Tag: Jonathan Hickman

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: X-Men, Wolverine, Hawkeye and Batman

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel brings the mutants – Hickman era X-Men and Jason Aaron’s escapades with Wolverine. Plus Hawkeye and the DC “Hot 100” sale which has a lot of Batman to it.

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):

Let’s Put the X in Hickman

The Marvel X-Men From Dawn to Reign Sale runs until Thursday, 9/8.

And gosh golly, if that sale’s name isn’t an awful lot of contortion to avoid saying the Hickman showrunning era.  For those coming in late, Jonathan Hickman was a sort of creative director of the X-line for a very productive period. He wrote a few and gave guidance on the other titles. After the Inferno series, he moved on to other things when the rest of writers expressed interest in working with the current status quo a bit longer. Hickman had planned on moving on to the next phase of a longer story arc he’d mapped out, so… perhaps he’ll return to that at some point?

This is one of those sale pages where someone (it isn’t clear if it’s Marvel or Amazon) is trying to do us all a solid and separate out things, dividing things in to sections or tiers with scrolling carousels. We approve of the effort.

The first tier, “The Krakoa Era Begins Here,” is the spine of the era: the Hickman core, if you will.  You need to start with House of X / Powers of X, which establishes the new status quo.  You then continue into the Hickman-penned X-Men flagship title.  All the X-titles eventually flow into two events: first X of Swords (which is more of an Exaclibur story) and finally Inferno ends the era, at least in terms of Hickman’s writing and overall role.  So yeah, when they say “Krakoa Era,” they’re again dodging Hickman’s name and it kind of amuses us how awkward that is.  Hox/Pox is the beginning of the Krokoa era, sure enough. The rest? That’s stretching definitions.  So if you get everything listed in this tier you’ll get the “story of the universe” of the X-Men comics of that era. (Mind you, despite how comic book marketing works these days, “the story of the universe” is not the end-all/be-all of reading enjoying.)

This sale is on the collections of the individual titles (as opposed to the Dawn of X and Reign of X collections), so that lends itself to chery-picking. Do we have opinions on this? Of course, and we ended up liking some of the titles on the periphery best.

Hellions by Zeb Wells and Stephen Segovia is a demented delight. A dark, snarky and occasionally violent series that finds Mr. Sinister pulling the strings on a wetworks squad of broken toys (Psylocke, Havoc, Nanny, Wildchild, etc) to clean up some of his… side projects.

Way of X by Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn is about Nightcrawler and Legion trying to head off the re-emergence of Onslaught, but Nightcrawler trying to reconcile his religion with Krakoa’s resurrection protocols and his efforts toward synthesizing a mutant religion really steals the scenes.

S.W.O.R.D. by Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti is the cosmic title of the bunch. The mutants have been proactive establishing a space station to house an agency to protect Earth against extraterrestrial threats… and that’s before they establish Arakko on Mars. Cosmic adventures and more than a little political intrigue & deception.

Hellions by Zeb Wells   Way of X   S.W.O.R.D.

You’re Not Yourself, Have a SNIKT!

The Marvel Wolverine by Jason Aaron Sale runs through Monday, 8/29.

This can pretty much be narrowed down to two titles:

Wolverine by Jason Aaron collects several titles, including the end of the ’03 Wolverine, Wolverine: Manifest Destiny, Wolverine: Weapon X, Spider-Man & Wolverine and the ’10 version of Wolverine.  And yes, towards the end of the run is when Aaron sends Wolverine to Hell. Lots of artists over the course of this work, including Adam Kubert, Ron Garney and Howard Chaykin.

Wolverine & The X-Men is the post-Schism run where Logan heads back to Westchester to run the Jean Grey School. Aaron writes, the artists most associated with this run are Nick Bradshaw and Chris Bachalo (with some early Pepe Larraz towards the end).

Wolverine by Jason Aaron   Wolverine and the X-Men

Hawkguy

The Marvel Hawkeye Sale runs through Thusday, 9/1.

When people think of Hawkeye, they usually start thinking about the iconic and quirky Matt Fraction / David Aja run. Lucky you, Marvel’s put the whole thing in one volume as Hawkeye by Fraction & Aja: The Saga of Barton and Bishop.

Hawkeye Epic Collection: The Avenging Archer is the old school option. This has the original Iron Man appearances, some Avengers, some Marvel Team-Up, the original solo mini-series and so forth.

If you’re in a Kate Bishop mood, you’re probably looking for the Hawkeye run by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero.

Hawkeye   Hawkeye   Hawkeye

Is That a Radio Format?

The DC Hot 100 Sale runs through Monday, 8/29.

It’s somewhat random set of DC books on sale this week.  Predictably, there’s a lot of Batman in there.

You want something good from the last couple years?  We highly recommend Batman: The Adventures Continue by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Ty Templeton. It’s a continuation of The Animated Series and it’s first rate Batman. Highly recommended if you have a fondness for the cartoon.

If you want something a little older No Man’s Land was probably our favorite Batman Event of the 90s. The first volume (of the regular set, not “Road to,” even has some work by Bob Gale. We’re always happy when he does some comics! The premise is Gotham has been cut off from the mainland by an earthquake. Things have gone a little feudal and the various villains are setting themselves up as warlords in various neighborhood as Batman and friends try to keep things under control until the situation improves. If you’re thinking this sounds a bit like the DMZ series, you’re not imagining things… but No Man’s Land came out ~5 years earlier.

The most recent book in this sale is the Mattson Tomlin/Andrea Sorrentino Batman: The Imposter.

Batman: The Adventures Continue   Batman: No Man's Land   Batman: The Imposter

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: X-Men, Iron Man, Heroes Reborn and DMZ

This week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales include: The Dawn of X segment of X-Men comics, Heroes Reborn (OK, for our purposes, Heroes Return), Iron Man and the DMZ, now as seen on TV.

Side comments about the nature of reprinting cross-over Events included at no extra charge!

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

X-Hijinks

Marvel’s X-Men: Dawn of X Sale runs through Thursday, 3/20.

To put this in the context of the Hickman era of X, you start out with the House of X / Powers of X mini’s, then you go into the “regular” X-Men family of titles. This post HoX/PoX era is what’s being called “Dawn of X” and it basically stops just before the X of Swords crossover Event.

Dawn of X is a series of trade paperbacks (or digital TPBs for our purposes) that collect the issues of the _entire_ X-Men line of books, to more properly approximate reading the line in release order. Oh, they’ll fudge the exact release order here and there for 2-parters, but you get the idea.

Essentially, particularly early on in the line, the ideas of the X-family floated between titles. Ben Percy’s Wolverine and X-Force cross-pollinated a fair amount, too. We’ve felt that you do get a more out of the X-line by reading it as a whole. It enhances the scope and the worldbuilding aspects. Oh, there’s a dud of an issue here and there, but on the whole, it’s a strong line. (We didn’t think the line was quite as uniformly strong post-X of Swords, but that’s for a different time.)

Marvel has been getting better about going back and collecting stories that bounced between titles (like Hickman’s Avengers saga) in the actual reading order, as opposed tpbs of the individual titles that you need to bounce between. In general, this is a good thing.

We wish we could get you this listed in numerical order, but Amazon’s sorting routines aren’t very good here… but we can give you the list in reverse order! <rolls eyes>

Dawn of X

We’ll Stick with the Return

Marvel’s Heroes Reborn Sale runs through Thursday, 3/24.

This is the 90s experiment when Marvel outsourced some of their titles to Image. Now, for our money, the gems here are from the “Heroes Return” period, when those title came back to Marvel:

Iron Man: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection V. 1 has Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Sean Chen as the primary creative team, re-establishing shell head back in the Marvel Universe. You get some Mandarin, there’s a side trip with Captain America and MODOK. This collects the first portion of one of our favorite Iron Man periods.

And speaking of high points, this sale also has Captain America: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection,  which is the Mark Waid/Ron Garney run resuming. (It had just started, and was abruptly halted, for Heroes Reborn.) A little Hydra, a lost shield… that MODOK tale from Iron Man is also reprinted here (a shared Annual). It’s a solid run.

Iron Man: Heroes Reborn   Captain America Heroes Return

We Forget… Is It Still 2020?

The last couple years really are a blur and this sale is confusing us!

The Marvel Iron Man 2020 and Other Stories Sale runs through Sunday, 3/20.

First off, the Heroes Return sale for Busiek/Chen Iron Man is by far the better deal, so ignore the shorter collections here.

Now here’s a comic we haven’t seen mentioned in quite a while: Iron Man: The Inevitable by Joe Casey and Frazier Irving. We liked that one when it was coming out. Stark tries to rehabilitate the Living Lazer, while Spymaster and the Ghost plot his downfall. Introspection, espionage and then some things blow up. We think the audience may have been expecting more slam-bang when it came out, but we recall this as a slower build up… and it likely benefits from a collected edition.

Iron Man: Iron Monger is the end of the Denny O’Neil/Luke McDonnell era… although McDonnell bows out a little early, so you get some Rich Buckler and Mark Bright starts his run with #200.  And #200 is a helluva ride. O’Neil runs Tony Stark through the ringer and this sees him dragging himself up from the gutters after an alcoholic relapse to deal with Obadiah Stane and his Iron Monger armor. That finale has proven very influential over the years!

Iron Man: The Inevitable   Iron Man: Iron Monger

Feudal Warlords of Manhattan

The Stream DC: DMZ Sale runs through Monday, 3/28.

And yes, that would be the old Vertigo series, DMZ by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. And it’s a good one. The premise? There’s been a militia uprising. The rebels have captured the coast and New Jersey. The US Army holds Long Island. Manhattan is a no-man’s land between the armies. A demilitarized zone, i.e. DMZ. A rookie photojournalist pulls an assignment in the DMZ, but things go pear-shaped and he finds himself stranded… but also with a unique opportunity as an embedded reporter, so he attempts to navigate a strange landscape of neighborhood-based warlords and the strange society that’s popped up around the Manhattanites who could get out… while both armies jockey for position in the shadows.

You can read a few volumes on Comixology Unlimited to test drive it, but if you’re buying, you want the larger deluxe editions for your lowest tab.

DMZ

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Comixology Sales: Avengers, Spider-Man, Batman, James Bond and Dark Horse Celebrates Halloween

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Hickman’s Avengers, the chronology of once and future Spider-Man, Ben Reilly, Dark Horse’s Halloween sale and a whole bunch of DC graphic novels… which is to say, Batman.

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

The New Spider-Man (Again)

The Marvel Ben Reilly: Spider-Man Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

If you’re not up on this, it’s going to take some explaining. When Nick Spenser leaves Amazing Spider-Man, the Ben Reilly character will be putting on the Spidey suit and taking over. (Yeah, we know. It almost certainly won’t be forever.) So this sale is about catching you on the character.  You’re going to need a score card, so let’s walk you through this.

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga is where this kicks off, way back in the 70s. (Yeah, we’re talking clones, so this is a long and winding road.)  The clone saga truly starts with a plot by The Jackal spawning the first clones at the end of the Gerry Conway/Ross Andru run. Then we fast forward to the first encounter with Carrion in the Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man run as the clones return.  This is where Ben Reilly comes from, though you won’t read that name yet.

Flash forward to the ’90s. Nobody really called the “Original Clone Saga” anything like that until the “Clone Saga” took over the Spidey line in the 90s. It’s collected in the 5 (thick) volume “Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic” series. This is where Ben Reilly, Peter’s clone,  shows up as the Scarlett Spider. So you’ve got the Jackal back running around, and hijinks with Venom and Carnage in the middle of it.

At the conclusion of how Marvel’s collecting the Clone Saga, Ben Reilly takes over as Spidey. This run is collected as Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic. At the end of it, we’re done with Ben Reilly for awhile and many would say that’s the real end of the Clone Sage (90s version).

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga   Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic   Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic

Of course, this is comics, so of course Ben Reilly is back from the grave in the Dan Slott-era Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy. And then he spins off into his own series, as you knew he would in the current era.  But hey, we warned you all this clone stuff is a long and winding road. That’s your primer for the new Spidey era.

Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy

Hickman’s Revenge

The Marvel Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Hickman’s Avengers run is really one long story and you need to treat it as such.  Do not try and read Avengers and New Avengers as separate collections.  That’s not how the material was published.

Fortunately, Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection seems to be taking that approach. Yes, this sequence includes Infinity, so you don’t need to buy that on its own.  Next up is Time Runs Out, which is the ending arc of Avengers and New Avengers. All in one oversized volume. And finally, after the collapse of known universes, the story wraps up in Secret Wars.

“Epic” is a word that gets thrown around a lot at Marvel. Hickman’s Avengers tale earns that word. The sheer scope of the story is stunning and is really a vital part of the experience. Don’t jump in at the end. Start at the beginning and take the full ride. In for a penny, in for a pound.  Or maybe five pounds in this case.

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Avengers: Time Runs Out    Secret Wars

Let the Halloween Sales Begin

‘Tis the season for horror-ish sales and The Dark Horse Halloween Sale kicks it off (and runs through Monday, 11/1).

There’s a lot of stuff in here, since Dark Horse has always published a lot of horror. We’ll assume you already know about Hellboy and B.P.R.D – both are in there and both are worth your time if you haven’t partaken, but we’ll focus on some different offerings.

Point in case, one of the… outer resident of the Mignola-verse is Baltimore, the tale of a world where the vampires rose at the end of WWI and the bloody quest for vengeance Lord Baltimore sets out for against those vampires. Now conveniently contained in two omnibus editions, we had a good time reading those a few months back. Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden are the authors with Ben Steinbeck and Peter Bergting tagging off on art.

It seems like this is the season for some Neil Gaiman, and there’s plenty on sale. Perhaps it’s a good year for Snow, Glass, Apples? That would be Colleen Doran adapting Neil’s twisted retelling of the legend of Snow White. (Also available in The Neil Gaiman Library V. 3)

And for something extra below the radar, we offer up The Marquis.  Originally published by Oni, this is a supernatural affair written and drawn by Guy Davis. Yes, the same Guy Davis who rocked B.P.R.D. The Marquis concerns an ex-inquisitor in the 18th century who can see the demons who are possessing members of society as he dons a mask to root them out… in a hail of bullets. It’s Guy Davis with the gloves off, slinging horrors at the reader.

Baltimore Omnibus 1   Snow, Glass, Apples   The Marquis

The Road to PR

The DC Road to FanDome Sale comes in Part 1 (100 Bullets to New Teen Titans) and Part 2 (New Teen Titans to Zero Hour). FanDome is DC’s attempt to pass off a PR event as their own convention, so they’re pretty much putting most of their graphic novels up for 50% off.

If you’d like a little bang for your buck, you could do a lot worse than Batman by Ed Brubaker V. 1. That’s Brubaker with Scott McDaniel and Karl Story as the primary art team. 317 pages for $5.99. There’s a second volume, but heads up that it’s in the middle of the “Bruce Wayne: Fugitive” event, so parts of it might read a little odd – not an uncommon problem with single-creator themed Batman collections.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby is essentially the Fourth World Superman title and it’s a little under-rated.  Jimmy Olsen hooks up with the Cadmus Project as Intergang and Darkseid loom over things and Superman keeps watch. A more influential series than you might realize – these additions to the mythos have largely stuck around over the years.

The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman is Liam Sharp’s tale of Batman and Wonder Woman investigating the death of a Celtic god from a couple years back (before Sharp hooked up with Grant Morrison for Green Lantern).

Batman by Ed Brubaker   Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby   The Brave and the Bold

No Time to Die Shop

The Dynamite James Bond Sale runs through Monday, 10/18.

If you like Ian Flemming’s novels, have we got a comic for you.  Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida bring Bond back into the crosshairs of SMERSH. One of the best 007 updates, period.

James Bond Kill Chain

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Comixology Sales: Dawn of X, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar

This week’s Comixology sales include: Dawn of X from Marvel, DC loosing The Sandman (and Sandman Mystery Theater), Horror from Dark Horse and Omnibus editions from Dynamite.

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

Mutated Reading

The Marvel Dawn of X Sale runs through Thursday, 8/26.

Dawn of X is a different type of Marvel collected edition. This collects the titles of the Hickman X-Men line into a book format, but bounces between the various series in a manner similar to how one would read the issues as they came out. We’ve always felt that reading the  entire line was an additive experience and this is probably the best way to experience that in the collected edition format.  The 16 volumes of Dawn of X take you right up to the edge of X of Swords.

Dawn of X

The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

The DC Spotlight: Sandman and the Sandman Universe Sales runs through Monday, 8/23.

We’re assuming you’re already heard of the  Neil Gaiman Sandman series. (Note: sub-50% discounts again)

So let’s talk a bit about the very loosely connect pulp spin-off Sandman Mystery Theater. It’s a pulp detective feature with a bit of subtext that’s primarily written by Matt Wagner and/or Steven T. Seagal. Guy Davis is the primary artist. It’s a lost classic from the ’90s as the Golden Age Sandman, replete with gas mask and gas gun stalks his prey.  This one DOES get you 50% off the collected editions (which will get you through issue#24) and 99-cent single issue.

Sandman   Sandman Mystery Theater

The Long, Hot… Halloween?

The Dark Horse Hot August Horror sale runs through Monday, 8/23.

Yes, we did hear it got a little warm in Portland.

You can’t have a Dark Horse Horror sale without the Mignolaverse. Rise of the Black Flame by Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson and Christopher Mitten is the tale of the Hellboy villain when the power was controlled by a cult.

In a different direction, there’s John Allison’s (Bad Machinery, Giant Days) Steeple.

And you ever notice that Steve Niles has done quite a bit of Criminal Macabre?

Rise of the Black Flame   Steeple   Criminal Macabre

Another One Rides the (Omni)Bus

The  Dynamite Omnibus Sale runs through Monday, 9/13.

We would draw your attention to two things here.

First, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Jim Starlin’s Dreadstar is fantastic. It didn’t get quite as much attention when it came out from Epic and First, but it’s a large part of what he was working on between his first run at Marvel and when he returned for the run-up to Infinity Gauntlet.

Jeff Parker and Doc Shaner did an under the radar – and extremely fun – take on Flash Gordon a few years back that’s worth a look.

Dreadstar   Flash Gordon

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

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

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

Ageism For Mutants?!?

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

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

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

Wolerine: Old Man Logan   Wolverine: Old Man Logan

You Look Mahvellous

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

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

Ms. Marvel

Essential Oils Minus the Oil

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

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

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

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

DCeased   Multiversity   V for Vendetta

Image HumbleBrag Sale

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

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

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

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

Department of Truth   Pulp  Reckless

Image Throws in the Kitchen Sink

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

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

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

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

   Sam and Twitch   Manifest Destiny   The Black Monday Murders

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: Hickman X-Men, 50% off Kodansha for CU, The Boys, Harley Quinn, Resident Alien

This week’s Comixology Sales include the Dawn of Hickman’s X-Men ear, Harley Quinn, 50% off Kodansha for CU subscribers, The Boys and an outbreak of spies at Dark Horse.

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

Dawn of Hickman

The Marvel X-Men: Dawn of X Sale runs through Sunday, 4/25.

This is the current Jonathan Hickman curated X-era, which is a pretty  good era. The sale is with the individual series collected editions and single issues, not the Dawn of X collections, which might be a better way to read the material as a line.

Everything starts out with House of X / Powers of X, the dual limited series that set up the premise. That’s by Hickman, Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva.

X-Men by Jonathan Hickman is the flagship title, written by Hickman with Leinil Francis Yu. A lot of the plots flow through the main book (though sometimes the threads are picked up in the sundry titles).

Hellions by Zeb Wells is a newer addition to the line and its more self-contained than some of the other titles. Wells and Stephen Segovia craft a (very) darkly humorous tale of Mister Sinister tasking Psylocke with running a team of the more… damaged mutants so that they can take out their frustrations, aggressions and murderous instincts on appropriate targets. It’s nice to see Wells back in comics.

House of X / Powers of X   X-Men by Jonathan Hickman   Hellions by Zeb Wells

It’s like there was movie coming out…

The DC Harley Quinn & Suicide Squad Sale runs through Monday, 4/26.

If you’re itching for Harley Quinn, there’s a lot here, but (with Mad Love not here) we’d point to the ’13-’16 Harley Quinn series written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with Chad Hardin as the primary artist.  Conner & Palmiotti pop in and out of Harley all the time for several years and have a nice, absurdist take on the character, poke around and you’ll find a lot more of it.

For Suicide Squad… well, truth be told, we’re waiting for the Tom Taylor run to be collected next week. We’ve heard good things about it and Taylor’s reliable. Until such a time as we read that, we say you need to start with the classics – the John Ostrander/Luke McDonnell run.

Harley Quinn   Suicide Squad

Half Off Kodansha

There’s another sale for Comixology Unlimited Subscribers. This week it’s 50% off Kodansha comics. Yes, the discounts are stackable, so you can get functional discounts of 70%+ if something’s already on sale.

And yes, the preorders are 50% off, too. Here’s the release date view – you can move the weeks forward and preorder about a month out.

This runs through 11PM ET on Sunday, 4/25.

Attack on Titan

Cloak & Lobster

The Dark Horse Spy Sale runs through Monday, 4/26.

This is an eclectic sale, not all of which we’d necessarily put under the spy heading, but there’s some fun stuff here.

We love Lobster Johnson and we suppose it does frequently involve Nazi spies. This is a Hellboy spin-off pulp style 30’s/40’s adventurer written by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi with Tonci Zonjic being the most regular artist. Sometimes it’s a “serious” pulp and sometimes the tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but it’s always entertaining.

You may have seen Resident Alien on Syfy Channel. It was a comic by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse before it was a TV show. The omnibus is the better buy here (collects V. 1-3 of the regular collections).

And speaking of media adaptions, for a more direct spies and assassins tale (this one being adapted by Netflix), there’s always Polar by Victor Santos.

Lobster Johnson   Resident Alien   Polar

Boys, What a Sale

The  Dynamite Garth Ennis Sale runs through Monday, 5/3.

The Boys is the series most associated with Ennis at Dynamite. With art by Darick Robertson, John McCrea and Russ Braun, it’s a violent, filthy satire of superheroes with a heart. Lots of people have seen the Amazon streaming adaption, which takes off on a slightly different vector.

You’ll also note at the very end of The Boys single issues, you’ll find The Boys: Dear Becky issues on sale for $0.99 each.  That’s the follow up mini-series by Ennis and Braun.

Also on sale is Battlefields, a series where Ennis tells a range of war stories. And Ennis telling a war story is something you already know whether you like or not.  The “Complete Editions” are the better buys, except for V. 1, where it’s slightly cheaper to get the individual collections.

The Boys  The Boys: Dear Becky   Battlefields

Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: Marvel has Buy One Get One Free and drops another 3 sales, plus Batman, Star Wars Adventures and Red Sonja

Comixology sales this week include Marvel dropping 3 new sales (including some prime Silver Surfer comics), Batman/Catwoman’s still running at DC, Red Sonja takes a digital discount at IDW and Star Wars Adventures visits the bargain zone.

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

Marvel’s Dropping Lots of Sales and BOGO

Marvel just started a Buy One Get One Free Sale through Monday (12/7) at 11pm ET.  Here’s what you do: go to this Comixology page and grab the Code, enter it in the cart and every other book is free (well, the lower priced of the two is free… but you know the drill).  And yes, that stacks on top of the sale books, so those get very cheap, very fast!

Let’s start the Marvel parade with the Silver Surfer Sale. Strangely, the Stan Lee / John Buscema series you automatically think of is not on sale.  An Epic Collection of the early Fantastic Four appearances is, however.

There’s also a lot to love with the 1987 Silver Surfer series. At that main link, the “Freedom” Epic Collection is built around some specials (including a Stan Lee/John Byrne issue) and the first 14 issues of the Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers run that we just love. There’s a missing Epic Collection that hasn’t been issued yet that would contain the end of the Englehart run and the beginning of the Starlin run, but the “Thanos Quest” Epic Collection collects the back end of the Jim Starlin/Ron Lim run, plus the Thanos Quest mini-series and the beginning of Ron Marz’s long run.  There are more Marz volumes, we’d start with Englehart/Starlin since that establishes the ongoing arc, but you’ll get a lot of Infinity Gauntlet-related material if you continue with the Epic Collections for this run.

Strangely, Comixology and Marvel have filed the first part of the Starlin/Lim run away from the rest of that Silver Surfer title as “Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos” and added Thanos Quest here, too.  Not exactly a unified publishing program, but good comics and a big part of what they’d call “The Road to Infinity Gauntlet” if this were being published today.

The more recent Silver Surfer are also on sale, as well as some more Stan Lee material, but those are some foundational works well worth your time. The sale runs through Thursday (12/10).

Silver Surfer by Lee/Kirby    Silver Surfer - Englehart   Rebirth of Thanos

Next up, running through Sunday (12/6) is the Spider-Girl Sale.  This series, across a few different titles (Marvel relaunching a comic?  *gasp*) ran from ’98-’10 and it’s about Mayday Parker, Spidey’s daughter from the future. Worth noting, especially for such a long run, almost everything in the sale is by a combination of at least 2 of Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Pat Olliffe.  You don’t see creators that consistent on such long runs very often.

Spider-Girl

Marvel’s “Stormbreakers” Sale  has nothing to do with the Alex Rider novel of the same name and isn’t a political movement (though we’ll admit it kinda sounds like one), it’s just the new name they’re using to promote their new favored artists they way they used to call them “Young Guns.”

We’ve enjoyed Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Tom (“you keep mentioning that guy”) Taylor and Stormbreaker Juann Cabal, among other artists and the first volume is $2.99 for 6 issues.

You also really can’t go wrong with House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz and Stormbreaker R.B. Silva. (And honestly, you shouldn’t need a promotion to know who Silva is.  Silva’s been working at DC and Marvel for over 10 years!)

This sale runs through Thursday (12/17).

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man   House of X / Powers of X

And let’s not forget the Vision & the Scarlet Witch Sale (Wanda/Vision, if you prefer) is still running through Sunday (12/13).

Vision and the Scarlet Witch

The Bat and The Cat

DC’s “Batman Catwoman Sale” is still running through Monday (12/7).  We talked about this one last time, but we’d still like to point out Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle. It’s a little pricier than what we normally point out here (63% off is still $12.99), but it’s 522 pages of the Alan Grant / John Wagner / Norm Breyfogle Batman run that’s definitely an era unto itself.

Batman by Breyfogle

The She-Devil with a Sword

Also running through Monday (12/7) is the Red Sonja Sale. If you’d like some sword with your sorcery, we’d recommend going back to the very beginning of Dynamite’s run with the first omnibus. Mel Rubi is the lead artist. You start out Mike (M.R.) Carey writing, followed by Michael Avon Oeming and it’s a fun comic. If memory serves, that Omnibus ends with the return of Kulan Gath, who you might remember from some non-Robert E. Howard Marvel comics.

Red Sonja

The Force Happens

The IDW Star Wars Adventures Sale features the all-ages version of Star Wars and runs through Monday (12/14).  A place to start?  Vol. 1… or maybe take a trip to the Dark Side with Vader’s Castle?

