Comixology Sales: Marvel has Buy One Get One Free and drops another 3 sales, plus Batman, Star Wars Adventures and Red Sonja

Comixology sales this week include Marvel dropping 3 new sales (including some prime Silver Surfer comics), Batman/Catwoman’s still running at DC, Red Sonja takes a digital discount at IDW and Star Wars Adventures visits the bargain zone.

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

Marvel’s Dropping Lots of Sales and BOGO

Marvel just started a Buy One Get One Free Sale through Monday (12/7) at 11pm ET. Here’s what you do: go to this Comixology page and grab the Code, enter it in the cart and every other book is free (well, the lower priced of the two is free… but you know the drill). And yes, that stacks on top of the sale books, so those get very cheap, very fast!

Let’s start the Marvel parade with the Silver Surfer Sale. Strangely, the Stan Lee / John Buscema series you automatically think of is not on sale. An Epic Collection of the early Fantastic Four appearances is, however.

There’s also a lot to love with the 1987 Silver Surfer series. At that main link, the “Freedom” Epic Collection is built around some specials (including a Stan Lee/John Byrne issue) and the first 14 issues of the Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers run that we just love. There’s a missing Epic Collection that hasn’t been issued yet that would contain the end of the Englehart run and the beginning of the Starlin run, but the “Thanos Quest” Epic Collection collects the back end of the Jim Starlin/Ron Lim run, plus the Thanos Quest mini-series and the beginning of Ron Marz’s long run. There are more Marz volumes, we’d start with Englehart/Starlin since that establishes the ongoing arc, but you’ll get a lot of Infinity Gauntlet-related material if you continue with the Epic Collections for this run.

Strangely, Comixology and Marvel have filed the first part of the Starlin/Lim run away from the rest of that Silver Surfer title as “Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos” and added Thanos Quest here, too. Not exactly a unified publishing program, but good comics and a big part of what they’d call “The Road to Infinity Gauntlet” if this were being published today.

The more recent Silver Surfer are also on sale, as well as some more Stan Lee material, but those are some foundational works well worth your time. The sale runs through Thursday (12/10).

Next up, running through Sunday (12/6) is the Spider-Girl Sale. This series, across a few different titles (Marvel relaunching a comic? *gasp*) ran from ’98-’10 and it’s about Mayday Parker, Spidey’s daughter from the future. Worth noting, especially for such a long run, almost everything in the sale is by a combination of at least 2 of Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Pat Olliffe. You don’t see creators that consistent on such long runs very often.

Marvel’s “Stormbreakers” Sale has nothing to do with the Alex Rider novel of the same name and isn’t a political movement (though we’ll admit it kinda sounds like one), it’s just the new name they’re using to promote their new favored artists they way they used to call them “Young Guns.”

We’ve enjoyed Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Tom (“you keep mentioning that guy”) Taylor and Stormbreaker Juann Cabal, among other artists and the first volume is $2.99 for 6 issues.

You also really can’t go wrong with House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz and Stormbreaker R.B. Silva. (And honestly, you shouldn’t need a promotion to know who Silva is. Silva’s been working at DC and Marvel for over 10 years!)

This sale runs through Thursday (12/17).

And let’s not forget the Vision & the Scarlet Witch Sale (Wanda/Vision, if you prefer) is still running through Sunday (12/13).

The Bat and The Cat

DC’s “Batman Catwoman Sale” is still running through Monday (12/7). We talked about this one last time, but we’d still like to point out Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle. It’s a little pricier than what we normally point out here (63% off is still $12.99), but it’s 522 pages of the Alan Grant / John Wagner / Norm Breyfogle Batman run that’s definitely an era unto itself.

The She-Devil with a Sword

Also running through Monday (12/7) is the Red Sonja Sale. If you’d like some sword with your sorcery, we’d recommend going back to the very beginning of Dynamite’s run with the first omnibus. Mel Rubi is the lead artist. You start out Mike (M.R.) Carey writing, followed by Michael Avon Oeming and it’s a fun comic. If memory serves, that Omnibus ends with the return of Kulan Gath, who you might remember from some non-Robert E. Howard Marvel comics.

The Force Happens

The IDW Star Wars Adventures Sale features the all-ages version of Star Wars and runs through Monday (12/14). A place to start? Vol. 1… or maybe take a trip to the Dark Side with Vader’s Castle?

Still On Sale

Best of Oni Sale through Saturday, 12/5
Dark Horse Noir Sale through Monday, 12/7

Posted on December 4, 2020December 4, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Marvel’s Black Friday Push Starts with X-Men, Spider-Man and Events

As Black Friday approaches, Marvel’s brought out some bigger names for their Comixology sales. Hickman’s X-Men is on center stage with the Spectacular version of Spider-Man and their Events flanking them.

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

Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men Universe

Let’s start things out with X-Men, because the Dawn of X Sale also features an interesting collection format that’s worth talking about. Dawn of X is the umbrella title for the X-Men family of titles as overseen/showrun by Jonathan Hickman. Whichhas been a nice run, truth be told.

This all starts out with the House of X / Powers of X collection that sets the table for this X-Men format. I suppose you don’t absolutely have to read it before diving in, but it’s definitely helpful.

Once you’re past that, there are two options for reading the Hickman era (both of which are on sale): the collected editions of the individual titles or the Dawn of X collections. Dawn of X is an interesting construction. Generally speaking, they’re taking 6 of the X-Men comics and packing them as a book format of that month’s titles for $10.99 in digital (the first seven volumes are $3.99@ in this sale). Now, sometimes they’ll have two issues of one title in the package and so on, but it’s an interesting way to read the story of the X-Men universe as it unfolds in the monthlies, as opposed to how collected edition readers usually only read things title by title. Personally, as someone reading the X-line in single issues, I find I do get a little more out of the line by reading the entire set. Some of the story elements bleed into other books, particularly early on, and it does help with the worldbuilding. This format is probably the best way to experience that in collected editions.

It’s also a format we could see more of in the future. You frequently hear apocalyptic stories about the death of print comics and single issue comics. While we’re not seeing any imminent danger of that, this is the sort of format that could effectively bundle single issue comics in a way more compatible with bookstore shelves. It’s also potentially the way to handle anthology comics, which there are always questions about when industry figures discuss new formats and alternate strategies.

Dawn of X is a themed anthology, though one where the stories are more tightly interwoven than most. You could picture something similar being down with Batman, especially, as well as properties like Spider-Man, Superman, Avengers and Justice League. It would take a lot of work to make one of those franchises into its own little corner of a greater superhero universe the way Dawn of X is architected, but it’s certainly an experiment we could see more of and I think it’s worth contemplating the possibilities if reading the X-line in this format is interesting to you. This sale runs through Sunday (11/29).

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man

Next up on Marvel’s Black Friday trail, The Spectacular Spider-Man Sale. Not Amazing, Spectacular. The major flavors here are: original series / Peter Parker, the under-rated ’03 -’05 Spectacular Spider-Man that was primarily written by Paul Jenkins with art by Humberto Ramos or Mark Buckingham and the more recent Chip Zdarksy/Adam Kubert Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. Of particular note, while it’s on the dark side for Spidey, The Death of Jean DeWolff is considered a classic. This sale runs through Thursday (11/26 — gobble, gobble).

Marvel does like big crossover Events

Finally, there’s the “Marvel World-Shattering Events Sale.” You’re probably familiar with the more recent events, since Marvel’s marketing typically runs through them. Have a browse through the sale for those, but I’ll recommend some older Events instead that are a little more contained and with tighter circles of creators.

Avengers: The Kree/Skrull War is the granddaddy of Marvel Events in many ways. This Roy Thomas / Neal Adams / John Buscema / Sal Buscema reverberated through future events like the Annihilation sequence and Empyre.

Iron Man: Armor Wars(or “Stark Wars” as it was originally known) has Tony looking to repossess some of his stolen technology and finding himself in all manner of trouble over it. This David Michelinie/Bob Layton/Mark Bright run was a trendsetter.

X-Men: Asgardian Wars has Loki causing all manner of trouble for the X-Men, New Mutants and Alpha Flight. Written by Chris Claremont with A+ art from Paul Smith and Arthur Adams, this is one of the more fun X-Men sequences.

This sale runs through Thursday, 12/03.

Still on Sale

DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels Part 1 and Part 2, through Monday, 11/23
Titan Doctor Who Sale, through Monday, 11/23

Posted on November 22, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Big DC Sale, Batman, Spider-Man, James Bond, Fear Agent, Bendis’s Goldfish and More

This week’s Comixology sales include a wide ranging DC graphic novel sale, Spider-Man’s married years, James Bond and the end of the Image Science Fiction blowout.

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

DC Graphic Novels

DC is having their 2-Part “Road to Black Friday” graphic novel sale, so here’s DC Road to Black Friday Sale – Graphic Novels I. (We’ll come back for a closer look at Part 2 of the sale on Friday.) Part 1 is essentially Action Comics through Justice League and features a whole lot of Batman.

In fact, several of Part 1’s value buys involve Batman. As you may recall, James Tynion IV is the current Batman writer. When the “Rebirth” relaunch started, he was the writer for an extended run on Detective Comics and it was very much what I’d call a “Batman Family” affair. The “deluxe editions” of that run are $7.99 a pop for roughly 12 issues of material per volume. That’s a decent value and the volumes are linked below:

Even you’d like even more bang for your buck, Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin gets you 471 pages of Batman written by one of the best writers (and editors) in comics for $7.99. Tales of the Batman: Steve Englehart is a couple dollars more for roughly an issue less of material, but I believe it’s the complete collection of one of the most influential Batman scribes. Plenty of Batman to sift through if you go to the main sale page.

Stepping away from Batman, other titles of interest include: Boy Commandos V. 2 – That’s the second collection of the highly influential 1940’s Simon & Kirby comic about a kid gang that punches Nazis. It seems highly unlikely you’d ever see the print edition for $5.99. (85% off list)

Dial H is weird fiction legend China Miéville’s dark, quirky and surreal take on Dial H for Hero with Mateus Santolouco and Alberto Ponticelli on art. This was criminally overlooked by most people when it came out and 398 pages for $7.99 is a good buy, too.

Before he ever set foot at DC or Marvel, Brian Bendis did crime comics. He didn’t just write them, he drew them. Goldfish is the story of a con man returning to Cleveland looking for his son and it’s one of the tales that put Bendis on the map. You don’t hear about it much, these day, but it’s good one. There’s over 900 graphic novels in part 1 of the sale, which runs through Monday (11/23)

Spider-Man’s Married Life

Meanwhile, over at Marvel, the Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows Sale is running through Thursday (11/19). That would be the adventures of a married Peter and Mary Jane, along with their daughter, Annie. It started out as a Secret Wars spin-off mini by Dan Slott and Adam Kubert. Then it came back as a regular series, initially by Gerry Conway and Ryan Stegman.

Dynamite’s First Volumes

Also ending on Thursday (11/19) is the Dynamite Vol. 1’s Sale, which is Dynamite putting the first volumes in various series on sale. The Shadow, Vol. 1: Fire of Creation is Garth Ennis’s take on the pulp character with art by Aaron Campbell (who’s been killing on Hellblazer).

If you enjoy the original Ian Fleming novels, James Bond: Kill Chain by Andy Diggle and Luca Casalanguida will put you in a happy place – it brings SMERSH back into the Bond equation and it’s old school in all the best ways.

Red Sonja: Scorched Earth by Mark Russell and Mirko Colak is a very unusual Red Sonja tale. It works as a satire of the philosophy of kings and it also works as an adventure. Who knew Mark Russell would adapt so well to sword & sorcery? Worth a look.

Image’s Science Fiction

Thursday (11/19) is also last call for the Image Science Fiction Sale. Here are a couple more things of note from that sale.

Fear Agent is a SF series from Rick Remender, Tony Moore and Jerome Opena about a booze-soaked alien exterminator that was a critical darling when it was coming out.

Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon is trippy, dimension hopping espionage caper that has a certain Jerry Cornelius vibe to it.

Still on Sale:

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (through Sunday, 11/22)

Dark Horse Witcher Sale (through Monday, 11/23) Note: The Omnibus is the best deal by a lot.

Posted on November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by comics_p1pusl

Comixology Sales: Miles Morales – Spider-Man, DC in the ’90s, Image SF Titles, The Eternals and More

Current Comixology sales include Miles Morales (Spider-Man) and Jack Kirby’s The Eternals from Marvel, an eclectic selection of 90s comics from DC and Image has a big batch of science fiction on a deep discount.

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

Let’s start things out with a Spider-Man sale. Specifically a Miles Morales sale. If you’re looking for Miles in solo spider-adventures, the best value is the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man Ultimate Collection set. 300+ page volumes for $7.99 – and the first one includes the Spider-Men mini-series, which lives up to the hype. If you want to maximize pages for your dollar, there are a couple things of extra interest here. The All-New All-Different Avengers Collection which is the Champions precursor by Mark Waid/Adam Kubert/Mahmud Asrar gets you 401 pages for $7.99. And then Champions: Because The World Still Needs Heroes is the first 12 issues of that title, 305 pages for $4.99.

Starman by James Robinson and (initially) Tony Harris & Wade von Grawbadger was one of DC’s best titles of the mid-to-late 90s. An early legacy title, this one was heavy on the character development and a sense of history. It’s one of the more glaring absences from DC’s reprint library. Both collections are on sale, but the rest of the series is available in digital.

Sandman Mystery Theater was the rare early to mid-90s non-horror Vertigo title. It told the pulp-ish adventures of the original Sandman, Wesley Dodds – you know, the one with the gas mask – against a pre-WWII backdrop. Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with Guy Davis being the most regular artist, this is another one where only two collections have been produced, despite a lengthy run and you need to go to digital singles to finish it. And it’s worth finishing.

The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and you’re going to a pattern here, also has two collections out and then the rest of the run is available as digital singles. A surprisingly philosophical horror series by the end, set in the DCU, Jim Corrigan tries to come to grips with his death and existence as the host for a brutally vengeful and extremely powerful spirit.

In the early 90s, Lobo was the baddest bastich there was. We will not speak of New 52 Lobo. The original series of mini-series and specials by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley and company, was edgy and filled with off-color humor. An effective tool for offending the easily offended, as MTV used to say about Monty Python. You want the original, not the revival.

And for something that’s frequently overlooked, have a look at The Atlantis Chronicles in single issues. (Yes, they rudely kept the first issue at $1.99). These double-sized issues written by Peter David and wonderfully illustrated by Esteban Maroto are the trident and sorcery story of the rise and fall of Atlantis. It’s a real achievement that flew under a lot of radars.

Running through next Thursday (11/19) is the Image Science Fiction Sale where a number of their SF collections are sale. Suggestions?

Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen (who one an Eisner for his art on the series) is the tale of little boy who happens to be a robot, searching for his family as humanity against the backdrop of an uprising. Wonderful series. The collected editions are less expensive than the omnibus editions during the sale.

Paper Girls is a time travel adventure about four twelve year old girls who deliver newspapers and stumble into something far bigger. It’s by Saga writer Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. This is another title where it’s less expensive to get the regular collected editions than the Omnibus editions during the sale.

Starlight by Mark Millar and Goran Parlov is a one-off where a Flash Gordon-type adventurer is pulled out of retirement in his golden years when the planet he saved 40 years earlier runs into trouble. A breezy space opera with superior art.

Running through Sunday (11/15) is Marvel’s Eternals Sale. Yes, there’s going to be a movie out eventually and it’s also where the Celestials came from. This is a case where you absolutely want to start at the source: the original Jack Kirby series (save a couple bucks and get the omnibus). If that floated your boat, and it should, move on to the Neil Gaiman/John Romita, Jr. Mini-series.

Eternals by Jack Kirby