ERIC'S "WE'VE GOT IT ALL THIS MONTH"
COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 9 #5 - May 2007

INTRODUCTION
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Welcome back to another issue of Eric's Newsletter. We've got it all in this issue -- zombies, cliches, multiple ongoing storylines that never seem to die... it's just everywhere in a big, bad way.

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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Believe it or not, the comic I am most excited about this month is Marvel Zombies Dead Days. In it, Marvel finally tells us the origin of the Marvel Zombies, how it all started, and shows Spider-Man munching down on some Mary Jane lunch (as in, she's the lunch). You gotta love it. It's like a Marvel What If... only so not.

MAR072097 Marvel Zombies Dead Days #1 $3.99 retail.
*** 50%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***

COMIC PODCASTS
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Check out this awesome comics podcast online at
http://www.globalcomics.net/podcast. There are MP3s of all previous
podcasts as well as XML feed links if you'd like to subscribe!

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:

50%-OFF COMIC DEALS:
MAR070190 Countdown #48 $2.99
MAR070257 Supernatural Origins #1 $2.99
MAR071880 Kiss 4K #1 $3.99
MAR071865 Madame Mirage #1 $2.99
MAR071818 Spawn Godslayer #1 $2.99
MAR071822 Ward O/T State #1 $3.50
MAR072097 Marvel Zombies Dead Days #1 $3.99
MAR072109 Silver Surfer Requiem #1 $3.99
MAR072071 Spider-Man Fairy Tales #1 $2.99

40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:
MAR070197 Blue Beetle Vol 2 Road Trip TP $12.99
MAR070253 Man Called Kev TP $19.99
MAR070262 Silverfish HC $24.99
MAR070226 Trials of Shazam Vol 1 TP $14.99
MAR072152 Avengers Next Rebirth TP $13.99
MAR072132 Criminal Vol 1 Coward TP $14.99
MAR072155 Doctor Strange Oath TP $13.99
MAR072158 Marvel 1602 Fantastick Four TP $14.99

THE BIZ
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I HATE HEROES' SYLAR...

Is it just me or does anyone else out there hate the Sylar character, too? I mean, there's something about his virtual invulnerability that just gets on my nerves... it really rattles me. He just seems to be able to do whatever he wants and go from one person to the next taking their powers without anyone ever stopping him. I believe i'd pay money to see him get whacked in a variety of painful ways. I believe Heroes' greatest superpower is that, most of the time, absolutely nothing happens yet it makes us all keep watching!

SPIDER-MAN TAKES ON IRON-MAN

You've just gotta love it, really. Peter's pissed as hell that May's in trouble and he simply isn't going to take it anymore so he goes after Tony Stark. The smug, arrogant son-of-a-bitch who's basically headed up the entire Civil War series as we know it. Man, I'd love to see someone, anyone, smack Stark around a heck of a lot more than it's been happening. Spidey's gonna do it, and he's gonna do it in issue #544 of Amazing Spider-Man. I can hardly wait.

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the April 2007 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. (2) Justice League of America
2. (1) Batman
3. (3) Amazing Spider-Man
4. (4) New Avengers
5. (-) Justice
6. (7) Detective Comics
7. (6) Astonishing X-Men
8. (8) Teen Titans
9. (-) Justice Society of America
10. (9) 52 Week

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (1) Transformers Escalation
2. (2) Transformers Spotlight
3. (3) Transformers Movie Prequel
4. (-) Transformers Spotlight Target 2006
5. (-) Transformers Cybertron Balancing Act
6. (8) GI Joe America's Elite
7. (6) Fallen Angel
8. (4) Red Sonja
9. (-) GI Joe Special Missions
10. (7) Battlestar Galactica

THE GOOD STUFF
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DC COMICS

COUNTDOWN #51-48

Oh, good grief, here we go again. First, it was 52 Weeks. Now, it's Countdown. Someone gets killed in Countdown 51 and then begins the countdown (yes, the comics are being released in reverse numerical order) all the way down where, at the end, "an unexpected ripple ... will touch virtually every character in the DC Universe."
By Various.
32 pages. Maxi-series. $2.99 retail each.

SUPERNATURAL: ORIGINS #1

DC couldn't be left out of the act when it comes to taking a popular television show from the WB (errr.. CW) and making it into a comic book. Supernatural, the TV show, follow two brothers who investigate paranormal activity... just like their daddy used to before he... disappeared? Was killed? Who knows. At any rate, this comic tries to answer the storyline behind how they all got started in the hunt for ghosties.
By Peter Johnson, Geoff Johns, Matthew Dow Smith, and Phil Hester.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

SPAWN GODSLAYER #1

It's Spawn in the world of Ur. Really. It's as if Todd McFarlane was trying to create a new planet and someone asked him, "So, dude, what's its name?" And he answered, "Errrrrr..." and then decided to stick with it. At any rate, Spawn: Godslayer takes us back to the concepts from the one-shot of last year and gives the Spawn Godslayer his own ongoing series.
By Brian Holguin and Philip Tan.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

GUTSVILLE #1 of 6

The HMS Daphne ocean-liner is sucked into the ocean over. 150 years later, the passengers' descendents are still alive. How is this freaking possible? Well, apparently, the entire ship was swallowed by a gigantic sea creature where they were able to survive within its belly. Thus, the name of the town being as strange as Gutsville. One of them considers escape, however...
By Simon Spurrier and Frazer Irving.
32 pages. 6-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.

STRANGE EMBRACE #1 of 8

Imagine the movie 8MM with Nicholas Cage only for comics. David Hine's explores his own Hinequarters (god forgive the pun) in a story that is supposed to delve into the depths of psycho-sexual tortured romance. Does it need to be done? No, not really, but does any comic really need to be made?
By David Hine and Rob Steen.
32 pages. 8-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.

WARD OF THE STATE #1 of 3

Norma Balitzer is a foster mother who trains her foster kids to be hired killers. I mean, I guess at least that way the orphans have a way of making a living instead of just turning to a life of crime... errr... wait... it's still illegal to work as a hired killer, isn't it?
By Christopher E. Long and Chee.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $3.50 retail.

MADAME MIRAGE #1

I really wanted to like stuff from Top Cow but sometimes the ideas are so done that they're just, well, done. Madame Mirage is a mysterious woman who comes from the mists who, no joke, this is a quote -- is "as deadly as she is beautiful." She enters the city and kills off the new villains who just happen to wear suits and ties. Eeeehhh.. it's nature vs. civilization with hot chicks. Maybe it'll be amazing and maybe it's just Witchblade meets Magdalena meets Wall Street.
By Paul Dini, Kenneth Rocafort, and Greg Horn.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

KISS 4K #1

KISS is back in comic book form when a "mysterious and beautiful figure reveals to each KISS member that they carry the world-protecting spirits of the 4K." You just can't beat having a kick-ass warrior spirit inhabiting super-famous rockstars, can you? Naturally, the rock band has to go and fight invading demons who are trying to take over the planet. I mean, who wouldn't, right?
By Ricky Sprague, Daniel Campos, and Kevin Crossley.
40 pages. Ongoing series? $3.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON - CAPTAIN AMERICA
CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON - SPIDER-MAN
CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON - IRON MAN

You so knew that Marvel wasn't done with the Civil War storyline... not by a long-shot. Just like DC Comics' 52 Week/Countdown series, Marvel has found a massive cash cow in the Civil War storyline and is willing to squeeze all the juice out of it that they can.... by taking out Captain America. WHOOPS! Did I really just say that?! Sure looks that way. Marvel's taking the big Cap out of the world by whacking him right off. How's Spider-Man going to take it? How about Iron Man in the aftermath? You can only find out by (surprise) by the comics.
By Jeph Loeb, John Romita Jr., David Finch, and John Cassaday.
32 pages. One-shot specials. $2.99 retail each.

MARVEL ZOMBIES: DEAD DAYS

Now, this is a storyline I'm intrigued by. After introducing the Marvel Zombies in the Ultimate Fantastic Four, Marvel realized they were on to something really special. At first, I was skeptical, but I've been drawn in story-after-story because it's just kind of a neat "28 Days Later" storyline that still captivates me. Finally, Dead Days presents the story of how the Marvel Zombie Universe was infested and what happened to the heroes as they each got converted into zombies. Awesome.
By Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips.
48 pages. One-shot special. $3.99 retail.

SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM #1 of 4

I gotta admit -- the Marvel Knights line has done a damn decent job of turning around characters that we haven't seen for awhile because their last offering was poorly handled. MK's at it again and this time it's with the Silver Surfer. To make matters even more intriguing, this comic's backed up by the writing prowess of Straczynski himself. In this comic, Silver Surfer's ride is coming to an end so he's going to take one last trip -- to the place where he started it all. Will that be home? Will that be somewhere else? I guess we'll have to wait to find out.
By J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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There we have it. Yet another issue down and out before we continue into the warmer months of the year where it'll be too hot to be outside and we can just stay in reading comics. And, always remember, if you don't have it at all, you can at least try to get it all. But, if you do have it all, then isn't that all there is? I'm lost. This is just too existential for me.

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson