By Zack Quaintance — Another weekend is upon us with no new comics in site. Owing to the coronavirus crisis, there were no new comics last Wednesday and there has been little to indicate that there will be new comics this coming Wednesday. For many of us in the United States, physically going down to our local comic shop is not an option, what with 87 percent of the country under shelter in place orders as massive death tolls sweep through major cities.

We still, however, can get new comics online...and sometimes we can do it for very reasonable prices, which is important because this thing is also just wrecking the economy. With all that in mind, we have once again scoured the digital comics platform ComiXology to bring you a set of five Best ComiXology Sales recommendations for this coming weekend.

Enjoy!

Best ComiXology Sales: Weekend of April 3

The Kamandi Challenge
Writers: Tom King, James Tynion IV, Dan Abnett, Peter J. Tomasi, Steve Orlando, Greg Pak, Rob Williams, Paul Levitz, Gail Simone, and more!
Artists: Dale Eaglesham, Ivan Reis, Phillip Tan, Ryan Sook, Neal Adams, Shane Davis, Kevin Eastman, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Jim Lee and more!
Publisher: DC Comics
Prepare to join the industry's top creative teams in a round-robin, no-holds-barred storytelling extravaganza titled THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE as 14 writer/artist teams take the title character on a quest to find his long-lost parents. Each chapter leads to a cliffhanger, and it's up to the next creative team to resolve it before creating their own, as Kamandi faces tigers armed with the ultimate weapon, becomes a holy messenger to a society of God Watchers, encounters proletariat grizzly bears in the Russian tundra and much more!
Why It’s Cool: I’m not sure any other individual book on sale features as much creator talent as The Kamandi Challenge. A couple of years ago in honor of the 100th birthday of Jack “King” Kirby, DC Comics issued a storytelling challenge to a number of its highest profile creators. One was to take the classic Kirby creation, Kamandi, and start it with a first chapter, and the others were to continue the work from there. The result is an immersive and lush tale told by a veritable who’s-who of DC Comics top creators. There’s a lot of value on ComiXology this weekend, but this whopping 350-some page book should be at the top of anyone’s list who missed out on it when it came out in installments a few years back.
Price: $5.99
Link: Click here!

My Favorite Thing is Monsters
Writer/Artist: Emil Ferris
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.
Why It’s Cool: My Favorite Thing is Monsters is — fittingly — one of my personal favorite things in comics of recent years. It’s a deeply compelling and immersive, long read of a comic that evokes so many echoes of great cartoonists of the past, weaving all into something wholly new and original. This book gives readers nearly 400 pages of reading, and I’d be shocked if anyone who picked it up wasn’t fully immersed and basically unable to put it down by the time they hit page 20 or so. This isn’t just a great deal, but this might be the best comic available at the best price on ComiXology right now.
Price: $12.49
Link: Click here!

New Mutants: Demon Bear
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Publisher: Marvel Comics
The visionary talents of writer Chris Claremont and legendary illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz bring the Demon Bear that has haunted Danielle Moonstar's dreams to horrifying life! It took her parents, and now it has returned for Dani — and only the combined efforts of her fellow New Mutants can stop it from finishing the job! Sink your teeth into a true classic! Then, Dani's nightmare returns years later as San Francisco — and her new team X-Force, come under attack from a similarly unholy ursine!
Why It’s Cool: New Mutants: Demon Bear holds a unique place in X-Men comics history, and, perhaps, it also holds a unique place among superhero comic books writ large, ranking as one of the first (and to date) best works to combine the genre with an imaginative horror story. This is a true superhero comics classic, featuring as it does a pair of all-time great creators exploring new territory while at the top of their respective games, those being writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz. With a price tag of roughly a cup of coffee, there’s never been a better time to check this one off your classics-I-should-read list.
Price: $3.99
Link: Click here!

Spencer & Locke, Vols. 1 & 2
Writer: David Pepose
Artist: Jorge Santiago, Jr.
Publisher: Action Lab - Danger Zone
Collecting the hit mini-series, Spencer & Locke follows hard-boiled Detective Locke as he investigates a brutal murder with the strangest of partners — his childhood imaginary panther, Spencer. But when they face brutal gunfights, deadly car chases and memories of Locke’s traumatic upbringing, can this unlikely pair survive long enough to find the truth?
Why It’s Cool: The conceit of this story is that an analog for Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) is all grown up and working as a detective...and still envisioning an analog for Hobbes. That’s a solid concept sure to get its hooks in a lot of readers, especially paired as it is with a master-level understanding of what made Calvin and Hobbes work, as played out here in a series of homages to the characters and ideas from the old comic strip. But what makes it really worth checking out is that the storytelling in this book is of the highest level, making it an entertaining way to revisit the old comic strips and also a new story with a big payoff in its own right.
Price: $2.99 each or $5.98 total
Link: Volume 1 & Volume 2

Wasted Space, Vols. 1 & 2
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Publisher: Vault Comics
Billy Bane is a prophet who got it all wrong, and the galaxy has been burning ever since. All he wants is to waste away in the darkest corner of space with his best pal Dust, a supercharged Fuq bot. But when a new prophet comes calling, Billy is summoned to save the galaxy he's at least partially responsible for destroying. Too bad he couldn't care less.
Why It’s Cool: The other day, an online friend of mine asked me if I recommended a Vault Comics book called Wasted Space — and I responded by momentarily wondering what was the point of this website? I mean, I’ve probably talked up Wasted Space more than any other new comic coming out today. I just absolutely love it. It just features the perfect blend of philosophy, satire, character moments, dark humor, and space opera action. It’s also a dense and exciting book, one that I imagine for first-time readers would be just about perfect for getting your head out of the world’s larger problems for a little bit. I know I’m certainly contemplating a re-read to ease my own anxiety in these dark times.
Price: $4.99 for Vol. 1; $8.99 for Vol. 2; or $13.98 total.
Link: Volume 1 & Volume 2

And check out some great small press and Kickstarter comics selections too!

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