Tag: Marvel

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Elfquest, Annihilation, Doonesbury

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Elfquest takes the lead and we look at some more things in that hidden Silver Surfer sale.

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):

Raiders of the Lost Sale

Silver Surfer - Englehart  Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino  Marvel Zombies

We wish we were more surprised the Marvel Silver Surfer Sale is still broken. (Perhaps it will have been fixed by the time you see this, but we are growing skeptical.) As we type this, the official link is still showing last month’s X-Force sale… without the discounts. 

We’re going to relist the core Surfer titles on sale and then hit some highlights from the related titles we didn’t get to last week. You can see the sale in other countries, but not in the US… we cannot tell you why. It theoretically runs through 2/23, but with all these glitches…

Related titles:

  • Annihilation – The original sequence is a sprawling saga of the cosmic side of the Marvel universe. Keith Giffen / Dan Abnett / Andy Lanning are your ring leaders with a ton of artists like Mitch Breitweiser / Scott Kolins / Kev Walker / Ariel Olivetti
  • Much of the original Defenders is listed here, just like with the Doctor Strange sale
  • Unsurprisingly, there are several selections of the original Fantastic Four series on sale
  • Guardians Of The Galaxy: The Power Of Starhawk is the original ’70s run by Steve Gerber / Roger Stern / Al Milgrom / John Buscema
  • Selections from the 90s Guardians of the Galaxy. Why is the middle Valentino volume not discounted? We don’t know. The Valentino run is a lot of fun
  • Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 – The Ultimate FF lead-in, first mini-series and the Black Panther arc

Unannounced Sales

Elfquest  40: A Doonesbury Retrospective 1990 to 1999 Man, I Hate Cursive: Cartoons for People and Advanced Bears

As usual, we have no idea how long these sales will last. Dark Horse has the world of Elfquest on sale this week, by the legendary Wendy & Richard Pini. The Complete Elfquest is a the best buy here by A LOT, but you can still also get the same material in Elfquest: The Original Quest and Elfquest: The Final Quest. Not included in the Complete series (yet), but also discounted is Elfquest: Stargazer’s Hunt. Also on sale:

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

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Alpha Flight, Calvin and Hobbes, Opus

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops six sales (one of which you might have trouble seeing in the US), plus… Opus.

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):

Housekeeping: Your eyes do not deceive you. There are plenty of $2.99 single volumes scattered amongst the Marvel offerings this month. Most of Jed MacKay’s Doctor Strange, for example. Enjoy.

Surfin’ Bird

Silver Surfer by Lee/Kirby  Silver Surfer - Englehart  Silver Surfer

The  Marvel Silver Surfer Sale runs through Monday, 2/23.

So… we’re seeing last month’s X-Force sale for this link in the US (minus most of the discounts). Perhaps the link will be fixed by the time you click on it, but since we know what’s REALLY on sale, we’re going to drop the highlights below and save you the headache. And perhaps we’ll follow up if the link gets fixed.

For the most part, the solo adventures of the Silver Surfer fall into three periods:

First, the classic original series by Stan Lee and (mostly) John Buscema. This ran from ’68-’70 and is a minor legend for a reason. 

There wasn’t much solo Surfer for the better part of 17 years because the Surfer was considered to be Stan’s character in a similar way to how Sandman is Neil Gaiman’s. That changed in ’87 when Silver Surfer relaunched under the team of Steve Englehart & Marshall Rogers. (Yes, the Batman pairing.) Predictably, it was excellent. The next team was Jim Starlin and Ron Lim, another great run. Starlin used this run to bring back Thanos (mostly unused since he finished his Warlock run) and set up the Infinity Gauntlet.  We think very highly of the first 50 or so issues of this run. The first four Epic Collections will take you through #50 (that would be through Thanos Quest).

Then next major addition to the cannon was the Dan Slott / Michael Allred Silver Surfer in 2014. It is confusing listed in two places. The first three volumes here and the final two volumes here.

For something that ends up being off the radar because of it’s short length, there’s always Parable, which is Stan Lee teaming up with Metal Hurlant (Heavy Metal) legend Moebius for an adventure.

And if you’re interested in cherry picking the Surfer’s original appearances in Fantastic Four, the very definition of classic, there’s an Epic Collection that does just that.

The Doctor Will See You Now

Doctor Strange in Strange Tales  Doctor Strange by Englehart  The Death of Doctor Strange

The  Marvel Doctor Strange Sale runs through Monday, 2/3.

And it’s most of the Doctor Strange material that’s been collected in book form. 

  • Strange Tales – A bit further down that cluttered page, you’ll find the original Lee/Ditko run in Masterworks and Epics
  • Doctor Strange ’68-’69 – This is there the Epics and Masterworks start containing different titles, so pay attention if you’re mixing formats. (Some next level Gene Colan art in this run, btw.)
  • Doctor Strange ’74-’87 – The Epics pick up with the tale end of the ’68 series, catch the Marvel Premiere issues (enter: Englehart & Brunner) and then into the regular series, then you’ll need “regular” collections for the Stern/Smith run.
  • Strange Tales ’87-’88 – The rest of the Peter B. Gillis run from Strange Tales with art by Chris Warner, Kevin Nowlan, Terry Shoemaker and Richard Case. Not in the sale, but included for completeness
  • Doctor Strange ’88-’96 – Probably best known for the Roy & Dann Thomas run with Butch Guice and Geoff Isherwood as notable artists.
  • Doctor Strange ’15-’18 – Initially Jason Aaron/Chris Bachalo with Donny Cates tagging in towards the end. (The omnibuses here are the better buy)
  • Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme ’16-’17 – Robbie Thompson / Javier Rodriguez
  • Doctor Strange ’18-’19 – The Mark Waid / Jesus Saiz / Barry Kitson era with Strange in space.
  • Doctor Strange, Surgeon Supreme (’19) – the very much under-rated and too short Mark Waid / Kev Walker run. Walker knocks it out of the park here.
  • Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise – Tradd Moore
  • Jed McKay’s saga, which needs to be read in order
    • The Death of Doctor Strange – Jed MacKay / Lee Garbett; No, really… he actually dies and it’s clever
    • Strange – Jed MacKay / Marcelo Ferreira; With Stephen dead, Clea assumes the mantle of Sorceress Supreme… and she’s feeling a little tetchy
    • Doctor Strange (’23-’24) – Jed MacKay / Pasqual Ferry; How can a dead man not be dead? The answer is complicated…

What’s good?  The original Lee/Ditko run is great and you can get that in the first Epic Collection. Things pick up again when Englehart and Brunner show up towards the end of the Marvel Premiere run and the whole ’74-’87 run is solid, though we have a particular soft spot for the Roger Stern / Marshall Rogers / Paul Smith material towards the end.  Yes, Doctor Strange had A list creators most of the time.  That’s your core.

The Jed MacKay sequence is very good and Marvel’s best death and rebirth sequence in quite some time, but you really need to start with The Death of Doctor Strange. We seldom give a big thumbs up to this kind of arc, but sometimes the needle gets threaded.

Another personal favorite is Doctor Strange: The Oath by a pre-Saga Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin. They’ve both moved on to bigger things, but a long run by those two would have been a real highlight.

Something under the radar?  The final Waid/Walker run is also a lot more under the radar than it should be.

That’s the solo pack. There’s also quite a bit of team material available:

We’d draw your attention to two under the radar things from this second list. Clandestine is Alan Davis doing his own thing, which is always a good time. The Al Ewing / Javier Rodriguez Defenders titles are the very definition of trippy, living at the intersection of Sorcery Marvel and Cosmic Marvel. We’re usually in the bag for a Ewing run, but if you discovered Javier Rodriguez on the excellent Absolute Martian Manhunter, this is him getting cosmic a few years earlier when fewer people were paying attention.

The Great White North

Alpha Flight  X-Men: Asgardian Wars

The Marvel Alpha Flight Sale runs through Monday, 2/23.

We know what you’re thinking: “If Spider-Man could team up with the Not Ready for Prime Time Players, why couldn’t Alpha Flight team up with Bob and Doug McKenzie?” The way we heard it, this was proposed, but Guy Caballero nixed it.

The main item of note here is Alpha Flight Classic, 3 volumes that comprise the John Byrne run on the original series and a Bill Mantlo/Mike Mignola issue and Byrne essentially traded Alpha Flight for The Incredible Hulk. (We recall the Mantlo run being better than advertised, but there doesn’t currently seem to be interest in collecting it.)

