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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Posted on January 6, 2022January 7, 2022 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Holiday Sale Roundup Part 2 – DC, Image, IDW and BOOM!

This week in Comixology, it’s all holiday sale, all the time with everything lasting into the new year. In Part 2 of the Holiday roundup, we’re adding DC, Image, IDW and BOOM! into the discount vortex.

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

Pretty much every sale that’s dropped since our last installment is at 50% discount, so we would highly recommend you also click here and have a gander at all the $0.99/$1.99 graphic novels on sale, include Marvel Masterworks.

And now… the rest of the holiday sale highlights.

DC’s Discount Presents

The DC Holiday eBook Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. It comes in two parts: Part 1 (100 Bullets through Nightwing) and Part 2 (Nightwing through Zero Hour). (Amazon link)

There are a little less than 2500 DC graphic novels on sale. Basically, the whole digital catalog (save for the books too new to get discounted). If there’s a title you’re looking for, it’s likely there, so go have a browse. The vast majority of books are around 50% off.

A handful of good reads that are perhaps a little better value? Sure. We have some likely candidate for you.

Like most of the comics community, we’ve been alarmed at George Perez’s cancer diagnosis. George’s landmark, mythology-forward Wonder Woman series is on sale and Wonder Woman by George Perez V. 1 is a larger than average page count make it a good value on top of a good comic. It’s one of George’s signature pieces. If you want to move forward, for reasons known only to DC, V.5 is in the “collected editions” section of the series page, not the “ominbuses” section. It’s also not on sale. There’s a V. 6, but you’re better off getting the War of the Gods collection in the omnibuses section that collects the same material and is actually on sale.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Book 1 is also a pretty good value. It’s 375 pages and includes the opening arc of the Dave Gibbons/Patrick Gleason Green Lantern Corps title. We think pretty highly of the original Johns GL run through Blackest Night, but be warned – subsequent volumes in this format have premium HC pricing for digital files. Just say no to HC pricing whenever possible. It’s also 53% off instead of 50%. (Missed it by that much!(

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse is the post-Great Darkness Saga LSH run by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. A classic of the era, and a volume we enjoyed revisiting awhile back. While Great Darkness is absolutely worth your time, this massive 544 page volume is the slightly better value by (its considerable) volume.

The Cheaper Image

The Image Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. (Amazon link)

We’re still looking at 50% off here (plus some 99-cent single issues), but Image is running a much smaller sale centered around what’s been hot for them lately. And we can absolutely vouch for some them.

Reckless by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is a very pulpy series of graphic novels about an off-the-bookers “fixer” in ’80s. LA. “If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them….maybe you can hire” sorry… wrong 80s LA fixers. Reckless is much darker and deals with things like fallout from Cointel Pro, the Satanic Panic and shady real estate deals. Two of the three are on sale and we like the set, but maybe like the opening installment best.

Killadelphia is a genre bending tale of police detectives trying to head off a vampire uprising in Philly. A little bit of horror, a little bit of neo noir, a sinister sense of history and a strong streak of gallows humor. We’ve been all-in for this one since we tried it. Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander run the blood bank for this one.

Department of Truth is incrementally the youngest book of the set. This would be James Tynion, IV and Martin Simmonds telling a tale of the power of belief causing conspiracy to burst into reality and a shadowy government agency trying to reign this in. There’s an X-Files vibe to it, but Department of Truth is really it’s own thing… and a good thing at that.

Note: $3.99 for the first volumes in this sale is a genuinely good deal.

Holiday Theft

The IDW Holiday Mega Sale runs through Wednesday 1/5.

That’s pretty much the whole catalog 50% off here. Highlights?

If you want to talk masterpiece, there’s Richard Stark’s Parker by Darwyn Cooke. Cooke does jaw dropping adaptions of Donald Westlake’s (Stark was a pen name) classic novels about a vengeance-minded professional thief. If you like crime comics, you don’t find much better than this.

Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez has become a standard bearer for IDW, but let’s ignore the TV adaptation thing – it was a good comic before any of that came to fruition. A creepy tell of a magical keys and generational horror stalking a family.

Discount Go Boom!

The BOOM! Holiday Sale runs through Thursday, 1/6.

Again, it sure looks like most of the catalog is half off, so if you had something on your wish list, it’s probably here. Highlights?

We absolutely loved the first volume of We Only Find Them When They’re Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo. What’s it about? Skullduggery surrounding salvaging flesh and organs from the corpse of alien gods found floating in space. A twisted high concept science fiction series and we’re slightly impatient for V. 2.

