ERIC'S "HOUSE OF M -- DOES THE 'M' STAND FOR MONEY?" COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 7 #11 - November 2005

INTRODUCTION
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Holy macaroni, Spider-Man! The House of M storyline is such a huge success that, naturally, Marvel sees a way to make more money than God off the whole deal. So... we've finished up the House of M storyline so now we're going to have the Decimation one-shot that leads into the Generation of M mini-series that splits off to recreate X-Factor and Excalibur (for the 50th time each) and then create a new X-Men mini-series all the while transforming the Marvel Universe as we know it.

I can barely contain myself! Where in the name of jumping Jupiter are we going to all find enough money to buy all these new comics?!?! Maybe that's what the "M" in House of M really stands for, eh?

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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Despite all of the Marvel hoopla that's going on this month, the comic series that has me most excited is from DC -- the All-Star Superman series is upon us and if it's anything like the All-Star Batman & Robin series, we all have some good things to look forward to. Rehashing what makes up the really good storylines, the two teams working on the All-Star series seem to be really distilling excellent stories of the decades of previous superhero stories. I can't wait.

SEP050218 All Star Superman #1 $2.99 retail.
** 50% OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM **

HUGE DISCOUNTS AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM
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Aside from always offering 35% off the cover price of monthly comics with no minimum to buy, each month Comics NOW offers incredible deals on some of the newest titles out there. Just point your browser to http://www.comicsnow.com to order any of these titles below at huge discounts or any other comic at least 35% off the cover price.

Here are this month's deals:
SEP050218 ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP050242 JONAH HEX #1 -- 50%-off $2.50
SEP050260 SEVEN SOLDIERS FRANKENSTEIN -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP050259 SS - THE BULLETEER -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP050295 OCEAN TP -- 40%-off $14.99
SEP050257 OMAC PROJECT TP -- 40%-off $14.99
SEP050317 Y THE LAST MAN VOL 6 -- 40%-off $12.99
SEP051923 BOOKS OF DOOM #1 -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP051961 NEW EXCALIBUR #1 -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP051955 THING #1 -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP051967 X-FACTOR #1 -- 50%-off $2.99
SEP051993 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL 10 -- 40%-off $14.99
SEP052002 EXCALIBUR CLASSIC VOL 1 TP -- 40%-off $19.99
SEP052003 X-FACTOR VISIONARIES VOL 1 TP -- 40%-off $15.99

THE BIZ
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MOON KNIGHT RETURNS!!

There's always at least one comic superhero who has a really great concept but fails miserably. It's all in the way you take it to the streets. For example, if the origin seems to cliche or contrived, then the audience won't lap it up. Moon Knight failed his first few times out and Marvel's going to try it again. Here's hoping!

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED SERIES CONTINUES

Cartoon Network's very happy with the way that JLU has developed a very large and dedicated fan base. I mean, who wouldn't be?! Lots of people watching equals lots of money in advertising. The next season is shaping up nicely and the network's got no need to ditch the series.

MARVEL BECOMES MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT

On the surface, this name change seems somewhat insignificant however the changes are dramatic -- Marvel has established itself as a full on film studio meaning that it will now be able to have complete creative control of the future movies that they're planning to make. Right now, they have ten (10) film ideas that they're looking to take into production with the first release coming in summer of 2008. Perhaps this new change of hands will mean less flops on Marvel's part and we'll actually see a really good Hulk and Punisher movie in the future (please?).

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the October 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. (-) Infinite Crisis

2. (1) All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder

3. (2) Superman Batman

4. (6) Amazing Spider-Man

5. (4) New Avengers

6. (7) Green Lantern

7. (8) House of M

8. (-) Justice

9. (5) Ultimate Spider-Man

10. (9) Batman

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (-) Transformers

2. (3) Red Sonja

3. (2) Army of Darkness

4. (-) Fathom

5. (5) GI Joe America's Elite

6. (4) Soulfire Dying of the Light

7. (7) Strangers in Paradise

8. (6) Simpsons Comics

9. (8) Donald Duck and Friends

10. (-) Uncle Scrooge

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

THE PERHAPANAUTS #1 of 4

Don't even ask me how to pronounce this name. The Per-Hap-A-Nauts? The Purrha-pah-nauts? Whatever. Supposedly, the P-things are an organization that has taken up the responsibility of preventing the beings from other dimensions from entering our own. Go P-things!
By Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN #1 of 6

Shortly after his first year of fighting crime, Batman began running into the super-powered criminal variety. Nothing in his first year prepared him for this, and this mini-series seeks to investigate what Batman had to do to get ready.
By Matt Wagner.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1

Shortly after the release of All Star Batman & Robin comes the inevitable remake of Superman. B&R looks to be an excellent title after having read over the first issue so I now have high hopes for this All-Star version of everyone's favorite superhero in red & blue. Let's see what happens...
By Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

JONAH HEX #1

Or, as I like to call it, "Big, Mean, and Ugly Westerner." The bounty hunter is back in the Wild West when a millionaire's only son is kidnapped. Hex must hunt down the kidnappers and save the kid... maybe.
By Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Luke Ross.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.50 retail.

DANGER GIRL: BACK IN BLACK #1 of 4

This is one of those titles that just won't die. Don't get me wrong, I loved the first Danger Girl, however repeated and gigantic delays in the release of the next new issue left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. However, here we go again with yet another new mini-series: this time the girls have to infilitrate an all-girl biker gang. There ya go.
By Andy Hartnell and Nick Bradshaw.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DMZ #1

Okay. So bad guys with guns are all over the United States and they rise up one day to take over the country. They get pushed back to Manhattan, where a news-journalist named Matty (no joke) gets trapped with what could be his dream assignment or a death wish.
By Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

DOWN #1

Warren Ellis strikes again. This time a narcotics cop goes undercover and becomes the leader of the prime drug gang in the city. A second cop is sent after him to pull him out (with deadly force, if necessary), but after she kills/gets him, will she just replace him? C'mon, it's Ellis, here!
By Warren Ellis, Tony Harris, and J.D. Mettler.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

PUNISHER VS. BULLSEYE #1 of 5

An intriguing match-up if there ever was one. What happens when the "worst" good-guy (Punisher) goes up with the most accurate assassin (Bullseye)? Well, this series is looking to answer that question when Punisher and Bullseye go head-to-head... errr... gun-to-gun?
By Daniel Way and Steve Dillon.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

BOOKS OF DOOM #1 of 6

Brubaker comes in to try and make Doom a scarier more believeable bad guy. I mean, c'mon, who's really scared of the leader of somewhere called "Latveria?" Seriously.
By Ed Brubaker, Pablo Raimondi, and Paolo Rivera.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DECIMATION: HOUSE OF M - THE DAY AFTER

Without giving too much away, obviously the House of M mini-series is not going to end well. The entire Marvel Universe is going to go through some major changes and this one-shot's going to start it all off.
By Chris Claremont and Randy Green.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.

CAPTAIN UNIVERSE SERIES
HULK, DAREDEVIL, X-23, INVISIBLE WOMAN, and SILVER SURFER

Each hero gets their own comic and their own chance to try out the Uni-Power. The Uni-Power is this mystical force that bonds with heroes in great times of crisis. It even bonded with Spider-Man once (one of my favorite stories, by the way). It's a neat concept, and a good way for Marvel to bring in some extra $$$.
By Various.
32 pages. One-shot specials. $2.99 retail each.

THE THING #1

Not that anyone ever asked for it, but the Fantastic Four's The Thing is finally getting his own series... again. So...err...it's clobberin' time?!
By Dan Slott and Andrea Di Vito.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

GENERATION M #1 of 4

It's the continuation of the House of M storyline after the DeciMation one shot mentioned above. Here we go...
By Paul Jenkins, Ramon Bachs, and Stuart Immonen.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

NEW EXCALIBUR #1

Excalibur is back in an effort to help the post-House-of-M Earth deal with its new disasters. Captain Britain's back and forming an all-new team to help out including... Juggernaut?!
By Chris Claremont and Michael Ryan.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

X-FACTOR #1

Madrox, the new mutant, and a whole bunch of lesser known mutants get together to reform the X-Factor team after the events of the House of M mini-series.
By Peter David and Ryan Sook.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS #1 of 6

The X-Men are literally going crazy and it's because of this new bad guy that's entered the post-House-of-M Universe. What the heck's going on? Well, it's up to Cyclops, Wolvie, and everyone else to find out before they have to go to the looney bin for the rest of their lives!
By Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine.
48 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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Last month it was DC Comics' turn to try and wow us with their new series explosion but I have to give the crown to Marvel this month with their fifty-million new titles relating to the "Of M" storylines of doom and destruction (not to mention a new Doom comic series, too!)

As always, remember, if you're running out of ideas, go back about ten years, rehash some of the old maxi-series that didn't work out for you the first time around, and make them bigger and more expensive this time around! That'll do it!!

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson