ERIC'S "THE MONTH OF THE COMEBACK"
COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 7 #5 - May 2005

INTRODUCTION
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Holy comeback crazies, Batman! Last month may have been the month of mini-series (heck, this month's practically the sequel), but this month's got the return of two significant characters -- one from the DCU and one from Image's glory days: Hal Jordan, the original Green Lantern, and Shadowhawk, one of the original creator-owned heroes from the Image Comics starting-point. With the return of all these great characters, I can only hope, wish, pray, beg, and steal to eventually make it so that maybe, just maybe, Marvel will bring Darkhawk -- one of my most favorite characters of ALL time. Anyway, here's hoping. In the meantime, let's cover all the poop that's fit to scoop, eh?

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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Despite all of the returning heroes from the days of yore like Hal Jordan and Shadowhawk, the pick of the month has simply got to be Scott Kurtz's genius PvP comic selling at a cool fifty cents (no, not the lame hip-hop star... the two quarters... y'know... shiny things?) PvP is a funnies comic strip that is actually funny. It's the only comic I know that'll make me cry from laughing so hard. It really IS that funny. If you read comics, play video games, know what D&D is, play Magic card games, like the Star Wars movies, like any movie, keep up with pop culture in any way, or live and breathe in the United States, you need to pick up PvP #0 for 50 cents. Life simply doesn't get any better than this comic.

MAR051679 PVP #0 $0.50 retail

*** 35%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***

THE BIZ
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NEW HULK. NEW BATMAN. NEW HOPE?

With new Incredible Hulk and Batman Begins video games in the works, is it possible that we can finally start to see the curse of the comic book hero video game turned around? I definitely hope so, but I'd find it ironic if the Hulk would turn it around seeing as how the Hulk's been the culprit of the most depressing piles of video game crap that I've seen in quite a long time.

LET THERE BE PAIN

Rumors have it that Painkiller Jane is being made into a series pilot for the Sci-Fi channel. 'course, we've seen what happens to comics like Witchblade when they get transformed into small-screen garbage, but it's quite possible that Painkiller Jane will make the transition unscathed. Here's hoping!

V FOR VENDETTA FINDS PORT IN A STORM

... or Portman, at least. Natalie Portman has signed on for the movie adaptation of Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta." Portman will play the love interest, Evey Hammond, who falls in love with the enigmatic vigilante known as "V." Warner Bros. claims the release of the movie will happen this November (2005).

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the April 2005 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8KB!).

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

"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

TOP 10 PREMIERE COMICS

1. (1) Ultimate Spider-Man

2. (3) Ultimate Fantastic Four

3. (6) New Avengers

4. (4) Ultimates 2

5. (2) Superman Batman

6. (10) Amazing Spider-Man

7. (-) Ultimate X-Men

8. (-) Wolverine

9. (-) Teen Titans

10. (5) Superman

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (-) Red Sonja

2. (1) GI Joe

3. (3) GI Joe Reloaded

4. (4) Fathom Beginnings

5. (-) Strangers in Paradise

6. (7) Simpsons Comics

7. (-) 30 Days of Night

8. (-) Lady Death Abandon All Hope

9. (-) GI Joe Master & Apprentice

10. (-) Stray Bullets

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN #1 of 4

Bruce Campbell, the B-movie god of Army of Darkness and Evil Dead II, releases this comic book adaptation director's cut of his upcoming movie that he co-wrote, directed, and starred in called, well, Man with the Screaming Brain about a business guy who wants to take advantage of Russia's crippled economy but hits on a maid and gets trapped by a mad scientist trying to do a brain transplant -- kickass!
By Bruce Campbell, David Goodman, Rick Remender, Hilary Barta, and Phil Noto.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

BATMAN BEGINS MOVIE ADAPTATION

Bow down to the adaptation in all its glory. Batman Begins, what may be the best comic-book movie since Tim Burton's 1989 Batman starring Michael Keaton, is coming ever so soon to a theater near you and this is the adaptation.
By Scott Beatty, Killian Plunkett and Serge LaPointe.
64 pages. One-shot. $6.99 retail.

YEAR ONE: BATMAN/SCARECROW #1 of 2

Follow Jonathan Crane's childhood to the inception of the Scarecrow and figure out what made him so downright kooky in Bruce Jones (of Hulk fame) debut in the DCU. This comic covers The Scarecrow's first encounter with Batman & Robin.
By Bruce Jones, Sean Murphy, Zach Howard, and Jay Leisten.
48 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $5.99 retail.

BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE #1 & 2 of 6

Shipping twice monthly for the next three months, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin reunite to create a 6-issue mini-series that will pit Batman against the biggest members of his rogue gallery starting with the Joker who's running... for... governor? Arnie, eat your heart, cause Joker's got the voting motto: "Vote for me or I'll kill you!" The J-man's got MY vote.
By Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin.
32 pages. #1 & 2 of 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail each.

GREEN LANTERN #1

Heeeeeeee's back. Hal Jordan returns to the DC Universe with a vengeance... or ... well... at least he returns with a green ring and maybe a fear of the color yellow. This new series kicks off with Hal Jordan coming back to reclaim his life as the Green Lantern after having been the Spectre for oh, so long.
By Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco, and Jesus Merino.
40 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

VILLAINS UNITED #1 of 6

Yet another of the DC Countdown spinoffs, all of the baddest bad guys of the whole bad land are all assembling into, you guessed it, a big bad-guy group. Except, deep within the big bad guy group is an even badder bad guy then we could have anticipated with an incredibly vicious, frighteningly violent name... um... erm... Mockingbird. Ah, oh, well.
By Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham, Wade von Grawbadger, and J.G. Jones.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.50 retail.

DESOLATION JONES #1

So, Jones is an ex-Brit intelligence agent who is the sole survivor of an experiment called the Desolation Test and is now the only person who can bring together the ex-spook community of L.A.
By Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

GIRLS #1

Ummm... Ethan Daniels is a dude living the single life who runs into some chick who's so complicated that not only will she change his life, but also is determined to change the world. Umm... you go, girl.
By Joshua Luna.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

SHADOWHAWK #1

It's the month of returns! YAY! Shadowhawk is an ancient Image character who hasn't been around since Image first started its launch way back when. Basically, a more technologically-based Batman, Shadowhawk is violent and pretty cool. We'll see whether this relaunch (I believe it's his THIRD) will do better than the previous runs.
By Jim Keplinger, Carlos Rodriguez, and Albert Puig.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

PVP #0 - ONLY 50 CENTS!

PvP is god. If you do not collect this comic, then you are a pussy. Real men (and real women) collect PvP. For real. Read this comic. Trust me on this one. Even if you haven't trusted me on any of my recommendations ever before, trust me on this one. PvP is snot-milk-out-yer-nose funny. It's poop-your-pants hilarious. It's eat-crap-and-die laughs a second. You've got to try it out and for only $0.50, there's never been a better time.
By Scott "Komedy King" Kurtz.
16 pages. Ongoing series. $0.50 retail.

CITY OF HEROES #1

So, I've been playing City of Heroes for a while now. I started back in May... ditched it for a while, and then built a lvl 31 tanker within the past month who kicks a little ass. And now, it's time for the comic book version of the MMORPG video game that's been taking the PC environment by storm (granted, there's been the one that you get if you play the game, but this is available to mere mortals!) Check it out.
By Mark Waid, David Nakayama and Rick Basaldua.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

MARVEL NEMESIS: THE IMPERFECTS #1 of 6

So, I don't completely get how this works but an evil scientist begins transforming test subjects into fighting machines on Earth and then, thousands of years later, the Thing, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Elektra all find themselves trapped by this same scientist. And, somehow, this is a tie-in with an EA video game. Go figure!
By Greg Pak, Renato Arlem, and Jae Lee.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MACHINE TEEN #1 of 5

It's yet another "Marvel Next" title. This one has Adam Aaronson, another of those perfect teenage guys who has everything is everything and is wanted by everyone. The problem is Adam's a machine and now he's starting to figure out he's not real at all. Awww... poor baby!
By Marc Sumerak, Mike Hawthorn, and James Jean.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

NEW X-MEN: HELLIONS #1 of 4

The students of Xavier's go to California for the summer and get into a whole heap of trouble. Really, it's just another X-mini series. If you like the X, get it. Otherwise, there's no new fare here to get you hoppin'.
By Nunzio Defillipis and Christina Weir.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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So, there you have it. New comics. New video games. New things to do with the plethora of spare time that I know we all have lying around... right? Well... maybe not, but at least there's piles of new toys coming out soon, eh?

As always, remember, if you die, just wait a few years and then make a comeback -- it always works! Death is a great way to increase your popularity!

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson