Free and Cheap Comics

[Thad]

Humble has another Humanoids bundle on.

There's some good stuff in there. And some extremely problematic stuff in there. (The link itself may be NSFW due to some risque covers; the previews of some of the books are *definitely* NSFW.)

Also, all the books from last year's Humanoids bundle are included at the $25 tier, which is great and which I'd like to see more of, because it means if you missed last year's bundle you get another shot at it, and if you bought it you can kick in at one of the lower tiers and not feel like you're paying for a bunch of books you already paid for once.

[Thad]

Heavy Metal bundle (link's probably NSFW; the covers don't generally feature actual nudity but some of them are still super-gross, and there's nudity in some of the preview art). Looks like mostly stuff from the past few years, but there are some great creators in there. I see Richard Corben's name a few times.

[zaratustra]

Note Humble Bundle no longer allows more than a 15% share to charity.

[Thad]

Ugh. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long after the buyout to start fucking with it.

[Brantly B.]

Last time I looked I didn't see the sliders at all. If I had I would have set the amount going to Ziff-Davis to a minimum.

[Upthorn]

Apparently the new humble bundle breakdown gives 50% as the "humble tip".

[Grath]

The internet has successfully cyberbullied IGN into backing off on the greed.

[Mongrel]

Huh. How about that.

[Thad]

Some serious weasel wording there; it sounds pretty clear they plan on fucking with it again in the future, just being more cautious about it.

Still, I'll take the win.

[Thad]

The new Black Panther creative team's been announced: John Ridley and Juann Cabal.

Ridley's a great choice. I did find his Next Batman disappointing (what I read of it; I picked up one issue and it was too underwhelmingly generic to pick up any more), but Panther's enough of a natural fit that I don't have any problem giving him another chance.

[Thad]

Some serious weasel wording there; it sounds pretty clear they plan on fucking with it again in the future, just being more cautious about it.

Two months later: Humble Bundle stops purchasers from giving all their payment to charity
A minimum of 15 to 30 percent will now be reserved for Humble Bundle itself.

[Mongrel]

Not-so-humble Bundle

[Brantly B.]

Pretty sure that nonoptional corporate take is higher than the old default Humble Tip.

My shock is comprehensive.

(Never forget that that money is going to Ziff-Davis.)

[Thad]

David Lapham has shared some unpublished Bill Sienkiewicz pages for Detective Comics #801.

Years back I wrote and did breakdowns for a 12-issue Batman run on Detective Comics called City of Crime. The original artist for the run was supposed to be the otherworldly Bill Sienkiewicz. We were going to bill it “Stray Bullets meets Stray Toasters!” Bill drew this incredible first issue, but then therewere some delays and for various reasons that I'm not 100% sure on, Bill wasn't going to be able to finish the complete run. Because his style is so singular (even greats like Sam Kieth were reluctant to follow Bill), then Batman editor Bob Schreck and DC Comics decided to start over from issue 1 with a new artist. Those artist were Ramon Bachs and Nathan Massengill who drew the hell out of the book, and I'm super proud of the final product.This is just a look at an alternate path the book may have taken.

[Thad]

Clearance sale at TwoMorrows.

I just read Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur and enjoyed it. It's not quite what I was expecting -- it's just a long interview, with a lot of black-and-white copies of his art, some looking pristine and others pretty poor reproductions, and he doesn't have much to say about anything that happened after DC fired him (except that he really liked doing Star Wars at Marvel) -- but it's interesting hearing Infantino's perspective on comics history and his role in it.

I sure like the look of Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, which is marked down to $10. Severin's one of those figures who's legendary among people who are knowledgeable about American comics but never really got the recognition she deserved outside that fandom. She's one of the best caricaturists in the history of the medium and, AFAIC, the best colorist.

There's a lot of other stuff in there that looks good -- Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Jeff Smith, Sal Buscema, Al Plastino, Eric Powell, Mark Buckingham, Herb Trimpe, and more. But the Severin book's the one that's really got my attention.

[Thad]

Comixology has several Fantagraphics sales on. Jaime Hernandez's Locas stories from Love and Rockets are on sale (vol 2 is probably the best place to start; vol 1 is more surrealist/sci-fi and while I think it's good stuff it's not very representative of the series -- plus it costs $1.50 more).

There's a Fantagraphics Disney sale on too; might I recommend Only a Poor Old Man by Carl Barks and The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa.

They've also got the complete Peanuts at half-price.

[Thad]

Humble has a Lone Wolf and Cub bundle on; $25 will get you the full 28-volume set, plus Path of the Assassin, Lady Snowblood, Samurai Executioner, Crying Freeman, and Color of Rage.

I bet they look great on an e-ink reader.

[Thad]

Comixology's got a big sale on. I'm hearing a lot of recommendations for the discounted Marvel Masterworks, and those are probably the easiest way to get ahold of a bunch of classic Marvel comics. I'm ambivalent about recommending them because (1) DRM and (2) I really hate their coloring (it's that thing where they use the old printing process on modern glossy paper; it looks garish).

My pick, though? You can get the entire original Priest/Bright Quantum and Woody for $5. (It's the three "Collected Edition" TPBs you want.)

[Thad]

Abrams bundle has some good stuff -- a buck will get you Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country and The Art of Rube Goldberg, there's some Backderf in the $10 tier, and the $18 tier has the first volume of Run (the followup to March).

[Mongrel]

Abrams bundle has some good stuff -- a buck will get you Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country

If that actually includes the music, that's an amazing pickup.