Best comiXology sales: Weekend of May 1, 2020
By Zack Quaintance — We’re deep into the quarantine now, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve somewhat exhausted your long-suffering to-read pile. I have plenty in there left, but the stories I was most excited about have been rapidly depleted. As a result, I’m on the hunt for something fresh, or at least fresh to me.
Luckily, as always there are some great sales on digital comics currently, and I’ve combed through them to find five new recommendations for the best comiXology sales for the weekend of May 1, 2020.
Enjoy!
Best comiXology sales
Ant-Man #1 - #3
Writer: Zeb Wells
Artist: Dylan Burnett
Publisher: Marvel Comics
SWARM APPROACHES! Scott Lang is back and doing better than ever! Er, at least according to him, but his daughter, Stinger, and the anthill he’s living in say otherwise. Desperate to raise his daughter’s opinion of him, Scott takes a job from local beekeepers only to uncover a global conspiracy that could topple the world order! No time to call the Avengers, this sounds like a job for – ANT-MAN?!
Why It’s Cool: I’ve been singing Ant-Man’s praises for some time now, having even included the young book in my list of Best Marvel Comics of 2020 (so far). Well, now you can easily check the book out, too. All three issues are on sale this weekend for a total of roughly $2.50, less than the full price of a brand-new comic. This series is funny in a really self-aware way, but not so self-aware that it tips into full-blown parody or starts to feel preening. It’s an understated and deeply-hilarious sort of humor, and I can’t get enough of it.
Price: $.84 each or $2.52 for all three
Links: Click here for Ant-Man #1; click here for Ant-Man #2; and click here for Ant-Man #3!
Eternity Girl
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Sonny Liew
Publisher: DC Comics - Young Animal
Caroline Sharp gave up her humanity to gain incredible shape-shifting abilities—powers she used to save the world time and time again as the superhero Chrysalis. But as the years wore on, she began to lose control of the elemental forces coursing through her body, making her dangerously unstable and forcing her removal from ALPHA 13, the covert government agency that created her. Now, although she can barely hold herself together, Caroline's unique condition also means that nothing can kill her. Isolated, alienated and profoundly alone, she's determined to break the curse of her immortality—by any means necessary. Enter the villainous Madame Atom, with the offer of a lifetime: to end her suffering, all Caroline has to do is undertake one final, dimension-spanning mission, with one simple objective—the destruction of the entire universe.
Why It’s Cool: Attribute it to the quarantine, but I personally can’t get enough of introspective storytelling at the moment. One of my favorite inward-looking comics in recent years was the Young Animal mini-series, Eternity Girl. It’s a superhero comic, or at least superhero adjacent, and it does quite a bit with the standard trappings of those stories to probe new ground about internality, identity, and choice. The artwork in this book by Sonny Liew is perhaps worth the discounted sale price alone. I highly recommend this for any who might have missed its run a few years back.
Price: $5.94
Link: Click here!
Check out DC Comics’ massive Spring Sale on Graphic Novels A - I and on Graphic Novels J - Z, only at comiXology.com!
Ironheart: Riri Williams & Ironheart Vol. 1
Writers: Brian Michael Bendis and Eve L. Ewing
Main Artists: Stefano Caselli and Luciano Vecchio
Publisher: Marvel Comics
A new Iron Age begins! From the streets of Chicago, an armored hero rises! Clad in her own high-tech suit, Riri Williams is ready to show the world what she can do as the self-made hero of tomorrow. But is she ready for all the problems that come with stepping into Iron Man's boots? Like her first big Marvel villain! The laundry list of criminals looking to destroy Tony Stark's legacy! And that other guy also running around as Iron Man! As Riri's adventures go viral, she soon claims her own alter ego: Ironheart! But her idealism is put to the test by a world she doesn't yet understand - and a headstrong Tony Stark A.I. who thinks he knows best! How far will Riri go to do what she knows is right?
Why It’s Cool: Ironheart is another comic I’ve been singing the praises of for some time now, placing it among my favorite comics of 2019, which is rarefied air for such a straightforward superhero story. Ironheart just does so much right, from the character work by writer Eve L. Ewing to the clean and crisp linework by main series artist Luciana Vecchio. This weekend, you can get the first volume of Ironheart along with the Brian Michael Bendis-penned origin story for the character all for less than $8. This is pure speculation, but I also feel like fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will want to familiarize themselves with this character at some point in the future. But that’s just a hunch.
Price: $4.24 for Ironheart: Riri Williams; $3.39 for Ironheart Vol. 1; or $7.63 for both!
Links: Click here for Ironheart: Riri Williams; and click here for Ironheart Vol. 1!
Mystery Girl
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Alberto Jimenez Albuquerque
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Trine Hampstead knows everything. Ask her a question like "Where are my keys?" or "Is he cheating on me?" or "How are there perfectly preserved mammoths in recent ice?" and she just knows. She's the Mystery Girl. The only things Trine doesn't know are anything else from the last ten years of her life or why a killer has targeted her! Collects Mystery Girl #1–#4.
Why It’s Cool: I read Mystery Girl as it was coming out in late 2015 and early 2016, and I’ve remained struck by how different this comic has felt. It’s definitely a monthly comic, steeped in mystery story genre touches, but there’s a layer of anthropology and inexplicable prescience that just works really well to create suspense. There’s also a sort of global concern to this book, in that it eventually goes to much further and deeper and more surprising places that one might suspect at its onset. If you’re looking for a well-done mystery comic (always a treat, in my opinion), you could do much worse this weekend than taking a shot on Mystery Girl.
Price: $5.49
Link: Click Here!
Monstress, Vol. 1
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Publisher: Image Comics
Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both.
Why It’s Cool: Long-time readers of this website will have heard me rave about Monstress (pretty much constantly), perhaps to the point that curiosity has been sparked. Well friends, if that’s you, there’s never been a better chance to start reading this book. Image Comics is running a sale on some of its most prominent #1 comics, but five of the six are available via comiXology unlimited. The loan exception is the fantasy tour de force Monstress, which you can (and should!) pick up now for less than $5, an absolute steal.
Price: $4.49
Link: Click Here!
Twilight
Writer: Howard Chaykin
Artist: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Publisher: DC Comics
DC's wide-eyed science fiction heroes, most of whom first appeared in the 1950s, are reimagined in this dark tale from writer Howard Chaykin and artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Originally published in 1990, TWILIGHT tells the story of how one of the Star Rovers, Karel Sorenson, became a living god when caught in an explosion with a race of immortal creatures called Methuseloids. It's up to renegade hero Tommy Tomorrow to stop his former ally -- but he ends up absorbing Sorenson's power and becoming an all-powerful tyrant himself. Also includes appearances by Star Hawkins, Manhunter 2070, Ironwolf, Space Ranger, Space Cabbie and other heroes.
Why It’s Cool: Artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez is one of my favorite comic book artists of all time, creating as he did what is essentially still the modern blueprint for the classical look of DC Comics iconic superheroes. But Garcia-Lopez wasn’t entirely relegated to the capes and tights set in his time with DC. In 1990, the artist teamed with Howard Chaykin to tell one of the freshest and most imaginative science fiction comics to ever be published by one of the Big 2. That story is Twilight, and it’s on-sale this weekend for about $5. I know I for one will be spending some time utterly lost in this gorgeous cosmic bliss.
Price: $5.09
Link: Click Here!
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.