Tag Archives: Marvel

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Black Friday Comic Book Sales!

Black Friday isn’t just a day to camp out in the parking lot of your local Best Buy or Wal-Mart. It’s also the day to score some major deals on comic books. If you live in the New York City area, here are some stores that are having excellent Black Friday sales. If you’re outside of NYC (or buy your comics digitally), we have information for online and digital comic book Black Friday sales too!

NYC Comic Book Stores: 

St. Mark’s Comics

st marks comics storefront

The St. Mark’s sale starts Friday morning, and runs the runs all the way to Tuesday! All back are issues half price, plenty of comics will be priced at only a buck each, and much more!

Midtown Comics

midtown comics logo

In-Store: 25% off everything in the store at all three locations on Friday from 8 AM to 12 noon. 20% off everything in the store from Friday at noon through the close of business on Sunday.

Online: Up to 75% everything on the site. Discount varies by category and item. Good luck using their online search tool. I can never get that thing to work correctly. But if you’re patient, you might find yourself with a very good deal staring back at you from your screen.

Forbidden Planet

fb sale

20% everything in the store on Friday, 9 AM – midnight.

JHU Comics

jhu logo

The sale starts today, Wednesday and run through Sunday. Note: they are closed on Thanksgiving. The more you buy the more you save! 40% purchases of $300 or more, 30% off purchases of $75-$299.99, 25% off purchases of $30-$74.99, and 20% off purchases of $19.95-$29.99. This is good at both locations.

Online:

Image Comics

image bf

The Image Comics sale has started already, and runs until 12/2/15 11:59 PM at imagecomics.com. $0.99 single issues and 50% select collections. Or, in comiXology, use code IMAGE at checkout. Purchases have to be made through comiXology’s web store. Here’s the landing page for the Image sale on comiXology.

Dark Horse Comics

dh bf

All single issues are $0.99. This works on the Dark Horse website, comiXology and the Amazon Kindle store.  The sale is live now!

Marvel Comics

The Marvel Black Friday sale has also already begun! These sales run through 12/2.

marvel collections

 

Marvel has a bunch of digital collections on sale for up to 60% off on comiXology. Here is the full list:

  • Avengers/X-Men: Utopia
  • Avengers Vs. X-Men
  • Death of Wolverine
  • Fear Itself
  • House of M
  • Marvel 1602
  • Original Sin
  • Secret Invasion
  • Secret Wars
  • X-Men: Battle of the Atom

spiderverse sale

There is also a Spider-Verse Black Friday single issue sale. All single issues are $0.99. Here is the full list:

  • Superior Spider-Man #32-33 
  • Spider-Man 2099 #5
  •  Amazing Spider-Man #1-18
  • Spider-Verse #1-2
  • Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3
  • Spider-Woman #1-4
  • Scarlet Spiders #1-3
  • Spider-Man 2099 #6-8
  • Amazing Spider-Man #1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 16.1, 17.1, 18.1, 19.1, 20.1

Happy shopping! This list will be updated as more sales are announced, so be sure to bookmark it!

 

 

 

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Marvel Civil War…2015???

This afternoon, Marvel released a teaser image for Civil War, with the date of Summer 2015. It’s interesting that this teaser came right on the heels of their announcement at NYCC that Jonathan Hickman will be writing a new Secret Wars series. Now, the giant mural image in the Marvel booth advertising Secret Wars looked nothing like the 12 issues series from the 1980s, but this teaser for Civil War looks like it could have come from the original event. We have Spider-Man in his Tony Stark designed Iron Spider costume, being pulled on each side by Captain America and Iron Man. And Iron Man is wearing his Civil War era armor. The design is even reminiscent of the Civil War trade dress.

Civil_War_2015

 

What do you think of this teaser? What did you think of the original Civil War series? Are you excited for this one?

