Buying comics can be an expensive hobby. A lot of fans simply can’t afford everything they’re interested in, due to rising prices and the over-saturation of the market with superhero titles.
That’s why we’re here. Every week, the Multiversity staff is asked “What would you buy this week if you couldn’t go over $20?” and shares their reasons why, in order to help others who might have similar tastes make their own decisions in buying comics on a budget. Be sure to leave your own picks in the comments!
Mark’s Pick:
The Night Eaters – Book 1: She Eats the Night ($24.99): Welcome to another edition of “Damn it, Mark, this is not how you play Comics Should Be Cheap!” This time I’m breaking the budget with the first book in Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s new graphic novel trilogy, “The Night Eaters” from Abrams ComicArts. That this made my list should be no surprise—I love Liu and Takeda’s “Monstress,” a series that gets better with each new arc. Plus, I’m naturally inclined to reading graphic novels over monthly comics, so ‘She Eats the Night’ is much more my reading style. Plus it’s horror. It’s like Liu and Takeda plucked a dream project from my head and made it real.
Total: $24.99. Of course, I’ll also be picking up “Lore Olympus – Volume 3.”
Kate’s Picks:
Chilling Adventures of Salem #1 ($3.99): Every 90s kid knows the best part of Sabrina the Teenage Witch was Salem, so this one shot is long overdue.
Minions: Mini Boss ($6.99): Look, I just can’t resist these adorable canary colored agents of chaos.
Approach #1 ($3.99): With the amount of air travel I do for work, I probably should not read this. And the concept itself is nothing new, the whole TV show Manifest (along with the Twilight Zone episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33”) deal with the mashup of air travel and time travel. But I remain curious, and let’s see how this stands out from the pack.
Total: $14.97. Honorable mention goes to “Keith Haring: Story of His Life” after being inspired by his work at a recent exhibition featuring him and Warhol that I saw while on vacation a few weeks ago.
Christopher’s Pick:
Black Mass Rising ($19.99): Theo Prasidis and Jodie Muir’s graphic novel, published by TKO in time for Halloween, raises a question I’m surprised hasn’t been asked, or at least been made more prominent: what happened to the Transylvanian subjects of Count Dracula after his demise? This being a horror book and all, I guess the answer is things go from bad to worse — it looks like a gorgeous read though.
Total: $19.99
Johnny’s Picks:
Starhenge: Dragon & Boar #4 (of 6) ($3.99): Artist Liam Sharp is swinging for the fences with this title, a creator-owned piece that might go down as one of his career best. Luscious visuals that bounce between styles in a sci-fi fantasy world layered on top of Arthurian legend. A truly dynamite work.
Star Wars: Visions #1 ($4.99): I don’t think I’m alone in lauding the Disney+ “Star Wars: Visions” series as a high watermark for Star Wars stories in the Disney era. Full of surprising and thoughtful spins on the Star Wars mythos, the anime-inspired anthology of cartoons reinvigorated the brand and left fans wanting more. Well, this month Marvel teams with one of the artists behind “The Duel” episode to tell another story featuring “The Ronin” and his droid sidekick. If you remember the bleached out visuals of a sleepy mountain town in that story, with sparse use of eye-popping color saved for droid lights and lightsabers, it’s again on full display here. I can’t wait!
Total: $8.98 – coming in well under the $20 this week, but I can’t help but mention that Image is releasing a new Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips “Reckless” story this Wednesday, and TKO Studios has a boatload of drops as well, the neatest of which is Garth Ennis and Steve Epting’s tremendous war story “Sara,” which gets a stunning collectors boxed set. Pray for my wallet, friends.
