Tag: Ultimate Fantastic Four

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Avengers, Ultimate Universe, Superior Spider-Man, Superman, Elfquest

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has the Avengers, Superior Spider-Man and the Ultimate Universe in individual sales, and then a 700 item sale that’s a bit more random. DC has a Superman sale… sort of. Plus, Elfquest and Murder on the Orient Express.

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):

DC is Back… Sort Of

Superman: Red Son  Superman: Warworld Rising  Superman

The DC Superman Day 2025 Sale runs through Monday, 4/28.

These are not the DC prices we’ve been seeing since December. This is more in line with the apparent new pricing system we discussed last week (in fact, we’re pretty sure at least some of these prices were in place last week). Newer volumes are mostly around $8.99. Older volumes are lower.

Things at favorable price points:

The (mostly Action Comics-based) Superman: Warworld saga by Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Daniel Sampere / Riccardo Federici from a few years back:

We enjoyed that arc, which is quite a bit darker than Superman normally goes.

  • Superman: Ending Battle – Geoff Johns / Joe Casey / Joe Kelly / Mike Schultz / Pasqual Ferry; The Manchester Black saga
  • Superman: Braniac – Geoff Johns / Gary Frank; The ’08 reset of Brainiac and Kandor
  • Superman: Red Son – Mark Millar / Dave Johnson / Killian Plunkett; An Elseworlds that posits “What If baby Kal-El’s rocket landed in the Soviet Union?”

The current series is here, but note the price. Pay attention to all the prices here, actually.

And a note on that All-Star Superman listing: $17.99? Just say no. That’s ridiculous. First off, it’s a great example of the fallacy of basing digital discounts off a hardcover print list price. Second off, we suspect this is part of a pricing experiment and they want to see how many people are paying ZERO attention when something appears in a sale listing. One might wonder how they would describe their customers if this is something they want to test?

If you really have a (J’onn) jones for All-Star Superman, get the $8.83 version. (Yes, that’s a weird price, but that’s what it shows up as for us.) Or get the “Compact” edition in print for $9.29. We’ve got your Truth, Justice and the Cheap Way right here.

Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble

The Marvel Avengers Sale runs through Monday, 4/28

And this as pretty much everything except the Masterworks editions. (Hey, don’t look at us… we think that’s a strange omission, too.)

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… but it is in Doctor Doom sale, this week only. (Stranger and stranger.)

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.

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.

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

Ultimate… Ultimate?

Ultimates Ultimate Fantastic Four Ultimate Comics - The Ultimates

The  Marvel Ultimate Universe Sale runs through Monday 4/21.

Yes, it’s the greater original Ultimate Universe… just without Spidey and X-Men.

There a bit more to the sale, but that’s the bulk of the highlights. What’s good? The Millar/Hitch Ultimates are hugely influential (especially to the film world). Ultimate FF absolutely has it’s moments. Not everybody realizes that the Marvel Zombies debuted in V. 3 (omnibus version) and are not played for laughs.  Now, we don’t often issue “avoid” warnings around here, but there are a couple things here that we’ll advise against. The Orson Scott Card Ultimate Iron Man? Don’t bother. It’s awful. Ultimatum? Nope! That very nearly killed the line. There are MUCH better things to read in this imprint than those two.

Superiority Complex

Superior Spider-Man Superior Spider-Man Companion Superior Spider-Man

The Marvel Superior Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 4/21.

Yes, that would be the run when Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker’s body. One of the greatest moments of “wait… this is actually good” in recent history. (Everyone we knew winced at the high concept, but the execution was on the money!)

The primary Superior Spider-Man series by Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman is best packaged in the 2-volume Complete collection, that also includes the “Dying Wish” arc that sets up the run.

Superior Spider-Man Companion gets you the first 12 issues of Superior Spider-Man Team-Up and some tie-in issues.

Superior Spider-Man (’18-’19) is the Christos Gage / Mike Hawthorne revival that returns Otto Octavious to his Spidey persona.

And for something a little different? The absolutely hilarious Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer & Steve Lieber. Boomerang tries to organize a gang of Spidey’s b-list foes and make a big score. Things… do not go as intended. Think an even more absurd Dortmunder novel with super villains and you won’t be far off.

A New Sale Page?

Fall of the House of X  G.O.D.S.  Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees

“Amazon Book Sale: Limited time savings of up to 75% on select titles” – unknown duration.

