Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: A Week of Unannounced Sales and the Marvel Mystery Pricing

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC has a Juneteenth sale and anything else new is unannounced… including the mystery of what’s going on with Marvel’s digital prices and whether they still have sales?

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):

Buckle up for an unusual round-up. Amazon only posted one new sale and we had to do some serious scrounging… but it seems the deal page is not the end-all, be-all of listings this week.

The Sole *Announced* New Sale of the Week

Far Sector  Black Lightning  Hardware

The DC Juneteenth Sale runs through Monday, 6/24.

If we were going to pick one book out of this sale, it’s Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell. A rookie Green Lantern is sent to a remote world on the far side of the universe where violence is unheard of… and encounters the first murder in anyone’s memory. You’ll be hard pressed to find better world building and Jemisin really nails her debut.

Also notable:

  • The Other History of the DC Universe – John Ridley / Giuseppe Camuncoli
  • The DC Universe by Dwayne McDuffie – If you don’t like McDuffie, there’s much we can’t help you with.
  • Black Lightning (’77-’78) – Initially, Tony Isabella / Trevor Von Eeden; $3.99 may be the lowest we’ve seen these priced. V.2 is the follow-on features in Detective and World’s Finest.
  • Hardware: The Man in the Machine – Dwayne McDuffie / Denys Cowan; The classic original Milestone arc, which is pretty darn accurate in it’s depiction of IP and non-competes. Tech workers, feel seen.
  • Icon Dwayne McDuffie / Mark Bright; Milestone’s original analog to Superman
  • Static – Dwayne McDuffie / Robert L. Washington / John Paul Leon; Long before the Static Shock cartoon…

Possible Unannounced Marvel Sales
Avengers, Inc.  New X-Men Predator versus Wolverine

We aren’t 100% sure what to make of this. As you may have noticed, there have been no new Marvel sales on the Deals page for two weeks. We did find a smattering of collections that appear to be discounted. Not quite the sort of discounts you’re used to seeing from Marvel and and a fairly random set, so maybe it’s an unannounced sale and maybe it’s not. We’ll leave that for you to decide.

The first one, we’re pretty sure it’s an unannounced sale and you might want to jump fast if you haven’t read it: New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: E Is For Extinction – As in 365 pages of Grant Morrison’s X-Men run with a pre-order price of $6.99? (Art by Frank Quitely / Leinil Francis Yu)  We aren’t sure how long that price is sticking around!

Past that… we see a few prices that are lower than we might normally expect and some just plain weird price points.

  • Avengers, Inc. Al Ewing / Leonard Kirk; The Wasp solves crimes out of uniform. Her sidekick? Someone has possessed the body of Whirlwind and she’s not quite sure who he really is. One of our favorite Marvel releases in recent months. We’re seeing the very odd price of $8.79 as we type this.
  • Daredevil: Black Armor– D.G. Chichester / Netho Diaz; Revisiting the time where horn head had that alternate costume. We’d put this as taking place shortly after Fall From Grace. We’re seeing $6.99 as we type this.
  • Ghost Rider V. 4: Rite of Passage – Ben Percy / Carlos Nieto; We’re seeing $6.99 as we type this.
  • Predator vs. Wolverine – Ben Percy / Ken Lashley / Andrea Di Vito; You’re groaning at the concept, but this was actually a very enjoyable miniseries. Yes, we were surprised, too, but there you are. We’re seeing the genuinely odd price point of $6.49 as we type this.
  • She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell Vol. 4 – Rainbow Rowell / Jessica Gao; We’re seeing the oddest price yet, $7.19, as we’re typing this.
  • Star Wars: Dark Droids – Charles Soule / Leinil Francis Yu / Luke Ross We’re seeing $8.99 as we type this.
  •  Ultimate Invasion – Jonathan Hickman / Bryan Hitch; The setup for the new Ultimate Universe. We’re seeing $8.99 as we type this.
  • Uncanny Avengers: The Resistance  – Gerry Duggan / Javier Garron; We’re seeing $7.99 as we type this.
  • Wolverine Vol. 7 – Ben Percy / Juan Jose Ryp; We’re seeing $6.99 as we type this
  • Wolverine Vol. 8 – Ben Percy / Victor LaVelle / Geoff Shaw; We’re seeing $6.99 as we type this

We’re not completely sure what to make of the above. At minimum, there’s some noticeable variation in the Marvel digital pricing. Are they experimenting with an $8.99 / $6.99 new release price or are those sales? Unclear. Not everything starts at $8.99 and here’s the thing: you can change the digital list price just as easily as you can issue a digital sale price. We’ll have to see how all this develops. That X-Men Epic Collection, though? That’s a sale price, no matter how anybody wants to spin it.

Everything in the price box says “price set by the seller,” so we are forced to assume these odd price variations (and lack of deals page entries) are from Marvel and by design, as opposed to Amazon-initiated.

Unannounced Hellboy and Youneek Sales at Dark Horse

Hellboy and the BPRD  E.X.O.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. goes back to tell Hellboy’s early adventures with the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, starting in the 1950s. (Remember, Hellboy first appeared on Earth in 1944.) Which is to say, more Hellboy adventures. These are available in

And then from Youneek Studios:

Unannounced Manga & Misc. Sales

Barnaby  Yozakura Quartet

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Holiday Sales From DC (More $1.99 Collections), Archie, BOOM! and IDW

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, holiday sales from DC (it’s a doozy), IDW, Archie and BOOM!.

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):

A clerical note before we jump into things. Comics.Cheap will probably be on a strange holiday schedule, like everyone else. We’re not sure if we’ll be putting out the usual Friday round-up this week.  That will be determined largely by whether any more notable sales dropping between now and then. (There’s an Image sale listed, but as we’re typing this, it sure doesn’t look like the sale prices are appearing yet… but if it’s not more than 50% off, we’ll wait for next week.)  Next week, we’ll have a closer look at the BEST of the Marvel Masterworks sale and catch up on any interesting sales dropping between now and then.

DC’s Insane Holiday Sale

The DC Holiday Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

WOW. This is like the last few DC sales, only more of it. And with over 3K items this is approaching a line-wide sale. Not quite, but getting there. If you scroll back to the last few $1.99/$2.99 sales between Black Friday and now, we think most of that material is back on sale, so we’ll focus on things that caught our eye this time around that maybe weren’t previously on sale. Yes, some of these items are giving the Marvel Masterpieces sale a run for your money.

This is 3600+ items, so remember – when browsing the main sale link, right click on comics and open them in a new window or you’ll lose your place and have to start over at the top!

Here’s an extended list of what caught our eye:

$1.99 Collected Editions

$2.99 Collected Editions

Over $3

  • Bizarro Comics – Matt Groening / Kyle Baker / Harvey Pekar and bunch more
  • Marshal Law – Pat Mills / Kevin O’Neill
  • Mister Miracle – The second series with Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers and then Steve Gerber / Michael Golden / Russ Heath – that’s right, Heath inking Golden!
  • Night Force – The first Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan run (Marv’s favorite series)

What’s the cream of the crop? More so than most weeks, it depends on your individual tastes.  We will definitely say that the double volume editions of Gotham Central for $1.99 seems like an absolute steal.  We might slightly favor Jimmy Olsen (essentially, Kirby’s Superman title), but all of those 70’s Jack Kirby books for $2.99 are great deals. And we’re leaning toward Justice League International for the third slot because it’s just never this cheap.

Gotham Central   Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby   Justice League International

What’s that? You say you’d rather have single issues? Preferably for $0.99? It seems DC would like to placate your tastes. Note: these are fairly recent issues being discounted, so on longer running titles, you’ll need to scroll down a bit to see the 99 cent issues.  There’s a lot more than list here, but you’ll need to get below the collected editions on the main page.

Holidays go BOOM!

The BOOM! Holidays Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

This looks to be a line-wide 50% off sale, so let’s look at some things might be slightly below the radar.

Steed & Mrs. Peel is an adaption of the British TV Avengers, the often absurdist spy-fi show. This is a relatively early Grant Morrison script and drawn by Ian Gibson, who’s best known for his 2000 AD work on Robo-Hunter and Judge Dredd.

Is this the first time BRZRKR has been discounted? This one made a big splash on Kickstarter and variant covers, but you know what? Despite all the hype that wasn’t about the interior pages, this is actually a very enjoyable action/SF/dark fantasy comic. It’s written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt with art by Ron Garney and concerns a seemingly immortal warrior from centuries past who’s ready to leave immortality behind. It’s bloody as all get out, but alternates the violence with character work.

And for something completely different: Jeremy Bastian’s Cursed Pirate Girl. You need to see the art in this fantasy tale for yourself. A delightfully unique experience.

Steed and Mrs. Peel   BRZRKR   Cursed Pirate Girl

A Different Side of Riverdale

The Archie Holiday Graphic Novel Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

Since this looks line wide, we’ll draw your attention to something well off the beaten path:

The Black Hood by Duane Swierczynski / Michael Gaydos / Howard Chaykin / Greg Scott is more a crime book than a superhero caper. Vigilante if you must. In the wake of a shooting, involving a vigilante called The Black Hood, an injured cop develops a pain killer addiction, dons the Black Hood’s mask for less than puritanical reasons and finds himself in over his head in a world of vendettas. Very dark, very good. For some reason V. 3 is listed separately.

Black Hood   Black Hood

IDW Does the Holidays

The IDW Holidays Sale runs through Monday, 1/2.

Much like with BOOM!, this looks to be a near line wide sales at 50%-ish off, so we’ll highlight some under the radar books. If you’ve had your eye on something specific, have a browse and you’ll likely find it.

Popeye by Roger Langridge and Bruce Ozella is just straight up fun. A satisfying and amusing entry in the Popeye library.

The One by Rick Veitch is very dark superhero satire steeped in cold war politics. It’s effectively the younger sibling of Brat Pack and one of the earlier deconstructionist superhero comics (After Marvelman/Miracleman’s run in Warrior, but before Watchmen).

Sachs and Violens by Peter David and George Perez was originally a mini-series for Marvel’s Epic imprint, near the end of Epic’s original run. It’s a lighthearted adventure contrasted with heavy material (snuff films) as a model and photographer mete out street justice. Oddly, David later included the characters in his Fallen Angel series.

Popeye   The One   Sachs & Violens

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: More Black Friday Sales From Marvel, BOOM!, IDW and Image

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, it’s time for even more Black Friday Sales. Possibly, because it’s Black Friday? Another Marvel sale, plus BOOM!, IDW and Image.

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):

And with Black Friday now in place, here’s another batch of sales for the occasion. Earlier in the week, we broke down the Marvel Epic Collection Sale and the DC Black Friday Sale, so go back and have a look at those if you haven’t seen them.

What Have You Done For Me Lately ?

The Marvel Latest and Greatest Sale runs through Thursday, 12/1.

And yes, we’ll happily recommend three things we’ve been enjoying from this bunch:

Jed MacKay’s emerged as a writer to keep an eye on and two V. 1’s of his pop up here:

The Death of Doctor Strange is an accurate title for this MacKay/Lee Garbett series that does kill off Stephen Strange, though to say much more about this clever and twisty series would move into the realm of spoilers.

Moon Knight: The Midnight Mission is the opening act in the MacKay/Alessandro Cappuccio Moon Knight revival that’s one of the more unpredictable comics out there right now. “Mr. Knight” is trying to get his act together. He’s seeing a therapist. He’s started a sort of night mission to offer Konshu’s protection as it used to be intended. And then the vampires show up. And another avatar of Konshu. (And the subsequent acts only have more curveballs.) This one’s also an entertaining ride.

Defenders: There Are No Rules is the Al Ewing / Javier Rodriguez Defenders revival. This time out, Doctor Strange and company go dimension hopping looking to retrieve the Eternity Mask. Different realities are governed by different laws of physics (or magic), hence the title. Oh, and Galactus is involved. This story plays out on a BIG canvas and for as much of a hot streak as Ewing is on right now, Rodriguez still manages to steal the show… which is to say both writing and art are popping here.

The Death of Doctor Strange   Moon Knight   Defenders

Walt Simonson’s Other Thor

The IDW Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

IDW could have called this a “Best of Sale” and we’d have backed them. Plus, $0.99 for a V.1 and $1.99 for subsequent volumes on everything? What’s the word we’re looking for…  CHEAP.

