Tag: Flash

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Something’s Going On With DC’s Prices

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, there seem to be some changes in DC’s digital pricing.

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 Unannounced Price Changes

Batman by Ed Brubaker  Green Lantern  Wonder Woman by Gail Simone

We’ve been hearing quite a bit from people wondering why DC hasn’t had a sale listed on the Deals page in a couple weeks. We’d been wondering that, too. Looking into it, it seems like DC may be changing their digital pricing structure on older collections (their backlist, if you prefer industry jargon). What we’re about to say is based on our observations on pricing on the afternoon of 4/11/25. These things do have a way of changing.

It appears that DC may be in the process of changing the list price for backlist “regular” collections to $9.99 across the board. What’s old enough to be considered backlist? It appears to be something like 6 or 7 months. Not all prices have changed, so this may still be working it’s way through the Amazon database. Some of the omnibus editions are also $9.99, some are higher.

If DC is in the middle of a price restructuring, it would not be unusual for them to pause sales until all the new prices have populated out. Which is not to say there aren’t some larger discounts floating around. We’re seeing lots of seemingly random $3.99-$6.99 price points across all sorts of titles… but not always full runs.

Let’s go on a quick tour, shall we?

That’s not an exhaustive trip through the DC backlist, just a few things we typed in and found lower prices. If there was a backlist volume you were interested in, now might not be a bad time to check on it. Hopefully this stabilizes soon and we get back to having a better idea what’s a sale and what a normal price. It’s also possible those $9.99 prices are someone’s idea of a sale. In the meantime, something’s going on, we’re just not 100% sure what it is.

Marvel

Marvel did not have a new sale this week. See below for the continuing ones.

(More) Unannounced Sales

Be Everything At Once  Mom's Cancer

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

X-Factor  Fantastic Four  Ultimate Black Panther

The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Daredevil; Wonder Woman; It’s Jeff; Superman; Black Widow; Grendel; Green Hornet

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel has discounts on Daredevil, Jeff the Landshark, the Women of Marvel and some recent hits. DC also has some recent titles like Wonder Woman, Flash and Superman. Dynamite cuts prices on The Green Hornet. Dark Horse has a Grendel 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):

Current Events

The Flash  Superman  Wonder Woman

The DC Epic eBooks 2025 Sale runs through Monday, 3/17.

We know what you’re thinking: “wasn’t Epic a Marvel imprint and one of Marvel’s reprint formats?” And you’re right, but here we are! A lot of more recent volumes in this sale… including several that we think are getting their first discounting (or at least having been discounted until recently):

Of this set, we’d draw particular attention to Tom King and Daniel Sampere on Wonder Woman. It’s a dark and political tale about misinformation and there is a sequence in Vol. 2 juxtaposing imagery of a ’50s housewife with the villain quoting scripture that is quite possibly the absolute darkest thing DC has done in-continuity. (Black Label, maybe not.) A series to watch. Oh, and the sequence at the end is an Absolute Power tie-in that could have been labelled better.

Some slightly older things of interest:

The whole sale is worth a browse with a few more $1.99/$2.99 titles hiding in plain sight.

Hornhead

Daredevil  Daredevil Epic Collection  Daredevil by Zdarsky

The Marvel Daredevil Sale runs through Monday, 3/31.

Let’s break this down by series. Like X-Men, Daredevil has had fewer relaunches than some titles.

  • Daredevil ’64-’98 – The original run.
  • Daredevil ’98-11 – The Marvel Knights relaunch. Kevin Smith / Brian Bendis / Ed Brubaker
    • For the Bendis and Brubaker runs, you want the Omnibus section and scroll down for their respective “Ultimate Collections”
  • Daredevil ’11-15 – This was really two volumes with an arbitrary relaunch in the middle, but the excellent run by Mark Waid / Chris Samnee / Paolo Rivera / Javier Rodriguez is a better buy in this 5 volume set that collects both volumes and treats it like the single run it was.
  • Daredevil ’15-’18 – The Charles Soule era with Ron Garney as the main artist.
  • Daredevil ’19-’21 – Chip Zdarsky’s breakout title as a writer. Marco Checcetto is the primary artist.
  • Daredevil: Woman Without Fear ’22 – Zdarsky / Rafael de Latorre; Sort of a bridge title during the Devil’s Reign event, but part of the ongoing plot. Note: this is included in the final DD omnibus for the ’19-’21 run.
  • Daredevil ’22-’23 – Also known as Daredevil & Elektra. The final act to the Zdarsky/Checcetto era; This doesn’t look like it’s actually on sale, which would be silly — it’s the ending to the story.
  • Daredevil ‘23-present – Saladin Ahmed / Aaron Kuder; Picking up after the Zdarsky finale is effectively a “born again” scenario… bit more literally than with Miller.

What’s good here? Honestly, with the exception of the “Shadowlands” Event at the end of the Marvel Knights run, DD has been consistently good to great since Frank Miller showed up. You don’t hear us saying that about every title! We will say that Gene Colan’s return to DD (with Joe Kelly writing) seems to be under the radar these days.  But starting with Miller, just pick a run (Miller / O’Neil / Nocenti / Chichester / Kessel / Kelly / Smith / Bendis / Brubaker / Waid / Soule / Zdarsky / Ahmed) and dig in. Also, you should probably count Bendis and Brubaker as one long run, which is worth it.

Selective Service

Immortal Hulk  Predator versus Wolverine  Ultimate Spider-Man

“Deals on Select Marvel Collections” – no clue how long this one is lasting, but it’s worth checking out.

Things we are currently seeing and can vouch for:

  • The Death of Doctor Strange – Jed MacKay / Lee Garbett; The opening act of MacKay’s excellent run. Yes, Strange really does die
  • Immortal Hulk Vol. 1: Or Is He Both? – Al Ewing / Joe Bennett; One of the best Hulk runs as Al Ewing takes things in an unexpected horror direction
  • Infinity Gauntlet – Jim Starlin / George Perez / Ron Lim; Thanos has collected the Infinity Gems and harnessed them into a gauntlet. Bad things are about to happen
  • Predator Vs. Wolverine – Benjamin Percy / Marco Checchetto / Greg Land / Andrea Di Vito / Ken Lashley; This is exactly what it’s billed as: Wolverine and a Predator having a series of grudge match encounters over the decades… and it’s the best possible version of the setup. If the premise sounds remotely appealing, you should like the execution. We found it a very pleasant surprise
  • Savage Avengers Vol. 1: City Of Sickles – Gerry Duggan / Mike Deodato; The best way to describe this is Conan assembling a Defenders-style non-team of anti-heroes. More fun than than you’re expecting
  • Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt – J.M. DeMatteis / Mike Zeck; Kraven finally gets the drop on Spidey. One of the darkest Spider-Man tales and the best of the dark ones
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1: Vader – Kieron Gillen / Salvador Larroca; Opening act of a stellar run… and what a way to end the first volume (you’ll see)
  • Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman Vol. 1: Married With Children – Jonathan Hickman / Marco Checchetto; The excellent start to what seems to be Marvel’s most popular ongoing title

Ladies’ Night

Black Widow  Domino  Mystique

The Women of Marvel Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

This is a deep, 320-item sale and worth some browsing. Do we have some highlights? Absolutely. Particularly where The Black Widow is concerned.

  • Black Widow: Welcome To The Game – Richard K. Morgan / Bill Sienkiewicz / Goran Parlov / Sean Phillips; This collects a pair of good miniseries written by the Altered Carbon author with some enviable artists
  • Black Widow (’16 – ’17) – Mark Waid / Chris Samnee; with that lineup, you already know if you want it or not
  • Black Widow (’20-’22) – Kelly Thompson / Elena Casagrande; All 15 issues of the Eisner-winning series in one volume
  • Captain Marvel (’19 – ’23); Kelly Thompson / Carmen Carnero / Lee Barbett; The Thompson era (which did not have a reboot in the middle!)
  • Domino (’18 – ’19) – Gail Simone / David Baldeon; Oh, look – Gail’s previous stop in the X-verse
  • Hawkeye (’16-’17) – Kelly Thompson / Leonardo Romero; Kate Bishop steps into the spotlight in this “Hawkguy” follow-up
  • Hellcat (’23) – Christopher Cantwell / Alex Lins; A horror / murder mystery as Patsy tries to figure out why her ex- keeps turning up
  • Mystique (’03-’05) – Brian K. Vaughan / Michael Ryan / Jorge Lucas / Manuel Garcia; Yes, that Vaughan guy. Mystique is pressganged into espionage work by Prof. X
  • Spider-Girl (’98-’06) – Tom DeFalco / Pat Olliffe / Ron Frenz; Mayday Parker takes over for her old man
  • X-Terminators – Leah Williams / Carlos Gomez; Hilarious and slightly off-color hijinks and violence occur when Jubilee and Boom-Boom attempt to celebrate Dazzler’s breakup and encounter vampires

Candygram…

West Coast Avengers  King Deadpool  It's Jeff

The Marvel Jeff the Landshark Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

Jeff has gotten a wee bit more popular after his videogame adventures. To translate these offering into a semblance of order, we’re going to default to what Kelly Thompson says… ’cause she actually knows!

Ergo, the reading list becomes:

  • West Coast Avengers Vol. 2: City Of Evils – Kelly Thompson / Daniele di Nicuolo; Wherein we witness the secret origin of Jeff
  • King Deadpool – Kelly Thompson / Chris Bachalo / Gerardo Sandoval; Gwenpool gives Jeff to Deadpool
  • It’s Jeff – Kelly Thompson / Gurihiru; Collections of the “Infinity Comics” from Marvel Unlimited where Jeff’s popularity started growing
  • Venom War: It’s Jeff – Kelly Thompson / Gurihiru; Jeff crosses over with the Venom War Event

From the Batman Influences File

Green Hornet Omnibus  Green Hornet Year One  Green Hornet

The Dynamite Green Hornet Miss Fury Sale runs through Monday, 3/10.

We welcome Dynamite back to the land of cheap. It’s been awhile. The Green Hornet, technically a Lone Ranger spin-off (although that was established much further into the show), was popular on the radio in the mid-’30s as one of the first wave of superheroes and an influence on the caped crusader. So yes, we’ve read a little Hornet over the years and have some pointers.

The Dynamite Hornet stories start out with an adaption of Kevin Smith’s unproduced screenplay by Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau is a legacy tale of Britt Reid, Jr. taking up the mantle of the Hornet. The first omnibus collects the Smith tale and this version runs for awhile after it.

Green Hornet: Year One has Matt Wagner (Grendel / Mage) and Aaron Campbell (Hellblazer) doing a proper ’30s origin story for the Hornet.

The ’13 Green Hornet series by Mark Waid / Daniel Indro / Ronilson Freire is a favorite here at the Tower of Cheap. The Hornet starts buying his own hype and ends up in over his head with an increasingly guilty conscience. The two volumes form one story.

Green Hornet: Reign Of The Demon by David Liss / Kewber Baal is a pulpy adventure as a rival masked crime lord arrives in Chicago.

Unannounced Sales

Grendel  Door to Door by Night  Murder Book

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

The Spectacular Spider-Men  NYX X-Men

The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Dropping This Week

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s $1.99 Mania Pt III – Far Sector to Marshal Law

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, part 3 of our look at DC’s $1.99 Mania, look at Far Sector through Marshal Law in the $1.99 catalog.

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):

Administrative Notes

Ho, ho ho – the holiday sales march on.

  • Installment one of the holiday columns covered what’s new in this year’s Marvel Epic Collection Sale and the current DC titles in the $1.99 sale
  • Installment two covered 1st Issue Special through Fables of the DC $1.99 sale, Marvel’s Star Wars Omnibus Sale, Best of ’24 Sale and What If? Sale

DC $1.99 Mania Continued (Part III)

Far Sector  Flash by Mark Waid  Green Lantern

The DC Holiday All eBooks Sale runs through 12/30.

We’re still rolling through DC’s very nearly line-wide sale. Not everything from September to the beginning of time is $1.99, but the vast majority of collected editions seem to be. You should probably have your own scroll through it, but we’re looking at it alphabetically and calling out interesting books based on readability, value/larger page count and if it’s infrequently discounted.

  • Far Sector – N.K. Jemisin / Jamal Campbell; A rookie Green Lantern with an experimental ring investigates a murder on a planet that hasn’t seen violence in 500 years. Excellent worldbuilding. Highly recommended
  • Final Crisis – Grant Morrison / J.G. Jones / Doug Mahnke / Carlos Pacheco; Darkseid takes over in this Event and this has the necessary tie-ins. 456 pages for $1.99
  • The Flash (’87 – ’09) – Everything in this omnibus section is oversized, a good read and seldom at these prices. That goes double for the Mark Waid volumes, which can top 400 pages.
  • The Flintstones – Mark Russell / Steve Pugh; A brilliant, dark satire with a lingering sense of melancholy that takes the classic cartoon in a slightly different direction. A+. Full series in one volume
  • The Forever People by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; A Fourth World collection
  • Green Arrow (’01-’07) – Kevin Smith / Phil Hester; Smith’s full 15 issue run for $1.99
  • Green Lantern (’60-’86) –
  • Green Lantern (’05 -’11) – Geoff Johns / Dave Gibbons / Ivan Reis; These are double volumes of the excellent Johns run. (Sinestro Corps War might be the peak of this era). Now, you’ll need to move over to the “regular volumes” w/ Agent Orange to move forward and you’ll want to add Blackest Night Saga, which is the Event endcapping the first segment of the Johns Green Lantern catalog.
  • Green Lantern by Grant Morrison & Liam Sharp; This series is organized a little peculiarly in book form. The four volumes tell a story that involves a little misdirection, so we’re on spoiler prevention. The high level is Morrison wanting to approach the Lanterns as more of a police procedural, but there’s a little more subtext than that. Sharp stretches his repertoire of art styles as the series progresses
  • Hard Time: The Complete Series – Steve Gerber / Mary Skrenes / Brian Hurtt; We see this is now a Black Label book. That fits. A 15-year old manifests a super power. It might be it’s own entity. The trouble is, somebody dies and the kid  is sentenced to 50 years as he tries to figure out what just happened. Under the radar, but solid book and odd in all the ways only Gerber can be. 458 pages for $1.99
  • Hellblazer – Strangely, there haven’t been omnibus editions of this, which seems like an oversight. At any rate, this was a consistently good run and is cheap for the moment.
  • Hitman – Garth Ennis / John McCrea; Ennis gets irreverent with a hitman who kills metahumans. On sale less often than other titles
  • The Human Target – Tom King / Geoff Smallwood; No deluxe edition (yet), just a highly recommended 2-volume noir tale of doomed Christopher Chance trying to figure out which member of the Bwa Ha Ha era Justice League poisoned him before he dies
  • The Huntress- Origins – Paul Levitz / Joe Staton; The collected solo adventures of The Huntress, back when the character was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. Another one that isn’t always discounted and not usually this deeply
  • I… Vampire! – J.M. DeMatteis / Tom Sutton; The ’80s version as a recalcitrant vampire battles his ex- and the cult of the Blood Red Moon
  • Infinity Inc. – Roy Thomas / Jerry Ordway; The children of the Justice Society form their own team as trouble looms. Infrequently discounted
  • JLA – The classic ’90s Justice League restart by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter. Don’t sleep on the later volumes.
  • John Constantine, Hellblazer (’19) – Si Spurrier / Aaron Campbell / Matias Bergara; We’ll put this revival up against anything in the Hellblazer cannon, and that’s not something to be said lightly, though to describe it would involve spoilers. Get both volumes, it’s effectively a two-parter
    Jonah Hex: Shadows West  Kamandi  Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes
  • Jonah Hex: Shadows West – Joe R. Lansdale / Tim Truman; All three of the Lansdale/Truman series with a weird western/horror angle on Hex. Under the radar these days, but high octane weird. 387 pages
  • Justice League International – Keith Giffen / J.M. DeMatteis / Kevin Maguire; This set of collected editions incorporates Justice League Europe into the books when that launches, which is a definite plus. There’s also a lone omnibus, but it doesn’t break evenly with the contents of the rest
  • Justice League of America: The Nail – Alan Davis; Ma and Pa Kent get a flat tire and don’t find baby Kal-El’s rocket, creating a world without a Superman in this excellent Elseworlds. Things do not go well for the Justice League without him. Also contains the sequel
  • Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 – A sampler of the JSA across the different era’s. Usually on the expensive side
  • Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth – Jack Kirby; This is Kirby riffing on Planet of the Apes, but with many different species of animal-men. Tons of fun and Kirby’s most successful book at DC while it was being published.
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill; Just pretend the godawful film doesn’t exist. Moore & O’Neill assemble a team of reluctant government operatives from ~1880s SF/F and Horror literature. And a bit more accurately than many of the media adaptions (particularly Nemo). Wonderful series with very funny and subversive advertisements (you’ll see)
  • Legion of Super-Heroes – Let’s put the highlights under this heading. These are often more expensive titles.
  • Lobo (’90) – Alan Grant / Keith Giffen / Simon Bisley; ~300 page chunks of the original series of mini-series and specials about The Main Man. Hilarious and an effective tool in the offending of the easily offendable.
  • Lucifer (’00-’06) – Mike Carey / Peter Gross; Double volumes. What was M.R Carey doing prior to The Girl With All the Gifts? Among other things, writing this Sandman spinoff about Lucifer Morning Star. Now, if we could get a digital edition of My Faith in Frankie…
  • Marshal Law – Pat Mills / Kevin O’Neill; Think a darker version of Judge Dredd policing (and satirizing) superheroes. Very dark, very funny. There are some legit comparisons to The Boys, but this came first and might have been an influence.

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin  Darth Vader  Vengeance of the Moon Knight

The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Dropping Next Week

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Black Friday Arrives. DC’s Cyber Monday Sale; The Best of Marvel Omnibuses; Dark Horse Line-Wide Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, the actual Black Friday is upon us. DC drops a Cyber Monday sale. We look at the best of Marvel’s omnibus discounts. Dark Horse cuts prices line-wide.

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 Best of the Marvel Omnibus Sale

Avengers Omnibus  Captain Britain Omnibus  Miracleman Omnibus

The Marvel Omnibus Sale runs through Monday, 12/2.

Last week, we looked at what’s new in this year’s Omnibus Sale. This time, we’re going to look at the best volumes available. After all, not all omnibuses are created equal and this is about great runs and low duds.

  • The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 – Stan Lee / Steve Ditko; Amazing Spider-Man was a rock solid title for a very long time, so it’s hard to go wrong with the available omnibuses, but V.1 is the complete Lee/Ditko run and that’s a really nice package.
  • Avengers Omnibus Vol. 5 – Steve Englehart / Sal Buscema / George Perez / George Tuska; Arguably the best run of the original Avengers is here, with the Giant-Size issues that were integral. The Celestial Madonna Saga. Kang. Ultron. The Squadron Sinister/Supreme. The Serpent Crown. There are other great runs, but this is at or near the top for most people.
  • Avengers by Busiek & Perez – Kurt Busiek & George Perez, with a little Roy Thomas / Roger Stern / Carlos Pacheco / Alan Davis / Jerry Ordway; Another one of the top runs is when Busiek & Perez took over after the Heroes Reborn experiment ended. The 2-volume set also includes Avengers Forever, The Ultron Imperative and Maximum Security
  • Black Panther by Christopher Priest – Christopher Priest / Mark Texeira/Sal Velluto; You’ll want both volumes for Priest’s brilliant run. Smaller volumes (this _almost_ could have been compressed into a single volume), but one of the best of the late 90s/early 00s.
  • Captain America Omnibus Vol. 3 – Steve Englehart / Sal Buscema / Frank Robbins; A few issues into this volume and Englehart’s legendary run begins. Contender for best Cap run overall (along with Waid/Garney and Brubaker/Epting/Lark). The return of the 50s Cap. The Viper. The Secret Empire. The Red Skull. Good stuff.
  • Captain Britain Omnibus – You’re looking at this for the back half with Alan Moore / Alan Davis and Jamie Delano / Alan Davis; This has all the UK material, but once Moore shows up, it turns into something special and also debuts the designation “616” for the Marvel Universe. Which is to say, a highly influential run that ended up absorbed into the X-books and is very infrequently reprinted.
  • Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Omnibus – Roger McKenzie / Frank Miller / Klaus Janson; The full original Miller run in one volume. (Folks often forget McKenzie wrote the first portion of the run.) Legendary for a reason.
    • Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion – Frank Miller / John Romita, Jr./ David Mazzucchelli / Bill Sienkiewicz; More Miller tales, including Born Again (possibly his finest DD moment), The Man Without Fear and Love and War.
  • Defenders Omnibus V. 2 – (Mostly) Steve Gerber / Sal Buscema. This is a smaller page count that most omnibuses, but it’s a very strategic selection: all of the Steve Gerber run. Which is to say, Nebulon, The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Headmen all turn up. Classic run that’s over the top strange as only Gerber could do it.
  • Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2 – Stan Lee / Jack Kirby; Look, you can’t really go wrong with V.1-4 (Lee/Kirby wraps up ~1/3 of the way into V.4), but V.2 is roughly where things kick into second gear. The Frightful Four lead into The Inhumans, which leads into Galactus, then Black Panther debuts, followed by more Inhumans and Victor Von Doom. Great slice of Lee/Kirby.
  • Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – John Byrne; Generally considered the next classic take on the FF, Bryne’s run (plus crossover issues and related items like The Last Galactus Story) is collected across two volumes.
  • Immortal Hulk Omnibus – (Mostly) Al Ewing / Joe Bennet; The modern classic complete in one volume. Listed as 1480 pages of this horror take on Hulk and the secret of the Green Door. Excellent series.
  • The Incredible Hulk by Peter David: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 – Peter David / Todd McFarlane / Jeff Purves / Dale Keown / Sam Keith / Gary Frank / Liam Sharp / Angel Medina / Mike Deodato, Jr ; Yes, when you’re on a title for as many years as PAD was, you end up working with a lot of artists and he had a better roster than most! It’s also a high quality run that’s a pain to collect in the “normal” volumes. 1-4 collect the actual Hulk run. V. 5 collects some side titles and PAD’s brief return to the main title.
  • Miracleman Omnibus – Alan Moore / Garry Leach / Alan Davis / John Totleben / Rick Veitch; One of the key post-modern revivals of the early 80s as Moore and company revive a 50s UK knock-off of Captain Marvel (as in Shazam!) and remake it into something special as a middle-aged man discovers his past has been hidden from him and superheroics take on horrific aspects. Highly influential work that was out of print for years, due to court battles
  • Thor by Walt Simonson Omnibus – Walt Simonson / Sal Buscema; An awful lot of folks (most?) consider this the best Thor run for a reason: it’s pretty great. All in a single tome
  • Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2 – Chris Claremont / John Byrne / Dave Cockrum; The Phoenix Saga is probably the high point of the “New” X-Men. This also gives you the introduction of Kitty Pryde, Days of Future Past, and an encounter with Doctor Doom. Honestly, we think that once Claremont has a couple issues to settle in, starting with issue #97 or so, it’s consistent excellence and a big story arc that comes to a natural breaking point with #200 (which is maybe 2/3 of the way through V.5), so Omnibus 1-5 are all a big thumbs up from us.

Temporal Displacement Sale
The Flash Kamandi  Wonder Woman

The DC Cyber Monday Sale runs through Monday, 12/2.

Which day is Cyber Monday this year? If the Black Friday Sale ran last week, wouldn’t that mean this past Monday was Cyber Monday, even though this sale didn’t appear until Tuesday morning? Well, if this coming Monday is Cyber Monday be warned that these sales can come down mid-evening if you’re on the West Coast. Timey-wimey, indeed!

Let’s run through this sale, which has some recent items and not so recent items. If you’re looking at a series page, keep an eye on the prices, which are a little all over the place this week. Yes, even within the same series.

That said, here are some things we found interesting:

  • Action Comics – The Warworld sequence in Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson / Daniel Sampere / Riccardo Federici; Mongul baits a trap for an ailing Superman in a darker than usual tale that has a little Spartacus in it; Under most radars, but quite good
  • The Flash Vol. 1: Strange Attractor – Si Spurrier / Mike Deodato, Jr.; Flash is recast as a cosmic horror book as Grodd tries to pierce the veil between dimensions and all is NOT well in the Speed Force; (Also maybe read Beast World first, as there’s an interlude that’s VERY confusing otherwise and also not part of the main story)
  • The Human Target – Tom King / Greg Smallwood; A noir mystery with the bwa ha ha Justice League as suspects… that’s still noir while servicing the bwa ha ha ha elements? Yes, it is. And Smallwood gets special praise, too
  • Justice League: Last Ride – Chip Zdarsky / Miguel Mendonca; $1.99 – cheap
  • Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s riff on Planet of the Apes yielded a more fully realized world of animal men, is a ton of fun, and was his most successful DC work in the ’70s. Sure, Darkseid is bigger now, but not in the 70s.
  • Nightwing – The series page has the excellent Tom Taylor / Bruno Redondo series buried at the end, so let’s simplify it. The ones on sale are  Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4
  • One-Star Squadron – Mark Russell / Steve Lieber; A biting satire of the gig economy as Red Tornado tries run a hero-on-demand app. (Hey, Luke Cage is busy being mayor, so somebody had to step up.) Recommended
  • Prez: Setting a Dangerous President – Mark Russell / Ben Caldwell; When the vagaries of the Electoral College place the subject of a viral social media video in the White House, all hell breaks loose. Yes, this is from ’15. No, it hasn’t gotten less relevant since then. Also… the line about how one should select a VP is killer
  • Sandman – Neil Gaiman and a rotating cast of artists; You’ve probably heard of this one
  • Shazam! Vol. 1: Meet the Captain! – Mark Waid / Dan Mora; In another of their Justice League warm-ups (collect them all), Waid & Mora do us all a favor and start steering Captain Marvel/Shazam back towards the original tone and concepts of the feature; Emphasis on pure fun
  • Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil – Jeff Smith; That’s right, the man behind Bone updates the classic 1940s Monster Society serial from Captain Marvel Adventures. It’s Jeff Smith, so you should have a decent idea what it’ll be like
  • Superman – Josh Williamson / Jamal Campbell; The current Superman series is a much needed and well executed return to the classic Superman format that was missing for a few years
  • Superman: Camelot Falls – Kurt Busiek / Carlos Pacheco; Superman encounters a prophecy fingering him as the agent of the apocalypse
  • Swamp Thing – Ram V. / Mike Perkins; The origin of the new, current incarnation of Swampy… and his family problems
  • Swamp Thing by Rick Veitch Book One: Wild Things – Rick Veitch / Alfredo Alcala; The entire series is on sale, but Veitch’s “restored” run is a more recent collection
  • Titans Vol. 1: Out of the Shadows – Tom Taylor / Nicola Scott
  • Titans: Beast World – Tom Taylor / Ivan Reis / Travis Moore; The recent Event was definitely a Titans story and you kinda have to love a character named “Dr. Hate” who resembles Dr. Fate. For all practical purposes, you should treat this as Titans V.2.
  • Wonder Woman  Vol. 1: Outlaw – Tom King / Daniel Sampere; An Amazon is fingered for murder and the situation spirals out of control amidst a possible coverup. As Wonder Woman is declared an enemy of the state, Amanda Waller and Sarge Steel lie in wait
  • World’s Finest: Teen Titans – Mark Waid / Emanuela Lupacchino; Much like “regular” World’s Finest, this is an early tale of the Silver Age original Teen Titans and traffics in fun

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

X-Men '97  Avengers  Immortal Thor

The trend continues. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Dropping This Week

Pre-Order for Next Week

Unannounced Sales

Hellboy  Martha Washington  Minor Threats

It appears that Dark Horse has most of their collected editions on sale, but not the newest material and not the single issues.  Here’s a link that will *eventually* get you through their catalog in a very laborious way and with the single issues mixed in. (It’s not perfect, but we’re trying.)

Here are some direct links to various series:

Under the radar alert: you don’t hear about this much anymore, butThe Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century is a Frank Miller / Dave Gibbons collaboration with a different tone than Miller’s commonly associated these days. It’s a lot closer to Halo Jones than it is to Sin City or the later Dark Knight volumes.

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales – Flash, Iron Man, Suicide Squad, Thor, Groo, Dune

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel revisits “Heroes Return” with discounts. DC drops a 750 book “MAX” sale with Flash, Superman and the Suicide Squad. In unannounced sales, we find Groo, Stranger Things, Dune and… Quentin Tarantino?

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):

Is That a Streaming Pun?

The Flash  Superman Y the Last Man

The DC to the MAX Sale runs through Monday, 7/15.

This is a large (750 items) and fairly wide-ranging sale, so it’s perhaps worth a bit of browsing time, but here are some highlights we noticed:

  • DMZ – Brian Wood / Riccardo Burchielli; During a second Civil War, an embedded reporter becomes stranded in the DMZ that Manhattan has become and promptly gets embroiled in local political/warlord scene.
  • The Flash (’59-’85) – The Silver Age volumes highlight this section
  • The Flash (’87 – ’09) – The prices on the Geoff Johns run are good.
  • The Flash (’16-’23) – Initially, Josh Williamson / Carmine Di Gianmenico. Later, Jeremy Adams / Roger Cruz
  • Hawkworld – Tim Truman leans into the science fiction side of the character in this excellent Hawkman reboot
  • Jonah Hex (’06 – ’11) – Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray write a very fun Western with what turns into a jaw dropping parade of artists like Darwyn Cooke, Paul Gulacy, Jordi Bernet, Russ Heath, Phil Winslade, Eduardo Risso and so on…
  • Rorschach – Tom King /Jorge Fornés; A very well done follow up to the ideas of Watchmen
  • Suicide Squad (’87-’92) – John Ostrander / Luke McDonnell / Geoff Isherwood; There’s been some comments lately about how Amanda Waller was a much more nuanced character in the original incarnation… and we’d have to agree. This is a classic.
  • Suicide Squad: Blaze – Si Spurrier / Aaron Campbell; A darker than dark take on the Squad various DC mythos in this Black Label edition.
  • Superman  Vol. 1: Supercorp (2023-)- Josh Williamson / Jamal Campbell; The opening to the quite enjoyable current Superman run.
  • Superman/Batman (’03  – ’11) – Initially Jeph Loeb / Ed McGuinness; These double-volumes are a good value
  • Unstoppable Doom Patrol – Dennis Culver / Chris Burnham; First time discounted?
  • Y: The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan / Pia Guerra; The last man on Earth (and his monkey) navigates a dystopian landscape and tries to piece together what happened.

Come Again?

Iron Man: Heroes Reborn  Captain America Heroes Return

Marvel’s Heroes Reborn Sale runs through Monday, 7/15.

This is the 90s experiment when Marvel outsourced some of their titles to Image and then took them back. “Heroes Reborn” is the Image experiment and “Heroes Return” was when Marvel resumed production. Now, for our money, the gems here are from the “Heroes Return” period.

Heroes Reborn: The Return is the Peter David / Salvador Larroca tale that brings the heroes back to the “normal” Marvel Universe.

Iron Man: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection V. 1 has Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern and Sean Chen as the primary creative team, re-establishing shell head back in the Marvel Universe. You get some Mandarin, there’s a side trip with Captain America and MODOK. This collects the first portion of one of our favorite Iron Man periods.

And speaking of high points, this sale also has Captain America: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection,  which is the Mark Waid/Ron Garney run resuming. (It had just started, and was abruptly halted, for Heroes Reborn.) A little Hydra, a lost shield… that MODOK tale from Iron Man is also reprinted here (a shared Annual). It’s a solid run.

Fantastic Four: Heroes Return – The Complete Collection Vol. 1  takes a longer view of the Heroes Return timeframe than the other do. This was starts out with a Chris Claremont/Alan Davis run and ends up with an underrated Carlos Pacheco run. Essentially, Heroes Return is deemed to stop right before the Mark Waid / Mike Wieringo run.

Why the Kurt Busiek / George Perez Avengers run isn’t included here… that’s a good question. In some ways it was the flagship of the returning titles.

Marvel revisited it in ’21 with the minor Event Heroes Reborn, headlined by a Jason Aaron / Ed McGuinness miniseries.

The Image-produced Heroes Reborn titles were:

And, to be complete, it’s not in the sale for inexplicable reasons, but Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four by Jim Lee & Brandon Choi.

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Thor Modern Epic Collection White Widow

The trend we noticed last week is still moving forward. New releases at lower than expected price points and discounted pre-orders. Is this the new normal? We’re not sure, but let’s run them down.

Released this week

Pre-Order for Next Week

We’re not quite sure what’s going on with these prices, but we’ll give you a heads up if it looks like it’s cheaper than it would normally be.

Unannounced Indie Sales

Groo Meets Tarzan  Dune  Quentin Tarantino

Over at Dark Horse, everyone’s favorite stupid barbarian is on sale. Yes, that’s right… it’s Groo by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier! Yes, this includes Groo Meets Tarzan with Thomas Yeates.

Also from Dark Horse, the Stranger Things line of graphic novels.

Plus, further removed from the Direct Market:

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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: Secret Invasion, Ultimate X-Men, Flash, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Lone Wolf and Cub

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel discounts Secret Invasion, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four. DC has a second Flash sale and Dark Horse slashes prices on Lone Wolf & Cub.

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 Flash Sequel

The DC Flash Multiverse Sale runs through Monday, 7/3.

Yes, it’s a sequel… to last week’s Flash sale. (And a lot of the same comics are still on sale). Go back to the last column for a look at some of the Flash comics on sale and we’ll focus on Multiversal goodness here.  For example…

Multiversity by Grant Morrison, Ivan Reis, Frank Quitely and Jim Lee (among others) is just about as multiverse as a person can get. That would be Morrison creating new and fun worlds from whole cloth and conducting and interdimensional tour of sorts. Your basic triumph of imagination and fun. Plus, it’s a 450 page volume.

Justice League of America: The Nail – The Complete Collection by Alan Davis. A nail gives Ma and Pa Kent a flat tire and they don’t find Kal-El’s rocket. Thus, the Justice League forms in a world without Superman and it’s a less trusting world.  A masterwork from Davis. This collects The Nail and the sequel Another Nail.

And for something off the radar – Freedom Fighters: Rise of a Nation by Robert Venditti, Eddy Barrows and Bruno Redondo. This one pretty much shocked us when we read it. A modern, and darker, telling of the traditional Earth X setup. On world where the Germany won WWII and crushed the remaining resistance in a Dallas book depository in 1963, a team of Freedom Fighters reform in the image of the fallen and seek out Uncle Sam to lead them against their Nazi oppressors.  Much closer in tone to The Man in the High Castle than the original. And yes, its a spin-off from Multiversity.

Plenty more to look at in this sale, should you have some time to browse.

Multiversity   The Nail   Freedom Fighters

Is It Still a Secret?

The Marvel Secret Invasion Sale runs through Monday, 7/10.

Why yes, there’s a streaming series coming out. And yes, that’s a longer sale than usual.

This is about the Skrulls invading Earth, assuming identities, embedding themselves and trying to take over.

We’re honestly not sure why Marvel hasn’t come up with a series of omnibuses to better collect this Event. Secret Invasion was a very carefully coordinated series that crossed over into most of the line and was also partially told in flashback. You’d get a little further in plot and then some of the sundry titles would reveal what really happened that you didn’t yet know about. We’re not even sure how official the official reading order is. (Has Bendis ever posted one? He’d be the one to ask.)

The spine of the Event is the Secret Invasion miniseries by Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu.

The next layer of Secret Invasion is the Bendis-penned Avengers titles where a lot of things get fleshed out and you discover how things got to where they did:

Now from there, you spread out closer to the characters you’re interested in. For something clear out of left field, we’d recommend the Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel collection by Brian Reed and Lee Weeks. The original Mar-Vell returns as the Invasion begins and he’s not quite sure how he got there.  It’s a bigger part of the over-all story than you might be expecting going in.

Secret Invasion   Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel

Ultimate Sale III – Now With More Mutants

The Marvel Ultimate X-Men and FF Sale runs through Monday, 6/26.

We told you this was coming, didn’t we?

Since The Maker is the instigator of the upcoming Jonathan Hickman / Bryan Hitch Ultimate Invasion, that makes the original Ultimate Fantastic Four a little more central to the Marvel experience doesn’t it? We’re talk two runs:

The original Ultimate Fantastic Four had Brian Bendis, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar and Mike Carey (yes, The Girl With All the Gifts M.R. Carey) tagging off on writer duties. The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Stuart Immonen, Jae Lee, Greg Land, Pasqual Ferry, Mark Brooks and Tyler Kirkham.  And a bit of trivia for you: Marvel Zombies?  It’s an Ultimate Fantastic Four spin-off.  Check out V.3 of the omnibuses. That’s where it all begins.

Ultimate Fantastic Four

Over on the mutant side of the street, the spread looks like this:

The original Ultimate X-Men run has a very interesting writer rotation. Mark Millar begins and ends it. In between are runs by Bryan K. Vaughan (Saga / Y – The Last Man) and Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead). The artist rotation includes Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Chris Bachalo, David Finch, Brandon Peterson, Stuart Immonen, Tom Raney and Salvador Larocca… among others.

Ultimate Comics X-Men was written first by Nick Spencer and later Brian Wood. Artists included Paco Medina, Carlo Barberi, Mahmud Asrar and Alvaro Martinez.

Ultimate X-Men   Ultimate Comics X-Men   Ultimate Comics Wolverine

The Baby Cart Assassin

The Dark Horse Lone Wolf & Cub Sale runs through Monday, 7/3.

As we type this, the sale is currently one of those “Nega-Bands” sales. Amazon has assigned it to the same URL as the Avatar sale and if you reload a few times, it will alternate between the sales like Rick Jones and Mar-Vell switching places in the Negative Zone. Amazon, in their infinite smoothness, does this more often than you’d think.

Since this is a single title sale, we’re linking directly to the title page, which should hopefully prevent confusion.

Where were we? Right.

Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima is one of the most respected manga out there and likely the greatest samurai manga of all time. No hyperbole.

When the Shogun’s executioner is framed for treason and his household slaughtered, Itto Ogami flees with his one year old son and becomes an assassin for hire, biding his time as he plans revenge on the clan that tried to ruin him.

There’s a lot of revenge served cold in this series. It’s pretty bloody and not for kids, but very, very good. Also $2.99/volume, so cheap.

Lone Wolf and Cub

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: The Flash (and Batman); Ultimate Spider-Man; Black Panther; and Avatar

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s a movie week – comics with The Flash, Black Panther (with a screen writer pedigree), Spider-Man and Avatar.

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 Flash (Featuring Batman)

DC’s Flash Sale runs through Monday, 6/19.

It’s like there’s a movie coming out!  And that means there’s a ton of Batman and Supergirl in the sale, too.

Let’s start with the two most obvious things here:

The Flash film is based on the Flash-centered crossover Event, Flashpoint. That Geoff Johns / Adam Kubert series has The Flash altering the timeline with very unexpected effects and leads into the New 52 relaunch. (Our acquaintance saw a preview of the film, liked it and thought it improved on the comic.)

And since Michael Keaton returns to the Batman role in the film, the obvious tie-in here is Batman ’89.  Sam Ham, the original 80s Batman screenwriter, joins artist Joe Quinones to tell the tale he had in mind for the third Keaton Batman film, had the franchise not had a creative shuffle. And that’s Bill Dee Williams as Two-Face. We enjoyed this one.

Flashpoint   Batman '89

There’s plenty of Batman on sale here at good prices (particularly the 80s material), but let’s have a look at the Flash material, since this is theoretically a Flash sale.

Perhaps the most interesting thing here is the ’87 – ’09, post-Crisis Wally West Flash. It starts out with a collection of the Mike Baron / Butch Guice / Mike Collins run (with William Messner-Loebs tagging in for Baron towards the end of the collection).

Then pop over to the omnibus page of that series for some of the better prices we’ve seen on The Flash by Mark Waid (with Greg Larocque, Mike Collins and Salvador Larocca, among others); the Grant Morrison / Mark Millar / Paul Ryan run; and The Flash by Geoff Johns (with Scott Kolins and Howard Porter, among others). Those are some classic runs and the Flash runs we prefer by Waid and Johns.

The current run of Flash is here, and it starts with a lengthy Josh Williamson run. (It’s a little cheaper to get these three double-volumes which are the equivalent of the first 6 at the first link.)

The Flash   The Flash   Flash

Ultimate Spider-Bendis

The Marvel Ultimate Spider-Man Sale runs through Monday, 6/12.

Is this a companion piece to the Spider-Verse sale? It might as well be, because Miles Morales is the centerpiece of that sale and the saga of the Ultimate Peter Parker runs right into the origin of Miles.  And yes, the two Ultimate Spider-Men could be looked at as one really long Brian Bendis tale.

This sale is easily broken into three parts:

Ultimate Spider-Man   Ultimate Comics Spider-Man   Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Fallout

Black Pantherama

The Marvel Black Panther Legacy Sale runs through Monday, 6/12.

It’s a Legacy sale, which means the whole catalog, so first lets break down the highlights

  • The Don McGregor era (AKA, pre-Priest), where Don McGregor was primary author… with a notable Kirby interlude. The best way to navigate the multiple editions is:
  • The Chrisopher Priest era  – with art by Mark Texiera, M.D. Bright and Sal Velluto (among others)
  • The Reggie Hudlin era (yes, “House Party” / “Boomerang” Hudlin) – with art by John Romita, Jr., Scot Eaton and Denys Cowan (among others)
  • The Ta-Nehisi Coates era (yes, from The Atlantic) – while the volumes are numbered consecutively, it’s split into two listing
    • Part one – with art by Brian Stelfreeze and Chris Sprouse (among others)
    • Part two – with art by Daniel Acuna and Kev Walker (among others)
  • The John Ridley era (Yes, Oscar-winner Ridley from 12 Years a Slave) – with art by Juann Cabal and German Peralta

Honestly, most of the Panther pantheon is pretty good. If you haven’t read the original McGregor run, it’s truly the foundational work on the character and almost everyone calls back to it. (That’s also where Killmonger originates.)

The Priest run might be the most celebrated – and it is extremely good.

And while it’s lesser known (possibly because it’s new), we’ve been pretty happy with the Ridley run, in particular the second volume with its extra biting commentary on colonialism.

Black Panther Masterworks   Black Panther by Priest   Black Panther by John Ridley

Speaking of Movies…

The Dark Horse Avatar Sale runs through Monday, 6/26.

Yes, there are Avatar comics. And they’re displayed in a somewhat confusing way. (Yes, yes… we were shocked, too.)

This link is for the $0.99 single issues AND the three High Ground 88 page “graphic novels.”

The collected editions are here. 6 issues to a $5.99 collected edition, so there’s a 5-cent difference between the two formats, if you’re keeping count.

Avatar   Avatar

The Green Hood

The Zenescope Character Spotlight Sale runs through Saturday, 6/24.

And the character in question is Robyn Hood (the Grimm’s Fairy Tales version).

This is available in 3 formats:

And as we were looking at this, we saw a couple names we weren’t expecting to see.  The volumes “The Curse” and “Justice” are written by Chuck Dixon. “Outlaw” is written by Howard Mackie.

Robyn Hood x Robyn Hood x Robyn Hood

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Avengers (almost all of it), Civil War, One-Star Squadron and DC’s Spring Break

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, The Avengers (almost the entire catalog) gets discounts, plus Civil War and DC’s “Spring Break,” featuring the under-appreciated One-Star Squadron.

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):

Savings, Assemble!

The Marvel Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Sale runs through Tuesday, 4/1o.

And this as pretty much everything except the Masterworks editions. (Hey, don’t look at us… we think that’s a strange omission, too.)

Let’s start about by breaking down the major series/titles on sale

The Jonathan Hickman era

The Hickman era is a little complicated, because his Avengers and New Avengers titles run together, but getting the “regular” volumes of those are cheaper, but the Avengers by Jonathan Hickman collections are what we’d recommend for a more natural reading experience. Those collect both titles, plus tie-ins… and this is something were reading order counts.

But, this being Marvel collections, it get more complicated. The Avengers/New Avengers material (whichever format you read it in) is just one segment of Hickman’s tale. The story is continued in Avengers: Time Runs Out, which is the real last arc of Avengers and New Avengers.

And all this funnels into Secret Wars, the true endgame of Hickman’s Avengers run… which, of course, is not included in the sale. (Silly Marvel.)

The Hickman era really is it’s own beast. A lot of comics talk about having an “epic scale.” This one’s scope is staggering and it sheer size of the scope means it gets better and better as things progress in a way few comics really do. So just know that the entire era is effectively one extended story and it’s a real “in for a penny, in for a pound” thing.

The Jason Aaron era

While not necessarily as complex as the Hickman era, there are a few different ways to read it:

What’s at the top of the list?

As a self-contained unit, it’s hard to beat Avengers Forever. It’s one of the best Kang stories and it’s not spilling into anything else. Busiek + Stern + Pacheco = Excellence.

For the classic series, there are a lot of good runs. The first Roy Thomas/John Buscema run, particularly around the introduction of The Vision. The Kree-Skrull War. Steve Englehart’s Run. Jim Shooter’s run. Roger Stern’s run, particularly when the team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer return. There is a ton of good stuff to look at. When we factor in price point and page count (some of the newer Epic Collections are a little more expensive), we keep coming back to The Final Threat. Steve Englehart/ Gerry Conway / Jim Shooter / George Perez / John Byrne / John Buscema / Sal Buscema. You get the return of Wonder Man, “The Private War of Doctor Doom,” and “Bride of Ultron” for the major arcs. It’s a nice cross-section of creators and stories for $5.99.

We’re also major fans of the Kurt Busiek / George Perez run that begins here. A second golden age that stands up with the best runs. Also, $5.99 (mostly) for some page counts that sometimes approach Epic Collection length, so a little extra value from that end.

Let’s face it, there have been a lot of good Avengers run.

Avengers Forever   Avengers   Avengers Assemble

Spring Breaking and Entering

The DC Spring Break Sale runs through Monday, 4/10.

Another random-ish drop of title from DC. What’s good?

We read One-Star Squadron by Mark Russell and Steve Leiber a couple weeks back and loved it, which is not surprising with that pairing. We also think this is the first time the book’s been discounted. Definitely in the “bittersweet humor” category, this is a satire of the gig economy and venture capital as Red Tornado runs company whose app sends out third string heroes for appearances and gig work. His gig workers are not necessarily happy in life, nor his office workers. Recommended, especially if you’ve interacted with the gig world.

The Human Target (V.1) by Tom King and Greg Smallwood is an excellent ride. Christopher Chance has been poisoned and has twelve days to figure out who did the deed. And the Bwa Ha Ha era Justice League International are at the top of the suspect list. One part noir, one part deconstruction of the JLI. A very strong first collection. (The full series wrapped in Feb, but the second collected edition isn’t out yet.)

Two classic Flash runs are on sale at the same link. First, there’s The Flash by Mark Waid with Greg Larocque, Mike Wieringo and Oscar Jimenez among the primary artists. This was Waid’s breakout series with “The Return of Barry Allen” probably being the most famous arc. The you’ve got The Flash by Geoff Johns with Scott Kolins and Howard Porter as the primary artists. Early (and very entertaining) work from Johns.

One-Star Squadron   The Human Target   Flash by Mark Waid

And then we have a few things we think are getting discounted for the first time. (And heads up, some of those discounts are based on the HC price, so be aware of that.)

Of interest, due to the movie trailer:  Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes, Book 1. The first 12 issues of the Keith Giffen / John Rogers / Cully Hamner series that’s being adapted.

And a few more things we think are on sale for the first time:

The War Between the… Sales Managers

The Marvel Civil War: Complete Events Sale runs through Tuesday, 4/10.

Yes, Civil War is one of those Events we really believe Marvel needs to rethink its collection strategy for.  All these various and sprawling collections need to be integrated. Or at least SOME of them need to be integrated.

So here’s our take on it:

Civil War the main mini-series by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven – is the action movie version of the story.

Civil War: Front Line – written by Paul Jenkins with art by Ramon Bachs, Steve Lieber and Lee Weeks – is about WHY the Civil War is happening as Ben Urich tries to get to the bottom of things. This title is much more of the Event’s actual plot and motivations than the more famous flagship series and Marvel really need to have a collection that integrates the two.

There are obviously a lot of tie-in books here. You can dip in where you feel like, but Civil War: Wolverine by Marc Guggenheim and Humberto Ramos is a little more relevant than most and has Logan (hellbent on vengeance) tracking down the people responsible for the Stamford incident.

Yes, there is a lot more to the story than the main Millar/McNiven book, it’s just not really emphasized.

Civil War   Civil War: Front Line V. 1   Civil War: Wolverine

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC has *a new* $1.99 Graphic Novel Sale

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC offers up a new slate of $1.99/$2.99 collected editions. We could get used to this.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Isn’t this interesting? DC has another week of much better than usual discounts, so they get a solo post today and we’ll be back for the rest of the week at the usual time.

The question you might be asking yourself: “Will DC have even better discounts next week or did they wisely decide to unleash the good prices while everyone else was waiting for the week of the 20th?”

We won’t have an answer to that until next week, but we’re awfully curious.

The Hit Parade

The DC’s Greatest Hits Sale runs through Monday, 12/19.

There’s a little bit of everything here and a few items, like Far Sector and the George Perez Wonder Woman run, hanging on from previous recent sales.

First a piece of real good advice. This sale is monster to get to the end of. We lost track of how many times we had to click for more books. It you want to examine something, right click it and open it in a new window so you don’t lose your place and have to manually reload everything from the top!

So let’s break this into highlights by price points. Here’s what caught our eye in terms of story and pricing:

$2.99 “Deluxe” Editions

These are great values – they generally contain the equivalent or 2 “regular” collected editions (10-12 issue worth), so you’re paying an effective $1.50 per collected edition. That’s about as cheap as it gets with DC!

  • 100 Bullets – Brian Azzarello / Eduardo Risso
  • Batman: Shadow of the Bat – Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle/Tim Sale/Bret Blevins
  • DMZ – Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli
  • Fables – Bill Willingham / Mark Buckingham
  • The Flash by Geoff Johns – with Scott Kollins as the lead artist; scroll to the bottom of the page for this, but a couple Flash by Mark Waid volumes are also $2.99
  • JLA – Initially by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter
  • New Gods – Jack Kirby’s classic saga + the ’84 wrap-up from the reprints + The Hunger Dogs OGN

$1.99 Collected Editions

  • Batman (’16-current) – All but the end of the Tom King run, then $2.99
  • Detective Comics (’16-current) – The James Tynion IV & Peter J. Tomasi runs are mostly $1.99, and then $2.99
  • Ex-Machina – Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris; “Deluxe” double volumes – usually 10 issues worth – cheap!
  • Green Arrow (’88-’98) – Best known as the Mike Grell era with Ed Hannigan, Dan Jurgens and Rick Hoberg illustrating the Grell run
  • Green Lantern: Sector 2814 (’60-’86) – at the bottom of the page, the Len Wein/Dave Gibbons run into the Steve Englehard/Joe Staton run
  • Green Lantern (’05-’11) – The Geoff Johns run, a GL highlight
  • The Nice House on the Lake – James Tynion IV / Alvaro Martinez Bueno
  • Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil – by Jeff Smith
  • Superman: Emperor Joker – Joe Kelly/Jeph Loeb/Doug Mahnke/Ed McGuinness
  • Superman: Phantom Zone – Steve Gerber / Gene Colan / Rick Veitch
  • Superman: The Man of Steel  – The John Byrne era, also with Marv Wolfman, Jerry Ordway, Ron Frenz and some Roger Stern
  • Superman Vs. Mongul – Len Wein/Jim Starlin are behind the early DC Comics Presents appearances of Mongul, plus the classic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons “For the Man Who Has Everything”
  • Y- The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra; this version is actually the “Deluxe” double volumes for $1.99, so extra cheap!

A little pricier at $4.99, but of potential interest this week, First Issue Special is what Tom King’s Danger Street is based on. This is sort of the ’70s version of Showcase. The only “hit” to come out of it was Mike Grell’s Warlord, which one was of DC’s best sellers into the early 80s. The Martin Pasko/Walt Simonson Doctor Fate issue is a classic. Kirby’s Manhunter and Atlas issues are also worth your time. A mixed bag, but an interesting mixed bag.

What’s the pick of the litter? When all the prices are this good, it really depends on your tastes.  If you emphasize page count vs. price, New Gods might just get the crown. ~420 pages of great comics whose influence is hard to overstate for a mere $2.99. For the uninitiated, this is Jack Kirby’s epic of superhero-esque gods on the planets of New Genesis and Apokolips. Orion is the lead hero, Darkseid is the big bad and Mister Miracle was actually a companion book, not the main title. This is where Darkseid comes from.

Ex-Machina is pre-Saga Brian K. Vaughan and post-Starman Tony Harris telling the tale of the mayor of NYC and his unsuccessful efforts to stay retired from superheroing. A more adult take on superheroes set against a backdrop of politics long before the Kingpin or Luke Cage was mayor. $1.99/volume for the double volumes? Yes, please.

For “traditional” DC capes hijinx, we’ll give the JLA run a slight nod over Flash. As JLA moves forward, the page counts get a little higher than Flash. Particularly the Waid/Hitch volume. The Flash also doesn’t wear a cape, so there’s that, too. And for bonus points, the first volume of JLA is $1.99. Cheap. Really, both of those are fine, iconic runs. Pun intended.

There’s a LOT to look at with this sale. 1300+ items, so if you like the DC cannon, it’s probably worthwhile to carve some time out to browse this before the weekend passes.

New Gods by Jack Kirby   Ex Machina   JLA

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