Biff Bam Pop’s Holiday Gift Guide 2014: Comic Book Compilations Part 1

Over the last few weeks, our 2014 Gift Guide has detailed a number of comic book related ideas that you should consider wrapping up for that special pop-culture comic book fan in your life. You can check out two of those lists here and here.

Now, those selections are a little on the pricier side of things, but there are a number of fantastic – and affordable – comic book related compilations that you could lovingly give this holiday season.

Follow me after the jump, and I’ll run through eight different titles, in multiple collections, that everyone needs to reading!

There’s still time to pick up some great comics, either physically at your local comic book shop or via Amazon (who are pretty good with their shipping options to ensure you get your goods on time!).

Here are some of the books you, your friends, and your loved ones should be reading:

Velvet: This past summer, publisher Image Comics released the first softcover compilation of the somewhat bi-monthly Velvet series, subtitled: Before the Living End. Of course, we highlighted the comic book on the weekly The Wednesday Run column when it fist stared in the fall of 2013 – which you can read right here. Created by fan and critic favourites Ed Brubaker (writer) and Steve Epting (illustrator), the story centers around Velvet Templteton, a secretary in a British spy agency during the early 1970’s. This is the time of the cold war and nothing is as it seems – including Ms. Templeton, who believes there is a mole within her agency! This is the stuff of Ian Fleming and John le Carre and you’re going to love it!

Find it at your local comic book shop or pick it up at Amazon for under $10 right here!

Lazarus: Collecting the first four issues, Lazarus Volume 1 by Greg Rucka (writer) and Michael Lark (illustrator) is not-too-distant-future action and political thriller where family relationships are at the heart of the story. The world, you see, is no longer set by country borders. Powerful families run the world, each vying for a greater piece of it. Some of them have technology at their disposal while others have proficiency with genetic engineering. Each uses their skill to hold sway over the other and Forever Carlyle is the Lazarus (a family protector/warrior/security agent) for her family.

Lazarus is an enthralling read from a wonderful team of creators who are firing on all cylinders. Once again, we recommended it on The Wednesday Run column and it has lived up and surpassed its promises.

You can find it at your local comic book shop on at Amazon for under $7 right here.

Black Science: Twenty years from now, people are going to gather together and talk comic books and, inevitably, someone is going say “Remember Black Science? That was awesome! Did you read it?”

Written by Rick Remender and lavishly illustrated by Matteo Scalera, Black Science is the story of a group of dimensionauts calling themselves the Anarchistic Order of Scientists, lost amongst worlds that are not their own, tying to find their way home again. Come on! It doesn’t get any more awesome than that! And yes, the first issue of the series was, once again, highlighted in The Wednesday Run which you can read up on here.

Again, you can pick up Black Science Vol 1: How to Fall Forever at your local comic book shop or at Amazon for under $7 right here.

Moon Knight: Admittedly, I didn’t know much about Moon Knight when I started reading this monthly series. It was acclaimed writer Warren Ellis that got me interested in the character and it was the visuals of Declan Shalvey that blew me away. Each of the six issues that make up this compilation, Moon Knight Vol 1: From the Dead, is a one and done story – something practically unheard of in today’s comic book landscape. And they’re all brilliant.

Come follow Marc Spectre, a vigilante with a fractured mind, employing the mystical force of the Egyptian moongod Khonhu to protect the innocent of New York.

You can read up on some back history of Moon Knight in Biiff Bam Pop contributor Jason Shayer’s Tales Form the Long Box column here as well as one of the stories in this trade paperback compilation, which just so happened to make The Wednesday Run here.

You can purchase Moon Knight Vol 1: From the Dead at your local comic book shop, or at Amazon for under $14 here.

Check back with us tomorrow for the second and final part of the “Comic Book Compilation” Gift Guide.