ERIC'S "ISSUE #85 - ONE YEAR LATER AND MY MATH IS BETTER..."
NEWSLETTER VOL. 8 #1 - January 2006

INTRODUCTION
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It has been yet another year in the life of the comic book industry signifying the end of volume 7 of Eric's Newsletter making this officially issue #85 and bringing our institution to 86 consecutive issues of comic book industry greatness (also signifying that we're catching up to Image Comics' Spawn comic that came out years before we started... moo-ha-ha!) At any rate, for the January issue, we're back into the slump for the majority of the industry having just blown their wad to get all of the December issues out the door. Oddly flying in the face of the rest of the industry, Marvel Comics is exploding with new titles this month. So, let's take it away...

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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Despite the large number of choices available from Marvel and the handful of comics from the other guys, I'm going to have to choose Ultimate Extinction as my pick-of-the-month this month. The Ultimate mini-series lineup has bringing us Galactus for well over a year now and Ultimate Extinction promises to bring this storyline to an end. I'm hoping they're going to be a little more creative than just bringing Ultimate Silver Surfer into the deal, but, heck, even if that's all they do I'll be intrigued.

NOV051935 ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #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:
NOV050011 STAR WARS KOTOR #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV050300 ELFQUEST THE DISCOVERY #1 $3.99 - 50% OFF
NOV050320 EXTERMINATORS #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV050284 SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV050241 BATMAN HUSH RETURNS TP $12.99 - 40% OFF
NOV050268 THE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE $19.99 - 40% OFF
NOV050281 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY TP $14.99 - 40% OFF
NOV051973 NEXT WAVE #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV051993 SENTINEL SQUAD ONE #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV051935 ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV051997 X-MEN THE 198 #1 $2.99 - 50% OFF
NOV052020 NEW AVENGERS BREAKOUT TP $14.99 - 50% OFF
NOV052024 ULTIMATE ANNUALS VOL 1 TP $13.99 - 50% OFF
NOV052027 X-MEN BLACK PANTHER TP $11.99 - 40% OFF

THE BIZ
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THE ULTIMATE AVENGERS ANIMATED DVD IN 2006

You heard it right. Marvel ist rying to make as much money as possible by releasing an animated Ultimate Avengers movie released straight to DVD in 2006. No confirmed release dates yet.

X-BOX 360 COMING SOON... OR NOT... TO A STORE NEAR YOU

The Microsoft X-Box 360 is scheduled for a full-frontal release in just a matter of days now and the question is --- will Microsoft have enough of the consoles to actually have a successful launch. The next year will tell alot about which console will be at the lead of the pack -- so far Sony has held the crown for two generations in a row (never done before) by leading the group. However, Sega can testify to the dangers of trying to be the first one out of the gate with both the Saturn and the Dreamcast performing such faceplants that Sega doesn't even make consoles anymore. The X-Box 360 will have almost a full year advance on the Nintendo Revolution and about the same on the PS3 (the Japanese release is scheduled for March 2006 but we have no idea about the American launch yet).

COMIC MOVIE RELEASES IN 2006

How's this? Ghost Rider's release date is now July 14, 2006. Warner Bros. has optioned The Losers from DC. Ivan Reitman (director of "Ghostbusters" fame) is releasing Super Ex in July of 2006 where Luke Wilson's character dumps his superhero girlfriend (Uma Thurman) and she... err... comes after him. 30 Days of Night is still being looked at to be converted to the silver screen though rumors have it that finding a scriptwriter to adapt the comic is proving harder than anticipated.

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions.
Download the December 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) Infinite Crisis
2. (2) All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder
3. (3) Superman Batman
4. (4) New Avengers
5. (-) Justice
6. (-) All-Star Superman
7. (5) Amazing Spider-Man
8. (-) Ultimate Spider-Man
9. (7) Supergirl
10. (10) Green Lantern

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS
1. (-) Fallen Angel
2. (1) Red Sonja
3. (2) Fathom
4. (3) GI Joe America's Elite
5. (-) Soulfire Dying of the Light
6. (5) Simpsons Comics
7. (6) Army of Darkness
8. (-) Dragonlance Chronicles
9. (-) Revolution on the Planet of the Apes
10. (-) Red Sonja vs. Thulsa Doom

THE GOOD STUFF
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DC COMICS

SGT. ROCK: THE PROPHECY #1 of 6

Joe Kubert returns to Sgt. Rock with this new mini-series arguably based on a true story. Sgt. Rock is a huge WW2 character that's been going on for years and, despite my own personal reservations, will most likely be going on for years more. What can I say? World War 2 just doesn't hold my interest like it did over 50 years ago when all of these comics first started.
by Joe Kubert.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

THE EXTERMINATORS #1

I'm really not sure how to tell you about this one -- this comic literally follows the around bug exterminators like the Terminix people on their jobs of catching raccoons and killing rats. It's... different...
By Simon Oliver and Tony Moore.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

BODY BAGS: ONE SHOT

They're back again. Mack and Panda are going to be surrounded by bad guys with a whole new concept -- one bullet. In other words, they've got one chance to get out of yet another incredibly wacky predicament that they've gotten themselves into.
By Jason Pearson.
48 pages. One-shot. $5.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #1 of 5

After all of the ultimate mini-series that have come before, it's exciting to see the possibility of the resolution of the incredible mess that has been created. However, rumor has it that it might be just as incredible how easy the solution is -- Ultimate Silver Surfer anyone?
By Warren Ellis & Brandon Peterson.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

NEXTWAVE #1

A group of superheroes is put together to hunt down and destroy bizarre weapons of mass destruction. Their name is Nextwave. Oddly, their ownership corporation's name is H.A.T.E. which is a subsidiary of a larger company called Beyond. I'm more intrigued by the conglomeration possibilities of this comic than I am about the actual storyline itself. Strange.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

DOC SAMSON #1

Doc Samson gets his own mini-series, not that we were all clamoring to see him on his own adventures, however this super-psychiatrist is striking off on his own to fight... reincarnated Sigmund Freuds? Who knows.
32 pages. Mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MYTHOS #1

Paul Jenkins and Paolo Riviera team up to start a new series where they release painted one-shots of different storylines. This particular issue follows the X-Men back to the formative days of the school. Nifty.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.99 retail.

X-MEN: THE 198 #1

A tie-in to the Decimation storyline! SURPRISE! Like you couldn't see this coming. Anyway, The question now in the aftermath of the M situation is: what's happened to Xavier's school for youngsters and why is it now one of the more dangerous places for mutants?
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

X-MEN: THE END - MEN AND X-MEN #1

The return of the Phoenix? Maybe. That's all I'm saying. Oh, and this is a tie in to Decimation but I figured you got that already.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

ARES #1 of 5

A five-issue mini-series investigating what happens when Zeus decides that he needs to punish Ares, the God of War. I would really only recommend this comic if you're into Thor-type storylines, otherwise you're going to want to stab yourself in the head. Really.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #1

Misty Knight and Colleen Wing are bounty hunters. Basically, think of this comic as Marvel's answer to DC Comics' Danger Girl series.

32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

SENTINEL SQUAD O*N*E #1

Not done with the Decimation tie-ins yet. Now, you can collect this series to figure out the origin of the Sentinel Squad and see how they find the soldiers to pilot these things.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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So there you have it. January is now the Month of M. I would've expected maybe March or May to be the month of M since they start with M, but Marvel picked January to just flush out a whole ton of new comics. I guess they could change January to Marvelary.

As always, remember, if it's done before, do it over again only this time make it slightly different so that people can't complain it's the same thing that's been done before over again except with no differences!

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson