In this week’s Comixology (at Amazon) sales, DC launches a midsummer sale with Batman, while Marvel discounts The Punisher and Spider-Gwen.
Where did the New Releases and Sale pages go?
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In case you’re having troubles with the new UIX (a LOT of people have been):
Wait a Minute… Wasn’t This a Sandman Issue?
The DC Midsummer Sale runs through Monday, 7/31.
This would be a DC non-themed sale, and let’s start this off differently. With a recommendation from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. That’s right. Kareem talks about comics he reads over on his Substack and says of Batman: Killing Time (Tom King/David Marquez), “This is the best Batman graphic novel I have read in years.” Which we suppose means that Celtics fans will be avoiding it? But there you go. Kareem has spoken.
A couple things we like at the $3.99 price point:
First, there’s the first two volumes of The Road to Perdition. Yes, that film was a comic book movie. Max Allan Collins is the writer. Richard Piers Rayner is the artist on the first book, from which the film is adapted. Jose Luis Garcia Lopez and Steve Lieber are the artists on the second book, which takes place during the six months of the original story that the O’Sullivans are on the run. Good stuff.
Batman: Venom originally ran in Legends of the Dark Knight and is the story of Batman’s first encounter with the drug that amps up Bane. It’s written by Denny O’Neil (always a good sign) and the unusual artist combination of Trevor Von Eden and Russel Braun pencilling and Jose Louis Garcia Lopez inking. It’s a nice combo, but not something you see just a ton of. Legends of the Dark Knight had many arcs that were gems.
Over at the $4.99 price point, we’re big fans of One-Star Squadron. The plot is about Red Tornado running an app that provides heroes on demands… but it’s a pretty savage satire of the gig economy and tech startups/mergers & acquisitions. A seriocomic affair by Mark Russell and Steve Leiber that we give a big thumbs up to.
We also dearly love the Si Spurrier / Aaron Campbell / Matias Bergara John Constantine, Hellblazer series. It’s right up there with the best of the character’s cannon, which is saying a lot. Remember, that’s effective a single, two volume story. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Crime and Punishment
Marvel’s Punisher Sale runs through Monday, 7/31.
Seems like the Punisher sales in recent years have been more focused on the various Max imprint titles. This one is on the various mainstream Marvel titles and… there have been a few. Let’s start out by running through the highlights.
- The Punisher ’87-’95 – Note that the first Epic Collection here collects the ’86 Steven Grant/Mike Zeck Circle of Blood mini-series that kicked off the Punisher’s rise to prominence. Yes, Whilce Portacio drew Punisher before X-Men
- Punisher War Journal ’88-’95 – This volume is notable for the Carl Potts / Jim Lee work. Yes, Jim Lee drew Punisher War Journal before X-Men.
- Punisher War Zone ’92-’95 – Yes, Frank Castle was holding down three titles/month in the early ’90s! Collected here are a pair of Chuck Dixon tales with John Buscema and Joe Kubert as the respective artists.
- Punisher War Journal ’06-’09 – Probably best known for Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti
- Punisher: The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci (Punisher War Zone) ’08-’09 – Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon team for a sequel to Welcome Back, Frank
- Punisher ’09-’10 – The Rick Remender run, for which the third volume is Franken-Castle
- The Punisher ’11-’12 – The Greg Rucka / Marco Checchetto (now more associated with Daredevil) run
- The Punisher ’14-15 – Nathan Edmondson / Mitch Gerads. Yes, Mitch Gerards as in Mister Miracle and Sheriff of Babylon
- The Punisher ’16-18 – Starts out with Becky Cloonan / Steve Dillon
- The Punisher ’18-’19 – Matthew Rosenberg / Szymon Kudranski
- Punisher ’22-’23 – Jason Aaron / Jesus Saiz / Paul Azaceta
- Punisher War Journal ’22-’23 – Torunn GrØnbekk / Djibril Morissette-Phan
What’s good? Actually, we like the original Marvel Super Action magazine version by Archie Goodwin and Tony DeZuniga, but that’s not on the menu.
Our favorite run of the above is probably the Ennis/Dillon Ma Gnucci sequel. We also were pretty fond of the Rucka / Checchetto run when it was coming out. It’s also worth going back and seeing where all the fuss started with the Grant/Zeck mini and the Baron/Janson/Portacio ongoing.
Ghosted
The Marvel Spider-Gwen Sale runs through Monday, 7/31.
Also known as Ghost-Spider, this is another one of those sales that benefits from a walk-through, since the volumes are a little messy.
The original Spider-Gwen run was Jason Latour writing with Robbie Rodriguez on art.
The first series is collected as Volume 0. Then the second series is collected as Vol. 1-6, but you can get Unmasked instead of V. 4&5 and save a little money. (We warned you this was messy!)
A bit later, famed fantasy novelist Seanan McGuire (sometimes known as Mira Grant) wrote some Spider-Gwen, as the feature was re-named Ghost-Spider. For unknown reasons, the first series of this is not on sale as we type this. The second series, with art by Takeshi Miyazawa and Ig Guara, is on sale. The McGuire era is capped by King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage.
And the most recent installment in the sale is Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse by Tim Seeley and Jodi Nishijima.
Still On Sale
- The Dark Horse Everything Digital Sale runs through Monday, 7/31
- The Kodansha Manga Summer School: P.E. Sale runs through Monday, 7/31
- The Kodansha Burn the House Sale runs through Wednesday, 8/2
