The Joker’s Greatest Joke’s Sale runs through Monday, 11/8.

And no, The Joker doesn’t appear to be in EVERY comic that’s on sale here. We don’t get it, either.  But what we will tell you is if you want a single volume Joker anthology, The Joker: 80 Years of the Clown Prince of Crime – Deluxe Edition is a bit under 1/2 the price of the 75 year collection at the top of the sale and has ~40 more pages. And Mad Love is included!  Listed at 441 pages, this is a good bang for your buck.

For something recent, there’s The Joker War Saga. This would be the James Tynion IV Batman saga, but with the tie-in issues included.  Alas, the discount is based on HC pricing, but that’s how it goes with DC’s system.

And for something  a little more off-beat, there’s Superman: Emperor Joker by Joe Kelly, Jeph Loeb, Doug Mahnke and Ed McGuinness.  This is essentially House of M, five years BEFORE House of M. Superman awakens trapped in Arkham Asylum as the Joker has somehow gained the ability to remake the world in his own image and rule over it as Emperor. It’s a slapstick world of dark humor and Superman has to figure out how it has happened before he can do much about it.  An odd and influential story arc we’ve always liked.

The Joker: 80 Years of the Clown Prince of Crime   Joker War Saga   Superman: Emperor Joker

Go Straight to Hellboy

The Dark Horse Hellboy Sale runs through Monday, 11/8.

The centerpiece of the Mignola-verse and occasional film franchise, the core of Hellboy is collected in 2 places: The Hellboy Omnibus collections and Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories. (scroll down to the Omnibus section for both)

There’s plenty of material filling in around the edges, but you should read the core first. It’s great fun.

Hellboy   Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories

School for Super Heroes

The  Viz My Hero Academia sales runs through Sunday, 11/7.

This Kohei Horikoshi manga is the tale of a high school for superheroes in a world where 80% of the population manifests super powers.  Yes, it’s one of the those weak Viz 29% discounts, but if you want to get a look at one of the most popular comics out there (it really performs outside the Direct Market), it’s on sale right now.

My Hero Academia

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

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

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

The New Spider-Man (Again)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy

Hickman’s Revenge

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

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

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

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

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

Let the Halloween Sales Begin

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

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

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

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

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

Baltimore Omnibus 1   Snow, Glass, Apples   The Marquis

The Road to PR

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

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

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

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

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

No Time to Die Shop

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

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

James Bond Kill Chain

Still On Sale

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