In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC breaks out a very deep and cheap Batman sale with lots of $2.99 ebooks… and the Justice League, too. Marvel cuts prices on Elektra. Dark Horse highlights Black Hammer and Matt Kindt amidst a line-wide 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):
- The new releases page is here.
- The “Comics Deals” page is here.
- The Kindle Deals comics page is here.
You Had Me at $2.99 Batman
The DC Batman: The Caped Crusader Sale runs through Monday, 8/12.
Well, now… this is certainly an interesting and relatively exhaustive sale. Most of the collected editions are on sale and at good prices. You see $2.99 at DC and it’s time to pull the trigger, so take note and lord it over your friends.
And yes, it’s named after the new animated series, which we’ve started watching and is starting out astonishingly dark and pulpy. (Both good things in our book.)
Let’s try and make things a little easier list and mark off the more notable of the various series included in the sale:
- All-Star Batman ’16 – Scott Snyder with rotating artists
- All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder – Frank Miller / Jim Lee
- Batman ’40-’11
- Batman ’11-’16 – The Scott Synder/Greg Capullo run
- Batman ’16 – present – The Tom King run through the current Chip Zdarsky run
- Batman ’89 – Continuing the Tim Burton film continuity by original screenwriter Sam Hamm and Joe Quinones
- The Batman Adventures – The original animated series comic by (mostly) Kelley Puckett / Ty Templeton
- Batman & Robin ’09 – ’11 – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely / Frazier Irving
- Batman & Robin ’11-’15 – Peter J. Tomasi / Patrick Gleason
- Batman & Robin Adventures – Animated series comic by Paul Dini & Ty Templeton
- Batman & Robin Eternal
- Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo – Marc Silvestri
- Batman / Catwoman – Tom King / Clay Mann / Liam Sharp
- Batman: Dark Victory – The sequel to The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
- Batman: Death and the Maidens – Greg Rucka / Klaus Janson
- Batman: Earth One – Geoff Johns / Gary Frank
- Batman: Gates of Gotham – Scott Snyder / Kyle Higgins / Trevor McCarthy
- Batman: Gotham by Gaslight – The classic Elseworlds by Brian Augustyn / Mike Mignola
- Batman: Gotham Knights – Devin Grayson / Roger Robinson
- Batman: Haunted Knight – The specials the led the way to The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale
- Batman: Killing Time – Tom King / David Marquez
- Batman: One Bad Day
- Batman: One Dark Knight – Jock
- Batman: Reptilian – Garth Ennis / Liam Sharp
- Batman: Shadow of the Bat – Alan Grant / Norm Breyfogle / Brett Blevins
- Batman: Streets of Gotham – Paul Dini / Dustin Nguyen
- Batman / Superman ’13 – ’16
- Batman: The Adventures Continue – Continuation of the animated series by Alan Burnett / Paul Dini / Ty Templeton
- Batman: The Dark Knight ’11-’14 – Gregg Hurwitz / David Finch
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Frank Miller
- Batman: The Killing Joke – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons
- Batman: The Knight – Chip Zdarsky / Carmine Di Giandomenico
- Batman: The Long Halloween – Jeph Loeb / Tim Sale
- Batman Universe – Brian Bendis / Nick Derington
- Batman: Urban Legends
- Batman Vs. Bane – The original Bane special by Chuck Dixon/Graham Nolan, plus Bane of the Demon
- Detective Comics ’37 – ’11
- Detective Comics ’11 – ’16 – New 52 that launch with Tony Daniel’s run
- Detective Comics ’16-present – Starts with a James Tynion IV run, currently by Ram V (and on sale through the Mariko Tamaki run)
- Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
- Batman and the Outsiders (original) – Mike W. Barr / Jim Aparo / Alan Davis
- The Brave and the Bold – The original team-ups
- The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman ’18 – Liam Sharp
- Superman/Batman – Initially by Jeph Loeb / Ed McGuiness
- World’s Finest ’41-’86
What’s that? You’re still not satisfied? *Sigh* Fine, there’s some Harley Quinn in this one, too.
- Harley Quinn ’00-’04 – Karl Kesel / Terry & Rachel Dodson
- Harley Quinn ’13-’16 – Jimmy Palmiotti / Amanda Connor / Chad Hardin
- Harley Quinn ’16-’20 – Jimmy Palmiotti / Amanda Connor / Chad Hardin
- Harleen ’19 – Stjepan Sejic
- Harley Quinn ’21- current – Stephanie Phillips / Riley Rossmo
What’s good? That depends on what flavor of Batman you like. It seems the caped crusader is flexible and has had different tones over the years.
Do you like the 90s Event era where the Batman family of books crossed over? Most of those collections are $2.99/$3.99. Here’s a cheat sheet for that (we have a soft spot for No Man’s Land):
- The Knightfall sequence (Bane, a broken back and Azrael)
- Contagion / Legacy (Virus)
- No Man’s Land (Gotham is cut off from the mainland and goes Lord of the Flies)
- Bruce Wayne – Murderer (A frame-up)
- War Games (Gang wars, Gotham-style)
Prefer the mid-to-late 80s era? Starlin/Aparo or Grant/Breyfogle? Those collections are running $3.99/$4.99 and filed under the original Batman and Detective runs.
“The Caped Crusader” branded volumes collect the Batman issues and start here
“The Dark Knight Detective” branded volumes collect the Detective Comics issues and start here.
We’re also going to call out a few things that are a hair more expensive, but normally have a much higher price point:
- Batman and the Outsiders
- Batman: Tales of the Demon – The original Ra’s al Ghul saga, much of it by Denny O’Neil / Neal Adams
- Batman: The Demon Trilogy – Collects Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon and Birth of the Demon
- Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin – He didn’t do a ton of Batman, but what he did was pretty darn good.
- Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway – 3 volumes from the early ’80s with Don Newton and Gene Colan (starting w/V.2) art
- Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart – Englehart’s run on Detective w/ Marshall Rogers and Walt Simonson is considered a high point of the character. This has all Englehart’s Batman work. Highly recommended.
Coincidentally, This Title is Returning Soon
The DC Justice League Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.
That’s right, as it’s announced at Comic-Con that Mark Waid & Dan Mora are launching a new Justice League Unlimited series, a sale on the Justice League follows. To paraphrase Casablanca, “We’re shocked. Shocked to find Justice League on sale.” We also note some decent prices and a chunk of $2.99 books sprinkled in.
Let’s start out by counting down the many flavors available:
- Justice League of America ’60-’87 – The original
- Justice League of America ’87-’96 – This is, at least initially, the Justice League International / Justice League Europe run with Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis / Kevin Maguire. BWA HA HA HA HA HA
- JLA ’97-’06 – Not on sale, but listed for completeness (This starts with the Morrison run.)
- Justice League of America ’06-11 – Initially launched as Brad Meltzer / Ed Benes and eventually got Dwayne McDuffie (who was undercut by editorial)
- Justice League ’11-’16 – The New 52 Geoff Johns era, initially with Jim Lee art.
- Justice League ’16 – ’18 – The Bryan Hitch (as writer) era with rotating artists
- Justice League ’18-22 – It’s probably easiest to call the most recent incarnation the Scott Snyder era, as he launched the volume. So many rotating artists here.
- Justice League Infinity ’21 (Revisiting the animated series)
- Justice League: World’s Greatest Superheroes – Paul Dini / Alex Ross
- Justice League: Endless Winter
For some of the side series:
- Justice League Dark ’11 – Peter Milligan / Jeff Lemire / Mikel Janin
- Justice League Dark ’18 – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno; HOLD ON! Where have we seen this creative team recently? Hmm…
- Justice League: Galaxy of Terror – Si Spurrier / Jeff Loveness / Aaron Lopresti
- Justice League Incarnate – Josh Williamson / Dennis Culver / Andrei Bressan / Brandon Peterson
- Justice League: Last Ride: Chip Zdarsky / Darick Robertson
- Justice League Odyssey – Josh Williamson / Dan Abnett / Will Conrad / Cliff Richards
- Justice League of America ’13 – Geoff Johns / Matt Kindt / David Finch / Doug Mahnke
- Justice League of America ’15 – Bryan Hitch / Daniel Henriques
- Justice League of America ’17 – Steve Orlando / Ivan Reis
- Justice League United – Jeff Lemire / Mike McKone
- Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno / Jesus Merino
What’s good?
The Nail is Alan Davis with an A+ Elseworlds take on a Justice League on a world where Superman did not emerge as the first hero.
You can get a big chunk (500+ pages) of the BWA HA HA era in omnibus format for $5.99.
$2.99 for Dwayne McDuffie’s run (starting here) is a good deal.
$2.99 for the first pair of Silver Age collections is also a good deal.
Under the radar? The Christopher Priest / Pete Woods arc from ~3 years back. It’s just good comics without silly crossovers.
Miss Natchios If You’re Nasty…
The Marvel Elektra Sale runs through Monday, 8/5.
That would Elektra, the former Hand assassin and on-again-off-again love interest of a certain Mathew Murdoch. Strangely, the original Daredevil run isn’t included here, but let’s do a quick rundown in rough chronological order.
- Elektra: Assassin – Frank Miller / Bill Sienkiewicz
- Daredevil – The D.G. Chichester / Scott McDaniel era
- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear – Frank Miller / John Romita, Jr.
- Elektra by Peter Milligan, Larry Hama, & Mike Deodato Jr.: The Complete Collection – You can probably figure out the creators for this one
- Elektra (’01) – Greg Rucka / Chuck Austen
- Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra – Greg Rucka / Salvador Larroca
- Wolverine: Enemy of the State – Mark Millar / John Romita, Jr.
- Elektra (’14) – W. Haden Blackman / Mike Del Mundo
- Daredevil & Elektra by Chip Zdarsky – Chip Zdarsky / Marco Checchetto
What’s good here? Elektra: Assassin is the undisputed classic. A very odd series, originally from Epic (not for kids) about Elektra rebelling against The Beast (the demon behind The Hand, not the X-Man) and stalking a politician controlled by The Beast.
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear is essentially Miller doing “Daredevil: Year One.” It isn’t Elektra-heavy, but it’s good.
Daredevil & Elektra by Chip Zdarsky is quite good, though it’s also the final act of Zdarsky’s run and isn’t the best place to start.
The Chichester / McDaniel Daredevil era seems to be getting a critical reappraisal these days. We liked it the first time around and it’s when Elektra was re-introduced into the supporting cast (on order from editorial, IIRC).
Unannounced Sale of the Week – Held Over
The Hunger & The Dusk, V.1 – G. Willow Wilson / Chris Wildgoose; We were startled this was on sale for $1.99 last week (it hasn’t even been out for 2 months yet), we’re still startled… but it was probably our favorite read of the last month and it’s well worth a look if you like intelligent Epic Fantasy.
All Kinds of Unannounced Dark Horse Sales
There are two new unannounced Dark Horse Sales:
1) The wide world of Matt Kindt, who’s done quite a bit of work for them:
- 2 Sisters
- 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man
- Apache Delivery Service – w/ Tyler Jenkins
- Bang! – w/ Willfredo Torres
- Crimson Flower – w/Matt Lesniewski
- Dept. H
- Ether -w/ David Rubin
- Fear Case – w/ Tyler Jenkins
- Hairball – w/ Tyler Jenkins
- MIND MGMT
- Mister Mammoth w/Jean-Denis Pendanx
- Past Aways – w/Scott Kolins
- The Complete Pistolwhip – w/ Jason Hall
- Spy Superb – w/ Sharlene Kindt
- Super Spy
2) Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire & Dean Ormston
And then the line-wide sale
.Dark Horse has a mostly line-wide 50% off sale, excepting recent releases and a few things where perhaps the price wasn’t updated. This is stilted towards the collected editions. It’s been going on since last week and we think it should still be active through Monday, maybe Tuesday? How does a person properly browse this?
Not very easily. Amazon does not make it easy to sort by publisher.
This link will get you a _very_ unsorted stream of Dark Horse titles to pick through.
And let’s drop links for some of the usual suspect series while we’re at it:
- 300
- Abe Sapien
- Air
- Aleister & Adolf
- All Eight Eyes
- The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects
- American Gods –
- Apache Delivery Service
- Baltimore
- Beasts of Burden
- Berserk
- Blade of the Immortal
- B.P.R.D.
- Count Crowley
- Creepy Archives
- The EC Archives
- Elfquest
- Eerie Archives
- Finder
- Frank Miller’s Sin City
- Ghost
- Goldfish
- The Goon
- Grandville
- Grendel
- Groo
- Hard Boiled
- Harrow County
- Hellboy
- Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.
- Hillbilly
- The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century
- Minor Threats
- The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos
- Nexus
- Resident Alien
- Tarzan
- Umbrella Academy
Still on Sale
- The Marvel Wolverine Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 8/5
- The The Marvel Deadpool Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 8/5
- The Marvel Deadpool Vs. the Marvel Universe Sale runs through Monday, 8/5
- The Zenescope Grimm Tales of Terror Sale runs through Saturday, 8/17