FREE/BARGAIN — Comics

[GA Russell]

Two more Pearls collections have come up.

Pearls Hogs the Road

$1.99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9HDZWY

*****

Pearls Awaits the Tide

$2.99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KP646JW

[ZodWallop]

Digiphile (a Humble Bundle competitor) has the entire Astro City collection for $15.

These are the big Metrobook collections, all six of them. On Amazon, they go for over $20 a piece.

Astro City is one of the best series I've ever read. It doesn't really have a single POV character. Instead, each issue would tell a (usually) standalone story in Astro City and over time they build up a tapestry. And Brent Anderson's artwork is beautiful.

Files are DRM-free, downloadable as ePub, CBZ or PDF.

As the lady in The Ring said, you have "seven days..."

[isarl]

Fanatical has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) bundle available for sale, but it says you will need to create an account with IDW and download their app to access the content, so I suspect that it is NOT available as DRM-free downloads. I won't be buying this prospectively without knowing about the DRM status for certain, so if anybody else knows whether this bundle is encumbered by DRM or not, I would love to know.

Turtle Power comes to Fanatical with this radical lineup of 32 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles graphic novels. Grab a slice of your favourite pizza and follow Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo as they do battle with sinister foes in a series of action-packed adventures.

Don't miss the chance to snap up the complete origin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW series spanning issues #1 - 150, in this three-tier bundle of brilliance.

Tier One leaps from the sewers with volumes one to three covering issues #1 - 16.

Volume One sees the Turtle’s family at stake as the new origin of TMNT is revealed. Strap in, the wild ride begins.

Tier Two offers more reptile revelry, taking you up to volume ten, spanning issues #17 - 40, where our heroes do battle with furious foes like General Krang and the deadly Foot Clan.

In Volume four, the turtles embark on a new mission, but the dreaded Shredder’s ambitions could put an end to it before they begin.

Tier Three will surely make you shout Cowabunga! With the complete offering of 32 graphic novels, taking you from issues #41 - 150.

Join the turtles on a rollercoaster ride of adventures, battling brutal foes and embarking on awesome adventures.

The series comes to a dramatic climax in City at War Part One and Two, and sees New York City torn apart in this explosive story where the shocking culmination of nearly a decade of storytelling comes to a head. Find out how a City at War will change the world forever!

Reborn, Vol. 1 takes you to the new world of TMNT, after the cataclysmic events of “City At War,” the Turtles find New York City drastically changed. With new villains and factions appearing, will the turtles survive?

Put on your favourite headband, and snatch this incredible offer before it’s gone.

Download the free IDW Digital Comics Experience app on your Smartphone or tablet to redeem the products in the bundle.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by isarl

I won't be buying this prospectively without knowing about the DRM status for certain, so if anybody else knows whether this bundle is encumbered by DRM or not, I would love to know.

If it's Fanatical (which it is) and it does not explicitly say DRM-free (which it does not) then it is strongly DRM-locked. Also this:

"The books will not be visible in the IDW Publishing website, only in the Android or iOS apps."

[TrevorViking]

After the Dark Horse Digital fiasco, I’m hesitant to ever buy anything locked to one company’s app, outside of Amazon I guess.

[salty-horse]

Emotions Explained with Buff Dudes by Andrew Tsyaston (Shen Comix) is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

"You know how, since the dawn of humanity, great philosophers and poets have dedicated their entire lives to exploring concepts like love, life itself, logic, and sorrow? Well, those great philosophers and poets are dead now, so I win." — Shen
Emotions Explained With Buff Dudes is your fully illustrated guide to the hyper-conflicted, tragicomic feelings of our age. Featuring the resilient, shaggy-haired Shen, this debut collection of Owlturd Comix is a tale of triumph and survival — of getting your ass kicked by sleep deprivation and student loans, but never losing hope. Most of all, it's an amusing, instructive journey through a vast array of emotions, including those best explained with dudes who are buff.

[Rbneader]

Originally Posted by TrevorViking

After the Dark Horse Digital fiasco, I’m hesitant to ever buy anything locked to one company’s app, outside of Amazon I guess.

I've realized that I simply stopped buying things that depend on some other random person's infrastructure, which is what 'cloud' or requiring a specific app always boils down to.

There's so much published for flat out free on the internet, let alone if you count libraries and borrowing from friends, let alone other hobbies and life activities, that I'm totally uninterested in paying for an inferior product. It's not even a principled stance, I just got inconvenienced so often I lost interest.

I used to be a huge book buyer, but over the years I've ended up thinking of books, video games, and fast food burgers as basically the same disposable product. If it's priced right I might take a look, but 'right' means 'for pocket change', or I know I can find something better elsewhere.

I'm sure that would horrify some authors. But when the relevant infrastructure has ended up being part of purchase, the reliability and value of that infrastructure impacts the value of the purchase.

[salty-horse]

Cross-posted to Horror.
Let Me in Your Window by Adam Ellis is $2 on Amazon.com
Short stories by popular internet cartoonist (Bluesky)

This sequel to Adam Ellis’s New York Times bestselling Bad Dreams in the Night is packed with terrifying twists, haunted houses, urban legends, and delightfully horrifying stories—like your own personal campfire ghost stories packed into a graphic novel. Each story will make you scream for more!

This brand-new collection of delightful horror comics includes ten new thrilling and terrifying stories that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and peering out their windows in fright. Adam Ellis, one of the biggest stars in webcomics, brings his unique blend of humor and horror to life with stunning illustrations and gripping narratives. Stories include Sleepwalker, about a terrifying and unexplained incident at a youth hostel, Old Machines, about receiving instant messages from a friend who has been dead for years, and Sunken Express, which chronicles a paranormal journey on a phantom subway car. Whether it’s a ghostly encounter, a creepy urban legend, or a supernatural mystery, Let Me In Your Window is guaranteed to give you the creeps.

[bookmarked]

It's a Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson is on sale for $1.99, regularly $9.99.

In It’s a Magical World, the saga of Calvin and Hobbes comes to a close with the final strips from March 20 to December 31, 1995. Snowmen turn into imaginative masterpieces, Calvinball erupts into glorious chaos, and father-son camping trips spark both comedy and reflection. Spaceman Spiff blasts off one last time, while Watterson’s signature balance of humor, insight, and sentiment delivers a farewell that is both joyful and bittersweet.

Black-and-white dailies and full-color Sundays showcase Calvin’s limitless imagination, Hobbes’ sardonic wisdom, and the everyday hilarity of school, home, and play. Environmental satire, social commentary, and moments of quiet introspection highlight Watterson’s artistry, reminding readers of the fleeting wonder of childhood. This final treasury distills everything that makes the strip unforgettable—mischief, philosophy, and boundless creativity—making it a fitting and essential conclusion for fans of all ages.

Highlights:

Final strips of Calvin and Hobbes, capturing the series’ conclusion
Peak creativity in snowmen, snowball fights, and imaginative play
Chaotic Calvinball games with ever-changing rules
Father-son camping adventures and philosophical musings
Environmental and social satire at its sharpest
Spaceman Spiff adventures and playful daydreams at their peak
Bittersweet yet joyful farewell to the duo
Iconic last strip: Calvin and Hobbes exploring fresh snow together
Both color and black and white strips

[Cactus Chef]

Collection of works by Kazuo Koike, including Lone Wolf and Cub:
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/l...rse_bookbundle

$18 gets you 63 volumes. I know I've seen just Lone Wolf collection cheaper before (maybe it was Fanatical?), but the other works might be enough of a value add to entice someone who hasn't pulled the trigger yet.

I do wish they were CBZ rather than PDF. Oh well.

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

...

I do wish they were CBZ rather than PDF. Oh well.

I had some PDFs that were just collections of images and I wanted to have them in a different format so I whipped up a small C# .NET application to extract the images. It assumes that the PDF just consists of a collection of embedded JPG images (and some small miscellaneous stuff it ignores) and saves them out to individual files. Then you could add them to a new CBZ file.

using iText.Kernel.Exceptions;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;

PdfDocument pdfDoc = new(new PdfReader("../../../pdfs/test.pdf"));
PdfObject obj;
List<int> streamLengths = new();
int imgNum = 0;
for (int i = 1; i <= pdfDoc.GetNumberOfPdfObjects(); i++)
{
    obj = pdfDoc.GetPdfObject(i);
    if (obj != null && obj.IsStream())
    {
        byte[] b;
        try
        {
            b = ((PdfStream)obj).GetBytes();
        }
        catch (PdfException)
        {
            b = ((PdfStream)obj).GetBytes(false);
        }
        if (b.Length > 2048 )
        {
            MemoryStream fos = new(b);
            string pageNum = ("0000" + imgNum++)[^4..];
            FileStream file = new($"../../../images/{pageNum}.jpg", FileMode.Create, System.IO.FileAccess.Write);
            fos.WriteTo(file);

            streamLengths.Add(b.Length);
            fos.Close();
            file.Close();
        }
    }
}
pdfDoc.Close();

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by andyh2000

I had some PDFs that were just collections of images and I wanted to have them in a different format so I whipped up a small C# .NET application to extract the images. It assumes that the PDF just consists of a collection of embedded JPG images (and some small miscellaneous stuff it ignores) and saves them out to individual files. Then you could add them to a new CBZ file.

Take a look at pdfimages from the poppler suite (open source PDF library and utilities):

https://man.archlinux.org/man/pdfimages.1.en

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Take a look at pdfimages from the poppler suite (open source PDF library and utilities):

https://man.archlinux.org/man/pdfimages.1.en

Hah. I should have gone looking first, clearly. But why do that when you can reinvent the wheel, badly?

[salty-horse]

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
A film adaptation is about to be released.

In the tradition of The Arabian Nights, a beautifully illustrated tapestry of folk tales and myths about the secret legacy of female storytellers in an imagined medieval world.

In the Empire of Migdal Bavel, Cherry is married to Jerome, a wicked man who makes a diabolical wager with his friend Manfred: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in one hundred nights, he can have his castle -- and Cherry.

But what Jerome doesn't know is that Cherry is in love with her maid Hero. The two women hatch a plan: Hero, a member of the League of Secret Story Tellers, will distract Manfred by regaling him with a mesmerizing tale each night for 100 nights, keeping him at bay. Those tales are beautifully depicted here, touching on themes of love and betrayal and loyalty and madness.

As intricate and richly imagined as the works of Chris Ware, and leavened with a dry wit that rivals Kate Beaton's in Hark! A Vagrant, Isabel Greenberg's One Hundred Nights of Hero will capture readers' hearts and minds, taking them through a magical medieval world.