Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Holiday Sales From DC (More $1.99 Collections), Archie, BOOM! and IDW

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, holiday sales from DC (it’s a doozy), IDW, Archie and BOOM!.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

A clerical note before we jump into things. Comics.Cheap will probably be on a strange holiday schedule, like everyone else. We’re not sure if we’ll be putting out the usual Friday round-up this week.  That will be determined largely by whether any more notable sales dropping between now and then. (There’s an Image sale listed, but as we’re typing this, it sure doesn’t look like the sale prices are appearing yet… but if it’s not more than 50% off, we’ll wait for next week.)  Next week, we’ll have a closer look at the BEST of the Marvel Masterworks sale and catch up on any interesting sales dropping between now and then.

DC’s Insane Holiday Sale

The DC Holiday Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

WOW. This is like the last few DC sales, only more of it. And with over 3K items this is approaching a line-wide sale. Not quite, but getting there. If you scroll back to the last few $1.99/$2.99 sales between Black Friday and now, we think most of that material is back on sale, so we’ll focus on things that caught our eye this time around that maybe weren’t previously on sale. Yes, some of these items are giving the Marvel Masterpieces sale a run for your money.

This is 3600+ items, so remember – when browsing the main sale link, right click on comics and open them in a new window or you’ll lose your place and have to start over at the top!

Here’s an extended list of what caught our eye:

$1.99 Collected Editions

$2.99 Collected Editions

Over $3

  • Bizarro Comics – Matt Groening / Kyle Baker / Harvey Pekar and bunch more
  • Marshal Law – Pat Mills / Kevin O’Neill
  • Mister Miracle – The second series with Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers and then Steve Gerber / Michael Golden / Russ Heath – that’s right, Heath inking Golden!
  • Night Force – The first Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan run (Marv’s favorite series)

What’s the cream of the crop? More so than most weeks, it depends on your individual tastes.  We will definitely say that the double volume editions of Gotham Central for $1.99 seems like an absolute steal.  We might slightly favor Jimmy Olsen (essentially, Kirby’s Superman title), but all of those 70’s Jack Kirby books for $2.99 are great deals. And we’re leaning toward Justice League International for the third slot because it’s just never this cheap.

Gotham Central   Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby   Justice League International

What’s that? You say you’d rather have single issues? Preferably for $0.99? It seems DC would like to placate your tastes. Note: these are fairly recent issues being discounted, so on longer running titles, you’ll need to scroll down a bit to see the 99 cent issues.  There’s a lot more than list here, but you’ll need to get below the collected editions on the main page.

Holidays go BOOM!

The BOOM! Holidays Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

This looks to be a line-wide 50% off sale, so let’s look at some things might be slightly below the radar.

Steed & Mrs. Peel is an adaption of the British TV Avengers, the often absurdist spy-fi show. This is a relatively early Grant Morrison script and drawn by Ian Gibson, who’s best known for his 2000 AD work on Robo-Hunter and Judge Dredd.

Is this the first time BRZRKR has been discounted? This one made a big splash on Kickstarter and variant covers, but you know what? Despite all the hype that wasn’t about the interior pages, this is actually a very enjoyable action/SF/dark fantasy comic. It’s written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt with art by Ron Garney and concerns a seemingly immortal warrior from centuries past who’s ready to leave immortality behind. It’s bloody as all get out, but alternates the violence with character work.

And for something completely different: Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl. You need to see the art in this fantasy tale for yourself. A delightfully unique experience.

Steed and Mrs. Peel   BRZRKR   Cursed Pirate Girl

A Different Side of Riverdale

The Archie Holiday Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

Since this looks line wide, we’ll draw your attention to something well off the beaten path:

The Black Hood by Duane Swierczynski / Michael Gaydos / Howard Chaykin / Greg Scott is more a crime book than a superhero caper. Vigilante if you must. In the wake of a shooting, involving a vigilante called The Black Hood, an injured cop develops a pain killer addiction, dons the Black Hood’s mask for less than puritanical reasons and finds himself in over his head in a world of vendettas. Very dark, very good. For some reason V. 3 is listed separately.

Black Hood   Black Hood

IDW Does the Holidays

The IDW Holidays Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

Much like with BOOM!, this looks to be a near line wide sales at 50%-ish off, so we’ll highlight some under the radar books. If you’ve had your eye on something specific, have a browse and you’ll likely find it.

Popeye by Roger Langridge and Bruce Ozella is just straight up fun. A satisfying and amusing entry in the Popeye library.

The One by Rick Veitch is very dark superhero satire steeped in cold war politics. It’s effectively the younger sibling of Brat Pack and one of the earlier deconstructionist superhero comics (After Marvelman/Miracleman’s run in Warrior, but before Watchmen).

Sachs and Violens by Peter David and George Perez was originally a mini-series for Marvel’s Epic imprint, near the end of Epic’s original run. It’s a lighthearted adventure contrasted with heavy material (snuff films) as a model and photographer mete out street justice. Oddly, David later included the characters in his Fallen Angel series.

Popeye   The One   Sachs & Violens

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Still On Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Avengers, Deadpool, ~3K DC Titles and Image Crime

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC goes wide and deep with some better prices, Marvel offers up Avengers and Deadpool and Image slashes crime comics.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

Before we get to the sales, a message for the folks at Comixology: you really need to get some pagination in this new format. Yes, sorting and alphabetizing books is important and a step in the right direction, but there really needs to be some pagination or bookmarks. A sale like the current DC sale requires a person to click the “See more” button around 90 times to get to the end. If that person wants to read the details on any item before getting to the end, they get thrown back to the beginning of the sale when they click the back button to return.  That’s a pretty awful UIX experience and puts a significant burden on the user who wants to browse something at the end of the alphabet, like Wonder Woman. Fix this.

(We recommend right-clicking and opening a new tab or window if you want to examine an item in one of these monster-sized sales. It will save you some headaches.)

DC Forget To Put the Kitchen Sink On Sale

The DC Ultimate eBook Sale runs through Monday, 10/3.

As we were saying, this is a REALLY large sale, around 2700 items – all collected editions. And here’s the thing, items that are a few years old (and a couple more recent releases) are frequently $3.99/volume with some of the “Deluxe” editions – i.e., print HCs that contain two TPBs worth of material – for $5.99.  Good deals and as cheap as we’ve seen some of this in some time.  It’s well worth a browse.

Here’s a list of some things that caught our eye as cheaper than usual and/or not always on sale:

  • Challengers of the Unknown – This is the original Jack Kirby run and if you haven’t read it before, you may be shocked how much it feels like early Fantastic Four. $5.99
  • (Original) Doom Patrol – $5.99 for the first omnibus? Yes, please.
  • Fables – The Bill Willingham/Mark Buckingham fantasy epic in $5.99 double-volumes
  • Far Sector – $5.99 for all 12 issues of the N.K. Jemisen/Jamal Campbell instant classic that introduces a new Green Lantern
  • First Issue Special – Are you confused about the new Tom King / Jorge Fornés Black Label series? It spins out of this ’70s anthology series. A serious weird mix, but with some real gems like Doctor Fate by Martin Pasko & Walt Simonson, a few Jack Kirby one-shots and the debut of Mike Grell’s Warlord feature. $7.99 and it hasn’t been discounted until recently.
  • Gotham Central – $3.99 for double volumes of the Ed Brubaker/Greg Rucka/Michael Lark/Stefano Gaudiano/Kano classic?  That’s crazy cheap for the material.
  • Green Lantern (’60-’86) – There’s a lot here for $3.99 a pop, but here’s a good sequence that’s not always properly discounted V.1 = Len Wein/Dave Gibbons, V.2 = Wein/Gibbons and transitions to Steve Englehart/Joe Staton; V.3 = Englehart/Staton; V.4 of the sequence is inexplicably packaged as Tales of the Green Lantern Corps V.3, but is the next Englehart/Staton volume. The series then changes to Green Lantern Corpsbut that volume is $7.99.
  • Green Lantern (’18-’20) – i.e., the Grant Morrison/Liam Sharp run. It’s all one extended story and it’s _all_ on sale now. Season 1 – $3.99. Season 2 – $3.99/$4.99
  • Hardware: The Man in the Machine $3.99 for the great intro arc by Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan
  • Lois Lane: Enemy of the People – The 12-part Greg Rucka/Mike Perkins serial. – $5.99
  • New Teen Titans (’80-’88) – The original Marv Wolfman/George Perez classic at $3.99/volume
  • Orion – Walt Simonson’s criminally under-rated New Gods series. $5.99/$6.99
  • Rorschach – Tom King and Jorge Fornés do an excellent, if tangential, follow-up to Watchmen with a surprisingly meta meditation on identity and modern mythology.
  • Saga of the Swamp Thing – The Alan Moore era for $3.99/volume.
  • Suicide Squad (87-’92) – The John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell run that defined the concept for $3.99/volume? Ayup!
  • Superman: Phantom Zone – The wonderfully bizarre and creepy Steve Gerber/Gene Colan mini-series that takes more of a horror angle on Superman, plus the DC Comics Presents follow-up. $3.99
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen Extremely funny take on Jimmy by Matt Fraction and Steve Leiber. HIGHLY recommended.

There’s a ton of stuff here and it’s worth your time to have an extended browse.

Gotham Central   Superman: Phantom Zone   Rorschach

Avengers Disassemble

The Marvel Avengers/Mighty Avengers Sale runs through Monday, 10/3.

This would be the Bendis “New Avengers” era. There are multiple formats in play with this sale, but omnibus seems to be the way to go here:

That said, there a couple things in this sale we prefer from this era: the lesser known Mighty Avengers run by Dan Slott with Koi Pham as the lead artist. It’s not the classic Avengers lineup, but it has more of a classic Avengers feel.

You’ve also got the Ed Brubaker and Rick Remender eras of Secret AvengersThis is the Avengers “covert” ops team, so more of a spy flavor.

The Mighty Avengers by Dan Slott   Secret Avengers

No, Not the Dirty Harry Film

The Marvel Deadpool Vs. the Marvel Universe Sale runs through Monday, 10/3.

Deadpool has always had a lot of fairly short run titles swapping around at any given time, this is a collection of those secondary titles.

The longest running of the set is Deadpool & CableFabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher being the team most associated with it. Amusingly, the monthly comic was called Cable & Deadpool, but the character popularity has flipped since then.

Deadpool Corps maybe of heightened interest with Rob Liefeld joining writing Victor Gischler for it.

Deadpool & Cable   Deadpool Corps

Crime Time?

The Image Crime Sale runs through Monday, 10/17.

We’d probably call a LOT of these comics more SF/F than Crime, but we always did like a genre-bender.

If you want a straight up crime comic, The Good Asian by Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi should trip your trigger. It lives up to the considerable hype (especially the first half). This is a noir mystery about a Hawaiian detective of Chinese descent, summoned to San Francisco to investigate a disappearance related to his wealthy guardians family… and then things sideways. Conspiracies mingle with politics and racial identity. And it’s well researched, too.

While Criminal was originally published at Icon/Marvel, it’s kind of the old school flagship for crime work at Image, since that’s where Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips started doing crime tales (non-superpowered crime tales, at least, since they’d previously worked together on Sleeper).

Now, if you want something a lot further out there, but still with a criminal element, we’ve always been big fans of ChewThis John Layman / Rob Guillory classic is the right kind of weird. It’s also frequently hilarious. In world recovering from a nasty bird flu, after which poultry is outlawed, FDA agent Tony Chu chases a conspiracy, aided by ability to experience the memories of anything he eats.  Awesomely strange, one might say. (The sequel series, Chu is also top notch.) Oh, yes… there’s also a death-dealing rooster named Poyo.

The rest of the sale is definitely worth a browse. It’s a nice selection, especially if you like Brubaker/Phillips.

The Good Asian   Criminal   Chew

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Still On Sale

Comixology Sales: Star Wars, Y: The Last Man, Garth Ennis, Killadelphia, Red Sonja, Hercules and a LOT of Image

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include a Star Wars sale, discounts on a wide range of Image’s crime-related comics, Hercules, Red Sonja… and you might have heard a Y: The Last Man TV show is approaching, so of course that’s on say.

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Nothing But Star Wars

The Marvel Star Wars by Aaron & Gillen Sale runs through 9/16.

In one of the most straight forward sales we’ve ever seen at Comixology, this is simply the Marvel Star Wars run that begins with Jason Aaron/John Cassady and ends with Kieron Gillen/Andrea Broccardo, with Salvador Larroca handling much of the art in the middle of the run.  Let’s face it, you already know if you want this or not.

Star Wars

Prince of Power

The Marvel Hercules Sale runs through Sunday, 9/12.

Hercules: Price of Power by Bob Layton is pretty much where Herc starts as a solo character.  It’s something of a space opera centuries in the future and has gained something of a cult following over the years.

For something a hair more recent, we thought the Dan Abnett/Luke Ross Hercules never really got a fair shake.  It was fun and creative with the character.

Now speaking of cult runs, The Thing: Project Pegasus shows up in this sale.  Arguably the best arc from Marvel Two-in-One, Ben Grimm finds himself embroiled in suspicious dealing at Project Pegasus, an alternate energy research facility. (Or is it something more sinister?)  A classic from Gruenwald & Macchio on the writing side, with art by Sal Buscema, John Byrne and George Perez.

Hercules: Prince of Power   Hercules   Project Pegasus

Crime Time

The Image Crime Sale runs through Thursday, 9/16 and comes in two flavors: Graphic Novels and Single Issues.  The single issues are mostly $0.99 and there are a few older titles in there that don’t have their collected editions in digital, so worth a browse. We’ll be looking a bit more at the graphic novels.

To start out with a bit of an oddity, we hadn’t realized Bloody Mary had resurfaced at Image. If that sounds familiar, but you can’t place it, that’s because it’s a Garth Ennis/Carlos Ezquerra dystopian assassin comic that originally saw print at Helix.  Helix?  Yes, Helix – DC’s short lived attempt to create a science fiction-centric version of Vertigo.

Joshua Williamson is having a turn as the focus of attention at DC and will be taking over Batman soon. We always liked Nailbitera series he did with Mike Henderson about a small town that produces a highly suspicious number of serial killers and the secret behind it. [Note: it’s slightly less expensive to get the regular collections than the omnibus/deluxe editions.]

Bloody Mary   Nailbiter

About a month back, we finally got around to cracking open Killadelphia and it would be hard to be happier about the first two volumes.  This Rodney Barnes/Jason Shawn Alexander vehicle is a neo-noir detective thriller about a vampire conspiracy over-running Philly. There’s a historical twist we won’t spoil and some VERY good one-liners pop up.  Very highly recommended.

It’s  been just long enough since Criminal wrapped up, not everyone remembers that’s where Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips used to put their crime stories. All sorts of thoroughly enjoyable mayhem in these, but if you have to choose just one, that’s an easy choice. V. 6, “The Last of the Innocent” is a film noir pastiche of the Archie comics and it is straight up brilliant.

Killadelphia  Criminal

We’ve liked Chew for a long time and consider the first issue an absolute textbook on how to launch a series. This John Layman / Rob Guillory series concerns Tony Chu. In a world where an avian flu has outlawed the consumption of chicken, Chu is an agent of the FDA. He also has the strange ability to know the past of anything he eats. Want to know who killed that corpse? Chomp. Oh, yes… this is beyond absurd and has it all — chicken speakeasies, rogue chefs, aliens, vampires, criminal conspiracies and a death-dealing secret agent rooster named Poyo.

Recently, Chew spawned a spin-off.  Chu is the story of Tony’s sister Saffron, who operates on the opposite side of the law. And their mysterious grandfather. If you like Chew, Chu basically an old friend coming back to visit. John Layman returns and Dan Boultwood handles the art.

Chew   Chu

Y: The Last Sale

The DC Spotlight: Y The Last Man Sale runs through Monday, 9/13.

You may recall that a pre-Saga Brian K. Vaughan teamed with Pia Guerra for Y: The Last Man about the sole male survivor of a mysterious plague. It’s got a TV adaptation that drops on 9/13.  The first 5 items in the sale, “Book One” through “Book Five” are the omnibus editions and better deal for this classic series.

Y the Last Man

Paint the Sale Red

The  Dynamite Red Sonja Sale runs through Thursday, 9/16.

When it comes to Red Sonja, come people want Gail Simone. Some people want Frank Thorne.  And both are on sale, but the Mark Russell / Mirko Colak / Bob Q run is the one that really floored us.  Equal parts military adventure and a satire of pretentious sword & sorcery narratives, the two sides blend together incredibly well for a unique experience.

Red Sonja

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Old Man Logan; Ms. Marvel; V For Vendetta; Early Bendis and a LOT of Image Comics

Highlight of this week’s Comixology Sales include Marvel dropping prices on Old Man Logan and Ms. Marvel, DC having an “essential” sale (why yes, that includes Batman) and a ton of Image gets the discount treatment.

