Tag: Amazon

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Friday / Cyber Monday Part 2 – More DC $1.99 Books (w/ More Batman), Plus Dark Horse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s the second half of DC’s $1.99 Black Friday/Cyber Monday blowout… now with more Batman. Plus, Dark Horse has a Black Friday sale.

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’s Cyber Monday… AKA Black Friday Part 2 – Happy Holidays

The DC Cyber Savings Sale runs through Monday, 12/4.

Let’s call this what it is, the second half of the CRAZY sale that started last week.  This installment is Justice League through Zero Hour.  Lots of $1.99 collected editions and a few more expensive volumes that finally have a reasonable price. We’re going with annotation format again to cover more ground, but we’ll try and organize it a little better than Amazon does. As you can tell by the unusual length, we’re impressed with the deals and there’s a lot of good stuff here. And yes… we’re shocked something as recent as The Human Target is $1.99.

Batman

Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart  Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin  Legends of the Dark Knight Norm Breyfogle 2

Yes, there’s a little more Batman this week and it’s those “Legends of” and “Tales of” volumes that usually have lousy discounts. We hate to say “this week only,” but these aren’t usually at friendly prices and there are some particularly choice bits.

Justice League

Justice League of America  Justice League Quarterly  Justice League by Priest

Everything’s there except the Grant Morrison run, but here are our highlights.

  • Justice League of America (1960 – 87) – The biggest highlight here is the set of $1.99 Silver Age collections of the earliest stories. The JSA/JLA team-ups are also deep discounted. This series hasn’t really been collected often.
  • Justice League of America (1987 – 96) – This is the Justice League International era, as started by Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire. Bwa ha ha. And that’s the best place to start.
  • Justice League of America (2006 – 11) – The gems here are the 4 volumes written by Dwayne McDuffie (from the animated series): V1 / V2 / V3 / V4
  • Justice League (2016 -18) – The gem here is the Priest / Pete Woods arc.
  • The Nail – Alan Davis weaves a masterpiece in this pair of Elseworlds about a world where the Kents don’t find baby Kal-El in his spaceship and Superman does not emerge. A+

Legion of Super-Heroes

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes   Legion of Super Heroes The Great Darkness Saga  Legion of Superheroes: The Curse

Not as much of the Legion run is in digital or currently in print as you might think. Of what is, here are some highlights and recommendations.

  • Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age – The earliest appearances, through the first 10 issues of their Adventure Comics feature.
  • Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes – These two volumes pick up roughly where Paul Levitz starts writing and takes you through where Superboy leaves the Legion (which is the Gerry Conway run). Artists include Mike Grell, James Sherman, Joe Staton and a bit of Jim Starlin. Included are the wedding of Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl and the Earthwar sequence.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (1980-85) – What you’re really looking at here are the last two volumes where Paul Levitz returns and starts to hit his stride, which Keith Giffen joining him fairly quickly.
    • The Great Darkness Saga  – Levitz/Giffen with their all-time classic arc in the middle of it. 414 pages for $1.99? A steal.
    • The Curse – Levitz/Giffen continue to deal with the fallout from The Great Darkness. 544 pages for $1.99? Very hard to beat for value.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (1985-89) – Only one volume available and they really need to get on the stick about collecting the rest of the Levitz run.
  • Legion Lost – The entertaining (if controversial) Dan Abnett / Andy Lanning / Oliver Copiel run. The setup and then the actual Legion Lost.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (2005-09) – Starts out with the now familiar team of Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. Ends with a flawed, but interesting run by Jim Shooter, returning to the feature he started out on.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (2010-11) – Paul Levitz returns.
  • Legion of Super-Heroes (2011 – 13) – The Levitz run is relaunch for New 52… and Keith Giffen returns for the final volume in the set.

Jack Kirby

New Gods by Jack Kirby  Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby  Kamandi

Most of his DC material is included (in the back half of the alphabet)

Fourth World:

Non-Fourth World DC work:

“At-Large” gems:

Kingdom Come  Manhunter  Mister Miracle

  • Kingdom Come – Mark Waid and Alex Ross paint a dystopian future (and comment on the 90s grim ‘n’ gritty trend) – $1.99
  • Lobo by Keith Giffen and Alan Grant – With art by Simon Bisley, until the editors realized what he was sneaking into the cover. The rude, crude humor version that screams “Jason Momoa” to everyone. Much fun, but not for puritans.
  • Manhunter – Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson did an absolute classic as a backup in Detective. Spies, ninjas, a secret society and Batman crosses over in the end. Highest recommendation.
  • Marshal Law– Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill do a satire of superheroes as a Judge Dredd like vehicle. If you like The Boys, this is worth a look for $3.99. Darker and more violent, not for kids.
  • Mister Miracle by Steve Englehart & Steve Gerber – A few years after Kirby left, DC revived Mister Miracle, only to have it fall in the “DC Implosion.” That’s actually Englehart/Marshall Rogers and Gerber/Michael Golden/Russ Heath. Yes, Heath inking Golden and it’s GREAT. The Gerber/Golden/Heath run is the star and you’ll be mad it was cancelled. Totally under the radar for years.
  • Mister Miracle (2017-19) – The Tom King / Mitch Gerads Eisner-Winning revival. $1.99?!?
  • Night Force – Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan (as in Tomb of Dracula) reunite at DC for horror/time travel series that flew under too many radars.
  • Nightwing – Tom Taylor / Bruno Redondo – the series that could be the current center of the DCU. Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, $1.99@. (We think it hits its stride in V.2)
  • The Omega Men: The End – Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda turn the Omega Men into a study of fanaticism and terrorism. Also a Green Lantern take as Kyle Rayner is abducted. Near the top of the King cannon.  Yes, $1.99.
  • One-Star Squadron – The “wait… why haven’t they collaborated before?” team of Mark Russell and Steve Leiber pit Red Tornado and Power Girl against the gig economy! Yes, it’s a pitch black satire.
  • Orion by Walt Simonson – Walt at the top of his game exploring the Kirby mythos. We’d put it up with his Thor, but DC didn’t market it very well and hardly anyone remembers it. Recommended.
  • Planetary – Warren Ellis & John Cassaday. Yes, you can get the whole deconstruction of pulp heroes in 2 volumes for ~$4, all-in.
  • Plastic Man: Rubber Banded – Very few people have really done Plastic Man right since Jack Cole shuffled off the mortal coil. Kyle Baker is one of them. Hilarious and silly book.
    Road to Perdition  Sandman Mystery Theater  Sheriff of Babylon
  • Prez: Corndog-in-Chief – Mark Russell & Ben Caldwell. We wish this book wasn’t so darn relevant. An accurate satire of election law and political horse trading finds a teen becoming president after a video of her mishap with a corn dog deep fryer goes viral. It’s a winner, especially as we approach an election year.
  • Promethea – Alan Moore & J.H. Williams explore mythology and symbolism as a college student becomes the latest incarnation of the avatar of imagination… and tries to head off a looming apocalypse. Smart and beautifully illustrated book.
  • The Road to Perdition – Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner – this is where the film came from.
  • Sandman Mystery Theater – Matt Wagner / Steven T. Seagle / Guy Davis (main artist) – A wonderful pulp detective series from Vertigo with the Golden Age Sandman (pre-teen sidekick). Pulp with more introspection. 300+ page installments for $1.99. Great series.
  • Scalped – Jason Aaron & R.M. Guéra – A Vertigo crime series. An FBI agent goes undercover at the casino on the reservation he grew up in and thought he’d escape. Nobody does rural noir like Aaron.
  • Secret Society of Super Villains – For the completists, at a better price.
  • Seven Soldiers of Victory – Grant Morrison’s self-contained series of mini-series/Event in two volumes for ~$4 total.
  • Shade, The Changing Man – Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo reimagine the Ditko character for Vertigo.
  • The Sheriff of Babylon – Tom King & Mitch Gerads explore murder and crime in Baghdad’s Green Zone. The full series for $1.99
  • Starman – James Robinson & Tony Harris reinvent the legacy superhero (and legacy villain) with one of the best things to come out of DC in the 90s. DC really needs to finish collecting this one.
  • Stormwatch – The original Warren Ellis / Tom Raney / Brian Hitch run
  • Strange Adventures – Tom King & Mitch Gerads with a political/deconstructionist take on Adam Strange
  • Suicide Squad – John Ostrander / Luke McDonnell – the original ’80s Dirty Dozen riff that spawned the current franchise. Some genius forgot to discount V. 1, but that will be on sale again at some point. The rest are $1.99
  • Suicide Squad: Get Joker – Brian Azzarello & Alex Maleev did a Black Label version
    Jimmy Olsen  Green Lantern  The Human Target
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction & Steve Leiber drop a joke bomb disguised as a murder mystery. HILARIOUS. Highly recommended.
  • Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, V.3  – Bizarrely mislabeled, this is the first six issues of the Steve Englehart/Joe Staton Green Lantern Corps
  • The Authority – Warren Ellis & Bryan Hitch revamp Stormwatch, then Mark Millar & Frank Quitely tag in.
  • The Brave & The Bold – Liam Sharp teams Batman and Wonder Woman against Celtic gods.
  • The Flash by Mark Waid – The volumes that weren’t on sale last week are on sale this week. No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us either, but there it is.
  • More Flash – Also from the original Wally West run – the Mike Baron and Grant Morrison runs.
  • The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison & Liam Sharp – One of the more imaginative Lantern stories in a while, especially as illustrated, this is really one long story in four volumes, broken up as Season One  and Season Two (even though the first series was never referred to as a season… that or DC is actively trying to confuse you, which is not beyond the realm of possibility).
  • The Hawk and the Dove: The Silver Age – Steve Ditko’s original run for $1.99
  • The Human Target – One of the most recent releases listed, Tom King & Greg Smallwood craft a noir mystery about Christopher Chance investigating who poisoned him and it looks like one of the BWA HA HA era Justice League did the deed. Noir and slapstick intermingling? YES. Very well done and especially great art. Both volumes for ~$4, total.
  • The Huntress: Origins – Paul Levitz and (mostly) Joe Staton with The Huntress’s adventures from Batman Family and Wonder Woman.
  • The Invisibles – Grant Morrison / Jill Thompson / Phil Jimenez – The one with the letter column request. If you know, you know.
    Multiversity  Nice House on the Lake  
  • Multiversity – Grant Morrison’s tale of parallel worlds. One volume/$1.99.
  • The Nice House on the Lake – James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno spin a horror table in what was a pretty big hit.
  • The Spectre – John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake’s under the radar classic about a man who isn’t alive and the force of destruction he’s bound to.
  • The Unwritten – Mike (M.R.) Carey and Peter Gross in a tale of fiction shaping reality (with a mild Harry Potter satirical element in the premise).
  • The Wild Storm – Warren Ellis and John Davis-Hunt reimagine the Wildstorm universe.
    • The Wild Storm: Michael Cray – Bryan Hill / N. Stephen Harris companion book where an assassin goes after funhouse mirror versions of the DC heroes.
  • Top 10 – Alan Moore / Gene Ha / Zander Cannon – What if Alan Moore wrote Hill Street Blues, but the police were superheroes? That’s essentially what this is and it’s wonderful.
  • Transmetropolitan – Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson present the absurdist adventures of a Hunter S. Thompson-esque journalist in a dystopian future, butting heads against a corrupt president. The interesting thing is how many different presidents/prime ministers/etc. have been compared to “The Smiler.”
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. We figure you’ve heard of it by now. $1.99. We do find it a little offensive this is listed as “Media Tie-in / Adaptation,” though…

You’ll want to browse this one yourself. Last week’s first half of the sale was good, but this week’s back half is even better.

Black/Cyber/Holiday Horsefeathers Sale

The Dark Horse 2023 Black Friday Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/4.

And it’s pretty much the entire Dark Horse catalog, as near as week can tell, so this is another one you might want to browse between now and Monday night.  Yes, Hellboy and BPRD are in there, but we’ll look a bit more off the beaten path for our overview.

Air by G. Willow Wilson and M.R. Perker. Berger Books is re-issuing Wilson’s pre-Ms. Marvel Vertigo series. It’s a good one, though a bit hard to describe. A flight attendant finds herself caught up in a far-ranging conspiracy that involves jihadists, dimension-hopping and… Amelia Earhart? This one came out around the time DC started micromanaging Vertigo and got wrapped up before it connected with it’s audience (or Wilson’s name became a selling point). We liked it quite a bit and would love a continuation.

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido is something fairly unique. Private detective stories in the vein of Philip Marlowe, except the cast is anthropomorphic animals. No, absolutely not funny animals and not a bit of camp to it. Hardboiled detective stories. Good ones and some of the best art in comics. Manga is not the only import.

The Eltingville Club by Evan Dorkin is a parody of obnoxious fanboys run amok. Or is it actually a parody? We’re not sure how far fetched it is and it might be on the pointed side, but that’s why everyone loves Dorkin.

Air   Blacksad  Eltingville Club

Finder by Carla Speed McNeil is one of the smarter science fiction comics out there and it’s been popping up since the ’90s. Sometimes referred to as “aboriginal science fiction,” Finder spends more time building worlds and, more importantly, cultures than most comics. The nominal lead, Jaeger, is a “Finder” – an uncanny tracker with mysterious abilities related to healing and travel. He’s also a Sin Eater, which causes him no end of trouble. This one has never really popped above the radar like it should.

Grandville by Bryan Talbot is a different flavor of anthropomorphic comic – steampunk. In a world where Britain fell to Napoleon and France is the center of Europe, a badger named Detective-Inspector LeBrock, based out of Scotland Yard, pursues scoundrels. Unlike Blacksad, Grandville does have a sense of humor.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years – Joe Kubert is generally acknowledged as one of the masters of the artform. Tarzan was always a favorite for him and when DC was able to get the Tarzan license, a passion project ensued. This just might be Kubert’s finest art.

Finder  Grandville  Joe Kubert's Tarzan

Plenty of things still on sale, and then a big turnover on Tuesday.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Friday Sales Part 2 – DC’s $1.99 Collected Editions(!); Star Wars; The Orville

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s more Black Friday Sales as DC has a ridiculous amount of great comics for $1.99 – $2.99. Plus, Dark Horse discounts Star Wars and The Orville.

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):

Earlier in the week, we looked at the Marvel Black Friday Sales. Given the holiday, we’re back a little bit earlier than usual to look at DC and Dark Horse. Take your time and browse this through the weekend. You will want to have a close look at the DC sale.

DC Gets CHEAP for the Holidays

The DC Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/27.

$1.99 collected editions cheap enough for you? Including some double volumes. How about 52? 26 issues per volume, ~570 pages & ~600 pages for $2.99 each. That’s cheap, all right.

We’ll be breaking format and just going down the list with some quick annotations. There is a LOT we like here for the prices and/or think is notable.  Not as much Batman/Superman… but that sale was last week. You’ll also note this only goes from A-J. We expect L-Z will follow.

Without further adieu:

  • 100 Bullets – Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso spin a tale about the intersection of revenge, crime and espionage. A classic from Vertigo. Double volumes for $1.99? Yup.
  • 52 – Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns and Keith Giffen got together to produce a weekly comic that spanned the DC universe for a year. 52 issues, 2 volumes (collecting 26 issues each) for $2.99/volume.
  • All-Star Superman – Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely write a love letter to Silver Age Superman tales. A classic we hear James Gunn is a big fan of. All 12 issues for $1.99
  • Batman and Robin – The Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely / Cameron Stewart / Frazier Irving material
  • Batman/Spawn – both of the 90s crossovers for $1.99
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum – The Grant Morrison / Dave McKean classic for $1.99
  • Camelot 3000 – Mike W. Barr / Brian Bolland – King Arthur returns to repel an alien invasion… as was foretold. ~300 pages / $1.99
  • Challengers of the Unknown – Jack Kirby’s late ’50s, pre-Marvel SF/F adventurer team. Not quite superheroes, but you’ll be shocked how Fantastic Four it feels. ~300 pages / $1.99
  • Clean Room – A lesser-known Gail Simone / Jon Davis-Hunt horror tale from Vertigo
  • Creature Commandos – soon to be an animated series, these are the originals
  • The Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo “Metal” crossover Events:
  • DC: The New Frontier: Darwyn Cooke’s must-read classic about the dawn of the Silver Age characters
  • Deadman – Collecting the appearance from Neal Adams in Strange Adventures through the ’80s mini-series.
  • Dial H – The China Mieville / Alberto Ponticelli / Mateus Santolouco “weird fiction” take on the dial that gives it’s wearer new powers each time. A bizarre delight. ~400 pages / $2.99
  • The Doomsday Clock – The Geoff Johns / Gary Frank crossover Event that brought Watchmen into the DC Universe. 455 pages/$2.99
  • Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepus Chronicles – Mark Russell’s and Mike Feehan’s dark satire casts the cartoon character as a gay playwright facing off against the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. No, really. It’s good.
  • Fables – Bill Willingham’s / (mostly) Mark Buckingham’s series about the characters from fairy tales hiding out in New York City as refuges after their worlds have been conquered. A classic.
  • Far Sector – N.K. Jemisin / Jamal Campbell take a new Green Lantern to the edge of the universe to solve a mystery. Absolutely wonderful book. ~300 pages / $1.99 – no excuses
  • Final Crisis – The celebrated crossover Event by Grant Morrison / J.G. Jones / Doug Mahnke / Carlos Pacheco. 456 pages / $1.99 (!)
  • The Flash (’87 – ’09) – $1.99/$2.99 omnibuses of the Mark Waid run. Watch to see if the Geoff Johns volumes prices get better in a couple days…
  • The Flash: The Silver Age – The early stories, ~400 pages / $1.99
  • Gotham Central – Ed Brubaker / Greg Rucka / Michael Lark / Stefano Gaudiano / Jason Alexander / Kano – The Gotham PD handles things without Batman. EXCELLENT series and $1.99 for double volumes. Just get it.
  • Grayson – The Tim Seeley / (early) Tom King / Mikel Janin series with Dick Grayson as a spy/double agent
  • Green Lantern (’60 – ’86)
  • Green Lantern (’05 – ’11) – The Geoff Johns run… and this is more complicated than is should be, but it really is an excellent run.
  • Hard Time: The Complete Series – Steve Gerber / Mary Skrenes / Brian Hurtt in a criminally below the radar of super powered teen who gets (shafted) sent to prison. 458 pages / $2.99
  • Hardware: The Man in the Machine -Dwayne McDuffie and Denys Cowan gave this Milestone book a great opening arc.
  • Hitman – The Garth Ennis / John McCrae bloody farce
  • Infinite Frontier – The crossover Event. 392 pages / $1.99
  • Jack of Fables – The Bill Willingham / Lilah Sturges/ Tony Akins / Russ Braun Fables companion book. (i.e., fun) – 16 issues/volume – $2.99
  • JLA (’97-’06) – Starts with the Grant Morrison/Howard Porter Justice League run. Then some Mark Waid, Joe Kelly… even Chris Claremont / John Byrne. Double volumes for the most part / $1.99
  • Jonah Hex: Shadows West – All of the Joe R. Lansdale / Tim Truman horror take on Jonah Hex for $1.99. Great stuff that started a lawsuit!

But that’s just our take on the highlights. At these prices, you should have a scroll through the sale yourself between now and Monday.

All-Star Superman   Far Sector   Gotham Central

Nothing But Star Wars

The Dark Horse 2023 Star Wars Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/25.

That’s right Dark Horse has Star Wars again. They have the YA license. Rule of thumb with this sale: the $0.99 single issues are cheaper than the collected editions when available.  What’s in this sale?

Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures   Star Wars Hyperspace Stories    Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit

It Only Looks Like Star Trek

The  Dark Horse 2023 The Orville-Space Job Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/18.

Again, you want the $0.99 single issues here for maximum cheap.

The Orville   Space Job

Enjoy the holiday and we’ll be back next week.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Friday Sales Part 1 – Marvel Omnibuses, Star Wars: The High Republic; Heroes Reborn

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Black Friday has arrived with Marvel’s Omnibus Sale, plus discounts on Heroes Reborn and Star Wars: The High Republic.

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):

Surprise, surprise… normally we expect to see Marvel having an Epic Collection Sale the week of Black Friday.  Apparently, that’s not the case this year. They whipped out an Omnibus sale instead.  As we go into holiday sale season, we’ll be looking at the Marvel sale today and the rest of the sale at the end of the week.

Omni-Man?

The Marvel Omnibus Sale runs through Monday, 12/4.

What we’re looking at here, for the most part, are $19.99 Omnibus editions. How good a deal are these? Depends on the age on the material and what kind of sales you see on it during the year. These editions tend to run in the roughly 800-1000 page range, 40-ish issues. This may be a better deal on newer material and there are a few things you’re only getting in the Omnibus format.

One observation we’ll make. With the print omnibuses, some people complain they’re a little to big to comfortably handle and read. Nobody makes that complaint with digital.

What’s catching our eye, here?

Incredible Hulk by Peter David Omnibus 1-5. That would be Hulk by David with that ridiculous sequence of artists he had, including Todd McFarlane, Gary Frank, Dale Keown, Angel Medina and Liam Sharp. 1-4 collect his original run and V. 5 collects some of the many times he’s revisited Hulk since the original run ended. Why the omnibus? Because this is a weird run to pick up in collected editions. It starts out in “Marvel Visionary” editions and eventually switches over to Epic Collections. This is just a drastically easier way to grab an exceptionally long run and probably cheaper than waiting to score the Visionary editions on sale. We also don’t mind tipping our hat to Peter David when he’s recovering from some health problems.

Aliens: The Original Years – Dark Horse had the Aliens license a really long time and had a lengthy and popular run with the franchise. If you want it, there’s an Epic Collection that contains about half of the first omnibus. Otherwise, if you want these tales, it’s either the omnibuses or back issues.

Captain Britain Omnibus – This has everything from the beginning of the 70s UK run through Captain Britain Magazine and the early X-Men appearances. What you’re really getting this for are the excellent and groundbreaking Alan Moore/Alan Davis and Jamie Delano/Alan Davis runs from the end of this period, which we’re not currently seeing available elsewhere. The rest is a bonus.

Incredible Hulk by Peter David   Aliens: The Original Years   Captain Britain Omnibus

Knights of Pendragon Omnibus was out of the Marvel UK office. Knight of Pendragon was a Captain Britain-adjacent title. Dai Thomas, the supporting character from the main strip, is more of the central character with Captain Britain and Union Jack along for the ride. This was largely a Dan Abnett/John Tomlinson/Garry Erksine feature. You get some Brian Hitch art from Mys-Tech Wars and Carlos Pacheco art from Dark Guard. This is another where if you want the comics, it’s Omnibus or the back issue bins.

Miracleman Omnibus is the 80s revival of the British character Marvelman by Alan Moore, Gary Leach, Alan Davis, John Totleben and Rick Veitch. Another of Moore’s pre-Watchmen superhero deconstructions with a Captain Marvel (Shazam)-like character rediscovering his magic word after years of a normal life and very bad things following that. A landmark book that fell to the wayside after years and years of legal battles over who held which rights. This one isn’t on sale very often it’s roughly as cheap as you’ll find it.

Predator: The Original Years – Much like Aliens (and where do you think the movie people got the idea for Aliens vs. Predator?) Dark Horse had the Predator license for a really long time. These are the original Predator comics. Some of them you can get digital single issues of for $1.99@ and some of them you’d need to dive into the back issue bins for.

Knights of Pendragon   Miracleman Omnibus   Predator: The Original Years

And, NOT LISTED on the sale page:

Planet Of The Apes Adventures: The Original Marvel Years

Planet of the Apes Adventures

Rebirth

The  Marvel Heroes Reborn sale runs through… Tuesday 11/21?!?

OK, we’re thinking there was a typo and it’s running through Monday, 11/27?

At any rate, Heroes Reborn was when (spinning out of the X-Men storyline of Onslaught), Marvel’s frontline heroes were relocated to a different dimension/incarnations and Marvel outsourced those titles to Image.

Those books were:

  • Heroes Reborn: Avengers – originally Jim Valentino/Rob Liefeld, with Jeph Loeb, Ian Churchill, Walter Simonson and Michael Ryan all having turns.
  • Heroes Reborn: Iron Man – originally Jim Lee / Scott Lobdell / Whilce Portatco with Ryan Benjamin and Jeph Loeb tagging in later.
  • Heroes Reborn: Captain America – Rob Liefeld w/Jeph Loeb, later James Robinson/Joe Bennett
  • Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four – *WARNING* as we type this, somebody forgot to put this on sale. Maybe the sale price is adjusted, maybe not. This was originally Jim Lee w/ Brandon Choi, with Brett Booth and Ron Lim eventually tagging in on art duties

All the heroes returned to their old forms in the Marvel Universe in Heroes Reborn: The Return. 

And then the titles relaunched. Not everything relaunched is in the sale (notably the WONDERFUL Kurt Busiek/George Perez Avengers) but we loved both “Captain America: Heroes Return” – better known as the second Mark Waid / Ron Garney run and “Iron Man: Heroes Return,” which was Kurt Busiek / Sean Chen. Top runs for both characters, really.

Captain America Heroes Return   Iron Man: Heroes Reborn

How High?

The Marvel High Republic Sale runs through… 11/21?

Again, we think this is a typo and it’ll run through Monday, 11/27, but I guess we’ll find out?

What’s this, it’s the new Star War initiative taking place during the “height” of the Galactic Republic, prior to the rise of the Empire. Which is to say, the Golden Age of the Jedi.

What’s on sale?

Star Wars: The High Republic   Star Wars: The High Republic - Season 2   Star Wars: The High Republic - The Blade

What else is newly on sale (that we’ll look at later in the week)?

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman Pre-Holiday Sale; X-Men; Runaways; Young Avengers; Elfquest

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC starts the holiday sale season with a Batman / Superman / Wonder Woman “Trinity” sale, Marvel discounts all things “Hellfire” (as in X-Men) and “Young Heroes” (like Young Avengers), plus… Elfquest, but not on a shelf.

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):

First, a little housekeeping. If you normally use the Comixology app, you’ve probably heard that Amazon is shuttering it on 12/4. If you haven’t heard that, open the app and it’ll notify you. Comics reading is moving over to the Kindle app.

We have a couple tips/warnings for you about that.

  1. You can force a sync by pressing the “MORE” button at the lower right hand corner of the screen of the Kindle App and selecting “Sync.” Be warned, this is a SLOW process and you might need to press the button several time before a sync really starts. We had had 4 or 5 attempts break before one finally took. A little bit of system overload? That should not surprise anyone. It took us maybe 3 hours before the “real” sync concluded.
  2. In the Kindle App’s library display screen, there is a “FILTER” button in the upper left corner. This is where you can change your view to comics-only, book-only, unread items-only, etc., etc. This is mentioned in Amazon’s update announcement, but we didn’t think they made it quite clear enough. Play with the filter and it will make things a little easier, particularly if you read both books and comics on Kindle. You really want to be able to view those separately.

We have not yet done a two-screen audit to compare what’s in the Kindle with what’s in the Comixology app, but we’re looking to carve out some time for that before the 4th. At first glance it looks OK, but we’ve heard people saying not everything came over (make sure Read/Unread are both off in the filters) and others saying it took multiple syncs, so we’re looking to err on the side of caution.

If you’re already using the Kindle App, this is a non-issue. And, let’s face it, we all knew this would eventually happen from the moment that Amazon acquired Comixology. Honestly, we’re a little surprised they’re still calling the comics section “Comixology” and not something like Amazon Comics.

The Holidays Start Early?

The DC Trinity Sale runs through Monday, 6/20.

Trinity means Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman, over at DC. But that’s not what we noticed.

What we noticed was all the $2.99/$3.99 collected editions, so we’re treating this like the first shot fired on Holiday Sales. (A pre-Black Friday sale? Maybe.) Will there be cheaper prices from DC in the next couple months? Maybe, but they don’t get lower than $2.99 very often, so it would a (pleasant) surprise.

If you’re looking for a “Trinity” title… basically since New 52 dropped, it’s going to be cheap. This sale is worth taking some time to browse.

Here are some mostly less recent things we saw and liked the prices:

Superman

Batman

  • Batman (1940-’11) -We especially like $3.99 “Caped Crusader” (the ’80s run) and $2.99 Ed Brubaker volumes if you scroll down.
  • Detective Comics (1937-’11) – We especially like $3.99 “Dark Knight Detective” (the ’80s run) and “New Gotham” volumes.
  • Batman: Damned – Brian Azzarello / Lee Bermejo; It will go down as infamous for the “bat pole” and the behind the scenes political upheaval it caused.
  • Batman: Death and the Maidens – A Ra’s Al Ghul tale by Greg Rucka / Klaus Janson
  • Batman: Gates of Gotham – Scott Snyder / Kyle Higgins / Trevor McCarthy – early Snyder Batman
  • Batman Universe – Brian Bendis channeling pure fun? Believe it! This is the Bendis/Nick Derington tale that was hidden away in the Walmart comics and we want another volume!

Wonder Woman

  • Wonder Woman: The Golden Age – Early Wonder Woman is strange. Lots of bondage and domination themes. Seriously. ~400 pages for $3.99. Worth getting one cheap to see how off the wall these are.
  • Wonder Woman (1987 series) – Don’t ask us why, but you need to click here and here to get everything. We don’t know why the listings are split like that. Anyway, you can’t go wrong with the George Perez run or the first Greg Rucka run at the end of this series. And be away that V.6 of the Perez run and the War of the Gods collection that isn’t numbered contain the same comics.
  • Wonder Woman (2011 series) – The first six issues by Brian Azzarello / Cliff Chiang / Goran Sudzuka are a top notch story. A little sacrilegious to the character? Probably. Consider it an Elseworlds take, but it’s good.
  • Wonder Woman (2016 series) – You want the first two “Rebirth Deluxe Editions” as Greg Rucka / Nicola Scott / Liam Sharp reset Wonder Woman, post-Azzarello
  • Wonder Woman: True Amazon – Jill Thompson’s Eisner Award winner

Adventures of Superman   Batman Universe   Wonder Woman - True Amazon

Arthur Brown’s Favorite Event

The Marvel Hellfire Sale runs through Monday, 11/20.

Is this a Hellfire Gala sale or a Hellfire Club sale?  Perhaps it’s both?

You have a couple options for the first Hellfire Gala, depending on how many tie-ins you want. You’ve got the ’22 Hellfire Gala.

We definitely enjoyed the Krakoa-era Marauders by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli & Stefano Caselli. That had Captain Kate Pryde and her merry band of mutants patrolling the seas on behalf of the “Hellfire Trading Company” and breaking up the plotting of the original Club’s Black King.

For something something under the radar, Cable: The Hellfire Hunt by a pre-Starman James Robinson and Jose Ladronn putting Cable up against a scheme involving the Hellfire Club and Apocalypse.

Hellfire Gala   Hellfire Gala - Immortal   Maruaders

Somebody Card These Heroes

The Marvel Young Heroes Sale runs through Monday, 11/20.

Technically the “young heroes” title trend at Marvel goes back to Young Allies in the 1940s, but that’s not on sale here.

What is in the sale?

Runaways by  Bryan K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona might be the best title. When six friends discover their parents are super villains, they make a run for it. Vaughan was already writing Y- The Last Man when this came out, but his fame hadn’t reached a critical mass yet and this one isn’t always remembered.

Young Avengers by Allen Heinberg and Jim Cheung is a close second. Notable for introducing Hulking and Wiccan, also with Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang, this is a fun one. Doesn’t hurt that you can get the whole thing in one volume, either.

Another one that’s available in a single volume is the Kieron Gillen / Jamie McKelvie Young Avengers from  ’13. Gillen & McKelvie? You already know if you’ll like it. (They add Kid Loki to the team,  incidentally.)

Runaways   Young Avengers   Young Avengers

Elves Off the Shelves

The Dark Horse 2023 Elfquest Digital Sale runs through Monday, 12/4.

This is elf season, right? These are a different sort of elves. This would be Wendy and Richard Pini’s long running epic fantasy series about a tribe of elves driven from their land by a fire and humans.

The Complete Elfquest is the omnibus series that will take you all the way from the beginning through The Final Quest. It’s a very good value. Don’t look elsewhere unless you’re only missing a couple issues of The Final Quest.

Elfquest: Stargazer’s Hunt came out after The Final Quest and isn’t in the Complete series of omnibuses. Your purchase options here require a little explanation.

The first half of the story is available as  single issues (#1-4) and they’re a little cheaper to purchase this way.  The second half is only available as a graphic novel (V.2 of the series).

Elfquest   Elfquest: Stargazer's Hunt

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: “Marvels” with Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel; Secret Wars; DC on TV; Jeff Lemire at DH

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel get “Marvels” discounts… and Secret Wars, too.  DC drops prices on their TV properties. Plus, the Dark Horse work of Jeff Lemire.

