Tag: Image

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel Catalog; Jonah Hex; Loki; Kraven the Hunter

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts their Jonathan Hickman catalog, plus Kraven the Hunter and Loki. DC starts to crank up the Halloween sales, Image finishes off it’s alphabet sale and Caliber pops up.

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):

DC Says “Boo”

The DC Fights and Frights Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

Another eclectic mix of titles, what’s good and/or hasn’t popped up in a bit?

Checkmate by Greg Rucka (and later Eric Trautman) / Jesus Saiz is an under-rated title that hasn’t popped up lately. This is a blend of spies and superheroes with Mister Terrific, Green Lantern and Fire in the initial mix… and, of course, Amanda Waller lurks.

Doctor Fate by Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew – We don’t always like these “reimagining’s,” but Levitz & Liew knock it out of the park as the helmet of Fate settles upon the head of a Brooklyn med student. A lot more is made of Fate’s Egyptian origins in this version, and not just that Anubis is causing trouble. This flew under too many radars.

Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris. Yeah, that’s right. Pre-Saga Vaughan and post-Starman Harris teaming up for political intrigue as NYC’s first and only superhero, “The Great Machine” finds himself elected mayor. This one mixes political plots with superhero hijinks and how can you have superpowers + politics without a conspiracy? This one’s sometimes overlooked because it was Wildstorm, but not WildCATS.

Checkmate   Doctor Fate  Ex Machina

The ’00s incarnation of Jonah Hex is something of a palette-cleansing delight. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are the writers. While there are arcs, they’ll also deal in single issue stories. Why? Because at a certain point, they just get crazy with really high end guest artists. Jordi Bernet is a regular. Darwyn Cooke shows up. Paul Gulacy. Russ Heath. J. H. Williams III. Andy Kubert. Fiona Staples.  Come for the western, stay for the art.

Superman: Phantom Zone is a favorite oddity from the ’80s. Steve Gerber (Man-Thing) and Gene Colan (Tomb of Dracula, Night Force) have celebrated backgrounds in horror comics. What if they did a Superman horror comic? Well, they kind of did. This one gets metaphysical as Superman discovers some problems inside the Phantom Zone. Warning: this gets much weirder than you’re used to Superman getting. Also includes the Gerber/Rick Veitch follow-up from DC Comics Presents. Hey, Halloween beckons.

Daniel Warren Johnson seems to be having a moment right now. Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is his Black Label (read: Elseworlds) tale of Diana waking up in a post-apocalyptic hellscape of world with few humans left and plenty of monsters hunting them.  So she goes monster hunting as she tries to piece together how the world got this way. Does Johnson out-metal Dark Knights: Metal? Yeah, we’d say so.

Jonah Hex   Superman: Phantom Zone    Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

Hickman

The Marvel Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

The big opus was the story that ran through Fantastic Four, Avengers and then ended in Secret Wars. And it’s infinitely easier (yes, that was a pun) to read that in the Complete Collection editions, because that puts the issues in the correct reading order and includes the mini-series tie-ins. Otherwise, at a certain point, you’re reading an issue from an Avengers collection and then having to open a New Avengers collection for the next issue. Or an issue of FF.

That’s all you need. “Time Runs Out” is even in the final Avengers Complete Collection volume. And here’s something that cannot be understated, the sheer scope of this tale makes it increasingly compelling the further into it you go. Once you’re past the Infinity sequence, it really starts getting jaw-dropping.

Fantastic Four by Hickman   Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Secret Wars

For the X-Men material, House of X / Powers of X is self-contained. X of Swords is relatively self-contained (and a very successful cross-over). Past that, we think the Hickman era is best enjoyed with the Dawn of X collections (not on sale) to better appreciate what an unusual tapestry was being weaved.

House of X / Powers of X   X of Swords

Past his more famous outings, The Human Machine is the complete version of Hickman’s second S.H.I.E.L.D. series. (The first series, Architects of Forever, is not on sale here.)

Craving What?!?

The Marvel Kraven Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

Yes, it would appear somebody’s getting out early and ahead of next year’s Kraven the Hunter film. So what are we looking at here?

For most people, “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck is the pinnacle of the character (and count us in that group). Therein, Kraven takes his final revenge on Spidey. One of the darker Spider-Man tales and one that hit classic status pretty much as soon as it hit the shelf. There are plenty of ways to but this one, but we think the Kraven’s Last Hunt Epic Collection is a good buy with a lot of extra comics around this tale.

If you’re looking for a more traditional tale of Kraven, there aren’t really collections built around that (doubtless, there will be when the movie arrives), but the Spider-Man No More Epic Collection includes an early Kraven tale among it’s collection of Stan Lee / John Romita, Jr. goodness.

And if you’d like something a little more modern and little more off-kilter, X-Force V.5 by Benjamin Percy & Robert Gill hunting mutants as he tries to prove he’s the real apex predator.

Amazing Spider-Man - Kraven's Last Hunt   Spider-Man No More   X-Force

God of Mischief

The Marvel Loki Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

You’d think a TV show was returning? Anyway, these days you have “post-TV” Loki and traditional Loki.

If you’re looking for Loki as the lead, the closest you’re likely to get to the TV show (thus far) is probably looking for either Loki, Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing, Lee Garbett and Jorge Coelho or the Loki run in the revived Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen, Doug Braithwaite, Richard Elson (and a few more artists).

If your jam is the traditional Loki as a villain, this isn’t the best sale for that, although it does have Loki’s original appearances in Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1: The Vengeance Of Loki.

Loki: Agent of Asgard   Journey Into Mystery   Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1: The Vengeance Of Loki

The End of the Alphabet

The Image Comics Discovery Sale part 4 runs through Sunday, 10/15.

This sale will conclude Image’s return to the Comixology deals page after roughly half a year with the first volumes of titles beginning with the letters S through Z. It ends on a Sunday, but this sale has always been ending on odd days, so that’s not a huge surprise. What are some interesting titles? Let’s hit some highlights in bullet form first:

That’s a pretty nice list, but let’s highlight the volumes with a complete story.

The first nod goes to Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton, which is a complete tale in one volume. When an incredibly obnoxious and abusive TV action star is murdered, his six emotionally damaged former sidekicks reluctantly team up to figure out who did the deed. A very, very funny and fairly dark book.

Starlight might be our favorite of Millar’s Image era. The high concept here is an aging Flash Gordon-type returned to Earth, didn’t quite get the hero’s welcome one might expect and is nearing retirement in suburbia, when a ship from the planet he saved some ~40 years prior arrives looking for help. This is a much less over the top Millar staying within the traditional lines of, and writing a love letter to, the classic “planetary romance” space opera and Goran Parlov is vastly under-rated.

twenty-seven has a second volume, but it’s a sequel. V.1 is the secret of why all those musicians have been dying at the age of 27. Spoilers: the deaths weren’t natural.

6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton   Star Light   27

But Is It 9mm or .45?

The Caliber Comics October Sale runs through Tuesday, 10/31.

There are a few titles here that were notable in the ’80s indie boom.

Deadworld   The Realm    Jazz Age Chronicles

And plenty of Don Lomax war comics.

But if you want something a little more recent, Ageless might be of interest. It’s written by Torunn GrØnbekk, who’s been recently been writing Thor, with art by San Espina.

Ageless

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel Max, Star Wars, a New Image Sale… and a couple sales where the prices are off

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel cuts prices on their MAX line, Image has more first volumes, Dark Horse’s new Star Wars line and a couple sales might not have the correct discounts.

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):

First, Some Housekeeping

This is the strangest set of Labor Day sales we’ve seen. Apparently, DC and Marvel don’t check up to see if the right prices have been posted? Here’s what we know:

1) The Daredevil Legacy Sale does not appear to have normal discounts. Or any discounts in a few cases. We type this at 6pm ET on the Friday of a holiday weekend, so we’re not hopeful it gets fixed before the sale ends (but maybe check anyway). It’s a shame, because it’s been a couple years since there was a Daredevil Legacy sale and ‘ole Hornhead has had some excellent runs over the years.

2) DC’s  Labor Day Sale? More of those odd and almost certainly broken $7.76 and $6.21 price points and very few prices have corrected to normal sale pricing… which has been the case for most of the month. Something’s wrong and it doesn’t look like anyone with the ability to fix it is paying much attention. Again, maybe this gets fixed after this post goes live, so have a look… just be aware of the situation. At least there are _some_ discounts here.  Books that have normalized at $2.99 that we’d recommend:

We hate to say “proceed with caution” on what should be the two flagship sales over Labor Day, but… it is what it is. No point in sugar coating it. A lot of people (DC/Marvel/Amazon) should’ve caught this and didn’t.

3) We’ve made an addition to the standard navigation links at the top of the column. There is a Kindle Deals page for comics that has sales you don’t see on the Comixology deals page. The current sale lineup is heavy with TokyoPop and this is worth keeping an eye on.

Extra Bloody Marvel

The Marvel Max Sale runs through Monday 9/4.

In this case, “Marvel Max” refers to Marvel’s mature readers line. (Yes, that does mean a lot of Garth Ennis material.) This sale generally only pops up once or twice year, so let’s have a look.

First up is the Alan Moore / Gary Leach / Alan Davis / John Totleben run. Originally started WAY pre-Watchmen, this is an early and influential post-modern superhero reconstruction with Moore resurrecting a 50s era UK superhero that’s a bit a of Captain Marvel (Shazam) clone and taking things to their logical conclusion with a mad scientist foe, a conspiracy and a sidekick gone wrong.  It’s been half-forgotten after being out of print for a long time and Marvel botched the initial rollout of the reprints. (Don’t ask about the pricing on their original reprints.)

Alias, which made it to Netflix as “Jessica Jones” is the Brian Bendis/Michael Gaydos hard drinking superpowered private eye series, now conveniently in 2 volumes. Definitely an influential series, not just for inspiring a show, either.

Here’s a brand new edition to the Max section: Aliens Epic Collection: The Original Years, Vol. 1. That’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? Let’s translate that – it’s an Epic Collection of the Dark Horse adaptions of Aliens going back to the 80s. They were pretty influential, too.  It contains the first two “Aliens” miniseries, Aliens: Earth War some Dark Horse Presents stories. Ah, Mark Nelson drawing Aliens…

Miracleman   Alias   Aliens

Oh, you want Garth Ennis Punisher?  Well, browse the main link for some of his one-offs (there are several), but here’s an overview:

Yes, he’s done a little Punisher. Good Punisher, too.

The Image… Countdown?

The Image Comics Discovery Sale Part 2 runs through Friday, 9/15

Remember when the last Image sale dropped and we were wondering where the rest of it was? Well, come to find out, that was actually “Part 3” of a sale. Part 2 is now up. The betting pool is now open for whether Part 1 or Part 4 will be the next installment.

This selection is the first volume of titles beginning with E through M.

[Warning: we’re seeing more “Nega-Bands” action on this link. If you click on it and see “Mage” at the beginning, you’re seeing the previous sale. Hit reload a couple times and Part 2 will come up. We don’t understand why they do it this way, but it’s a thing.]

Highlights? Glad you asked.

Geiger, V. 1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank wasn’t really what we were expecting from the description. And we weren’t offended that this post-apocalyptic tale had some fun to it and gave off Kamandi vibes. Warring tribes with theme park motifs, a mysterious and tragic radioactive figure, and a soldier robot? Yes, a good start and worth a look.

Ghosted by Joshua Williamson and Goran Sudzuka is one of our favorite Skybound offerings. It gets much stranger as it progresses, but the initial concept in V. 1 is “What if the Ocean’s 11 crew was sent to rob a haunted house?” Good stuff!

Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino is a little hard to describe without spoilers, since it starts bending genres and genre conventions when you get a little further along. In the beginning, it’s more of a straight horror tale. The “Black Barn” appears and disappears. It’s been doing that for a very long time. Likewise, people have disappeared around it in town that is keeping secrets about it as a new appearance of the Barn starts wheels in motion.

Geiger   Ghosted   Gideon Falls

Killadelphia by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander is right up there at the top of Image’s current lineup. We’d say “change our minds,” but there’s not really a point. A former Philly beat cop returns home to bury his murdered father, who happened to be a detective on the force. What he finds is a vampire uprising. What unfolds is a bizarre conspiracy across 250 years with some recognizable name popping up in the strangest contexts and some wicked one-liners. Highly recommended.

Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark qualifies as a long running Image title, since it’s been around 10 years. It comes out in arcs these days. 15 minutes into the future, the world is divided into vast fiefdoms ruled by families. Think corporations with serfs. Each family has a genetically engineered super-soldier leading their troops, called a Lazarus. The Lazarus of the Carlyle family is starting to realize she’s being lied to…

Love Everlasting by Tom King and Elsa Charretier is one of the newer volumes in this sale. It’s a pastiche of 70s romance comics viewed through more of a Rod Serling lens as a woman lives through a series of lives and romances, scatter across the timeline.

Killadelphia   Lazarus   Love Everlasting

Nothing But Star Wars… Take 2

The Dark Horse 2023 Star Wars Digital Sale runs through Monday, 9/18.

Yes, Dark Horse has Star Wars again. We believe this to be the YA license that was most recently at IDW.  We’re heard some stories that this isn’t available in every country, so the links might not go anywhere, depending where you’re at. What’s on sale?

Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit   Star Wars Hyperspace Stories   Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures

YouNeek

The Dark Horse 2023 YouNeek Digital Sale runs through Monday, 9/18

This is the Roye Okupe imprint.

E.X.O.   Iyanu: Child of Wonder   WindMaker

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Image Returns; Blue Beetle; X-Factor; Venom; Watchmen

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Image returns to the deals page! Plus, DC gives Blue Beetle the discount treatment and Marvel slashes prices on X-Factor and Venom.

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):

Image Returns!

The Image Comics Discovery Sale runs through Thursday, 8/31.

Now there’s a publisher we haven’t seen in roughly 6 months. What we have here is a little on the peculiar side. First volumes in a series from the letter M through the beginning of S, or at least that’s what’s showing up as we type this.  We looked and Killadelphia V.1 didn’t seem to be discounted yet, so we’re not sure if there will be an A-L sale at a later date or thing will start showing up in a week or two.  But hey, it’s been awhile since Image was around.

A few things of note:

Public Domain by Chip Zdarksy. We read this recently and it’s quite good. That’s not a shock, since it won an Eisner. This is a fairly savage parody of corporations and film companies taking over comics as the artist of a classic superhero discovers he really owns the character and his dysfunctional sons try to figure out what to do about it. Zdarsky expertly walks a tightrope with characters that clearly aren’t Stan & Jack, but you can’t help but think of Stan & Jack. Excellent satire of the business.

And as long as we’re talking about Zdarsky, the first first volume of his crime comic Newburn is also on sale. Jacob Phillips draws this tale of a PI with very naughty clients.

Manifest Destiny Chris Dingess and Matthew Roberts is the tale of the real mission of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Oh, sure they were mapping the Louisiana Purchase, but they were also clearing the way of dangerous monsters that might prey on pioneers. They’re also… but that would be a spoiler. This recently wrapped up and it’s a very solid story. Vol. 1 is fairly light-hearted, though the tone gets considerably darker a few volumes into it.

Public Domain   Newburn   Manifest Destiny

Nocterra by Scott Snyder and Tony Daniel is a post-apocalyptic adventure/horror book about a world where the sun went down and stayed down with monsters inhabiting the darkness and they’re contagious. (Which is to say, Daniel has ample opportunities to cut loose.)

Nita Hawes’ Nightmare Blog by Rodney Barnes / Jason Shawn Alexander / Szymon Kudranski / Patric Reynolds is a companion piece to Killadelphia (which you’re already reading, right?), featuring a professor with a ghostly brother getting drawn into supernatural mysteries… oh, and Anansi keeps popping up.

And for your under the radar classic, Matt Wagner’s Mage: The Hero Discovered. This is the first installment of the Arthurian legend as urban fantasy series from the 80s. Wagner took a looooong break from it after Comico blew up, focusing more on Grendel, but this book is really where Wagner first made his name.

Nocterra   Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog   mage

The Mutant Variable

The Marvel X-Factor Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 8/21.

This one’s a little different from most of the Legacy sales in that it’s mainly a Peter David X-Factor sale. Let’s walk through that.

Of the original X-Factor run, you’ll find that only the X-Factor Visionaries by Peter David volumes are on sale (near the bottom of the page).

When people think of Peter David and X-Factor, the run they’re most likely thinking of is the 2005-13 run that starts out with Madrox (The Multiple Man) opening a detective agency. Yes, this is the run where Layla Miller knows stuff. (If you know, you know.) There are also two X-Factor by Peter David: The Complete Collection volumes that are listed separately. (Who knows why?) Vol. 1 is the original Madrox mini-series and X-Factor 1-12. Vol. 2 collects #13-24, 28-32 and two specials.

There was also a ’14-’15 X-Factor relaunch by David and Giuseppe Camuncoli. This sale is all about the Peter David runs!

Out from under the shadow of Mr. David, there are two other notable titles in the sale.

Back in 2010, X-Factor Forever saw Louise Simonson returning to the situation as she left it on the book (prior to Peter David taking over) along with Dan Panosian.

And then, in the aftermath of House of X / Powers of X, Leah Williams and David Baldeon relaunched X-Factor as the mutants who investigate the circumstances of death and missing persons for Krakoa.

X-Factor by Peter David   X-Factor by Peter David   X-Factor

Symbiosis

The Marvel Venomverse Sale runs through Monday, 8/21.

This isn’t a sale on the main Venom titles, more the around the periphery of that world. What might be interesting? We have thoughts.

Of this lot, the one we’re the most familiar with is the Venom run by Rick Remender/Tony Moore and then Cullen Bunn/Declan Shalvey. We wish the earlier Remender volumes had bigger discounts on them, too. This is the time period where Flash Thompson is the symbiote’s host. It helps him with his war injuries and he attempts to be a hero.

If you like to roll old school, there’s Venom: Lethal Protector by David Michelinie / Mark Bagley / Ron Lim. Dating back to 1993, this was Venom’s first solo title (OK, Spidey shows up a little, but you know what we mean). Venom in San Francisco… it just might have had some influence on the film version (which didn’t have Spidey).

And for something odd and under the radar? How about Toxin: The Devil You Know? Why? For the unusual team of Peter Milligan and Darick Robertson working on a fringe Venom character.

Venom   Venom: Lethal Protector   Toxin: The Devil You Know

Feeling Blue

The DC Blue Beetle Sale runs through Monday, 8/28.

That would be the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle and… say, is there a film coming out? What a coincidence.

Jaime first popped up in the Geoff Johns/(mostly) Phil Jimenez Infinite Crisis. Infinite Crisis was a pretty major Event that tweaked the DCU a bit in it’s wake.

The first Jaime Reye Blue Beetle series ran from ’06-’09 with John Rogers & Keith Giffen as the writing brain trust and Cully Hamner and Rafael Albuquerque as the primary artists. (And yes, that’s the John Rogers behind Leverage and The Librarians.)

The next Blue Beetle run was ’11-’13 by Tony Bedard and Ig Guera.

Then for the Rebirth era (’16-18), Keith Giffen returned to Blue Beetle, with his Justice League cohort, J.M. DeMatties  and Scott Kolins as the primary artist.

Infinite Crisis   Blue Beetle   Blue Beetle

A Sale With a Truncated Name?

The DC to the MAX Sale runs through Monday, 8/28.

What’s interesting and at a better price point for DC’s non-themed sale?

For lowest price, $4.99 will get you Harley Quinn, Breaking Glass, the well-regarded graphic novel from Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is considered by a whole lot of folks to be the top graphic novel of all time. Plot-wise, the murder of a hero leads to a conspiracy unspooling, but this also a character-based tale and it’s scope widens considerably. A classic and a good number of pages at $5.99

Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Another from the classics pile as Batman pursues a killer whose exploits are tied to holidays on the calendar. It’s also a Harvey Dent story. Not a Two-Face story, per se, but a Two-Face prequel of sorts.

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass   Watchmen   Batman: The Long Halloween

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel Omnibuses; Miles Morales: Spider-Man; Dark Reign; DC Celebrates Black History Month; Image’s Discounted Romance

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has a rare sale on their Omnibuses, plus Miles Morales and Dark Reign. DC celebrates Black History Month and Image puts a (discounted) price on romance.

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):

As we adjust to whatever’s going on behind the scenes at Amazon, the sales did post this week, but they trickled out in an unusual pattern. At least the pricing seemed to be correct when they sales appeared this week. There’s a reason we don’t always rush to post the sale.

Did Somebody Say Omnibus?

The Marvel Omnibus Sale runs through Monday, 2/13.

Well, here’s a sale you don’t see every day. These omnibuses contain _around_ 40 issues each, though it can vary a few hundred pages from volume to volume. Evaluate these as bundles of collected editions, but there are some volumes that caught our eye.

The Captain Britain Omnibus is a very interesting thing. It’s basically all the Captain Britain appearances through when he first starts turning up in the X-Men line, so just before Excalibur kicks off. You’ve got the original UK run, which does have a little bit of early Chris Claremont in it. The Marvel Team-Up appearances (Claremont/Byrne), the David Thorpe/Alan Davis reset and then the two crown jewels: the Alan Moore/Alan Davis run and the Alan Davis solo run in the magazine version of Captain Britain. These last two runs are fantastic and highly influential (although you might be surprised how many things Thorpe initiated). And then a couple X-verse annuals to cap it.  Some really good stuff in here and Marvel’s a little inconsistent about keeping all of this available.

The Incredible Hulk by Peter David Omnibus set is the entire run. Peter David was on that book a LONG time and had a pretty darn good set of artists to team with, including Todd McFarlane, Gary Frank, Dale Keown, Liam Sharp and several others. It’s a little more understandable with such a long run, but we’re under the impression this is the only collection of David’s entire run. The “Visionaries” series doesn’t go all the way and only sections of it are in Epic Collections. So, here’s the entirety of a landmark run in 1000-1100 page chunks.

Another meaty set of books is the Thunderbolts set. V.1 is 1100 pages of Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley. V.2 is another 1100 pages as Fabian Nicieza tags in for Busiek and we don’t think the back half of V.2 is currently collected elsewhere, either.

We know you were thinking it, so we’re going to go ahead and say it out loud: omnibus editions are a lot more convenient to read in digital. Those hardcovers can top 6 pounds.

Captain Britain Omnibus   Incredible Hulk by Peter David   Thunderbolts

Spider-Verse

The Marvel Monthly Sale: Miles Morales: Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 2/27

This sale is… kind of a mess to navigate.

For the first Brian Bendis/David Marquez/Sara Pichelli run, you’re probably best off with the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set.

Then jump to the Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Vol. 2 collection for the ’16 Bendis/Pichelli/Nico Leaon run. (Do not ask us why the first omnibus isn’t on sale…)

And after that wraps, it’s time for Miles Morales by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron.

  Miles Morales: Spider-Man   Miles Morales

Make It Reign

The Marvel Dark Reign Sale runs through Monday, 2/6.

Dark Reign is a sort of background story that spun through a bunch of the Marvel titles, post-Secret Invasion.  Norman Osborn manages to get himself installed as Director of SHIELD and makes a power play. A lot of it involved declaring the various heroes to be enemies of the state and hunting them down. There wasn’t a mini-series driving this in the usual sense, but there were a ton of mini-series out there. A lot of this ran through the numerous Bendis Avenger titles.

The best thing to come out of Dark Reign was the “World’s Most Wanted” arc in Invincible Iron Man (Book 1 and Book 2) by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca. Fraction and Larroca essentially paused their story for this arc where Norman Osborn is after the knowledge in Tony Stark’s brain – especially all the secret identities. Stark is a fugitive on the run and he’s trying to delete and overwrite his brain, like a hard drive, to keep all the sensitive information out of Osborn’s hands. A superior arc.

Iron Man   Iron Man

You can pop in on the other titles to see where Dark Reign takes them, but Iron Man was a class above.

February

The DC Black History Month Sale runs through Monday, 2/27.

Some picks? Sure. Justice League by Christopher Priest collects the Priest / Pete Woods wherein Batman has a lapse in judgement and a “fan” moves in for the kill.

A lesser known recent title is Michael Cray by Bryan Hill and N. Stephen Harris. This was part of the Wildstorm revival and the titular Cray is an assassin tasked with eliminating some funhouse mirror versions of the Justice League. Well done twisted fun.

And from clear out of left field, here’s something we don’t recall seeing on sale in a while: Steel single issues for $0.99. Yes, the Death of Superman spin-off about John Henry Irons that spawned a Shaq movie. Creators on this include Louise Simonson, David Michelinie, Christopher Priest, Chris Batista, Phil Gosier and Denys Cowan. Yes, that’s an early Priest/Cowan pairing at the end of the series.

Justice League by Priest   Michael Cray   Steel

Romance… Through The Mirror, Darkly…

The Image Romance Sale runs through Monday, 2/27.

Might modern “romance” comics be a little off-kilter? Could be!

A marque Image series popping up here is Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky (Mr. Romance, himself) has a high concept along the lines of “Make love. Stop time. Rob banks.” Why yes, it’s also a comedy. The “normal” collections are a better price than the “Big Hard” collections and that’s an instance of a fancier print edition translating to poor digital pricing, as is frequently the case.

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips does have a romance in the middle of a tale about nefarious goings-on at a rehab facility. That’s a fair cop.

And a new title that might be of interest here: $0.99 single issues of Love Everlasting by Tom King and Elsa Charretier, featuring a woman caught in a series of bizarre romances bouncing around different time periods.

Sex Criminals   My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies   Love Everlasting

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: X-Men; New Teen Titans; Aztec Ace; Geiger; Air

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel contemplates Mister Sinister, DC celebrates teamwork, Image does science fiction and Dark Horse discounts fantasy.

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):

New sales did post this week, so that’s good… but make sure you eyeball the displayed prices to see if it looks like it’s really on sale. A number of things did not pass the eye test, although at least the DC sale got fixed. As we type this, not everything did. Speaking of DC:

Fight and Then Team Up

The DC Super Teams Sale runs through Monday, 1/30.

There’s a 2-Omnibus set of 52 that’s a good deal. 52 issues for $20 works out to $0.38/issue, better than you usually see. 52 was a weekly comic co-written by Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. Keith Giffen did the layouts and then a whole bunch of artists finished those. The story is a set of plot threads telling the aftermath of Infinite Crisis, with arcs for Booster Gold, Black Adam, Elongated Man, Adam Strange, Will Magnus (the Metal Men’s creator) and The Question, among others.

This World’s Finest is the 1990 Prestige/Dark Knight format version from Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude. Not something we’ve heard discussed in awhile, this is an attempt to recapture the Silver Age mojo as Lex Luthor and The Joker team-up to bedevil Superman and Batman. As pretty a comic as you’ll find.

The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez essentially pulled DC back from the brink at a low point in the company’s sales history. It’s a classic and it’s $4.99 per volume.

52   World's Finest   New Teen Titans

It’s a Sin

The  Marvel X-Men: Sinister Stories Sale runs through Monday, 1/30.

A tie-in to the “Sins of Sinister” Event? Sure enough. And given that’s a Kieron Gillen outing, it seems like Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen: The Complete Collection is probably good background reading, since it establishes Gillen’s take on Mister Sinister.

Also particularly relevant to the current incarnation of Sinster is the recent Hellions series by Zeb Wells and Stephen Segovia. We’re big fans of this one, which has Minster Sinister acting as Professor X for a unit of more… anti-social mutants. Is he using them as pawns in his greater schemes? Absolutely. One warning here, though. The middle volume of this doesn’t have much of a discount and we’re wondering if that’s an error? The omnibus edition is a tad more expensive and also a lot higher priced than you’d expect for a sale. Maybe it gets fixed and maybe it doesn’t. It’s still a highly entertaining run.

And while it’s not the first appearance of Sinister, we think one of the better values in the sale is X-Factor Epic Collection: All-New, All-Different X-Factor, which is the Peter David run. You’ve got a Mister Sinister arc, a Hulk crossover and art by Larry Stroman, Dale Keown… and some lad named Joe Quesada (whatever happened to him?)

Uncanny X-Men   Hellions by Zeb Wells   X-Factor Epic Collection

We Were Promised A Flying Purple People-Eater?!?

The Image Sci-Fi Sale runs through Tuesday, 1/31.

Fear Agent by Rick Remender, Tony Moore and Jerome Opeña is a pulp science fiction adventure of the hard-drinking final member of the Fear Agents, a force that handled alien threats. Spoiler: one of those alien threats is still active. It’s an old favorite around here.

Farmhand is a science fiction/horror/comedy series from Rob Guillory, who you might remember from Chew. This time out Rob’s doing full writer/artist duties and proving that Layman wasn’t the only pleasantly twisted person behind Chew. In Farmhand, Jedidiah Jenkins has an unusual cash crop – he grows replacement for human organs. Where did these crops come from? That would be telling, but strange things are happening around the farm at to some of the transplant recipients.

Geiger is a Geoff Johns / Gary Frank post-apocalyptical, traversing the wastelands adventure. We got some (darker) Kamandi/Ben Boxer vibes off it. Very much a post-modern take on the DC “Great Disaster” era science fiction tales of the 60s and 70s and in a good way.

Fear Agent   Farmhand   Geiger

No, Not That Kind of “Fantasy”

The Dark Horse Fantasy Sale runs through Monday, 1/30.

This is a VERY expansive sale and worth an extended browse it you have time. We’re going to point out three, somewhat under the radar books, two of which we don’t think have been on sale before.

Air by G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker was originally a Vertigo book that Karen Berger appears to have pulled over to Dark Horse and Berger Books.  We would very much like to see a continuation, but… first things first. This is a very unusual genre bender. A little science fiction, a little fantasy, a little thriller. It also takes a little while to start unfolding. What starts as a flight attendant getting pulled into a terrorist conspiracy takes a turn for the weird and lands in a much wider conspiracy involving teleportation, time lost celebrities and an Aztec god. This is not a comic that’s easily reduced to a tagline, but it’s a good one.

Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot is your unabashedly intellectual comic of the week. An excellent work of art and truly unusual. The starting point is a history of Talbot’s hometown of Sunderland, which turns into a study of the influences on Lewis Carroll while writing Alice in Wonderland and then turns… where Talbot feels like going. A unique book!

Aztec Ace by Doug Moench, Dan Day, Michael Hernandez and Ron Harris is a time travel adventure. The most unusual thing about it might just be that Moench had never seen Doctor Who before writing it in the early 80s. This is a very Doctor Who-compatible series. Originally coming out from Eclipse and long out of print, Ace is a time traveler from the 23rd century who’s battling time paradoxes and the mysterious Nine-Crocodiles, who seems to be behind the paradoxes. He’s aided by Bridget Chronopolis, who wanders into his sphere very much like one of The Doctor’s companions would, and the floating head of Sigmund Freud. Not the lowest priced item, but it’s 15 issues + extras, so a better value than you might think at first glance. And a lot easier than trying to track down the single issues. (Just trust us on that, ’cause we did.)

Air   Alice in Sunderland   Aztec Ace

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Best of the Marvel Masterworks Sale, Plus Image and Dynamite

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we look at the best of the Marvel Masterworks sale plus holiday sales from Image and Dynamite.

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):

We’re in the home stretch for the holiday sale season and this time out, we’ll be looking at a couple sales that dropped a little later than the rest. (OK, technically the Image sale had been up… but the discounts took several days to show up on the listing.) But first, let’s have a look at the cream of the crop for our favorite sale of the year.

The Best of the Marvel Masterworks Sale

As you may recall, The Marvel Masterworks Sale runs through Monday, 1/2. $0.99 for V.1’s and $1.99 for V.2+.

There are bargains and there are bargains. Let’s have a look at what the best volumes are, both for stories contained and page count – because a few of these books are as big as the Epic Collections.

I Like Big Page Counts

Masterworks with 400+ pages!

  • Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks Vol. 22 – 410 pages – Roger Stern / John Romita, Jr. era, including THAT Juggernaut story
  • Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks Vol. 23 – 468 pages – Roger Stern / John Romita, Jr. era… and the Hobgoblin debuts in this volume
  • Champions Masterworks Vol. 1 – 460 pages – The whole ’70s series + crossovers – Bill Mantlo/Tony Isabella/George Tuska/John Byrne and others.
  • Doctor Strange Masterworks Vol. 10 – 394 pages (close enough) – Roger Stern/Paul Smith (and the Doctor Strange vs. Dracula sequence)
  • Killraven Masterworks Vol. 1 – 471 pages – Don McGregor / P. Craig Russell – the entire Amazing Adventures run plus the OGN follow up… for a lousy $0.99
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 9 – 471 pages – OK, get this line-up: Chris Claremont writing all of… Uncanny X-Men w/ Paul Smith; the God Loves, Man Kills OGN w/ Brent Anderson and the original Wolverine mini-series w/ Frank Miller.
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 10 – 458 pages – the beginning of the Claremont/John Romita, Jr. era with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Morlocks, plus the Magik mini-series w/ John Buscema
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 11 – 457 pages – Claremont writing: X-Men with John Romita, Jr. (including the Kulan Gath issues), X-Men/Alpha Flight with Paul Smith and Kitty Pride & Wolverine with Al Milgrim
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 12 – 466 pages – Claremont writes X-Men w/ John Romita, Jr. (culminating in the trial of Magneto and the end of a big arc); the “Asgardian Wars” crossover with New Mutants w/Art Adams; and then Dave Cockrum’s Nightcrawler mini.
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 13 – 449 pages – Claremont & John Romita, Jr. on X-Men, plus and Ann Nocenti and Art Adams on Longshot.
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 14 – 485 pages – Enter the Mutant Massacre, plus Psylocke joins the X-verse in New Mutants and Fantastic Four Vs. X-Men.

Best of the $0.99 V.1’s

Other notable runs (that aren’t Lee/Kirby, since those go without saying).

We’ll link to the first volume in the set on these.

  • Avengers V. 10 – 18; V. 10 is the Kree/Skrull War. V.11 starts the Englehart run through V.15. V. 16 & V.17 are the Jim Shooter run w/ George Perez & John Byrne; V. 18 is David Michelinie/John Byrne -a prime chunk of Avengers
  • Captain America V. 7 – 11; V.7-9 is the classic Steve Englehart/ (mostly) Sal Buscema run with the Secret Empire, the Red Skull and a snake of an ad man. V.10-11 is Jack Kirby’s return and V.10’s Madbomb is more relevant today than it should be.
  • Captain Marvel V.3 -4; V. 3 is Jim Starlin’s run, which is the first Thanos arc. Utter classic. V.4 is the half-forgotten, yet quite entertaining Steve Englehart/Al Milgrom run.
  • Daredevil V. 15-16; Frank Miller’s first run. (V. 14 ends with the first issue he drew, but it’s not particularly connected to the rest of the run.)
  • Defenders V. 3-5; The inspired strangeness of Steve Gerber’s run. Headmen! Elf With a Gun!
  • Doctor Strange V.5-10; Once Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner show up the 70s and 80s were a strong time for Doctor Strange. Consistently A-list writers and artists. Almost amazingly so for a bi-monthly title.
  • Fantastic Four V. 21-23; The John Byrne era in thick slices
  • Iron Man V.5-7; The meat of Archie Goodwin’s Iron Man run with Gene Colan and George Tuska
  • Iron Man V. 13-14 – V. 13 has David Michelinie, Bob Layton and John Romita, Jr. arrive. The start with “Demon in a Bottle,” the famous arc, but Iron Man is very good for a long time, starting here.
  • Marvel Two-In-One V. 5-6; In V.5 Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio arrive for a fun run that’s not always remembered. George Perez and Ron Wilson handle most of the art. “Project Pegasus” and “The Serpent Crown Affair” are two of the major arcs.
  • Sub-Mariner V. 7 – Something different? Namor’s creator, Bill Everett returns to his creation as writer/artist.
  • Warlock V. 2 – Jim Starlin’s first run on Adam Warlock, complete in one volume. A continuation of his Captain Marvel run, Thanos is back and this one really lays the groundwork for the eventual Infinity Gauntlet.

There’s a ton more to the sale, including the more usual suspects… but we think the above will keep you out of trouble on a budget.

Defenders Masterworks   Black Panther Masterworks   Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks

Image Stuffs the Stocking

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

This looks to us like a line-wide (or nearly line-wide… is Sea of Red not in digital?) 50% off sale, so we’re going to go slightly off the beaten path with our recommendations. If you’re looking for something specific, click through and it’s probably there. It’s a very deep sale.

The obligatory “front list” recommendation is the Saga Compendium. You should be familiar with Saga by now. Space fantasy about a refugee family who have both sides of a war looking for them? Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples? Yes, that Saga. Anyway, 54 issues for $23.99 is under $0.50 an issue and is as good a deal as you typically see from Image and it’s a wonderful series.

The Monolith is something we enjoyed when it came out from DC Comics back in the day. Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and the underappreciated Phil Winslade tell the tale of a troubled young woman who inherits a house and finds a golem walled up in the basement. Once freed, the golem goes back about its mission of vengeance and punishment, as golems are wont to do. The Monolith explores the consequences of this a bit.

Shock Rockets by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen was actually part of the far too short-lived Gorilla imprint at Image, back in the day. A very fun spin on the old anime theme of young pilots protecting the Earth from invading aliens.

Saga   The Monolith   shockrockets

Revival was a long running serial by Tim Seely and Mike Norton. It came out as zombie stories were getting hot, but it’s not really a zombie story. A town in Wisconsin has a strange day that sees the dead come back to life. Some of them seem perfectly normal. Some don’t. Naturally, the government declares a quarantine and the evangelists attempt to descend. This leaves the local sheriff’s department trying to figure out who or what caused the dead to rise and what’s happening to the dead afterwards. A bit of a slow burn as things continue to get stranger and bad things happen.

Criminal was Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips in their original crime series (or should we say crime series with no capes lurking in the background). Sometimes connected, sometimes not, we’d probably put V.6, “The Last of The Innocent” which is a whole lot like reimagining the Archie gang in a pulp noir. This is what Ed and Sean were doing just before they really blew up at Image and now Image has the publishing rights to it.

Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is a trippy as all get-out tale of a dimension hopping thief at odds with his other dimensional family of super-spies. Lots of backstabbing, identity theft and general skullduggery in a series that’s been compared to Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius. (Yes, that level of trippy.)

Revival   Criminal   Casanova

Dynamite Stuffs the Stocking

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

This is also a line-wide or near line-wide 50% off sale, so we’ll once more go a little deeper into the pile for our picks.

Flash Gordon Omnibus by Jeff Parker and Evan “Doc” Shaner. What makes this Flash Gordon better than some of the other versions? When Parker and Shaner are doing it, it’s just more fun!

Borderline by Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso is something Risso drew prior to 100 Bullets. It’s a dark tale of a reluctant government enforcer in a bleak dystopian world with mutants in wasteland and the rich sequestered away in luxury.

The Shadow: The Last Illusion by Cullen Bunn, Colton Worley and Giovanni Timpano finds The Shadow drawn into a conflict with a secret society of illusionists seeking “The Last Illusion.” And The Last Illusion is Harry Houdini’s escape from the land of the dead. This is one of the best Dynamite Shadow tales and really fits in next to the original pulps.

Flash Gordon   Borderline   The Shadow: The Last Illusion

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: More Black Friday Sales From Marvel, BOOM!, IDW and Image

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s time for even more Black Friday Sales. Possibly, because it’s Black Friday? Another Marvel sale, plus BOOM!, IDW and Image.

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):

And with Black Friday now in place, here’s another batch of sales for the occasion. Earlier in the week, we broke down the Marvel Epic Collection Sale and the DC Black Friday Sale, so go back and have a look at those if you haven’t seen them.

What Have You Done For Me Lately ?

The Marvel Latest and Greatest Sale runs through Thursday, 12/1.

And yes, we’ll happily recommend three things we’ve been enjoying from this bunch:

Jed MacKay’s emerged as a writer to keep an eye on and two V. 1’s of his pop up here:

The Death of Doctor Strange is an accurate title for this MacKay/Lee Garbett series that does kill off Stephen Strange, though to say much more about this clever and twisty series would move into the realm of spoilers.

Moon Knight: The Midnight Mission is the opening act in the MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight revival that’s one of the more unpredictable comics out there right now. “Mr. Knight” is trying to get his act together. He’s seeing a therapist. He’s started a sort of night mission to offer Konshu’s protection as it used to be intended. And then the vampires show up. And another avatar of Konshu. (And the subsequent acts only have more curveballs.) This one’s also an entertaining ride.

Defenders: There Are No Rules is the Al Ewing / Javier Rodriguez Defenders revival. This time out, Doctor Strange and company go dimension hopping looking to retrieve the Eternity Mask. Different realities are governed by different laws of physics (or magic), hence the title. Oh, and Galactus is involved. This story plays out on a BIG canvas and for as much of a hot streak as Ewing is on right now, Rodriguez still manages to steal the show… which is to say both writing and art are popping here.

The Death of Doctor Strange   Moon Knight   Defenders

Walt Simonson’s Other Thor

The IDW Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

IDW could have called this a “Best of Sale” and we’d have backed them. Plus, $0.99 for a V.1 and $1.99 for subsequent volumes on everything? What’s the word we’re looking for…  CHEAP.

Ragnarok is Walt Simonson’s return to Norse mythology. It is glorious and might just be Walt’s best work… which is saying something. And the old sales charts (back when we had sales charts) suggest a LOT of people were sleeping on this one.  Twilight of the Gods has come and gone. The Nine Worlds are reduced to the Dusk Lands and all is not well. Thor is raised from the dead, not altogether successfully, and starts a quest to set things right. Highest recommendation, especially at these prices.  Note: V.3 is listed separately from the first two.

Richard Stark’s Parker is the late Darwyn Cooke adapting Donald Westlake’s score-settling thief, Parker. Some of the best crime comics you’ll ever see, as we’ve said before. And these are the best prices we’ve seen for them, if memory serves.

Ragnarok   Ragnarok   Richard Stark's Parker

Prices Go Boom

The Best of Boom! Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

And yes, we have another holiday V.1 for $0.99 and subsequent volumes for $1.99 sale! Cheap!

The centerpiece here is probably Once and Future, the Kieron Gillen / Dan Mora contemporary fantasy adventure about the power of stories manifesting as Merlin returns to raise King Arthur… and Arthur doesn’t care for all these immigrants. It starts out fairly breezy and is starting to get fairly dark by the time V. 4 rolls around.  V.5 wraps things up at the end of December, so this is a cheap catchup on a book we’ve enjoyed.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade chronicles Death’s relationship with the inventor of immortality and is probably the best reviewed book of the sale.

House of Slaughter by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Werther Dell‘Edera and Chris Shehan is a spin-off from Something Is Killing the Children, set in a school run by the Order of monster hunters that Erica Slaughter is butting heads with. Tonally, this is a very different book. It’s more of an angsty CW series set in the same universe.

Once & Future   The Many Deaths of Laila Starr   House of Slaughter

Sale of Large Sizes

The Image Omnibus & Deluxe Edition Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

A heads up we hope you heed: Image Deluxe Editions are hardcovers and the discount is based on the HC price. Depending on the sale, it’s frequently cheaper to get the digital edition of the two “regular” collections than a Deluxe Edition containing the equivalent of two regular collections. Keep an eye on what you’re buying.

That said, some of the omnibuses are good deals, so let’s have a look at those and see what they cost per issue, shall we?

Saga Compendium 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples is $23.99 and collects #1-54. That’s less than 45 cents/issue ($0.444/issue). That’s a good deal and Saga’s reputation speaks for itself.

Paper Girls: The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang is $19.99 and collects all 30 issues.  That’s a hair under 67 cents/issue ($0.666/issue). Not as cheap as the Saga Compendium, but beats a $0.99 single issue sale. You may have seen the Amazon Prime video adaptation. The comic is better.

Saga   Paper Girls

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips isn’t really an omnibus, it’s just the whole 12 issue miniseries in one volume. This one’s a noir murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s Brubaker and Phillips. They’re pretty gosh darn consistent, so you probably already know if you’ll like it. We certainly did, but we’re easy marks for those two.

Curse Words: The Hole Damned Thing Omnibus by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne is roughly 30 issues worth for $19.99, so basically the same deal as Paper Girls. This is a dark farce about an evil Wizard named Wizord who’s feuding with some wizards who are more evil and maybe… maybe… he’s open to changing his ways. Another quality piece of entertainment.

Astro City Metrobook V. 1 by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross is $11.99 for the first 18 issues of the various incarnations of Astro City… which ends up being the same price per issue as Paper Girls and Curse Words. In a nutshell, Astro City is everything good about superheroes distilled into a new universe. Everything will feel a little familiar and the early issues are about capturing the magic of the Silver Age. Astro City is a great palette-cleanser if Event Comics are trying your patience!

The Fade Out    Curse Words   Astro City Metrobook

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Batman and The Joker, Black Panther, Venom, World War Hulk and Eight Billion Genies

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC cuts prices on Batman, The Joker and the 90s, Marvel discounts Black Panther, Venom and World War Hulk, and Image goes a little more recent with their sale.

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):

Bat-Sale

DC’s Batman and The Joker Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 11/7

What does recent mean? On the Collected Edition side of things, it means Tom King’s Batman run through James Tynion, IV’s run  (you can save a little on King’s run with the Deluxe Editions, which are double volumes.), plus the Joker War Saga collection. If you prefer the single issues ($1.79 each), you can get most of the way through the Josh Williamson era.

Speaking of single issues, there two title a bit more current:

For this era, we have a soft spot for the Tom King / Mikel Janin War of Jokes and Riddles.

Batman   Joker War Saga   Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles

Children of the 90s

The DC 90s Rewind Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

Here’s a 90s book that had a bit of a following, but has perhaps faded from the fan consciousness a bit: Gotham By Gaslight. Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola but a Victorian era Batman on the trial of Jack the Ripper and then “Master of the Future,” the sequel, does a Jules Verne / Master of the World riff with Eduardo Barreto tagging in for Mignola.

While the prices bounce around a little, $2.99 volumes of the original run of Hellblazer are always a good deal.

The Flash by Mark Waid can certainly be characterized as a quintessential 90s DC run. The first 4 omnibus-sized volumes are $5.99. (Volume 2 being the one with the famous “Return of Barry Allen” storyline.) If your memory is hazy, Greg Larocque is the initial art on the run with Mike Wieringo starting in Volume 3.

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight   Hellblazer   Flash by Mark Waid

Wakanda Month

The Marvel Monthly Black Panther Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

As much as we love the Don McGregor / Billy Graham, we’d say wait and see if there’s a better Masterworks sale as the holidays hit. Unless you’re burning to see the original run (and it’s good).

The first big Black Panther revival is the  Christopher Priest run. (Which cycled through a ton of artists.) Originally a Marvel Knights book, it’s actually an expansion on the old Jungle Action run with a few new characters added and it’s very, very good.

The next big run is the Reginald Hudlin era. (Again, lots of artists here, starting out with John Romita, Jr.) Time was, this run was probably best known for T’Challa marrying Storm, but now it’s probably better known for introducing Shuri into the mythos.

Then comes the Ta-Nehisi Coates era, which starts out with Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse on art. We would be remiss if we didn’t point out the first two volumes here are a cheap $2.99

Black Panther by Priest   Black Panther by Reginald Hudlin   Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This Means War

Marvel’s World War Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

Yes, this is absolutely a highlight of the Hulk cannon (along with Planet Hulk that proceeded it). And what you need is the Greg Pak / John Romita, Jr. collection.

Take on the side series as interest dictates, they’re optional.

World War Hulk

You Were Expecting… Johnny Cash?

The Marvel Venom: King in Black Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

The Event the sale is named after is sort of the finale to the Donny Cates/Ryan Stegman/Iban Coello run on the book. We like the middle portion where The Maker (aka Ultimate Universe Reed Richards) is scheming.

The current series is an Al Ewing/Ram V/Bryan Hitch collaboration which bounces between cosmic horror and more grounded incidents on Earth.

And for something more different than you might expect, we were surprised how enjoyable the old Rick Remender / Tony Moore / Tom Fowler run with Flash Thompson becoming the symbiote’s host.

Venom by Cates   Venom   Venom by Remender

No, Not That Kind of Hit

The Image Recent Hits Sale runs through Sunday, 11/20.

There are some collected editions here, but let’s have a look at some current buzz books that are still in single issues only:

Starhenge is Liam Sharp’s Arthurian space fantasy epic. Technically, this is the first act, but 4 of the 6 issues of it are here for $0.99 each. Sharp is really pushing the artistic envelope with this one and it looks more like a European album (with a little extra Sienkiewicz influence) than a run of the mill US comic. The art just feels big. (Amazon’s thumbnail previews don’t do it justice.)

Eight Billion Genies by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne (the team from the highly enjoyable Curse Words) really blew up at launch and we don’t think it was solely because speculators swooned over the media rights auction. In this one, every person on Earth gets their own genie. What could possibly go wrong? It might make one want to hide out in a bar…

Public Domain is Chip Zdarsky’s satire of the business side of comics. And he’s actually illustrating this one. We’ll even give you his description to set the tone properly: “a WILD ALTERNATE WORLD where comic book creators aren’t properly acknowledged or compensated for their creations!! Crazy, I know!!” No sarcasm in this comic… nope, none at all.

  Eight Billion Genies   Public Domain

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Comixology Sales: Darth Vader, Gotham Knights (and Batman); Daredevil; Image’s Fall Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Darth Vader, Daredevil and MAYBE Namor get the discounts at Marvel, DC unleashes the Bat-Family with “Gotham Knights” and Image opens a seasonal sale.

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):

Sith-Tober

There’s supposed to be a Darth Vader sale right now, but the link to the overall sale isn’t posted yet for whatever reason. Our understanding is that it’s supposed to be running through Thursday, 11/3. Maybe it will be by the time you see this? Lucky you, we can see the sale prices and have a couple recommendations:

We still haven’t read a Darth Vader comic to top the Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca run.  It’s slow clap territory, especially the scene at the end of the opening arc when Vader figures out he’s been lied to.  This series picks up right after A New Hope and follows Vader as he goes rogue, looking for that rebel pilot who blew up the Death Star.  Note: You also need to get the Vader Down collection, which is the cross-over between the Darth Vader comic and the Star Wars comic.  Key plot points there. Did we mention these volumes are $2.99/$3.99?  Good prices for superior material.

The second best Vader series we’ve read is the Charles Soule / Giuseppe Camuncoli run. It might be the favorite series at the Lucasfilm offices, seeing as how they gave Soule a promotion. This run really hits second gear in V.2 when the librarian of the Jedi Temple turns up.

Vader   Vader Down   Vader Series 2

Sub-Prices

Namor, the Sub-Mariner is another sale that’s supposed to be running, but isn’t posted. Our understanding is it’s supposed to be running through Monday, 10/31. Maybe it will also be up by the time you see this?  Right now we’re not seeing the discounts on this material, but keep an eye out for it. It’s not in the system on Friday evening like it’s supposed to be.

We did enjoy King In Black: Namor (which has very little to do with King in Black) by Kurt Busiek and Benjamen Dewey, for instance… should the discounts materialize.

King In Black: Namor

Marvel Dares You

The Marvel Daredevil: Born Again and Other Tales Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

Clearly, since it’s being filmed, Daredevil: Born Again is the flagship title of this sale. This is the landmark Frank Miller / David Mazzucchelli tale of the Kingpin discovering Daredevil’s secret identity and tearing down his world, brick by brick. A classic tale that has earned its reputation.

Daredevil: Parts of a Hole written by David Mack and drawn by Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti (remember that team… it’s been a minute) is the arc that introduces Echo and we find it interesting that this should be in a born again sale. Foreshadowing?

Daredevil: End of Days is the biggest oddity of this sale, but it’s also a series we enjoyed. At the time, Marvel was doing a lot of “the last <insert character here>” stories and this one brings back Brian Bendis, David Mack, Alex Maleev, Klaus Jansen and Bill Sienkiewicz assemble for what starts as the tale of Ben Urich trying to solve the mystery of Daredevil’s final words… and then heads off in unexpected places. It serves as nice “20 years later” sort of endcap to the Bendis/Brubaker era of Daredevil and is something that’s semi-off the radar.

Daredevil: Born Again   Daredevil: Parts of a Hole   Daredevil: End of Days

But Can You Download a Patch?

The DC Gotham Knights Sale runs through Monday, 11/7.

We’d have probably put the Tynion Detective run in here for “Gotham Knights,” but what do we know?

The “Batman-proper” offering here is  the Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo run that kicked off the New 52 era by introducing the Court of Owls. We suspect you’ve heard of it and it’s _mostly_ $4.99/$5.99 per volume. HOWEVER, there are a couple volumes not properly discounted as we type this, so keep an eye on the price. (Perhaps that will fix itself, since DC discounts used to really lag earlier in the year.)

For Nightwing, we’re in the apparent majority opinion that you want to be looking at the Tom Taylor/Bruno Redondo Nightwing.  There were single issues of this at the bottom of the sale page, but they weren’t discounted when we looked at them. Again… this might change. It’s deja vu.

And for an old school selection, the Chuck Dixon / Tom Lyle / Tom Grummet Robin run from the 90s (which is to say, Tim Drake), definitely has a following. Amazon is weird and breaks it up into three listings/links: V. 1, V.2, and V.3-5.

Batman: The Court of Owls   Nightwing   Robin: Reborn

We All Fall Down

The Image Fall Sale runs through Sunday, 11/13.

700+ items makes for a deep list, but there are a few things here we’re more inclined to point out.

For instance, God Country by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. While that duo is probably best known for Thanos Wins, we think God Country is the better book. Frankly, we don’t think Cates has topped it, period. The elevator pitch isn’t quite so unique – a magic sword cures an old man’s dementia and gives him the vigor of youth to fight off the invading demons. But the meditation on losing one’s mind and character work? Top notch and elevates everything. We weren’t ready for it.

The Black Monday Murders by Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker is a murder mystery. A murder mystery amongst secret and elite cults where financial institutions and banking cartels wield black magic behind the scenes to control the world and get one up on rival sects. Oh, there’s a touch of satire, but it’s mostly played straight. Excellent series and we’re looking forward to the final volume which ought to be popping back on the schedule soon. Hickman’s said he’s done with the scripts and Image is waiting for Coker to have the art in the can before soliciting, so… soon?

Seven to Eternity by Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña is fantasy quest about a man who goes on a quest to save his family and depose his father’s old enemy, the king.  Except this one inverts some tropes and goes to some very dark places as devil’s bargains are struck. It’s also a real showcase for Opeña. It’s hard to praise the art enough.

God Country   The Black Monday Murders   Seven to Eternity

 

 

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Adam, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Champions, The Ultimates and The Walking Dead

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC celebrates the Black Adam sale with Teth-Adam and Justice Society comics AND it’s also time for Wonder Woman Day sale. Marvel lets loose with discounts on Black Widow, The Ultimates and The Champions. Dark Horse highlights Berger books and what’s the holiday season without The Walking Dead?

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):

Can You Smell What The Rock Is Reading?

The DC Black Adam & the JSA runs through Monday, 11/14.

Well, at least we’d like to think The Rock was reading some of the source material… Lots of stuff we like here, too.

