Posted in: Comics | Tagged: alex ross, Comics, dynamite, entertainment, gail simone, george r r martin, humble bundle, kevin smith, neil gaiman, Robert Jordan, sherlock holmes, warren ellis, Wheel Of Time

Looking Inside Dynamite's Humble Bundle

Published Wed, 02 Jul 2014 11:30:10 -0500

by Dan Wickline

Comments

I've been covering the Humble Dynamite 10^th Anniversary Bundle for the last week and decided I was going to go ahead and buy/donate this week. I spent $15.91 on the bundle. I meant to spend $16 but as I adjusted the sliders the amount went down a little and I hadn't noticed. As I write this over 16,500 bundles have been sold for an amount over $187,000.00 and there is still six days left to go.

The reason I went over $15 has to do with Alex Ross and Robert Jordan. More specifically my friend Ashley is constantly talking about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and by spending that amount I got the full 36 issue run. Now Ashley reads the novels, but by reading the comics I can tell if I want to pick up the novels for myself. Also, spending over $15 unlocks the Dynamite Art of Alex Ross. This is a gorgeous book and I love art books. Seeing all the penciled roughs and the finish art is great. I love seeing Ross' takes on the different Superpowers characters and the Green Hornet. As much as I would love to have the physical copy of the book, having it digitally is still very enjoyable and much cheaper.

Putting those two aside, the bundle still has a lot of other great comics starting with the Vampirella Masters volumes 1, 2 and 4. Here you get the work of Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Jeph Loeb and Kurt Busiek. Those are some top of the line writers all working on a single character. In the 45 years of her existence, Vampirella has attracted some of the best writers in comics and this collection brings a lot of that to light.

For fans of George R R Martin who can't wait for Game of Thrones season 5 to start, you get something else by the slow going writer. Issues one through six of Wildcards adapted by Daniel Abraham and Eric Battle. Here Martin puts down the Iron Throne and picks up science and superheroes. Martin is the most responsible for pulling the concept together and editing it, but he was joined by a lot of other writers who contributed to the series like Chris Claremont, Roger Zelazny and John J. Miller. Story has it that Neil Gaiman pitched a concept to Martin for the series but was rejected for his lack of writing credits at the time. He went on to do the same story over at DC Comics, calling it Sandman.

Also in the bundle are Kevin Smith's Green Hornet Vol 1 & 2, Gail Simone's Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues, Pathfinder: Dark Waters Rising, the full Project Superpowers series and John Reppion and Leah Moore's Sherlock Holmes: The Trail Of Sherlock Holmes. Smith handling of the Green Hornet is infinitely better than the mockery performed by Seth Rogan. Gail Simone's run on Red Sonja with Walter Giovanni has been nothing short of stellar and continues on today. Pathfinder has just started its second storyline and from what I'm told, folks who play the game love the series. Project Superpowers is a nice read and a great way to get your superhero fix without all the crossover contamination we are seeing from other companies. And I haven't read the Sherlock Holmes series yet, but Reppion and Moore are a great writing team so I am looking forward to jumping in.

If all of that was not enough to make me feel like I got more than my money's worth for $15… there are also the first issues of new series like Chaos by Tim Seeley, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: War Cry and the first three issues of Bill Willingham's Legenderry. Plus there are still more comics I haven't even got to download yet.

This reminds me of an old George Carlin line from his Icebox Man routine. "Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put them in the refrigerator you think: I'm saving food! And then, after a month has gone by and there is hair growing out of the middle of it and you throw it away, you think: I'm saving my life!" The Humble Dynamite 10^th Anniversary Bundle makes you feel good twice. First when you buy it, you think: I'm helping out a good cause! Then, when you have downloaded all the books and start looking at what you got, you think: Wow, I got a great deal! $258.00 worth of digital comics for $15.00 or more and you control how much of that goes to charity? I feel like I got an awesome deal and I know that 2/3rds of the money I spent is going to charity.