ERIC'S "IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME..."
COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 6 #12 - December 2004

INTRODUCTION
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December is upon us and the Christmas season is, of course, right around the corner (at least in the comics-industry where we order our books two months in advance). At any rate, all the comic companies are in full force, prepping new titles for their December releases and that, of course, means that we have a nice large newsletter for your perusal this month. Plenty of good stuff coming out so let's hit it...

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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The big choice this month, for me, has got to be the return of Astro City. Kurt Busiek's epic storyline about a city full of superheroes has always tasted like fine caviar to me, however, just like caviar, there never seems to be enough as Busiek had problem after problem getting the original series to come out on a regular basis (with as much as 12+ months between two issues at one point). Now under the DC banner, it's possible that ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE 12-issue maxi-series may actually come out on a regular basis. Only time will tell but I'm still looking forward to reading new issues in one of the most engaging series of our time.

OCT040330 Astro City The Dark Age #1 $2.95 retail

** 50%-OFF PRICE AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM**

THE BIZ
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ANIME AWAY?!

Ever wonder what would happen if you could sit down, turn on your TV, and watch anime every single hour of the day? Well, wonder no more as ADV's Anime Network has decided to switch from video-on-demand service to become a 24-hour cable channel. The switch was made July 27 and should reach a cable provider somewhere near you a lot sooner that I'd want it to!

ROSS SEARCHES FOR "JUSTICE"

Alex Ross has been tapped to paint an actual 12-issue maxi-series starring the Justice League where it's not some huge lifechanging event but just a regular "superhero-versus-villain" story. Starting in the summer of 2005, the 12-issue bimonthly series will feature Alex Ross cowriting and painting and Doug Braithwaite penciling.

DARK PHOENIX RISES AGAIN!

Marvel finally seems to be growing up. After years and years of tapping their biggest stories over and over again just to make a few extra bucks, Marvel's newest writers are very careful when it comes to handling the biggest stories in the univrse and the same is happening here when Greg Pak (writer) and Greg Land (artist) team up for a five-issue mini-series called Dark Phoenix in January of 2005. She's back, she's bad, and they have purpose. Let's rock, people!

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions.

Download the November 2004 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8KB!) at:

http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/nov04top100.pdf

It's Comics NOW!'s very own Top-10 and Top-100 lists. This list is based on the internal sales quantities of the titles with Premiere being the big guns who pay the extra bucks to be listed first in the ordering system: Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics. The Independent list is everyone else, all those pea-shooters who no one really pays attention to... or do they?

Here's an example of how to read the format:

1. (3) The Amazing Eric Comic #500

"1." - the place of the title in the list this month

"(3)" - where the title was LAST month ("-" if it wasn't)

the title - this one should be pretty obvious

"#500" - the issue number that made the Top-10

TOP 10 PREMIERE COMICS

1. (-) New Avengers #1

2. (2) Ultimate Fantastic Four #13

3. (3) Identity Crisis #6

4. (5) Superman Batman #14

5. (8) Astonishing X-Men #7

6. (6) Superman 3211

7. (7) Amazing Spider-Man #514

8. (9) Ultimate Spider-Man #69

9. (10) Ultimate X-Men #53

10. (-) Ultimate Nightmare #4

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (1) Transformers G1 Vol 3 #11

2. (2) Transformers Energon #29

3. (3) Transformers War Within Vol 3 #3

4. (5) Pat Lees Transformers GI Joe #2

5. (10) GI Joe vs Transformers Vol 2 #3

6. (-) GI Joe #36

7. (8) Strangers in Paradise #70

8. (9) Fathom Dawn of War #3

9. (-) GI Joe Reloaded #39

10. (-) Simpsons Comics #100

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

CONCRETE: THE HUMAN DILEMMA #1 of 6

This six-issue mini-series brings back Ron Lithgow, a writer whose brain was placed into the body of a large alien with rock-like skin. Now, 17 years after his debut, Concrete is being offered a large amount of money to support a giant corporation's "population control" solution.
By Paul Chadwick.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $3.50 retail.

DC COMICS

DEADSHOT #1 of 5

Deadshot finally makes his return. An expert assassin with the ability to plot out kill scenarios to the tiniest detail, it would seem as though Deadshot has the ultimate career. Except that he doesn't feel he has any resaon to live. Of course, it's at this point that the Comic Gods That Be let Deadshot find out about his daughter who has been living in a neighborhood plagued with violence; what's a cold-hearted killer gonna do but go vigilante on their asses?
By Christos N. Gage, Steven Cummins, and Jimmy Palmiotti.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1

This series was always a very strange one for me; name a comic something encompassing that covers what should be the entire DCU, but then fill it up with a bunch of no-name heroes and place it in the 31st century. At any rate, "the Legion" has returned from its period of cancellation and a team of "passionate activists and fierce dreamers" are trying to change society. Here we go again...
By Mark Waid and Barry Kitson.
40 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE #1 of 12

Is Astro City back? Maybe. This maxi-series covers Astro City's darkest period in its history (thus named, the Dark Age) where two brothers deal with family secrets and social upheval left over from the early 1970's. Sounds deep, eh? Knowing Busiek, it probably is. Hopefully, Astro City will be released on a far more regular schedule this time without 12-month gaps between issues. We shall see...
By Kurt Busiek and brent Anderson.
32 pages. 12-issue maxi-series. $2.95 retail.

