In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s May the Fourth with Star Wars getting discounts at both Marvel and Dark Horse. Marvel also slashes prices on nearly the full run of Thor and unannounced sales ranging from Godzilla to Superman: Son of Kal-El.
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 new releases page is here.
- The “Comics Deals” page is here.
- The Kindle Deals comics page is here.
Nothing But Star Wars
The Marvel Star Wars May the 4th Sale runs through Monday, 5/12.
First, let’s run through the highlights. These are mostly the current Marvel Star Wars titles, not the Dark Horse or original Marvel runs.
- Bounty Hunters (’20 -’24) – Ethan Sacks / Paolo Villanelli
- Star Wars: Dark Droids – Charles Soule / Luke Ross
- Star Wars: Dark Droids – D-Squad – Marc Guggenheim / Salvador Espin
- Star Wars: Darth Maul – Cullen Bunn / Luke Ross
- Star Wars: Darth Maul – Son of Dathomir – Jeremy Barlow / Juan Frigeri
- Darth Vader (’15-’16) – The AMAZING Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca run… and remember to get Vader Down – the Darth Vader / Star Wars crossover sequence that is KEY to this run and is not in the regular collections (just the omnibuses)
- Darth Vader (’17 – ’18) – The also great Charles Soule / Giuseppe Camuncoli run
- Darth Vader (’20 – ’24) – Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco step in.
- Doctor Aphra (’16-’19) – Sort of an evil Indiana Jones in the Star Wars universe, spinning off from Darth Vader. The early Gillen/Walker run is particularly good. Plus, a reminder to get The Screaming Citadel – Star Wars/Aphra crossover with key plot points to the early sequence – it’s included in the Omnibus, but not the “regular” volumes. (Seeing a pattern?)
- Doctor Aphra (’20 – ’24) – Alyssa Wong / Marika Cresta / Minkyu Jung
- Hidden Empire Trilogy
- War of the Bounty Hunters (’21) – Charles Soule / Steve McNiven / Luke Ross, wherein Boba Fett tries to deliver a carbonite encased Han Solo to Jaba the Hutt (and the Companion volume)
- Star Wars: Crimson Reign – Charles Soule / Steven Cummings
- Star Wars: Hidden Empire – Charles Soule / Steven Cummings
- Kanan: The Last Padawan – Star Wars Rebels prequel by by Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz
- The Mandalorian (’22-’23) – Rodney Barnes and Georges Jeanty adapt the first season
- Star Wars (’15-’19) – The Marvel flagship title amazingly went 4 years without a relaunch!
- Star Wars (’20 – ’24) – The relaunch! And, following protocol, Charles Soule moves from Darth Vader to Star Wars, like Gillen before him.
- Star Wars: The High Republic (’21-’22)
- Star Wars: The High Republic: Phase II (’22-’23)
- Star Wars: The High Republic: The Blade
- Star Wars: The Rise Of Kylo Ren – Charles Soule / Will Sliney
Recommendations? For whatever reason, Darth Vader seems to bring out the best in Marvel. Those first two series with Gillen and Soule, especially. Is it a coincidence Lucasfilm hired Charles Soule as a creative consultant?
Your under the radar title is Kanan. A very solid series from one the Star Wars Rebels producers and we no longer have to introduce Pepe Larraz, do we?
Sturm und Hammer?
Marvel’s Thor Sale runs through Monday, 5/12.
Pretty much the full Thor line, with the caveat that the Marvel Masterworks volumes are not on sale, which is to say, Epic Collections are your friend.
As per our custom, here’s the breakdown by series/volume:
- Journey Into Mystery ’52-’66 – The earliest Thor stories from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
- The Mighty Thor ’66-’96 – From Lee & Kirby until the relaunches started
- The Mighty Thor ’96-’04 – The Heroes return Dan Jurgens era, initially with John Romita, Jr.
- Thor ’07-’11 – Starts with J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel, ends with Matt Fraction & Pasqual Ferry. Gillen in the middle.
- The Mighty Thor ’11-’12 – Fraction gets a relaunch with Coipel, Ferry and early Pepe Larraz
- The Jason Aaron era ’12-’19 – It’s a LOT easer to look at the omnibuses across all the relaunches here
- Thor ’20 to ’23 – The Donny Cates run with Nic Klein as the primary artist; Torunn GrØnbekk tags in towards the end while Cates was recovering from his accident (and filled in well, we might add).
- Immortal Thor (’23 – current) – Al Ewing / Martin Coccolo;
If your point of reference for Thor is the last film, you want the Jason Aaron era. The God Butcher is the first arc. If you go with that set of omnibuses, Jane Foster picks up the hammer in V.2. We don’t think that starting with the first Jane Foster issues (and slimmer volumes) is a great jumping on point. It’s a saga and you’ll get a lot more out of it if you start at the beginning of Aaron’s run.
Past that, we’re all about the Walt Simonson Thor. It’s probably the most influential run since early days and it’s great. You’ll want the Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson set that starts here. (The Thor by Walter Simonson version of the reprints seems to be missing the final volume, or at least the last few issues. *sigh* These things happen.)
We also like to go back to the original Lee/Kirby. Not too early. We’d say stay closer to where it changed from Journey Into Mystery to Thor. The first year of JIM was a little rough. The Wrath of Odin Epic Collection is a good chunk of prime Lee/Kirby Thor and also features the first time Jane Foster was elevated to godhood, since it turns out to now be foreshadowing.
Something under the radar? Ignore this being marketed as a kid’s comic – Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee had a short run on Thor: The Mighty Avenger that was just a good Thor comic, full stop. And you might expect that from those two.
If you want to move in the opposite direction, Thor: Vikings is a seriously violent Marvel MAX title from Garth Ennis and Glenn Fabry that has Viking zombies invading Manhattan. (No, not Fleet Week. That’s different.)
We also have naught but love for the current Immortal Thor run.
Unannounced Sales
First, the Dark Horse Star Wars section sticks around for May the Fourth.
- Star Wars
- Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures
- Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III
- Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories
- Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy Graphic Novel
And some more likely suspects:
- Barbaric – Michael Moreci / Nathan C. Gooden
- Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined – David F. Walker / Marcus Kwame Anderson; Huck Finn retold from Jim’s perspective
- Godzilla: Half Century War – James Stokoe
- The Monolith – Jimmy Palmiotti / Justin Gray / Phil Winslade
- The Mystery Knight: A Graphic Novel – George R. R. Martin / Ben Avery/ Mike S. Miller
- Superman: Son of Kal-El (2021-) Vol. 1: The Truth – Tom Taylor / John Timms (although let’s see how long this remains $3.99)
- Wash Day Diaries – Jamila Rowser / Robyn Smith
- Wool: The Graphic Novel – Hugh Howey / Jimmy Palmiotti / Justin Gray / Jimmy Broxton
The Marvel “Maybe” Sales
The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.
Dropping This Week
- Fantastic Four Vs. Galactus – Stan Lee / Jack Kirby; John Byrne; $10.99
- Human Torch: Burn – Karl Kessel / Skottie Young; $10.99
- Kid Venom: Origins – Taigami; $8.99
Dropping Next Week
- Phases Of The Moon Knight – Jed MacKay / Manuel Garcia; $6.99
Still on Sale
- The Marvel Thunderbolts Sale runs through Monday, 5/19
- The Kodansha Now That’s What I Call Manga Sale runs through Tuesday, 5/6