Of possible related interest is X-Men: Asgardian Wars  by Chris Claremont / Paul Smith / Arthur Adams. X-Men / Alpha Flight is the first half of the book and it’s a fun romp. Plus, Smith and Adams on art? There are a lot worse things to drop $2.99 on.

And for something out of left field, there’s the more recent Gamma Flight, which is an Alpha Flight adjacent spin-off of Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing, Crystal Frazier and Len Medina.

A bit more tangentially related:

Stabbing Time

  Elektra

The Marvel Elektra Sale runs through Monday, 2/23.

Strangely, this sale excludes Elektra: Assassin.

What are we seeing? The original Miller Daredevil run is available in multiple formats.

  • Elektra (’96 – ’98) – Peter Milligan / Larry Hama / Mike Deodato, Jr.
  • Elektra (’01 – ’04) – Greg Rucka / Chuck Austen (drawing, not writing) / Joe Bennett / Carlo Pagulayan / Carlos Meglia / Greg Horn

Hurricane Ororo

  X-Men: Lifedeath  Uncanny X-Men  Uncanny X-Men

The Marvel Storm Sale runs through Monday 2/23.

We noticed something strange when going through this sale. The original X-Men / Uncanny X-Men (’63-’11) series has come undone in Amazon listings. Only the Epic Collections are still attached to the series. The Masterworks volumes or things like Lifedeath are still in the system, but they’re not attached to the series, effectively just floating out there unmoored in the digital aether. It’s really odd and it applies to things in the Cyclops sale, too.

Here’s Mud in Your Eye

X-Men: Raid On Graymalkin  X-Factor  X-Men: Cyclops & Phoenix - Past & Future

The Marvel Cyclops sale runs through 2/23.

This sale is even less organized than the Storm sale, partially because of the X-men books becoming unstuck from their home series.

A few things to look at:

  • X-Men (current) – Jed MacKay / Ryan Stegman / Netho Diaz
  • X-Factor (’86-’98)
  • X-Men: Cyclops & Phoenix – Past & Future – Scott Lobdell / Peter Milligan / Tom DeFalco / Gene Ha / John Paul Leon / Kyle Hotz

 

Unannounced Sales

OPUS: 25 Years of His Sunday Best Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

Also on sale:

 The Creepy / Eerie sale appears to be continuing, so let’s revisit that, too. Creepy was the first one and is available in both archive  format and “Creepy Presents” volumes spotlighting individual artists (Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, Steve Ditko). Eerie was the companion series. By halfway through it’s run, it had evolved into something a little different with multi-part stories and characters who returned, the breakout character being The Rook (a time traveler with some western elements baked in). It’s also available in archive format and “Eerie Presents” for collecting individual features (El Cid and Hunter).

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

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Vertigo vs. Creepy and Eerie

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s the dueling pianos of Vertigo vs. Creepy and Eerie.

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):

A Non-Cliffhanger View of Vertigo

Doom Patrol  Jonah Hex: Shadows West  Sandman Mystery Theater

The  DC Vertigo Sale runs through Tuesday, 2/24.

Now that everyone’s over Wednesday shock of DC actually having a sale, let’s look at the sale’s intent and some countermeasures.

Sales where the first volumes *only* are on sale should be viewed as samplers designed to get the customer to buy the rest of the series (often at full price). There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s pretty common in the greater publishing community, but this is NOT what people are used to from the DC and the grumbling is acute.

So, let’s go through the sale and pick out some good volumes that work as stand-alone books. There really are a chunk of these.

Jonah Hex: Shadows West is something of a value buy. It’s listed at 387 pages, though it’s really 13 issues collecting the complete series of mini-series by master horror novelist Joe R. Lansdale and Tim (Grimjack/Scout) Truman. Hex confronts demons and monsters in a Weird Western / action-horror collection.

Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Crawling From the Wreckage by Grant Morrison & Richard Case is essentially the first arc of Morrison’s run and an issue that pauses before the second arc. Oh, Mister Nobody is up to something, but we wouldn’t call it a cliffhanger, per se.

Sandman Mystery Theater – Matt Wagner / Steven T. Seagle / Guy Davis; We’re not in love with the $9.99 price point, but we do love this series. There are actually two volumes at that price, for which you get 12 issues and roughly 300 pages of comics, so it’s not horrible by that measure. These are the pulpy adventures of Wesley Dodds, the golden age Sandman.

Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One – Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / John Totleben; The American Gothic saga hasn’t begun yet, so these are short tales beginning with the legendary “Anatomy Lesson” and ending with an encounter with Etrigan. As classic as it gets.

Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 – Len Wein / Bernie Wrightson / Nestor Redondo; While not on the Deals page, this one’s price dropped to that $9.99 price point. Sure enough, ~13 issues plus the original short story gives you about 300 pages of comics for $9.99 and the pattern emerges. This is classic, original Swamp Thing run by Wein and Wrightson. It’s very good stuff. While Wrightson stuck with horror, Wein did more superhero work after starting out with Swamp Thing and Phantom Stranger, so not everyone remembers how good he was with the dark and magical tales.

Top 10 – Alan Moore / Gene Ha / Zander Cannon – This is Alan Moore’s delightful excursion into the Hill Street Blues style of police procedural… but with superheroes as the law. Good stuff. America’s Best/Wildstorm is now Vertigo… or maybe Alan Moore is just Vertigo, full stop. At any rate this is another $9.99 / 12 issues offering and it’s good stuff.

Trillium – Probably our favorite Jeff Lemire work. Two people on a journey across time and space to find each other before the universe can end, notable for a particularly effective parallel narrative structure. The single issues were released as flipbooks to heighten that parallel structure.

  • Black Orchid – Early Neil Gaiman although Dave McKean might be stealing the show in this tale of botanical rebirth
  • Cinderella: Fables are Forever – Chris Roberson & Shawn McManus in this Fables-universe tale of Cinderella as a spy (Why is the actual first Cinderella series, From Fabletown With Love, not on sale? You’d need to ask whoever at DC makes this lists.)
  • Daytripper – Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba
  • Flex Mentallo – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely; A delightfully odd/surreal tale that starts out as parody of the old Charles Atlas ads. And an early Morrison/Quitely pairing. They work well together.
  • Get Jiro – Anthony Bourdain / Joel Rose / Langdon Foss; Yes, that Anthony Bourdain spinning a tale of a sort of gangland war between chefs
  • Global Frequency – Warren Ellis applies a science fiction layer to the Mission: Impossible format (or perhaps ’83 TV show Masquerade, if you want a deep cut) with rotating artists
  • Joe the Barbarian – Grant Morrison / Sean Murphy; This one always reminded us of the film, Jacob’s Ladder. We’re not sure $9.99 for 8 issues is such a great deal, though…
  • Kill Your Boyfriend/Vimanarama Deluxe – Grant Morrison / Philip Bond / Matt Brooker; Collecting a pair shorter Morrison one-offs
  • Orbiter – Warren Ellis / Colleen Doran; An OGN about shenanigans revolving around a missing space shuttle
  • Strange Adventures – The Tom King / Mitch Gerads / Doc Shaner Black label deconstruction of Adam Strange (darker than you’d ever think they’d go), although we’re not wild about the $9.99 price tag
  • Sweet Tooth – Jeff Lemire; As seen on Netflix.
  • The Wake – Scott Snyder / Sean Murphy; Very Bad Things are happening at a secret underwater oil rig… and then things get considerably worse. We would like to point out this is $4.99 for 10 issues in marked contrast to some of the other pricing

Unannounced Sales

Creepy   Eerie

As usual, we’re not sure when these sales are ending, but here’s what we’re seeing:

Dark Horse is thematically matching DC this week with a Creepy / Eerie sale. Oh, wait… they’re discounting more than just volumes ones, too.

Creepy was the first one and is available in both archive  format and “Creepy Presents” volumes spotlighting individual artists (Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, Steve Ditko).

Eerie was the companion series. By halfway through it’s run, it had evolved into something a little different with multi-part stories and characters who returned, the breakout character being The Rook (a time traveler with some western elements baked in). It’s also available in archive format and “Eerie Presents” for collecting individual features (El Cid and Hunter).

Also on sale:

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

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Spider-Man, Avengers, Iron Man, X-Force, Rogue

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel continues their recent trend of dropping a bundle of discounts toward the top of the month.

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):

A Spider a Day Keeps Doc Ock Away

Amazing Spider-Man  Amazing Spider-Man  Amazing Spider-Man - Kraven's Last Hunt

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 1/26.

