Miles Morales Archives - Page 2 of 2

In this week’s Comixology Sales, we start to look at the Black History Month sales, which includes some *choice* Black Panther material, Miles Morales, N.K Jemison and John Ridley at DC, plus George Takei, Alan More, Elektra, the Fantastic Four and the Black Hammer.

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

Wakanda Forever

The Marvel Black Panther Sale runs through Sunday (2/28).

T’Challa has been gifted with some excellent runs and superior creators over the years. The earlier material was not as visible as the more recent adventures, so we’re going to highlight those.

The Black Panther Epic Collection: Panther’s Rage is the original Don McGregor run with art by Billy Graham, Rich Buckler and Gil Kane (among others) that really fleshes out the Black Panther cast. This is where Killmonger first turns up, along with the original rogues gallery. A classic.

Black Panther: Panther’s Quest is Don McGregor returning to Black Panther for a serial in Marvel Comics Presents. Gene Colan provides the art for this serial, which is a much more grounded take on the character as T’Challa sneaks into South Africa looking for his mother.

Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection is the Priest run (with a rotating cast of artists, particularly early on). Probably the wittiest Black Panther run, this one really runs the gamut from broad farce to thriller. It also builds firmly on the foundation from the original Panther’s Rage sequence.

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…or you could call it a Spider-Man sale

Marvel’s Miles Morales Sale will run through Sunday (2/28).

These comics can be a little hard to keep track of because of how often Marvel’s felt compelled to give the series a new first issue. It’s best to start with Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection. This omnibus sequence starts from the beginnings in the old Ultimate Universe, where introducing Miles seemed to re-energize Bendis and set him on the path for another long character run.

A couple BIG writing names from other fields

The DC Black History Month Sale runs through Monday (2/8).

We seem to recall enjoying American Way when it first came out as a collected edition several years ago. It’s a well regarded superhero saga that came out from the Wildstorm long before author John Ridley won his Oscar for 12 Years a Slave. Georges Jeanty and Karl Story provide the art. Interestingly, there’s no collected edition in digital, so you’ll need the single issues here.

Far Sector is a Green Lantern tale by multiple Hugo award winning author N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell. A rookie Green Lantern on the far side of galaxy investigates a murder in a world where emotions have been suppressed. This series hasn’t actually wrapped up yet, but you can get a chunk of it for $0.99 a pop.

Michael Cray by Bryan Hill and N. Steven Harris might be an odd one to pick up solo, but it’s a good one. A companion piece to the Warren Ellis Wildstorm revival, Cray is an assassin for International Operations and is leaving the bodies of the Wildstorm universe’s funhouse mirror versions of the Justice League in his wake.

Ninja Assassin

Marvel’s Elektra Sale runs though Sunday (2/7). Elektra’s one of those characters that’s so strongly associated with her creator, we’re also going to recommend the early material as a starting point.

Elektra Assassin is probably the artistic high point. This Frank Miller/Bill Sienkiewicz series involves Elektra and a SHIELD agent named Garrett chasing and being chased by The Beast. It’s a very subversive take on Elektra and extremely influential.

You also can’t go wrong with Miller’s original run which is contained in 3 volumes of Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson.

Hammered

Dark Horse has the Black Hammer Sale running through Monday (2/8). No, we don’t think this is a Black History Month sale. This is the much celebrated superhero tale by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. It starts out with a group of heroes trapped for years in rural community and eventually builds out an entire universe around it. It’s probably best to start with the main series before branching out into the supporting mini-series. It’s a comic that’s earned it’s way over the years. Head up: the “regular” collections are slightly less expensive that the “library” editions.

All kinds of FF on sale

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Sale runs through Thursday (2/11).

This is a challenging one to provide links for. There are tons of digital collections crammed into long running series and you’re probably better off going through the main sale link for individual items. But what do we like? The Epic Editions are nice and thick. You can get the whole Lee/Kirby run there, as well as later material. The best volume is probably The Coming of Galactus or The Name is Doom… but we’ve nothing but good things to say about the Walt Simonson run.

Past that, Fantastic Four by Mark Waid & Mike Wieringo is awfully good.

The inverse of “well” comics

The (IDW) Top Shelf Sale runs through Monday (12/15). Top Shelf being an imprint IDW pulled into its orbit a few years ago with a longer history of alternative and arts comics.

The Bojeffries Saga is one of the thinner volumes we’ll recommend, but it’s one we’ve always liked. The easiest way to describe it is Alan Moore’s British Adams Family. Yes, Alan Moore’s pretty darn funny when he has a mind to be. This is him and Steve Parkhouse telling tales of a monstrous family.

They Called Us Enemy is George Takei’s multiple award winning memoir of his childhood in a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. It’s co-written with Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger with art by Harmony Becker.

Current Comixology sales include Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby’s The Eternals from Marvel, an eclectic selection of 90s comics from DC and Image has a big batch of science fiction on a deep discount.

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

Let’s start things out with a Spider-Man sale. Specifically a Miles Morales sale. If you’re looking for Miles in solo spider-adventures, the best value is the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set. 300+ page volumes for $7.99 – and the first one includes the Spider-Men mini-series, which lives up to the hype. If you want to maximize pages for your dollar, there are a couple things of extra interest here. The All-New All-Different Avengers Collection which is the Champions precursor by Mark Waid/Adam Kubert/Mahmud Asrar gets you 401 pages for $7.99. And then Champions: Because The World Still Needs Heroes is the first 12 issues of that title, 305 pages for $4.99.

Starman by James Robinson and (initially) Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger was one of DC’s best titles of the mid-to-late 90s. An early legacy title, this one was heavy on the character development and a sense of history. It’s one of the more glaring absences from DC’s reprint library. Both collections are on sale, but the rest of the series is available in digital.

Sandman Mystery Theater was the rare early to mid-90s non-horror Vertigo title. It told the pulp-ish adventures of the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds – you know, the one with the gas mask – against a pre-WWII backdrop. Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with Guy Davis being the most regular artist, this is another one where only two collections have been produced, despite a lengthy run and you need to go to digital singles to finish it. And it’s worth finishing.

The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and you’re going to a pattern here, also has two collections out and then the rest of the run is available as digital singles. A surprisingly philosophical horror series by the end, set in the DCU, Jim Corrigan tries to come to grips with his death and existence as the host for a brutally vengeful and extremely powerful spirit.

In the early 90s, Lobo was the baddest bastich there was. We will not speak of New 52 Lobo. The original series of mini-series and specials by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley and company, was edgy and filled with off-color humor. An effective tool for offending the easily offended, as MTV used to say about Monty Python. You want the original, not the revival.

And for something that’s frequently overlooked, have a look at The Atlantis Chronicles in single issues. (Yes, they rudely kept the first issue at $1.99). These double-sized issues written by Peter David and wonderfully illustrated by Esteban Maroto are the trident and sorcery story of the rise and fall of Atlantis. It’s a real achievement that flew under a lot of radars.

Running through next Thursday (11/19) is the Image Science Fiction Sale where a number of their SF collections are sale. Suggestions?

Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (who one an Eisner for his art on the series) is the tale of little boy who happens to be a robot, searching for his family as humanity against the backdrop of an uprising. Wonderful series. The collected editions are less expensive than the omnibus editions during the sale.

Paper Girls is a time travel adventure about four twelve year old girls who deliver newspapers and stumble into something far bigger. It’s by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. This is another title where it’s less expensive to get the regular collected editions than the Omnibus editions during the sale.

Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov is a one-off where a Flash Gordon-type adventurer is pulled out of retirement in his golden years when the planet he saved 40 years earlier runs into trouble. A breezy space opera with superior art.

Running through Sunday (11/15) is Marvel’s Eternals Sale. Yes, there’s going to be a movie out eventually and it’s also where the Celestials came from. This is a case where you absolutely want to start at the source: the original Jack Kirby series (save a couple bucks and get the omnibus). If that floated your boat, and it should, move on to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita, Jr. Mini-series.

Eternals by Jack Kirby