Tag: DC

Comixology Sales: Spider-Man / Green Goblin; Astro City; DC’s pre-Black Friday Sale; Image Superheroes

Highlights of this week’s Comixology sales include Spider-Man and the Green Goblin over at the House of Ideas, DC’s “Road to Black Friday” sale and Image’s superhero sale, which includes the return of Astro City.

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

He’s Got Your Pumpkin Right Here

The Marvel Green Goblin Sale runs through Sunday, 11/21.

You absolutely can’t go wrong with the Epic Collections that make up the top row of this sale.  Lee/Ditko, Lee/Romita… that’s the foundational material.  We also would point you towards Spider-Man: Light in the Darkness for something that’s a bit under the radar. That’s an Epic Collection-sized slice of the under-appreciated Peter Parker: Spider-Man run by Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham. Jenkins doesn’t get enough love these days.

Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Great Power   Spider-Man: Light in the Darkness

The Warm Up

The DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels runs through Monday, 11/22 and comes in two parts – Part 1 (100 Bullets to New Teen Titans) and Part 2 (Night Force to Zero Hour).

Which is to say, they’ve got most of the catalog on sale.  The discounts are ranging from ~52% – 69% off, the upper part of the range being above average for DC in ’21… but makes us wonder what’s in store for the actual Black Friday sale?

It’s worth an extended browse, but some things that came to our attention for being at better discounts:

Preacher, the darkly satirical road trip horror epic from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon is on the high end of the discounts with the first three of the six collected editions at 69% off.  Since these are effectively double-sized collections, it’s a pretty good deal as-is.

Multiversity, the dimension-hopping Event by Grant Morrison and a cadre of artists like Frank Quitely and Ivan Reis was a ton o’ fun (we’ll see your President Superman and raise you a pulp-flavored Justice Society). It’s also 70% off right now! Incidentally, you ever notice the Multiversity cover makes no sense unless you already know the comic is about exploring the different worlds in the DC Multiverse?

Speaking of Grant Morrison, the Discount Gods are smiling upon him this week with Final Crisis on sale for 69% off. With JG Jones and Doug Mahnke on art, this one collects the main mini-series, as well as key tie-ins (there was some malpractice at DC during the original release and it was not effectively communicated that Superman Beyond was VITAL to the story), so you can get the whole thing in one sitting.

Preacher   Multiversity   Final Crisis

Astro City Returns… On Sale

Yes, technically it’s part of the Image sale, but it’s so nice to see Astro City back in digital, it gets it’s own header.  This Kurt Busiek/Brent Anderson/Alex Ross collaboration exited the DC publishing sphere awhile back and was in limbo until the current Image deal was announced. Appropriately, Astro City started out at Image, so things are now full circle.

Astro City is essentially a distillation of all that’s good about superhero comics. Particularly Silver Age comics. “Astro City” is the setting and the characters are a pantheon of superhero archetypes. Some tales are about the heroes. Some are about the people around them.  You can pick up pretty much any volume on it’s own and enjoy it (OK, maybe not Dark Age Part 2…), but if you start at the beginning and move forward, the world building is additive.

Astro City

Independent Capes

The  Image Superhero Sale runs through Monday, 11/22.

To start with something out of left field, there’s always The Pro. Very much in the “mature readers” side of things, this is Garth Ennis, Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti crafting the adventures of a superpowered prostitute.  Oh, yes… wherever you think they won’t go, they do. Very funny, very dark and keep the children away from this one.

Radiant Black by Kyle Higgins and Marcelo Costa is one of the current Image buzz books. The first volume of this Millennial hero whose adventures start by moving back in with the parents is 50% off.

And right back from the dawn of Image, there’s Spawn Compendium Vol. 1. That’s the first 50 issues of Spawn. Todd McFarlane doing the full art before Tony Daniels and Greg Capullo pick up the pencil. Guest scripts by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman (now that was an expensive script!), Dave Simm and Grant Morrison. Here’s the deal – with this discount, it’s less than $0.50/issue and you just don’t get much cheaper than that!

The Pro   Radiant Black   Spawn Compendium

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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: Eternals, Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and all the Halloween Sales

In this week’s Comixology Sales Highlights, King Kirby hits with the original Eternals and The Demon, Jim Butcher’s comics adventures of Harry Dresden are discounted and more Halloween sales than you can shake a bag of candy corn at.

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

Eternals… It’s Like There Was a Film or Something…

The Marvels Eternals Sale runs through Sunday, 11/14.

This is one where we have a very strong preference for the original run. You just can’t duplicate Jack Kirby. Over the years, Marvel’s not done the best job keeping this in print over the years and some (including us) might say it’s been overpriced at times.  But guess what? There’s a good price on The Eternals by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection, which has the whole run in one volume.  This one has been overlooked a lot, so don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with it.

Eternals by Jack Kirby

It Sucks (Blood)

The Marvel Halloween Sale runs through… you guessed it, Halloween!

What’s the best horror comic Marvel did in their best horror period?  Tomb of Dracula by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. (With a few other creators at the beginning before the format was set.)  Hard to beat it.

And for something completely off the beaten path, there’s Greenberg the Vampire. The what? From Bizarre Adventures magazine and the eponymous Marvel Graphic Novel by J.M. DeMatteis, Steve Leialoha and Mark Badger.  The story of a lovelorn vampire who’d really rather his mother didn’t know his condition. It’s a little different tone that you usually see at The House of Ideas.

Tomb of Dracula   Greenberg the Vampire

When Vertigo Was a Thing

The DC Halloween Sale runs through Monday, 11/1

Yes, DC has a lot more horror and spooky stuff on sale than Marvel.  Partially because they used to have the Vertigo imprint.  Speaking of which, there’s a whole bunch of stuff by what’s one of the last remaining traces of Vertigo – American Vampire by Scott Snyder and (mostly) Rafael Albuquerque on the art… with a bit of Stephen King at the beginning, but he might be too obscure for Halloween.  It’s the sprawling tale of a new strain of vampire developing and spreading through the decades.  We’d put it at or near the top of the Snyder cannon.

Deadman is one of the original cult heroes of the Silver and Bronze Ages. Originally in Strange Adventures by Neal Adams, Boston Brand is an acrobat whose spirit is seeking his killer. He can possess people’s bodies to interact with the world of the living.  The first two volumes collect the Adams run and then Deadman floats around the DC Universe (pun intended). He pops up in Challengers of the Unknown and Phantom Stranger, has a run in the Dollar Era of Adventure Comics and then the collections end with the ’80s mini-series.  A character the creative community loved to bring back and a Halloween superhero if ever there was one.

We started out talking about Kirby, so let’s talk about his most sorcerous run – The Demon. As Camelot falls, Merlin binds a hell-spawn to a human host. That host survives across the centuries and in modern times, Jason Blood will summon the demon Etrigan to do battle with all manner of unnatural scourges.  It’s the high adventure version of horror.

American Vampire   Deadman   The Demon by Jack Kirby

Wizard Dresden

The Dynamite Horror Sale runs through Monday, 11/1

Since it’s the season, let’s talk about something a little different from Dynamite: The Dresden Files. Jim Butcher’s collaborated with Dynamite for some original, in-continuity comic stories.  Mark Powers is the co-writer and for art, you’ve got Carlos Gomez, Chase Conley, Joseph Cooper and Adrian Syaf.  The Omnibus editions are slightly better deals and the second one is all original material.  Now, if someone would send over a bottle of Mac’s beer…..

Dresden Files

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The Rest of the Halloween Sales

We’ve highlighted most of this in previous weeks, but if you want to do trick or treating for discounts, here’s a ton of stuff for your browsing:

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Comixology Sales: Spider-Man and the Spider-Verse; X-Men and Phoenix; Wonder Woman and IDW Horror

This week’s Comixology Sales highlights include Spider-Man and X-Men from Marvel, good discounts on Wonder Woman from DC and an IDW horror sale for Halloween.

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

The Spiders From Another Dimension

The Marvel Spider-Verse Sale runs through Sunday, 10/24.

Which is to say, the Spidey family, as built around a couple Events that you go into prelude and post-Event volumes, because… Marvel’s sales department.

The center of the activity here is the titular Spider-Verse omnibus.  Morlun’s up to his old tricks and ALL the Spider-Men across the various dimension must act.  The omnibus contains the Amazing issues and the crossovers, so you’re looking at Dan Slott, Christos Gage (yes, Gage covering deadlines — it’s a thing!), Peter David, “Hopeless” Dennis, Adam Kubert, Olivier Copiel, Mark Brooks and a ton of others.  Roughly 600 pages of Spidey to keep you out of trouble.

And the follow-up to that is Spider-Geddon.  This one has a little smaller scope than Spider-Verse.

Now, if you’re talking the extended Spider-family, Miles Morales is the character we most associate with the phrase “Spider-Verse.” The omnibus editions are the ones on sale here and you can do a lot worse than the Bendis / Marquez /Pichelli run.  Some would say this (particularly Spider-Men, which followed) was top of the final Marvel years for Bendis.

Spider-Verse   Spider-Geddon   

Shot Down in Flames

The Marvel Phoenix Sales runs through Sunday 10/24.

This is a fairly straightforward and small sale. X-Men Epic Collection: The Fate of the Phoenix is a classic of medium.  Accept no substitute and go for the Epic Collection.

X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix

Sappho Suffered For This Sale, Part 2

The Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary Sale runs through Monday, 10/25.

Last time out, we looked at earlier Wonder Woman titles, this time we’ll take a look at New 52 on.

Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang (with Tony Akins and Goran Sudžuka drawing a few issues) launched the New 52 edition of Wonder Woman. It’s a darker, alternate take on Wonder Woman’s origins. Some would prefer you treat this one like an Elseworlds story. A sacrilegious a take on the mythos as it maybe be, it’s also one of the best comics to come out of the New 52.  That said, when the Azzarello/Chiang era stops with Volume 6, we would advise you to stop there.

For the Rebirth Era of Wonder Woman, we love the first arc(s) where Greg Rucka returns to undo the Azzarello run (no, really) with Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott alternating parallel stories.  Save a couple bucks with the first omnibus editions in the run or get the first 4 regular collections for this.

And for something a little different, do you remember Matt Wagner’s Trinity? Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman get together to thwart a Ra’s al Ghul plot. Save yourself a buck and get the original (prestige format) issues for $0.99 each.

Wonder Woman New 52   Wonder Woman  Trinity

Revenge of the Trick or Treaters

The IDW Horror Sale runs through Thursday, 11/4.

Yes, it’s the most magical time of the year… for the undead.  There’s plenty for your Halloween appetite rite now, er… right now.  Two things that spring to mind are:

From Hell – Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell collaborate on a very dark exploration of the tale of Jack Ripper. It’s a thick volume and has garnered a veritable ton of accolades over the years. The current edition is in color, “with pictorial revisisions for color by Eddie Campbell, as the cover says.” Be aware, in League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Alan Moore does more of a Victorian pastiche.  The tone here is way different.  This is a horror sale.

30 Days of Night is an important book for IDW.  Never mind the movies, this Steve Niles/Ben Templesmith comic was an important early hit that helped put IDW on the map.  The premise is one so obvious, you’ll hate yourself for not thinking of it first. (Those are always the best ones.) Bad Things happen when a group of vampires realize that in rural Alaska, the sun goes down for a whole month at a time.

From Hell   30 Days of Night

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: 70+% off for Wonder Woman’s 80th Anniversary

DC’s celebrating Wonder Woman’s 80th Anniversary with a Comixology sale… a sale with a lot of 70%+ discounts. No, we were NOT expecting that level of discount two weeks in a row… but we could get used to it.

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

Sappho Suffered For This Sale

The Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary Sale runs through Monday, 10/25.

Yes, Wonder Woman has been around for a bit… and in a shock move, DC is celebrating with good discounts!  Trick or treat, my friend!

Have you ever sampled the original William Moulton Marston / H.G. Peters stories? Wonder Woman: The Golden Age collects the tales from Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman, suddenly on the cheap.  V. 1 is 77% off for $3.99.  V.2 & 3 are 75% off for $4.99. Cheaper if you’re stacking a Comixology Unlimited discount.  This run features a lot of bondage and submission themes that will make your jaw drop, but apparently flew under the radar at the time.  The early rogues gallery includes The Cheetah, Mars and The Duke of Deception.

“Modern” Wonder Woman is considered by many to start with the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths George Perez run. This volume of the title starts with Perez’s now classic and mythology-centric revival, then you get William Messner-Loebs/Mike Deodato, Jr. Run, a John Byrne run, Phil Jimenez gets a turn and then it ends up with the highly regard first Greg Rucka era. You can pretty safely go wild with the Omnibus section for this volume and what’s not collected there is $0.99 per issue. Each run has it’s fans.

Wonder Woman: The Golden Age   Wonder Woman by George Perez

You may have heard of Jill Thompson’s Wonder Woman: True Amazon? It won the best original graphic novel Eisner and was kind of a big deal.  $3.99 – cheap.

If you want a particularly out there version of Princess Diana, there’s always the Black Label Wonder Woman: Dead Earth by Daniel Warren Johnson.  It’s a heavy metal version of Wonder Woman awakening in a post-apocalyptic dystopia and slaying monsters as she gets a grip on what’s happened while she slept. Very fun book.

Wonder Woman - True Amazon   Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

The 2006 series of Wonder Woman is probably best known as the Gail Simone era, so this is where you seek her out.

Wonder Woman by Gail Simone

We’ll assume you know the regular series since New 52. In general, we like the Azzarello/Chiang (most find it a sacrilegious take on the character, but that’s Brian’s motif) and Ruck / Sharp / Scott runs quite a bit.

Lots of 70%+ discounts and most of the single issues are $0.99, so have a good browse while the prices are low.

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: Thor, Deadpool, 70%+ off at DC (and Batman), plus Image Horror

This week in Comixology Sales, there’s pretty complete run of Thor on sale and DC’s still over 70% off on many of their graphic novels.  Plus Deadpool and Image’s horror line is on sale for Halloween.

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

Bringing the Thunder

The Marvel Thor: Massive God of Thunder Sale runs through Sunday, 10/17.

This is pretty much Thor on sale up and down all the various titles for ~60-67% off per volume and some $0.99 single issues.  The sale page is incredibly poorly organized, so we’ll walk you through the titles and point to some better stuff.  Our rule of thumb is that Epic Collections and Marvel Masterwork editions are the best values. We like Epic’s a little better, but the Masterworks are published in the right order, so pick your poison.

Thor starts in Journey into Mystery. Fair warning, the earliest issues can be a little rough as they figure out the format. As Lee and Kirby lock in, it improves greatly, but the first Masterworks’ worth is for completists.

As we all know, Journey into Mystery changed the title to Thor, and just as things were getting interesting. You’re good with the initial Stan Lee / Jack Kirby (the Mangog and Galactus sequences are particularly good circa #154 – 169). Fine when John Buscema tags in for Kirby, but then opinions vary quite a bit when Stan exits.  What everyone agrees on is then when Walt Simonson shows up, it’s the best Thor since Lee/Kirby.  The “Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson” set of books is more complete than Thor by Walter Simonson, FYI. Visionaries has the end of the run.

Journey into Mystery   Thor: To Wake the Mangog

We’ll ignore Heroes Reborn, and then the new Thor series is an extended run written by Dan Jurgen with John Romita, Jr. as the initial artist.

The  next volume starts out with a good run by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Copiel, then has Keiron Gillen popping up around a Siege tie-in and then starts the Matt Fraction / Pasqual Ferry run.  It’s a pretty good volume.

As we enter the Relaunch Era of Marvel, Fraction/Copiel gets a new #1 as it relaunches as The Mighty Thor. Note: Comixology (and Marvel) have some weird housekeeping at the final act of the Fraction run, Everything Burns, is collected all by itself.

Thor by Dan Jurgens   Thor by JMS   The Mighty Thor   Everything Burns

This is when Jason Aaron popped on board. First with Thor confronting The God Butcher and then Jane Foster’s time as Thor. This is a funky one to keep track of by individual titles, but Marvel has a Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection that simplifies things quite a bit.

Which leaves us with the current  Donny Cates/ Nic Klein run.  And that’s the nickel tour of Thor.  That sale page is pretty jumbled up.  This is where you’ll find your $0.99 single issues.

Thor by Jason Aaron   Thor by Donny Cates

Rare “Good” Discounts at DC

The DC Fandome Sale marches on through Monday, 10/18. It’s in two links: Part 1 and Part 2. It’s a disorganized batch of titles, but very good discounts for DC in the ~69%- 75% off range.  Very good discounts for DC.  Last time we looked at oddities and value buys. This time we’re going to look at some the stuff with higher list prices where you’re saving more actual dollars.

One of the very best Batman runs was the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers era.  Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart contains that Detective run, the much later Dark Detective miniseries and basically all the Batman Englehart wrote. 452 pages, 74% off.

All-Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever is the 70s Justice Society run (All Star Comics and Adventure Comics) in one large volume. Gerry Conway and Paul Levitz are your writers. The art line up is most associated with Joe Staton, but Keith Giffen and Wally Wood are notable here.  449 pages, 74% off.

Marv Wolfman once told us his favorite work was Night Force. You may not have heard of it, but that’s why we’re here. It’s time travel horror caper of a comic about a mansion in Washington D.C. that’s a portal into time and the mysterious Baron who lives there.  Gene Colan does the art. Yes, it’s the Tomb of Dracula crew back in the saddle at a different publisher.  Really good stuff and this edition collects the original 14-issue run.

Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart   All-Star Comics  Night Force

More Halloween!

The Image Horror Sale runs through Monday, 11/1.

And Image has a lot of horror. It was one of the beneficiaries when DC made the questionable decision to throw Vertigo to the curb.  A few things that bubble to the top of our list:

We’re in the bag for Killadelphia. Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander serve up a neo-noir horror thriller (with great punchlines sprinkled in here and there) about father and son detectives trying to head off a vampire takeover of Philly.  That’s the non-spoiler version. It’s much darker and intricate than a spoiler-free description can describe.  Highly recommended for Halloween.

Dracula, Motherf**cker! by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson is… an experience. And we mean that in the best possible way. Think a ’70s exploitation era crime film with vampires. Dracula is in LA and not everyone is happy about it. An absolute tour de force for Erica Henderson, too.  She really catches that early 70s vibe and sets a unique tone you should see for yourself.

Kill or Be Killed is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips spinning a tale of a young man at war with the Russian mob who’s either possessed by a demon or insane. Which is it? That would telling, but a superior and creepy entry in the Brubaker & Phillips library.

Killadelphia   Dracula, Motherf**cker!   Kill or Be Killed

Deadpool or Treat

The “Marvel Deadpool World’s Greatest Sale” runs through Sunday, 10/17.

Let’s translate that for you – it’s the 2015-2017 Deadpool series that’s on sale. It’s called Deadpool: World’s Greatest on Comixology, but the actual covers just say “Deadpool” with the Fantastic Four’s “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” tagline above the logo in sardonic fashion.  Were you go to the actual series page for the comic and scroll down to the Omnibuses section, you can save a small amount by getting it in that format.  As it the case with most of the sales this week, the sale page is a jumbled up mess.

Deadpool: World's Greatest

Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: DC’s “Fandome” Sale Brings Back the GOOD Discounts For a Week

DC breaks out the grown-up discounts to Comixology this week, so it’s a special Tuesday edition!

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

Real Discounts Return to DC

The DC Fandome Sale comes in two parts: Part 1  and Part  2 . Strangely, these listings aren’t really alphabetical, so just dive in. Lots of 69% – 75% off prices here.  Higher if you have a Comixology Unlimited membership.

Yes, the usual suspects are in the sale. After all, there are something like 2500 items… but let’s take a stroll for the garden looking for some forgotten items and better values, shall we?

Do you like the Wally West Flash of the 80s and 90s? Have a look at the series page for that run of The Flash.  Specifically, look at the omnibus section. The Mark Waid volumes are good buys and the Geoff John volumes are ~300 pages each for $3.99.  Two excellent runs for the taking.

Before Southern Bastards and before Thor, Jason Aaron wrote Scalped, with art by R.M. Guéra. It’s a neo-noir about an FBI agent reluctantly returning to the reservation of this youth to investigate organized crime at the casino there. Hit up those omnibus editions at 75% off.

The Flash   Scalped

The Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / John Totleben / Stan Woch / Rick Veitch Saga of the Swamp Thing run at $3.99 per volume?  That’s a can’t lose proposition.

A couple years back, Robert Venditti and Eddy Barrows had a 12-part Freedom Fighters serial that was SOLID and did not get enough love. It’s the Man in the High Castle premise of their Silver Age revival – the Nazi’s won the war, but Uncle Sam and company are leading the resistance… with a slight complication springing from a Kryptonian escape rocket the Nazi’s found back in the ’30s. At $3.99, that’s 12 issues for the price of one.

Swamp Thing   Freedom Fighters

You’ve heard of The Great Darkness Saga, where Darkseid appears in the future the vex The Legion of Super-Heroes? It’s an absolute classic tale by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. This particular volume also has some lead-in stories with Pat Broderick on the art. $3.99 for 414 pages makes this one of the best values on the site!

Legion of Super Heroes The Great Darkness Saga

Lots and lots of material here, so we encourage you to browse on your own. DC has not been having discounts like this very often, so while we hope they keep it up, it’s more likely it’ll be back to 50% off next week.

Still On Sale

 

 

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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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Comixology Sales: Wolverine, Venom/Carnage, (Solo) X-Men, Justice League, Spawn and Cursed Pirate Girl

This week in Comixology Sales, Marvel discounts Wolverine’s demise and the solo X-Men adventures, DC cuts the Justice League pricing, we have a look at some under-the-radar Image titles in their large Fall sale and… Cursed Pirate Girl!

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

Dead Again

The Marvel  Death of Wolverine Sale runs through Sunday, 10/3.

