In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we’ve got discounts on Kieron Gillen’s Marvel work – Eternals / Uncanny X-Men / Journey Into Mystery / etc.; Marvel’s Original Sin Event; another big block of DC collections, including Sandman; IDW cuts the prices on some classic newspaper strip collections; and we couldn’t really have a new season of Umbrella Academy without a sale on the original material, could we?
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):
Journey into Gillen
The Marvel Kieron Gillen Sale runs through Monday, 6/27.
We find it really sad that a “Marvel” Gillen sale does not include our two favorite works of the bunch: Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra. Yes, there will other Star Wars sales, but if you’re talking Gillen, that’s what we’d put at the top of the heap.
So let’s start out with a cleaner recap of the major items in this sale:
- The Eternals with Eric Ribić. $0.99 single issues only and the collected edition is NOT on sale for reasons known only to Amazon and/or Marvel.
- War Hammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar with Jacen Burrows
- Journey Into Mystery (i.e. Loki) with Doug Braithwaite and Richard Elson (among others) – omnibus editions
- Uncanny X-Men – omnibus editions
- Young Avengers with Jamie McKelvie – omnibus edition
- Thor with Billy Tan / Richard Elson / Doug Braithwaite – omnibus edition
- Iron Man with Greg Land / Dale Eaglesham / Joe Bennett / Luke Ross
What’s good? This one’s going to be more personal preference than with many sales and to that end, we’d point out that we did read the War Hammer volume and it felt like that’s a book you’ll get a LOT more out of it if you’re a gamer. (But if you’re already into War Hammer, you’ll probably love it.) Past that, Journey Into Mystery is where Gillen really popped onto the Marvel radar, Young Avengers is the familiar team of Gillen/McKelvie and Gillen’s Mr. Sinister in Uncanny X-Men definitely has had influence.
Casting the First Stone
The Marvel Original Sin Sale runs through Monday, 6/27.
We’d probably call this a one book sale – Original Sin is a big Event by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato. Someone’s killed the Watcher, dirty secrets are bubbling up from everyone’s past and… more would get into spoilers. There are a few tie-in volumes also listed, but our recollection is that the tie-in volumes are not really necessary. While this is often the case with Events, it might be even more so here. Proceed with tie-ins only if they’re scratching an itch for you.
When they say “Multiverse,” they mean “Infinity”
The DC Multiverse and Beyond eBooks Sale runs through Monday, 7/4.
This is another entry in the new DC trend of dropping ~2000 collections without much noticeable curation, so you can pick through it at your leisure. Lowest prices are $4.99, but most non-YA doesn’t get below $5.99.
With the Netflix adaptation looming a little over a month away, they’re leading this sale off with Sandman. And it’s certainly a classic series. The question is whether it will dip below $5.99 when the show drops and we don’t have an answer for that. DC’s been holding the line at $5.99 for most of their sales in the last couple months.
Of possible interest from the more recently published volumes (DC does wait awhile before applying discounts):
Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Fighting Corps is listed at $5.99. If you’re not familiar with it, OMAC is a surprisingly subversive dystopian take on a future where billionaires/corporations are running amok. There are superhero trappings, but it’s really a science fiction adventure/satire.
And for something else out of left field in a good way, $5.99 will get Manhunter: The Deluxe Edition. This collects the Detective Comics serial by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson. An absolute classic run, it’s not as mainstream well-known because the Paul Kirk character wasn’t continued in his own title (for obvious reasons). It’s just an excellent stand-alone tale by two legends of the art form.
Where’s My Umbrella?
The Umbrella Academy Sale runs through Tuesday, 6/28.
Why yes, there’s a new season on Netflix and we might even start on that tonight. Funny how sales line up with such things…
This one’s a lot easier to define: it’s a series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba about an extremely dysfunctional family of superhumans who are more than a little scarred by their adoptive upbringing. One series link for the collected editions and no fuss. Good comic, too. We enjoyed it.
Those Things in the Newspaper
The IDW Newspaper Classics Sale runs through Thursday, 6/30.
And by classics they mean comic strips. In this case, we’re looking at:
- The Academia Waltz (Berke Breathed’s pre-Bloom County college strip)
- Bloom County
- For Better or For Worse
Still On Sale
- The Dynamite “The Boys Sale Up to 75% off” runs through Monday, 7/11
- The Dark Horse Grendel Sale runs through Monday 6/27