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 25

Dave is back! Billy and Dave make their picks for new comic books coming out on Wednesday, 6/25/14, and discuss the craziness that has been Marvel’s Original Sin thus far! If you’re loving Original Sin, listen to this episode!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Special Edition: NYC – Sunday Panel Guide

special-edition-nyc-logo-high-res

11:15 – 12:15 – Marvel Unlimited+ Members Only Event – I went to the Marvel Unlimited+ member event at NYCC 2013 and can vouch for the quality of these events. Members received an exclusive variant cover comic, an exclusive print and an acetate production proof cover of Origin II #1. Plus, we saw an extended trailer of the Guardians of the Galaxy  movie months before anyone else.  And Marvel talent will be on hand to answer fans questions (and possibly sign some comics). These events, and the exclusive action figure that Plus members receive when signing up, definitely make the Plus option worth getting when you sign up for Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comic version of Netflix. If you’re a member, make sure you attend this. I definitely will. (Theater B – 1E21)

 12:15 – 1:15 – Self Publishing – Do you have an idea for a comic that you’d love to make? Yes, you could pitch it to a publisher. Or you could publish it yourself. Hey, it worked for Jeff Smith! He won’t be here, but Greg Pak, Amy Reeder and a few other creators who have had success with self publishing will be getting down to the nuts and bolts of self publishing. Be prepared to take notes. (Theater B – 1E21)

12:15 – 1:15 – DC Comics – Batman 75th Anniversary – Did Bob Wayne already retire? It’s going to be weird going to a DC panel without him moderating. Many Batman current Batman creators, including Gail Simone, James Tynion IV and Francis Manapul will talk about what’s coming  up in the Batman family of books in this special 75th anniversary year. (Theater A – 1E19)

1:45 – 2:45 – Sexy, Strange and Silly – Lost Superheroes of the Golden Age – This has the potential to be the most fun panel at Special Edition: NYC. Ben Saunders, the director of the Comics Studies program at the University of Oregon, will moderate this panel that highlights some of the most unique comic book characters who were spawned in the Golden Age and then faded into obscurity. (Theater B – 1E21)

2:45 – 3:45 – Marvel: 75 Years of Marvel – It’s not just Batman’s 75th birthday. It’s also the 75th anniversary of the publication of Marvel Comics #1, which featured the first appearances of Marvel’s oldest superheroes, Namor the Submariner and the Golden Age Human Torch. Marvel plans to celebrate their 75th anniversary in a big way. Come to this panel to find out the details. Panelists include Chris Claremont, Peter David and Ryan Stegman. (Theater A – 1E19)

3:00 – 4:00 – Creator-Owned Comics (vs. Corporate-Owned Comics) – I bet if this panel was called “Come Listen to Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred Talk About  Astro City and Madman” it would bring in more people. Just sayin’. Seriously though, come to this panel and listen to Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred talk about Astro City and Madman. (Theater B – 1E21)

 

 

 

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Uatu Know About This

I found this postcard in my mail today. The image is a chalk outline of The Watcher, with the tag line “May 2014.” All is says on the back is “From Your Friends at MARVEL.” I believe this was sent to me because I am a Marvel Digital Unlimited Plus subscriber.

The Watcher Chalk Outlines        photo (7)

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, The Watcher is a cosmic being who shows up when really big events are going down.  Uatu is The Watcher of Earth.  There’s a whole race of Watchers, watching events all over the universe. They’re the ultimate couch potato, sworn never to interfere (though that rarely seems to stop Uatu). How do you know you’re looking at a Watcher? Well, they stand about 50 feet high, like to wear high-collared togas, and have extremely large craniums and pupil-less eyes.

the watcher

Uatu likes to watch.

It’s those pupil-less eyes that are all seeing. That’s what has be interested about this image. Not only is it the chalk outline of what I presume is a dead Watcher, but some extreme violence has been perpetrated on this Watcher’s eyes. It’s the only part of the image that has bloodstains, and there is a lot of blood there.

This has me thinking, “Why would someone want to kill a Watcher?” Is is someone trying to hide a secret? It’d have to be a big secret in order to need to take out a Watcher. What did The Watcher see that he shouldn’t have?

There’s no way to tell for certain if this is Uatu or another Watcher. They tend to look and dress alike for the most part. But since Uatu is The Watcher assigned to Earth, it makes sense that this would be Uatu. The high-collared silhouette certainly looks like Uatu’s.

I’m guessing The Watcher didn’t see this coming.

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Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD S1E1: "Pilot" – Review

Without a doubt, the new series that I was most excited for this fall was Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. In September, I was counting down the days until the show premiered. I pre-ordered the SHIELD agent badge and ID for New York Comic Con. September 24 could not get here soon enough.

My expectations were high. I started to worry that they might be too high. What if this Agents of SHIELD series turned out to be a train wreck like the 1999 David Hasselhoff Nick Fury made-for-TV movie?

Never forget.
On second thought, forget. For the love of all that is good, forget!

Tuesday, 9/24, 20:00 hours arrived. I was bolted to my seat at 19:57.

This was the pilot episode? Aren’t pilot episodes supposed to suck? This was awesome! Marvel/Disney is definitely giving them the budget they need. Thanks to the budget, the show fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe not just in story, but in style too.

While the SHIELD agents don’t have superpowers, I’m very happy that the show will feature people with powers. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hoped that the super strong character that turned out to be Michael Peterson was in fact Luke Cage. Michael Peterson on the show and Luke Cage in the comics come to their powers through similar means. Maybe since Skye wiped Michael from every database we’ll see him reemerge with Luke Cage as his new alias.

Not Luke Cage…yet.

Let’s talk about Coulson for a minute. There’s definitely more to his return from death than it being all a set up by Fury to fool the Avengers into forming and that Coulson was cooling his jets in Tahiti. Dr. Streiten (Ron Glass! Shepherd! Yes!) and Maria Hill basically say as much when Coulson leaves them. Streiten is surprised Coulson still believes the Tahiti story and Hill counters that Coulson can never find out the truth. I think Coulson has definitely been completely lied to. I don’t think his death in Avengers was planned in advance. Life Model Decoys were mentioned in the Avengers movie, making me believe that this Coulson we’re seeing today is a Life Model Decoy that’s been programmed with the original Phil Coulson’s brain patterns. For those of you unfamiliar with the Marvel comics from which Agents of SHIELD is based, a Life Model Decoy, or LMD for short, is basically a very advanced android that looks, sounds and feels like the real person, but is in fact a robot. Think of it as half clone-half robotic decoy. For you Battlestar Galactica fans, Coulson is basically a toaster now. Or at least, that’s my theory. Whatever the explanation turns out to be, I’m glad Clark Gregg is a part of this show.

Everyone who is still human, take a seat. Not so fast, Coulson!

One quick thought on Maria Hill: With How I Met Your Mother wrapping up this season, I wonder if Cobie Smulders will have a much bigger role on Agents of SHIELD starting in season 2.

Cobie Smulders stars in How I Met Your Hydra

The pilot episode’s script had the right amount of both suspense, action and humor that you’d expect from a Joss Whedon show. I loved the porcupine/poop-with-knives-sticking-out-of-it bit, as well as Agent Ward’s “Gramsy” line when he’s being interrogated by Skye. The best though might have been Simmons announcing that she’s not Hermione. Aw yeah, Harry Potter reference.

Agents of SHIELD tied very well into both Iron Man 3 and Avengers. I like that Extremis heavily factored into this episode and that gamma rays played a part in powering Michael. I also like that SHIELD has been given a shadowy enemy to hunt down with this new power broker business. I just hope the show doesn’t turn into a “monster of the week” show like the first season Smallville.

I think Joss Whedon has done a great job of making a show that is accessible to both long time Marvel fans, fans of the Marvel movies, and people who are just walking in cold and who want a dose of sci-fi with their police procedural.

Other random thoughts on the episode: I think they’re setting us up for Skye-Agent Ward romance, but I’m more interested in Fitz and Simmons. Having Lola’s wheels turn down and fly at the end was the best form of fan service imaginable, though using the phrase “journey into mystery” in a line of dialog was a close second.

Flying car! Okay, this is SHIELD!

I loved the first episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. I’m in for the long haul. Expect to see a review here for every new episode. Next week we find out the answer to the question of just what is an Oh-8-4.

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Friday at NYCC 2012 Planning Guide

Friday is the first full day of NYCC. If you can get out of your day job, I highly recommend going on Friday. You won’t face anything near the large crowds of Saturday and you’ll have much more programming options than Thursday. Friday is the sweet spot on the NYCC baseball bat.

10:00 AM – 7:00 PM Celebrity Autographing
If you’re interested in meeting Adam West, Burt Ward, Tom Felton, Sean Astin, Peter Davison, Lou Ferrigno or Christopher Lloyd, they’ll all be signing autographs today. Costs vary by person. For example, Batman’s signature is $10 more than Robin’s.

11:00 AM  – 12:00 PM CBLDF: The History of Comics Censorship
Attention all Media Studies majors!

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Wondrous Worlds, Fractured Futures: Speculative Fiction and Image Comics
A few years ago, I saw Brian K. Vaughn speak with JMS, Colleen Doran and Jeff Smith at a panel called World Building. Brian K. Vaughn quipped that the comics he was writing both took place in New York City, so he wasn’t sure why he was invited to the panel. His new comic with Fiona Staples, Saga, takes place far, far away from New York City. This is a can’t miss panel for fans of what Image Comics is doing right now.

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Marvel: House of Ideas
The focus of this panel is on Marvel’s digital comics offerings: Infinite Comics, Marvel.com and the Marvel mobile app. Oddly, Mark Waid will also be on this panel. Not sure what that’s about. Maybe a digital Daredevil exclusive?

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM Comics, Hollywood – What Creators Need to Know
Thinking about turning that spec script you wrote into a graphic novel? Thinking about trying to sell your graphic novel as a feature? This may be the panel for you.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Marvel Now! All-New X-Men
Rick Remender is going to be here talking Uncanny Avengers. That’s really all you need to know, right?

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry with Capcom
Go to this and get your girlfriend/mom/loan officer off your back about not paying your bills and spending all your money on video games.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Adam West and Burt Ward Spotlight
I picture this being very similar to the famous William Shatner Star Trek convention skit from SNL.

12:15 PM – 2:45 PM The 501st Legion’s “Shoot a Trooper”
If you’ve been to NYCC before, you’ve no doubt spotted at least a few members of the 501st Legion. They’re the guys in the very well done Stormtrooper costumes. These guys are super fans. They’ve even been incorporated into the Star Wars expanded universe and had an action figure made after them. They’re showing their softer side at NYCC this year: for a small donation to charity, you can take shots at Troopers with a Nerf gun.

12:30 PM – 1:20 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
4:35 PM – 5:35 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
To Do List: 1. Buy a Slytherin robe. 2. Pick up a twig. 3. Head to Tom Felton Photo Op.

1:20 PM – 1:45 PM – Sean Astin Photo-Op
Wear your Hobbit feet and your Notre Dame jersey.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Oni Press – RevolutiONIzing Comics
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Marvel NOW! Join the ReEvolution
What’s the theme of NYCC 2012? Fun with the word revolution! Oni wins this round for working their company name into it.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Inside “The Batmobile”
On the down side, they didn’t work the word revolution in this title. On the upside, you get to see the entire one hour documentary on The Batmobile before anyone else. I will probably be here. If I am, I will definitely have a review of it up soon after NYCC. Going to this kind of derails my “Draco and Me” photo idea though.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Digital Price Showdown
Maybe you want to debate how much digital comics should cost. Or maybe you want
to see a bunch of people yell at the co-founder of comiXology that digital comics cost too much.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Vertigo: A View From the Cutting Edge of Comics
American Vampire and Fables are two of the best comics being published every month. Both American Vampire writer Scott Snyder and Fables writer Bill Willingham will be on hand for this panel.

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Grant Morrison Spotlight
News on Multiversity, please?

1:45 PM – 2:40 PM Stan Lee Photo Op
One of my regrets from this year’s Pittsburgh Comic Con was not springing for the Stan Lee Photo Op. Sure, the background screen that Froggy uses couldn’t be tackier, but a picture with Stan Lee would be a very cool souvenir from this year’s NYCC.


2:15 PM – 3:30 PM Writing to be Drawn (Comic Book Writing and Art Tutorial)
If you didn’t get enough Bill Willingham at the Vertigo panel, he’ll be here with Jerry Ordway, Cully Hammer and Michael Oeming to talk about the specific methods of storytelling in comics. Learn how to effectively break down a script and the ins and outs of story flow.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM DC Comics: Green Lantern – The Third Army Arrives
With Green Lantern, Geoff Johns is writing one of the most consistently best comics on the market. On the one hand, I’m excited to see some preview artwork and hear Geoff talk about the title. On the other hand, I feel like this panel is going to mostly be cryptic announcements from Johns and non-answers to questions from the audience. I’m not complaining about that. I’d hate for this story line to get spoiled at a con panel. I’m setting the over/under of number of people dressed as Guardians of the Universe at 1.5.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM VALIANT: The Future of VALIANT
I was a huge Valiant fanboy the first go-around. In fact, I stuck on the Valiant train way too long. On the upside, it meant I was one of the lucky few reading Quantum and Woody. On the downside, I also read The Visitor. There were rumors for years of a Valiant comeback. Now that it’s finally here, it’s almost hard to believe it’s actually happening. According to the listing, everyone in attendance gets a special door prize. Gold books, anyone?

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Skybound On The Rise
Skybound is the current jewel in the Image crown. If you have a bad case of Kirkmania, get yourself here, stat!

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Robert Kirkman Autographing at the Image Booth
Don’t show up to this line at 4 PM. With the popularity of all things The Walking Dead, the line will be capped by that point. I’d say to get there by 3:15 at the latest…which means leaving the Skybound panel early. Hello, Catch-22.

4:30 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Autographing
I met Carrie Fisher a few years ago at a Big Apple Con. Childhood dream fulfilled. Now’s your chance!

5:15 PM – 6:15 PM Terry Pratchett Meet and Greet
According the NYCC website, Terry Pratchett won’t be signing anything, but will be handing out pre-signed book plates. BUT MY COPY OF GOOD OMENS IS ALREADY SIGNED BY NEIL GAIMAN AND IT NEEDS TERRY PRATCHETT’S AUTOGRAPH!

6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Photo Op
Keep it clean, gentlemen.

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Be a Comic Book Retailer!
Don’t go to this panel if you’ve ever been talked into buying a time share. With a shrinking market and an ever increasingly move to digital, this seems like an equally bad idea.

6:30 – 7:30 PM Robot Chicken
Last year’s Robot Chicken panel was my favorite panel of NYCC 2011. Don’t miss this panel. Unless you have no need for joy in your life, then by all means, miss this panel. I am half hoping, half dreading that the pothead who sat near me last year who cackled at everything that was said sits near me again.

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM CollegeHumor Live at New York Comic Con
I love comics, sketch comedy and stand-up. I can’t think of one reason why I would miss this.

9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Steampunk 101
If you buy a top hat, goggles and a velvet topcoat, you can proceed directly to Steampunk 102.

Written by Sarv, who likes us on Facebook. You should like us on Facebook too.