There’s a lot of ground to cover here, so let’s break it down by series.

  • Amazing Spider-Man (1963-98) – The original run before Marvel became quite so obsessed with rebooting titles.
  • Amazing Spider-Man (1998 – 2013) – This run starts out with the controversial J. Michael Straczynski/John Romita, Jr./Mike Deodato, Jr. run, then goes into the excellent Brand New Day era with rotating creative teams and segues into the beginning of the Dan Slott era. (Slott’s written a LOT of Spidey.)
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2014 – 15) – Peter’s back in control and the Slott era continues.
  • Amazing Spider-Man(2015-2018) – It’s a relaunch. (Hey, Spidey’s been relaunched a lot less than Captain Marvel!) This is the end run of the Slott era, culminating in the Red Goblin affair. The “Worldwide Collection” omnibuses are the better buy.
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2018 – 22) – The Nick Spenser era is here, PLUS the 4 volumes of Spider-Man Beyond with Ben Reilly stepping in that take place prior to the next series (and set up portions of it)
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2022 – 25) – The recent Zeb Wells / John Romita, Jr. / Ed McGuinness run. (And then Joe Kelly at the end.)

Recommendations?  Well, first off Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t really have very many BAD periods until the excesses of the Clone Saga (which some would argue are highlights). Oh, some runs are definitely better than others, but there aren’t huge swaths of duds.

You can definitely pick your poison between the $5.99 Masterworks and $6.99 – $8.99 Epic Collections for the original run. The Epics are typically much larger collections for only a buck more, but it depends on which format you started buying and which era you’re interested in. Some stretches are only in Masterworks, some are only in Epic.

Of possible interest, but NOT included in the link for the V.1 of Amazing is the Kraven’s Last Hunt Epic Collection, so we’ll call that one out directly. You get the J.M. DeMatteis/Mike Zeck classic, plus the issues of Amazing around it, plus Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine for about the price of just getting the regular Kraven collection.

And yes, we did enjoy the recently completed Zeb Wells / (mostly) John Romita, Jr. series. It’s a little more somber than we were expecting from Wells, but it largely a good ride. And this is a series that plays the long game resolving subplots. Not everyone agrees with that, but so be it.

Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble

The Marvel Avengers Sale runs through Monday, 1/26

And this as pretty much everything.

Let’s start about by breaking down the major series/titles on sale:

The Jonathan Hickman era

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman

The Hickman era is a little complicated, because his Avengers and New Avengers titles run together, so the Avengers by Jonathan Hickman collections are what we’d recommend for a more natural reading experience. Those collect both titles, plus tie-ins… and this is something were reading order counts.

But, this being Marvel collections, it get more complicated. The Avengers/New Avengers material (whichever format you read it in) is just one segment of Hickman’s tale. The story is continued in Avengers: Time Runs Out, which is the real last arc of Avengers and New Avengers. (And it’s in the “by Hickman” omnibuses.)

And all this funnels into Secret Wars, the true endgame of Hickman’s Avengers run… which, of course, is not included in the sale…

The Hickman era really is it’s own beast. A lot of comics talk about having an “epic scale.” This one’s scope is staggering and the sheer size of the scope means it gets better and better as things progress in a way few comics really do. So just know that the entire era is effectively one extended story and it’s a real “in for a penny, in for a pound” thing.

The Jason Aaron era

Avengers

While not necessarily as complex as the Hickman era, there are a few different ways to read it:

Enter Jed MacKay

Avengers

And that brings us to the current Jed MacKay / C.F. Villa Avengers run.

West Coast Avengers

Avengers West Coast

It’s close enough to it’s own franchise, let’s give it a sub-category. (I mean even DC moved to the West Coast. It’s a thing.)

Let’s run down the highlights of the rest of it:

We’re partial to the original Englehart / Milgrim West Cost Avengers. There’s a case to be made for the Byrne run, but that one is a lightning rod for strong opinions.

What’s at the top of the list for recommendations?

For the classic series, there are a lot of good runs. The first Roy Thomas/John Buscema run, particularly around the introduction of The Vision. The Kree-Skrull War. Steve Englehart’s Run. Jim Shooter’s run. Roger Stern’s run, particularly when the team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer return. There is a ton of good stuff to look at. When we factor in price point and page count (some of the newer Epic Collections are a little more expensive), we keep coming back to The Final Threat. Steve Englehart/ Gerry Conway / Jim Shooter / George Perez / John Byrne / John Buscema / Sal Buscema. You get the return of Wonder Man, “The Private War of Doctor Doom,” and “Bride of Ultron” for the major arcs. It’s a nice cross-section of creators and stories for $6.99.  But really, it’s hard to go wrong with the Kree-Skrull War through ~#200, and then pick it up again for Roger Stern, particularly Stern/John Buscema/Tom Palmer. Stick around for Walt Simonson.

We’re also major fans of the Kurt Busiek / George Perez run that begins here. A second golden age that stands up with the best runs.  Avengers Forever, which runs somewhat in parallel with this run, is a great stand-alone adventure.

We also thought the Dan Slott Mighty Avengers run was a fun slice of “traditional” Avengers in the middle of the Bendis “New Avengers” era.

The real under the radar one here is the Gerry Duggan Savage Avengers run. If you’ve had an itch for some classic Defenders, this (of all things) might scratch it. It’s offbeat, fun and the sequence where Conan humiliates/shames Doctor Doom while having dinner with him has to be experienced to be believed.

Let’s face it, there have been a lot of good Avengers runs.

Does Whatever An Iron Can…

Iron Man: The Man Who Killed Tony Stark  Iron Man: Heroes Reborn  Iron Man: Big Iron

The Marvel Iron Man Sale runs through Monday, 1/26

This would be one of those sales where most of the hero’s run is on sale, so we’re going to follow our usual protocol and start out by breaking out the primary titles and volumes. Iron Man isn’t as goofy to follow as, say, Spider-Gwen… but there are “quirks.” Oddly, this time out, titles with a word other than “Invincible” in front of “Iron Man” are omitted. (Infamous, International, etc.) Intentional or the new digital guy is from a film background and unfamiliar with the catalog? We’re not sure.

  • Tales of Suspense – Iron Man debuted here in what was a split book with Captain America for most of the run.
  • Iron Man ’68-’96 – The original solo run in the era before constant relaunch gimmicks

OK, sit tight. The ’98 -’04 run is collected in VERY odd ways and poorly cataloged for browsing.  The truly excellent Kurt Busiek/Sean Chen/Patrick Zircher run lasts from 1-25. We can’t find 15-25 collected? (That entire run should be!)  You can catch 1-14  in cheap omnibus form here.  (No idea why the Mike Grell omnibus isn’t on sale.) You can catch Joe Quesada’s scripting run (26-32) and the Avengers: Disassembled tie-in late in this run in single volumes here. (But get the omnibus version for Busiek.)

  • Iron Man ’04-07 – Best known for launching with the “Extremis” storyline
  • Invincible Iron Man ’08-’12 – The excellent Matt Fraction / Salvador Larroca run. Save some money with the omnibus collecting the first 3 volumes.
  • Iron Man ’12-’14 – The Kieron Gillen run with Greg Land as initial artist
  • Invincible Iron Man ’15-’16 – Brian Bendis and David Marquez/Mike Deodato, Jr. start out with Tony Stark in the armor
  • Invincible Iron Man ’16-’18 – Brian Bendis and Stefano Caselli with Riri Williams/Ironheart filling Tony Stark’s shoes (yes, parallel substitute Iron Man runs)
  • Iron Man ’20-’22 – The Christopher Cantwell / Cafu run.
  • Invincible Iron Man ’22-’24 – Gerry Duggan / Juan Frigeri
  • Iron Man ’24-’25 – Spencer Ackerman / Julius Ohta

So what’s good?  We haven’t read ALL the Iron Man out there, but we’ve read a lot of them.

In our opinion Iron Man starts hitting it’s stride when Archie Goodwin arrives toward the end of the Tales of Suspense run and then is pure gold through issue 28 of the ’68 Iron Man series. Artists for this run include Gene Colan and George Tuska.

The next “all-star” run is #116-157 of the original Iron Man, that’s the David Michelinie / John Romita, Jr. / Bob Layton run that’s most famous for the “Demon in a Bottle” alcoholism arc, but there’s more to the run than just that arc.  The Denny O’Neil / Luke McDonnell run that follows is solid (make sure you get a collection that includes #200!!!), then Michelinie & Layton return for #215-250 with a few artists, including Mark Bright and Jackson Guice… with Layton even switching to penciller, instead of his usual inking post, for parts of it.  This second run is most famous for “Armor Wars” (originally known as Stark Wars). If you want a slightly bigger chunk for the same price, try Iron Man Masterworks V. 13. (Their first run goes through Masterworks V. 15.)

When Heroes Return hits, Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen are pop in for the excellent 1998 run, of which only 1-14 are currently collected.

The ’08 – ’12 run by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca is particularly good. You know how modern Marvel titles can get sidetracked by Events? Fraction and Larroca lean into it and produce a lengthy and self-contained arc with Tony Stark on the run and attempting to overwrite his brain to keep everyone’s secrets out of the hands of Norman Osborn. Yes, an honest to goodness great Event tie-in arc. It’s a rare thing.

We were quite happy with the  Christopher Cantwell/Cafu run. Tony Stark chases Korvac into outer space and meditates on the nature of godhood, good intentions and addictions. Lots of character work and action.

You’ve got your choice of Epic or Masterworks here, but the more recent Masterworks can get up to $9.99.

Forced Entry

X-Force X-Force X-Force

The Marvel X-Force Sale runs through Monday, 1/26.

Yes, the mutant black ops team, as originally established by Cable (and morphing out of New Mutants). There absolutely have a been a few incarnations and relaunches over the years. Let’s start out with an overview of that:

  • X-Force ’91-’02 – Originally Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza with Greg Capullo tagging in early on. The first edition, if you will.
    • Counter-X: X-Force – From the period when Warren Ellis was showrunning some of the X-titles, by Ian Edgington & Jorge Lucas
  • Uncanny-Force ’10-’12 – Rick Remender and rotating roster of Raphael Albuquerque, Esad Ribic, Jerome Opena, Billy Tan and Phil Noto
  • Uncanny X-Force ’13-’14 – Sam Humphries / Ron Garney / Dalibor Talajic
  • Deadpool vs. X-Force ’14 – Duane Swierczynski / Pepe Laraz
  • X-Force ’19-’24 – Ben Percy / Joshua Cassara / Robert Gill
  • X-Force ’24-’25 – Geoffrey Thorne / Marcus To

What’s good? Our top pick is the Remender Uncanny-Force. Black ops and a wide ranging, but complete story unit when taken as a whole. We’re also fans of the Ben Percy / Krakoa era X-Force  and recent Geoffrey Thorne / Marcus To X-Force.  If you want something off-beat, start here for the Milligan/Allred run, which is a satire.

You Were Expecting Moulin?

X-Men: Raid On Graymalkin  Mr. and Mrs. X  Rogue

The Marvel Rogue Sale runs through Monday, 1/26.

Quite a lot of random X-titles here, but let’s look at the highlights:

And from the current incarnation:

Unannounced Sales

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman  Money Shot

It seems Dark Horse’s holiday sale is still with us, but we wouldn’t expect it to last very far into next week.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel and Dark Horse drop a pile of holiday discounts

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s time for Marvel and Dark Horse Holiday sales. Plus, another volume of Calvin and Hobbes.

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):

Housekeeping: We would remind you that Marvel’s normal December 8-sale spread for the month is still active and annotated here. We’ve got another batch of Marvel sales that are a little over-weighted with single issues – $0.99/$1.49/$1.99 and up. (We’re probably going to ignore most of the single issues over $2.) These are lasting through the beginning of January, which means… after a few months, someone at Marvel seems to have realized they were having a gap week without a sale. We applaud the arrival of a clue.

You’re probably asking “where’s the DC holiday sale?” We wish we could tell you. As of this typing, we’re not seeing any significant movement with DC. It could just be late arriving (as it was for Black Friday). We would caution you not to get your hopes up too high for a $1.99 tpb sale. All things are possible, but DC seems to have been doing a lot of A/B testing on higher prices in recent months. Perhaps we’ll be back with DC in a day or two. We’ll see.

Cobwebs

Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 5  Amazing Spider-Man Modern Era Epic Collection: Big Time  Spider-Man/Deadpool Modern Era Epic Collection: Road Trip

The Marvel Spider-Man Sale runs through Sunday, 1/4.

Lots of $0.99 single issues here, but this is the sale with the most omnibuses in it.

And the $0.99 singles and more conventional collected editions:

Hulk Smash Mistletoe

Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: To Hunt The Hulk  Immortal Hulk  She-Hulk By Rainbow Rowell Omnibus

The Marvel Hulk Sale runs through Sunday, 1/4.

There are fewer titles here than you’d think. It’s mostly single issues. Here are the highlights:

Some Assembly Required

Young Avengers Modern Era Epic Collection: Dark Reign  U.S.Avengers  Avengers: War Across Time

The  Marvel Avenger Sale runs through Sunday, 1/4.

Another one WAY overweighted with single issues. Highlights:

Fore!

Fantastic Four - The Coming of Galactus  Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Name is Doom  Fantastic Four

The Marvel Fantastic Four Sale runs through Sunday, 1/4.

Ah! Finally a decent selection of Masterworks (and a few Epics). You’ll see some upward drift on the pricing (verily, we are in a fiscal quarter of A/B testing), but the collected editions are going to be better buys than the $0.99 single issues in most cases.

A couple prime cuts of Lee/Kirby goodness at good prices?  Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Coming Of Galactus and Fantastic Four Epic Collection: The Name Is Doom 

Topmost

The Ultimates  Ultimate Black Panther Ultimate Invasion

The Marvel Ultimate Sale runs through Sunday, 1/4.

That’s right. The current Ultimate Universe:

We’d say Ultimate Spider-Man is the heart of the line and The Ultimates is the world-building engine.

Unannounced Sales

Adventures of Luther Arkwright  Baltimore Omnibus 1  From the World of Minor Threats: Barfly

As always, we really don’t know how long these discounts will last.

First up, Dark Horse doesn’t quite have a line-wide sale… but it’s close. Here are things we noticed with better pricing:

Recommendations? Sure.

If you’ve never sampled Bryan Talbot’s Adventures of Luther Arkwright, this is a good time. It’s a dimension hopping, psychic spy tale with not a small amount of rebellion in it. It’s also VERY appropriate for a Michael Moorcock introduction, too. A classic of the field.

Minor Threats is popular when it pops up, so if that’s your jam, have a look for fresh volumes in the From the World of Minor Threats link.

The Mignola-verse is quite reliable (and much of it is discounted right now). Something a little under the radar, relative to Hellboy, that we enjoyed quite a bit was Baltimore.  At the end of World War I, the vampire hoards are unleashed and one Lord Henry Baltimore enters into a bitter feud with them. Two omnibuses make for a nice ride.

Also on sale:

It's a Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

Two modern classics on the list – American Born Chinese and Saga

 

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Another 8 Marvel Sales, Plus Resident Alien and James Tynion IV

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, there are another 8 Marvel sales (besides the holiday sale). Plus, Resident Alien and Mr. Tynion.

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):

Housekeeping: We’re back on the usual schedule after needing three installments to process that fairly odd “Marvel Holiday Sale” that expires on Monday. Here are the links for that:

That Would Be Suuuuuuuper

Captain America  The Winter Soldier: The Bitter March  Black Widow

The Marvel Super Soldier Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

Kind of a liberal definition of “super soldier,” relative to Cap, but who are we to question a discount?

It also seems to be mostly avoiding Epic Collections and Masterworks for the original Captain America run.

Captain America highlights

  • Selections from the original run that are discounted:
  • Captain America ’98-’02 – The second Mark Waid / Ron Garney run with some Andy Kubert and Lee Weeks art, too. Smaller volumes here, plus the underrated Dan Jurgens run that followed.
  • Captain America ’04-’11 – The main Winter Soldier/Death of Captain America Ed Brubaker run with Steve Epting, Michael Lark, Mike Perkins and Butch Guice in the artistic rotation. Note: you can pick up chunks of it cheaper in these omnibuses (and the third one includes Reborn… but, of course, is not discounted)
  • Captain America: Reborn – The actual end to the “Death of Captain America” sequence by Ed Brubaker, Bryan Hitch and Butch Guice
  • Captain America ’11-’12 – Brubaker sticks around for a relaunch, post-Death/Reborn
  • Captain America ‘18-’21 – The Ta-Nehisi Coates run with art by Leinil Francis Yu, Adam Kubert, Jason Masters and Leonard Kirk. Save a couple bucks with the 2 omnibuses.
  • Captain America ’23-’25 – J. Michael Straczynski / Jesus Saiz

What’s good here? Since the Englehart material isn’t discounted, Stern/Byrne, Gruenwald, the Waid runs and the Brubaker years are the highlights.

The Winter Soldier

For solo series, the first choice is Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker, which is Brubaker and Butch Guice in a spin-off.

Also of possible interest:

Black Widow

Let’s walk through the highlights.

There are two Black Widow Epic Collections that collect what were largely guest or co-starring spots (with a couple notable exceptions) through the early 80s.

Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up takes place mostly between those two Epic Collections, strangely enough. It’s primarily Spidey team-ups, including a 4-part Spidey / Black Widow / Nick Fury / Master of Kung Fu serial by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema.

Marvel Knights Black Widow by Grayson & Rucka: The Complete Collection – the end of the 90s saw Yelana enter the Widow’s world. It’s a trilogy of mini-series from Devin Grayson / Greg Rucka / J.G Jones / Scott Hampton / Igor Kordey,

Flash forward to 2004 and the highlight of a series of miniseries was a pair written by Richard K. Morgan with an art rotation of Bill Sienkiewicz, Sean Phillips and Goran Parlov. Conveniently collected in a single volume. (We hold this sequence in high regard.)

A decade later, the team of Mark Waid & Chris Samnee (a known quantity) did their own Black Widow run. Predictably, another highlight. (Also conveniently collected in a single volume.)

Shortly after that, the Eisner winning Black Widow run of Kelly Thompson and Elena Casagrande kicked off. Yes, we enjoyed this run, too… and were kind of thinking there might be a follow up, but we haven’t seen one yet. One of these days?

West Side Story

Avengers West Coast  Avengers West Coast  Vision and the Scarlet Witch

The Marvel West Coast Avengers Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

Let’s start with the main one:

We’re partial to the original Englehart / Milgrim West Cost Avengers. There’s a case to be made for the Byrne run, but that one is a lightning rod for strong opinions. Roy & Dann Thomas follow and that run includes a big Ultron story.

The rest of the sale is a mix of the following:

Which is to say: two revivals, some Roger Stern era Avengers that ties in, Denny O’Neil’s excellent final Iron Man arc and the Vision & The Scarlet Witch series that co-launched with West Coast Avengers.

A Mister of Ill Portent

Sins of Sinister  Uncanny X-Men  Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 16

The Marvel Mister Sinister Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

A villain sale.

  • X-Men: Cyclops & Phoenix – Past & Future – Scott Lobdell / Peter Milligan / Tom DeFalco / Gene Ha / John Paul Leon / Kyle Hotz; Contains the tale of Sinister’s origin
  • Uncanny X-Men Masterworks Vol. 16 – Chris Claremont /  Louise Simonson / Marc Silvestri / Walt Simonson / Arthur Adams / Rick Leonard; This volume has Sinister stepping out of the shadows for the Inferno event.
  • Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 – Kieron Gillen / Carlos Pacheco / Terry Dodson; Gillen starts doubling down on Sinister and his clones
  • Hellions by Zeb Wells – Zeb Wells / Stephen Segovia; A dark and sometimes hilarious piece of the Krakoa age where Sinister forms his own team of mutants
  • Sins Of Sinister – Kieron Gillen / Al Ewing / Simon Spurrier / Lucas Werneck / Paco Medina / Patch Zircher / Alessandro Vitti; Sinister’s scheme goes awry and he’s caught in an out of (his) control timeline in this superior X-Event

Plenty of mutant books to browse in the link.

We Skipped the TV Version

Inhumans.  Black Bolt   The Origin of the Inhumans

The  Marvel Inhumans Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

Yeah, sign us up for the “The Inhumans shouldn’t replace the X-Men” party. And yes, Ms. Marvel should have been a mutant the entire time. Notarize it.

With Inhumans comics there is one volume that stands far above the rest: Inhumans by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee, which was part of the old Marvel Knights imprint when it came out as a 12 issue maxi-series. That’s your gold standard.

For the #2 spot, perhaps the Black Bolt series by Saladin Ahmend and Christian Ward. It’s quite good and the first six issues? Extra special.

There’s nothing wrong with going back to the beginning. Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans is a collection of the early Stan Lee & Jack Kirby appearances from Fantastic Four and Thor. It’s also a thick 425 pages.

For something under the radar? Inhumans: Once and Future Kings by Priest and Phil Noto. Inhuman politics from the younger days of Black Bolt and Maximus… plus, Lockjaw comics.

There’s plenty more to browse, but outside of the above, we’ve tended to prefer the Inhumans with the FF.

That Was Cold

Iceman  Iceman  Iceman

The Marvel Iceman Sale runs through Monday,  12/29.

There actually have been some Iceman solo books:

Plenty of assorted X-Men volumes to check out on the sale page.

Fist of Fun

Iron Fist  Power Man and Iron Fist  Immortal Iron Fist

The Marvel Iron Fist Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

Iron Fist originally had a short-ish run (by the standards of the day) and you can get the entire solo series (Marvel Premiere and Iron Fist) in an Epic Collection. The run is most associated with the team it finished with: an early pairing of Chris Claremont and John Byrne. You may have heard of them. Claremont/Byrne is reliable and you know what you’re getting for the back half of that.

The two books then merged into the longer-running Power Man & Iron Fist. Now here’s something we don’t always say: this one’s in Epic Collections, but not Masterworks format. Claremont & Byrne left shortly thereafter, paving the way for Jo Duffy, who might be most associated with it. Among the creators working on it were Duffy, Denny O’Neil, (a very young) Kurt Busiek, Christopher Priest, Kerry Gammil, Denys Cowan, Greg Larocque and Mark Bright. A stronger lineup than you might have guessed and a comic that remembered to be goofy at times.

It was revived as Heroes for Hire by John Ostrander and Pasqual Ferry in ’97. We also have a soft spot for the David Walker / Sanford Greene Power Man & Iron Fist in ’16.

But the best of the bunch? The Immortal Iron Fist. People are most familiar with the first half of the series, with the celebrated team of Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction/David Aja. We’re here to tell you that the back half by Duane Swierczynski/Travel Foreman is also pretty darn good. Plus, more Fat Cobra! Don’t sleep on the back half. Good value with those collected editions, too!

Making Out

Ultimate Invasion  The UltimatesVenom

The  Marvel The Maker Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

This would be the former Reed Richards of the original Ultimate universe, gone bad and adopting the identity of “The Maker.” The Maker Faire will never be the same. (IFYKYK)

The current arc starts with Ultimate Invasion by Jonathan Hickman & Bryan Hitch.

It then spills into the current Ultimate Universe:

Of slightly older vintage, but possible interest:

Hi, Dad

Star Wars: The Rise Of Kylo Ren  Star Wars: Legacy Of Vader - The Reign of Kylo

The Marvel Kylo Ren Sale runs through Monday, 12/29.

Unannounced Sales

Resident Alien  Let This One Be a Devil  American Born Chinese

As always, we really don’t know how long these will last.

Dark Horse seems to be having a sale on their James Tynion IV titles:

Resident Alien is a comic by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhose about a stranded alien posing as a doctor and solving murders. It got a little more famous when a TV adaptation hit and a lot more famous when the TV show moved over to Netflix. (And will now be moving over to the USA cable network.) We read the first omnibus a few months back and if your point of reference is the TV show, the comic is a little more mystery-oriented. It’s available in

Also on sale:

American Born Chinese is widely considered a modern classic, btw.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel Holiday Sale Part 2 – the $0.99 Singles; American Born Chinese

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we dive deep into those $0.99 single issues from the Marvel Holiday Sale. Plus, American Born Chinese.

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):

Housekeeping: We’re still going through that Marvel Holiday Sale to make it more digestible for you. We’ll forgive you if you looked at the display and decided it was just a bunch of random issues. The presentation leaves a lot to be desired (though that’s why we’re here). What the bulk of the holiday sales appears to be is $0.99 single issues. Not exclusively from the ’22-’24 time frame, but a lot from there. Some discounted newer issues, too. And some collected editions, which we touched on.

In this installment, we’re consolidating the $0.99 single issue titles. NOW… you might see $1.49 for issue #1 at times. <shrugs> You may also see collected editions of some of these. We’re not quite that far along yet. You may also find that the single issues are sometimes cheaper than a collected edition, especially if the collected edition is only 4-5 issues. We figure this is a big enough chunk of those titles for one sitting. There will be more

Here’s the list of the newly discounted omnibuses / Masterworks / Epic Collections from Monday, btw.

First, the official holiday sale link:

Marvel Holiday Sale – Ends 12/08

Titles With $0.99 Single Issues

Immortal Thor  G.O.D.S.  Marvel Unleashed

Yes, we used to see single issues more often, didn’t we? This is going to be more of a quick and dirty, but we’ll annotate here and there when we think something is particularly good.

Best bets from this batch? Immortal Thor  and G.O.D.S. For something more under the radar and fun? Joe Fixit and Marvel Unleashed

To be continued…

Unannounced Sales

American Born Chinese  Barbaric  Superman The Ultimate Guide

As always, we really don’t know how long these will last.

American Born Chinese is widely considered a modern classic, btw.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel drops 8 sales + Mark Millar @ Dark Horse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops another 8 sales: Thanos, Captain Marvel (all of the Marvel Captains), Doctor Doom, Gambit, Dani Moonstar, Marvel 2099, Sabretooth and Echo. Plus, Mark Millar’s Dark Horse titles and other unannounced sales.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

The OG Marvel Cosmic Sale
Avengers Vs. Thanos Silver Surfer: The Return of Thanos Infinity Gauntlet

The Marvel Thanos Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

Thanos has become a saga, at least with the Starlin-driven material.

Avengers Vs. Thanos is a meaty ~470 page collection of the original ’70s appearances that were centered in Captain Marvel and Warlock.  You could make an argument that this is where “cosmic” Marvel was born. (It’s one of a handful of candidates.) Recommended.

And then Thanos was mostly on the shelf for ~13 years until Jim Starlin started writing Silver Surfer (with Ron Lim drawing… oh yes, those two would do some collaborating). Thanos got VERY involved in things, starting with The Return of Thanos and continuing with Thanos Quest and Silver Surfer: The Infinity Gauntlet  (which isn’t included in this particular sale). And yes, the first two volumes absolutely set up the famous The Infinity Gauntlet miniseries (with art by George Perez and Ron Lim).  And both of those are recommended, too.

There were two more Infinity sequels:

And a ton of supporting material.  “Infinity” and Adam Warlock were practically a sub-imprint for a couple years.

And, for good measure, while not really part of the above – Avengers: The Legacy of Thanos by Roger Stern, John Buscema and John Byrne is a highly entertaining tale of Nebula (yes, the Granddaughter of Thanos who’d later be in Guardians of the Galaxy) attempting to conquer the Skrulls.

The most recent big blip on the radar was the Donny Cates / Geoff Shaw Thanos Wins and its spin-off, Cosmic Ghost Rider.

Plenty more of the more recent Thanos appearances if you care to browse. That original Starlin run starting in Captain Marvel? GOOD STUFF!

Not A Big Red Cheese?

Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin Captain Marvel Captain Marvel

The Captain Marvel Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

Right. This one is a little goofy to define (and the beginning overlaps a bit with Thanos).

First off, the original Kree Captain Mar-Vell as Captain Marvel:

The pinnacle of the Mar-Vell run is the Jim Starlin run and the Steve Englehart / Al Milgrom run that followed it. (Englehart/Milgrom is often lost in the shuffle. Starlin was just a hard act to follow.)

The Starlin material can be grabbed a couple different ways and all but 3 issues of it are also in Avengers Vs. Thanos.

So, if you want to read one of the major starting points for Cosmic Marvel, you have 3 choices for how to pick up the Starlin material (or if you care about duplication of material) and then add Englehart after that.

Carol Danvers as Ms./Captain Marvel:

OK… brace yourselves… this one has a ton of relaunches:

We think that’s the overly complicated chronology, anyway. For recommendations, we’re not really experts on this set of books, but we’re inclined to say go with the current Thompson run. Kelly Sue DeConnick has a very dedicated fanbase, so maybe browse the sample pages there and see if that catches your fancy, too?

Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel

Currently renamed Photon, Monica’s mostly been an Avengers cast member, so the above is an anthology of Avengers issues and guest appearances. Note: there are plenty of Avengers volumes if you browse the sale page.

Then there’s Mar-Vell’s son Genis:

This one is a Peter David joint, through and through. We did read the ’22 version and enjoyed it. It has a little more going on than you might think at first.

Victor Von Doom Bows Before No Man!

Doctor Doom  Doom Treasury Edition  Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment

The Marvel Doctor Doom Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

The top dog here is the Doctor Doom series by Christopher Cantwell and Salvador Larroca. Its an instant classic well worth your time. Doom has been framed. For now he’s on the run, but his vengeance will be terrible. Featuring Kang in a highly amusing frenemy role.

Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern and Mike Mignola has Strange and Doom invading Hell to free Doom’s mother from the clutches of Mephisto.

Also of possible interest – Iron Man: Doomquest collects a famous pair of David Michelinie / Bob Layton tales (w/John Romita, Jr. on the first) that have a time travelling Doom clashing with Iron Man.

Doom Treasury Edition is built around the 2024 Jonathan Hickman / Sanford Greene tale of Doom seeking to end the threat of Galactus and the extreme lengths he must go to in that quest.

Was the original Secret Wars (’84) a Doom series? We could go along with that and the omnibus is included in the sale.

How about the 2015 Jonathan Hickman / Esad Ribic Secret Wars? A big yes to that. It’s honestly more Doom than the Avengers series leading into it.

If you want to scroll through the sale page, there are a ton of individual Fantastic Four volumes Doom turns up in, plus assorted Avengers, Doctor Strange, Iron Man and Spidey. Doom gets around a little.

Bayou Buys

Mr. and Mrs. X   Gambit Classic   Gambit: The Complete Collection

The Marvel Gambit Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

More cajun than you can throw a card at!

And plenty of X-Men and X-Men adjacent books if you go for browse. Want a thick volume? X-Men Epic Collection: Dissolution & Rebirth is towards the end of the Chris Claremont era. It contains the transition from Marc Silvestri to Jim Lee on art, Psylocke’s transition to ninja, the Reavers and the debut of Gambit.

Was Her Codename a Mirage?

New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga  New Mutants: Asgardian Wars  New Mutants by Zeb Wells

The Marvel Dani Moonstar sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

Yes, this is the New Mutant formerly known as Mirage for her ability to sling illusions drawn from her opponent’s fears. She’s getting a solo title soon, but she’s primarily been a team player, appearing in things like:

You can browse for more books, but we have specific two volume sequence to start you out with Dani:

  1. New Mutants Epic Collection: The Demon Bear Saga – Chris Claremont / Bill Sienkiewicz / Sal Buscema / Bob McLeod;  Sienkewicz brought out the best in Claremont and his tenure is a great run which starts with “The Demon Bear Saga,” which is both a classic and a consequential tale for Dani
  2. New Mutants Epic Collection: Asgardian Wars – Chris Claremont / Rick Leonardi / Steve Leialoha / Mary Wilshire / Keith Pollard / Butch Guice / Steve Purcell / Arthur Adams / Alan Davis; It’s a shame this doesn’t have X-Men / Alpha Flight, which sets it up, but the Asgardian Wars (drawn by Art Adams) is another classic that changes Dani’s status quo moving forward.

74 Years Away

Spider-Man 2099   Doom 2099   X-Men 2099

The Marvel 2099 Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

Yes, 2099 was a line for Marvel in ’90s. Spider-Man  2099 was the flagship and longest lasting of the bunch. Peter David wrote it and Rick Leonardi is the artist most associated with it. Mind you, Spidey 2099 has had scrolling revivals over the years including (and currently discounted):

What else was in the line (that’s been collected and is on sale?)

  • Doom 2099 – This collection is the Warren Ellis run with Pat Broderick and Steve Pugh as the main illustrators
  • X-Men 2099 – The beginning arc with John Francis Moore and Ron Lim
  • Deadpool 2099 – What? You don’t remember this? Ha ha! Marvel is slipping in a collection of a few Gerry Duggan / Scott Koblish issues from the ’15 run of Deadpool!
  • Marvel Knights 2099 – Robert Kirkman / Steve Epting
  • Timestorm 2009  – Brian Reed / Eric Battle; 2009 crossover between “regular” Spidey, Wolverine and the 2009 universe
  • Secret Wars 2099 – Peter David / Will Sliney; Yes, Secret Wars had a tie-in for just about everything!

No Ravage 2099 / Punisher 2099 / Ghost Rider 2099 collections to be seen, if you were wondering, but plenty of volumes where the 2099 characters pop in for a storyline. (Especially Deadpool 2099.)

X-Flintstones?

Sabretooth  Sabretooth and the Exiles  Sabretooth: Open Season

The Marvel Sabretooth Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

There was an excellent Sabretooth sequence recently, written by horror novelist Victor LaVelle.

Sabretooth leads a band of misfits and villains out of imprisonment on Krakoa in an anti-hero sequence before he breaks VERY bad and the situation is resolved in the exceedingly bloody “Sabretooth War” sequence collected in the final two volumes of Ben Percy’s Krakoa-era Wolverine series.

For older material (no, the Iron Fist appearances aren’t here), there’s the 2004 Sabretooth: Open Season by Daniel Way / Bart Sears and a ton of individual Wolverine volumes to sift through.

You Were Expecting a Cardiogram?

Echo

The Marvel Echo Sale runs through Monday, 11/24.

For Echo, what you’re looking for is Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez, which collects both of her original Daredevil arcs by David Mack (who we don’t see enough of these days).

You can fill in around that with some of the other books listed, but go right to the source with Mack.

Unannounced Sales

Dune  The Magic Order  Nemesis Reloaded

As always, we really don’t know how long these will last.

Dark Horse is having and unannounced sale on their Mark Millar line of comics, including:

And the rest of the likely suspects:

Additionally, it looks like much of the Wolverine, Daredevil and Hulk material from recent weeks is still on sale. The Under $5 Page has the lower priced volumes

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Marvel drops 8 sales at once. Dinner is served.

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops a month’s worth at once: 8 sales.

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):

Housekeeping: Marvel’s (sort of) month long sales are back in another 8-pack. Is this the new normal? We don’t see this format necessarily continuing through the holidays.

Hulk Is Cheapest There Is

Planet Hulk The Incredible Hulk - And Now the Wolverine  Incredible Hulk

The Marvel Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 10/27.

And what we have here is basically a Hulk Legacy sale, although this is another of those Marvel sales that omits both the Masterworks and the Epic Collections, which really takes a lot of the first series off the discount table.

Let’s run down the various titles.

  • Incredible Hulk (1962 – 1999) The original run and then the long running series that picked up a few years later.
  • Tales to Astonish (1964-68) In between the two Hulk solo runs above, Hulk was splitting Tales to Astonish with Ant-Man/Giant Man and then Namor. A lot of the foundational work was really in this run, with Stan Lee/Steve Ditko responsible for a lot of it. Included for the sake of completeness, for you shall find no discounts here
  • Incredible Hulk (1999-2007) – Best known for the Bruce Jones / Lee Weeks/ Mike Deodato run towards the beginning and the Greg Pak / multi-artist “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” epics at the end… though World War Hulk is at this different link.
  • Hulk (2008-13) This is the Red Hulk run (and the title changes to that after awhile). It starts out with the better known Jeph Loeb/Ed Mc Guiness run and then Jeff Parker takes over with Gabriel Hardman, Dave Eaglesham and Patrick Zircher in the artist rotation.
  • Incredible Hulk by Jason Aaron (2011-12) – Lots of artists rotating through here, Marc Silvestri, Steve Dillon and Carlos Pacheco among them
  • Indestructible Hulk (2012 – 14) – Mark Waid’s the writer with an artist rotation including Leinil Francis Yu, Matteo Scalera and Walt Simonson draws the Thor team-up.
  • Hulk by Waid and Duggan (2014-15) – That would be Mark Waid and Gerry Duggan with Duggan doing the bulk of the run. Mark Bagley is the main artist here.
  • Immortal Hulk (2018-21) – Al Ewing’s masterpiece as the Hulk slides over towards horror and find a green door that leads to Hell. <Included for completeness as this is inexplicably not included in the sale.>
  • Hulk (2021-23) – The Donny Cates / Ryan Ottley run
  • The Incredible Hulk (2023 – present) – Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Nic Klein

For the main series, you can’t go wrong with the Peter David years and the Bill Mantlo era seems to have gained a lot of fans over the years.

The sequence from Planet Hulk to World War Hulk is highly enjoyable.

We’re really enjoying the current run, too. It’s a return to horror, like the Immortal Hulk run, but it feels a bit more like the Bruce Jones run. Banner is on the run, but this time the conspiracy pursuing him is supernatural in nature. Nic Klein is doing ridiculously good work on this title, too.

“I’m the best at what I do and what I do is cheap…”

Wolverine: Spore  Wolverine: Enemy of the State  

The  Marvel Wolverine Sale runs through Monday, 10/27

This is the sale on the “main” Wolverine titles. Let’s start out by listing the various titles involved.

  • Wolverine (’82) – Chris Claremont / Frank Miller / Paul Smith; The miniseries that kicked off the solo stories and an X-Men 2-parter that’s a sort of follow-up
  • Wolverine (’88-’03) – The original ongoing solo title. Yes, it took six years after the mini… it was a different time
  • Wolverine: Weapon X (’91) – Barry Windsor-Smith’s jaw-dropping tale of Wolverine having adamantium transplants forced on him
  • Wolverine (’03-’09) – Greg Rucka / Darick Robertson; Mark Millar / John Romita, Jr.; Jason Aaron/Ron Garney… among others (mostly Millar getting discounts)
  • Wolverine: Origin (’06-’10) – Daniel Way / Steve Dillon
  • Wolverine: Weapon X (’09) – Jason Aaron / Ron Garney
  • Wolverine (’10-’12) – Jason Aaron / Renato Guedes / Ron Garney; “Wolverine Goes to Hell” was not a metaphor
  • Wolverine (’13-’14) – Paul Cornell / Alan Davis
  • Wolverine: Savage Land (’14) – Frank Cho
  • Old Man Logan (’16-’18) – Jeff Lemire / Andrea Sorrentino; While Logan is “dead,” his future dystopian self journeys to the present day. (And it’s actually pretty good, despite the wonky premise.)
  • Return of Wolverine (’18-’19) – Charles Soule / Steve McNiven; “They always come back” <this one may or may not be discounted?>
  • Wolverine (’20-’24) – Ben Percy / Adam Kubert; The Krakoan era Logan. The first link is the “omnibus” page, here’s the individual collections page, which are discounted a little further into the series.
  • Wolverine: Madripoor Knights (’24) – Chris Claremont / Edgar Salazar – Logan, Black Widow and Cap in Madripoor? You know what the callback is.
  • Wolverine: Deep Cut (’24) – Chris Claremont / Edgar Salazar – A retro tale of Wolverine in the Outback from that era of X-Men
  • Wolverine (’24 – present) – Saladin Ahmed / Martin Coccolo
  • Wolverine: Revenge (’24) – Jonathan Hickman / Greg Capullo; An alternate future tale of love and teddy bears. OK… maybe there’s no teddy bears and lots of revenge.

So, what’s actually good?

The  original miniseries is generally regarded as a classic. Wolverine: Weapon X is also generally regarded as a classic.

With the original series, you’re pretty good from the beginning through the end of the Larry Hama run (a bit after #100), though towards the end of that, the X-Events get annoying. We’re particularly fond of the Archie Goodwin / John Byrne arc from #17-23.

Mark Millar did two great runs:

  • Enemy of the State w/ John Romita, JR introduces Gorgan and has Wolverine up against an unholy alliance of the Hand and Hydra
  • Old Man Logan w/ Steve McNiven has an aging Logan trying to keep to himself in a dystopian future when trouble comes looking. Yes, this should sound an awful lot like one of the films!

We also enjoyed Rucka’s ground level run preceding Millar.

The Krakoan era was quite enjoyable with the mild caveat that it sometimes flowed in and out with X-Force like the triangle era Superman titles.

The Once and Future Ultimate Spidey

  Miles Morales: Spider-Man  Miles Morales

The Marvel Miles Morales Sale runs through Monday, 10/27.

Miles, of course, was the second Ultimate Spider-Man, but that world no longer exists and now there’s a new Ultimate Spider-Man and… we wouldn’t want to explain that to somebody walking in off the street.

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 pop over to the  ’16-18 Bendis /Pichelli Spider-Man run.

Followed by Spider-Men: Worlds Collide by Brian Michael Bendis / Sara Pichelli / Mark Bagley, which collects Spider-Men and Spider-Men II, the original team-ups between Miles and the 616-Universe Peter Parker. The sequel is post-Secret Wars with Miles transplanted.

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

The current series is Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Cody Ziglar and Federico Vicentini. 

The Light of the Silvery Moon

Moon Knight  Moon Knight Epic Collection   Moon Knight

The Marvel Moon Knight Sale runs through Monday, 10/27.

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

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

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

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

Marvel being Marvel, this was then relaunched as Vengeance Of The Moon Knight with the same creators. Nine issues later, Moon Knight: The Fist of Khonshu launches with Domenico Carbone and Devmalya Pramanik added to the art rotation.

Highlights of the rest:

  • Moon Knight ’89-’94 – Most of this is only collected in omnibus form  for the longest running volume. This is Chuck Dixon/Sal Velluto and then the Terry Kavanaugh years with Gary Kwapisz and James Fry on art. Of possible interest, the second collection also includes a Bruce Jones/Denys Cowan special and a Doug Moench/Art Nichols team-up with Shang Chi.
  • Moon Knight ’10-12 – Brian Bendis / Alex Maleev; Controversial to say the least, this one really leans into Moon Knight’s multiple personality disorder and breaks the character if you prefer the original concept. On the other hand, it’s surprisingly witty and funny. One of the oddest takes on the character.
  • Moon Knight  ’14-’15- Most notable for the style-forward Warren Ellis/Declan Shalvey reworking (introducing the business suit)

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

You Were Expecting Dabney Coleman?

Cloak and Dagger: Shadows and Light  Cloak and Dagger: Lost and Found  Cloak And Dagger: Predator And Prey

The Marvel Cloak and Dagger Sale runs through Monday 10/27.

This feature was one of Bill Mantlo’s babies when he was at Marvel. It spun out of Peter Parker and bounced around a few different titles and relaunches, so let’s try and put the volumes in a reading order, eh?

  • Cloak and Dagger: Shadows and Light – Bill Mantlo / Ed Hannigan / Rick Leonardi; The Peter Parker appearances, first mini and some New Mutants
  • Cloak and Dagger: Lost and Found – Bill Mantlo / Rick Leonardi / Brett Blevins; The second series and the beginning of the Strange Tales run
  • Cloak And Dagger: Predator And Prey – Bill Mantlo / Peter B. Gillis / Terry Austin / Bret Blevins / Larry Alexander /Dan Lawlis /June Brigman / Larry Stroman /Sal Velluto / Mike Vosburg; A bit more Strange Tales, a couple graphic novels and the start of Mutant Misadventures
  • Cloak And Dagger: Agony And Ecstasy– Terry Austin / Steve Gerber / Terry Kavanagh / Peter B. Gillis / Rick Leonardi / Mike Vosburg / Dave Ross / Chris Ivy / Chris Warner; The rest of Mutant Misadventures
  • Cloak and Dagger: Runaways and Reversals – Brian K. Vaughan / Stuart Moore / Nick Spencer / Dan Slott / Takeshi Miyazawa / Adrian Alphona / Mark Brooks / Emma Rios / Matteo Buffagni / Alex Maleev / Peter Gross / Leonard Kirk / Cory Smith; A collection of guest appearances, notably in Runaways
  • Cloak And Dagger – Marvel Digital Original – Dennis Hopeless / Francesco Manna / David Messina; A pair of tales produced for digital

Seeing Red

House of M  Scarlet Witch by James Robinson  Scarlet Witch By Steve Orlando

The Marvel Scarlet Witch Sale runs though Monday, 10/27.

And really, this is sort of the Wanda 2.0 sale. You can tell by the lack of Vision and where it starts.

  • Avengers: Disassembled – Brian Bendis / David Finch; This is essentially the prologue to House of M
  • House of M – Brian Michael Bendis / Olivier Coipel; Wanda has remade the world into her personal alternate reality
  • Scarlet Witch by James Robinson: The Complete Collection (’15-’17) – James Robinson / Vanesa R. Del Rey / Marco Rudy / Steve Dillon
  • The Steve Orlando era – this is another one of those instance where the monthly is constantly relaunched for the Direct Market, but the collected editions are still numbered 1-5. (By all means, get the flippers to buy an extra #1…)
    • V. 1-2 – w/ Sara Pichelli & Lorenzo Tammetta
    • V. 3-5 – w/ Lorenzo Tammetta & Jacopo Camagni; Quicksilver is briefly added as a co-headliner in the serialized version

The Missing Adjective

Spider-Man  Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives  Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin

The Marvel Goblin Sale runs through Monday, 10/27.

Look, all we’re saying is we’ve lived a few places where “Goblin” could mean some very different things depending on the word in front of it. In the case of this sale, the missing word is usually Green/Gold/Red with a little Hobgoblin stirred in for spice. These are basically random volumes with a Goblin in them, but here are some things that stood out to us:

Hornhead

Daredevil  Daredevil Epic Collection  Daredevil by Zdarsky

The Marvel Daredevil Sale runs through Monday, 10/27.

Let’s break this down by series. Like X-Men, Daredevil has had fewer relaunches than some titles.

  • Daredevil ’64-’98 – The original run.
  • Daredevil ’98-11 – The Marvel Knights relaunch. Kevin Smith / Brian Bendis / Ed Brubaker
    • For the Bendis and Brubaker runs, you want the Omnibus section and scroll down for their respective “Ultimate Collections”
  • Daredevil ’11-15 – This was really two volumes with an arbitrary relaunch in the middle, but the excellent run by Mark Waid / Chris Samnee / Paolo Rivera / Javier Rodriguez is a better buy in this 5 volume set that collects both volumes and treats it like the single run it was.
  • Daredevil ’15-’18 – The Charles Soule era with Ron Garney as the main artist.
  • Daredevil ’19-’21 – Chip Zdarsky’s breakout title as a writer. Marco Checcetto is the primary artist.
  • Daredevil: Woman Without Fear ’22 – Zdarsky / Rafael de Latorre; Sort of a bridge title during the Devil’s Reign event, but part of the ongoing plot. Note: this is included in the final DD omnibus for the ’19-’21 run.
  • Daredevil ’22-’23 – Also known as Daredevil & Elektra. The final act to the Zdarsky/Checcetto era; This doesn’t look like it’s actually on sale, which would be silly — it’s the ending to the story.
  • Daredevil ‘23-present – Saladin Ahmed / Aaron Kuder; Picking up after the Zdarsky finale is effectively a “born again” scenario… bit more literally than with Miller.

What’s good here? Honestly, with the exception of the “Shadowlands” Event at the end of the Marvel Knights run, DD has been consistently good to great since Frank Miller showed up. You don’t hear us saying that about every title! We will say that Gene Colan’s return to DD (with Joe Kelly writing) seems to be under the radar these days.  But starting with Miller, just pick a run (Miller / O’Neil / Nocenti / Chichester / Kessel / Kelly / Smith / Bendis / Brubaker / Waid / Soule / Zdarsky / Ahmed) and dig in. Also, you should probably count Bendis and Brubaker as one long run, which is worth it.

Unannounced Sales

Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons    My Hero Academia

As usual, we’re not sure when these sales are ending, but here’s what we’re seeing:

Additionally, it looks like much of the Ultimates, Punisher, Nova and Red Sonja material from recent weeks is still on sale. The Under $5 Page has the lower priced volumes.

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Amazon (at Comixology) Sales: Starhenge, Dynamite Horror, Fantastic Four, Dark Tower

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Dynamite starts off spooky season with a horror sale and we dig up some unannounced Fantastic Four, Starhenge  and Dark Tower.

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):

Housekeeping: It’s been a consistently strange few weeks and this one is no exception. Marvel is now completely missing from the Deals page. Does that mean there’s no Marvel on sales? Certainly not. Not all the expired prices have truly disappeared and we found some odds and ends floating around.

Enter: Spooky Season

Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama  Devolution  The Twilight Zone

The Dynamite World of Horror Sale runs through Friday, 10/31.

Dynamite does quite a bit of horror and ’tis the season. Let’s have a look at some highlights:

Yes, there’s some variety to the horror and some new creations in the mix. We would also note that a certain Mr. Straczynski was a story editor on the 80s revival of The Twilight Zone.

Unannounced Sales

Starhenge  Fantastic Four: Grand Design Incredible Doom: A Graphic Novel

As usual, we’re not sure when these sales are ending, but here’s what we’re seeing:

Fantastic That Something’s Discounted

Yes, we did find a swatch of Fantastic Four titles quietly discounted:

[Note: The Complete Collection overlaps with Vol. 3 of the Hickman run]

The Unusual Suspects

Of note: Starhenge is Liam Sharp pushing his artistic envelope.

Additionally, it looks like much of the Ultimates, Punisher, Nova and Red Sonja material from recent weeks is still on sale. The Under $5 Page has the lower priced volumes.

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