By Zack Quaintance — It’s been a rough week in the wider world, and at times it’s been a challenge to even get lost in hobbies. I know I’ve struggled. I’m pushing through, however, and staying hopeful that the time will come again when I can balance my interest in being an additive force for society and keeping myself centered by consuming art.

With that in mind, I have once again combed through the best comiXology sales for the weekend, and my choices can be found below. Be well!

Best comiXology Sales: Weekend of June 5, 2020

Legion of Super-Heroes Great Darkness Saga.jpeg

*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artist: Keith Giffen
Publisher: DC Comics
The godlike Darkseid emerges in the 30th century with an ingenious plot to finally conquer the universe in Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's timeless Legion of Super-Heroes epic! Using his faithful minions to acquire all of the mystic artifacts of the time, Darkseid gains mental control over a race of three billion all-powerful beings. Now, as their universe teeters on the edge of Armageddon, the Legion of Super-Heroes amass their own army of every champion who ever held the status of Legionnaire to stand against the Dark Lord and his invincible soldiers. But as the Legion suffers defeat after defeat, they realize that salvation and victory rest in the hands of a mysterious baby that has aged into adulthood before their very eyes!
Why It’s Cool: So, as of late I’ve been doing a deep dive read through DC Comics’ Legion of Super-Heroes franchise, and recently it brought me to The Great Darkness Saga. Folks, I’ve read quite a bit of sci-fi, and I’ve read quite a few comics — this one blends the world-building complexity of the most anthropological sci-fi novelists (Ursula K. Le Guin comes to mind) with the unbridled adventurism of superhero comic books. Published in the 1980s, it still feels fresh and vibrant and forward-looking today. I highly recommend this comic, which you can jump into relatively easily without knowing much about the franchise...I know I did.
Price: $5.94
Buy It Here: Click here!

American Gods Vol. 1 - 2
Writer: Neil Gaiman & P. Craig Russell
Artist: Scott Hampton & P. Craig Russell
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
This supernatural American road trip fantasy tells the story of a war between the ancient and modern gods. The Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula award-winning novel and new Starz television series by Neil Gaiman is adapted as a graphic novel for the first time! The first in a three-volume adaptation of Neil Gaiman's modern classic! Shadow Moon gets out of jail only to discover his wife is dead. Defeated, broke, and uncertain where to go from here, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who employs him to serve as his bodyguard--thrusting Shadow into a deadly world where ghosts of the past come back from the dead, and a god war is imminent.
Why It’s Cool: Neil Gaiman certainly has his fans — hordes of them — and among those folks, American Gods in all iterations has been arguably the biggest hit of the last two decades of his career. Starting as a novel, it’s now a television show...and also a comic book, which you can buy the first two volumes of here on sale now. This series isn’t really all that additive to the story, but rather it’s just yet another medium for fans of the property to consume this story.
Price: $8.49 each or $16.98 for both.
Buy It Here: Click here for Vol. 1; and here for Vol. 2.

Batman: Superheavy
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
Publisher: DC Comics
Following the disappearance and presumed death of Batman, former police commissioner Jim Gordon has been called to carry on the Dark Knight's legacy and become his successor. But while the name and what it stands for remain the same, this new Batman is far from just a copy of the original. Patrolling the city in a gargantuan high-tech Batsuit, Gordon is no shadowy vigilante. He has the full cooperation of the GCPD and the mayor, plus a multimillion-dollar budget from Powers International. But will an expensive suit be enough to stop the mysterious, weed-like Mr. Bloom before his deadly plans for the city take root?
Why It’s Cool: A few weeks ago, I mentioned on Twitter that I am a Batman: Superheavy apologist...and I was surprised to be met by a chorus of voices that said they are right there with me. In this story, Batman has lost his memory (due to a past battle that you really don’t need to know that much about), and he has been replaced by a super-buff Jim Gordon who is trying his best (with mixed results) to be Batman by piloting a small-scale mech. In addition, it builds to a massive confrontation with one of the best new Batman villains since the Court of Owls. Looking for a great new Batman tale you can just jump into? This is it.
Price: $5.09
Buy It Here: Click here!

Destiny, NY Vol. 1 - 2
Writer: Pat Shand
Artist: Manuel Preitano
Publisher: Space Between Entertainment
Logan McBride was the subject of an incredible prophecy when she was a child, but fulfilled her foretold destiny when she was just thirteen. Now in her late twenties, Logan navigates through graduate school for Prophecy Kids while searching for her place in a world that tells her sheʼs already finished. Slice-of-life romance and drama meets the mysterious intrigue of urban fantasy in the first volume of this brand new graphic novel series by author Pat Shand (Avengers, Afterglow) and Manuel Preitano (Wonderland, Goddess Inc).
Why It’s Cool: Destiny, NY is a great urban fantasy romance story — published independently — from writer Pat Shand and artist Manuel Preitano, as well as Rosi Kampe in the second volume. It’s a great read, made even more relevant right now by this being Pride Month.
Price: $3.99 for Vol. 1; and $7.99 for Vol. 2.
Buy It Here: Click here for Destiny, NY Vol. 1; and here for Destiny, NY Vol. 2.

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: There are no better values on the list of comiXology sales for this week than My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. It’s nearly 400-pages of excellent and fresh storytelling from writer/artist Emil Ferris. It sounds vague and reductive to say it — but what’s for sale here is unmatched storytelling excellence. This is a plot set against the chaotic political backdrop of Chicago in the late ‘60s. The conceit for this book is that its framed as the fictional graphic diary of a 10-year-old, complete with B-movie iconography and pulp monster magazine goodness. There really is nothing better to get lost into right now than this monster-heavy story that interconnects a pair of character-driven narratives that examine how the past, present, and future intertwine.
Price: $12.49
Buy It Here: Click here!

My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 - Vol. 23
Writer/Artist: Kohei Horikoshi
Publisher: Viz
Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…
Why It’s Cool: I will be honest about something here — manga is a blindspot for me. To try to fix this, I tend to mention that to folks frequently in search of recommendations. One series that gets suggested to me on a somewhat regular basis is My Hero Academia...and now the entire series (or close enough) is available on sale via comiXology. I plan to buy a handful of volumes to see if I like it, with an eye toward eventually locking down the entire thing, if I like it enough. If you’ve been in the same situation as me with manga and the blind spot, this is a great time to do something about it.
Price: $4.99 each, or $114.77 for the entire series.
Buy It Here: Click here!

ComiXology Unlimited Pick of the Week

Abbott
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Sami Kivela
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Hugo Award-nominated novelist Saladin Ahmed (Black Bolt) and artist Sami Kivelä (Beautiful Canvas) present one woman’s search for the truth that destroyed her family. Hard-nosed, chain-smoking tabloid reporter Elena Abbott investigates a series of grisly crimes that the police have ignored. Crimes she knows to be the work of dark occult forces. Forces that took her husband from her. Forces she has sworn to destroy.
Why It’s Cool: I’ve been singing the praises of Abbott for I don’t know how long. It’s a story about journalism, a black female journalist to be exact, demons, magic, and systemic discrimination. It’s also heavy with wide-spanning imaginative artwork from visionary artist Sami Kivela, and you can read it tomorrow by jumping onto comiXology Unlimited now.
Price: $6.74 (if you don’t want to do the whole Unlimited thing…)
Find It Here: Click here!

See our past comiXology weekend sale picks here, and check out our reviews archive here.

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