In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has all their Flash collections at a discount. Marvel slashes prices on The Punisher and Jessica Jones. Plus, The Witcher and Rube Goldberg.
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.
Crime and Punisher-ment
The Marvel Punisher Sale runs through Monday, 3/31.
Gosh, you’d think Frank Castle was on streaming or something…
First, the “general audience” Punisher:
- The Punisher ’87-’95 – Note that the first Epic Collection here collects the ’86 Steven Grant/Mike Zeck Circle of Blood mini-series that kicked off the Punisher’s rise to prominence. Yes, Whilce Portacio drew Punisher before X-Men
- Punisher War Journal ’88-’95 – This volume is notable for the Carl Potts / Jim Lee work. Yes, Jim Lee drew Punisher War Journal before X-Men.
- Punisher War Zone ’92-’95 – Yes, Frank Castle was holding down three titles/month in the early ’90s! Collected here are a pair of Chuck Dixon tales with John Buscema and Joe Kubert as the respective artists.
- Punisher War Journal ’06-’09 – Probably best known for Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti
- Punisher ’00 – Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon; Collects the immortal “Welcome Back, Frank”
- Punisher: The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci (Punisher War Zone) ’08-’09 – Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon team for a sequel to Welcome Back, Frank
- Punisher ’09-’10 – The Rick Remender run, for which the third volume is Franken-Castle
- The Punisher ’11-’12 – The Greg Rucka / Marco Checchetto (now more associated with Daredevil) run
- The Punisher ’14-15 – Nathan Edmondson / Mitch Gerads. Yes, Mitch Gerards as in Mister Miracle and Sheriff of Babylon
- The Punisher ’16-18 – Starts out with Becky Cloonan / Steve Dillon
- The Punisher ’18-’19 – Matthew Rosenberg / Szymon Kudranski
- Punisher ’22-’23 – Jason Aaron / Jesus Saiz / Paul Azaceta
- Punisher War Journal ’22-’23 – Torunn GrØnbekk / Djibril Morissette-Phan
What’s good? Actually, we like the original Marvel Super Action magazine version by Archie Goodwin and Tony DeZuniga, but that’s not on the menu.
Our favorite run of the above is probably the Ennis/Dillon “Welcome Back, Frank.” We also were pretty fond of the Rucka / Checchetto run when it was coming out. It’s also worth going back and seeing where all the fuss started with the Grant/Zeck mini and the Baron/Janson/Portacio ongoing.
Then there’s the Max line. “Mature Readers” Punisher, if you will.
Punisher Max: The Complete Collection is the ’04-’09 run that’s most associated with Garth Ennis returning to the character (with art by Darick Robertson, Leandro Fernendez, Doug Braithwaite and Goran Parlov, among others). This is Ennis doing the serious Punisher, as opposed to the hilarity of Welcome Back, Frank. Mike Benson, Victor Gischler and Jason Aaron pop up at the end of the run.
Then you’ve got PunisherMax, the ’09-’12 relaunch by Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon, where Frank mixes it up with The Kingpin and Bullseye.
You Said You Had a Jones?
The Marvel Jessica Jones Sale runs through Monday, 3/24.
Hmm… Daredevil, Punisher and Jessica Jones sales at the same time? Might there be a pattern?
Here’s what we’re looking at:
- Alias ’01 – ’03-Brian Bendis / Michael Gaydos
- The Pulse ’04 – ’05 – Brian Bendis / Michael Gaydos / Mark Bagley; Jessica gets a job at the Daily Bugle
- Jessica Jones ’16 – ’17 – Brian Bendis / Michael Gaydos; Netflix = series revival by the original creators
- The Defenders ’17 – ’18 – Brian Bendis / David Marquez; Daredevil, Iron First, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones… Netflix influences reach far
- Jessica Jones ’18 – Kelly Thompson / Mattia de Iulis; Collections of the digital original comics
Alias is the original and very dark. The Pulse is a more mainstream superhero title, if a little quirky. Jessica Jones is back to basics. Yes, Bendis was in charge of the character when he was at Marvel.
The Fastest Trench Coat Alive
The DC Flash Sale runs through Monday, 3/24.
