ERIC'S "METRIC BUTT-TON OF NEW STUFF"
COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 7 #6 - June 2005

INTRODUCTION
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In an effort to prevent skin cancer, the comic book industry is releasing an incredibly large butt-ton of new comic titles this month. Everything's thrown into the mix with lots of new ongoing series, lots of new mini-series, and even a blockbuster movie adaptation thrown into the mix. There's so much stuff that I'm just going to have jump headlong in right now because this month's newsletter is going to be a big one!

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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This month's pick is Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Granted, Gaiman only fleshed and plotted the storyline and the majority of is written by other people, but this is Gaiman at his greatest. No more crappy rehashes of 17th century Marvel superheroes, this is surrealism mixed with reality mixed with quality characters and story concepts. Granted, I haven't read any of the issues yet, but this is Sandman styling here, and I couldn't be happier.

APR050410 Neil Gaimans Neverwhere #1 $2.99 retail
** 50% OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***

THE BIZ
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FANTASTIC FOUR -- STRAIGHT TO DVD?!

Oh, this is not 20th Century Fox's 2005 release of Fantastic Four with brain-dead (but ultra-hot) Jessica Alba playing the Invisible Woman (do we REALLY want Alba to be invisible?!). No, this is the 1994 movie that Fox made just so they could hang on to the content so they could eventually make the movie 11 years later. Sadly, the producers never told the cast or crew that the movie was never going to see the light of day so these poor suckers actually thought it was going to be a big deal. The four-disc boxed set of this Fantasic Fiasco is coming to DVD in June for... you guessed it... $44.44.

FAMILY GUY RETURNS TO FOX!

By now, you've probably noticed that Fox has undone one of their biggest cartoon goofs in history -- letting go of the rights to The Family Guy. Well, though the repeats have been raging since the Super Bowl, we all wait with baited breath for the new epsiodes of Family Guy (and sister show American Dad) starting the evening of Sunday, May 1. Keep your eyes peeled and your TiVO scheduled!

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the May 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 #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. (-) Green Lantern

2. (5) Superman Batman

3. (-) Astonishing X-Men

4. (3) New Avengers

5. (6) Amazing Spider-Man

6. (4) Ultimates 2

7. (-) Ultimate Spider-Man

8. (7) Ultimate X-Men

9. (2) Ultimate Fantastic Four

10. (9) Teen Titans

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (-) Soulfire

2. (2) GI Joe

3. (7) 30 Days of Night

4. (6) Simpsons Comics

5. (10) Stray Bullets

6. (4) Fathom Prelude

7. (-) GI Joe Master & apprentice

8. (-) Donald Duck & Friends

9. (-) Bigfoot

10. (-) CSI: Secret Identity

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

HELLBOY: THE ISLAND #1 of 2

After chilling with Aquaman at the bottom of the ocean for more than two years, Hellboy washes up on an island and has to deal with all the spiritual Odyssessian (sp?) crap you can imagine. Irritated and drunk out of his mind, several long-held secrets of the Hellboy universe will be revealed (supposedly) in this two-issue mini-series.
By Mike Mignola.
32 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

SCARLET TRACES: THE GREAT GAME #1 of 4

Britain has spent 40 years trying to invade Mars. Didn't know that? Well, it's part of the comic, so it's not really true. At any rate, they're in a big stalemate with the Martians and everyone in Britain would prefer to party and shag like rotten piggies rather than fight anymore. This mini-series tries to delve further into that... or something.
By Ian Edginton and D'Israeli.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

YEAR ONE: BATMAN/RA'S AL GHUL #1 of 2

An investigation into the development of the relationship between everyone's favorite Dark Knight and Ra's "The Demon" Al Ghul. Ra's has taken over the planet and reanimates dead people when they die. So, now, the Dark Knight has to deal with a Resident Evil-like planet full of zombies and dead people. Insert your favorite Sixth Sense joke here.
By Devin Grayson, Paul Gulacy, and Jimmy Palmiotti.
48 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $5.99 retail.

DC SPECIAL: THE RETURN OF DONNA TROY #1 of 4

So, I know that I said last month was the month of returns, but apparently DC had someone else left up their sleeve. Donna Troy has reemerged amongst the gods as "Troia, Goddess of the Moon." She's a little deranged (lots of dead people seem to have this problem) but the Titans and the Outsiders are determined to bring her back to reality. Will they be able to? Well... of course, really.
By Phil Jimenez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and George Perez.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

SON OF VULCAN #1 of 6

Mikey Devante is some orphan who wanted a job at a fast food restaurant. Already, we can see what an amazing fantastic story this will be: what teenager seriously WANTS a job at a fast food restaurant?! Incredible writing. Anyway, one thing leads to another and Devante becomes the sidekick of local superhero Vulcan who, unfortunately, gets killed before getting to show Devante the ropes. Does Mikey have the will to step up? Does Mikey have the tenacity to survive? Does Mikey like it?! These questions and more will be answered soon, we can only hope.
By Scott Beatty and Keron Grant.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

ALBION #1 of 6

Alan Moore, self-acclaimed super-writing genius, plots the... errr... plot of this mini-series covering Britain and why they never had any superheroes and only a bunch of lazy monsters and clowns that all vanished 25 years ago. Ummm... yeah.
By Alan Moore, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Shane Oakley, and George Freeman.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE #1 of 16

It's amazing how good these stories used to be but after almost a decade of delayed comics and seemingly never-ending story arcs, everyone's kind of giving up on good ol' Astro City. Well, here we go with the next big Astro City storyline... we're all ready for four more years of delays hackneyed storylines and crazed Astro City goodness. Granted, good stuff does come out of this, it's all a matter of having the patience to wait for Busiek to write it. Oh, and this is resolicited right off the bat so we're off to a really good start... really... really really.
By Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson.
32 pages. 16-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.

WILDSIDERZ #0

Add a "Z" to any name instead of an "S" and it suddenly becomes a really cool comic book title. At least, that's the hope with yet another group of teenagers who develop superpowers by creating holographic forcefields that allow them to imitate animals. Ummm... go Campbell. From super-hot, super-secret agents to ... Captain Planet? Regardless, here we go again...
By J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $1.99 retail.

NEIL GAIMAN'S NEVERWHERE #1 of 9

Now, I'm a huge Gaiman fan so when I heard there was a new Gaiman maxi-series coming out, I got real excited. Before everyone starts writing in about how bad I panned Gaiman's 1608, I have a defense for why I did that -- it sucked.... ass. There. But now that we've gotten away from that, we have Neverwhere; a mini-series based on yet another reality created by Gaiman much like The Sandman Universe and if there was an area of Gaiman's writing that had never-ending strength, it was the Sandman Universe. Neverwhere has a deeper plot than could really be described here, but basically there's a dude named Richard Mayhew who opens up the wrong Door and lets in a mysterious yet gorgeous fantasy woman that causes his fiancee to dump him and have two assassins come looking for this woman in his apartment. Bad news.
By Mike Carey and Glenn Fabry.
32 pages. 9-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

BATTLE POPE #1

Image's introducing a whole bunch of really questionable titles (SURPRISE!) this month so I'm just going to run through them as quickly as possible: in Battle Pope, the sole protector of the masses is Battle Pope with his sidekick Jesus. No, really. I'm not kidding (Lord knows I wish I was).
By Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.
32 pages. Ongoing series (God help us all). $2.95 retail.

BLACKLIGHT #1

You know it's going to be bad when the catch-line on the ads is "From the pages of Shadowhawk" and Shadowhawk hasn't even relaunched yet. At any rate, some woman named Lina Juarez has a bad job, a bad relationship and a bad life. Whiney whine whine. Suddenly she gets a dark power that gives her the strength to leave it all behind but now she's asking whether she really wants to; yay... human indecision.
By Jim Valentino, Scott Wherele, John Toledo, and Marc Deering.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

FLAK RIOT #1

Zoe Nixxon is a file clerk. She's lonely, pathetic, and putrid. She wants something more from life. So, naturally, she gets more from life when she becomes a bounty hunter in another dimension. Woo-hoo!
By Michael O'Hare, Robert Place Napton, and Michael Garcia.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

GODLAND #1

Good lord -- so there's this superhero on Earth and this comic seriously tries to ask the question as to what the implications of having a superhero on Earth are for the rest of humanity. Seriously -- who gives a sh**?!?
By Joe Casey, Tom Scioli, and Richard Starkings.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

STRANGE GIRL #1

Bethany Black is a strange girl. Earth is overwhelmed by Hell's minions. She and her friend Bloato, a bartender, want to find a way into Heaven before God washes the planet clean of everything and starts over. How many religion-based comic books CAN Image release in a single month?
By Rick Remender and Eric Nguyen.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.95 retail.

THE TENTH: DARKK DAWN #1

You've gotta love The Tenth. Even though the storyline doesn't usually make sense and then it's completely cliche when it does make sense, the comic is always chock-full of superhot chicks with their clothes being ripped off. You can't knock its appeal.
By James Bonny/Tony Daniel, Tyler Kirkham, Matt Banning, and John Starr.
48 pages. One-shot special. $4.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

HOUSE OF M #1 & 2 of 8

SPIDER-MAN: HOUSE OF M #1 OF 5

The Scarlet Witch is out of control and ever since the final issues of The Avengers, we've all known that Marvel is going to try and wring as much juice out of this storyline as possible. And by juice I mean money, of course. So, enter the House of M, an 8-issue maxi-series that will investigate what the rest of the Marvel Universe will do to stop the looney tooney Wanda Maximoff in her attempts to destroy the planet.
By Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel, Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Salvador Larroca.
HOUSE OF M - 32 pages. 8-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.
SPIDER-MAN - 32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

GRAVITY #1 of 5

Yet another new title in the Marvel Next series. Greg Willis moves to New York City with the hopes of being the next big superhero. Let's see what happens. Really. That's the plot.
By Sean McKeever and Mike Norton.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE - SHADOW & FLAME #1 of 6

This six-issue mini-series follows Kitty Pryde and her little lizard (girls with lizards are hot!) Lockheed as they investigate a mystery in Japan.
By Akira Yoshida and Paul Smith.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

LAST HERO STANDING #1-5 of 5

The eaiest way to make a bunch of bucks - release a 5-issue mini-series all in a single month. All of the superheros have disappeared and it's up to Spider-Girl, the fantastic five and a-next to figure out what happened.
By Tom DeFalco, Pat Olliffe, and Mark Bagley.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE MOVIE #1

The comic book adaptation of the new Fantastic Four movie. Marvel's hoping the movie will be a hit in a big way but I'm questioning the whole setup; maybe it's just that the Thing looks like a walking booger or maybe it's that Jessica Alba has all the cutting wit of a dull kitchen blade. Who really knows?
By Mike Carey and Dan Jurgens.
64 pages. One-shot special. $4.99 retail.

NEW WARRIORS #1 of 6

Just like the Titans and the Outsiders over in DC, Marvel has their group of young superheroes that just can't seem to translate into a hot selling comic book. Mix that with some afterschool-cartoon-art and you've got their new release of the New Warriors mixed with the plotline of a bad reality television show.
By Zeb Wellis and Skottie Young.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

ORORO: BEFORE THE STORM #1 of 4

In order to celebrate Ororo's 30th anniversary as a character, Marvel takes back in time to see what Storm was like before she was Storm. I'm actually excited about this mini-series since Storm's a good character and we don't know a whole lot of her background so far. Go for it!
By Marc Sumerak and Carlos Barberi.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DREAM POLICE #1

Detectives Joe Thursday's (Dragnet ripoff?) and Frank Stafford's jobs are to investigate the dreamscape and make sure everything's kosher in the near future. Are we really going to have police officers for our dreams now? Mr. S writes this all new title which gives me some hope for it's quality despite the barebones plotline.
By J. Michael Straczynski and Mike Deodato.
48 pages. Ongoing series. $3.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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That wraps up this month and, man, is it a gigantic package with a big pretty pink bow wrapping it all up. Granted, just like Christmas morning there are terrible gifts from Grandma in there, there're also a whole lot of new series worth looking into and great comics coming into the forefront. As always, just because Grandma gave you a nasty pair of overalls and bell-bottoms doesn't mean you need to wear 'em!

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson