On The Cheap

More often than not, I use the On The Cheap column to recommend some buried treasures from the world of superhero comics, but this time, we're going to something a little different: The Leg, an original graphic novel from Van Jensen and Jose Pimienta that weaved a magical realism tale of Santa Anna's severed leg returning to life and journeying across Mexico in 1938 on a mission of revenge. And if that sounds weird, well, it is.

We're going to go ahead and assume that the kind of people who read websites that are primarily devoted to intense opinions about comic books and jokes about the Bottle City of Kandor are also going to be pretty interested in good deals on dice-based roleplaying games about fighting dragons with magic swords. If that's the case, here's some good news --- and if you're a person who's been thinking about getting into RPGs but didn't know where to start, it's even better. This week, Paizo Publishing and Humble Bundle launched a deal where $15 will get you 43 books worth of dungeon-crawling, character-creating, spell-casting fun --- including a good chunk of the brand-new Hell's Rebels adventure path.

This week, Comixology has launched a sale featuring the work of the legendary Neal Adams, and let's be real here: the odds are pretty good that you're already well aware of the man and his work. Whether it's his classic adventure stories of the '70s, or his more recent, mind-boggling miniseries, Neal Adams has had a hand in producing some of the most memorable comics of the past five decades. So you'll forgive me if you have this one already, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that you can grab one of my all-time favorite stories today for under two dollars: Batman #243 and #244, in which Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams introduce the world to Ra's al-Ghul and Talia, and build to one of the single greatest pages in the history of the Caped Crusader.

This week marked the release of Shaft: Imitation of Life, the second miniseries about the legendary private eye from Dynamite, and if you somehow missed out on the first series --- one of last year's best minis --- then here's a bit of good timing for you. This week's Humble Bundle features David F. Walker and Bilquis Eveley's Shaft: A Complicated Man. But it's not alone, either. For fifteen bucks, you can grab everything that's on offer, including Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's The Shadow: Fires of Creation, a collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Alice Cooper, and one of the most enjoyable crossovers in a long while, Django/Zorro.

I gotta be honest with you, folks: I am pretty excited about DC's Legends of Tomorrow. The fact that we're living in this magical time where we can get a giant, live-action crossover between DC's second-string heroes as a major television event does my heart good. And it also might be the source of the weirdest Comixology sale I've ever seen. The big Legends of Tomorrow sale has thrown in stuff as weird as the '90s Power of the Atom, the Blackest Night and Brightest Day crossovers, and even a seven-issue Final Crisis tie-in so that readers can catch up on Heatwave and Captain Cold's previous adventures. But if you only have one dollar and you want to check out the single best issue of the bunch, then you need to pick up Hawkman #27 --- also known as the one time that the team behind Criminal, The Fade Out and Fatale did a story about a grumpy bird man who hits things with a mace.

I've been keeping my eye on the Humble Bundle for a long time now to find good deals on cheap comics, and one of the things that still surprises me every time there's a new one is that there's always something brand new in there. Take, for instance, the current bundle, which focuses on creator-owned comics from Image. Not only does it have Image mainstays like Invincible, Phonogram, and Saga, but it also includes the first volume of Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod's Kaptara, collecting the first five issues of the series. Folks. Kaptara vol. 1 came out less than a month ago. #6 isn't even out yet. So on the off chance that you need an economic justification to get a whole bunch of comic books and support the Human Rights Campaign, just imagine that you're paying full price for Kaptara, Bitch Planet, and Just The Tips, and getting 47 issues of Invincible for free.

Unless you're the kind of traditionalist who knows that today is the day to send your true love four colly birds, the post-Christmas hangover is well and truly upon us. But doesn't that just mean that it's time to do something for yourself? Of course it does, and to help you with that, Comixology has kicked off a sale on Dynamite Entertainment's entire line, offering up over 2,500 comics to get for half off. But with that many, you might need some help narrowing it down, and if that's the case, I've picked out two of the best comics you can grab before the sale ends on Sunday, featuring two of your favorite cinematic heroes: James Bond and Shaft.

It's Christmas Eve, and at this point, you know all the compelling reasons to buy digital comcis in this festive holiday season: Last-minute gifts for friends across the country, something to read on your phone as you take a long road trip over the river and through the woods, all that good stuff. What matters now is how many you can get, and how cheap you can get 'em, and lucky for us, Comixology has a sale on what seems to be Image's entire back catalog at 50% off! It's a great opportunity to get recent stuff like Kaptara, Monstress, Citizen Jack, Black Magick, plus your standard year-end list-toppers like Sex Criminals, WicDiv and more, but with over 4,000 comics on offer, it's also a great time to go back and pick up some deep cuts, too. And there's no better comic to get in that entire sale than my all-time favorite superhero comic, Jack Staff.

Digital comics make for a pretty fantastic holiday gift. They're easy to buy, you don't have to leave the house to get 'em, and you can send 'em to friends and family across the country for free without having to fight your way through crowds at the post office. So as the time winds down before Christmas finally gets here on Friday, DC and Comixology have launched a "DC 101 Sale" --- and whether you're picking up some last-minute gifts or just looking for something for yourself, it's well worth checking out. The usual problem --- well, "problem" --- with these "101" sales is that they're usually full of stuff that you've already read, but this time, there are some fantastic deep cuts on sale that you shouldn't miss, all of which are dropped down to a mere six bucks. But if you want the single best deal in the entire collection, then you need to get Tales of the Batman: Len Wein.

This week marked the start of DC's Robin War event, in which children dressed as birds will presumably battle each other with consequences far more dire than that description might suggest. But while we wait to see who will survive and what will be left of them, now's a pretty good chance to catch up on the history of Batman's sidekick. Fortunately for us, there's a big Robin sale going on at Comixology, with a ton of great stuff from the character's long history, covering everything from the Silver Age Teen Titans to the modern super-spy adventures of Grayson. If you need a place to start, read on and let me be your guide!