It’s like a Marvel Legacy Sale at DC. Let’s start out with a breakdown by series:
- The Flash ’59 – ’85 – The original run, with a big gap between ’66 and ’79
- The Flash ’87 – ’09 – Wally West’s original run
- And the Omnibus collections for this run
- Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave & The Bold ’99 – ’00 – Mark Waid / Tom Peyer / Barry Kitson; Tales of Barry Allen & Hal Jordan teaming up early in their careers
- Flash: The Fastest Man Alive ’06 – ’07 – Danny Bilson / Paul Demeo / Mark Waid / Ken Lashley; Bart Allen takes up the mantle of Flash
- The Flash: Rebirth ’09 – ’10 – Geoff Johns / Ethan Van Sciver; Barry Allen returns
- Flashpoint ’11 – Geoff Johns / Andy Kubert; Flash breaks the timeline
- The Flash ’11 – ’16 – Francis Manapul & Brian Buccellato, then Robert Venditti / Van Jensen / Brett Booth
- The Flash ’16 – ’23 – Josh Williamson / Carmine Di Giandomenico / Howard Porter / Scott Kolins; then Jeremy Adams / Will Conrad
- Jay Garrick: The Flash – ’23 – Jeremy Adams / Diego Olortegui
- The Flash ’23 – present – Si Spurrier / Mike Deodato / Ramon Perez; Cosmic horrors haunt the Speed Force
What’s good? Depends what you’re looking for that early ’59-’66 run is considered a classic of the Silver Age. We’re pretty happy with the current Spurrier run. Josh Williamson‘s run has plenty of fans.
We’d probably direct you to the original Wally West run, though, and some specific runs, all of which have favorable pricing at the moment.
- The Flash: Savage Velocity – The first 18 issues includes the Mike Baron / Jackson Guice run and the beginning of William Messner-Loebs/Greg LaRocque run. Wally West takes over, plus Chunk, Kilg%re, Vandal Savage and Kapitalist Kouriers
- The Mark Waid era – 8 omnibi starting here. “The Return of Barry Allen” is the most famous arc (Book 2). The Speed Force debuts in Book 3. Mike Wieringo is probably the artist most associated with this era, but Greg LaRocuqe, Salvador Larocca, Oscar Jimenez and Paul Ryan were also part of it
- The Grant Morrison / Mark Millar / Paul Ryan run – yes, Morrison & Millar used to write together. That would past tense.
- The Geoff Johns era – Six omnibi starting here. (OK, the first 5 are his original Wally West run and the sixth is Reborn and the Barry Allen material that followed.) The Wally West run is drawn by Scott Kolins and Howard Porter. This is what Johns was doing right before he broke big with Green Lantern. If you like the Flash Rouges Gallery, this run is all about the Rogues.
The Bite
The Dynamite Christopher Priest Vampirella Sale runs through Monday, 3/31.
Christopher Priest has been on Vampirella for around 6 years now, which is quite a run in the current comics scene. Glancing at his bibliography, he may have written more comics in the Vampirella family than the Black Panther family. If not, he’ll probably pass T’Challa and company by the end of the year?
- Vampirella ’19 – ’21 – Christopher Priest / Ergün Gündüz
- Vampirella/Dracula: Unholy – Christopher Priest / Donny Hadiwidjaja
- Vampirella/Dracula: Rage – Christopher Priest / Christian Rosado
- Vampirella: Year One – Christopher Priest / Ergün Gündüz; Expanding on the original origin story
- Sacred Six – Christopher Priest / Julius Ohta; Vampirella/Pantha/Draculina/Nix/Chastity/Lilith
- Draculina: 90 Hours in San Francisco – Christopher Priest / Michael Sta. Maria; Sacred Six spin-off
Unannounced Sales
- The Art of Rube Goldberg: (A) Inventive (B) Cartoon (C) Genius
- Watership Down: The Graphic Novel – Richard Adams /James Sturm / Joe Sutphin
- The Witcher
- Single volumes
- Omnibus editions (the better value)
- Euro-album length graphic novels mis-filed under single issues
- The Witcher: Ronin (Manga)
- The World of the Witcher: Video Game Compendium
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
- Daredevil: Woman Without Fear – Bloody Reunion; Erika Schultz / Michael Dowling
- Phoenix Vol. 1: Orbital Resonance – Stephanie Phillips / Alessandro Miracolo; $8.99
- Ultimate Spider-Man By Jonathan Hickman Vol. 2: The Paper – Jonathan Hickman / Marco Checchetto / David Messina; $10.99 – Uncle Ben and JJJ doing investigative journalism is one of our favorite interludes in recent comics, which should tell you what a good job they’re doing with this one
Dropping Next Week
- Star Wars: Inquisitors – Rodney Barnes / Ramon Rosanas; $6.99
- X-Force by Geoffrey Thorne Vol. 1: Fractures – Geoffrey Thorne / Marcus To; $8.99
Still on Sale
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 3/24
- The Marvel Daredevil Sale runs through Monday, 3/31
- Kodansha Let The Games Begin Sale runs through Monday, 3/24
- “Deals on Select Marvel Collections” – Duration unknown