Ragnarok is Walt Simonson’s return to Norse mythology. It is glorious and might just be Walt’s best work… which is saying something. And the old sales charts (back when we had sales charts) suggest a LOT of people were sleeping on this one.  Twilight of the Gods has come and gone. The Nine Worlds are reduced to the Dusk Lands and all is not well. Thor is raised from the dead, not altogether successfully, and starts a quest to set things right. Highest recommendation, especially at these prices.  Note: V.3 is listed separately from the first two.

Richard Stark’s Parker is the late Darwyn Cooke adapting Donald Westlake’s score-settling thief, Parker. Some of the best crime comics you’ll ever see, as we’ve said before. And these are the best prices we’ve seen for them, if memory serves.

Ragnarok   Ragnarok   Richard Stark's Parker

Prices Go Boom

The Best of Boom! Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

And yes, we have another holiday V.1 for $0.99 and subsequent volumes for $1.99 sale! Cheap!

The centerpiece here is probably Once and Future, the Kieron Gillen / Dan Mora contemporary fantasy adventure about the power of stories manifesting as Merlin returns to raise King Arthur… and Arthur doesn’t care for all these immigrants. It starts out fairly breezy and is starting to get fairly dark by the time V. 4 rolls around.  V.5 wraps things up at the end of December, so this is a cheap catchup on a book we’ve enjoyed.

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade chronicles Death’s relationship with the inventor of immortality and is probably the best reviewed book of the sale.

House of Slaughter by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal, Werther Dell‘Edera and Chris Shehan is a spin-off from Something Is Killing the Children, set in a school run by the Order of monster hunters that Erica Slaughter is butting heads with. Tonally, this is a very different book. It’s more of an angsty CW series set in the same universe.

Once & Future   The Many Deaths of Laila Starr   House of Slaughter

Sale of Large Sizes

The Image Omnibus & Deluxe Edition Sale runs through Monday, 11/28.

A heads up we hope you heed: Image Deluxe Editions are hardcovers and the discount is based on the HC price. Depending on the sale, it’s frequently cheaper to get the digital edition of the two “regular” collections than a Deluxe Edition containing the equivalent of two regular collections. Keep an eye on what you’re buying.

That said, some of the omnibuses are good deals, so let’s have a look at those and see what they cost per issue, shall we?

Saga Compendiumby Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples is $23.99 and collects #1-54. That’s less than 45 cents/issue ($0.444/issue). That’s a good deal and Saga’s reputation speaks for itself.

Paper Girls: The Complete Story by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang is $19.99 and collects all 30 issues.  That’s a hair under 67 cents/issue ($0.666/issue). Not as cheap as the Saga Compendium, but beats a $0.99 single issue sale. You may have seen the Amazon Prime video adaptation. The comic is better.

Saga   Paper Girls

The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips isn’t really an omnibus, it’s just the whole 12 issue miniseries in one volume. This one’s a noir murder mystery set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s Brubaker and Phillips. They’re pretty gosh darn consistent, so you probably already know if you’ll like it. We certainly did, but we’re easy marks for those two.

Curse Words: The Hole Damned Thing Omnibus by Charles Soule and Ryan Browne is roughly 30 issues worth for $19.99, so basically the same deal as Paper Girls. This is a dark farce about an evil Wizard named Wizord who’s feuding with some wizards who are more evil and maybe… maybe… he’s open to changing his ways. Another quality piece of entertainment.

Astro City Metrobook V. 1 by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross is $11.99 for the first 18 issues of the various incarnations of Astro City… which ends up being the same price per issue as Paper Girls and Curse Words. In a nutshell, Astro City is everything good about superheroes distilled into a new universe. Everything will feel a little familiar and the early issues are about capturing the magic of the Silver Age. Astro City is a great palette-cleanser if Event Comics are trying your patience!

The Fade Out    Curse Words   Astro City Metrobook

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: More Halloween Discounts – Image, IDW and Dark Horse

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, we have a look at the rest of the Halloween sales: Image, IDW and Dark Horse.

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):

Image Says Boo!

The Image Horror Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

Oh, yes. Image does horror. Some would say they’ve stepped in and grabbed a few things what would have been in Vertigo, if the imprint was still around.

The current Image horror title we’re getting the biggest kick out of is Killadelphia by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander. There’s vampire activity in Philly. Not only are the vampires ambitious, they have some very unusual leadership. An estranged father and son look to head them off at the pass, which would be easier if the father hadn’t already been murdered. This is a pretty wild series with historical references and a few savage one-liners.  Highly recommended.

Fatale was the series that brought Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to Image and was a key book in Image’s resurgence ~10 years ago. This one’s a horror/crime mashup. A reporter stumbles upon a woman who’s been on the run since 1935 and doesn’t seem to have aged a day. She’s pursued by a gangster who might not be human. And it wouldn’t be a noir if our femme fatale wasn’t leaving a trail of dead admirers in her wake across the decades. Also highly recommended.

And for something a little more obscure, twenty-seven by Charles Soule and Renzo Podestá is an old favorite and early Soule. The high concept here? The reason all those famous musicians die at 27 after blowing up big.  Could there be something unnatural going on?  Surely not during a Halloween sale…

There’s quite a bit more in this sale.

Killadelphia   27

IDW Says Boo!

The IDW Horror Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

30 Days of Night is the OG horror book at IDW. Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith present the original tale of vampires taking over a remote town in Alaska when the sun sets for a full month straight. There are sequels (and movies), but it starts here for $0.99.

Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez is the more recent hit, this one having been streaming on Netflix. Reeling from their father’s murder, a family returns to a mysterious mansion in New England as the children discover magical keys that open doorways and grant the user strange abilities. The keys have something to do with their father’s death and something would like the keys back.

And for something a little  more off the beaten path, there’s Frankenstein Alive, Alive by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson (with Kelly Jones drawing the final chapter) because Bernie Wrightson for Halloween.

30 Days of Night  Locke and Key  Frankenstein Alive, Alive

Dark Horse Says Boo!

The Dark Horse Horror Sale runs through Monday, 10/31.

A little under 1800 items in this one, so when browsing, remember to right click if you want to examine book details, so you spawn a new window and don’t lose your place.

Which is to say, yes – Dark Horse does a lot of horror comics.

The face of Dark Horse horror is probably the Mignolaverse. The center of which is the (excellent) Hellboy (best buy here being the omnibus version).

Sometimes overlooked, but very much a central storyline to the Hellboy world is B.P.R.D. (Bureau of Paranormal Defense and Research), which is the adventures of Hellboy’s team in very, very long story arcs, co-written by Mike Mignola and (mostly) John Arcudi with Guy Davis as the primary artist through Hell on Earth, this is the order of the arc. Each arc is a set of omnibuses for that story. We weren’t joking about long arcs.

While not part of Hellboy proper, the 2-volume Baltimore omnibuses by Mignola/Christopher Golden/ Ben Stenback/Peter Bergting are also a lot of fun. It concerns a world that suffers a vampire plague at the end of WWI and of the British soldier who accidentally unleashes the plague seeking revenge on the vampires.

Hellboy   BPRD - Plague of Frogs   Baltimore Omnibus 1

If you want classic, old school horror, there are three good options that spring to mind:

Tales From the Crypt  Creepy  Eerie

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Harley Quinn, Loki, TMNT: The Last Ronin, Sleeping Beauties, Land of Oz

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Harley Quinn enters a new decade, Marvel spotlights Loki and the Land of Oz, and IDW discounts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin and Sleeping Beauties (as in Stephen & Owen King’s novel getting adapted).

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 Better Punchline

The DC Harley Quinn 30th Anniversary Sale runs through Monday, 9/12.

30 years?  Yup.  If you saw the debut on Batman: The Animated Series, we understand if you don’t admit it.

While it isn’t the cheapest deal by page count right now ($2.99 for 66 pages), any Harley Quinn conversation has to start with The Batman Adventures: Mad Lovewherein Paul Dini and Bruce Timm reveal Harley’s origin.  It’s a gem.

We’ve always had a soft spot for the New 52 Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti/Chad Hardin run of Harley QuinnTheir take is particularly absurdist and brings in an… eclectic supporting cast to say the least. We’ve heard compared to Deadpool a few times. It’s the version we’ve laughed at the most.

Your off the beaten path option (relative to the rest of the HQ catalog) is Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh is a YA take with a teenaged Harley and it’s one of the most critically lauded versions.

Mad Love   Harley Quinn   Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass

God of Mischief

The Marvel Loki Sale runs through Thursday, 9/15.

These days you have “post-TV” Loki and traditional Loki.

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

For your Loki as the villain, we’re going to slightly off the reservation into the world of Mutants with X-Men: Asgardian WarsThis is a collection of a story arc consisting of the X-Men / Alpha Flight mini-series (Chris Claremont/Paul Smith), the New Mutants Special Edition and an X-Men Annual (both by Claremont/Arthur Adams).  Loki starts some trouble and the X-Men eventually end up in Asgard looking for him.  Back in the mid-80s, the annuals in the X-verse were a bit more standalone from the ongoing plots and the New Mutants annuals were particularly wild for a few years. Claremont basically uses the mini-series and annuals (the “special edition” was essentially a New Mutants annual) to tell a self-contained, though somewhat sprawling tale.  Fun collection with superior artists.

Loki: Agent of Asgard   Journey Into Mystery   X-Men: Asgardian Wars

The Marvelous Land of On Sale

The Marvel Oz and Other Classics Sale runs through Monday, 9/12.

This would be a collection of the Marvel Illustrated (read: Classics Illustrated) adaptions from ’07-’13.  The most famous of which being the Wizard of Oz adaptions by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young. Yes, that Skottie Young.

The key piece here is the set of Oz: The Complete Collection where it’s two books per volume.  Also, it should be noted Amazon lists the Road to Oz / Emerald City of Oz volume first… and that’s actually the last volume of the three.  The order is Wizard of Oz/Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz/Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, and then Road to Oz / Emerald City of Oz.

Oz: The Complete Collection

No, Not “Hit” as in “Hit-Girl”

The IDW Recent Hits Sale runs through Thursday, 9/29.

This a particularly small sale and single issues are the key thing you’ll be looking at here.

The headline here is probably the $0.99 single issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin by Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz and Esau & Isaac Escorza. We’re not sure the “Dark Knight for TMNT” elevator pitch is quite right, but this is the story of a future where the last surviving Turtle heads for a final confrontation with the Foot Clan. This is much darker than the original series. We enjoyed the first issue and have this on our short list since it seemed to prudent to wait for it to wrap up.

Sleeping Beauties is the Rio Youers / Alison Sampson of the Stephen & Owen King novel. Since the second collected edition isn’t on sale, you’re better off with the single issues here.

TMNT - The Last Ronin   Sleeping Beauties

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: Sandman, Spider-Verse, She-Hulk, Locke and Key, DCeased

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, lots of comics with streaming shows and films based on them: Sandman Universe, She-Hulk, The Spider-Verse and Locke & Key all get discounts. Plus, DCeased for the sake of variety!

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):

Like Sands in the Hourglass…

The DC Sandman Universe Sale runs through Monday, 8/22.

Wait, didn’t we just have a Sandman sale and a Vertigo sale?  Yes, but the Sandman Netflix show is doing well, so they’re effectively extending the party.  So let’s break this down:

And that’s going to be the bulk of it. There’s a sprawling mess of unsorted single issues presented in pretty much the least professional way possible, but if you want the singles, most of them are $0.99 (so keep this in mind when comparing with collected editions).

What’s good that we haven’t talked about in the last couple weeks?

John Constantine: Hellblazer by Si Spurrier, Aaron Campbell and Matias Bergara is one of our favorite reads of the last few years.  A classic Constantine conspiracy/con, some absolutely hilarious interludes… Grade A Hellblazer.  We’re still grumpy it didn’t go longer. Get both volumes, they comprise one story.

Sandman Mystery Theater is a fairly tangential cousin to Gaiman’s Sandman. It’s the pulp flavored adventures of the Golden Age Sandman – prior to the Simon & Kirby redesign. Sort of of a gentler, more introspective flavor of The Shadow.  Matt Wagner starts out as writer, Steven T. Seagle joins him a bit later and eventually assumes solo duties. Guy Davis is the main artist.  At 70 issues, this is one of the longer running Vertigo titles, though they’ve never really gotten the collected editions going for it.  You can save a couple bucks on the two collected editions, but it’s single issues after that.

John Constantine, Hellblazer   Sandman Mystery Theater

Dead Again

The DC DCeased Sale runs through Monday, 8/15.

I think the standard set of reactions to DCeased went something like:

  1. Oh, DC’s doing their version of Marvel Zombies
  2. Wait… this is actually good?!?
  3. Ah, it’s a Tom Taylor project.

That Taylor guy has a pretty darn good track record with this sort of thing.  The high concept here is the Anti-Life Equation gets unleashed and turns MOST of the world, including many of those with superpowers, into a sort of zombie. The surviving superheroes and villains are making shaky alliances to keep themselves and the what’s left of the masses alive as the look for a cure or a way off the planet.

Trevor Hairsine is the initial artist and then there’s some switching up later on as things progress.

The publication order is

All recommended. And yes, it’s no coincidence that all the previous material is on sale the week that the FINAL series, DCeased: War of the Undead Godsdebuts. (Far too early for discounts on that one.)

DCeased   DCeased: Hope at the World's End   DCeased - Dead Planet

Itsy Bitsy

The Marvel Spider-Verse Sale runs through Thursday, 8/18.

Much like the comic Event and the film, this is a sale highlighting a few different incarnations of Spidey in the various dimensions/realities of “The Spider-Verse.”

Spider-Verse is the 600+ page monster volume collecting the original event across the various Spidey-family titles.

The Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection volumes by Brian Bendis, Sara Pichelli and David Marquez are good values as ~300 page collections.

And for off-the wall, there’s always Spider-Hamwhich we’ve always sort of thought of as Marvel’s answer to Captain Carrot.  Silly YA stuff, but not without a punny appeal.

Spider-Verse   Miles Morales - Spider-Man   Spider-Ham

Gama Nepotism

The Marvel She-Hulk Sale runs through Monday, 8/29.

Gosh, you’d think there was a streaming show on Disney+ or something?  Is streaming STILL a theme for what’s on sale?  Could be.

The two runs that will likely be the most recognizable if “She-Hulk, Attorney at Law” is your point of reference, would be

It’s also worth noting the current Rainbow Rowell / Roge Antonio She-Hulk series has the first three issues for $0.99 each.

She-Hulk by Dan Slott   She-Hulk

I am the Keymaster, are you the Gatekeeper?

The IDW Locke & Key Sale runs through Monday, 8/15.

Add another streaming sale to the pile.  This time for the “modern classic” Joe Hill / Gabriel Rodriguez horror tale of magical keys that open doors to the strangest places.  And the prices are cheap!  $0.99 for the first tpb, mostly $2.99 for subsequent volumes. $0.49 single issues for most of the run.

And all this for a superior series, too.  Hype is real for this one, folks.

  • The collected editions are here.
  • Except for “The Golden Age” collection, which also includes the crossover with The Sandman. Will that eventually be a streaming crossover? A bit early to tell.  This will run you $9.99 for being more recent.
  • The single issues for the regular series
  • The single issues for The Sandman crossover – $0.99 a pop (cheap)

Locke and Key   Locke & Key: The Golden Age   Locke & Key / Sandman

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Still On Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: SDCC ’22 Discounts Continue with X-Men, Nightwing, BOOM! and IDW Joining the Party

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Comic-Con 2022 has arrived and the sales came along for the ride. Added to the pile: lots of X-Men, Eisner nods from DC, BOOM!’s wide swath of books and last week’s IDW link got fixed.

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):

Just a heads up – there is a LOT of indie action at the “San Diego Graphic Novel Sales” page.  Or full annotations for the bulk of that are in last week’s column.

Brand X

The Marvel X-Men Legacy Sale runs through Thursday, 7/28.

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

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

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

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

So, recommendations with that in mind.

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

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

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

We assume you already know about the Morrison run.

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

X-Men Epic Collection: The Sentinels Live   

Did Somebody Say Crossover?

The Marvel X-Men Milestones Sale runs through Monday, 7/25.

And this would be a set of single volume collections of the big “Event” storylines where the various X-titles converge.  And maybe look at it in chronological view.

Dark Phoenix is the classic, but perhaps best enjoyed in the context of that #94-200 run we described above.  Past that, everyone has their favorite. We might go out on a limb and suggest that Messiah Complex is the best post-Claremont arc, but… opinions vary.

Messiah Complex

Award Bait

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

This is a tiny, 9 item sale that originally included some single issues that don’t appear to be on sale. No clue what was up with that.

Of the contenders, Batman is the usual suspect, but the Tom Taylor / Bruno Redondo Nightwing is the critical belle of the ball, here.

A bit more under the radar is the Ram V / Mike Perkins Swamp ThingWe’re not so sure that shouldn’t have waited to package the entire story in one volume (V.2 drops in ~3 weeks), but this slight reimaging of the character as a new avatar for The Green emerges is definitely an interesting read.

Nightwing   Swamp Thing

Return to the Planet of the Comic-Con Sales

The Boom! SDCC Graphic Novel Sale runs through 8/4/22.

This one popped on the SDCC later than the rest, and you know what?  There are a few BOOM! titles we’re happy to share the love for.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead is an absolutely bonkers delight from Al Ewing (who’s on a hot streak) and Simone Di Meo. It starts out as tale of smuggling around a salvage operation, scavenging the body parts of dead gods found floating in space. Then it gets into suppressive governments and cults. We’re not sure precisely where it’s going to end up, but we’re happy to be along for the ride.  It appears only V. 1 is on sale.

Once and Future by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora is probably a little higher up on the BOOM! visibility scale. It’s a breezy adventure with a bit of humor and darkness around the edges at times concerning a fellow who’s been drafted into the family monster-hunting business by his grandmother (who isn’t as retired as she should be) and a plot to raise a decidedly unfriendly King Arthur from the grave. A really fun series.

And for a deeper cut that’s coming to the surface because of a Netflix film deal, there’s Irredeemable by Mark Waid, Peter Krause and Diego Barreto.  The high concept here is somewhere between “Superman has a psychotic break” and “Superman meets The Bad Seed.” The Plutonian, a sort of Superman-esque character finally snaps and decides he’s in charge.  The surviving heroes and villains must try to stay alive long enough to figure out how to stop him.  Interestingly, there seem to now be a lot of comparisons to The Boys, which you didn’t really hear when then two books were running. There is an “abuse of superpowers” theme in common, but the two series are nearly tonal opposites. The Boys, particularly the original comic, is slapstick and parody. Irredeemable plays it straight. We’ve always enjoyed it.

We Only Find Them When They're Dead   Once & Future   Irredeemable

How IDW Got Its Link Back

The IDW SDCC Sale runs through Monday, 7/25… and guess what?  Comixology/Amazon fixed the link from last week’s error, so now we can see the whole thing.

A buried bargain: $3.49 for Jeff Lemire’s Underwater Weldera well regarded science fiction character study graphic novel.

$3.99 will get you Bermuda by John Layman and Nick Bradshaw. This fairly recent collection (came out in Feb.) concerns a region of the Atlantic Ocean that collects missing ships and planes. There’s an island in it, inhabited by pirates, dinosaurs and assorted monsters.  And a 16 year old girl named Bermuda running roughshod over the lot of them.  A little bit of Kamandi, a little bit of Land of the Lost. It’s a really fun book with great art, too. Seems like it flew under the radar.

And for the “classic” option, it’s sometimes hard to find enough praise to heap on Darwyn Cooke’s Richard Stark’s Parker series of graphic novels.  An absolutely brilliant adaptation of the Donald Westlake crime novels about a thief who believes in payback. Highly recommended.

Underwater Welder   Bermuda   Richard Stark's Parker

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Still On Sale

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: The Comic-Con Sales Arrive in Force: X-Men, House of M, Batman and Indies Galore

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, the Comic-Con sale arrive in force. Multiple indie sales. X-Men and House of M at Marvel. Another wide sampler from DC, too.

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 Comic-Con Run-Up Arrives in Force!

The “San Diego Graphic Novel Sales – Start Here” page is worth your time to look at.

How long does this grouping of sales last? No idea. They forgot to include dates. Figure it’s probably until the 25th (the Monday after SDCC)?  What particularly interesting is that the folks at… they’re still calling it the Comixology section for the moment… are continuing an attempt to make this a little more navigable by having more alphabetical carousels displaying covers on the various sales pages here.

This is a step in the right direction!

Anyway… lots of ground to cover, just with this section. Let’s hit some highlights… and remember, the Dark Horse sale listed on this page is something we covered last week.

From the “Recent Releases” category / carousel, we would draw your attention to Astro City Metrobook Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross. At $11.99, it’s at the higher end of price points we’ll recommend, but this is prime material from a LONG running series that’s relocating back to Image and you’re getting ~485 pages / ~19 issues for your troubles.  This is an examination of superhero genre – very much of the classic Silver Age concepts this early in the series. Busiek, Anderson and Ross are world building here and the viewpoint can switch from heroes to sidekicks to bystanders over the various series. Short version – it’s a distillation of everything good about superheroes and it can also be an excellent palette cleanser if Events are getting you down. Very highly recommended!

Astro City Metrobook

Omnibuses

The Omnibus link is something we heartily approve of.  It appears to be a gathering of omnibuses from the various sales currently running.  To quote the great Clay Davis, from the Wire: “sheeeeeeeeeeeee-” (you know the rest). That’s almost like something we’d do! And this is a place where flipping through the graphic carousels will save you a lot of time.

Highlights (we spoke of the joys of Hellboy-verse omnibuses last week):

Best buy: Saga Compendium One – the first 54 issues of the Brian K. Vaughan / Fiona Staples masterwork for a lousy $23.99.  Less than fifty cents per issues.  Cheap and a modern classic. You don’t get much better than that.

Runner up: Paper Girls: The Complete Story – all 30 issues on the Brian K. Vaughan/Cliff Chiang time travel caper for $19.99. The TV version will be hitting Prime shortly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-1cyNm7iAU

And since the third volume in the series is coming out, Luther Arkwright contains The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire, the first two series in Bryan Talbot’s legendary series about a dimension hopping, empire tumbling adventurer.  Another real winner!

Saga   Paper Girls  Luther Arkwright

Oni / Lion Forge

In regards to the  Oni Press and Lion Forge sales – we don’t really know any more about the situation over at Oni/Lion Forge than you’ve already read. We can’t discount the possibility that some of their titles could end up off the market for a little while. Possibly resurfacing at different publishers. If you’re interested in something and like the price, maybe pull the trigger in the next week or two. (We’ve always liked Kaijumax and Sixth Gun, though we’ve seen better prices for Sixth Gun.)

IDW and the bad link

The IDW SDCC Sale appears to have a bad link.  Only 25 items at that link and there’s a LOT more in the carousel on the main sale page, so scroll through that. And who knows, maybe Amazon will fix the link?

The original 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith for $0.99? Absolutely worth a look if you’ve never tried it. (After all, one could argue it’s the book that “made” IDW.) The high concept? Vampires in Alaska, so far north that the sun will set for 30 days and they’ll have free reign.

It’s not clear if GI JOE is on sale or not (we suspect those are sale prices we’re seeing) and that’s another one that might not be at IDW much longer, so if you like the prices, think about stocking up.

30 Days of Night 

Image

And then there’s the  Image SDDC Graphic Novel Sale.

Seems like the final prices here might be a little higher than we’ve seen in the past? Definitely, we’re seeing the old problem of the Deluxe volumes being on sale. The Deluxe volumes are oversized for print, ergo a little more expensive than the single volumes and usually an inferior deal in digital when everything is based on the print price. After all, there is no hardcover in digital.  So be aware of that while browsing here.

That said, the Spawn Compendium is a similar deal to that giant Saga collection – for $23.99 each, you’ve got a couple 50 issue volumes available. If you want to read the first 100 issues of Spawn, you can get them for under $0.50/issue this way.

Spawn Compendium

Dynamite

The Dynamite SDCC Graphic Novel Sale

The first two volumes of Red Sonja by Mark Russell and Bob Quinn are $6.99. Yes, the same Mark Russell from Flintstones and Billionaire Island.  And it works. The main story is a “straight” adventure, but all around the edges satirical elements sink in… if you’re paying attention.  An unusual Red Sonja one, to be sure, but a good one.

Red Sonja

Let the X-Sales Begin…

Marvel’s Reign of X Sale runs through Thursday, 7/21.

Let’s back up a little here.  Reign of X is sort of the third Act of the Hickman-run X-Men era. Act one is House of X / Powers of X. Act two is Dawn of X, which is all the “regular” titles and culminates in the X of Swords Event. Reign of X picks up after X of Swords.

This is the format that collects the issues of the individual series in a preferred reading order. Not quite publication order (you’ll read a two-part in a single title back-to-back, here and there) but that’s the easiest way to think of it.  In general, we think this reading experience is a better way to read Hickman’s X-Saga and seeing the breadth of the world building unfurl is additive. That said, we found the quality of the line a little less consistent in Reign of X than Dawn of X.  (Which is to say, we’re not going to blame you if you skip the Children of the Atom bits.)

This link will show the volumes in order.

Reign of X

Not the Byrne “Generations”

The Marvel Generations of X Sale runs through Thursday, 7/21

This is a somewhat eclectic set of X-Men (and X-Men family) runs. You’re most likely to recognize Wolverine and the X-Men from Jason Aaron / Chris Bachalo / Nick Bradshaw and Generation X by Scott Lobdell and… Chris Bachalo again (at least on the main title in the collection).

Wolverine and the X-Men    Generation X

No More Mutants

Marvel’s House of M sale runs through Monday, 7/18.

This would be the Event Miniseries where Wanda snaps and rewrites reality… forming the basis for the WandaVision TV series.  Brian Bendis and Olivier Coipel are your creators. This is the sort of Event where we recommend getting the main series and then dipping your toe into the supporting collections in the sale at your own discretion.  A good chunk of the Marvel line shifted their storylines to participate in the Event, buy how relevant they were to the main storyline varied widely and a lot of it would firmly be considered side stories. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not always presented as such.

House of M

DC’s SDCC Run-Up

The DC at SDCC  Ebooks Sale runs through Monday, 7/25.

What we have here is another 2K ebook drop, should you have time for an extended browse.

If you’re looking for a lower price point per eBook, Jonah Hex is good candidate, alternating between $4.99 and $5.99 volumes.  Dark western tales of the disfigured and tortured bounty hunter written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. The artists rotate quite a bit on this one and a certain point, Palmiotti & Gray seemed to be playing a game of “which legend can we get to draw the next issue?”  That is NOT a bad thing.

For $5.99, here’s something that’s under a lot of radars. Not everyone remembers, but prior to the more famous Long Halloween, Jeph Loeb and the late Tim Sale started out with Batman Halloween specials.  And let us assure you, that first one came out of nowhere and punched everyone right between the eyes. Batman: Haunted Knight collects the specials that got the Loeb/Sale ball rolling.

And for a value buy, DC Universe By Len Wein. $9.99 gets you 23 stories – not necessarily 23 issues, because some of the DC titles had backups back then, but you get an interesting mix here: a run of Wein’s under-appreciated Phantom Stranger run with Jim Aparo. The JLA/JSA team-up that reintroduced the Seven Soldiers of Victory. The DC Comics Presents run with Jim Starlin that introduces Mongul.

Jonah Hex   Batman - Haunted Knight   DC Universe by Len Wein

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Still On Sale

Comixology Sales: Holiday Sale Roundup Part 2 – DC, Image, IDW and BOOM!

This week in Comixology, it’s all holiday sale, all the time with everything lasting into the new year.  In Part 2 of the Holiday roundup, we’re adding DC, Image, IDW and BOOM! into the discount vortex.

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

Pretty much every sale that’s dropped since our last installment is at 50% discount, so we would highly recommend you also click here and have a gander at all the $0.99/$1.99 graphic novels on sale, include Marvel Masterworks.

And now… the rest of the holiday sale highlights.

DC’s Discount Presents

The DC Holiday eBook Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. It comes in two parts: Part 1 (100 Bullets through Nightwingand Part 2 (Nightwing through Zero Hour).  (Amazon link)

There are a little less than 2500 DC graphic novels on sale.  Basically, the whole digital catalog (save for the books too new to get discounted).  If there’s a title you’re looking for, it’s likely there, so go have a browse. The vast majority of books are around 50% off.

A handful of good reads that are perhaps a little better value? Sure. We have some likely candidate for you.

Like most of the comics community, we’ve been alarmed at George Perez’s cancer diagnosis.  George’s landmark, mythology-forward Wonder Woman series is on sale and Wonder Woman by George Perez V. 1 is a larger than average page count make it a good value on top of a good comic. It’s one of George’s signature pieces. If you want to move forward, for reasons known only to DC, V.5 is in the “collected editions” section of the series page, not the “ominbuses” section. It’s also not on sale.  There’s a V. 6, but you’re better off getting the War of the Gods collection in the omnibuses section that collects the same material and is actually on sale.

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Book 1 is also a pretty good value.  It’s 375 pages and includes the opening arc of the Dave Gibbons/Patrick Gleason Green Lantern Corps title.  We think pretty highly of the original Johns GL run through Blackest Night, but be warned – subsequent volumes in this format have premium HC pricing for digital files. Just say no to HC pricing whenever possible. It’s also 53% off instead of 50%. (Missed it by that much!(

Legion of Super-Heroes: The Curse is the post-Great Darkness Saga LSH run by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. A classic of the era, and a volume we enjoyed revisiting awhile back. While Great Darkness is absolutely worth your time, this massive 544 page volume is the slightly better value by (its considerable) volume.

Wonder Woman by George Perez   Green Lantern by Geoff Johns   Legion of Superheroes: The Curse

The Cheaper Image

The Image Recent Hits Sale runs through Monday, 1/3. (Amazon link)

We’re still looking at 50% off here (plus some 99-cent single issues), but Image is running a much smaller sale centered around what’s been hot for them lately.  And we can absolutely vouch for some them.

Reckless by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is a very pulpy series of graphic novels about an off-the-bookers “fixer” in ’80s. LA. “If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them….maybe you can hire” sorry… wrong 80s LA fixers.  Reckless is much darker and deals with things like fallout from Cointel Pro, the Satanic Panic and shady real estate deals. Two of the three are on sale and we like the set, but maybe like the opening installment best.

Killadelphia is a genre bending tale of police detectives trying to head off a vampire uprising in Philly. A little bit of horror, a little bit of neo noir, a sinister sense of history and a strong streak of gallows humor. We’ve been all-in for this one since we tried it.  Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander run the blood bank for this one.

Department of Truth is incrementally the youngest book of the set. This would be James Tynion, IV and Martin Simmonds telling a tale of the power of belief causing conspiracy to burst into reality and a shadowy government agency trying to reign this in. There’s an X-Files vibe to it, but Department of Truth is really it’s own thing… and a good thing at that.

Note: $3.99 for the first volumes in this sale is a genuinely good deal.

Reckless   Killadelphia   Department of Truth

Holiday Theft

The IDW Holiday Mega Sale runs through Wednesday 1/5.

That’s pretty much the whole catalog 50% off here.  Highlights?

If you want to talk masterpiece, there’s Richard Stark’s Parker by Darwyn Cooke. Cooke does jaw dropping adaptions of Donald Westlake’s (Stark was a pen name) classic novels about a vengeance-minded professional thief. If you like crime comics, you don’t find much better than this.

Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez has become a standard bearer for IDW, but let’s ignore the TV adaptation thing – it was a good comic before any of that came to fruition. A creepy tell of a magical keys and generational horror stalking a family.

Richard Stark's Parker Locke & Key

Discount Go Boom!

The BOOM! Holiday Sale runs through Thursday, 1/6.

Again, it sure looks like most of the catalog is half off, so if you had something on your wish list, it’s probably here.  Highlights?

We absolutely loved the first volume of We Only Find Them When They’re Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo. What’s it about? Skullduggery surrounding salvaging flesh and organs from the corpse of alien gods found floating in space. A twisted high concept science fiction series and we’re slightly impatient for V. 2.

We also haven’t heard anyone mention Mouse Guard in a spell. This David Peterson series is an Eisner-winner and is absolutely gorgeous to behold and his art is as good at creating mood as it is pretty. Its a medieval tale of the “Mouse Guard” (think an order like the Three Musketeers) as they investigate a conspiracy and try to keep the common mice safe.  Fall: 1152 is the first book in the series.

We also haven’t heard Irredeemable mentioned lately. This Mark Waid/Peter Krause/Diego Barreto tale could be described as “what if Superman had a psychotic break?” It’s a bit deeper than that and it develops it’s own little superhero universe and cast as it explores what happens when the nicest, most powerful hero finally snaps and decides to kill everyone and take over.

We Only Find Them When They're Dead   Mouse Guard  Irredeemable

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Comixology Sales: DC’s Black Friday Sale and Independent Graphic Novels for $0.99 (Cheap!)

Yes, the spirit of Black Friday is alive and well in the world of Comixology Sales.  DC’s discounts are up and we take a look at a batch of independent publishers offering $0.99 / $1.99 collected editions. It’s a thing!

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

I See a Friday and I Want It Painted Black

The DC Black Friday Sale runs through Monday, 11/29.
(Amazon link if you prefer that)

Glancing through this sale, which is a smaller set of books than others, we’re seeing a discount range of 69%-75%, which is definitely on the high side for DC. A lot of the usual suspects are on sale, but for some suggestions:

We always through Sinestro Corps War was the peak of the Geoff Johns era of Green Lantern.

Longtime readers know that we appreciate Tom Taylor around these parts. One of the first times he made us raise an eyebrow and say “this shouldn’t work as well it does — how did he do that?!?” was the video game adaption of Injustice: Gods Among UsWe especially like his Green Arrow. Mike S. Miller & Jheremy Raapack provide the art and later Bruno Redondo… yes, the same fellow on Nightwing with Taylor.  Comics work like that sometimes.

And finally, we’re a bit after that holiday, be Batman: The Long Halloween is still our favorite of the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale collaborations. For those new to the series, it has Batman chasing a serial killer who strikes each month on a holiday, as DA Harvey Dent starts to spiral…

Green Lantern - Sinestro Corps War   Injustice: Gods Among Us   Batman: The Long Halloween

Meanwhile, on the East Coast

We looked at the first round of Marvel’s Black Friday offerings yesterday and between the $3.99 Epic Collections and the $0.99-$1.99 Hawkeye collections, those still might be the deals to beat.

Avengers West Coast

Lowest Prices for Indie Comics ($0.99 Collected Editions)

Yes, comics reader – we know you love the race to the bottom when it comes to sale prices and there are some publishers that are catering to that love for $0.99 digital trade paperback collections.

Hasbro and Friends

The IDW Best of Sale (Amazon version) runs through Monday, 11/29 and features some of the usual suspects (Dungeons & Dragons, GI Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony, Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Wars) at $0.99 for the first Volume and $1.99 for subsequent volumes.

Transformers: Classics

Spies & Monsters

The Best of Oni & Lion Forge Sale follows the same pricing formula and runs through 12/3.  Among the handful of feature titles are some that we hold in very high regard at The Tower of Cheap. (Amazon link)

Queen & Country by Greg Rucka and a new artist every storyline is probably the best American spy comic… even if it’s set in the UK and is an homage of sorts to an old UK TV show called “The Sandbaggers.” Highly Recommended

Kaijumax by Zander Cannon is a tale about a supermax prison for giant monsters. Think Godzilla and his foes. Does this sound cute and campy? It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s gritty with prison gangs, smuggled drugs and assassination attempts… with giant monsters.  A unique comic that’s also Highly Recommended.

We wouldn’t sleep on Stumptown or Letter 44 either.

Queen & Country   Kaijumax 

A Universe

The Best of Valiant Sale runs through Thursday, 12/2 and – that’s right – $0.99 for V.1 and $1.99 for the rest. (Amazon link)

This is also a bit of a starter sale as the early years are highlighted here. Lucky you, these are all solid SF/F adventure comics with superhero trappings.  Harbinger is very similar to X-Men with a teens on the run twist… but much darker. We’d probably call it the center of the Valiant Universe’s beginnings. X-O Manowar‘s elevator pitch is “what if Conan was abducted by aliens, stole Iron Man’s armor and then returned to Earth in modern times?” It’s the flagship book and fun.

Harbinger   X-O Manowar

The Rest of the Rock Bottom Pricing Club

The Dynamite Artbook Sale runs through Thursday, 12/2 and is $0.99/per book. These usually go for $25 or so. (Amazon link)

The Art of The Boys

The Best of Mad Cave Studios sale runs through Monday, 12/29.  We really aren’t familiar with Mad Cave, but $0.99 collected editions is a great way to get our attention. We can’t recommend anything specifically, though.

Honor and Curse

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