BATMAN / DANGER GIRL

Danger Girl has been all but removed from the Wildstorm universe for the past few... years?! All of a sudden, they're back and they're fighting alongside... Batman? Alright, people, let's come up with a concept to sell some comics, shall we?
By Andy Hartnell, Lenil Yu, and Gerry Alanguilan.
48 pages. Oneshot. $4.95 retail.

TRIGGER #1

Jason Hall presents an intriguing story that investigates a future where a single corporation is responsible for keeping all of society within ethical boundaries. The way they do it is through the use of "triggers" people that can be willing and professional assassins at the flip of a switch... but they don't even know it. The story starts with a writer whose targeted by a trigger but survives the assassination by accidental luck.
By Jason Hall and John Watkiss.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

THE AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #1

Having once again lost their collective minds, Image execs have green-lighted a comic about a rock-and-roll adventure band. After playing music, they fight giant robots, evil witchdoctors, and investigate supernatural pheomena. Wow. I really am speechless about this concept...
By Mark Smith, Dan Hipp, and Jim Mahfood.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

BATTLE HYMN #1 of 5

It's time for another "all-new" World War II superhero because we're not done with World War II yet. We'll never be done with it. World War II will live on in our hearts and minds forever and ever and we will be continually beaten to death with overused imagery and crazy idealistic bullshit founded from the depths of the minds of copycat writers and artists that think they're being creative but, in reality, are just writing and drawing yet another tired comic that takes the idea of Captain America and puts the slightest of spins on it to make it a slightly new but not-at-all-original variation of the same tired story we've read four million times before. Whew. Thanks for letting me rant.
By B. Clay Moore, Jeremy Haun, and Ande Parks.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

FLAMING CARROT #1

Now, here's a series I can get behind. Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot is about a small-town superhero with no real superpowers to speak of, except for the fact that he has a flaming carrot for a head (yes, quite literally a carrot on fire). A humorous approach to comics, Flaming Carrot has been called America's first surrealist superhero. At the very least, the comic's hilarious, and I gotta give it props for that.
By Bob Burden.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

HUNTER-KILLER #0

As always, everyone who reads this newsletter knows that I'm an absolute sucker for 25-cent comics and Top Cow has finally jumped on the parade of cheap introductions with what they hope to be their next big thing -- Hunter-Killer. The Hunter-Killers are a group of superpowers whose sole responsibility is to be the check and balance to organizations who previously had no check or balance; namely, the Watchmen, the police, and others, by performing black ops missions that are blacker than any mission performed by the specialists in the American military.
By Mark Waid and Marc Silvestri.
16 pages. Ongoing series. $0.25 retail.

DARKNESS / SUPERMAN #1 of 2

It was just a matter of time before it was going to happen, Darkness and Superman have a run-in shortly after Jackie tries to make claim to his family's crime operations in Metropolis. No surprise that Superman will come in and try to put a stop to everything. However, Estacado has a plan and he believes that Superman will actually be more of a help than a hurt.
By Ron Marz, Tyler Kirkham, Matt Banning, and John Starr.
32 pages. Two-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

ULTIMATES 2 #1 of 5

Let's try it again, eh? It's been a year since the Ultimates were last teamed up, and apparently the first season (is this what we're calling them now?) wasn't anywhere near where this round is going to be. Lots has happened -- new costumes, new members, new divorces... yay! Here we go again for round two.
By Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

ULTIMATE SECRET #1 of 4

The U.S. government has developed a new propulsion system that will allow Earth to cover large distances in space extremely fast. However, someone or SOMETHING wants to prevent mankind's development into space. [DRAMATIC MUSIC HERE]
By Warren Ellis and Steve McNiven.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

X-MEN / FANTASTIC FOUR #1 of 5

Pat Lee's now made it into the Marvel Universe and he's put no time to waste throwing together two of the biggest teams in Marveldom into a single mini-series, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four have to put aside their differences to put a stop to a "creeping menace from outer space that threatens our planet's very existence." Woo-hoo!
By Akira Yoshida and Pat Lee.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $3.50 retail.

WHAT IF...

The old days of the What If comics are back. These comics ask important questions of the Marvel Universe and give us the chance to do what we can't ever do in real life -- see what the other decision would have brought down the pipeline. I used to love the What If from the days of yore but the yore days are long behind us. Finally, Marvel's bringing back the What If series with seven monsters:

1. What If Jessica Jones had Joined the Avengers?

2. What if Karen Page had lived?

3. What if Aunt May had died instead of Uncle Ben?

4. What if Dr. Doom had become the Thing?

5. What if Magneto had formed the X-Men with Professor X?

6. What if General Ross had become The Hulk?

7. Wha.. Huh?

Each comic is 32 pages. They are all one-shots.

They are each $2.99 retail.

GIVE ME A TIP?
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Thanks to all for your support!

FINAL NOTES
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Woo-wee... that about wraps up not only another Christmas issue, but another year of Eric's Newsletter. Join us back here next month for the first issue of lucky year #7. Oh my god... have I seriously been doing this for seven years? Someone... get me out of here... save me... please... As always, remember, if you don't think time flies, see what happens when you drop a wristwatch out of a third-story window...

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson