ERIC'S "I CAN'T COUNT THAT HIGH..." COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 7 #2 - February 2005

INTRODUCTION
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So, I got my math all wrong last month. Sigh. I'm not in school anymore so counting just isn't a necessary skill. One of my loyal readers did the math and last issue was number 73, not 85. Sigh. One day, I'll figure it all out, but right now, it's time to talk about comic books!

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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Even though it's not my style, this month's pick has got to be Frank Cho's SHANNA, THE SHE-DEVIL. I'm not really into these primitive "babe-in-loincloth-fighting-dinosaurs" comics, however I've got to give kudos to creators like Frank Cho and Scott Kurtz who pull their act together and devote their lives to producing excellent comics long enough to be noticed by the companies that can actually bring it to the mainstream....

DEC041750 SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL $3.50 retail **50% OFF AT HTTP://WWW.COMICSNOW.COM**

THE BIZ
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SUPERMAN HAS BEEN CHOSEN

Nick Cage, Tom Cruise, and other huge Hollywood names have all stepped up to be crowned the next Superman to succeed Christopher Reeve. Well... Bryan Singer has decided to ditch all of the main name-brands and go with some smarthy 25-year-old kid from Des Moines (don't they have potatoes?) Iowa named Brandon Routh to play Superman in the next movie, called "Superman Returns" scheduled for a 2006 release. Apparently, Routh has some "acting" skills under his belt from a three-year run on a soap opera; because we all soap operas are known for quality acting.

FLASHY ROGUES BATTLE IT OUT

If you've been following Identity Crisis, then you know that the JLA screwed around with Dr. Light's mind just a little bit to teach him some manners. Well, apparently the JLA has done it a bit in the past, mostly to the Silver Age Flash's rogue gallery. Those decisions are going to have a major impact on Flash's universe in the upcoming months, so check out The Flash for more on the JLA's not-so-nice dealings.

SPECTACULAR SPIDER-WEBS

Spectacular Spider-Man #20 gave the comic book Spidey organic web-shooters. The fanbase exploded when the movies did this so I'm curious as to why the comic industry decided to follow the movies, not the other way around. I also would like to know why Spidey's organic web- shooters come out of his wrists and not his butt, like real spiders. I, for one, think it would be pretty entertaining to see Spidey swinging through New York by the seat of his pants, literally.

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the December 2004 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8KB!) at: http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/jan05top100.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. (3) Ultimate Fantastic Four

2. (1) Ultimates 2

3. (6) Superman Batman

4. (4) Astonishing X-Men

5. (5) Superman

6. (8) New Avengers

7. (7) Amazing Spider-Man

8. (9) Ultimate Spider-Man

9. (10) Ultimate X-Men

10. (-) Green Lantern Rebirth

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (1) Transformers G1 Vol 3

2. (4) Transformers War Within Vol 3

3. (-) Transformers Beast Wars

4. (3) Transformers Energon

5. (2) Soulfire

6. (7) Pat Lees Transformers GI Joe

7. (8) GI Joe

8. (-) Wizard Comics Magazine

9. (10) GI Joe Reloaded

10. (-) 30 Days of Bloodsuckers Tales

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

MANGA DARKCHYLDE #1 of 5

Ever wonder what a comic book company is thinking when they decide to release a new issue? I mean, the majority of the comic book DARKCHYLDE's appeal was the super-sexy, leggy (not- too-bright) blonde girl running around having her clothes ripped off every issue or so... childlike manga-style isn't quite the same thing. At any rate, if you're missing out on Ariel Chylde's dark side ability to drag monsters to our realm and are so desperate for more that manga seems O.K. to you, check this out.
By Randy Queen.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DRAGON PRINCE #1 of 5

Aaron's a kid living outside of San Francisco's Chinatown district and everything seems a little off to him. Turns out he's the heir to the bloodline of all dragons... making him the Dragon Prince. He's also a bit of a fairy, but that just comes from living in San Francisco.
By Ron Marz, Jeff Johnson, and Jason Keith.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DAMN NATION #1 of 3

A vampire plague is sweeping the United States and to combat it, the U.S. has shut down its borders and put up barbed wire and weapon-laden infantry to prevent its further spread. It's a lot like DAWN OF THE DEAD except that the vampires can talk and don't have body parts falling off of them... yet.
By Andrew Cosby and J. Alexander.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

BATMAN: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS #1 of 1

There are a few stories in the different universes that find themselves being told over and over again. The original fight between the Joker and Batman is one of those stories, and here it all goes again. In Gotham City, people are being killed and a strange calling card is being left behind -- a rictus grin. The Dark Knight's on the case in no time and... well... enter the Joker. Hell, this is practically the geek-equivalent of the Cinderella fairy tale but we all love hearing it over and over again...
By Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke.
64 pages. One-shot special. $6.95 retail.

LEGEND #1 of 4

A scientist figures out a way to inject genetics into organic matter to make them stronger... and hungrier (though I think this has very little significance to what's going on). Anyway, his wife (who looks like she's 75) gets pregnant (strange) and he decides to feed her alcohol (always a good thing for pregnant women) so that he can make her pass out and then inject her with the serum (strange) so that he can make his son/daughter extremely strong. There ya have it.
By Howard Chaykin and Russ Heath.
48 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $5.95 retail.

TWILIGHT EXPERIMENT #1 of 6

It's yet another Rising Stars twist -- a group of superheroes gave their lives years and years ago in an attempt to stop a cataclysmic cosmic event from happening in the future; they failed. Now, it's up to their children (all of whom have superheroic powers) to try and do the same thing, or die trying.
By Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Juan Santacruz.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

THE ATHEIST #1

He's big, he's bad, and he ain't gonna take no crap from no one, my gangsta friends. He's the Atheist, and he opens a can of whup ass on all things supernatural. When the dead ar restless, yo, G, that just ain't cool, so the Atheist's posse rounds up and pounds those byotches. Let me tell you like it is, little-G, things just ain't up to no good. Man, Image needs a new creative staff already.
By Phil Hester, John McCrea, and Kevin Meyer, Jr.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

THE EXPATRIATE #1

Jack Dexter is running from the CIA but doesn't know why. That's always an interesting situation, really. I like to run from government law enforcement agencies when I don't know what they're accusing me of because innocent people always run, right? In an attempt to steal some ounce of creativity from THE FUGITIVE by mixing in a little bit of MEMENTO, this comic will try and do what no movie has been able to do... wait... nevermind... it will try to do what every movie tries to do... sell something. *sigh*
By B. Clay Moore and Jason Latour.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

LULLABY: WISDOM SEEKER #1 of 4

It's just not getting any better for Image this month in the creativity department. After seeing DC's Fables sell so well for so long, Image just figured out that they should pick up some of the less used characters like Alice in Wonderland, Jim Hawkins, and the Pied Piper and make their own comic book like Fables. Here it is...
By Mike Miller and Hector Sevilla.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.95 retail.

MORA #1

Seriously, is Image completely out of creativity? I'm not super up-to-date on all things cultural, but Mora is a comic book that tries to tell the life of the most powerful and ruthless witch in history starting when she was a child. There's a play, a book, and a movie in development right now called WICKED which is about the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, supposedly the most powerful and ruthless witch of all time. Obviously, Image has heard of it, too.
By Paul Harmon.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

HUNTER-KILLER #1

I've previewed this before. Obviously, this is a resolicitation. This is a future-set comic about paranormal ghost-busters with superpowers. I actually think this comic sounds like a lot of fun and the art looks really spiffy, so it might be worth checking out.
By Mark Waid, Marc Silvestri, Joe Weems, and Steve Firchow.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

BLACK PANTHER #1

Did you realize the old series had been cancelled? Did you even know there was an old Black Panther series? Did you know it was actually pretty good (at points)? Well, Marvel's hoping that a whole lot more people will get "in the know" with their new Black Panther series which brings back everyone's favorite Wakandan super hero. Ummm... only Wakandan super hero? Anyway, he's the Black Panther and he's all panther-like. Check him out.
By Reginald Hudlin and John Romita, Jr.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

YOUNG AVENGERS #1

Never having had a Teen Titans or Outsiders of their own, Marvel has started getting jealous and is using the AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED storyline to start releasing some new team ideas; one of them is a group of teen superheroes called YOUNG AVENGERS.
By Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

LIVEWIRES #1 of 6

Ummm... lots of random manga names to desribe "nanobuilt humanform combat mecha" now with "smartware" features. It's one of those stories that just has simply too much information to provide adequate exposition within six short issues. Anyway, a group of superpowered robot human android thingies must fight mad supergeniuses, weapons of mass destruction and David Letterman all in the Marvel Universe's "ultratech underbelly." I always did like the word "underbelly..."
By Adam Warren and Rick Mays.
22 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

RUNAWAYS #1

Rebooted! Wow, Marvel's just bringing back the golden oldies this month. Hoping a brand new start will help this book that asks what happens when a group of teenagers discovers that their parents are actually super-villains and run away from home. Unfortunately, everytime I hear the title, I just keep singing that early 90's song, Janie's got a gun, "Run away... run away... run away from the pain... yeah... yeah... yeah..."
By Brian Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, and Jo Chen.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

SHANNA, THE SHE-DEVIL #1

When Frank Cho wants to draw a comic book about a beautiful jungle woman who fights with dinosaurs, it's really hard for anyone to say no. After all, Cho single-handedly created the semi-realistic proportions of his character in Liberty Meadows that had fanboys everywhere actually looking at real women again and realizing that the stick figures we see in the Uncanny X-Men aren't proportionally possible. Anyway, Shanna, the She Devil, fights dinosaurs and reborn Nazi science gone mad. What a combo, really.
By Frank Cho.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

X-FORCE: SHATTERSTAR #1 of 3

Here's a character that most people forgot about, along with an artist that alot of people didn't realize was still drawing (which he isn't, as he's "plotting" this comic, not drawing it). Liefeld returns to write/plot the aftermath of the original X-FORCE series finding Shatterstar fighting for his life on the island of Madripoor where he gets the Five Fingers of Annihilation. Personally, I'm familiar with the Five Finger Discount but I'm not sure what these fingers of annihilation really do... but I do know that artists aren't necessarily writers and vice versa. This could be bad...
By Rob Liefeld, Brandon Thomas and Marat Mychaels.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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So, there you have it... lots of new comics coming out in February to keep us all busy when Valentine's Day rolls around. Who needs girls when you've got comics, right?

As always, remember, if you can't count that high, go out and buy a calculator! *sigh*

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson