Comic Book Gift Ideas for the Holidays

Today is Cyber Monday, meaning that it’s the unofficial start of the online holiday season. Of course, many retailers have been offering promotions since before Thanksgiving, but many of us have only just started thinking of gifts for the holidays.   What to do if you are fortunate enough to have a comic-loving nerd in your life? Or maybe you have family asking you what you’d like this year, and you can’t think of anything? Have no fear – let’s look at many comic book gift ideas for the holidays.   Saga Deluxe Edition, Volume One Okay, you’ve heard of the greatness of the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples series Saga (perhaps even from me). However, it’s now a couple years into its run and that’s a lot of trades to give someone. Luckily, Image Comics has just released a handy and handsome hardcover volume of the first 18 issues of Saga for the very affordable list price of $49.99.   Marvel 75th Anniversary Omnibus This thing is massive, but when a book is covering the best stories of 75 years of Marvel Comics, you’d expect it to be large. Well, how about 1,000 pages of the best Marvel comic stories? This is a great collection of notable stories and some of the best talent to work for The House of Ideas over the past seven decades. Although it doesn’t have a lot of extra features, it retails at $99.99, a pretty reasonable amount for a high-quality large collection like this.     Superhero Bookends Many comic book trade paperbacks are be very large and can be prone to toppling over if you don’t have a full shelf of them. This looks like a job for Superman and/or Batman! A set of Superman-Batman bookends holds up your books in style. You can even use them on books without pictures, if you get around to reading those, too. Of course, there are many options out there, so if your loved one prefers someone other than Clark and Bruce, you’ll probably still in luck.   The Walking Dead Compendiums So there’s this show that people seem to like about zombies… maybe you’ve heard of it? Anyway, the television show shares and diverges from the comic book stories in a number of interesting ways. For fans of the television show, the Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1 and Volume 2 (which combined cover the first 96 issues of the comic book!) will make for compelling reading while we wait for the show to start again.     Marvel Unlimited The Netflix streaming model is becoming increasing popular as a way to experience media. Pay one price per month and use as much as you want rather than pay per purchase/view. Marvel Comics has opened up their digital comics archive with a similar approach if you join Marvel Unlimited. You can read on an unlimited basis from the vast store of Marvel digital comics that have been published over the past 75 years for a monthly fee. It will not cover brand-new issues (it takes six months for a issue to appear) but there are still months (if not years) worth of great comics to read. It does require the Marvel Unlimited app, so make sure your giftee has a new-ish phone or tablet (they can also read on the computer).   Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side Box Set Not all great comics have tights and capes. There are many beloved comics elsewhere. Comics that appear in the newspapers are often called cartoon or comic strips, and two of the most lauded and time-tested comic strips are Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson and The Far Side by Gary Larson. Both use humor while also being very smart. Both also have complete box sets in time for the holidays that would make awesome gifts for fans of the series. The Complete Far Side lists for $100 for paperback. The Complete Calvin & Hobbes lists for $100 for paperback and $175 for hardcover.     DC Comics coffee table books You don’t have to have a nice coffee table to want these fancy volumes. DC Comics – A Visual History and the DC Encyclopedia have tons of fun info on all of the DC heroes and villains. This is sure to be enjoyed by a hardcore DC fan or a totally newbie just jumping onto the “New 52.”     Comixology gift cards Finally, if you still can’t figure out the perfect comic book gift idea (or maybe you don’t know the giftee especially well), there’s always the gift card route. Of course, Amazon gift cards are great for those who like physical books. For the digital comics fan, go for a E-gift card from Comixology, the premier digital comics platform. That way, your gift allows a comics fan to choose whatever he or she wants from Marvel, DC, Image and many other publishers.   There are many other comic book gift ideas for the holidays out there, so good luck shopping for that perfect (or at least not terrible) gift this December. Also, maybe while you’re working so hard shopping for others, you can pick a comic book gift or two or ten for yourself!