Comixology Sales: Black Friday $4.99 Graphic Novels from DC; Image and Dark Horse have extra wide 50% off sales

The Black Friday Comixology sales are heating up. Joining Marvel in the fray is a $4.99 graphic novel sale at DC and deep rosters of half-off books from Dark Horse and Image.

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

DC’s Got a $4.99 Sale

DC’s got multiple sales going on… they even have their own special Black Friday Sale page. At the top of that page is the $4.99 section we’re going to pay a little more attention to, as DC doesn’t go down to $4.99 every week. You’ve got until Monday (11/30) to browse this one.

The Unwritten is a long-running Vertigo title by Mike Carey (perhaps better known these days as M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts) and Peter Gross. Tom Taylor’s father wrote books about a boy wizard named Tom Taylor. Is Tom his father’s son, the actual character from the books or something else? Magic, conspiracies and unwanted celebrity collide in this one. Save a couple bucks – Unwritten Deluxe Book One collects the first two tpbs for less.

Prez may not have seen it’s natural end, but it’s so timely right now. This Mark Russell/Ben Caldwell/Mark Morales book tells the tale of the Corndog Girl when a series of coincidences involving social media and a contested election sent to Congress for a vote land her in the Oval Office. Worth it just for the “how to pick a Vice President” sequence.

Batman: Gothic is one of Grant Morrison’s early Batman tales. Drawn by Klaus Jansen, it finds Batman drawn into a conflict between Gotham’s mobsters and killer who won’t stay dead. It’s called “Gothic” because Morrison was heavily influenced by gothic horror when writing it.

Dark Horse discounts for Black Friday

Dark Horse has just about everything except the original run of Dark Horse Comics Presents on sale. Today, we’ll have a look at Part 1 of their Graphic Novel sale. (We’ll hit Part 2 on Friday, but feel free to skip ahead if you’re itching for Lone Wolf and Cub.) As is our custom, we’ll try and highlight things that haven’t been part of recent sales, but rest assured that the usual suspect are also 50% off.

Have you tried Blacksad yet? Blacksad is a Raymond Chandler-esque detective series that happens to be done in anthropomorphic style. The characters are animals, but it’s absolutely not a funny animal comic, it’s hard boiled detective stories. Old school. It’s by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. It’s one of the best illustrated comics out there, too.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years is just what it says it is: Kubert’s complete early 70s Tarzan run for DC. A labor of love from one of the most influential artists… and that complete edition is a lot more convenient than when I had to go tracking down the archive editions in print!

Finder is Carla Speed McNeil’s long running science fiction series. It’s heavy on world building and especially culture building. Finder racks up awards: Igantz, Eisner and even an LA Times Book Prize. It’s criminal that its not better known. Also, the first two “Finder Library” volumes are over 600 pages each, so an excellent value on top of the quality work.

This sale runs through Monday (11/30). There are also two single issue sales: Part one takes you from the beginning of the alphabet into “I.” Part 2 finishes the set.

Image goes Black Friday, too

Image also has pretty much the entire catalog on sale for Black Friday. 1,463 items for you to browse between now and Cyber Monday (11/30). This is a 50% off sale, so if you were meaning to pick up a digital collection, dig around for it and the odds are good it’ll be there. A few items of possible interest?

Die (as in “dice”) is a fantasy adventure by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans about a middle-aged group of friends discovering an otherworldly incident involving a role-playing game in their teen years isn’t over after all. If you wanted to do the Hollywood cliche elevator pitch on this one, “The Dungeons & Dragon cartoon meets It” would not be unreasonable. It’s very good, but be aware it’s as darkly-themed a comic as there is on the market.

Kane is Paul Grist’s cult harboiled detective series about a cop in corrupt department. He might be a little better known in the U.S. for Jack Staff or his Doctor Who work, but this is where he made his name.

Kick-Ass has been over at Image for a spell. This comes in two flavors: the better known “Dave” years are by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. After the opening arc for “The New Girl,” they tag out for Steve Niles and Marcelo Frusin.

Still on Sale

Marvel Dawn of X Sale – through Sunday (11/29)
Marvel Spectacular Spider-Man Sale – through Sunday (11/29)
Marvel World Shattering Events Sale – Through Thursday (12/3)

Posted on November 24, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Big DC Sale, Batman, Spider-Man, James Bond, Fear Agent, Bendis’s Goldfish and More

This week’s Comixology sales include a wide ranging DC graphic novel sale, Spider-Man’s married years, James Bond and the end of the Image Science Fiction blowout.

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

DC Graphic Novels

DC is having their 2-Part “Road to Black Friday” graphic novel sale, so here’s DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels I. (We’ll come back for a closer look at Part 2 of the sale on Friday.) Part 1 is essentially Action Comics through Justice League and features a whole lot of Batman.

In fact, several of Part 1’s value buys involve Batman. As you may recall, James Tynion IV is the current Batman writer. When the “Rebirth” relaunch started, he was the writer for an extended run on Detective Comics and it was very much what I’d call a “Batman Family” affair. The “deluxe editions” of that run are $7.99 a pop for roughly 12 issues of material per volume. That’s a decent value and the volumes are linked below:

Even you’d like even more bang for your buck, Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin gets you 471 pages of Batman written by one of the best writers (and editors) in comics for $7.99. Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart is a couple dollars more for roughly an issue less of material, but I believe it’s the complete collection of one of the most influential Batman scribes. Plenty of Batman to sift through if you go to the main sale page.

Stepping away from Batman, other titles of interest include: Boy Commandos V. 2 – That’s the second collection of the highly influential 1940’s Simon & Kirby comic about a kid gang that punches Nazis. It seems highly unlikely you’d ever see the print edition for $5.99. (85% off list)

Dial H is weird fiction legend China Miéville’s dark, quirky and surreal take on Dial H for Hero with Mateus Santolouco and Alberto Ponticelli on art. This was criminally overlooked by most people when it came out and 398 pages for $7.99 is a good buy, too.

Before he ever set foot at DC or Marvel, Brian Bendis did crime comics. He didn’t just write them, he drew them. Goldfish is the story of a con man returning to Cleveland looking for his son and it’s one of the tales that put Bendis on the map. You don’t hear about it much, these day, but it’s good one. There’s over 900 graphic novels in part 1 of the sale, which runs through Monday (11/23)

Spider-Man’s Married Life

Meanwhile, over at Marvel, the Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows Sale is running through Thursday (11/19). That would be the adventures of a married Peter and Mary Jane, along with their daughter, Annie. It started out as a Secret Wars spin-off mini by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert. Then it came back as a regular series, initially by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman.

Dynamite’s First Volumes

Also ending on Thursday (11/19) is the Dynamite Vol. 1’s Sale, which is Dynamite putting the first volumes in various series on sale. The Shadow, Vol. 1: Fire of Creation is Garth Ennis’s take on the pulp character with art by Aaron Campbell (who’s been killing on Hellblazer).

If you enjoy the original Ian Fleming novels, James Bond: Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida will put you in a happy place – it brings SMERSH back into the Bond equation and it’s old school in all the best ways.

Red Sonja: Scorched Earth by Mark Russell and Mirko Colak is a very unusual Red Sonja tale. It works as a satire of the philosophy of kings and it also works as an adventure. Who knew Mark Russell would adapt so well to sword & sorcery? Worth a look.

Image’s Science Fiction

Thursday (11/19) is also last call for the Image Science Fiction Sale. Here are a couple more things of note from that sale.

Fear Agent is a SF series from Rick Remender, Tony Moore and Jerome Opena about a booze-soaked alien exterminator that was a critical darling when it was coming out.

Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is trippy, dimension hopping espionage caper that has a certain Jerry Cornelius vibe to it.

Still on Sale:

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (through Sunday, 11/22)

Dark Horse Witcher Sale (through Monday, 11/23) Note: The Omnibus is the best deal by a lot.

Posted on November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Ant-Man, Hellboy & The BPRD, Saga & Image Science Fiction, Miles Morales: Spider-man and More

Marvel’s so excited about their Ant-Man sale on Comixology, they renamed Tales to Astonish! Plus Hellboy & the B.P.R.D., Saga, Outer Darkness, Elephantmen, Miles Morales: Spider-Man and a bunch more digital comics at deep discounts.

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

Marvel leads the weekend with its Ant-Man Sale. Ant-Man comes in primarily two flavors: Hank Pym and Scott Lang. (We’re going to ignore O’Grady.) For Hank Pym’s original Tales to Astonish run, your best deal is picking up the two Marvel Masterworks volumes. You should, regardless, click that link and see how Marvel has rebranded those Tales to Astonish issues as “Ant-Man.” Even the ones after Pym had switched his identity to Giant Man. It’s a hoot. Those pre-Hulk Tales of Astonish are also available in the original format (i.e., as Tales to Astonish), but those versions aren’t on sale. This sale runs until Sunday (11/15).

For Scott Lang, there have been a few recent titles and they’ve tended towards tongue-in-cheek. There were two Nick Spencer/Ramon Rosanas runs: Second Chance Man sets up the new status quo as the bumbling hard luck father seeking approval. Astonishing Ant-Man then continues that arc.

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Lost and Found by Mark Waid and Javier Garron finds Scott Lang and Nadia Pym lost in subatomic space. Ant-Man: World Hive by Zeb Wells and Dylan Burnett finds Scott Lang wearing out his welcome as a house guest in an ant hill while encountering an insect conspiracy and is forced to team up with Swarm. Yes, that would be the Swarm whose body is made of bees.

Then there’s the Dark Horse Hellboy & BPRD Sale through Monday (11/16). I had occasion to go back and re-read most of these a few months ago and it’s high quality work. BPRD is also very much an ongoing saga told in large acts. There are a lot creators involved in the saga, with Mike Mignola and John Arcudi being the primary writers through Hell on Earth. Guy Davis is the primary artist for most of Plague of Frogs and Hell on Earth.

The prequel is B.P.R.D. 1946 – 1948 featuring Prof. Bruttenholm and his original agents running down Nazi vampire experiments. That’s a 469 page volume with three series in it.

The BPRD sequence really starts with The Plague of Frogs. Specifically, it starts picking up about halfway through the first omnibus as the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense investigates the increasing appearances of frog-like monsters and slowly come to realize something very bad is on the way. This leads into the next sequence, Hell on Earth, which is accurately named. Ancient powers get unleashed and the world is just trying to survive. You know how with a lot comics, you can be pretty sure they’re not going to that dark, disaster-ridden place? Well, BPRD goes there. And does it well. The best value for these titles is the omnibus editions, which are all 400+ pages (i.e., 3 of the regular collected editions). There’s a bit more in the series, but those three sequences are the backbone and everything I’ve ever read of the series has been high quality.

Let’s also talk a little more about the ongoing Image Science Fiction Sale that runs through Thursday (11/19). So much good stuff in this one. Farmhand by Rob Guillory is about a farm that grows replacement organs instead of corn and the strange things that are starting to happen to the transplants. You may remember Rob as the artist of Chew. If you liked Chew, you should like Farmhand. It might be a little darker, but the two are very much compatible. Speaking of Chew, Outer Darkness by Chew writer John Layman and Afu Chan is also on sale. Outer Darkness is about ghosts and demonic possessions in the outer reaches of space and it’s fantastic. It also ends with a Chew crossover. Saga is also on sale. What else really needs to be said about the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples classic, other than we’re all impatiently waiting for new issues to resume? Note: as is often the case with Image, it’s slightly less expensive to get the “Collected Editions” than the “Omnibuses” in digital. It usually works the other way with Dark Horse digital sales.

The Elephantmen Sale contains the Image run of Richard Starking’s long-running Elephantmen series. Comixology scooped this series up as an exclusive title, post-Image. The “elephantmen” are genetically engineered human/animal hybrids bred and trained to be mercenaries by a company the sought to own them and rent them out. Eventually, things changed and the survivors seek to integrate back into society with a lot of baggage from their wars and old scores that pop up wanting to be settled. Starking assembled a wonderful set of artists like Moritat and Ladronn for the series and it’s definitely worth a look.

