By Zack Quaintance — One of the many things I absolutely love about being part of the comics community is the fall and Halloween. I’ve never been part of an industry/group that gets up for the year’s scariest month like comics. This love of all things terror even manifests itself in the volumes that show up this week in our Best comiXology Sales, Weekend of October 2, 2020, which is no slouch in the horror department.

Enjoy!

Best comiXology Sales Weekend of October 2

PICK OF THE WEEK
Midnight Nation
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Gary Frank
Publisher: Image Comics - Top Cow
Midnight Nation is a thought-provoking story with religious overtones about a police officer in limbo who goes on a cross-country search for his soul but encounters some mighty obstacles along the way. When it first came out in 2000, J. Michael Straczynski's provocative storytelling and the fantastic art of Gary Frank (Action Comics, Squadron Supreme) captivated readers with its mix of action, horror and drama built around a message of hope, loyalty and sacrifice.
Why It’s Cool: Midnight Nation these days strikes me as sort of a lost great comic, one that doesn’t fit neatly into any clean box and certainly doesn’t fit with a lot of the other work that was being done at its time of publication in the early 2000s. Hell, it doesn’t even fit with the body of work done before and after it hit by its two creators, writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Gary Frank, both of whom have made their bones on overt sci-fi or superheroes. But this is a very good book, a haunting contemplation of religion and struggle and humanity, all built around a singular narrative heavy with action and horror touches. It’s a very good book, and this is one of the only times I’ve ever seen it included in a digital sale, all 300+ pages of it.
Price: $9.99
Buy It Here: Midnight Nation

Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts
Writers: Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose
Artists: Vanesa R. Del Rey, Alberto Ponticelli, Mateus Santolouco
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics - Berger Books
Hungry Ghosts is cooked up by the best selling author and veteran chef, Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential, Emmy-Award winning TV star of Parts Unknown) and acclaimed novelist Joel Rose (Kill, Kill, Faster, Faster) back again from their New York Times #1 best seller, Get Jiro!. Featuring real recipes cooked up by Bourdain himself, this horror anthology is sure to please--and scare! On a dark, haunted night, a Russian Oligarch dares a circle of international chefs to play the samurai game of 100 Candles--where each storyteller tells a terrifying tale of ghosts, demons and unspeakable beings--and prays to survive the challenge. Inspired by the Japanese Edo period game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Hungry Ghosts reimagines the classic stories of yokai, yorei, and obake, all tainted with the common thread of food.
Why It’s Cool: The late Anthony Bourdain as a writer and a personality always struck me as a very very smart man who was entirely free of pretension — which is also what I think made him the perfect celebrity comics fan to help launch Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint, another thing that is very very smart and also free of pretension. He did so with this collection, titled Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts, which saw him team up with comics veterans like Vanesa R. Del Ray and Alberto Ponticelli…with delicious results (sorry!).
Price: $4.49
Buy It Here: Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts

B.P.R.D. 1947
Writers: Mike Mignola and Joshua Dysart
Artists: Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
After the discovery of a trainload of Nazi officers drained of blood, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense learns that there are things far more ancient and dangerous than they could have imagined in this direct sequel to B.P.R.D.: 1946. Broom enlists an already damaged crew to lead an investigation that may be doomed before it can begin, climaxing in a witches' Sabbath, a vampire massacre, and an exorcism.
Why It’s Cool: Last year, my friend d. emerson eddy and I read the entire Hellboy Universe. Like, we read every single comic considered cannon within that narrative. One thing that stood out to me was that everything published within that was connected in some way, some heaving than others. But that’s not to say that many of the stories don’t stand on their own quite well, lingering with you long after you’ve finished based on the strength of their narrative. One of those volumes was this one, in which Hellboy creator Mike Mignola collaborates with some of my favorite creators in all of comics — Joshua Dysart, and the brothers Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon — for a fantastic period piece about vampires. Seriously, even if you’ve never read any other Hellboy, you can still read and enjoy this.
Price: $5.49
Buy It Here: B.P.R.D. 1947

La Voz De M.A.Y.O.: Tata Rambo
Writer: Henry Barajas
Artist: Jason “Gonzo” Gonzales
Publisher: Image Comics - Top Cow
LA VOZ DE M.A.Y.O: TATA RAMBO is based on the oral history of Ramon Jaurigue, an orphan and WWII veteran who co-founded the Mexican, American, Yaqui, and Others (M.A.Y.O.) organization, which successfully lobbied the Tucson City Council to improve living and working conditions for members of the Pascua Yaqui tribe, paving the way to their federal recognition. Meanwhile, Ramon’s home life suffered as his focus was pulled from his family to the wider community, and from domesticity to the adrenaline of the campaign. A resonant, neglected slice of American history is brought to life for the first time with art by J. GONZO, letter art by BERNARDO BRICE, editing by CLAIRE NAPIER, and a script by HENRY BARAJAS—the great-grandson of Ramon Jaurigue, a.k.a. Tata Rambo.
Why It’s Cool: La Voz De M.A.Y.O. - Tata Rambo is, simply put, one of the smartest comics I’ve read in a good long while, blending as it does touches of memoir, journalism, and traditional comic book storytelling. It’s a compulsively readable family story that spans generations. You’ll fly through it, engaged with the characters at its core, and when you’re done, you’ll realize you’ve learned about a really interesting segment of the history of North America that continues to reverberate in the issues the country faces today. If you’re looking for something unlike anything else you’ve read of late, this book is your pick.
Price: $6.99
Buy It Here: La Voz De M.A.Y.O. - Tata Rambo

The Multiversity Deluxe Edition
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frank Quitely
Publisher: DC Comics
The biggest adventure in DC's history is here! Join visionary writer Grant Morrison, today's most talented artists, and a cast of unforgettable heroes from 52 alternative Earths of the DC Multiverse! Prepare to meet the Vampire League of Earth-43, the Justice Riders of Earth-18, Superdemon, Doc Fate, the super-sons of Superman and Batman, the rampaging Retaliators of Earth-8, the Atomic Knights of Justice, Dino-Cop, Sister Miracle, Lady Quark and the latest, greatest Super Hero of Earth-Prime: YOU! THE MULTIVERSITY is more than a multipart comic book series. It's a cosmos spanning, soul-shaking experience that puts YOU on the frontline in the battle for all creation against the demonic destroyers known as the Gentry!
Why It’s Cool: Yes yes, I know writer Grant Morrison has gone on to do other work in recent years for DC Comics, but if you ask me, The Multiversity really feels like the true climax and finale for his long body of interesting work with superheroes, specifically with DC. And now you can get this incredible foray into multiverse experimentation (all 450 pages!) for a song at $5.99. We’ve only seen a trickle so far, but this real feels like a blueprint for some of the new characters and direction we’ll continue to see from DC Comics in the years to come.
Price: $5.99
Buy It Here: The Multiversity Deluxe Edition

See our past top comics to buy 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.