We also haven’t heard anyone mention Mouse Guard in a spell. This David Peterson series is an Eisner-winner and is absolutely gorgeous to behold and his art is as good at creating mood as it is pretty. Its a medieval tale of the “Mouse Guard” (think an order like the Three Musketeers) as they investigate a conspiracy and try to keep the common mice safe. Fall: 1152 is the first book in the series.

We also haven’t heard Irredeemable mentioned lately. This Mark Waid/Peter Krause/Diego Barreto tale could be described as “what if Superman had a psychotic break?” It’s a bit deeper than that and it develops it’s own little superhero universe and cast as it explores what happens when the nicest, most powerful hero finally snaps and decides to kill everyone and take over.

Posted on December 23, 2021December 28, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Holiday Sale Season Has Started – $0.99/$1.99 Masterworks, Spider-Man, Star Wars, King in Black, Strange Adventures, Plus Deep Discounts From Vault, Valiant and Fantagraphics

The Holiday Comixology Sales have arrived! $0.99/$1.99 Marvel Masterworks! $3.99 Star Wars Epic Collections! $0.99/$1.99 collected editions from Vault, Valiant and Fantagraphics! Plus, the Oni Holiday Sale and (Adam) Strange Adventures.

Given the time of the year, it’s time to pay attention to the sale end dates. The “real” holiday sales typical start between now and next week and run into the first week of January. Publishers tend to drop 2-3 week sales now and then not update much in between ~12/23 and ~1/3. So Marvel, Oni, Vault, Fantagraphics and Valiant are sticking around. DC’s “real” sale is yet to come. (And there may well be a little more Marvel to come.)

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

$0.99/$1.99 Marvel Masterworks

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Marvel Masterworks Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. (Amazon link)

What’s good? At these prices, anything you don’t already own, basically.

Things of note here (the sale goes alphabetical after the first page, and don’t pretend you’re not going to browse it):

Black Panther Masterworks V. 1 is the Don McGregor/Rich Buckler/Billy Graham Jungle Action run and it’s top notch
Captain Marvel Masterworks V. 3-4, V.3 is the famous Starlin run with Thanos, but V.4 is the oft-overlooked Englehart/Milgrom run.
Defenders Masterworks V.3-5 is the EXCELLENT Steve Gerber/Sal Buscema era

And yes DD and FF Masterworks are starting to enter the Miller and Byrne eras. Some people are probably feeling old when they read that.

Catches Cheap, Just Like Flies — Look Out, Here Comes the Spider Sale

The Marvel Amazing Spider-Man Legacy Sale runs through Saturday, 1/1. (Amazon link) And it’s a big one.

As with previous “Legacy” sales, this one is Spidey through the years, specifically different incarnations of Amazing Spider-Man.

You want a stellar deal? We’ve got it right here. 22 volumes of Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks (i.e. the original series). $0.99 for the first volume, $1.99 for the rest. That will take you into the Roger Stern/John Romita, Jr. years.

So let’s break this down by series.

Original ’63 – ’98 Amazing Spider-Man. For the sake of value, you only want the massively discounted Masterworks for the contents of issues 1-237. And since the Epic Collections _aren’t_ on sale this time around (that was a couple weeks ago), the only other things available here would be along the lines of Origin of the Hobgoblin (picks up where the next Masterworks would start) or the Michelinie/Larsen Sinster Six collection.

’99 – ’13 Amazing Spider-Man is noted for the JMS run and the following “Brand New Day” era. The JMS run is divisive. We like it well enough, with the caveat that there were a couple major editorial missteps (Sins of the Past and One More Day), but your mileage will vary. As soon as JMS leaves, the One More Day era begins and it’s more of a throwback to the Spidey of years past. We particularly liked it when Mister Negative turned up and the introduction of Kraven’s heirs. The last arc of this series brings back Doc Ock, who… sticks around.

Which brings us to The Superior Spider-Man. A surprisingly entertaining run wherein Otto Octavius possess the body of Peter Parker and intends to make himself into a better, nay… superior Spider-Man. If you want this, go for the omnibuses.

Still with us? Good. Remember, Spidey reboots less than Captain America!

The ’15-’18 series of Amazing Spider-Man is the end of the Dan Slott era. (He was part of the Brand New Day rotation before taking over.) Otto build up Peter’s fortune and now Peter sort of plays Tony Stark until the old Parker Luck rears it’s head… as does Norman. Possibly best known for the Red Goblin story line that wraps the series.

And the brings us to the current Amazing Spider-Man, which is the Nick Spencer era, for the purposes of this sale. An era of Parker Luck and conspiracies… although we prefer the occasional humorous interludes that have echoes Superior Foes.

Now, because Marvel and Comixology sometimes divide things up strangely, here are a couple other things of note that don’t show up in the main title categories:

Kraven’s Last Hunt – The absolute classic by J.M. DeMatties and Mike Zeck
Revenge of the Green Goblin – A set of above average Goblin stories by Roger Stern, Paul Jenkins, Lee Weeks and Ron Frenz, among others.

Dig through the sale and you can find the 90s Clone saga and McFarlane run listed as a separate titles for… cataloging purposes?

Did Somebody Say “Holiday Special?”

The Marvel Star Wars Massive Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. (Amazon link)

Marvel might have figured out you like those $3.99 Epic Collections. There’s a TON of them with the original Marvel 70s/80s run and the Dark Horse material.

The Epic’s are actually a little better organized on the Sale page (yes, that’s unusual), so let’s just list out a few things we particularly like there:

The Legacy series (John Ostrander and Jan Duursema leading the creatives) has bounty hunting Cade Skywalker, the last heir, mixing it up with the Sith Empire
The Newspaper Strips – both volumes. Russ Manning is pretty good, but you really can’t beat Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson!
The Empire V. 6 is worth the money for the “Agent of Empire” material. The elevator pitch is “What if James Bond worked for The Empire?” Yes, yes he does.
For The Original Marvel Years, we’d lean towards V.3 and V.4, if we had to choose. Empire through the beginning of Jo Duffy’s run. You get some memorable Goodwin/Williamson (and Goodwin/Infantino), great one-off’s by Larry Hama and Mike W. Barr and the under-appreciated David Michelinie/Walt Simonson run.

Now, if you’ve got your eye on the current Marvel era of Star Wars, we have a priority for you. We’ve liked an awful lot of it, but the BEST is the Kieron Gillen/Salvador Larroca Darth Vader run. It is jaw-dropping. Get the two Omnibus editions – they’re cheaper and the second one includes Vader Down. Follow it up with Doctor Aphra or the Soule run… but this is where you start.

We Thought Legendary Was a Movie Company?!?

The Marvel Legendary Runs Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. (Amazon link)

You’ll want to have a good browse through this one. Some of the thicker volumes approach Masterworks/Epic Collection size, too. Yes, we like it when things are 80% off.

Things that pop to the top of the list here? (This sale is alphabetical, so just scroll through the actual sale page.)

Avengers Assemble is the Kurt Busiek / George Perez run and and wonderful era of Avengers.
Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection is probably still the definitive run. Yes, even ahead of Don McGregor. Worth your time for very thick volumes at 80% off.
Howard the Duck: The Complete Collection – you only need the first two volumes, this site doesn’t recognize HTD if he isn’t written by Steve Gerber. Note: The 99-cent Masterworks doesn’t quite have as many issues as V.1, but it’s close. V. 2 is not in Masterworks format.
Thor by Walter Simonson because Walt is the best.

Not to be Confused with Dark Tower or Johnny Cash

The Marvel King in Black Sale runs through Sunday, 12/19. (Amazon link)

The is the Venom-centric cosmic invasion Event with the core mini-series by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman.

As far as the tie-ins (and there are quite a few), we like a couple that intersected a bit more tangentially.

King in Black: Namor is largely a flashback to Namor’s youth that features an origin for Attuma as a dark secret from the past rears it’s head to menace Atlantis. It works pretty well as a stand alone story. We’d have been good with this being an ongoing title.

The Union, drawn by Andrea Di Vito and written by British indie comics legend Paul (Kane, Jack Staff) Grist finds Union Jack heading up a new group of British heroes, very much against his better judgement.

What a Long Strange Trip

The DC Strange Adventures Sale runs through Monday, 12/20. (Amazon link)

A sale that’s… strange? So let’s talk about Adam Strange. The most topical item of this sale is the current Strange Adventures Adam Strange series by Tom King, Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner. The first 10 issues are available for $0.99 cents… and then the last 2 issues are $4.99/pop. That’s $19.88 for the series vs. $29.99 for the digital collection. So you can save a bit if you want to read it now or you can wait for the collection to go on sale in 6-8 months, as it inevitably will.

If you want some of the original Adam Strange, there are some $0.99 reprints towards the tail end of the original Strange Adventures series available. It’s digital, so they’re all reprints. We’d avoid Deadman in this run: it’s incomplete and you’re better off getting a collected edition when those are on sale. The Animal Man issues are also in black & white. We did mention this was a strange sale.

