ERIC'S "THIS ISSUE'S ONLY THE COST OF AN EMAIL!" NEWSLETTER VOL. 5 #3

INTRODUCTION
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Seems like everyone's at it. This week, Daredevil's 25-cent issue and Superman's 10-cent issue both rolled in the front doors and they got me
thinking... if it's possible that the comic book companies can pull this stunt every once in awhile, how much money do they REALLY make off of the comics they sell? Granted, no comic book or magazine company really makes a lot of money off of the cover prices; advertising's where it's at, baby, but I always thought that the cover price had to contribute SOMETHING to the profit off a comic.

Ah, well. I've been wrong about stranger stuff so this month, I'm charging only the cost of your average email for the newsletter.

Wait.

I do that every month. <sigh> Back to the drawing board. Let's get on with the comics, shall we?

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE...
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Although I'm celebrating the long-awaited death of the ongoing series Azrael: Agent of the Bat this month, I somehow feel that would be a strange suggestion for anyone to read. I really prefer to pick comics that I would enjoy READING, as opposed to picking comics that I'd enjoy BURNING for heat and survival.

So, this month I picked the six-issue mini-series:

MARVEL UNIVERSE: THE END. It chronicles what might happen to cause the final days of the Marvel Universe and stars all the big characters you want to see. It's fun, it's fluffy. It's like a Pillsbury crescent roll.

JAN031553 Marvel Universe - The End #1. $3.50 retail.
JAN031554 Marvel Universe - The End #2. $2.25 retail.

THE BIZ
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DEVIL MAY CRY AND METAL GEAR SOLID - THE COMIC
Not necessarily together, but rumor has it that the two majorly big hit Playstation 2 games Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Solid may make their way into the comic industry. Vampires and special military ops guys are nothing new in the comic world, though these two games may have enough back-story to make for interesting comics.

GRANT MORRISON, BRYAN HITCH, AND... SUPERMAN?
After blowing off the doors with Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb's Batman, it's no surprise that DC, like Marvel's Ultimate line, is looking to do the same bang-up job with their other big money-earner, Supes. So, DC's after Morrison and Hitch to head up the team and make the ol' blue-and-red a little less tighty-whitey. Here's hopin'...

ORIGIN 2 - THIS TIME IT'S EVEN MORE... UM... ORIGINAL
Yes, you knew it was going to happen. After Marvel blew Wolverine's origin wide-open in the aptly-named mini-series Origin, they're looking to make a sequel. Maybe Wolvie heads over to cali to join in the early-1900s gold rush? Maybe he was the REAL first man on the moon? Ah, the possibilities. (This must be why I don't ever get offers to write comics...)

TRANSFORMERS MINI-SERIES PRIMED FOR RELEASE
Next up to the plate, Optimus Prime gets his own mini-series from good ol' Dreamwave Productions. Riding high on their successes and enjoying their view from their new San Diego offices, the Optimus Prime mini will be headed by Chris Sarracini (from G1) and James Raiz (from Armada). The five-issue mini starts this May.

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW's Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the January 2003 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8 KB!) at:

http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/feb03top100.pdf

The last four months' Top-100 are still available, too:
January '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/jan03top100.pdf

December '02
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/dec02top100.pdf

November '02
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/nov02top100.pdf

October '02
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/oct02top100.pdf

It's Comics NOW's very own Top-10 list. This list is based on the internal sales quantities of the titles with Premiere being the big turkeys who pay to be entitled that way: Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics. Wizard Entertainment sometimes works its way in there, but I'll leave it up to you to determine whether they're worthy. Independent is everyone else, all those little gobblers that no one really pays attention to... or do they?

Here's an example of how to read this new format:
1. (3) The Amazing Eric Comic #560
"1." - where the title is this month
"(3)" - where the title was LAST month ("-" if it wasn't)
title - this should be pretty obvious
"#560" - the issue number

TOP 10 PREMIERE COMICS
1. (3) Ultimate Spider-Man #36
2. (-) Ultimates #9
3. (4) Ultimate War #4
4. (5) Batman #612
5. (6) Amazing Spider-Man #50
6. (7) Ultimate X-Men #29
7. (9) New X-Men #137
8. (2) Daredevil #43
9. (10) Uncanny X-Men #419
10. (-) Truth

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS
1. (1) Transformers War Within #5
2. (2) Transformers Armada #8
3. (3) Brath #1
4. (-) Lady Death #1 Medieval Tale
5. (4) Sojourn #20
6. (6) Ruse #16
7. (5) Route 666 #9
8. (8) Scion #33
9. (9) Way of the Rat #10
10. (-) Crux #23

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS
THE DEVIL'S FOOTPRINTS #1 of 4
Brandon Waite is the youngest son of a deceased sorcerer whose passing has cursed his family. In an effort to put an end to the curse, Waite tries to use his father's tricks to make deals with devils in order to figure out why what's happening to his family is happening. Magic's always a good thing, and since the next volume in the Harry Potter series doesn't come out 'till next June, it's worth a look.
By Scott Allie, Paul Lee, Brian Horton, and Dave Stewart. 32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

JUDGE DREDD VS. ALIENS: INCUBUS # 1 of 4
He's big, bad and ugly. They're big, bad, and ugly. Who would've thought it would take Dark Horse so long to put these two in the same ring? I mean, with Mike Tyson boxing again, anything's possible? Anyway, Judge Dredd has to take on an infestation of Aliens when he and a group of judges discover that fine Mega-City One has been invaded.
By John Wagner, Andy Diggle, and Henry Flint.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

BLOOD WORLD #1 of 3
Dark Horse is the land of mini-series this month. This one hails from Korea and is set in a "hyper-violent, science fiction war epic" style. Um... okay. Let's see how many different genres we can mix together without muddying the waters too much. First glance tells me to be particularly skeptical of this one, especially since it's written and drawn by the same person (smells a little like Todd McFarlane to me...)
By Eddie Park and Digital Chameleon.
24 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS
AZRAEL: AGENT OF THE BAT #100
It's the final issue!!! Join me as we burn it in retribution for over 8 years of garbage!!! First, Azrael started off as the character who was set up to replace Batman when Bruce Wayne's back was broken in Knightfall. Then, we found out that he's the genetic experimentation of a human man and a female ape. Ohhhh-kay. Soon, he became the most gullible character in the DC Universe, easily believing that Bruce Wayne committed the murder of Vesper Fairchild, and generally being a gigantic psychotic mess of a superhero. I used to love this character... the ongoing series made me hade him.
By Dennis O'Neil, Sergio Cariello, Mike Zeck, and Jerry Ordway.
32 pages. LAST ISSUE!!! $2.95 retail.

SMALLVILLE #1
Ah, comics imitate TV imitating comics. Don't you love it when you enter the full circle of modern media? It's the comic book rendition of, you guessed it, Smallville! The ever-popular WB television series finally makes it into a respectable medium!
By Mark Verheiden, Clint Carpenter, Mark Plunkett, Mark Morales, and John Van Fleet.
48 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

JLA: SCARY MONSTERS #1 of 6
It's JLA meets Poltergeist when Green Lantern and the Flash go on vacation to a resort built on an Indian burial ground. No, I'm not making this up! DC even describes it as an "Indian burial ground" and not a "Native American burial ground." How non-PC. It's a mini-series, where the spirits of the ancients are looking to kick some superhero bootie. Will the JLA get out alive? Well, seeing as how the ongoing series will still run, my money's on "Yes."
By Chris Claremont, Josh hood, and Sean Parsons.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.50 retail.

DANGER GIRL: HAWAIIAN PUNCH
Obviously, in this one-shot, the Danger Girls go to Hawaii to seek out some rest and relaxation. Naturally, nothing goes to plan and all hell breaks loose. Unfortunately, this comic's only WRITTEN by J. Scott Campbell and not DRAWN by him. When will he and McFarlane realize that we don't like the STORY, we like the ART?
By J. Scott Campbell, Andy Hartnell, and Phil Noto.
48 pages. One-shot. $4.95 retail.

RELOAD #1 of 3
The President of the United States is assassinated while under Secret Agent Chris Royal's watch. The mini-series follows Royal as he seals Washington D.C. in an effort to contain the killer. Although a morbid storyline, it's being headed up by Warren Ellis, and you've got to love him.
By Warren Ellis, Paul Gulacy, and Jimmy Palmiotti.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

BLOOD AND WATER #1 of 5
It's kind of a comedic version of Interview with a Vampire. Adam Heller is dying and his vampire friends decide to offer him immortality. Sure, it's cool at first (you can watch all the Real World marathons you want without that nasty guilt I'm-wasting-my-life feeling) but after a while, Heller begins to realize that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when darker legacies than vampires come looking for this newly-born vampire.
By Judd Winick, Tomm Coker, and Brian Bolland.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

IMAGE COMICS
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE VOL. 2 #1
Could you see it coming? I could. First the mini-series, then the ongoing. Apparently, readers can't enough of everyone's favorite half-naked fur-lined-bikini-wearing Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike. He's back, and he's ready to battle Skeletor for all the power of Grayskull... and by the power of it, too, for that matter.
By Val Staples, Emiliano Santalucia, and Marco Failla.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

MYTHSTALKERS #1
Imagine Ghostbusters hunting Myths. Need a little more help than that? Okay. I can't blame you. Let's take this approach - throw the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen into the mix? Getting there? The Mythstalkers is set in the early 1900s and stars a rag-tag group of indviduals who are trying to figure out why myths are coming to life, all while trying not to get killed in the process.
By Douglas Barre and Jiro.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

Player vs. Player (PvP) #1
It's a comic book about a magazine. I'm kind of stuck on this concept. It makes me pause for thought. I mean, who thought to make a comic book chronicling the lives of one of the few media less interesting to follow than comics? At any rate, it's based on an ever-popular comic strip (that I've never heard of), and might be worth reading. It follows the staff of PvP magazine and will take you on a tour of PvP's offices. If you like magazines, this is the comic book for you.
By Scott Kurtz and Frank Cho.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

MARVEL COMICS
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHAT PRICE GLORY #1 of 4
Poor Steve Rogers. He's super-powered, admired by millions, and haunted by the ghosts of his past missions and people he's killed in the name of America. What is the cost of everything he's done in the name of Freedom? What is his retribution for eternal vigilance? If you like Captain America, this mini-series is slated to give a little background information on what drives the man behind the mask.
By Steve Rude, J.G. Jones, Bruce Jones, and Mike Royer.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL UNIVERSE: THE END #1 and #2 of 6
It's a gimmick. I know. But that doesn't stop me from being completely sucked in. What's going to be the last Marvel story of all time? What will happen in the final days of the Marvel Universe? This mini-series tries to solve this question that's been burning in the minds of ... well... me.
By Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.
48 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $3.50 and $2.25 respectively.

X-MEN 2 MOVIE PREQUELS: Wolverine and Nightcrawler Two movie prequels that will, well, prequel the next X-Men movie. In the Wolverine prequel, we follow Wolverine as he heads up to Canada in search of answers. He runs into Sabretooth, predictably enough, and they sit down to have tea and check each others' notes (uh huh. Yeah, right). In the Nightcrawler prequel, we get to see what happens to everyone's favorite black-and-blue teleportational three-fingered devil before his first appearance in the movie.
By Tom Mandrake, Brian Vaughan, Chuck Austin, and Karl Kerschel.
48 pages. One-shot specials. $3.50 retail each.

THE FAN-E-PACK (previously "Letters Column")
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Send your email to getabettername@irxproductions.com

Yeah, I know, the name sucks. Got a better one? Please write me your suggestions and I'll gladly change the name of this section. Reading all of Image's titles this month has drained me of all creativity (and will-to-live, for that matter).

This month, I got a few reviews of comics by fans. I really enjoy reading what's out there.

Tom Davidson says that Frank Miller should never do another Dark Knight story and stick to Sin City. Quite frankly, I agree completely on this point. With nearly 20 years spanning the gap between the first Return of the Dark Knight and the sequel, I thought that Miller would have at least had the damn story written already. What the heck happened there?!

Davidson's favorite titles are: Leave It To Chance, Hulk, Powers, 100 Bullets, and Planetary at the moment.

His least favorite are Gen 13, Harley Quinn, Meridian, Peter Parker Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four.

He also thinks more people should read: Black Panther, Wonder Woman, American Century, Strangers in Paradise, and Stray Bullets.

As a final note, I found this one funny, he wishes someone would tell CrossGen to move their stories faster. But, Tom, if CrossGen moved their stories along faster, they'd have to write more and produce fewer issues! Less issues equals less money, m'man. Welcome to CrossGen!

Brian NC UWI thinks the new Ultimates title isn't half-bad. "It's a mature telling of the Avengers - not as ultra-violent as Authority and hence it seems to have extended readability. The art's good too."

He agrees with last month's opinions on Lone Wolf and Cub and points out that "the Dark Horse translation is from the translation put out by First Comics all those years ago. The swearing is certainly different - but that's fine. It's on some other issues - like where Itto's sword is "a" dotanuki as opposed to being named "dotanuki". This, of course, makes a big difference in the way in which one relates to one's weapon/soul/companion.

Thanks, guys! And everyone else, feel free to write in and let me know what's up. I love to hear from you!

Got something on your mind? Wanna yell at someone? Drop a line to: getabettername@irxproductions.com.

FINAL NOTES
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What a month! This one kind of caught me by surprise. I didn't realize there was so much stuff coming out in March. I mean, besides the anniversary of the death of Julius Caesar and the whole leprechaun thing, what does March really have going for it? Well, apparently, comics! Have a good one 'till next time, eh?

As always, remember, if the road's hard to walk on because it's so slippy, chances are it'll be even harder to drive on. I just learned that lesson the other night - thank god for AAA (and soft ditches)!

And, as always, thank you for your business,

Eric R. Jacobson