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

Ageism For Mutants?!?

The Old Man Logan Sale runs through Sunday, 7/25. If Jennifer Walters finds out they’re calling Logan that at the office, there might be a discrimination suit!

You’re mostly looking at two flavors here: The original post-apocalyptic Mark Millar / Steve McNiven Old Man LoganWhile we’d probably call this a variation on Days of Future Past, in terms of the superheroes in a bleak future, this one really was a trend setter and has inspired a lot of imitators. “Old Man” is not an uncommon way to start a title at Marvel these days.

Then you’ve got the ongoing Old Man Logan series, initially by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. This one brings the older Logan back in time to the present and, frankly, was better than most people were expecting at the time.

Wolerine: Old Man Logan   Wolverine: Old Man Logan

You Look Mahvellous

The Ms. Marvel Sale runs through Thursday, 7/29.

This would be the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel, as opposed to Carol Danvers, and we’re firm in thinking you need to start with the original G. Willow Wilson / Adrian Alphona series that caused quite a stir (especially on the Scholastic circuit).

Ms. Marvel

Essential Oils Minus the Oil

The DC Essentials Sales runs through Monday, 7/26.

For something relatively current, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed DCeasedthe Tom Taylor / Trevor Hairsine / Stefano Gaudiano vehicle where the Anti-Life Equation gets lose and creates a zombie doomsday scenario. What can we say, as he often does, Taylor takes a pitch that sounds like “Marvel Zombies for DC” and creates something new with depth. (Mind you, Marvel Zombies was also a lot of fun for a few installments.)

Going back a bit further, Multiversity is one of Grant Morrison’s best vehicles for sheer world building fun. This one hops dimensions as we follow a conspiracy across the multiverse. And, being that rare self-contained event, Morrison’s got a murderer’s row of artists for the story, including Frank Quitely, Jim Lee, Chris Sprouse and Doug Mahnke.

And if you want to go back to the 80s, Alan Moore and David Lloyd did a project called V for Vendetta that started as a serial in Warrior magazine and finished up at DC. A very political tale of resistance to tyranny, it’s proven influential and was an early hit that crossed over to the mainstream.

DCeased   Multiversity   V for Vendetta

Image HumbleBrag Sale

The Image Eisner Sale runs though Monday, 8/2.

There’s some pretty strong and recent content here, so we’ll just highlight three things we particularly liked.

The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds is the real deal. It’s an X-Files-esque tale of conspiracies theories become real and the power of belief. Tynion’s definitely having a moment right now. Simmonds’s art style is a good fit for the material, too.

The team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have also been having a particularly strong run that’s represented here by two original graphic novels. We’d probably put Pulp slightly ahead, that would be the meditative tale of pulp writer in 1930s reliving his wild younger days with a hail of bullets.  That said, Reckless, the opener for a series about an ex-FBI undercover man turned underground fixer, is pretty darn good, too.

Department of Truth   Pulp  Reckless

Image Throws in the Kitchen Sink

The Image Mega Sale runs through Monday, 8/2. It might not be the entire Image library, but it’s close enough. Plenty to browse, but let’s highlight a few things that might not pop to the top of your mind.

Once upon a time, Bendis was not a big name creator. Yes, that really was quite a while ago, but back when he was an emerging writing, Todd McFarlane tapped him to write the Spawn spin-off Sam and Twitch.  Yes, the oddball detectives investigating dark things. Who was drawing it?  Names you’ll recognize: Angel Medina, Ashley Wood, Alex Maleev.  Yes, Bendis and Maleev go WAY back.

Lewis & Clark – Monster Hunters.  That’s the elevator pitch for Manifest Destiny by Chris Dingess, Matthew Roberts and Tony Akins. Lewis & Clark are sent to map out the Northwest Territory, but also to investigate unsettling supernatural questions and clear out the territory of monsters. It starts out light and fun before descending into madness. Usually under the radar, always enjoyable.

The Black Monday Murders by Jonathan Hickman and Tom Coker is a tale of an occult cartel controlling the world’s financial system and the power struggle an apparent murder sets off in it. One of our favorite things from Hickman and Coker knocks it out of the park with some downright haunting art.  Coker occasionally posts pages from his work on the third act, so we’re hoping it’s not too far away from being scheduled.

   Sam and Twitch   Manifest Destiny   The Black Monday Murders

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: Hulk, Secret Invasion, Spotlight on James Tynion IV, Image Graphic Novels

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Hulk smashing prices, Secret Invasion, a James Tynion IV spotlight and Image’s OGN line.

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

Hulk Smash Prices

The Marvel Hulk: Incredible Legacy Sale runs through Sunday, 6/20.

Here are the Tower of Cheap, we’re huge fans of the Al Ewing / (mostly) Joe Bennett Immortal Hulk run. It’s a horror-flavored Hulk that takes the multiple personality disorder version of the character to new depths and it really works.  The first 8 collected editions are on sale for $2.99. Highly recommended.

There’s a lot on sale for the original Incredible Hulk series (Comixology lumps the real original series with the second series). Pick your poison between Masterworks editions or Epic Collections (Epic is a better value, but those jump around a little).  If you’re interested in the Peter David run, this is how it works right now.  There’s an Epic Collection that collects the Byrne run and the Al Milgrom run that leads up to PAD’s run. There are 8 volumes of the Peter David “Visionaries” series and then it switches over to Epic Collections for #397 on.  No overlap, they just haven’t converted the Visionaries to Epic Collections yet. (One presumes this will eventually happen, but it is what it is.)  The 3 volumes of Bill Mantlo Hulk are in between Masterworks and Epic, in terms of page count.

Plenty to browse for this one.

Immortal Hulk   Hulk

Not So Secret Now…

The Marvel Secret Invasion Sale runs through Thursday, 6/24.

Secret Invasion is a challenging story to read in collected editions. Parts of it are told in  flashbacks. It jumps from title to title. Marvel hasn’t always been consistent about a recommended reading order, either.  The Secret Invasion mini-series is the spine. If you want the full story, pretty much anything with Avengers in the title, especially written by Bendis, will be key. The Captain Marvel collection is also relevant in ways that are not immediate apparent.

Secret Invasion

And By “Something,” We Mean Monsters…

The BOOM! Creator Spotlight: James Tynion IV sale runs through Thursday, 7/1.

Yes, Tynion seems to be having himself a moment. His BOOM! backlist is on sale here. We can happily recommend Something Is Killing the Children by Tynion and Werther Dell’Edera, an urban fantasy monster hunter tale. It’s getting to be a bit of a bandwagon with the speculators jumping on the print issues, but everyone once in a while, the bandwagon is for a good title.

Something is Killing the Children

So Much For Serialization

The Image Original Graphic Novel Sale runs through Thursday, 7/1.

Yes, Image has been doing more OGNs in recent years and this is well worth a browse. Highlights?  Not a problem.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are a pretty darn reliable pairing, but Pulp is a high water mark for them. A writer of pulp westerns in ’30s NYC finds himself with declining prospects, a nest of Nazi spies and the ghosts of the past. Oh, it’s a crime thriller, but it’s a very philosophical one where the meditations only serve to enhance the mayhem.

Dracula, Motherf**ker! by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson is an absolute delight. It’s a 70s exploitation style take on the Dracula mythos. It’s 1974 Los Angeles and Dracula’s brides are out for revenge, following the tropes of that sort of film. Henderson shows us a KILLER new side and it’s a true showcase for her. We just wish there was more of it, the pace accelerates a quick read.  A really fun book for horror fans who crossover with 70s cinema and/or Tarantino.

And for something clear out of left field, Last of the Independents has returned. This Matt Fraction/Kieron Dwyer crime story actually predates Criminal and we were pleasantly surprised that it returned to print (or digital in this case). Keeping in the theme here, this is also a love letter to 70s cinema, but more crime flicks than the exploitation/revenge genres. A bank heist goes terribly wrong and our antiheroes find that someone’s come looking for them. It’s all in the execution.

Pulp   Dracula, Motherf**cker!   Last of the Independents

Another Generic DC Sale

You know how DC keeps running the same sale with the same copious sub-50% discounts?  It’s back. This time they’re calling it the “DC June Start of Summer Sale.” It runs through Monday, 6/28 in Part 1 and Part 2.

There are much better discounts to be found in  DC’s Pride Sale.

Still on Sale

Comixology Sales: The Joker, Transformers, War of the Realms, Vintage Jim Starlin, Young Avengers and Image gets Romantic(ish)

This week’s Comixology Sales highlights start with a celebration of the Joker. Then Marvel highlights the Young Avengers and Ware of the Realms. Valentine’s Day is over, but we look at what’s notable in Image’s romance sale anyway. Plus, Transformers galore and that the glory that is Dreadstar.

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

The Joke’s on who?

DC’s The Joker’s Greatest Jokes Sale runs through Monday (3/1).

If you’re going to get one “Best of” Joker collection, you’re going to want The Joker: A Celebration of 75 Years. Being a thicker collection makes it more complete, but moreover, we don’t think you can have a “Best of” that doesn’t include the Englehart/Rogers “Laughing Fish” storyline.

For something that doesn’t necessarily come immediately to mind, there’s the Joker arc of Gotham Central, the classic GPD series by Ed Brubaker & Greg Rucka with Michael Lark as the artist for this arc.

There’s a lot more Bat-family material in this one, though we weren’t sure the Joker is integral to (or even appearing in) all the titles in this sale.

Joker: Celebration of 75 Years   Gotham Central

No love for the Old Avengers

The Marvel Young Avengers Sales runs through Sunday 2/28.

Young Avengers by Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung: The Complete Collection is the original, formative run. And for as short as it actually was, this is a fairly influential comic with everything from the recent Empyre Event to WandaVision on streaming having echoes of it.  Oh, there’s more Young Avengers material on sale, but this is one of the times to start at the beginning.  And yes, Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade is conspicuous by its absence.

Young Avengers

Why can’t The Realms just get along?

Marvel’s  War of the Realms Sale runs through Thursday (3/4).

This was a Thor-centric Jason Aarons event. As a Marvel Event, there were a ton of spin-off mini-series that tied in. Explore those at your leisure, but this War of the Realms is the tentpole series around which the Event revolved.

War of the Realms 

More off-kilter romance

The Image Romance Sale runs through Monday (3/8).

No, Image really isn’t a bastion of traditional romance, but they do have a few things that fall vaguely into that territory.

Twisted Romance is an anthology of, well… twisted romantic tales built around a set of Alex de Campi stories with some prose and shorter comics filling in around them. Notably, there’s some intergalactic space pirate romance with Carla Speed McNeil on the art.

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies might not be the most romantic title in the sale, but it’s good book. A entry in Ed Brubaker / Sean Phillips crime catalog (as consistent a catalog as you’ll find these days), this one concerns murder and mayhem at a high end rehab clinic.  As always, recommended if you have an itch for crime comics.

Sex Criminals is the recently completed Matt Fraction / Chip Zdarsky off-color comedy about a couple who can freeze time when they have sex and use their ability to rob banks.  OK, there’s a bit more to it, but that’s the tried and true tagline.  All but the still-new final volume are on sale.

Twisterd Romance   My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies   Sex Criminals

All Hail Megatron has transformed into an omnibus

The IDW Transformers Sale runs through Thursday (3/4).

IDW has effectively treated the Transformers line as a saga. The original run of that is The Transformers: The IDW Collection series of omnibuses and is probably a good place to start here.

Fans of a certain age might also be interested in Transformers: Classics, which is the original Marvel Comics run.

Transformers: The IDW Collection   Transformers: Classics

Thicker editions

The Dynamite Select Omnibus Sale runs through Sunday (2/28).

Dreadstar Omnibus is the first 12 issues (and story arc) of Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar. Dreadstar was Starlin’s major work between wrapping up the original Captain Marvel / Warlock / Thanos saga and returning to Marvel (proper) for Silver Surfer and Infinity Gauntlet. (Sure, he did some Batman before returning, but Dreadstar is just on another level.) It’s the tale of the last survivor of the Milky Way taking on the corrupt Church of the Instrumentality as a rebel insurgency of sorts. An absolute classic of the first wave of creator owned comics in the ’80s.

The Shadow: Year One – Omnibus is an origin tale for The Shadow and Margo Lane, written by Matt Wagner (who’s done a lot with ’30s era heroes over the years) with art by Wilfredo Torres.

There’s a lot of Red Sonja and Vampirella on sale, too, if that floats your boat.

Dreadstar   The Shadow: Year One

Still on Sale