Free and Cheap Comics

[Thad]

Looks like there are some July sales on Comixology/Amazon. I grabbed a Transformers Spotlight set that includes the last three James Roberts Transformers comics I haven't read.

There's a sale on X-Statix, too; I don't buy Marvel digital comics because of DRM, but if DRM's not a deal-breaker for you then I will say that X-Statix is a great goddamn comic. It's a hugely influential book (it was the comic that ultimately made Marvel decide to ditch the Comics Code, and the rest of the industry followed; Timm and McDuffie also cited it as an influence on Justice League Unlimited, specifically the episode with Max Lord's team of teen superheroes who were loosely based on the supporting cast of Superfriends), it's funny, it's gorgeous, and it's frequently violent and shocking. The hook is that it's the X-Men reimagined as reality TV stars, living their lives in public, going on missions broadcast on live TV, frequently acting like selfish fuckups, and, almost as frequently, dying. The team has a ridiculously high bodycount.

At any rate, it's an old favorite, with a new series launching soon. It's got gorgeous art (it's the series that introduced me to Mike and Laura Allred) and sharp writing.

[Thad]

Continuing with the Amazon/Comixology sale: I note that the complete Spacehawk by Basil Wolverton is DRM-free, marked down to $17, and...the paperback is out-of-print and goes for $50 used. I'd rather have a physical copy, but for that price difference, I think I'm okay with a CBZ. (Especially given that I've got $6 in digital Amazon credit for no-rush shipping.)

[Thad]

James Bond bundle at Humble. I remember the Warren Ellis installments being pretty good.

[Thad]

Pay what you want for She Changed Comics.

[Thad]

Dark Horse has a bunch of freebies. Mostly #1s to try to get you to buy the next issue, but they've got the first four issues of Beasts of Burden and the entire first Hellboy trade.

Pretty sure they're all DRMed and require the Dark Horse app to read on a tablet, but hey, free is what I'm willing to pay for DRMed books.

[Thad]

Walking Dead bundle; get the whole series for $18.

The series has its ups and downs -- there were a couple places I almost stopped reading (aside from all the other horrible graphic stuff that happens over the course of the series, there are two extended rape scenes in the Woodbury arc and I was ready to take it off my list if there had been a third), and I thought the ending was sloppy and poorly-thought-out -- but for a couple of years in there it was my favorite comic. It's a damn fine book for most of its run, and even if it overstays its welcome it's interesting to see where it goes. And if you're looking for a cheap way to kill some time while you're stuck in the house, you could do a lot worse than $18 for a 193-issue series plus a couple of tie-ins.

[Thad]

Folks, if you are a fan of D&D, RPGS, Watership Down, or great stuff like CRITICAL ROLE, I am doing a series of comics (free to download!) in a game setting where all the characters are birds or animals, called HUMBLEWOOD.

It’s just a lovely project, I am proud to be part of it. Art is by the magnificent Sarah Wood! I have loved RPGs since I first played one as a kid, and this is one of the most sumptuous and beautiful fantasy worlds I have ever gotten to be part of.

I am so proud of this. Please give it a look, first chapter is up now!

Thank you, The Deck of Many, for inviting me to participate!

DIGITAL: Humblewood Comic: For Want of a Nail 1/8 (Simone, Webb) PDF

You have to enter an e-mail, name, and billing address, but none of it has to be valid. (Might be worth using a real e-mail address if you want a download link you can use again later.)

[Thad]

Joe Hill bundle. Includes the complete Locke & Key (with artist Gabriel Rodriguez), one of my favorites (though, as a reminder, I've still got extra copies of the first two trades from a Groupees bundle, so if you want those for nothin', you can go ahead and hit me up).

I haven't read any of the other stuff in this bundle (or the newest Locke & Key one-shot, Dog Days), but I've been enjoying Hill's most recent comics, Basketful of Heads (with artist Leomacs) and Plunge (with artist Stuart Immonen), so I expect I'll dig his other stuff too. I'm happy to throw in on the $15 tier.

ETA: This is another one of those sets where the formats are provided in ridiculously uneven quality. Like, "choose between a 32MB CBZ or a 1.4GB PDF" uneven. I'm unclear on whether this incompetence is IDW's fault or Humble's, but Christ, that shit is bush league.

(The EPUBs look to be a sane, happy-medium alternative, but I've found that EPUBs don't tend to play nice with comic book readers. At least, I remember trying the EPUB versions of Black Hammer from a previous bundle, and they did some really unfortunate nonsense like force images to display at a fixed size that was substantially smaller than their actual size.)

[Thad]

Scooby-Doo Team-Up is currently free on Comixology. The entire series to date.

It's fun as hell. Very Batman: The Brave and the Bold in how it embraces the DC/HB universe, takes all the goofiest elements, and derives its comedy from playing them straight.

There are a bunch of other free Scooby comics too. Haven't read those but they're free, so why not get them too?

[Thad]

Another Humble Image Bundle is upon us. A lot of stuff that's been in previous bundles, but there's some good shit in there.

Invincible is good, Revival is good, Sex Criminals is a hell of a lot of fun and very NSFW, I hear good things about Snotgirl, Criminal, and They're Not Like Us. I don't think I've read Heavy Liquid (I keep getting it confused with 100%), but I love me some Paul Pope.

[Thad]

Be the Change bundle includes such works as Goldie Vance, Incognegro, Shaft, Black Dynamite, and Pounded In The Butt By My Reluctance To Buy A Humble Bundle.

Word of warning: one of the books in the set, Bring the Thunder, is scripted by Jai Nitz, who's been accused of rape. I don't know if he gets royalties off this bundle or not, but if you want to adjust the sliders and give all your money to charity to just to make sure none of it goes to him, that's an option.

[Thad]

You know, I've read very little 2000AD, I've never read Judge Dredd and always kinda got the impression it wasn't the sort of thing I'd be into.

But if I were going to get into it, the current 2000AD/Judge Dredd Humble Bundle looks like it would be an excellent way of doing that. And there are plenty of names in the bundle whose work I've enjoyed elsewhere -- Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian Bolland, Neil Gaiman, Peter Milligan. So I'm tempted to check it out. 2000AD is a bit of a blind spot that's influenced a hell of a lot of comics over the past 40 years or so.

[Thad]

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff am i really going to fucking read this (yes)

Transformers/My Little Pony: Friendship in Disguise #1 is in the $1 tier of the new Humble Bundle.

There are a bunch of other crossovers in there. I haven't read most of them and I'm kinda meh on most of the ones I have read, but Tom Scioli's Transformers vs. GI Joe is so good you guys.

⇳ Click to Expand Summary

(Those pages are from issue #1. That's the series just starting to get warmed up.)

[Mongrel]

I appreciate the slavishly 80's colouring style combined with the obvious Kirby-style artwork here.

[Thad]

Yeah, I fucking love Scioli (and that reminds me I need to pick up his Kirby biography, Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics).

Another detail I love that's not as evident in those pages is the stiffness of the Transformers. Like, there are places where he's obviously got the toys sitting on his desk and has posed them and used them for reference and the figures are all stiff right angles. In addition to the Kirby influence he wears on his sleeve, it looks a lot like the '80s Marvel Transformers comics, too.

Here's an example: the Issue #7 cover

(tried to embed but apparently you can't put two summary tags on the same page)

[Friday]

Transformers/My Little Pony: Friendship in Disguise #1 is in the $1 tier of the new Humble Bundle.

thanks, picked it up and am about to sit down to read it.

[Friday]

Alright, finished.

I have to say, though Arcee flirting with Rarity was of course great, I enjoyed Starscream commanding the ponies to polish him faster so he could look shiny as the new King of Equestria more.

Yes, you read that right: I'm gayer for Starscream than I am for actual lesbian flirtation.

[Thad]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty fun all around.

Also now you've got Transformers vs. GI Joe vol 1 so you might as well give that a read.

A FACE FOR A FACE

[Thad]

Hundreds of Black Panther comics currently free on Comixology.

Rather than add them all to your cart individually, I'd recommend going to the following links and buying each series with the "Add all to cart" button. Series links (and a few individual issue links) below.

First Appearance
Fantastic Four #52 (1966)

Main series
Black Panther (1977-1979)
Black Panther (1988)
Black Panther (1998-2003)
Black Panther (2005-2008)
+ crossover in X-Men (2004-2007) #175 and #176
Black Panther (2008-2010)
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear (2010-2012)
Black Panther (2016-2018)
Black Panther (2018-)

Spinoffs
Black Panther 2099 (2004)
Doomwar (2010)
Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers (2010)
Klaws of the Panther (2010)
Black Panther: World of Wakanda (2016-2017)
Black Panther and the Crew (2017)
Black Panther Prelude (2017)
Black Panther: Long Live the King (2017-2018)
Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury (2018)
Rise of the Black Panther (2018)
Wakanda Forever (2018): Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers
Black Panther vs. Deadpool (2018-2019)
Killmonger (2018-2019)
Shuri (2018-2019)
Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda (2019-)
Marvel Action Black Panther (2019-)

Collections
Marvel Tales: Black Panther (2019; collects comics from 1963 to 2009)
Black Panther: Start Here (2018; collects comics from 2005 to 2017)

I think that's everything; I'll update the post if I find any other free issues I missed.

(ETA the Killmonger and Shuri miniseries.)
(ETA the X-Men crossover and the Doomwar, Klaws of the Panther, and Wakanda Forever miniseries.)

I'll add some "what to read" suggestions later, my thoughts on the series I've read, but for now all this shit is free so just get all of it and sort it out later.

[Thad]

Humble has a Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie bundle on.

The only one of these I've read is the first volume of The Wicked + The Divine. I liked it, particularly McKelvie's art and Matt Wilson's colors. I never got the rest of the series but the whole thing is in this bundle, plus a bunch of other stuff.

I've heard good things about Phonogram.