Spoilers: he gets better.

This sale is pretty straight forward. If you want the full Event experience, Death of Wolverine: The Complete Collection gets you a little more bang for your buck.

Death of Wolverine

Mutants Without Partners

The Marvel X-Men Solo Series Sale runs through Thursday, 10/7.

This would be a collection of some of the mini-series and otherwise short lived titles featuring the various members of the X-family off on their own.

Of the set, Legion (or Legion: Legacy as it’s sometimes referred to) by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat is probably the one with the most lasting influence.  You might also be interested in a bit of Chris Claremont.  Everyone once in a while, Marvel will give him the greenlight and this 2014 Nightcrawler series drawn by Todd Nauck is one of those.

Legion   Nightcrawler

Symbiotes

The Marvel Venom-Carnage Sale runs through Sunday, 12/17.

Gosh, it’s like there was a movie out or something…

The Venom saga starts with this Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection. That puts you in the David Michelinie/Todd McFarlane era of the book.

Maximum Carnage isn’t the first appearance of Carnage, but it’s the BIG story arc where Carnage really gets the spotlight, a few years after Venom debuted.

Amazing Spider-Man - Venom   Maximum Carnage

Justice over the Years

The DC Spotlight: Justice League Sale runs through Monday, 10/4.

This is one of those mezzanine level, 50% off sales that are becoming the norm for DC.  What’s on sale?  A whole bunch of Justice League, naturally.  And the older single issues are $0.99, so make sure it’s not cheaper to get single issues than the collected edition. (It’s usually cheaper to get the collected edition if it’s on sale, but not always.)

The original Justice League of America run is here.  You can get the first 41 issues or so in collected editions and another batch in the #80s-#90s, but this is mostly a single issue affair.  We always thought the Steve Englehart/Dick Dillin era was Peak JLA: #139-146; 149-150. The Gerry Conway/Dick Dillin/George Perez era that followed has it’s fans, too.  Conway was on the title a looooooong time.

For an oddity, long before he was doing Deathstroke and Vampirella, Priest did a run on Justice League Task Force. A title you really don’t hear the name of very often. The cleanest place to start (darn those pesky cross-overs) is probably #17, which Mark Waid writes and Priest pops back in with the next issue.

For pure Bang For The Buck, it’s hard to beat Justice League Quarterly. The ’90-’94 series is eclectic as all get out for creators (see for yourself) and it’s 70+ pages for $0.99/pop.  Definitely cheaper getting the single issues on this one. If you see a creator lineup you like on an issue, it’s cheap!

The more recent material is also available, but we figure you’re already familiar with that.

Justice League of America   Justice League Task Force   Justice League Quarterly

Hidden Treasure From Image

The Image Fall Reading Sale runs through Friday, 10/15.

Normally, we don’t recommend $20+ digital collections… but we’ll make an exception for Spawn Compendium V.1 because it’s a 50 issue collection and that comes out to roughly $0.48/issue, which is as cheap as it comes.  Spawn’s pretty hot right now and this is a good way to see how it started. Todd McFarlane is even penciling Spawn before Greg Capullo and Tony Daniel enter the picture. Plus all those early guest writers like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman.

Speaking of things that are hot right now, Kyle Higgins seems to have a hit on his hands with Radiant Black, but not that many people remember his previous indie superhero vehicle, C.O.W.L. Co-written by Alec Seigel and drawn by Rod Reis concerns a labor union for superheroes in ’60s Chicago.

Spawn Compendium x C.O.W.L.

The Monolith, written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray and illustrated by Phil Winslade is a comic that was originally published by DC, with the rights having returned to the creators. (Do not say that last part around the Marvel legal offices this week. Someone might get alarmed.) A troubled young woman discovers golem in her basement in this one. A very angry golem who thirsts for revenge. It’s something you may not have heard of and we’re saps for Phil Winslade’s art.

Another lesser-known series by a now more prominent creator is twenty-seven by Charles Soule and Renzo Podestá.  Yes, Soule is on the prolific side. This one explores why all those famous musicians die at the age of 27. An occult conspiracy?  That would be telling.

The Monolith   27

Curses!

The BOOM! YA All Day Sale runs through Friday 10/1.

We would draw your eye to a wonderfully idiosyncratic comic: Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl. We’re not sure we’d necessarily call it YA, so much as living in it’s own space in sort of an surreal Alice in Wonderland kind of way… but with pirates and ghosts.  Such a unique work!

Cursed Pirate Girl

Still on Sale

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