Dynamite

While this week's cheap comic news might be dominated by DC's big ol' New 52 sale, digging a little deeper on Comixology will provide even more: A short but thorough sale on Dynamite's pulp-themed comics, featuring the Shadow, Doc Savage, the Spider and more, dropped down to as little as a buck an issue.

This weekend saw the annual Glyph Awards Ceremony take place in Philadelphia, at the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention. The awards champion and celebrate the best in comics made by, for, and about Black people, although the nominations are not exclusively limited to black creators.

I don't know how it happened, but we're living in this weird golden age of licensed comics based on movies and TV shows, and one of the most surprising and fun parts of that was the Bob's Burgers miniseries that kicked off last year. Featuring writers and artists who have worked on the show, each issue was divided into three main sections built around the Belcher kids: A mystery featuring Louise, a "musical" written and performed by Gene, and, in what was perhaps the best thing to happen in comics in 2014, Tina's Erotic Friend Fiction.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats.

Over the past year or so, comics publishers have jumped onto the online bundle bandwagon with both feet, offering up deals via HumbleBundle and StoryBundle, among other outlets. Now, Dynamite is trying a deal through yet another medium: BitTorrent. The publisher's "Mega Bundle" from BitTorrent Bundle includes 200-some issues of comics from 30 different series including Vampirella, Red Sonja, Bob's Burgers, Django/Zorro, The Green Hornet and Shaft, all for just $6.

Frank Barbiere is quickly becoming one of the most prolific and visible writers in comics, having built his reputation working on both original and company-owned properties for a number of independent publishers, including Blackout and The White Suits at Dark Horse, Black Market at Boom Studios, Solar: Man Of The Atom at Dynamite, and the fan-favorite Five Ghosts at Image. Now he's expanding even further, writing an Avengers title for Marvel, inking a deal to develop Five Ghosts in other media, and preparing to re-team with Boom for the launch of his new original series Broken World. In the midst of all this, he's somehow found the time to sit down for an in-depth conversation about his career to date, and his plans for the future, and bring us an exclusive first look at Broken World's characters, and some samples from this week's Five Ghosts #16.

Costume design is one of the great strengths of the superhero genre, a way to establish distinctive visual shorthand for a character and reveal key details about concept, purpose, and personality. But which is the best superhero costume of all time? This month, we’re asking you to decide, by voting up your favorites and voting down the rest. When we have your votes, we’ll compile a list of the greatest super-costumes of all time. For our seventh day of polls, we're looking at the designs of some of the most celebrated pulp heroes ever to grace the comics page. They don't have to have originated in comics, or to have originated in the pulp era, and they don't have to wear a domino mask or a red scarf or a gun belt. But it does look pretty cool when they do. Or does it?

This week marks the release of Prince Valiant #1, and with it, the final building block in the foundation of Dynamite's increasingly weird "King" universe. Built around the King Features characters that are best known as newspaper strips --- and in the case of The Phantom, a Billy Zane movie that invited viewers to 'slam evil!' --- the line got its start in the Kings Watch crossover in 2013. While Flash Gordon has stuck around and been pretty fantastic, it's only in the last month that the rest of the characters have rolled out into their own books to flesh out the world. Now, with everything in place, the King line has pulpy sci-fi, mystic adventure, superhero action and swords and sorcery from the days of King Arthur all jockeying for position and trying to come together as a cohesive unit. And to be honest, it's actually pretty awesome to see.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" Indeed, the Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less the comics-curious totally unfamiliar with the creators, characters and publishers the industry has to offer, or the sometimes confusing system of periodicals, trades, crossovers, pre-ordering, variants, reprints, and all the other dark mysteries of comic book shopping. It's with these challenges in mind that we've created Best Comic Books Ever (This Week), an ongoing guide curated by rotating members of the ComicsAlliance staff. This is where new comics readers will find the easiest access to the best variety of cool books our storytelling medium has to offer, and where seasoned Wednesday shoppers can find recommendations for new titles to try out.