Don’t expect 75% off too many things here. Some of the discounts are decidedly slight… and yes, there are some odd price points.

Of particular interest:

Interesting, but the discount is slight… then again, you don’t see IDW discounted much, these days:

If you like single issues there are a ton of Ablaze titles, including their own take on Conan which have enjoyed from time to time.

Hidden *Marvel* Sales

Darth Vader  Miracleman Wolverine

You might miss the “Marvel Up To 60% Off Sale” because it looks like an ad.

A quick and dirty list of things we found in it. Yes, some of this feels like the May the Fourth Be With You sale is early. No clue how long it lasts, but it appears to have 702 items in it, so perhaps worth a browse over the weekend. Also, Miracleman gets a discount less often than other titles…

Unannounced Sales

Elfquest  Money Shot  Murder on the Orient Express

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Fantastic Four  Ultimate Black Panther  Deadpool Team-Up

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

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Current Unlisted Sales – Hulk; Ultimate Universe; Batman / Red Hood; Nexus

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we’re seeing unlisted sales on Hulk, the original Ultimate Universe, Dark Horse SF, Red Hood and a tiny bit of Batman

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):

Here we go again. We don’t know if there’s a new policy at Amazon to take down the expiring sales and not post new ones for 24-48 hours or there’s been another posting error… but we know there are some new sales up and we know you were wondering… so here’s what we’re seeing.

As usually we’ll be back at the end of the week with the actual sales links, things that we missed, and recommendations. This is more of a quick and dirty while we’re scavenging.

Hulk Smash Prices Like Used Cars

Hulk Planet Hulk Immortal Hulk

Looks like this is probably a Hulk legacy sale with (nearly) everything on sale?

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The Totally Awesome Hulk (2015-17) – This would be Amadeus Cho’s turn as Hulk, which mean Greg Pak is you primary writer with an artist rotation including Frank Cho, Alan Davis and Luke Ross
  • Immortal Hulk (2018-21) – Al Ewing’s masterpiece as the Hulk slides over towards horror and find a green door that leads to Hell.
  • Hulk (2021-23) – The Donny Cates / Ryan Ottley run

We don’t think it’s really a sale price on the first volume of the current Johnson/Klein series (but we’re enjoying it).

The Ultimate Call-Back

Ultimates Ultimate Fantastic Four Ultimate Comics - The Ultimates

Looks like the original Ultimate Universe is also on sale.

Spaced Out

Nexus

Looks like some sort of science fiction sale over at Dark Horse. We’ll dig in a little more at the end of the week, but for now, a couple likely lads are Nexus, the classic Mike Baron/Steve Rude series about a reluctant assassin with superhero trappings (although it’s not really a superhero series) and Bryan Talbot’s Luther Arkwright – now in a big ‘ole omnibus edition.

Bats on Deck?

Batman: A Death in the Family  Batman: Death of the Family

DC might be holding out with just last week’s continuing Suicide Squad / Justice League sale… but we’re seeing an odd Batman juxtaposition on sale:

And then some Red Hood. First the New 52 Red Hood and the Outlaws by Scott Lobdell and (initially) Kenneth Rocafort, then the Scott Lobdell / Dexter Soy / Pete Woods DC Rebirth run of  Red Hood and the Outlaws.

It’s getting around the time of the year for a Bat-sale, so this might be the run up?

Anyway, we’ll be back at the end of the week to look at the “official” sales, which ought to have been posted by then.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Secret Invasion, Ultimate X-Men, Flash, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Lone Wolf and Cub

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts Secret Invasion, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. DC has a second Flash sale and Dark Horse slashes prices on Lone Wolf & Cub.

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 Flash Sequel

The DC Flash Multiverse Sale runs through Monday, 7/3.

Yes, it’s a sequel… to last week’s Flash sale. (And a lot of the same comics are still on sale). Go back to the last column for a look at some of the Flash comics on sale and we’ll focus on Multiversal goodness here.  For example…

Multiversity by Grant Morrison, Ivan Reis, Frank Quitely and Jim Lee (among others) is just about as multiverse as a person can get. That would be Morrison creating new and fun worlds from whole cloth and conducting and interdimensional tour of sorts. Your basic triumph of imagination and fun. Plus, it’s a 450 page volume.

Justice League of America: The Nail – The Complete Collection by Alan Davis. A nail gives Ma and Pa Kent a flat tire and they don’t find Kal-El’s rocket. Thus, the Justice League forms in a world without Superman and it’s a less trusting world.  A masterwork from Davis. This collects The Nail and the sequel Another Nail.

And for something off the radar – Freedom Fighters: Rise of a Nation by Robert Venditti, Eddy Barrows and Bruno Redondo. This one pretty much shocked us when we read it. A modern, and darker, telling of the traditional Earth X setup. On world where the Germany won WWII and crushed the remaining resistance in a Dallas book depository in 1963, a team of Freedom Fighters reform in the image of the fallen and seek out Uncle Sam to lead them against their Nazi oppressors.  Much closer in tone to The Man in the High Castle than the original. And yes, its a spin-off from Multiversity.

Plenty more to look at in this sale, should you have some time to browse.

Multiversity   The Nail   Freedom Fighters

Is It Still a Secret?

The Marvel Secret Invasion Sale runs through Monday, 7/10.

Why yes, there’s a streaming series coming out. And yes, that’s a longer sale than usual.

This is about the Skrulls invading Earth, assuming identities, embedding themselves and trying to take over.

We’re honestly not sure why Marvel hasn’t come up with a series of omnibuses to better collect this Event. Secret Invasion was a very carefully coordinated series that crossed over into most of the line and was also partially told in flashback. You’d get a little further in plot and then some of the sundry titles would reveal what really happened that you didn’t yet know about. We’re not even sure how official the official reading order is. (Has Bendis ever posted one? He’d be the one to ask.)

The spine of the Event is the Secret Invasion miniseries by Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu.

The next layer of Secret Invasion is the Bendis-penned Avengers titles where a lot of things get fleshed out and you discover how things got to where they did:

Now from there, you spread out closer to the characters you’re interested in. For something clear out of left field, we’d recommend the Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel collection by Brian Reed and Lee Weeks. The original Mar-Vell returns as the Invasion begins and he’s not quite sure how he got there.  It’s a bigger part of the over-all story than you might be expecting going in.

Secret Invasion   Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel

Ultimate Sale III – Now With More Mutants

The Marvel Ultimate X-Men and FF Sale runs through Monday, 6/26.

We told you this was coming, didn’t we?

Since The Maker is the instigator of the upcoming Jonathan Hickman / Bryan Hitch Ultimate Invasion, that makes the original Ultimate Fantastic Four a little more central to the Marvel experience doesn’t it? We’re talk two runs:

The original Ultimate Fantastic Four had Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar and Mike Carey (yes, The Girl With All the Gifts M.R. Carey) tagging off on writer duties. The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, Jae Lee, Greg Land, Pasqual Ferry, Mark Brooks and Tyler Kirkham.  And a bit of trivia for you: Marvel Zombies?  It’s an Ultimate Fantastic Four spin-off.  Check out V.3 of the omnibuses. That’s where it all begins.

Ultimate Fantastic Four

Over on the mutant side of the street, the spread looks like this:

The original Ultimate X-Men run has a very interesting writer rotation. Mark Millar begins and ends it. In between are runs by Bryan K. Vaughan (Saga / Y – The Last Man) and Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead). The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Chris Bachalo, David Finch, Brandon Peterson, Stuart Immonen, Tom Raney and Salvador Larocca… among others.

Ultimate Comics X-Men was written first by Nick Spencer and later Brian Wood. Artists included Paco Medina, Carlo Barberi, Mahmud Asrar and Alvaro Martinez.

Ultimate X-Men   Ultimate Comics X-Men   Ultimate Comics Wolverine

The Baby Cart Assassin

The Dark Horse Lone Wolf & Cub Sale runs through Monday, 7/3.

As we type this, the sale is currently one of those “Nega-Bands” sales. Amazon has assigned it to the same URL as the Avatar sale and if you reload a few times, it will alternate between the sales like Rick Jones and Mar-Vell switching places in the Negative Zone. Amazon, in their infinite smoothness, does this more often than you’d think.

Since this is a single title sale, we’re linking directly to the title page, which should hopefully prevent confusion.

Where were we? Right.

Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima is one of the most respected manga out there and likely the greatest samurai manga of all time. No hyperbole.

When the Shogun’s executioner is framed for treason and his household slaughtered, Itto Ogami flees with his one year old son and becomes an assassin for hire, biding his time as he plans revenge on the clan that tried to ruin him.

There’s a lot of revenge served cold in this series. It’s pretty bloody and not for kids, but very, very good. Also $2.99/volume, so cheap.

Lone Wolf and Cub

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