Tag: Matt Wagner

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Chip Zdarsky’s Marvel Titles (DD, Spidey, Invaders); Milestone Media; Squirrel Girl and Grendel

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we’ve got discounts on Chip Zdarsky Marvel run – think Daredevil and Spidey, Squirrel Girl, Grendel and Milestone Media from the DC files.

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):

The Once and Future Mayor of Toronto

The Marvel Chip Zdarsky Sale runs through Monday, 6/20.

You did know that long before the Kingpin was mayor of NYC, Chip Zdarsky ran for mayor of Toronto, right?  We love that guy.

So, as you probably have heard, Zdarsky’s taking over Batman shortly and has been enjoying a very productive run at Marvel.  Let’s break down the main offerings.

So what’s good? We wouldn’t say “no” to any of it, with the caveat that we tend to look the other way when Steve Gerber isn’t the one writing Howard.

Daredevil is the title that’s probably gotten the most attention and it’s a very good one, well worth your time.  Mayor Fisk, a bizarre game of chess with billionaires and ‘ole Hornhead in jail… we have nothing but love.

You’ll hear big proponents for the Spidey work, particularly the mini’s.

However, the one that we’re the most in the bag for is actually Invaders. The original superteam of WWII reunites in the present day to try and figure out what’s going on with Namor’s erratic behavior. It’s sort of/ kind of a Sub-Mariner title, addressing several sub-plots from other titles over the years and attempting to streamline his timeline a bit. Conspiracies, global politics, Captain America. We miss this one coming out.

Daredevil by Zdarsky   Invaders

But Does She Know Bullwinkle?

The Marvel Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Sale runs through Monday, 6/20.

OK… this one is a little bit of a maze of multiple packagings of the same comics. Here’s how we’d probably approach this:

  • Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series “2015A” and “2015B” by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. This is where everything starts and the original Squirrel Girl appearances are in the first volume.  These are omnibus editions and take you up to #31 of the “2015B” series.
  • To get the rest of the series, switch over to the single volumes and V.9 – 12 will take you from issue #32 to the end. Coincidentally, this is where Derek Charm pops in as artist.

That’s the easy way. Now, if you want the absolute cheapest way, you want to sub in these two alternate packaging volumes for V.2 and V.3 of those omnibuses above (i.e. #1-21 of “2015B”).

Yes… this is way more complicated than it should be.

Squirrel Girl

The McDuffie Legacy

The DC Spotlight: Milestone Sale runs through Monday 6/20.

As you may recall, Milestone was relaunched not too long ago, so what we have here is a mix of the original run and the new run.  Let’s try and organize this a bit, since this is a real mess to try and navigate on Amazon.

Original (with $0.99 single issues)

New (with $1.99 single issues)

So, what is Milestone? It was originally an imprint set up at (but not owned by) DC by Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Derek Dingle and Michael Davis. It last around 4 years, initially making quite a splash and then fading a bit amidst strong rumors of backdoor politics at DC.  You remember the Static Shock cartoon? That’s Static from Milestone.

Creators that emerged through Milestone?  A bunch. Including Mark Bright, JH Williams III, John Paul Leon, Tommy Lee Edwards and Jamal Igle.

Recently, it reformed with Cowan and Dingle joined by Reginald Hudlin, who’s show-running the revived titles.

We’re going from distant memory on this, since we mostly switched over to collected editions a few years back, the original Milestone material has been mostly out of circulation and the collected editions mostly haven’t dropped on the new material.

Our favorite Milestone book is actually the ’12 run of Xombi by John Rozum and Frazier Irving. Great book, but only the first issue is available, so we’re not bothering with a link… and we’re waiting for the original Xombi to get reissued.

We do remember, and think very highly of, the first Hardware arc by Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan. Think Tony Stark inventing his armor while in a sort of indentured servitude to Lex Luthor. It’s a meditation on control and a pretty spot-on commentary about exclusive contracts and non-compete agreements. If you’ve seen some of the legalese from the tech industry around the time this was written, you might even say it had a certain basis in reality.

Past that, McDuffy didn’t write everything and Cowan didn’t draw everything… but their fingerprints are all over the place and those originals are worth a peek while they’re on sale.

Hardware

Whither Beowulf?

The Dark Horse Grendel Sale runs through Monday 6/27.

We wonder if there’s a TV debut approaching?  Hmmm…

Anyway, this is Matt Wagner’s long running (since 1982) series of the malevolent spirit of Grendel and it’s manifestations. Originally more a crime/noir with a bit o’ fantasy around the edges, it grew into horror and science fiction with some serious evolution along the way. This one’s a little easier to parse than most:

Start with the Omnibus editions.  V.1 will be what Netflix is initially adapting. V. 1-4 are the core, with Grendel Tales being side anthologies.  Disregard the expensive, not yet released, new Netflix edition of V.1.

Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey (with Matt Wagner doing art, as well as writing) is the latest continuation and takes place after Omnibus V.4

And for a side-excursion, Grendel Vs. The Shadow has the Hunter Rose version of Grendel (see: V.1) squaring off against the pulp detective.

Grendel Omnibus   Grendel: Devil's Odyssey   Grendel vs. The Shadow

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Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: Wolverine and the X-Men, Watchmen, Doctor Strange, Doomsday Clock, Avengers and Grendel

This week’s Comixology Sales include Marvel dropping the price on Wolverine and the X-Men, Doctor Strange team-ups and alternate versions of the Avengers. DC discounts Watchmen and Doomsday Clock, while Dark Horse slashes prices on Grendel.

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

Strange Bedfellows

The Marvel Doctor Strange Team-Up Sale runs through Thursday, 12/16. (Amazon link)

Hmmm… you’d think there was a movie about that or something? At any rate, this is an odd set of books and Stephen Strange isn’t exactly at the center of much of them. Are there a few we like? Yes. Yes, there are.

As we’ve said before, Tom “I just signed an exclusive with DC” Taylor and David Lopez do a wonderful job with All-New Wolverine.  That would be X-23 / Laura, not Logan, but it’s a genuinely fun book and their run hits all over the emotional spectrum by the end.  Plus, not unlike Spidey, there’s a bunch of clones.

Another thing that stands out are a couple of volumes of Marvel Two-In-One from the Mark Gruenwald/Ralph Macchio era of the title.  Project Pegasus,  with George Perez, Sal Buscema and John Byrne along for the ride, has Ben Grimm running security for a super villain lock-up, but all is not as it seems.

The Serpent Crown Affair with George Perez, Jerry Bingham and Ron Wilson is a sprawling adventure as The Thing teams with Stingray, Triton, Scarlet Witch, Spidey, Quasar and Doctor Strange as Roxxon (and their catspaws, The Serpent Squad) try to get their hands on the Serpent Crown in a sequel of sorts to the Avengers storyline. This is the better-priced, if shorter, of the two Thing volumes.

All-New Wolverine   Project Pegasus   The Serpent Crown Affair

Snikt and Friends

The Marvel Wolverine & the X-Men Sale runs through Sunday, 12/13. (Amazon link)

This sale is pretty straightforward: the Wolverine & the X-Men run written by Jason Aaron with Nick Bradshaw and Chris Bachalo as the main artists.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Alternate Avengers

The Marvel Avengers of the Multiverse Sale runs through Sunday, 12/12. (Amazon link)

We’re so glad they didn’t call this “Avengers of the Metaverse.”

Our favorite of this selection of Avengers incarnations is definitely Avengers Forever. This collection of a twelve issue series by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Carlos Pacheo is one big epic about the war between Kang and Immortus… with callbacks to the Kree/Skrull War, as Rick Jones summons up a team of Avengers from throughout the timestream to save him from Immortus.

The Ultimates seems to be a love it or hate it book. This Mark Millar/Bryan Hitch title is a reimagined Avengers for Ultimate Marvel line (as Ultimate Comics was originally called). This time around it’s the government assembling the heroes and the heroes are a little rougher around the edges. A very influential run, especially for the film division. You can go ahead and get Ultimates 2 if this floats your boat, be we’d advise against Ultimates 3.

Avengers Forever   Ultimates

Watchmen and Spinoffs

The DC Spotlight: Watchmen & Doomsday Clock Sale runs through Monday, 12/13. (Amazon link)

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is one of the most famous comics of the last 40 years. Technically, Marvelman/Miracleman preceded it as a post-modern deconstruction of superheroes (and Moore’s Captain Britain was heading in that general direction), but this is title that gets the credit for that particular mid-80s revolution. It’s a milestone and basically part of cultural literacy at this point.

Now… for the rest of the sale…

Here at the Tower of Cheap, we don’t really take a kind view of the cash grab nature of some of the Watchmen brand extensions. (Pardon us for using the marketing department’s lingo, but we feel it’s the reality of the situation.) Oh, there’s A-list talent involved, but we’d have preferred it if things were left well enough alone.

That said, Doomsday Clock might be of interest to some. This was the Geoff Johns / Gary Frank attempt to bring the Watchmen into the DC Universe and set up the next era of storylines. Those grander ambitions did not quite come of, partially due to how behind schedule the single issues were.  We enjoyed the first… maybe 2/3 of it, but didn’t think they nailed the ending. Lovely art, but you’d expect nothing less from Frank. So put this one down as a partial recommendation with reservations.

Watchmen   Doomsday Clock

Not Beowulf

The  Dark Horse Grendel Sale runs through Monday, 12/13.

Grendel is a very old school indie comic character/saga that goes back to the early ’80s… and is still going. Matt Wagner started the saga back at Comico with an assassin anti-hero. It grew to include new characters taking up the mask and mantle. It grew a little more to reveal Grendel is a sort of spirit of violence and aggression that possesses hosts over the years. And it becomes a science fiction epic as it goes on. Wagner is the writer and guiding force. Sometimes he draws, sometimes its other folks like the Pander Brothers or Tim Sale

This is one of the rare instances where the sale page is laid out well and easy to navigate. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Grendel Omnibus V. 1-4 are the core story. Definitely start with V. 1, which is the original Hunter Rose character across the years.
  • Grendel Tales Omnibus is the tribute album series – other creators doing… Grendel tales.
  • Grendel: Behold the Devil is collected in Grendel Omnibus V. 1, so don’t get it twice
  • Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey is the the most recent series (wrapped up in July) and the $0.99 single issues are the cheapest way to get it.

Grendel Omnibus

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