Still on sale

The Miles Morales: Spider-Man Sale through Sunday 11/22.
The DC Back in the 90s Sale through Monday 11/16.

The Eternals through Sunday 11/15
The Image Donny Cates Sale through Monday 11/16

The IDW Judge Dredd Sale through Monday 11/16
Resident Alien through Monday, 11/16

Posted on November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Miles Morales – Spider-Man, DC in the ’90s, Image SF Titles, The Eternals and More

Current Comixology sales include Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby’s The Eternals from Marvel, an eclectic selection of 90s comics from DC and Image has a big batch of science fiction on a deep discount.

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

Let’s start things out with a Spider-Man sale. Specifically a Miles Morales sale. If you’re looking for Miles in solo spider-adventures, the best value is the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set. 300+ page volumes for $7.99 – and the first one includes the Spider-Men mini-series, which lives up to the hype. If you want to maximize pages for your dollar, there are a couple things of extra interest here. The All-New All-Different Avengers Collection which is the Champions precursor by Mark Waid/Adam Kubert/Mahmud Asrar gets you 401 pages for $7.99. And then Champions: Because The World Still Needs Heroes is the first 12 issues of that title, 305 pages for $4.99.

Starman by James Robinson and (initially) Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger was one of DC’s best titles of the mid-to-late 90s. An early legacy title, this one was heavy on the character development and a sense of history. It’s one of the more glaring absences from DC’s reprint library. Both collections are on sale, but the rest of the series is available in digital.

Sandman Mystery Theater was the rare early to mid-90s non-horror Vertigo title. It told the pulp-ish adventures of the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds – you know, the one with the gas mask – against a pre-WWII backdrop. Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with Guy Davis being the most regular artist, this is another one where only two collections have been produced, despite a lengthy run and you need to go to digital singles to finish it. And it’s worth finishing.

The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and you’re going to a pattern here, also has two collections out and then the rest of the run is available as digital singles. A surprisingly philosophical horror series by the end, set in the DCU, Jim Corrigan tries to come to grips with his death and existence as the host for a brutally vengeful and extremely powerful spirit.

In the early 90s, Lobo was the baddest bastich there was. We will not speak of New 52 Lobo. The original series of mini-series and specials by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley and company, was edgy and filled with off-color humor. An effective tool for offending the easily offended, as MTV used to say about Monty Python. You want the original, not the revival.

And for something that’s frequently overlooked, have a look at The Atlantis Chronicles in single issues. (Yes, they rudely kept the first issue at $1.99). These double-sized issues written by Peter David and wonderfully illustrated by Esteban Maroto are the trident and sorcery story of the rise and fall of Atlantis. It’s a real achievement that flew under a lot of radars.

Running through next Thursday (11/19) is the Image Science Fiction Sale where a number of their SF collections are sale. Suggestions?

Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (who one an Eisner for his art on the series) is the tale of little boy who happens to be a robot, searching for his family as humanity against the backdrop of an uprising. Wonderful series. The collected editions are less expensive than the omnibus editions during the sale.

Paper Girls is a time travel adventure about four twelve year old girls who deliver newspapers and stumble into something far bigger. It’s by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. This is another title where it’s less expensive to get the regular collected editions than the Omnibus editions during the sale.

Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov is a one-off where a Flash Gordon-type adventurer is pulled out of retirement in his golden years when the planet he saved 40 years earlier runs into trouble. A breezy space opera with superior art.

Running through Sunday (11/15) is Marvel’s Eternals Sale. Yes, there’s going to be a movie out eventually and it’s also where the Celestials came from. This is a case where you absolutely want to start at the source: the original Jack Kirby series (save a couple bucks and get the omnibus). If that floated your boat, and it should, move on to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita, Jr. Mini-series.

Eternals by Jack Kirby