Tag: Orion

Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: DC’s $1.99 Mania Pt IV – Mister Miracle to World’s Finest

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, part 4 of our look at DC’s $1.99 Mania – Mister Miracle through World’s Finest in the $1.99 catalog. Plus, a Dark Horse line-wide sale.

Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?

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

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

Administrative Notes

Ho, ho ho – the holiday sales march on. This is the fourth holiday sale installment. The DC sale is running through 12/30. The Marvel sales are all running through 1/6.

  • 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
  • Installment three covered Far Sector through Marshal Law of the DC $1.99 sale.

DC $1.99 Mania Continued (Part IV)

Mister Miracle  New Gods by Jack Kirby  Night Force

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.

  • Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s Fourth World series about a son of New Genesis who was raised on Apokalypse and became the greatest escape artist across all those worlds
  • Mister Miracle by Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber – Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers and Steve Gerber / Michael Golden / Russ Heath; This book requires a little explanation. This is the late ’70s revival of the series. Englehart & Rogers (of the famous Batman/Detective run) don’t quite gel, but it’s a high floor. Gerber starts exploring the nature of godhood after that and it gets extremely interesting before getting caught in the DC Implosion and cancelled. You need to see Heath inking Golden for yourself. It’s a treat and you’ll end up angry this wonderful experiment was cancelled. Seldom discounted and usually a little overpriced… but not this week
  • Mister Miracle (’17-’19) – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; The Eisner winning series where Scott Free tries to escape death itself
  • The Multiversity – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely / Ivan Reis; A tale that hops across parallel Earths as Morrison goes wild with world-building. 450 pages
  • New Gods by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; The original tale of Darkseid and Peak Kirby. Highly recommended
  • New Gods by Gerry Conway – Gerry Conway / Don Newton / George Perez; The ’77-’78 revival (and material moved over to Adventure Comics), plus the JLA/JSA/New Gods crossover (w/ Perez) that cemented Darkseid as a DCU big bad, not just off in the Fourth World corner of the room; Another volume that’s usually a little more expensive, even on sale
  • New Gods (’89 – ’91) – Mark Evanier / Paris Cullins / Rick Hoberg
  • New Teen Titans (’80-’88) – Marv Wolfman / George Perez; One of the titles that saved DC in the early ’80s and a classic of the era. Really due for the omnibus treatment, too
  • The Newsboy Legion – Joe Simon & Jack Kirby; One of the Simon & Kirby kid gangs (along with The Boy Commandos), the Newsboy Legion were watched over by a superhero called The Guardian. Kirby would return to them… with some twists… in his ’70s Jimmy Olsen run; Another title usually subject to abnormally high HC pricing
  • Night Force (’82-83) – Marv Wolfman / Gene Colan; The Tomb of Dracula team reunites at DC for a horror book about a mansion that contains a portal through space and time and its mysterious owner. Marv told us this is his favorite of his work and we happily recommend it

Orion  Plastic Man  Sandman Mystery Theater

  • OMAC : One Man Army Corps by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; Kirby’s adventure-satire about a corporate dystopian future has aged well and has more bite than you might expect
  • Orion – Walt Simonson; Yes, that’s Walt doing New Gods / the son of Darkseid with an approach not so different to his Thor. Excellent book that never seemed to get a push and fell under the radar. Highly recommended
  • Planetary – Warren Ellis / John Cassaday; The full series in two 400+ page volumes
  • Plastic Man: Rubber Banded – Kyle Baker; Baker’s full 20 issue run is hilarious. We’d say there’s two people to have done Plas that came anywhere near the spirit of Jack Cole. Baker is one of them (Hilary Barta is the other). This one is usually at a bizarre price for a digital book, due to the fancy HC edition. Currently $2.99
  • Preacher – Garth Ennis / Steve Dillon; God has gone missing and Jesse Custer would like to have a word with him. Double volumes
  • Promethea – Alan Moore / J.H. Williams III; A beautifully illustrated fantasy/occult adventure with an extra side of philosophy. Double volumes. Recommended
  • Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter – Denny O’Neil / Ric Estrada; The full 70s series at a good price for the completist in your life
  • Robin – In the 90s, there were three miniseries of Tim Drake as Robin that led into the ongoing title, so of course they’re not all listed on the same page
  • Sandman Mystery Theater – Matt Wagner / Steven T. Seagle / Guy Davis; The adventures of Wesley Dodds as the Golden Age Sandman, replete with gas mask and gun, ably assisted by Dian Belmont. This excellent title had a 70 issue run under the old Vertigo label and the first 24 issues are available across two volumes. If you like ’30s pulp detectives, this will be your jam
  • Scalped – Jason Aaron / R. M. Guera; This neo-noir about an undercover FBI agent infiltrating the casino at the reservation he grew up on and thought he’d escaped was Jason Aaron’s breakthrough series. Double volumes
  • Secret Six – Gail Simone’s cult series about a crew of villains that flirt with the straight and narrow. We’d put it at or near the top of her catalog.
    • Secret Six V.1 – Gail Simone / Dale Eaglesham / Brad Walker; Villains United, which this spun off from, and the original mini-series
    • Secret Six V.2-4 – Gail Simone / Nicola Scott / Jim Calafiore; Double volumes of the ongoing series
  • Seven Soldiers of Victory – Grant Morrison / J.H Williams III / Simone Bianchi / Frazier Irving; Morrison crafts a story across a series of mini-series, including Zatanna and his reinvention of Frankenstein
  • Sheriff of Babylon – Tom King / Mitch Gerads; An political thriller as an ex-cop contracted to train Iraq’s new police force looks into the murder of one of his recruits and finds a maze of conflicting agendas and duplicity. The full series in one volume

Superman: Phantom Zone  Jimmy Olsen  World's Finest

  • Superman: Birthright – Mark Waid / Leinil Francis Yu; An expanded origin tale that spends a little more time than most on the period between Smallville and Metropolis.
  • Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby – Jack Kirby; A fourth world entrant, this is effectively Kirby’s Superman book. Also where Project Cadmus and the DNAliens come from. Don’t shun it because it’s ’70s Jimmy Olsen. It’s Kirby doing adventure
  • Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? – Matt Fraction / Steve Lieber; A comedy masterpiece. Jimmy wakes up hung over and freshly married in Gorilla City… and that’s before he has to figure out who’s trying to ice him. Tour de force
  • Superman: Phantom Zone – Steve Gerber / Gene Colan / Rick Veitch; A Superman tale that veers into horror as a Phantom Zone escapee causes Superman to look a little deeper into the Zone’s origins. Also includes the DC Comics Presents sequel.
  • Superman: The Man of Steel – John Byrne / Marv Wolfman / Jerry Ordway; The Byrne era of Superman in 450+ page chunks for $1.99
  • Saga of the Swamp Thing – (initially) Alan Moore / Stephen Bissette / John Totleben, with some Stan Woch and Rick Veitch; This volume starts out not quite two years into the series (see next listing) with Alan Moore’s arrival to spark an absolutely legendary run.
  • Swamp Thing (’72 – ’76) – Len Wein / Bernie Wrightson; The “Bronze Age” collections on this link are three distinct things. V.1 is the original Wein/Wrightson run, which completely lives up to its reputation. V. 2 is the remainder of the original run, with David Michelinie and Nestor Redondo being the longest serving creative team, plus some extra’s like Swamp Thing’s guest star run in Challengers of the Unknown. V.3 is really the pre-Alan Moore issues of Saga of the Swamp Thing from 1982. Martin Pasko writes, artists include Tom Yeates, with Stephen Bissette and John Totleben arriving a couple issue prior to Moore.
  • Transmetropolitan – Warren Ellis / Darick Robertson; The 23rd century adventures of Hunter S. Thompson-esque journalist Spider Jerusalem as he feuds with corrupt presidents.
  • Watchmen – Alan Moore / Dave Gibbons – We assume you don’t need this one explained to you
  • Wonder Woman (Golden Age) – William Moulton Marston & H.G. Peter; It’s hard to understate how wild, over-the-top and bondage-driven these original tales are. It reads differently to an adult audience.
  • Wonder Woman (’87 – ’06) – We’re  big fans of the George Perez and Greg Rucka runs. Walt Simonson & Jerry Ordway, too. This is the post-Crisis reset, and for a lot of people this is where Wonder Woman begins. NOTE – to get the V.5 and V.6 of the Perez run, you need to go to this page. (Hey, don’t look at us, we didn’t put it there.)
  • Wonder Woman (’11-’16) – Brian Azzarello / Cliff Chiang; The first six volumes are the Azarello/Chiang run. Some feel it’s sacrilegious to the character (Azzarello being less than reverent? That’s his brand!), but regardless of that aspect, it’s a highly entertaining adventure as Wonder Woman discovers… let’s call it a possible new origin. A high point of the New 52 initiative.
  • Wonder Woman (’16) – Greg Rucka returns in a refutation of the Azzarello run that’s GREAT. Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp alternate issues (and plot threads). Get in two volumes. Wonder Woman: The Rebirth – Book 1 and Wonder Woman: The Rebirth – Book 2
  • World’s Finest (’22-current) – Mark Waid / Dan Mora; We’re still leaning towards calling the series about the early team-ups of Batman & Superman DC’s best current series.

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, but     The 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.

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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Still on Sale

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Comixology (at Amazon) Sales: X-Force; Winter Soldier; Gillen at Marvel; Kirby at DC

In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, Marvel drops prices on X-Force, Winter Soldier and the work of Kieron Gillen. DC highlights some deeper cuts in the catalog (and Jack Kirby). Oni may or may not be having a 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):

Paths Less Taken

Far Sector  Omega Men  Orion

The DC Summer Sizzle Sale runs through Monday, 8/26.

And this week, DC’s mix of titles has a LOT of what we’d call “under the radar” books, many of which are featured a little less frequently. Fortunately, this is firmly in our wheelhouse to navigate.

Some highlights:

  • Checkmate – Greg Rucka / Jesus Saiz; Rucka’s take on the intersection of spies and superheroes
  • DC: The New Frontier – Darwyn Cooke’s look at the dawn of the Silver Age isn’t really under the radar, but it’s a truly great comic.
  • Deathstroke – Christopher Priest / Carlo Pagulayan; Missing the Titans crossovers, but this is a smart comic about villain that makes few bones about it.
  • Far Sector – N.K. Jemisin / Jamal Campbell; Superior worldbuilding as a new Green Lantern with an experimental ring investigates the first murder in living memory on a world without feelings. You could count Jemisin’s SF/F awards, but you’d need some time on your hands.
  • Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery – Grant Morrison / Frank Quitely; An even further-out-there delight & Doom Patrol spin-off that, for legal purposes, has NOTHING to do with Charles Atlas ads…
  • Freedom Fighters: Rise of a Nation – Robert Venditti / Eddy Barrows; Just a very well done reworking of the original Freedom Fighters concept. Very under the radar, but we really enjoyed it. (Would work as an Elseworlds or Black Label.)
  • Jonah Hex – Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and an absurd rotation of high end artists; Fun westerns, some arcs, some done in one
  • Omega Men – Tom King / Barnaby Bagenda; Before he blew up, King penned this meditation on line between terrorism and freedom fighters, which is arguably a Green Lantern tale (Kyle Rayner). Often overlooked.
  • Orion – Walt Simonson’s entry in the New Gods saga. We liked it as much as his Thor, which is to say, a lot! Totally under most radars.

Kirby Korner

A good chunk of the King’s DC work is on sale:

Forced Entry

X-Force X-Force X-Force

The Marvel X-Force Sale runs through Monday, 8/26.

Yes, the mutant black ops team, as originally established by Cable (and morphing out of New Mutants). There absolutely have a been a few incarnations and relaunches over the years. Let’s start out with an overview of that:

  • X-Force ’91-’02 – Originally Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza with Greg Capullo tagging in early on. The first edition, if you will.
    • Counter-X: X-Force – From the period when Warren Ellis was showrunning some of the X-titles, by Ian Edgington & Jorge Lucas
  • Uncanny-Force ’10-’12 – Rick Remender and rotating roster of Raphael Albuquerque, Esad Ribic, Jerome Opena, Billy Tan and Phil Noto
  • Uncanny X-Force ’13-’14 – Sam Humphries / Ron Garney / Dalibor Talajic
  • Deadpool vs. X-Force ’14 – Duane Swierczynski / Pepe Laraz
  • X-Force ’19-’24 – Ben Percy / Joshua Cassara / Robert Gill

What’s good? Our top pick is the Remender Uncanny-Force. Black ops and a wide ranging, but complete story unit when taken as a whole. We’re also fans of the Ben Percy / Krakoa era X-Force.  If you want something off-beat, start here for the Milligan/Allred run, which is a satire.

Journey into Gillen

Darth Vader  Journey Into Mystery  Sins of Sinister

The Marvel Kieron Gillen Sale runs through Monday, 8/26.

Yes, has has written quite a bit for Marvel over the years. Our favorites? An absolutely brilliant turn on Darth Vader with Salvador Larocca and his evil Star Wars analogue of Indiana Jones, Doctor Aphra w/Kev Walker. When the glass cracks in his Vader run… well, see for yourself. Great moment.

So let’s start out with a cleaner recap of the major items in this sale:

What’s good?  This one’s going to be more personal preference than with many sales and to that end, we’d definitely say Immortal X-Men and particularly Sins of Sinister, which was as good as X-Men Event as there’s been… but needs context from Immortal and the X-line of books. Past that, Journey Into Mystery is where Gillen really popped onto the Marvel radar, Young Avengers is the familiar team of Gillen/McKelvie and Gillen’s Mr. Sinister in Uncanny X-Men definitely has had influence.

The Sidekick in Winter

Captain America  Winter Soldier  The Winter Soldier: The Bitter March

The Marvel Winder Soldier Sale runs through Monday, 8/26.

This is a slightly odd sale, in that it encompasses most – but apparently not all – of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America run and then several miniseries and abortive attempts at an ongoing series… including a few creator names you’ll recognize.

The originating storyline runs in the 2004 series of Captain America by Ed Brubaker and a rotating squad of artists including Steve Epting, Michael Lark, Butch Guice and Mike Perkins. There are a couple omnibuses available, but this doesn’t really have a definitive larger collection like, say, the Hickman Avengers era.

Note: if you’re going to read the Winter Soldier saga, you’re going to need Captain America: Reborn, the Ed Brubaker /Bryan Hitch mini-series that wraps up the “Death of Captain America” sequence.

For solo series, the first choice is Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker, which is Brubaker and Butch Guice in a spin-off.

Also of possible interest:

The Marvel “Maybe” Sales

Resurrection of Magneto  Cable: United We Fall  Avengers: Twilight

The trend returns after a short break. 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

Possible Oni Sales

OK… you might remember this drill from the distant past. Oni’s had two sales listed for a couple of days. They don’t look like sale prices to us. Maybe that gets fixed at some point, but that’s what we’re seeing at the moment.

Unannounced Sales

Apex Legends  Anthem

Dark Horse has a couple of their video game adaptations showing up discounted:

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Still on Sale

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