Tales from Vader's Castle

Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: Marvel’s Black Friday Push Starts with X-Men, Spider-Man and Events

As Black Friday approaches, Marvel’s brought out some bigger names for their Comixology sales.  Hickman’s X-Men is on center stage with the Spectacular version of Spider-Man and their Events flanking them.

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

Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men Universe

Let’s start things out with X-Men, because the Dawn of X Sale also features an interesting collection format that’s worth talking about.  Dawn of X is the umbrella title for the X-Men family of titles as overseen/showrun by Jonathan Hickman.  Whichhas been a nice run, truth be told.

This all starts out with the House of X / Powers of X collection that sets the table for this X-Men format.  I suppose you don’t absolutely have to read it before diving in, but it’s definitely helpful.

Once you’re past that, there are two options for reading the Hickman era (both of which are on sale): the collected editions of the individual titles or the Dawn of X collections. Dawn of X is an interesting construction.  Generally speaking, they’re taking 6 of the X-Men comics and packing them as a book format of that month’s titles for $10.99 in digital (the first seven volumes are $3.99@ in this sale).  Now, sometimes they’ll have two issues of one title in the package and so on, but it’s an interesting way to read the story of the X-Men universe as it unfolds in the monthlies, as opposed to how collected edition readers usually only read things title by title.  Personally, as someone reading the X-line in single issues, I find I do get a little more out of the line by reading the entire set.  Some of the story elements bleed into other books, particularly early on, and it does help with the worldbuilding.  This format is probably the best way to experience that in collected editions.

It’s also a format we could see more of in the future.  You frequently hear apocalyptic stories about the death of print comics and single issue comics.  While we’re not seeing any imminent danger of that, this is the sort of format that could effectively bundle single issue comics in a way more compatible with bookstore shelves.  It’s also potentially the way to handle anthology comics, which there are always questions about when industry figures discuss new formats and alternate strategies.

Dawn of X is a themed anthology, though one where the stories are more tightly interwoven than most.  You could picture something similar being down with Batman, especially, as well as properties like Spider-Man, Superman, Avengers and Justice League.  It would take a lot of work to make one of those franchises into its own little corner of a greater superhero universe the way Dawn of X is architected, but it’s certainly an experiment we could see more of and I think it’s worth contemplating the possibilities if reading the X-line in this format is interesting to you.  This sale runs through Sunday (11/29).

House of X / Powers of X   Dawn of X

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man

Next up on Marvel’s Black Friday trail, The Spectacular Spider-Man Sale.  Not Amazing, Spectacular.  The major flavors here are: original series / Peter Parker, the under-rated ’03 -’05  Spectacular Spider-Man  that was primarily written by Paul Jenkins with art by Humberto Ramos or Mark Buckingham and the more recent Chip Zdarksy/Adam Kubert Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Of particular note, while it’s on the dark side for Spidey, The Death of Jean DeWolff is considered a classic.  This sale runs through Thursday (11/26 — gobble, gobble).

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man  Spectacular Spider-Man  Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man  The Death of Jean DeWolff

Marvel does like big crossover Events

Finally, there’s the “Marvel World-Shattering Events Sale.” You’re probably familiar with the more recent events, since Marvel’s marketing typically runs through them.  Have a browse through the sale for those, but I’ll recommend some older Events instead that are a little more contained and with tighter circles of creators.

Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War is the granddaddy of Marvel Events in many ways.  This Roy Thomas / Neal Adams / John Buscema / Sal Buscema reverberated through future events like the Annihilation sequence and Empyre.

Iron Man: Armor Wars(or “Stark Wars” as it was originally known) has Tony looking to repossess some of his stolen technology and finding himself in all manner of trouble over it.  This David Michelinie/Bob Layton/Mark Bright run was a trendsetter.

X-Men: Asgardian Wars  has Loki causing all manner of trouble for the X-Men, New Mutants and Alpha Flight.  Written by Chris Claremont with A+ art from Paul Smith and Arthur Adams, this is one of the more fun X-Men sequences.

This sale runs through Thursday, 12/03.

Avengers: Kree/Skrull War   Armor Wars  X-Men: Asgardian Wars

Still on Sale

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