By Zack Quaintance — For many of us, the ongoing coronavirus quarantine and self-isolation efforts have now surpassed 30 days. I know speaking for myself, I’ve started to get a bit cagey. It’s also becoming more difficult to focus on maintaining even a minor sense of normalcy that has been so key for me to maintain my calm and sanity throughout this. Still, hope springs eternal and we persevere.

Which is why I’m back once again this week rounding up the best ComiXology sales for the weekend of April 17, hopefully helping us all find some solid digital comics reading to sustain us during these trying times.

Enjoy!

Best ComiXology Sales Weekend of April 17

Batman and Catwoman Trilogy by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Tim Sale
Publisher: DC Comics
The Eisner Award-winning team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale returns to further the exciting adventures they began in BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN and followed in BATMAN: DARK VICTORY! Collecting the 6-part series that guest-starred Batman and a host of Gotham's most colorful and dangerous villains, WHEN IN ROME chronicles Catwoman's mysterious trip to Italy and her dealings with the deadly Falcone crime family. It's an incredible tale of Gotham's sexiest cat burglar!
Why It’s Cool: It’s fairly safe to say that most fans of superhero comics have read Jeph Loeb’s and Tim Sale’s seminal Batman: The Long Halloween, which is firmly entrenched on most Internet lists of the Best Batman Comics. A smaller but still quite large group has probably also read the duo’s followup to that story arc, Batman: Dark Victory. There is, however, a third book that is a must read for fans of the work, and it’s Catwoman: When in Rome. All three of these volumes — an entire Loeb-Sale Batman epic that spans more than 30 beautiful comics — is now on sale this week via ComiXology for roughly $15. For those who have read it (and also for those who just want to revisit) that’s hard to pass up. Tim Sale is one of the best artists to ever draw superheroes, and that’s a great price for all of that gorgeous comics storytelling.
Price: Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, and Catwoman: When in Rome are available for $5.09 each, or for $15.26 total.
Link: Click here for Batman: The Long Halloween; click here for Batman: Dark Victory; and click here for Catwoman: When in Rome.

Black Bolt
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Christian Ward
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The king of the Inhumans has been imprisoned! But where? Why has he been jailed? And who could be powerful enough to hold Black Bolt? The answers will shock you — and Black Bolt as well! If he is to learn the truth, he must first win a fight to the death against a fellow inmate: the Absorbing Man! As a prison revolt begins, the bounty hunter Death's Head enters the fray — but is he there to help or to hunt? And who — or what — is the warden of this strange place? Black Bolt's jailer knows only penance and fear. And soon so will the Silent King of the Inhumans! For if Black Bolt can somehow escape his hellish prison, the journey home will be even more deadly — and his welcome may not be a warm one!
Why It’s Cool: Few writers from other mediums have made a comicbook debut as assured and powerful as Saladin Ahmed. Powered by artist Christian Ward’s space psychradelica, Ahmed dove right into the deep end of the Marvel Universe, telling a powerful, character-drive story with a hero who’s rarely listed atop lists of anyone’s favorite and has also never commercially been an easy sell. Yet, here we are 12 excellent issues later with one of the best Marvel maxi-series in sometime, essentially since Tom King and Gabriel Walta did The Vision. This is a powerful comic that really stands out among superhero work, and all 12 issues can be had this weekend on ComiXology for just $5.09.
Price: $5.09
Link: Click Here!

BTTM FDRS
Writer: Ezra Claytan Daniels
Artist: Ben Passmore
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Once a thriving working class neighborhood on Chicago’s south side, the “Bottomyards” is now the definition of urban blight. When an aspiring fashion designer named Darla and her image-obsessed friend, Cynthia, descend upon the neighborhood in search of cheap rent, they soon discover something far more seductive and sinister lurking behind the walls of their new home. Like a cross between Jordan Peele’s Get Out and John Carpenter’s The Thing, Daniels and Passmore’s BTTM FDRS (pronounced “bottomfeeders”) offers a vision of horror that is gross and gory in all the right ways. At turns funny, scary, and thought provoking, it unflinchingly confronts the monsters―both metaphoric and real―that are displacing cultures in urban neighborhoods today.
Why It’s Cool: This excellent graphic novel from last year is probably my pick of the week. It’s a great selection now that we’re deep into a homebound quarantine. One of the foundational themes to this haunting story is the idea of where we live, of where we have history and roots. BTTM FDRS is a story that raises questions about gentrification, degrees of privilege, urban blight, and grotesque scientific experimentation. It’s a compelling and immersive work, one that will start off by making you think about the choices you’ve made within the context of your own neighborhood, before ending with you absolutely terrified for every character in these pages. There’s a reason BTTM FDRS landed on our Best Original Graphic Novels of 2019, and now you have the time and sale price to see for yourself!
Price: $7.49
Link: Click Here!

Coda Vol. 1, Vol. 2, & Vol. 3
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Matias Bergara
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
In the aftermath of an apocalypse which wiped out nearly all magic from a once-wondrous fantasy world, an antisocial former bard named Hum seeks a way to save the soul of his wife with nothing but a foul-tempered mutant unicorn and his wits to protect him. But in the process, he is unwillingly drawn into a brutal power struggle which will decide forever who rules the weird wasteland... Written by Eisner Award-nominated author Simon Spurrier (The Spire, Godshaper) and lavishly illustrated by artist Matías Bergara (Supergirl, Cannibal), Coda is a relentless kaleidoscope of visual wonders, exploring high fantasy and the post-apocalypse through the lens of a curmudgeonly loner in search of his lost love.
Why It’s Cool: Writer David Andry recently picked Coda for our ongoing daily coronavirus quarantine reading list, and he did a great job of summing up why this book is great, so I’ll just borrow from his words. He writes, “Visually, it's one of the most gorgeous comics ever produced (yes, ever). But within the pages you find a story filled with heart. To me it's about living with someone with mental illness, about supporting someone without trying to 'fix' them.” And there’s a lot to think about inherent to that.
Price: $3.59 for Vol. 1; $5.39 for Vol. 2; and $5.39 for Vol. 3. Or, $14.37 total.
Link: Click here for Coda Vol. 1; here for Coda Vol. 2; and here for Coda Vol. 3.

Livewire Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
Writer: Vita Ayala
Main Artists: Raul Allen & Patricia Martin
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
For the first time, Livewire takes center stage! Accomplice. Mentor. Savior. And now, Enemy of the State. Seeking to protect other vulnerable superpowered psiots like herself, Livewire plunged the United States into a nationwide blackout, causing untold devastation. With the whole world hunting her, what kind of hero will Livewire be... or will she be one at all?
Why It’s Cool: Livewire read like the best solo X-Men book in I don’t know how long. It combines the feared and hated thing (just projected onto Valiant’s psiots rather than Marvel’s mutants) with a deeply character-driven story about a woman who made a hard choice and must now reconcile herself with some of the unexpected repercussions. These two volumes of comics, which total eight issues, see writer Vita Ayala collaborating with some fantastic artists, including Raul Allen, Patricia Martin, and Kano. And now you can get all eight comics for the price of three issues brand new. It’s a great deal.
Price: $4.99 for Vol. 1 and $5.99 for Vol. 2; or $10.98 total.
Link: Click here for Livewire Vol. 1 and here for Livewire Vol. 2!

Also, checkout the Best Comics on ComiXology Unlimited!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.