Tag: Batman

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s Summer Sale (Batman and friends); Image Touts the Eisner Nods (Dept. of Truth); Dark Horse Has Everything on Sale (Everything)

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC’s attempting to make summer sizzle, Image is touting its Eisner nods and Dark Horse… has everything on sale.

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):

Interestingly, there are no new Marvel sales this week. Check the Still On Sale section for the links to the Thor / GoG / “July” sales which we also looked at in more detail last week.

For those keeping score at home, and we know a lot of you are, the 4th of July was a Marvel BOGO week last year.  We are long overdue for one and the evidence is starting to point to those having gone away when the Comixology site did.  We continue to hope, but until we see the next one…

And By Sizzle, They Mean the Weather

The DC Summer Sizzle eBook Sale runs through Monday, 7/11.

A similar 1K book graphic novel drop to what we’ve been seeing here recently. There’s a smattering of $4.99 titles, but you’re mostly going to find a floor of $5.99 here. Nothing particularly recent on sale here, but with 1000 books, there are always some highlights. Some things that we’ve enjoyed in the past.

Ex Machina originally came out under the Wildstorm banner (will it be rebranded as Black Label or will Vertigo stick around as a legacy label?), Ex Machina is what happens when a world’s first superhero attempts to retire from superheroics and is elected mayor of NYC. Of course… superhero retirements rarely go as planned. Politics against a background of costumes and power… and vice versa, too. It’s a good one and a bit earlier to the “super mayor” party.  Written by a pre-Saga Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Tony Harris, with a bit of Chris Sprouse and Jon Paul Leon.  It’s a very solid series.

Superman: Red Son is possibly Mark Millar’s best reviewed work.  With art by Dave Johnson and Killian Plunkett (we’re going to go ahead and say – we need more Dave Johnson interior art in life), this is an Elseworlds tale of Kal-El’s rocket landing in the Soviet Union, instead of Kansas, and Superman being raised as Stalin’s weapon.

James Tynion IV recently wrapped up a Batman run, but we honestly preferred his “Batman Family” flavored run from Detective Comics a few years earlier. Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez Beuno are the lead artists and the Tynion run is V. 1-7.

Ex Machina   Superman: Red Son   Detective Comics by Tynion

Awards Season

The Image Eisners Sale runs through Monday, 7/25.

Which is to say, running until Comic-Con. And there are some interesting things here.

We’re fans of Department of Truth, the X-Files-ish horror/conspiracy theory about imagination and beliefs made real by James Tynion IV (that guy again) and  Martin Simmonds. We would like to specifically point out that V.1 is down to $3.99, so the first collection for the price of a single issue.  Also some $0.99 single issues, should you prefer that format… and single issues will be cheaper that $6.99 for 6 issues in a collected edition.

With that in mind, here’s a list of the titles being offered in $0.99 single issues.  Monstress has a $3.99 V. 1, otherwise you need to compare price vs. # of issues in the collection:

Department of Truth

And They Mean Everything.

The Dark Horse Everything 2022 Sale runs through Monday, 7/25.

If it’s not the full catalog, it would seem to be awfully close.

For a lot of folks, Dark Horse starts with Hellboy. (At least in the absence of Aliens and Boris the Bear.) They’re a little pricier than some things, but since they’re basically 4-in-1 volumes, we like the Omnibus editions as a starting point here. And if you browse there is plenty more of the Hellboy universe available. It’s a classic for a reason.

Speaking of classics, there’s also Nexus, Mike Baron’s and (mostly) Steve Rude’s science fiction series with superhero trappings of a man imbued with fusion power by a sinister alien who enlists him as an assassin. Nexus is haunted by dreams of mass murderers and the only way to make them stop is to kill the murders. Also something of a cold war satire around the edges. We’ve gone through the omnibus edition in the last ~3 years and had a good time of it.

Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder has always been one of those “if you know, you know” books. Under the indie radar for a loooooong time, it’s sprawling, world building science fiction series centered around Jaeger, who’s both a sin-eater and a Finder: a sort of tracker/bounty hunter with mysterious abilities related travel, healing and locating things.  You aren’t going to find very many comics with such well-developed alien cultures as Finder, either.  Steve Leiber put us onto this long before Dark Horse acquired the rights and if you can’t trust Steve Leiber, who can you trust?  Those two Finder Library omnibus volumes are over 600 pages each. Bang for your buck!

Bonus cheap: you can find volumes of Groo by Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier  for as low as $2.99. Not a dumb price for such a dumb barbarian.

If you’re looking for $0.99 single issues, there are a bunch and you can work your way through them starting here.

Honestly, while Amazon makes browsing painful, there’s a lot of worthwhile material here if you have the time to flip through.

Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories   Nexus   Finder

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Still On Sale

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Legion (and X-Men), Batman, Lobo, Geiger and C.O.W.L.

This week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales include Legion (as in Professor X’s son), Image’s oddly named “!” sale and DC has a Spring Break sale… but the usual problems with the fluctuating discounts seem to still apply. Alas, it may be the new status quo.

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

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):

Son of X

The Marvel Legion Sale runs through Sunday, 4/17.

This would be Legion, as in Professor X’s son (David Haller).

X-Men: Legion – Shadow King Rising contains some early appearances, including the excellent original arc in New Mutants by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. Worth it just for the New Mutants arc.

If you’re mostly familiar with Legion through the wonder Noah Hawley TV show, the comic that will be most recognizable to you is probably going to be Legion: Son of X by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat.

(Next in our ongoing series of eyerolls at Amazon’s sloppy curation of comics — no, we can’t explain why Amazon has “X-Men Legacy” and photoshopped retitling of the first tpbs cover as the header for the Legion series page. Then again, we frequently don’t know what Amazon’s thinking.)

Speaking of X-Men: Legacy, that’s also on sale. Mike Carey wrote the vast majority of the series, with a rotating cast of artists that notably included Scot Eaton, Daniel Acuna, Billy Tan, Clay Mann and Khoi Pham.

X-Men: Legion - Shadow King Rising   Legion: Son of X   X-Men Legacy

! = ?

The “Image ! Sale” runs through Monday, 5/2.

No, really… the “! Sale.” We’re sure somebody found that title terribly clever, as opposed to descriptive or recognizable.  We think that “!” is supposed to be evocative of recent buzz books, although not everything here is recent.  Have a browse, but here’s what was popping to the top.

Geiger V.1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank gave us very strong DC “Great Disaster” vibes. A little Kamandi/Ben Boxer here, some Atomic Knights there… even an out of left field GI Robot analogue. All this wrapped around a chase storyline. We enjoyed it and it definitely wasn’t what we were expecting.

We’ve always liked The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra. It’s an alternate history where the brain trust of the Manhattan Project isn’t merely there to develop an atomic bomb. No, they’re working on mad science, space exploration and even exploring parallel worlds. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s horrific, but it’s a good ride. We could go for another mini-series, truth be told.

While Radiant Black is the buzz book, there’s another Kyle Higgins comic we’d point you to that we liked better. C.O.W.L.  by Higgins, Alec Siegel and Rod Reis is the tale of the Chicago Organized Workers League – a union for superheroes. Established to combat organized crime and supervillains, it’s now staggering in a world of politics and corruption. (Politics and corruption in Chicago?  Surely not!)

  The Manhattan Projects   C.O.W.L.

DC’s Current Partial Sale

The DC Spring Break eBook Sale runs through Monday, 4/25.

The usual warning applies. The pricing has been screwed up on every DC sale for several weeks and that continues here. Do not touch comics that don’t end in .99. ($5.99, $7.99, etc.) There’s a lot of books in the sale with goofy prices like $13.98 or $9.32.  These are probably not the final sale price, but we have no idea when (or if) all the prices will get fixed.  Yes, it’s a problem and it would be a much better sale if Amazon and/or DC could get their act together.

Now, that said, there are still interesting things in this large sale.

Lobo by Keith Giffen & Alan Grant manages to have both volumes discounted. Largely drawn by Simon Bisley, this is the original Lobo run. It started a series of mini-series and specials… such as the Lobo’s Paramilitary Christmas Special where the Easter Bunny has taken a hit out on Santa. It’s an over-the-top parody of machismo with something to offend to everyone!

Another one where both volumes have been included is Batman by Ed Brubaker, Vol. 1  and Vol. 2. Yes, before Captain America, Fatale and Reckless, Brubaker had a run on Batman. Scott McDaniel was the primary artist on the run.

There’s a lot more I might come back and recommend later if the prices get fixed. So many titles where only part of the individual volumes have the corrected sale price. It’s astonishing. So browse, but pay close attention to the prices.

Lobo   Batman by Ed Brubaker

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Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales – Batman, Avengers, Spawn, Thanos and Blacksad

This week in Comixology (at Amazon) Sales, we break down that big Batman sale by titles and maybe that makes it easier to parse. Marvel has deals on (almost) all things Avengers and their Cosmic wing of the universe, while we keep an eye on the Image Omnibuses.

We’re just wondering if, by the time you read this, whether the Defenders sale is still listed on the Deals page. As we type this, the sale is over, the listing is still up and the link doesn’t really go anywhere.  Amazon is trying to keep you on your toes!

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

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):

The Sale That Flaps in the Knight

So let’s revisit the big Batman Sale that’s still running through Monday (3/14). We’ve been hearing a LOT about how hard it is to navigate… and that’s no lie. We also heard one of our old habits is a little more helpful with the new Amazon consumer unfriendly layout, so we’re just going to give you a list of the various Batman series out there. Pretty much everything older is on sale, including $0.99 cent singles, so maybe this would be a little easier to parse?

Browse around those links and they might be easier to sift through and digest than the formal sale listings.

Now to throw out a suggestion that’s deeper cut, we were always a fan of the Greg Rucka / Shawn Martinbrough / Rick Burkett run that’s been collected under the banner of “New Gotham.  Great run, and $4.99 for 300+ page volumes is good bang for your buck, too. Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Batman: New Gotham   Batman: New Gotham

Bargains Assemble

Marvel has an Avengers sale running through St. Paddy’s Day (3/17).

No single issues on this sale, but let’s take the same approach… although we apologize for how unorganized the series pages on Amazon are presented. It’s poor craftsmanship.

What we’d recommend overall is to head to the original Avengers run and pick off some of the Epic Editions for $6.99.

Another excellent option is to head over to the ’98-’04 Avengers run and look at the Avengers Assemble volumes by Kurt Busiek and George Perez, which is a wonderful thing.

You might be thinking about the Hickman era, but we’re going to throw up a caution light here. Because of how that run bounced between various titles, you’re much better off reading it in the Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection format and that one’s not on sale right now.

However, if you’re looking to get your Jason Aaron/Ed McGuinness on, their Avengers is most definitely in the sale.

Oh, you’re going to make us pick and choose?  Fine.

Since the best chunk of Englehart’s Avengers isn’t in Epic format, we’ll go with The Final Threat for the original run Epic Collection. For $6.99, you get the very end of Englehart, a skirmish with Doctor Doom and Namor, the return of Wonder Man and the Bride of Ultron arc. Plus the finale of the original Thanos/Warlock saga. So your parade of creators also includes Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, George Perez, John Byrne and Jim Starlin. That ain’t shabby.

Then maybe Avengers Forever, a truly epic Kang story by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Carlos Pacheco. That was it’s own maxi-series and sometimes get overlooked for not being in the main title.  But it’s GOOD.

(Honorable mention to Under Seige – the Epic Collection version, from the delightful Roger Stern / John Buscema / Tom Palmer era.)

Avengers   Avengers Forever

Image Lays It On THICK

Image’s Omnibus Sale runs through Thursday, 3/31. Now, you need to keep an eye on these Image omnibus sales because a lot of the pricing is for HC deluxe editions and such things don’t matter in digital.  That said,  things that caught our eye:

Paper Girls The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, i.e. 30 issues for $19.99? That’s a good deal on the time travel caper and you get the whole story in one piece.

Would you like to read the first 100 issues of Spawn for less than $0.50/issue? Because now there are TWO volumes of Spawn Compendium for $23.99 each. 50 issues per volume. Get your Todd McFarlane on, your Greg Capullo on and yes… your Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, too (in the first volume).  That’s about as good a per issue price as you see outside of the holidays.

If you were wondering, the Saga omnibus that was on sale a few weeks back is not currently on sale.

Paper Girls   Spawn Compendium

No… Cosmic Boy is a DC Character…

The Marvel Cosmic Heroes Sale runs through Sunday, 3/13.

So what’s Cosmic at Marvel?  Strangely, Jim Starlin-inspired material, but not Starlin, himself. No Captain Marvel or Infinity Gems.

Thanos Wins was the introduction of Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw to the Marvel universe. It was never clear to us just how cannon this arc was (then again, we never thought Old Man Logan would turn up in the current timeline), but it’s also an entertaining, disturbing and sometimes funny jaunt that finds Thanos confronting his victorious future at the end of time. And Cosmic Ghost Rider.

The real old school option here is Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy, which collects the early Star-Lord tales. And when we say early, we mean starting with the old b&w Marvel magazines. We’ve got most of those and we like them. It’s a different Star-Lord than you see post-GoG movie, too… although Al Ewing has definitely been going back to basics. (Good on you, Al.) Who was working on these originals? Steve Englehart, Chris Claremont, Doug Moench, Timothy Zahn, Carmine Infantino, John Byrne… there was talent working on the character.

Thanos Wins   Star-Lord

And finally… you like hardboiled mysteries? If so, check out Blacksad. It’s anthropomorphic, but is is NOT funny animals. This PI comic is firmly in the Hammett/Chandler school and it is EXCELLENT.

Blacksad

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Comixology Sales: Batman, Conan, GI Joe and where the new sale pages are

This week in Comixology Sales… can we still all it Comixology? Well, the logo’s still on the Amazon page. Anyway, we have a look at some discounts on Batman, Conan and GI Joe… plus some advice on navigating the new Amazon page.

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

We’re not sure how this whole “Comixology on Amazon” thing is going to go. We surely were not happy with the churlish and authoritarian forced updates to the app, so you’re not going to hear us complaining if you’re giving Amazon a “time out” over this — we sure did.

The format may get tweaked a little, but then again you’d expect that with the applecart getting upset. We’ll give it a try and see how it goes.

First things first, some navigational bits. We’ve been hearing a lot of complaints about the UIX, so here’s a cheat sheet for you.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

The new releases page is here. Bookmark it if you’ve been having trouble finding it.  You’re going to want to scroll down to the bottom of the page the see the real/full new releases. It’s similar, but perhaps a bit clunkier, than the old Comixology setup.  You can filter for major/mid-major publishers only.  Basically, the top list of filter options from the old version.

Since we know the Comixology folks read this – Comixology needs to consider AT MINIMUM adding an alphabetical sort to that new releases window. It isn’t clear what determines the order things are displayed in, but it comes off as haphazard and a lot more painful to use. You’re not doing your reputation any favors with the current state of things. We’d probably also add an option to display content in blocks by publisher… that might be overkill, but a lot of folks would use that.  (We’re so old, we remember when Amazon cared about customer opinions.)

The “Comics Deals” page is here. That’s the page for what’s on sale. Again, bookmark it if you’ve been having trouble finding it. We’re not sure about the rhythm of the updates yet – we were giving Amazon a time out. It isn’t clear the update pattern will exactly match the old Comixology site. Time will tell.  History suggests that ALL the sales may not turn up on the deals page and may start prior to showing up on the deals page, so… stay vigilant?

Something that made us laugh

Amazon/Comixology now has a “Graphic Novels” page. Maybe someone will come to their sense and fix this before you click, but right now we’re seeing X-Men #9, Saga #56, Batman #121 — which is to say, Comixology gets absorbed by Amazon and suddenly they can’t tell the difference between a single issue and a graphic novel.  Not inspiring much confidence there, sport!

So… anyway, what’s on sale right now that might be interesting?

Dark thoughts need a Dark Knight

There’s a Batman sale running through Monday, the 14th.

Yeah, it’s going to be a pain to click through 200+ pages, since Amazon doesn’t seem to have a grid display option for the complete sale, just their highlights.

What’s good?  $2.99 for Batman:Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli is a great value.

Call us crazy (you wouldn’t be the first), but we thought Batman: Universe by Brian Bendis and Nick Derington was a really fun ride. It’s a nice tour of the DCU, the snarkfest of Bruce’s and Alfred’s conversation is top notch and you don’t see the “fun” version of Batman that often. It’s just well done.

Batman: Shadow of the Bat V. 1 is the tail end of the Alan Grant / Norm Breyfogle era of Batman… and also comes with some Tim Sale art, which is never a bad thing. At $4.99, it’s the most cost effective entry in that era (which is well worth your time).

Batman: Year One   Batman Universe   Batman: Shadow of the Bat

The Cheap Barbarian

Marvel’s Conan Sale runs through Sunday, 3/6.

Conan, possibly because it’s a licensed property, doesn’t seem like it’s on sale as much as other titles, so it might be worth some attention if you’re barbarian friendly.

We’d put this in three buckets:

  1. The original Marvel run of Conan The Barbarian by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema and friends. This is conveniently available in Epic Collections. It is a classic and one of the most popular titles of its time.
  2. The Dark Horse “Conan Chronicles“— also conveniently available in Epic Collections (some of the most recent material in Epic format, too?). We’re particularly fond of the early Kurt Busiek / Card Nord run.
  3. Savage Avengers by Gerry Duggan and Patrick Zircher (as the primary artist). OK, we had to be coaxed into this one, too. Conan, Venom, The Punisher, Elektra and Doctor Voodoo questing after Kulan Gath. “Savage Defenders” might be a more apt name for it, because it really reminded me of what you’d get if Conan was running the old “non-team,” instead of Nighthawk or Doctor Strange. Except more over the top and macho. A comic that’s entertaining, while not taking itself completely seriously… and you’ll know by the description if it’s for you.

Conan the Barbarian   Conan Chronicles   Savage Avengers

The Discount Egress

The IDW GI Joe Sale runs through Thursday, 3/24.

We bring this one up because the GI Joe license is going to be leaving IDW at the end of the year. Depending on the roll-out at the new publisher, that means some of the material might not be in digital for awhile. So if you’re interested in it, now is a good time to get current with that interest.

We’d say go with the Larry Hama run. (Which continues here.)

GI Joe

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Comixology Sales: War of the Realms, West Coast Avengers, Tynion’s Early Batman and Critical Role

This week in Comixology sales, Marvel drops a discount on War of the Realms and West Coast Avengers, DC offers up samplers of the “Rebirth” era, Dark Horse spotlights Critical Role… and don’t forget that Saga sale is still in effect.

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

A little heads up here – as you may have heard, Comixology has been saying that their website will be absorbed into the Amazon website since… September?  The date of the switchover has been pushed back. A lot. But we’ve been hearing around the water cooler that it should be any day now and we’re honestly not sure whether or not it’s going to flip over between now and February 1st.  Maybe it will and maybe the changeover will get pushed back again.  If you get redirected to Amazon, that’s why we’ve been putting the Amazon links for the sales in.

This Means War

The Marvel War of the Realms Sale runs through Sunday, 1/30 (Amazon link)

Yes, the Thor Event.  What you get depends on how you want to read it.

For deep background, the Thor of the Realms anthology will give a selection of stories from Lee/Kirby, Walt Simonson and other. This falls under “classic material.”

Thor V.2: Road to War of the Realms by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo is the lead-in to the actual event, so starting there would also be appropriate.

And then there’s finally War of the Realms, the actual Jason Aaron/Russell Dauterman Event mini-series wherein Malekith invades Midgard after conquering the rest of the ten realms.

You get through that and want more, there are plenty of spin-offs available.

Thor of the Realms   Thor Road to War of the Realms   War of the Realms

Turn Left (Coast)

The Marvel West Cost Avengers Sale runs through Sunday, 1/30. (Amazon link)

We can sum this one up very easily.  Much more easily than most sales. Get the Epic Collections.  “How the West Was Won” has the original Roger Stern/Bob Hall limited series and then jumps into the Steve Englehart/Al Milgrim ongoing series. The Epic’s take you through the beginning of the John Byrne run, so when you get to “Vision Quest,” get that and stop. (Unless you don’t like Byrne, in which case stop before that.) The next Epic Collection, “Darker Than Scarlet,” has been released, but is too recent to be on sale.  If we have learned one thing, it’s that it _will_ be on sale, so exercise a little patience there.

Avengers West Coast

X’d Out

The Marvel X-Force Legacy Sale runs through Thursday, 2/3. (Amazon link)

We have a clear favorite run of X-Force: The Rick Remender era. A dark era, to be sure, but the X-Force concept was supposed to be a little dark. The best way to pick that run up is to scroll down to the Omnibuses section and grab the two “X-Force by Rick Remender” volumes.

If you want something a LOT different, you can opt for the much loved (a little too popular to be “cult”) Peter Milligan/Mike Allred version, which is farcical take on the team.

X-Force   X-Force

When One Birth is Not Enough

The DC Rebirth eBook Sale runs through Monday, 1/31. (Amazon link)

This would be the deluxe editions of the Rebirth era DC titles, which contain the first two “normal” volumes of those titles.

The creative star of Rebirth, as far as we’re concerned was the relaunch of Wonder Woman under Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott. A repositioning of Diana’s origins after the New 52 version (an excellent story, but perhaps better suited to the Elseworlds line), this one has Diana probing her origins and why Paradise Island has disappeared.

While the Tom King Batman was the sales star of Rebirth (and it’s here), we honestly like the James Tynion IV / Eddy Barrows Detective Comics run better. It’s really a sort of Batman Family title as Batman taps Batwoman to assemble Gotham’s vigilantes into more of a cohesive unit in the face of a mysterious force targeting the younger heroes.

We also thought the Dan Jurgens / Patrick Zircher / Tyler Kirkham Action Comics run was a lot more fun than it got credit for.  Let’s be brutally honest: DC hasn’t really been able to find a take on Superman to stick with since New 52 dropped.  This one was a throwback to the tone of late 80s through mid-90s Superman and worked well for what it was… until that ridiculous Jor-El plot got inserted into it towards the end of the run.

Wonder Woman   Detective Comics by Tynion   Action Comics

Game Night

The Dark Horse Critical Role & Vox Machina Sale runs through Monday, 2/7. (Amazon Link)

This would be the *cough* D&D-like comics exploring the backgrounds of the characters from the extremely popular podcast.  Does that make it the story within the story?  Um, maybe?

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins combines the previous two volumes into a single edition.

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins — Jester Lavorre chronicles the early years of Jester Lavorre… as if you couldn’t guess by the title…

Critical Role   Critical Role - Jester

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Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales: Thor, Deadpool, 70%+ off at DC (and Batman), plus Image Horror

This week in Comixology Sales, there’s pretty complete run of Thor on sale and DC’s still over 70% off on many of their graphic novels.  Plus Deadpool and Image’s horror line is on sale for Halloween.

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

Bringing the Thunder

The Marvel Thor: Massive God of Thunder Sale runs through Sunday, 10/17.

This is pretty much Thor on sale up and down all the various titles for ~60-67% off per volume and some $0.99 single issues.  The sale page is incredibly poorly organized, so we’ll walk you through the titles and point to some better stuff.  Our rule of thumb is that Epic Collections and Marvel Masterwork editions are the best values. We like Epic’s a little better, but the Masterworks are published in the right order, so pick your poison.

Thor starts in Journey into Mystery. Fair warning, the earliest issues can be a little rough as they figure out the format. As Lee and Kirby lock in, it improves greatly, but the first Masterworks’ worth is for completists.

As we all know, Journey into Mystery changed the title to Thor, and just as things were getting interesting. You’re good with the initial Stan Lee / Jack Kirby (the Mangog and Galactus sequences are particularly good circa #154 – 169). Fine when John Buscema tags in for Kirby, but then opinions vary quite a bit when Stan exits.  What everyone agrees on is then when Walt Simonson shows up, it’s the best Thor since Lee/Kirby.  The “Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson” set of books is more complete than Thor by Walter Simonson, FYI. Visionaries has the end of the run.

Journey into Mystery   Thor: To Wake the Mangog

We’ll ignore Heroes Reborn, and then the new Thor series is an extended run written by Dan Jurgen with John Romita, Jr. as the initial artist.

The  next volume starts out with a good run by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Copiel, then has Keiron Gillen popping up around a Siege tie-in and then starts the Matt Fraction / Pasqual Ferry run.  It’s a pretty good volume.

As we enter the Relaunch Era of Marvel, Fraction/Copiel gets a new #1 as it relaunches as The Mighty Thor. Note: Comixology (and Marvel) have some weird housekeeping at the final act of the Fraction run, Everything Burns, is collected all by itself.

Thor by Dan Jurgens   Thor by JMS   The Mighty Thor   Everything Burns

This is when Jason Aaron popped on board. First with Thor confronting The God Butcher and then Jane Foster’s time as Thor. This is a funky one to keep track of by individual titles, but Marvel has a Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection that simplifies things quite a bit.

Which leaves us with the current  Donny Cates/ Nic Klein run.  And that’s the nickel tour of Thor.  That sale page is pretty jumbled up.  This is where you’ll find your $0.99 single issues.

Thor by Jason Aaron   Thor by Donny Cates

Rare “Good” Discounts at DC

The DC Fandome Sale marches on through Monday, 10/18. It’s in two links: Part 1 and Part 2. It’s a disorganized batch of titles, but very good discounts for DC in the ~69%- 75% off range.  Very good discounts for DC.  Last time we looked at oddities and value buys. This time we’re going to look at some the stuff with higher list prices where you’re saving more actual dollars.

One of the very best Batman runs was the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers era.  Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart contains that Detective run, the much later Dark Detective miniseries and basically all the Batman Englehart wrote. 452 pages, 74% off.

All-Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever is the 70s Justice Society run (All Star Comics and Adventure Comics) in one large volume. Gerry Conway and Paul Levitz are your writers. The art line up is most associated with Joe Staton, but Keith Giffen and Wally Wood are notable here.  449 pages, 74% off.

Marv Wolfman once told us his favorite work was Night Force. You may not have heard of it, but that’s why we’re here. It’s time travel horror caper of a comic about a mansion in Washington D.C. that’s a portal into time and the mysterious Baron who lives there.  Gene Colan does the art. Yes, it’s the Tomb of Dracula crew back in the saddle at a different publisher.  Really good stuff and this edition collects the original 14-issue run.

Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart   All-Star Comics  Night Force

More Halloween!

The Image Horror Sale runs through Monday, 11/1.

And Image has a lot of horror. It was one of the beneficiaries when DC made the questionable decision to throw Vertigo to the curb.  A few things that bubble to the top of our list:

We’re in the bag for Killadelphia. Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander serve up a neo-noir horror thriller (with great punchlines sprinkled in here and there) about father and son detectives trying to head off a vampire takeover of Philly.  That’s the non-spoiler version. It’s much darker and intricate than a spoiler-free description can describe.  Highly recommended for Halloween.

Dracula, Motherf**cker! by Alex de Campi and Erica Henderson is… an experience. And we mean that in the best possible way. Think a ’70s exploitation era crime film with vampires. Dracula is in LA and not everyone is happy about it. An absolute tour de force for Erica Henderson, too.  She really catches that early 70s vibe and sets a unique tone you should see for yourself.

Kill or Be Killed is Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips spinning a tale of a young man at war with the Russian mob who’s either possessed by a demon or insane. Which is it? That would telling, but a superior and creepy entry in the Brubaker & Phillips library.

Killadelphia   Dracula, Motherf**cker!   Kill or Be Killed

Deadpool or Treat

The “Marvel Deadpool World’s Greatest Sale” runs through Sunday, 10/17.

Let’s translate that for you – it’s the 2015-2017 Deadpool series that’s on sale. It’s called Deadpool: World’s Greatest on Comixology, but the actual covers just say “Deadpool” with the Fantastic Four’s “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” tagline above the logo in sardonic fashion.  Were you go to the actual series page for the comic and scroll down to the Omnibuses section, you can save a small amount by getting it in that format.  As it the case with most of the sales this week, the sale page is a jumbled up mess.

Deadpool: World's Greatest

Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: Avengers, Spider-Man, Batman, James Bond and Dark Horse Celebrates Halloween

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Hickman’s Avengers, the chronology of once and future Spider-Man, Ben Reilly, Dark Horse’s Halloween sale and a whole bunch of DC graphic novels… which is to say, Batman.

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

The New Spider-Man (Again)

The Marvel Ben Reilly: Spider-Man Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

If you’re not up on this, it’s going to take some explaining. When Nick Spenser leaves Amazing Spider-Man, the Ben Reilly character will be putting on the Spidey suit and taking over. (Yeah, we know. It almost certainly won’t be forever.) So this sale is about catching you on the character.  You’re going to need a score card, so let’s walk you through this.

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga is where this kicks off, way back in the 70s. (Yeah, we’re talking clones, so this is a long and winding road.)  The clone saga truly starts with a plot by The Jackal spawning the first clones at the end of the Gerry Conway/Ross Andru run. Then we fast forward to the first encounter with Carrion in the Bill Mantlo/Sal Buscema Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man run as the clones return.  This is where Ben Reilly comes from, though you won’t read that name yet.

Flash forward to the ’90s. Nobody really called the “Original Clone Saga” anything like that until the “Clone Saga” took over the Spidey line in the 90s. It’s collected in the 5 (thick) volume “Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic” series. This is where Ben Reilly, Peter’s clone,  shows up as the Scarlett Spider. So you’ve got the Jackal back running around, and hijinks with Venom and Carnage in the middle of it.

At the conclusion of how Marvel’s collecting the Clone Saga, Ben Reilly takes over as Spidey. This run is collected as Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic. At the end of it, we’re done with Ben Reilly for awhile and many would say that’s the real end of the Clone Sage (90s version).

Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga   Spider-Man: The Complete Clone Saga Epic   Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic

Of course, this is comics, so of course Ben Reilly is back from the grave in the Dan Slott-era Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy. And then he spins off into his own series, as you knew he would in the current era.  But hey, we warned you all this clone stuff is a long and winding road. That’s your primer for the new Spidey era.

Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy

Hickman’s Revenge

The Marvel Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Sale runs through Sunday, 10/10.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Hickman’s Avengers run is really one long story and you need to treat it as such.  Do not try and read Avengers and New Avengers as separate collections.  That’s not how the material was published.

Fortunately, Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection seems to be taking that approach. Yes, this sequence includes Infinity, so you don’t need to buy that on its own.  Next up is Time Runs Out, which is the ending arc of Avengers and New Avengers. All in one oversized volume. And finally, after the collapse of known universes, the story wraps up in Secret Wars.

“Epic” is a word that gets thrown around a lot at Marvel. Hickman’s Avengers tale earns that word. The sheer scope of the story is stunning and is really a vital part of the experience. Don’t jump in at the end. Start at the beginning and take the full ride. In for a penny, in for a pound.  Or maybe five pounds in this case.

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman - the Complete Collection   Avengers: Time Runs Out    Secret Wars

Let the Halloween Sales Begin

‘Tis the season for horror-ish sales and The Dark Horse Halloween Sale kicks it off (and runs through Monday, 11/1).

There’s a lot of stuff in here, since Dark Horse has always published a lot of horror. We’ll assume you already know about Hellboy and B.P.R.D – both are in there and both are worth your time if you haven’t partaken, but we’ll focus on some different offerings.

Point in case, one of the… outer resident of the Mignola-verse is Baltimore, the tale of a world where the vampires rose at the end of WWI and the bloody quest for vengeance Lord Baltimore sets out for against those vampires. Now conveniently contained in two omnibus editions, we had a good time reading those a few months back. Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden are the authors with Ben Steinbeck and Peter Bergting tagging off on art.

It seems like this is the season for some Neil Gaiman, and there’s plenty on sale. Perhaps it’s a good year for Snow, Glass, Apples? That would be Colleen Doran adapting Neil’s twisted retelling of the legend of Snow White. (Also available in The Neil Gaiman Library V. 3)

And for something extra below the radar, we offer up The Marquis.  Originally published by Oni, this is a supernatural affair written and drawn by Guy Davis. Yes, the same Guy Davis who rocked B.P.R.D. The Marquis concerns an ex-inquisitor in the 18th century who can see the demons who are possessing members of society as he dons a mask to root them out… in a hail of bullets. It’s Guy Davis with the gloves off, slinging horrors at the reader.

Baltimore Omnibus 1   Snow, Glass, Apples   The Marquis

The Road to PR

The DC Road to FanDome Sale comes in Part 1 (100 Bullets to New Teen Titans) and Part 2 (New Teen Titans to Zero Hour). FanDome is DC’s attempt to pass off a PR event as their own convention, so they’re pretty much putting most of their graphic novels up for 50% off.

If you’d like a little bang for your buck, you could do a lot worse than Batman by Ed Brubaker V. 1. That’s Brubaker with Scott McDaniel and Karl Story as the primary art team. 317 pages for $5.99. There’s a second volume, but heads up that it’s in the middle of the “Bruce Wayne: Fugitive” event, so parts of it might read a little odd – not an uncommon problem with single-creator themed Batman collections.

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby is essentially the Fourth World Superman title and it’s a little under-rated.  Jimmy Olsen hooks up with the Cadmus Project as Intergang and Darkseid loom over things and Superman keeps watch. A more influential series than you might realize – these additions to the mythos have largely stuck around over the years.

The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman is Liam Sharp’s tale of Batman and Wonder Woman investigating the death of a Celtic god from a couple years back (before Sharp hooked up with Grant Morrison for Green Lantern).

Batman by Ed Brubaker   Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby   The Brave and the Bold

No Time to Die Shop

The Dynamite James Bond Sale runs through Monday, 10/18.

If you like Ian Flemming’s novels, have we got a comic for you.  Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida bring Bond back into the crosshairs of SMERSH. One of the best 007 updates, period.

James Bond Kill Chain

Still On Sale

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Comixology Sales: Batman Day, Iron Man, Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks and Don Rosa

This week in Comixology Sales, it’s Batman Day and there’s a whole lot of Batman floating around, Marvel has a big run of Iron Man on sale and if you like Disney, especially Carl Barks and Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge, that’s at a discount, too.

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

Batman Day

The DC Batman Day Sale runs through Monday, 9/20 and it comes in three parts: Graphic Novels, Single Issues I and Single Issues II.  Yes, that means a couple thousand single issues, including some oddities like Batman Family and the usually excellent – and mostly uncollected: Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight  (the original run, not the later digital-first edition).  Oddly enough, no Detective Comics single issues.

Batman Family   Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight

For collected editions, well… it’s mostly all there, from the current Tynion run (through Joker War) all the way back.  You can easily pick your own flavor of Batman, but we’d point out a couple things…

Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle V. 1 is a nice thick volume containing the beginning of Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle run. Early enough the John Wagner was involved. You get the debuts of The Ventriloquist and The Ratcatcher, a Clayface reunion and a tale of The Demon, among other things.  Strong collection.

If you’d like something a little lighter on the wallet, while it’s included in the larger Archie Goodwin collection, Batman: Night Cries by Goodwin and Scott Hampton is a mere $1.99 for the standalone graphic novel.

Legends of the Dark Knight Norm Breyfogle   Batman: Night Cries

Not the Ozzy Version

The Marvel Iron Man: Massive Golden Avenger Sale runs through Sunday, 9/19.

This one is a real jumbled mess to browse, so we’re going to break this down by series.  The rule of thumb is that Epic Collections tend to be slightly better values than the Masterworks, but pick your format.  Masterworks are released in order, Epics are… a little eclectic in their releases.

Iron Man’s story starts in Tales of Suspense. Call us heretics, but we don’t think Shellhead really soars until Archie Goodwin shows up at the end of this run and takes Tony into the solo title.  That would be By Force of Arms if you go Epic or Masterworks V. 4.

So then the long running Iron Man series is one of eras. The opening run with Archie Goodwin is pure gold. While it’s not bad after Goodwin, it next takes a bit leap with David Michelinie and Bob Layton turn up.  Both runs, really.  The first run with John Romita, Jr. brings the classic “Demon in a Bottle” and the later run with Mark Bright brings “Armor Wars.” You can’t lose when those two are on Iron Man.  And, honestly, the Denny O’Neil/(mostly) Luke Mc Donnell run in between the Michelinie/Layton runs is under-rated.  The “Iron Monger” final arc ending in #200 is a good one that Hollywood embraced.

Iron Man: The Man Who Killed Tony Stark

The next superlative run was dubbed Iron Man: Heroes Reborn. This is Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen. For inexplicable reasons, only about 1/2 of the series has been collected, but you can get all that has been in one volume. (Sorry Kurt, you can protest all you want, but your run is a highlight.)

Iron Man: Heroes Reborn

And the final entry on the highlights list is the Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca run. This run gets special recognition for the “World’s Most Wanted” arc. When Dark Reign’s “non-event” event dropped, Fraction put the story arc on pause and delivered a KILLER self-contained epic about Tony Stark on the run.  And then popped back to what he was planning on doing a year later. Great run.  You can save a little money by getting the omnibus edition that collects the first 3 volumes.

Iron Man

*The first volume of the current Christopher Cantwell/Cafu Iron Man is $2.99. We’re enjoying it, but we’re not ready to put it on the wall before the first arc is over.  😉

Iron Man: Big Iron

If It Walks Like a Duck…

The Fantagraphics Disney Sale runs through Thursday, 9/23.

And with Disney, we’d point you to the Duck masters.  Carl Barks and Don Rosa. They rule the roost.

Uncle Scrooge   The Don Rosa Library

Still on Sale

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Comixology Sales – DC Resumes “Real Discounts” (73-77% off across the board)… of course we have suggestions

It’s a Labor Day Miracle! After months of mostly subpar discounts, DC’s got very large selection their graphic novels at 73%-77% off. (Mostly 77%.)  Let’s have a look at what’s on sale, shall we?

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

The DC Labor Day Sale runs through Monday, 9/6 and is in two parts – Part 1 (100 – Bullets to John Constantine, Hellblazer) and Part 2 (John Constantine, Hellblazer to Zero Hour).

We were wondering if we were going to see these kind of discounts again before Black Friday, so it’s a Labor Day surprise and it gets it’s own post.  77% off beats a BOGO, so let’s take a little closer look at the catalog.

100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso.  The classic crime/revenge series about untraceable guns and ammos that eventually turns into a conspiracy thriller.  Take the link, scroll down to the Omnibuses section and you can get the whole thing in 5 volumes for $3.99 a pop. An exceptional value.

100 Bullets

You say you like James Tynion IV’s Batman?  Were you around for his Detective Comics run? Tynion writes V. 1-7.  $2.99/volume.  Similar deals for the Snyder and King Batman runs, too.

Detective Comics by Tynion

Remember when Bendis showed up at DC and you wanted him to write Batman?  Well he did write Batman… for the Walmart editions. The Direct Market version never really took off, but you know what?  Batman: Universe with Nick Derington on the art was a ton of fun and we’d be up for more. Again, a lousy $2.99.

Batman Universe

The DC Universe by Len Wein is a retrospective that might have flown under your radar.  Yes, Wein did more than just create Swamp Thing and Wolverine.  (Although that would be enough for most people.) Of particular note is a section of his *excellent* Phantom Stranger run with Jim Aparo that has never gotten the appropriate respect.  The original Mongul story arc from DC Comics Presents with Jim Starlin is in there, as is the more often reprinted JLA/JSA team-up that reintroduced the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

DC Universe by Len Wein

If you like the Flash, check out the  Ominbuses section of the ’87-09 series.  Here you will find The Flash by Mark Waid, which was then followed by The Flash by Geoff Johns.  Two great runs at good discounts.

The Flash

The 90s JLA series is most famous for the Grant Morrison / Howard Porter run.  While that was a classic run, there’s more that followed… including a Mark Waid/Bryan Hitch run, Chris Claremont and John Byrne reuniting and Kurt Busiek/Ron Garney.

JLA

We’ll be back at our regularly scheduled time at the end of the week to look at the back half of the sale and the rest of the week’s deals, but we thought we’d give you a head start on your browsing to celebrate DC offering decent discounts this week.

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Comixology Sales: Batman, Magneto, Secret Wars and a Small Press Round Up

Highlights of this week’s Comixology Sales include Magneto and Secret Wars from Marvel, a Batman “spotlight” from DC and a Small Press Round Up.

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

Polarizing

The Marvel Magneto Sale runs through Sunday, 5/23.

For a good value, check out the X-Men Epic Collections (scroll down to collected editions or just look at the main sale link).  High page counts = low cost per issue.

If you want something off the beaten path, Cullen Bunn and Gabriel Hernandez Walta (pre-Vision) did an interesting and dark Magneto series in ’14-’15.

X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live   Magneto

But Is It REALLY a Secret?

The  Marvel Secret Wars sale runs through Thursday, 5/27.

This is the Secret Wars 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

I Shall Become… A Bat

DC’s Batman Spotlight Sale runs through Monday, 5/24.

Keep an eye on the discounts here. Plenty of books are only 40-46% off, which not Cheap.  More are 50%, which is so-so for DC.  A couple things at a better discount?

Batman: Death Mask by Yoshinori Natsume is a manga edition that’s 60% off.

Batman: Tales of the Demon is a collection of Ra’s al Ghul stories. The originals, plus a sequence from ’78-’80. Denny O’Neil is the scribe with Neal Adams and Don Newton dominating the art. This one is 74% off, though it’s starting from higher list price.

Batman Death Mask   Batman: Tales of the Demon

Indie Madness

The Small Press Starter Sale runs through Thursday, 5/27.

These are the first volumes of series put out by smaller publishers.  Highlights?

We do like AHOY Comics here at the Tower of Cheap. The Wrong Earth by Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle and Juan Castro is one of their best.  Think Adam West Batman and Dark Knight Batman switching places and being bewildered by each other’s world.

Watson & Holmes: A Study in Black by Karl Bollers, Rick Leonardi and Larry Stroman is a reimaging of Sherlock Holmes in contemporary Harlem. It’s also very good.

Going a little further off the beaten path, we hadn’t heard of the Shame series by Lovern Kindzierski and John Bolton. John Bolton remains a very underappreciated artist.

The Wrong Earth   Watson and Holmes   Shame

Still on Sale

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