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):

We Will Control The Horizontal

The DC on TV Sale runs through Monday, 11/13.

There’s just a little bit of difference between how many DC characters had been on TV in 2000 vs. today. This would’ve been a lot smaller sale then.  A few things that caught our eye… no matter how limited the screen time.

Let’s point out some of the more unusual items, here:

Superman Adventures has a really odd pedigree. Yes, it’s the animated Superman from Batman/Superman/Justice League era of animation, but the writers? Paul Dini from the animated world. Scott McCloud… at this point, it should probably be pointed out to readers under 30 that before Understanding Comics, McCloud was the writer/artist of a much loved indie comic titled Zot!, an Astro Boy-influenced quasi-superhero adventure comic. It doesn’t get mentioned as much these days, but this was McCloud playing with Superman. This was followed by a young Mark Millar. Again, intended for all-ages, but Millar on Superman before he was a big name.

The Justice Society of America series on sale has something in it that flew under the radar at the time and is still under the radar. Alex Ross joins Johns & Eaglesham for a Kingdom Come prequel/sequel. DC never really gave it much push, but the Kingdom Come Superman shows up to battle Gog in the present. Look for the three volumes titled “Thy Kingdom Come.”

Batwoman by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III is the full Detective Comics run that preceded the solo series (which was after Rucka exited DC). Batwoman has had… drama… on TV and the big screen, but this initial foray from Rucka and Williams III is top shelf material.

Superman Adventures   Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come   Batwoman

Marvel Movie Comics

The Marvel Captain Marvels Sale runs through Monday, 11/20.

Yes, there’s a moving coming out!

Yes, this is kind of a convoluted assortment of people with the same name, so give us a minute!

The first one, the Kree Captain Mar-Vell kinda gets short changed here:

The Kree/Skrull War is a classic Avengers tale, one of the first Events in a sense, and Mar-Vell figures prominently in it.

The Death of Captain Marvel is the end of the Jim Starlin era with the graphic novel of the same name and the battle with Nitro in the original series.

Then you had the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel, sometimes called Photon. She was the next to take that name. This sale has two books with the same content, so we’ll pick Captain Marvel: Monica Rambeau. This is a collections of stories she features in.

Mar-Vell’s son, Genis, took up the name of Captain Marvel in the early aughts.

And then there’s Carol Danvers, the former/original Ms. Marvel who took up the name and is the current Captain. Also one of the most relaunched characters in all of Marveldom (which means they’re trying.)

The Carol Danvers Captain Marvel has been very writer-driven in the last decade.

Avengers: Kree/Skrull War   Captain Marvel   Captain Marvel

The Road to Palindromes

The Marvel Ms. Marvel Sale runs through Monday 11/20.

This would be Ms. Marvel as in Kamala Khan, not the current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers. Is there a movie coming out? Hmm…  Let’s break this down by volume, since there have been relaunches.

  • Ms. Marvel ’14-15 – The original run with G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona as the primary artist
  • Ms. Marvel ’15-’19 – How silly is this relaunch? The collected edition number doesn’t even reset! It’s still Wilson and Alphona, although the artist rotate a bit as it goes on.
  • Magnificent Ms. Marvel ’91-’21 – Relaunched after Wilson’s departure, this is written by Saladin Ahmed with Minkyu Jung and Joey Vazquez as the lead artists
  • Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit – The most recent mini-series by Samira Ahmed and Andrés Genolet.

Recommendations? We thought Ms. Marvel was at its best early in the run, before it got too integrated into the Marvel universe, but that’s just us.  Definitely start with Wilson’s run, though.  It made quite the mainstream splash.

Ms. Marvel

But Is It REALLY a Secret?

The  Marvel Secret Wars sale runs through Monday, 12/4.

We all know which one this is really about, but let’s go through the other ones first.

The original Secret Wars by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck is a big ‘ole action comic.

Secret Wars II by Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom didn’t quite work. Except for Peter Parker having to explain “going to the bathroom” to The Beyonder. That was gold.

Beyond! by Dwayne McDuffie and Scott Kolins is an under-the-radar sequel where Spidey and a handful of others (unwillingly) return to Battleworld from the original series. Is it good? It’s McDuffie and Kolins, so you should already know the answer to that.

Secret War by Brian Bendis and Gabriele Dell’Otto has NOTHING to do with the above. Somebody had a cute idea with the name. It’s really about Nick Fury running a black op and fallout afterwards. If you like Bendis, you’ll like this.

Then there’s the Secret Wars (Event) that’s the endcap to the Jonathan Hickman Avengers run (and to an extent, his Fantastic Four run as well). When the timestream collapses… well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? The main Secret Wars mini-series by Hickman and Esad Ribic is where you want to start with this and you can move on to the myriad of tie-in titles included in the sale if a character’s side-story catches your eye.

Secret Wars    Beyond!   Secret Wars

Le Mired in Discounts

The  Dark Horse 2023 Jeff Lemire Digital Sale runs through Monday, 11/27.

Why yes, Mr. Lemire has done more than just Black Hammer at Dark Horse… although he’s certainly done a lot of Black Hammer. Remember to keep an eye on prices with this one. Some of the time, $0.99 single issues will be cheaper than the collected edition.

What’s in this sale?

Black Hammer, naturally, with Dean Ormston. (Note: the Omnibus Editions are the better buy and the “regular” collected editions are a wash with single issues.) Then you’ve got your World of Black Hammer, Black Hammer / Justice League, and Black Hammer Reborn.

Then you’ve got Mazebook, which is Lemire wearing both writer and artist hats.

And, finally, Berserker Unbound with Mike Deodato, Jr. where an warrior from ancient times, hot on the trail of a wizard finds himself in the modern day. Urban fantasy ensues.

Black Hammer Omnibus   Mazebook   Berserker Unbound

Is that… print?!?

Finally, if you need some *gasp* print comics, we were passed a link to a “Get 3 For the Price of 2” sale. Most people would call that “Buy 2, Get 1 Free,” but it’s not the first thing we couldn’t explain. We’re not sure how long that link will be good for. On the left hand rail of the page, under “Departments,” click on “Superhero Comics & Graphic Novels.” There was a manga link there yesterday, but we’re not seeing it today, so what’s on sale might be fluid?

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: X-Men, DC Black Label, Deadpool, Attack on Titan

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts X-Men and Deadpool. DC drops deals on Black Label. Plus, Attack on Titan and Wonderland.

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):

Paint It Black

The DC Black Label Sale runs through Monday, 11/6.

What is Black Label? Something of a cross between Vertigo and Elseworlds. Stories of DC characters that are… not necessarily in continuity. (We say not necessarily because  things like Batman: The Three Jokers might end up in continuity.) A little more on the mature reader side. Sometimes fantasy or horror that has nothing to do with the DCU.

What’s good? An awful lot of it. A few highlights (and yes, Tom King does do some of his best work for this imprint):

We’re not listing the Spurrier/Campbell Hellblazer because only the first volume is on sale. A oversight we disapprove of for a wonderful comic.

Best o’ the best?

If you’re looking for a Vertigo replacement at DC, direct your attention to The Nice House on the Lake. Tynion and Bueno deliver an excellent SF/Horror fusion series about the end of the world. The bestselling horror comic DC’s seen in quite a while, too.

The Human Target by King and Smallwood is a very unique comic. One part hardboiled noir as Christopher Chance tries to figure out who poisoned him before he died. One part loving homage to the Bwa Ha Ha era Justice League. Amazingly the JL cast is mostly in goofy character, despite popping up in a noir. Quite a feat. Well written and you really can’t say enough about Smallwood’s art.

Rorschach by Tom King & Jorge Fornés is even more unusual than The Human Target. It’s a Watchmen sequel that we actually like and don’t think is a cash grab. OK, it’s not so much a sequel as a tale that takes place in the same universe and in the aftermath of the original graphic novel. It’s a detective story about conspiracy, identity, mythology and… Frank Miller?  Yes, Frank Miller. It’s a keeper.

Nice House on the Lake   The Human Target   Rorschach

Brand X

The Marvel Uncanny X-Men Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 11/6.

It’s a legacy sale, so it’s the Uncanny X-Men core… although this may shorter list than some of the legacy sales. For instance,  X-Men wasn’t part of Heroes Reborn, so no relaunch there.

As is our custom, let’s run through the key series included, first:

And you might be asking yourself, “aren’t there usually more than one X-Men title and don’t they cross over a lot?” Yes, that would be a potential issue… pun intended. Not so much with the Epic Collections and the Masterworks as with the later series, and there are some Event collections in the set.

You should know our general advice right now. There’s a slight preference for the value of Epic Collections over Masterworks collections, but it depends on the exact price point and the Epic Collections sometimes have gaps.  That still applies here.  The wild card with X-Men is that it can get impenetrable with continuity and all the characters floating around. You can’t always just jump in.

So, recommendations with that in mind.

If you’ve never tried the original X-Men, we’d say go with The Sentinels Live Epic Collection. It’s at the very tail end of the original run that the original X-Men run is at its best: a bit of Jim Steranko and then a Roy Thomas / Neal Adams sequence that ended all too quickly.

For the “new” X-Men, we’re cool with the theory that Giant-Sized X-Men #1 / Uncanny X-Men #94 through #200 is one big arc. That’s where we’d start if we were new. The Epic Collections only take you to #153, at which point you need to start cutting in the Masterworks editions with V. 7 through 12.

For an alternate jumping on point, perhaps the Ed Brubaker era (# to # ) which is collected in three volumes starting with Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire.

We assume you already know about the Morrison run.

And if you were looking for the Events that started after #200… well, that’s next.

X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live   

No, Not the Dirty Harry Film

The Marvel Deadpool Vs. the Marvel Universe Sale runs through Monday, 11/6.

Deadpool has always had a lot of fairly short run titles swapping around at any given time, this is a collection of those secondary titles.

The longest running of the set is Deadpool & Cable, Fabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher being the team most associated with it. Amusingly, the monthly comic was called Cable & Deadpool, but the character popularity has flipped since then.

Spider-Man / Deadpool also ran 50 issues. Joe Kelly / Ed McGuinness was the early creative team with Robbie Thompson / Chris Bachalo tagging in later.

Deadpool Corps maybe of heightened interest with Rob Liefeld joining writing Victor Gischler for it.

Deadpool & Cable    Spider-Man / Deadpool    Deadpool Corps

Attaaaaaaack of the Killer Tomatoes

The Kodansha Attack on Titan Sale runs through Monday, 11/13.

By cosmic coincidence, this is what we’ve been reading here at the Tower of Cheap. 2/3 of the way through V. 33 as this is being typed.

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama is a genre-bender and a half. It starts out as more of a horror story with people living inside a barrier of giant walls, besieged by “Titans.” Mindless giants who roam around eating people. And since the technology level in this world is roughly ~1920, there’s a touch of steampunk around the edges. Then some Titans appear who aren’t mindless. As the heroes try to solve the mystery of the Titans, it turns into a political conspiracy. Then the applecart gets turned over and there’s more political conspiracy on a wider scale, Titans as weapons of mass destruction and ethnic cleansings. This one really is something else and is operating on a very wide scale as it wraps up. It goes to some very dark places and doesn’t really back away from them, either.

There are also several spin-offs in the sale.

Attack on Titan

You’re a Wonder

The Zenescope Return to Wonderland Digital Sale runs through Wednesday, 11/22.

Zenescope’s Wonderland titles were their buzziest titles when Raven Gregory was writing them.

The original trilogy was

Beyond that (pun intended)

Tales from Wonderland will fit in-between various volumes and the rough order of the rest is:

Return to Wonderland   Beyond Wonderland   Escape From Wonderland

Additionally, we think the unlisted Dark Horse sale from last week is still in effect, but we’re unsure for how much longer.

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Comixology (at Amazon Sales) – DC and Marvel Halloween Sales; Unannounced Dark Horse Halloween Sale; X-Men

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC & Marvel Halloween sales. An *unannounced* Dark Horse Halloween Sale. Plus, discounts on X-Men.

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’s Halloween Sale

The DC Horror and Mystery Sale runs through Monday, 10/30.

Picking up where we left off last week, let’s have a look at the back half of this most interesting sale, where the prices are uniformly good.

What’s good? Pretty much all of it, and much of it at a friendly $2.99 price.  Some more off the beaten path recommendations you might be less familiar with:

Night Force is the Tomb of Dracula team of Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan getting back together at DC a few years later for a new horror comic. Marv once told us it’s his favorite of his books. Baron Winters lives in an old mansion in the Georgetown neighborhood of DC with his pet leopard. He doesn’t leave the mansion. The mansion has a door that leads to other times and places. He also has somewhat reluctant minions that look into things for him. Supernatural things. It’s a good one for Halloween that doesn’t get enough love.

The Spectre by John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake was quietly one of DC’s best books of the 90s, along with Starman and Sandman Mystery Theater. Jim Corrigan died, yet he still walks the Earth. His soul has been intertwined with The Wrath of God, an entity that manifests itself as The Spectre. The Spectre seeks vengeance and Jim Corrigan struggles to come to grips with his existence. Sound like a Vertigo book? It would have fit in, though Vertigo was mostly operating in it’s own space, away from DC continuity at that point.

Speaking of DC in the 90s, The Books of Magic is one of Neil Gaiman’s lesser known DC works and his entry in the “boy wizard” sub-genre. Timothy Hunter is child destined to be a most powerful wizard, though there is some question about how he might use his aptitude for magic. The Phantom Stranger, John Constantine, Doctor Occult and Mister E (yes, this is the introduction of the Trenchcoat Brigade) give him a tour of the magical side of the DC universe in an attempt to feel him out, as the Cult of the Cold Flame also searches for Tim. It’s not exactly Harry Potter, but it’s ballpark. Gaiman attributes it to he and Rowling drawing on the same literary sources. This one just happened to come out a few years earlier.

Night Force      The Books of Magic

Marvel’s Halloween Sale

The Marvel Halloween Sale runs through Tuesday, 10/31.

That’s right, an extra day so it’s on the proper day.

Lots of titles in this one, but if we were to boil it down to three series, here’s how it would fall:

Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection – three volumes get you the full run of one of Gerber’s longest running associations. He didn’t create the Man-Thing, but Gerber defined him. The final volume even catches you up on the Marvel Comics Presents serial and The Infernal Man-Thing miniseries that was published post-posthumously. There are a lot of artists tagging in and out, but prominent ones include Mike Ploog, Val Mayerick, John Buscema, Tom Sutton and Kevin Nowlan. Yes, both DC and Marvel had great swamp monster runs that kicked off at roughly the same time.

Tomb of Dracula – This one had some creative false starts, but once Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan have a couple issues to settle in and start building their supporting cast, this quickly becomes one of the most interesting books Marvel was publishing for it’s 70 issue issue run. Like Man-Thing, it’s one of the gems of the ’70s.

And for something a little more modern, there’s Marvel Zombies. The “Complete Collection” editions are extra interesting because the first one collects the Zombie dimension’s initial appearances away from the miniseries that followed. While the mini’s have occasion to float into the absurd, the initial appearances where a little more firmly in the horror world. And yes, the first two mini’s were Robert Kirkman writing zombies at Marvel.

Man-Thing by Steve Gerber   Tomb of Dracula   Marvel Zombies

X Marks the Spot

The Marvel Dawn of X/Reign of X/Trials of X Sale – runs through Monday, 10/30.

These are the collected editions that approximate reading the Hickman era as single issues. Roughly speaking they cycle through X-Men, Wolverine, X-Force, Marauders, etc. etc.

While this effect dissipates after time, we think this is the better way to read the Hickman X-Men titles. Story elements originally floated between books and their sum was greater than their parts. The order does something like this:

  • House of X / Powers of X  <initial limited series/Event, not in the sale>
  • Dawn of X
  • X of Swords <line wide Event, not in the sale>
  • Reign of X
  • Hellfire Gala <line wide Event, not in the sale>
  • Trials of X

Inferno is the last arc for Hickman before leaving and it fits in roughly after The Trial of Magneto ends, so you can read it somewhere between Trials of X V.3-6. Again, not part of this sale.

We’re not as adamant about reading this issue-to-issue format after Hickman leaves… although X-Force and Wolverine are certainly intertwined at times. Through Inferno, though? Yes.

Dawn of X   Reign of X   Trials of X

Unannounced Dark Horse Halloween Sale

No link for an overall sale, but we’re seeing a lot of Dark Horse horror titles at $6.99 or $7.99/volume. There’s a sale, we just don’t know why Amazon hasn’t posted it.

Some things to have a look at:

Hellboy   Creepy   Harrow County Omnibus 1

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s Halloween Sale; Venom; Miles Morales: Spider-Man; She-Hulk

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC launches its Halloween sale. Marvel drops a discount on Venom, Miles Morales and She-Hulk.

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’s Halloween Sale

The DC Horror and Mystery Sale runs through Monday, 10/30.

We’re not sure why this isn’t being called a Halloween sale. If looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck and it’s October, it’s probably a vampire duck.

That said, this a quality sale with lots of $2.99 collected editions to satisfy your thrifty needs. It’s worth a browse. Since there’s so much good stuff and it’s a two week sale, we’ll go over the highlights of A-Hellblazer this week and hit the back half of the alphabet next week.

Things that caught our eye as interesting:

What’s good here? All of the above.

A bit of recent news you might not have heard of yet. Regular readers will know the high esteem we hold the  Spurrier/Campbell Hellblazer run in. It seems DC has come to their senses (or the collected edition sales finally got high enough to get their attention) and Spurrier & Campbell will get another 8 issues of Hellblazer in ’24. (And the original run for $2.99/$3.99 per volume is a good deal, too.)

We’d highlight Batman: Haunted Knight, which are what really established the Loeb/Sale creative pairing before Long Halloween blew up and raised their collective profile.

If you’ve never tried DCeased, this is a good time of the year to try it. Leave it to Tom Taylor to take a potentially silly high concept like “superheroes vs. zombies,” tie it in with the Anti-Life Equation & Darkseid, then add in enough character work to make it a must-read.

John Constantine, Hellblazer   Batman - Haunted Knight   DCeased

Poison

The Marvel Venom Sale runs through Monday, 10/23.

This is a fairly scattered sale, with multiple formats and a lot of random early miniseries floating around. Browse for a better accounting of the listings.

For the early stuff, the better values are the somewhat scattered Epic Collections.

The early (mostly) Spider-Man appearances can be found in Venom Epic Collection: Symbiosis. That’s largely the David Michelinie / Todd McFarlane / Erik Larsen material.  That’s followed by Venom Epic Collection: Lethal Protector which has a few more villainous appearances and the original Lethal Protector mini. And then Venom Epic Collection: Carnage Unleashed continues the 90s appearances.

Eventually Venom gets his own series:

  • Venom  (2003-4) – The Daniel Way era
  • Venom  (2011-3) – Rick Remender/Tony Moore, then Cullen Bunn/Declan Shalvey
  • Venom (2016-8) – Mike Costa / Tradd Moore / Mark Bagley
  • Venom (2018-21) – Donny Cates / Ryan Stegman
  • Venom (2021-present) – Al Ewing / Ram V / Bryan Hitch

Let’s talk about the last 12 years or so. The ’11-’13 series is more interesting than you might think. That’s when Flash Thompson has the symbiote and uses it (among other things) to replace the legs his lost in the war. There are some interesting pathos floating around, particularly in the Remender/Moore run.

The Cates/Stegman run is probably the most famous right now. That’s where Venom gets Cosmic and leads into the King In Black Event.

The current Ewing / V / Hitch run, Ewing is wrapping up and Ram V has moved on from… but it’s something else. Al Ewing drives the Cosmic elements, which are the most interesting part. Eddie Brock is dead. But he isn’t. He’s separated from his body and he’s bouncing around in time as his son becomes Venom in the present. It’s a much, much stranger take on Venom than most others and really dives into the King in Black mythos and timeline.

Venom by Remender   Venom by Cates   Venom

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

The Marvel Miles Morales Sale runs through Monday, 10/23

Way too many editions of the same content for this one. Here’s our cheat sheet:

For the first Brian Bendis/David Marquez/Sara Pichelli run, you’re probably best off with the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set.

Then jump to the Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Vol. 2 collection for the ’16 Bendis/Pichelli/Nico Leaon run. (Do not ask us why the first omnibus isn’t on sale…)

And after that wraps, it’s time for Miles Morales by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron.

  Miles Morales: Spider-Man   Miles Morales

You Have the Right to Remain Green

The Marvel She-Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 10/23.

Why yes, Jennifer Walters is a lawyer. Let’s first run down the series involved here.

  • The Savage She-Hulk (’80-’82) – mostly by David Anthony Kraft and Mike Vosburg
  • Sensational She-Hulk (’89-’94) – John Byrne, then the unlikely team of Steve Gerber & Bryan Hitch
  • She-Hulk (’04-’05) – Dan Slott / Juan Bobillo
  • She-Hulk (’05 – ’09) – Initially Dan Slott / Juan Bobillo, then Peter David takes over.
  • She-Hulk (’14-’15) – Charles Soule & Javier Pulido in one omnibus
  • She-Hulk (’16-’18) – Mariko Tamaki / Nico Leon
  • She-Hulk (’22-’23) – Rainbow Rowell / Roge Antonio / Luca Maresca

If you’re coming into She-Hulk through the TV show, the legal angle for the character really started getting emphasized with the Dan Slott era and then was followed up on by Charles Soule (who just might be a lawyer in his secret identity). Rainbow Rowell’s also picking up a pretty dedicated following with her current runs.

She-Hulk by Dan Slott   She-Hulk   She-Hulk

Zenescope’s Halloween Sale

Zenescope’s Tales of Terror Halloween Sale runs through Sunday, 11/5.

This is essentially the Zenescope version of Tales from the Crypt and it comes in three formats:

Grimm Tales of Terror   Grimm Tales of Terror   Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: It’s Villains Week – Thanos, Deathstroke, Superior Spider-Man, Suicide Squad

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s villains week. DC’s discounts are on their “Villains” sale, while Marvel offers up Thanos and Super Spider-Man (Dr. Octavius, if you’re nasty).

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

They’re Just Drawn That Way…

The DC Villains Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

Spotlighting villains? Sure. It’s not like giving villains their own comics is common or anything.

We’d put the best villain comic in recent memory as the Priest/Carlo Pagulayan run on Deathstroke. Oh, there’s talk of reforming… but there’s a lot more scheming and a bit of philosophy as Deathstroke runs slightly wild through the DCU.

Note: Deathstroke crosses over with Teen Titans a couple time for key plot points (and Priest writes a better Damien Wayne than most), so you absolutely need The Lazarus Contract  and The Terminus Agenda to get the complete series.

One of the bigger villains in DC’s world is Darkseid, so naturally, The New Gods by Jack Kirby is included in the sale. The original run is definitely an impressive feat.

You really couldn’t have this sale without The Joker. While there’s plenty of that, we’ll point out one of the more offbeat offerings: Emperor Joker. That’s a Joe Kelly / Jeph Loeb / Doug Mahnke / Ed McGuinness tale that has Superman running up against a Joker who’s somehow gained the power to reshape reality in his image.

Deathstroke   New Gods by Jack Kirby   Superman: Emperor Joker

Now, if we go back to that concept of villains taking more of a heroic turn there a couple other things that come to mind.

Gail Simone, Nicola Scott and Jim Calafiore had a memorable run on Secret Six –featuring Deadshot (moving over from Suicide Squad) Catman, Ragdoll and even Bane towards the end.  (The preceding Secret Six miniseries is here.)

Did we just say Suicide Squad? Good, because the original villains pressed into service series by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell and Geoff Isherwood is also on sale. Amanda Waller assembles a team of imprisoned super villains and offers them a deal… if they go on what’s effectively a suicide mission. This is where the format was set.

For a more recent take on this, there’s Suicide Squad: Bad Blood by the team of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo, not too long before they landed on Nightwing.

Secret Six   Suicide Squad   Suicide Squad Bad Blood

The OG Marvel Cosmic Sale

The Marvel Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

Thanos has become a saga, at least with the Starlin-driven material.

Avengers Vs. Thanos is a meaty ~470 page collection of the original ’70s appearances that were centered in Captain Marvel and Warlock.  You could make an argument that this is where “cosmic” Marvel was born. (It’s one of a handful of candidates.) Recommended.

And then Thanos was mostly on the shelf for ~13 years until Jim Starlin started writing Silver Surfer (with Ron Lim drawing… oh yes, those two would do some collaborating).  The Rebirth of Thanos arc was the “oh, snap” moment (pun intended) where Thanos resurfaced and the wheels were set in motion for The Infinity Gauntlet (with art by George Perez and Ron Lim).  And both of those are recommended, too.

There were two more Infinity sequels:

And a ton of supporting material.  “Infinity” and Adam Warlock were practically a sub-imprint for a couple years.

Starlin did more Thanos follow-ups over the years, culminating in a couple graphic novel trilogies:

and

And, for good measure, while not really part of the above – Avengers: The Legacy of Thanos by Roger Stern, John Buscema and John Byrne is a highly entertaining tale of Nebula (yes, the Granddaughter of Thanos who’d later be in Guardians of the Galaxy) attempting to conquer the Skrulls.

Avengers Vs. Thanos   Rebirth of Thanos   Infinity Gauntlet

Superiority Complex

The Marvel Superior Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

Yes, that would be the run when Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker’s body. One of the great 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.

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

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel Catalog; Jonah Hex; Loki; Kraven the Hunter

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts their Jonathan Hickman catalog, plus Kraven the Hunter and Loki. DC starts to crank up the Halloween sales, Image finishes off it’s alphabet sale and Caliber pops up.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):

DC Says “Boo”

The DC Fights and Frights Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

Another eclectic mix of titles, what’s good and/or hasn’t popped up in a bit?

Checkmate by Greg Rucka (and later Eric Trautman) / Jesus Saiz is an under-rated title that hasn’t popped up lately. This is a blend of spies and superheroes with Mister Terrific, Green Lantern and Fire in the initial mix… and, of course, Amanda Waller lurks.

Doctor Fate by Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew – We don’t always like these “reimagining’s,” but Levitz & Liew knock it out of the park as the helmet of Fate settles upon the head of a Brooklyn med student. A lot more is made of Fate’s Egyptian origins in this version, and not just that Anubis is causing trouble. This flew under too many radars.

Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris. Yeah, that’s right. Pre-Saga Vaughan and post-Starman Harris teaming up for political intrigue as NYC’s first and only superhero, “The Great Machine” finds himself elected mayor. This one mixes political plots with superhero hijinks and how can you have superpowers + politics without a conspiracy? This one’s sometimes overlooked because it was Wildstorm, but not WildCATS.

Checkmate   Doctor Fate  Ex Machina

The ’00s incarnation of Jonah Hex is something of a palette-cleansing delight. Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are the writers. While there are arcs, they’ll also deal in single issue stories. Why? Because at a certain point, they just get crazy with really high end guest artists. Jordi Bernet is a regular. Darwyn Cooke shows up. Paul Gulacy. Russ Heath. J. H. Williams III. Andy Kubert. Fiona Staples.  Come for the western, stay for the art.

Superman: Phantom Zone is a favorite oddity from the ’80s. Steve Gerber (Man-Thing) and Gene Colan (Tomb of Dracula, Night Force) have celebrated backgrounds in horror comics. What if they did a Superman horror comic? Well, they kind of did. This one gets metaphysical as Superman discovers some problems inside the Phantom Zone. Warning: this gets much weirder than you’re used to Superman getting. Also includes the Gerber/Rick Veitch follow-up from DC Comics Presents. Hey, Halloween beckons.

Daniel Warren Johnson seems to be having a moment right now. Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is his Black Label (read: Elseworlds) tale of Diana waking up in a post-apocalyptic hellscape of world with few humans left and plenty of monsters hunting them.  So she goes monster hunting as she tries to piece together how the world got this way. Does Johnson out-metal Dark Knights: Metal? Yeah, we’d say so.

Jonah Hex   Superman: Phantom Zone    Wonder Woman: Dead Earth

Hickman

The Marvel Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

The big opus was the story that ran through Fantastic Four, Avengers and then ended in Secret Wars. And it’s infinitely easier (yes, that was a pun) to read that in the Complete Collection editions, because that puts the issues in the correct reading order and includes the mini-series tie-ins. Otherwise, at a certain point, you’re reading an issue from an Avengers collection and then having to open a New Avengers collection for the next issue. Or an issue of FF.

That’s all you need. “Time Runs Out” is even in the final Avengers Complete Collection volume. And here’s something that cannot be understated, the sheer scope of this tale makes it increasingly compelling the further into it you go. Once you’re past the Infinity sequence, it really starts getting jaw-dropping.

Fantastic Four by Hickman   Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Secret Wars

For the X-Men material, House of X / Powers of X is self-contained. X of Swords is relatively self-contained (and a very successful cross-over). Past that, we think the Hickman era is best enjoyed with the Dawn of X collections (not on sale) to better appreciate what an unusual tapestry was being weaved.

House of X / Powers of X   X of Swords

Past his more famous outings, The Human Machine is the complete version of Hickman’s second S.H.I.E.L.D. series. (The first series, Architects of Forever, is not on sale here.)

Craving What?!?

The Marvel Kraven Sale runs through Monday, 10/9.

Yes, it would appear somebody’s getting out early and ahead of next year’s Kraven the Hunter film. So what are we looking at here?

For most people, “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck is the pinnacle of the character (and count us in that group). Therein, Kraven takes his final revenge on Spidey. One of the darker Spider-Man tales and one that hit classic status pretty much as soon as it hit the shelf. There are plenty of ways to but this one, but we think the Kraven’s Last Hunt Epic Collection is a good buy with a lot of extra comics around this tale.

If you’re looking for a more traditional tale of Kraven, there aren’t really collections built around that (doubtless, there will be when the movie arrives), but the Spider-Man No More Epic Collection includes an early Kraven tale among it’s collection of Stan Lee / John Romita, Jr. goodness.

And if you’d like something a little more modern and little more off-kilter, X-Force V.5 by Benjamin Percy & Robert Gill hunting mutants as he tries to prove he’s the real apex predator.

Amazing Spider-Man - Kraven's Last Hunt   Spider-Man No More   X-Force

God of Mischief

The Marvel Loki Sale runs through Monday, 10/16.

You’d think a TV show was returning? Anyway, these days you have “post-TV” Loki and traditional Loki.

If you’re looking for Loki as the lead, the closest you’re likely to get to the TV show (thus far) is probably looking for either Loki, Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing, Lee Garbett and Jorge Coelho or the Loki run in the revived Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen, Doug Braithwaite, Richard Elson (and a few more artists).

If your jam is the traditional Loki as a villain, this isn’t the best sale for that, although it does have Loki’s original appearances in Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1: The Vengeance Of Loki.

Loki: Agent of Asgard   Journey Into Mystery   Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 1: The Vengeance Of Loki

The End of the Alphabet

The Image Comics Discovery Sale part 4 runs through Sunday, 10/15.

This sale will conclude Image’s return to the Comixology deals page after roughly half a year with the first volumes of titles beginning with the letters S through Z. It ends on a Sunday, but this sale has always been ending on odd days, so that’s not a huge surprise. What are some interesting titles? Let’s hit some highlights in bullet form first:

That’s a pretty nice list, but let’s highlight the volumes with a complete story.

The first nod goes to Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton, which is a complete tale in one volume. When an incredibly obnoxious and abusive TV action star is murdered, his six emotionally damaged former sidekicks reluctantly team up to figure out who did the deed. A very, very funny and fairly dark book.

Starlight might be our favorite of Millar’s Image era. The high concept here is an aging Flash Gordon-type returned to Earth, didn’t quite get the hero’s welcome one might expect and is nearing retirement in suburbia, when a ship from the planet he saved some ~40 years prior arrives looking for help. This is a much less over the top Millar staying within the traditional lines of, and writing a love letter to, the classic “planetary romance” space opera and Goran Parlov is vastly under-rated.

twenty-seven has a second volume, but it’s a sequel. V.1 is the secret of why all those musicians have been dying at the age of 27. Spoilers: the deaths weren’t natural.

6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton   Star Light   27

But Is It 9mm or .45?

The Caliber Comics October Sale runs through Tuesday, 10/31.

There are a few titles here that were notable in the ’80s indie boom.

Deadworld   The Realm    Jazz Age Chronicles

And plenty of Don Lomax war comics.

But if you want something a little more recent, Ageless might be of interest. It’s written by Torunn GrØnbekk, who’s been recently been writing Thor, with art by San Espina.

Ageless

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