Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman; Spider-Man; Captain America; X-Men; Hellboy

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has a Batman sale, Marvel drops six sales (including a horror one) and Dark Horse adds Hellboy to the mix.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Batman Returns

Batman: The Court of Owls  Detective Comics by Tynion  Detective Comics

The DC Batman in July Sale runs through Monday, 7/20.

Now there’s something you don’t see every day: DC running back to back sales. It’s been awhile.

This is a more abbreviated Bat-sale than others we’ve seen and concentrates more on New 52/Rebirth to present.

Here are the bullets:

  • Batman (’11-’16) – The Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run
  • Batman (’16-’25) – starts with the Tom King era and the discounts run midway through the Zdarsky run.
  • Batman and Robin (’22 – present) – intially Joshua Williamson / Simone Di Meo
  • Detective Comics (’16-current) – initially James Tynion IV / Eddy Barrows / Alvaro Martinez

What’s under-rated here? We’d say a couple of those Detective runs. The Tynion / Barrows / Martinez run that started that volume of Detective is something of a Batman Family arc. We’re also big fans of the gothic horror arc by Ram V / Rafael Albuquerque / Ivan Reis that starts here.

Super Soldier Sale

Captain America: Secret Empire  Captain America Heroes Return  Captain America

The Marvel Independence Day Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

Looks like Marvel’s current posting schedule caused them to post the Independence Day sale after the holiday. Nothing like proper planning and being aware of the calendar, eh?

There’s a lot of material to cover here, so we’ll go with the usual format and start by breaking out the major series involved:

So… do you think Captain America gets relaunched enough? The current Chip Zdarsky relaunch isn’t even in the sale (and we enjoy it).

Some recommendations? Absolutely.

For Silver/Bronze Age adventures,  Captain America Lives Again catches the bulk of the early Lee/Kirby run. Jump ahead to “Hero or Hoax,” which you’re getting for the final arc, which begins the superlative Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema era. “The Secret Empire” is the bulk of the Englehart/Buscema run. “The Man Who Sold The United States” wraps up Englehart/Buscema and includes Madbomb, the beginning of Jack Kirby’s return run that is way more timely than it should be in the age of social media outrage.

Jump ahead to By Dawn’s Early Light,” which you’re looking at for the all too brief Roger Stern / John Byrne run.  The highlight of the J.M. DeMatties / Mike Zeck run is their wrap up with the Red Skull in “Sturm und Drang.

The Captain is the sequence from the Mark Gruenwald run where Steve Rogers loses the shield and his Captain America identity for a time. That’s the famous one. You might consider backing up a volume for “Justice is Served,” which introduces the Super-Patriot and leads into the more famous sequence a bit.

Once you get past around the middle of the Gruenwald run, your best of the best is anything written by Mark Waid or Ed Brubaker, and know that Brubaker’s first run is basically one long and epic story – and be sure to get Reborn or you’re missing a piece.

But wait… you want more?  Sure.

All-Winners Comics – The Golden Age series that culminates with the All-Winners Squad, the Cap/Torch/Subby/Whizzer/Ms. America group that inspired The Invaders.

Speaking of that, there’s Invaders Classicwhich collects the 70s series of the WII adventures of Captain America, Submariner and original Human Torch. (The Whizzer and Ms. America show up towards the end.)

More? How about some Winter Soldier?

Winter Soldier by Ed Brubakerwhich is Brubaker and Butch Guice in a spin-off from their classic Cap run.

Also of possible interest:

And a bonus recommendation:

  • U.S.Agent: American Zealot – Christopher Priest / Georges Jeanty; In something of a deadpan political satire, John Walker develops some issues with his handlers when sent to a small town threatened by a corporate entity… if only the optics matched reality. Smart, but you figured that with Priest involved.

Spooky Season Comes Early?

Immortal Hulk  Tomb of Dracula  Moon Knight

The Marvel Summerween Horror Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

There’s more than a little horror on sale this week. Marvel’s entry in the trend is collection of mini-sales:

Doctor Strange

Dracula

  • Tomb of Dracula – Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan; One of the best Marvel books of the ’70s

Ghost Rider

Hulk

We really like the Johnson/Klein Hulk and Immortal Hulk was an instant classic.

Moon Knight

The original Moon Knight run is mostly in Epic Collections, but it’s in two separate links because… well, we shouldn’t be surprised by this, should we?  The first link has two volumes that are not closely related. Bad Moon Rising is the Werewolf by Night appearances through the backups in Hulk Magazine and the first issues of 1980 solo series. The other volume in that link… we’re not as big on. That was later volumes.

You can go here for the rest of the 1980 Moon Knight series, which was the most famous version for quite some time. If you came into the character through the TV series, know that the original Moon Knight was a lot closer to Batman and The Shadow. Oh, sure the werewolf showed up, but most of the mystical things around Konshu were kept in the background and a lot more mysterious. The multiple identities were originally more like the cover identities adopted by the Shadow (and the original series editor, Denny O’Neil, adapted The Shadow for DC). This is where Moon Knight got popular. Pity the “main” volume is mysteriously omitted from discounts…

We also have been enjoying the current Jed MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight series. This one takes up the unenviable task of rationalizing the various incarnations over the years (and there have been a lot of different takes on the character). Mr. Knight is in therapy for his multiple personality issues. He’s running the Midnight Mission and conduct himself as Konshu’s ambassador… after a fashion, although he’s not really happy with Konshu. And there are vampires. Lots of vampires.

Marvel being Marvel, this was then relaunched as Vengeance Of The Moon Knight with the same creators.

The novelist corner:

And the Rest of the Gang

…And Frightened Miss Muffet Away

Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks   Spider-Man Brand New Day Omnibus  Superior Foes of Spider-Man

The Marvel Select Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

This is a fairly eclectic swatch of volumes from various Spidey runs:

What’s good here?

The Superior Foes of Spider-Man is straight up hilarious and under-rated.

We also think you’re pretty safe with Gerry Conway, Len Wein and the Brand New Day rotation.

Going Down in Flames as a Form of Progression Fantasy

X-Men: The Fate of the Phoenix  Phoenix Rising  Phoenix

The Marvel Phoenix Sale runs through Monday, 7/20.

Jean Grey, if you prefer.

For many, the character is defined by “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” arguably the high point of an already great run by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Pick up X-Men Epic Collection: The Fate Of The Phoenix and get “Days of Future Past” in the same package.

Then Jean/Phoenix was dead for several years. Phoenix Rising is slightly mislabeled as being an X-Men book. The resurrection of Jean Grey is the birth of X-Factor, which crosses over with Fantastic Four and Avengers for the tale. Which means you get John Byrne, Roger Stern, John Buscema, Bob Layton and Butch Guice all contributing to the tale.

New X-Men is the Grant Morrison run with a fairly sick rotating cast of artists including Frank Quitely, Leinil Francis Yu, Igor Kordey, John Paul Leon, Phil Jimenez, Chris Bachalo and Marc Silvestri. As you’ve doubtless heard, it’s a very good run.

The recent Phoenix series is by Stephanie Phillips / Alessandro Miracolo and is more of a cosmic adventures series.

Some other sale highlights:

Apocalypse Now?

House of X / Powers of X  X-Force  X of Swords

The Marvel Apocalypse Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

It’s a villain sale, which means the listings are a bit all over the map. Let’s hit some highlights:

What’s good? Not the first thing you’d think of when you hear “Apocalypse,” necessarily, but the Remender Uncanny X-Force run is dark run with a distinctive personality and quite the artist rotation. We think it had emerged from under the radar by the end of the series but it isn’t always discussed today.

Running with the Devil

Devil Dinosaur by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection  Moon Girl  Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

The Marvel Devil Dinosaur Sale runs through Monday, 7/27.

If you’re curious about  the original 70s Jack Kirby series, it’s right here.

Then there isn’t just a ton of material until Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur pops up.

These larger page count editions of the Amy Reeder / Brandon Montclare / Natacha Bustos main series are the better buy.

Moon Girl: Endangered Species is a collection of team-up issues outside the main title.

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy The Mystery Knight Watership Down

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Dark Horse has Hellboy on sale. (This summer of horror trend is all over the place)

The Dark Horse James Tynion IV / Tiny Onion titles are also still on sale:

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman; Marvel Omnibuses and Epic Collections; Groo

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has a Batman sale. Marvel adds some random Omnibuses and Epic Collections to the discount pile. Plus, Groo.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Holy Mixed Bag Batman!

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns  Batman: Knightfall  Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin

The Lego Batman Sale runs through Monday, 6/1.

It’s a DC sale, so you might expect it to be a corporate synergy event. And it would appear you’re right as the Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight video game launches.

Not all of these prices are great. We would also hasten to remind you that DC typical drops the recent digital collections to $9.99 after a few months… or to mimic the stylings of Frank Gorshin: “Riddle me this: when is a sale, not a sale?” We’re also not fond of some of the prices on the Tales of the Batman volumes, but will concede some of those $9.99 prices could be the best we’re getting (as we curse the phenomenon of HC pricing for digital). The rest of them… well, judge for yourself.

That being said, here are a few things where we were OK with the prices:

Epics and Omnibi and Marvel, Oh My!

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus  Rom: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus  Power Man and Iron Fist

Marvel has an unnamed sale with no dates attached to it. We’re double-not-sure how long it’s going to last, but there are a few worthwhile things we would draw your attention to:

What’s good?

Invincible Iron Man Omnibus V. 2 will get you the bulk of the Archie Goodwin run, which is where Iron Man really takes off, as far as we’re concerned.

Rom is not always on sale and these licensed books sometimes disappear, so if it’s your jam, consider getting it while available at a better price.

The full run isn’t discounted, but Miracleman Vol. 1: A Dream Of Flying is the beginning of a classic run.

There’s a bit more to the sale than the above, should you care to browse.

Unannounced Sales

Groo Meets Tarzan Groo These Savage Shores

As always, it isn’t clear when the unannounced sales will end.

Yes, it’s still going strong, AND it’s on sale: Groo by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier. Also included:

Dark Horse is still having a sale on their Mark Millar line of comics, AKA Millarworld, including:

For our money, Starlight is way under appreciated. The Hollywood elevator pitch would be along the lines of “Flash Gordon’s retirement isn’t going well.”

Also on sale:

And have a look at the $5 and under page.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Ghost Rider, Ultron, Skottie Young, The Magic Order

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel slaps a discount on Ghost Rider, Ultron and the Skottie Young catalog. Plus, The Magic Order and Manor Black.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Shouldn’t He Be “In the Sky?”

Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider

The Marvel Ghost Rider Sale runs through Monday, 6/30.

That’s right, it’s Craig Ferguson’s favorite superhero.

As a bonus, the absurdity of Cosmic Ghost Rider:

The Other AI

Avengers: Bride of Ultron  Age of Ultron  Avengers: Ultron Forever

The Marvel Ultron Sale runs through Monday, 6/30.

Oh, sure… you’ve got Chat GPT and you’ve got Google Gemini and you’ve got Microsoft Co-Pilot…  but Marvel has Ultron, the AI that Microsoft and Google probably would rather you didn’t have in the front of your mind while thinking about such things. Which probably means it’s a good time for the sale.

Let’s hit some highlights:

The first Ultron arc, which culminates in the debut of The Vision, is a highlight of the original Roy Thomas / John Buscema Avengers run and is actually split across two Epic Collections: Masters of Evil has Ultron debuting near the end and Behold… The Vision finishes off his first arc and contains his second arc several issues later.

The Bride of Ultron is largely by Jim Shooter, with George Perez and John Byrne tagging in and out for most of it. The runup to the titular Ultron tale is the re-introduction of Wonder Man, which plays into the whole Vision/Simon Williams/Ultron triangle of intrigue.

Avengers: West Coast Avengers – Family Ties – Steve Englehart / Al Milgrom / Richard Howell; Ultron returns with some allies for the opening arc of West Coast Avengers.

Avengers: Rage of Ultron – by Rick Remender / Jerome Opena / Pepe Larraz; An OGN that… shall we say, reset the dynamic between Hank Pym and Ultron?

Ultron Forever is primarily by Al Ewing and Alan Davis, with a few older issues included for background. Avengers of various eras are plucked out of the timestream and brought to the future to face down a triumphant Ultron. (If you think this sounds like Ewing’s  Ant-Man sequence, there are similarities.)

The title Marvel would probably like you to purchase here is Age of Ultron, with the core by Brian Bendis, Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco. We’d put this one towards the bottom of the Ultron pile, but that’s just us.

The Young Ones

Oz: The Complete Collection  Rocket Raccoon  Strange Academy

The Marvel Skottie Young Sale runs through Monday, 6/30.

We’re just going to let you guess who the subject of this sale is.

Highlights:

Unannounced Sales

The Magic Order  Manor Black  Kill Them All

As always, we see discounts, but we don’t know how long they’ll last.

Additionally, it looks like most of the Iron Man, Black Widow and Old Man Logan material from recent weeks is still on sale. The Under $5 Page has the lower priced volumes. Go back a couple columns for the links to find the Epic Collections.

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Vampirella, Bendis @ Dark Horse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel keeps things moving in a Halloween direction with discounts on Moon Knight and Ghost Rider. Dark Horse slashes prices on the independent work of Brian Bendis and Dynamite celebrates Halloween.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

The Light of the Silvery Moon

Moon Knight  Moon Knight Epic Collection   Moon Knight

The Marvel Moon Knight Sale runs through Monday, 10/14.

The original Moon Knight run is mostly in Epic Collections, but it’s in two separate links because… well, we shouldn’t be surprised by this, should we?  The first link has two volumes that are not closely related. Bad Moon Rising is the Werewolf by Night appearances through the backups in Hulk Magazine and the first issues of 1980 solo series. The other volume in that link… we’re not as big on. That was later volumes.

You can go here for the rest of the 1980 Moon Knight series, which was the most famous version for quite some time. If you came into the character through the TV series, know that the original Moon Knight was a lot closer to Batman and The Shadow. Oh, sure the werewolf showed up, but most of the mystical things around Konshu were kept in the background and a lot more mysterious. The multiple identities were originally more like the cover identities adopted by the Shadow (and the original series editor, Denny O’Neil, adapted The Shadow for DC). This is where Moon Knight got popular.

If you came in through the TV show, there really isn’t a comic that quite matches that version of the character, but the series did draw on the Jeff Lemire / Greg Smallwood Moon Knight series in which Moon Knight has a run-in with the Egyptian gods and his personalities run amok. It’s also a good run.

We also have been enjoying the current Jed MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight series. This one takes up the unenviable task of rationalizing the various incarnations over the years (and there have been a lot of different takes on the character). Mr. Knight is in therapy for his multiple personality issues. He’s running the Midnight Mission and conduct himself as Konshu’s ambassador… after a fashion, although he’s not really happy with Konshu. And there are vampires. Lots of vampires.

Highlights of the rest:

  • Moon Knight ’89-’94 – Most of this is only collected in omnibus form  for the longest running volume. This is largely the Terry Kavanaugh years with Gary Kwapisz and James Fry on art. Possibly more interesting, it also includes a Bruce Jones/Denys Cowan special and a Doug Moench/Art Nichols team-up with Shang Chi. (A second volume with earlier issues just dropped, but isn’t discounted yet.)
  • Moon Knight ’10-12 – Brian Bendis / Alex Maleev; Controversial to say the least, this one really leans into Moon Knight’s multiple personality disorder and breaks the character if you prefer the original concept. On the other hand, it’s surprisingly witty and funny. One of the oddest takes on the character.
  • Moon Knight  ’14-’15- Most notable for the style-forward Warren Ellis/Declan Shalvey reworking (introducing the business suit)

The novelist corner, because Marvel has put a couple name novelists on the property:

Shouldn’t He Be “In the Sky?”

Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider

The Marvel Ghost Rider Sale runs through Monday, 10/14.

Halloween is coming, so here comes a demonic biker. Coincidence? We think not.

As a bonus, the absurdity of Cosmic Ghost Rider:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

The Spectacular Spider-Men  Edge of the Spider-Verse: Spider Society  Predator: The Last Hunt

The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Dropping This Week

Pre-Order for Next Week

Putting the Bite on Halloween

Vampirella  Sacred Six  Eduardo Risso's Tales of Terror

The Dynamite Halloween Sale runs through Thursday 10/31. (Fancy that!)

The highlight here, particularly since Vampirella is one of the flagship characters at Dynamite, is the Christopher Priest / Ergün Gündüz Vampirella run. This is something we’ve been meaning to circle back to, since the collected editions slowed down during lockdown. We’ve read the first volume and it’s definitely a Priest take on the character (which we consider a good thing). A bit more continuity than you might expect and conspiracy unravelling as several longtime foes converge on Vampi.

Priest (this time w/Jae Lee & Stephanie Roux) also has a spin-off series Sacred Six (yes, we’re taking that as a pun on Secret Six), which teams up Vampi secondary characters Draculina, Pantha, Nyx and Chastity while Vampi’s mom is scheming.

Something a bit off the beaten path? Eduardo Risso’s Tales of Terror. The 100 Bullets artist does a series of horror tales, scripted by his Borderline collaborator, Carlos Trillo.

Unannounced Sales

Plants vs. Zombies  Powers Fortune and Glory

We have two more unannounced Dark Horse sales: Plants Vs. Zombies and the work of Brian Bendis.

Plants Vs. Zombies

Yes, this would be the comics adaptation of the Plants vs. Zombies video games by Paul Tobin and several artists (Ron Chan being the most frequent). And these sell better in the bookstore market than you might realize.

The omnibus editions are the best deal, but single volumes are also on sale.

Bendis

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

We’d like to talk a little about the early Bendis, which doesn’t seem to be widely remembered after all his time at Marvel and DC. Bendis started out doing the full cartoonist and working on crime comics like Goldfish and Jinx.

He started getting a little more notice when he jumped over to Image for Powers w/ Oeming. Powers starts out as a police procedural in a world where super powers have to be registered (this is LONG before Marvel’s Civil War) and follows a police unit that handles “powers”-related crimes. There’s a lot of worldbuilding involved and things get quite a bit more complicated as the backstories of the main characters unfold.

Powers left Image for Marvel’s Icon imprint when Bendis blew up there and as he got deeper into Marvel, the shipping schedule got erratic. It’s relaunched a few times and seemingly lost a lot of audience momentum. Shipping schedules, have very little to do with the quality of the comic, however. It’s a good one and an influential one that’s worth dipping into the collected editions of. (And trust us, its so much easier with omnibuses where you don’t have to remember which relaunch a given issue is from!)

Also very worthwhile:  Fortune & Glory is Bendis recounting tales of interacting with Hollywood when Goldfish got optioned. It’s hilarious and multiple folks who work in TV/Film have assured us it’s frighteningly accurate.

We’d also point you to Scarlet as a more recent example of Bendis returning to that early crime vibe. It’s a strong comic.

Also with discounts:

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Captain America: Sam Wilson; Nightwing; Ghost Rider and The Midnight Sons; Siege; Grendel; Masters of the Universe

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts Sam Wilson’s adventure as Captain America (and as The Falcon), Ghost Rider and the Midnight Sons get a price drop, as does Siege. DC puts the discount spotlight on family; Dark Horse cuts prices on Grendel, Masters of the Universe, and Lone Wolf & Cub.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Oh, Captain, My Captain

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

The Marvel Captain America: Sam Wilson Sale runs through Monday, 5/13

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

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

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

Family Ties

Nightwing  Power of Shazam  Jimmy Olsen

The DC Families Sale runs through Monday, 5/13.

Families? Think Superman Family and Batman Family and you’ll be close to the spirit of this sale.  A few things we noticed:

  • Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams – Their Detective Comics run is still the gold standard for the character.
  • Green Lantern Corps (’86) – The Steve Englehart / Joe Staton run
  • Nightwing – See the Tom Taylor / Bruno Redondo volumes at the bottom of the page. We think this is the first time V. 4 has been discounted?
  • Poison Ivy – G. Willow Wilson / Marcio Takara; We think this is the first time V. 2 has been discounted?
  • The Power of Shazam – Jerry Ordway / Peter Krause; Ordway’s updating of the original Captain Marvel and the Fawcett heroes paid a little more attention to the source material than several of the revivals.
  • Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby – This is effectively Kirby’s Superman title and part of the Fourth World line. Plus… Don Rickles! (No, really.) More influential than you might realize.
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction & Steve Lieber’s hilarious ode to Silver Age Jimmy Olsen, that’s also a legit mystery story and tour of the DCU. Jimmy wakes up hungover and married in Gorilla City and that’s before things start getting strange. We crave a sequel, but the stars would need to align. Highest possible recommendation if you want something fun that also has a plot.

After Midnight

Spirits of Vengeance Ghost Rider Ghost Rider

The Marvel Midnight Sons Sale runs through Monday, 5/13.

Midnight Sons was a supernatural team that ran through some of Marvel’s mid-90s titles like Ghost Rider, Morbius, and, later on, a few issues of Doctor Strange.

Spirits of Vengeance: Rise of the Midnight Sons collects the opening sequence across the various titles.

Midnight Suns is the Ethan Sacks / Luigi Zagaria revival from a couple years back.

Past those volumes, this is largely a Ghost Rider / Morbius sale.

Ghost Rider

As a bonus, the absurdity of Cosmic Ghost Rider:

You can find the first few years of Morbius in Epic format.

Exiting the Dark

Siege: Prelude  Siege  Siege: New Avengers

The Marvel Siege Sale runs through Monday, 5/13.

The Siege in question is the final act of Marvel Dark Reign era.  Dark Reign was an attempt to have an Event without a miniseries running through the middle of it. In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborne consolidates power, replaces the Avengers with an original Thunderbolts-like “Dark Avengers” reporting to him and generally tries to take over the world… and he’s making progress.  Siege has him pushing his luck and attempting to take over Asgard.

The core would be:

  • Siege: Prelude – the run-up, collecting issues across the Marvel landscape
  • Siege – the main story by Brian Bendis / Olivier Coipel

From here, you can plug in other titles as you’re interested. Bendis, the architect here, also penned:

The Unlisted Directory

Grendel Omnibus  Lone Wolf and Cub  Masters of the Universe: Revelation

Multiple Dark Horse sales dropped this week.

Remember Matt Wagner’s Grendel, one of the longest lived indie series out there?

Lone Wolf and Cub – Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima produced one of, possibly THE, best samurai tales… with a twist. Itto Ogami has been framed, along with his infant son, he bides his time working as an assassin while he awaits the opportunity for revenge. Classic series.

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

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Still on Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: The New X-Men Writers; Batman; Patton Oswalt

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts the work of the three new X-Men writers… plus, Ghost Rider. DC has an essential sale (read: Batman) and Patton Oswald experiences unannounced price slashing.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

X-Writers of the Future

With the initial X-Men relaunch announcements dropping at SXSW, it looks like Marvel is inviting you to get to know the new writers of the X-line with 3 sales (and perhaps more to come as announcements continue).

Jed MacKay

Moon Knight  The Death of Doctor Strange  Taskmaster

The Marvel Jed MacKay Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Of the three announced writers, MacKay’s written the most material for Marvel and most of it in the last ~6 years or so. If you want to see him on a team book, the first volume of his Avengers with C.F. Villa is on sale.

Our favorite work of his is the Doctor Strange sequence, which should absolutely be read in order:

  • The Death of Doctor Strange – w/ Lee Garbett… and yes, Stephen gets himself killed.
  • Strange – w/ Marcelo Ferreira & Garbett, where Clea becomes Sorcerer Supreme.
  • Doctor Strange – w/ Pasqual Ferry, where Stephen’s back (and there IS fallout)

The breakout title for him was probably Moon Knight w/Alessandro Cappuccio, which we’ve also enjoyed quite a bit. And let’s give some credit here: piecing together the various incarnations of Moon Knight of the last 10-15 years is not a small task! Yet, it was done well.

And for something a bit more off the radar… Taskmaster w/ Alessandro Vitti. Maria Hill has been murdered. Taskmaster has been framed. The Black Widow wants blood for said murder. Taskmaster finds himself on the trail of a doomsday weapon as he tries to extricate himself from a situation not of his making. And it’s a very witty farce.

Gail Simone

Domino  Deadpool Classic

The  Marvel Gail Simone Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Gail’s big break was Deadpool, but she’s written less Marvel over the years that you might realize. She’s not the main scribe for most of the volumes listed in the sale.

The closest you’re going to get to an X-Men preview is probably the Domino series she did with David Baldeon. (Note, there was a follow-up to this: Domino: Hotshots that is not part of the sale.)

Her Deadpool / Agent X run with art by Udon Studios & Alvin Lee is collected across Deadpool Classic V. 9 and Deadpool Classic V.10.

The final “solo” collection in this sale is The Variantsa Jessica Jones mystery with art by Phil Noto.

Eve Ewing

Black Panther  Ironheart  Champions

The Marvel Eve Ewing Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

Eve Ewing has the smallest backlist of the three newly announced X-scribes.

Her current run on Black Panther w/ Chris Allen is probably her highest profile project.

Ironheart with Luciano Vecchio is probably the title Ewing is most strongly associated with.

If you’d like to see an example of Ewing on a team book, there’s Champions w/ Kim Jacinto.

Shouldn’t He Be In the Sky?

Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider  Ghost Rider / Wolverine

The Marvel Ghost Rider Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

This one is similar to a legacy sale, with the recent caveat that most of the original series in only in Masterworks editions and those aren’t included in the sale, just the single Epic Collection.

Let’s run this one down by series… and yes, there have been a TON of relaunches and mini’s.

As a bonus, the absurdity of Cosmic Ghost Rider:

Essential Equals… Batman?

Batman: The Court of Owls  Detective Comics by Tynion  Watchmen

The DC Essentials Sale runs through Monday, 3/25.

What’s essential? Flipping through this sale, one gets the impression that New 52 (and forward) Batman titles are what DC considers it’s most essential product and there are a ton of them here.

Lets do a quick look at some notable items:

  • Batman ’11-’16 – The Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo era (You may have heard of them.)
  • Batman ’16 – present – Starts with the Tom King run, then James Tynion IV, currently Chip Zdarsky
  • DCeased – Tom Taylor / Trevor Hairsine; Kicking off the series of miniseries about the Anti-Life Equation getting loose, turning most of the population (including the metahuman community) into a sort of zombie and the survivors trying to stay alive.
  • Detective Comics ’11-’16 – Starts with Tony Daniel, then John Layman / Jason Fabok, then Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato
  • Detective Comics ’16 – present – Starts with James Tynion IV’s run, then Peter Tomasi, then Mariko Tamaki (Ram V’s run isn’t yet on sale, it appears). And way too many artists to list.
  • Mister Miracle – Tom King / Mitch Gerads – The Eisner winner
  • Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age – Len Wein/Bernie Wrightson; A legit classic and trendsetter… even before Alan Moore showed up
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons; this one needs no introduction
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth – Daniel Warren Johnson; Wonder Woman awakens in a post-apocalyptical hellscape and has some monsters to slay. “Heavy Metal” may be the best description. A great ride.

Unannounced…

Minor Threats

Minor Threats by Patton Oswalt / Jordan Blum / Scott Hepburn is an exercise in subverting tropes (subversion from that group… surely not…) as some low level supervillains go after the A-list villain who’s been bringing the heat down on them.

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