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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Still On Sale

Comixology Sales: Wolverine, Joker, Avengers, My Hero Academia, Hellboy

This week’s Comixology sales include Marvel throwing the mutant gate open for Wolverine and Excalibur, plus New Avengers. DC puts the spotlight on The Joker. Dark Horse drops a discount on Hellboy and Viz has a My Hero Academia sale.

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

The Best at What He Does

The Marvel Wolverine Legacy Sale runs through Sunday, 11/14.

We’re not entire sure when Logan became “Legacy” Wolverine, instead of just “Wolverine,” but this is a sale on the original material.  Some highlights:

Here’s the original ’88-’03 series. Yes, it’s probably best known for the Larry Hama/Marc Silvestri run, but we’d draw your attention to the “Basic to Basics” Epic Collection, which has a nice arc by Archie Goodwin & John Byrne AND includes Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure by Walt Simonson & Mike Mignola.

From the reboot that followed, we’ll offer two more recommendations:  Wolverine by Greg Rucka is a low-key, ditch the costume, anti-hero run by Rucka, Leandro Fernandez and Darick Robertson that doesn’t get talked about as much.  Wolverine: Enemy of the State is much better known. Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. drag Logan through the wringer with a brainwashing by The Hand and Hydra, it also features the debut of Gorgon. The polar opposite of the Rucka run, this is the high octane action movie version.

Wolverine: Back to Basics   Wolverine by Greg Rucka   Wolverine: Enemy of the State

I’ve Got To See a Man About a Sword

The Marvel Excalibur Sale runs through Sunday, 11/7.

We’ve said it before, but when it comes to Excalibur (and Captain Britain, for that matter), you want to look for the stories where Alan Davis is involved – artist or writer, it doesn’t matter. He’s there for the best.  If you pop over to  the original series, the Epic Collections of The Sword is Drawn and The Cross-Time Caper cover the Chris Claremont/Alan Davis collaboration. Skip ahead to Curiouser and Curiouser to start the Alan Davis writer/artist run and then finish that run with V. of Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis.  All that Davis goodness will keep you out of trouble.

Excalibur

Bendis Assemble

The Marvel New Avengers Sale runs through Sunday, 11/7.

Brian Bendis revamped Avengers as New Avengers as stayed on it longer than some people realize. Nearly 100 issues worth across two volumes of the title… and that’s before the specials, aligned miniseries and so forth.  That’s a pretty long run. As you might expect, lots of artists passed through the run. Steve McNiven and David Finch early on. Frank Cho, Mike Deodato, Jr.,  Leinil Francis Yu – all sorts of A-listers.

The simplest way to read this is with New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collectionwhich pulls in some of the spin-off material, specials and minis.  Otherwise, it can all get a little complicated to keep track of.

New Avengers by Bendis

The Joke’s on You

The DC The Joker’s Greatest Joke’s Sale runs through Monday, 11/8.

And no, The Joker doesn’t appear to be in EVERY comic that’s on sale here. We don’t get it, either.  But what we will tell you is if you want a single volume Joker anthology, The Joker: 80 Years of the Clown Prince of Crime – Deluxe Edition is a bit under 1/2 the price of the 75 year collection at the top of the sale and has ~40 more pages. And Mad Love is included!  Listed at 441 pages, this is a good bang for your buck.

For something recent, there’s The Joker War Saga. This would be the James Tynion IV Batman saga, but with the tie-in issues included.  Alas, the discount is based on HC pricing, but that’s how it goes with DC’s system.

And for something  a little more off-beat, there’s Superman: Emperor Joker by Joe Kelly, Jeph Loeb, Doug Mahnke and Ed McGuinness.  This is essentially House of M, five years BEFORE House of M. Superman awakens trapped in Arkham Asylum as the Joker has somehow gained the ability to remake the world in his own image and rule over it as Emperor. It’s a slapstick world of dark humor and Superman has to figure out how it has happened before he can do much about it.  An odd and influential story arc we’ve always liked.

The Joker: 80 Years of the Clown Prince of Crime   Joker War Saga   Superman: Emperor Joker

Go Straight to Hellboy

The Dark Horse Hellboy Sale runs through Monday, 11/8.

The centerpiece of the Mignola-verse and occasional film franchise, the core of Hellboy is collected in 2 places: The Hellboy Omnibus collections and Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories. (scroll down to the Omnibus section for both)

There’s plenty of material filling in around the edges, but you should read the core first. It’s great fun.

Hellboy   Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories

School for Super Heroes

The  Viz My Hero Academia sales runs through Sunday, 11/7.

This Kohei Horikoshi manga is the tale of a high school for superheroes in a world where 80% of the population manifests super powers.  Yes, it’s one of the those weak Viz 29% discounts, but if you want to get a look at one of the most popular comics out there (it really performs outside the Direct Market), it’s on sale right now.

My Hero Academia

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Still on Sale

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

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

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

The Joke’s on who?

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

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

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

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

Joker: Celebration of 75 Years   Gotham Central

No love for the Old Avengers

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

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

Young Avengers

Why can’t The Realms just get along?

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

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

War of the Realms 

More off-kilter romance

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

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

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

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

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

Twisterd Romance   My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies   Sex Criminals

All Hail Megatron has transformed into an omnibus

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

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

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

Transformers: The IDW Collection   Transformers: Classics

Thicker editions

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

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

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

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

Dreadstar   The Shadow: Year One

Still on Sale