We’re big fans of the Paul Levitz / Sonny Liew Doctor Fate revival from a few years back. A medical student of Egyptian decent encounters the helmet of Fate as ancient forces start showing up in Brooklyn. One of the best, and best explained, passing on of the mantle/identity examples in recent memory. (Now… where is the long promised Immortal Doctor Fate collection?)

Tim Truman’s Hawkworld is still one of our favorite Hawkman series, although we doubt this one will look much like the movie.

Doctor Fate   Hawkworld

Do like the classic Justice Society lineup?  We do, here at the Tower of Cheap.

Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 Years is sort of a “best of”/sampler of the various ages. Golden Age All-Star Comics, JSA/JLA team-ups, an All-Star Squadron issue, an issue of the Strazewski/Parobeck Justice Society of America, etc.  (Which reminds us… Hey DC, where’s that Strazewski/Parobeck collection you’ve been promising us?!?)

Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice has Len Strazewski and a rotating artist group of Rich Burchett, Tom Artis, Mike Parobeck and  Grant Miehm send a ’50s era JSA squad out against Vandal Savage, in the original All-Star Comics format where the heroes split up. Not the later, unreprinted Strazewski/Parobeck series set in the ’90s, this came a little before that.

Infinity, Inc. is a spin-off of All-Star Squadron. It’s the adventures of the children and protégés of the JSA in modern times. Roy and Dann Thomas write it. Jerry Ordway is the initial artist, and if you follow the single issues, you’ll eventually find a young Todd McFarlane, which most people forget. (And he has some pretty wild layouts in those.) They’re not all on sale, but the sale takes you through issue 8 and the end of the Generations Saga

Justice Society of America   Justice Society   Infinity, Inc.

Now what’s more likely to resemble the Black Adam film probably starts with JSA by Geoff Johns. This was originally written by David Goyer (yes, the screenwriter – he did more comics in the early aughts) and James Robinson. Johns turns up in issue #6 and a few years later assumes solo duties.  The Black Adam volume from later in the run, where Black Adam takes over Khandaq and Hawkman doesn’t appreciate it might be where the movie is going.  Only about half the series is in collected editions, however the single issues are $0.99 a pop.  Also seems that the JSA: Classified companion series is also having $0.99 single issues. Go figure.

This series was relaunched (now entering the age of relaunches) as Justice Society of America with Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham.  This is also where Alex Ross returned to the Kingdom Come franchise, although it was poorly promoted at the time.

JSA   Black Adam   Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come

JSA Single Issue Bonanza

The DC Black Adam & the JSA Sale Single Issue Sale also runs through Monday, 11/14.

We noted a few of the single issue sales in the last item and while we were doing that, Amazon dropped a new sale.  Let’s break down the list by series (and know there are some specials, one-shots and minis not in the list):

  • Black Adam – Peter J. Tomasi / Doug Mahnke mini-series
  • Doctor Fate – ’87 – The Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis mini-series
  • Doctor Fate – ’88-’92 – J.M. DeMatties / Shawn McManus, later William Messner-Loebs/Scot Eaton
  • Infinity, Inc. – Roy & Dann Thomas/Jerry Ordway/Todd McFarlane
  • JSA – David Goyer/Geoff Johns/Stephen Sadowski is the primary combination
  • JSA All-Stars – Lilah Sturges/Freddie E. Williams
  • JSA Classified – Creators rotate by arc. Think the Justice Society version of Legends of the Dark Knight
  • JSA: Strange Adventures – Mini-series by Kevin J. Anderson/Barry Kitson/Gary Erskine
  • Hawkman – ’64-’68 – Get your Gardner Fox/Murphy Anderson on!
  • Hawkman – ’86-’87 – The Tony Isabella/Richard Howell run
  • Hawkworld – ’89-’93 – A continuation of the Tim Truman series (see above) by John Ostrander/Tim Truman/Graham Nolan
  • Hawkman – ’93-’96 – Continuation of Hawkworld, first by Ostrander/Jan Duursema, then Messner-Loebs/Steve Lieber
  • Hawkman – ’02-’06 – Initially by James Robinson / Geoff Johns / Rags Morales

What’s good here? We particularly liked the continuation of Hawkworld. This is really an eclectic dealer’s choice kind of selection. Get some Silver Age material. Pick up the Walt Simonson or Steve Englehart JSA Classified issues. You have options.

Hawkworld 

Call It a Day

The DC Wonder Woman Day Sale runs through Monday 10/24.  Wonder Woman Day being 10/21, if you were curious.

First let’s break this down by hitting the highlights of the series involved, since this is a really deep sale.

There’s a variety of good material here. Everyone should at least have a look at how entirely bizarre the early Wonder Woman comics are. Those bondage rumors are very real. While Amazon does a strange job of dividing into a different category pages, the George Perez re-imagining is a must-read for the character. We also swear by the Greg Rucka runs. The first, with JG Jones, Drew Johnson and Rags Morales on art, closes out the series that Perez’s run began. He then returned years later for another fantastic run with Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp on art.

Wonder Woman: The Golden Age   Wonder Woman by George Perez   Wonder Woman

Holy Eating Your Mate, Batman!

The Marvel Black Widow Sale runs through Monday, 10/24.

Yes, there’s a bit more Black Widow in print since she started showing up in the movies. We’re genuinely amused Marvel cobbled together an Epic Collection of her guest spots, too. But let’s talk about comics where she’s the lead.

The most recent Black Widow series by Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande pulled an Eisner Award and starts out with a very angry and violated Natasha Romanov looking for revenge. (Although ultimately, its a very family-themed run.)

You can pull the Waid/Samnee run on Black Widow in a single volume. This one has Natasha on the run as her past comes looking for her (a common theme in Widow stories). The nice thing about Waid/Samnee books – they’re a known quantity, so you already know if you’re interested.

If you want to go back a little further, we really enjoyed the darker, more espionage-centric pair of mini-series by Richard K. Morgan (yes, the Altered Carbon author) with Bill Sienkiewicz, Goran Parlov and Sean Phillips providing art. They are conveniently collected in the Black Widow: Welcome to the Game book.

Black Widow   Black Widow by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee   Black Widow - Welcome to the Game

Penunltimate

The Marvel Ultimates and the Ultimate Universe Sale runs through Thursday, 10/27.

The Ultimates were The Avengers of the Ultimate Universe. Mark Millar’s and Bryan Hitch’s series sparks a few arguments, but there’s no denying how influential it’s proven to be in everything from the “cinematic comics” movement to the Marvel films.

The other of the four flagship titles that launch the Ultimate Universe was Ultimate Fantastic Four. This title had a few more creators tagging in and out. Brian Bendis, Mark Millar, Mike Carey and Warren Ellis all wrote it at various times. Artists included Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen and Greg Land.

Ultimates   Ultimate Fantastic Four

Breakfast of Champions

The Marvel Champions Sale runs through Monday, 10/24.

For the original ’70s Champions series by Tony Isabella, Bill Manto, George Tuska, Bob Hall and John Byrne, your best price for the full set is the Marvel Masterworks edition.

The ’16-’18 Mark Waid/Jim Zub/Humberto Ramos/Sean Izaakse/Kevin Libranda Champions run might require a little explanation for optimal cheapness. At the top of that page, get “Because the World Still Needs Heroes” and “Worlds Collide.“ (These are double volumes and better value.) Then jump to V.4 and V.5 of the regular series at the bottom of the page.

Champions   Champions

Image Zombies

The Image Walking Dead Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

You had to see this one coming for Halloween, right?

So there’s the headline: $17.99 Walking Dead Compendiums. That’s ~48-50 issues, depending on the volume, for $18 and comes out to $0.35-$37/issue.  Cheap.

Hard to beat that deal. There are some assorted ones shots in the sale, but we’d say the other heighted item of interest might be $0.99 issues of Walking Dead Deluxe, which is the color version of Walking Dead. If you’re curious about that, this is a decent time to sample it.

Walking Dead   Walking Dead Deluxe

Karen’s Books

The Dark Horse Berger Books Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

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!

And because Halloween beckons, there’s always Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts written by Bourdain and Joel Rose with art by Paul Pope, Alberto Ponticelli and Vanesa Del Rey.

Invisible Kingdom   The Seeds x Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts

 

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