JSA: Strange Adventures is a pulpy take on the Justice Society by Kevin J. Anderson, Barry Kitson and Gary Erksine.

$0.99 / $1.99 Indie Graphic Novels are Back

Welcome to the holidays, we were expecting this to filter in soon. Remember how the first volume in a series was $0.99 and subsequent volumes were $1.99 around Black Friday? It’s back.

Vault

The Best of Vault Sale runs through Thursday, 1/6.

We’ve heard nothing but good things about These Savage Shores, a colonial horror tale by Ram V and Sumit Kumar. We’ve also heard a bit of buzz building around Money Shot by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie and Rebekah Isaacs, a tale about *cough* relations with aliens *cough* and it’s not really a book for kids.

A Different Love & Rockets

The Fantagraphics Love & Rockets Sale runs through Thursday, 1/6.

Yes, one of the legendary indie comics by Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez falls under this category… and since the series is broken up into different sequences, there’s a lot more $0.99 material than you might expect. A real fielders choice here. Pick what speaks to you, the pedigree is there.

Valiant

The Valiant Ring in the New and Old Sales runs through Thursday, 1/6. (Amazon link)

They had a similar sale on Black Friday, so let’s talk about three particularly good older titles that have popped up here.

Quantum & Woody by Priest and MD Bright is from the Acclaim era of Valiant and is probably the best thing they’ve published. A superhero farce with gravitas, heart and… a goat. A wonderful comic that didn’t last as long as it should have. Highly recommended.

X-O Manowar: Retribution is the opening act in the original series where a barbarian comes into possession of sentient suit of unspeakably powerful armor worship by aliens. Sort of Conan gets Iron Man’s suit… but with more explosions. The creative line up on this one? Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Barry Windsor-Smith and Joe Quesada. Yes, there are reasons this was a hot book in the 90s and worth revisiting.

Harbinger: Children of the Eighth Day kicked off the original Harbinger saga. It’s something that seemed to fall out of the collective consciousness after Valiant’s first incarnation folded, but it’s a solid tale of teen psionics (mutants… why that would be a different publisher) confronting a conspiracy to control and own them. Jim Shooter and David Lapham are the creators.

Oni For the Holidays

The Oni Holiday Sale runs through Tuesday, 1/4. (Amazon link)

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim might be Oni’s flagship book at this point. The main question is whether a sequence that started in 2004 is a “modern classic” or just “a classic.” Hugely influential, either way. The color omnibus is the best value here. 6 volumes for $14.99 comes out to ~$2.50/volume and that’s not bad at all.

We’ve spoken about the greatness that is The Sixth Gun before (and it’s also on sale), but we haven’t spoken of Shadow Roads. It’s a sequel series. Now… without getting into spoilers, this is not a sequel you were necessarily expecting, but there are a few familiar faces and some… echoes you’ll recognize. It does follow on quite nicely and if you liked The Sixth Gun, we’re confident you’ll like Shadow Roads. Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt are back with A.C. Zamudio on art.

Stumptown is a Rockford Files-inspired detective comic by Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth and Justin Greenwood. A down on her heels PI navigates the quirky world of Portland. We especially liked V.4’s affair with rare coffee beans for maximum quirk.

Posted on December 16, 2021December 17, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Posted on December 9, 2021December 10, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

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.

Marvel’s Better Deals

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

$3.99 Epic Collections, which is to say, roughly 20 issues for the price a new comic. Again, get your older DD in this sale. (Amazon link)
$0.99 / $1.99 Hawkeye collections. (Amazon link)

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.

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.

Still on Sale

The Best of Oni & Lion Forge Sale runs through Friday, 12/3 (Amazon link)

Posted on December 2, 2021December 3, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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…

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.

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.

Also Worth Noting

The Archie 1000 Page Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 11/29 (1000 pages for $1.99) – Amazon link
The Dynamite Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 11/29 – Amazon link

Posted on November 25, 2021November 26, 2021 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: DC’s Black Friday Sale and Independent Graphic Novels for $0.99 (Cheap!)

Yes, the spirit of Black Friday is alive and well in the world of Comixology Sales. DC’s discounts are up and we take a look at a batch of independent publishers offering $0.99 / $1.99 collected editions. It’s a thing!

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

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. 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.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast

We looked at the first round of Marvel’s Black Friday offerings yesterday and between the $3.99 Epic Collections and the $0.99-$1.99 Hawkeye collections, those still might be the deals to beat.

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.