ERIC'S "TEN YEARS?! HOLY CRAP!"COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 10 #1 – January 2008

INTRODUCTION
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Yep, it’s not a typo, this newsletter has been coming to your e-mail box free-of-charge for going on our tenth year! A decade. A tenth of a century. A fifth of a half-century. 10 freakin’ years. No joke. And you know what? We’re not done yet. We’re going to keep putting this newsletter out for the next ten years just to see if we can. So, without any further back-patting, let’s talk about comics and the other stuff going on in the industry, eh?

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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This month’s pick, without question, has to be Twelve. Yes, I know, it’s a group of the lamest WW2 heroes that you’ve ever seen. Men in bloomers with no shirts on waving rapiers. Guys in suits with little Robin-esque face-masks. Lame. But, the concept is good and the writer… oh, the writer… J. Michael Straczynski is the man. He always is. His stories are well thought-out with good plots that keep you going from beginning to end (need I say Babylon 5 and Rising Stars?). Yeah, I’m on-board with this one… even if the heroes are lamer than lame on a lame day covered in lameness.

NOV072177 Twelve #1 of 12 $2.99 retai
*** 50%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***

DECONSTRUCTING COMICS
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It's a constant, consistent, mad demolition of different comics (and they feature my newsletter!) at Deconstructing Comics (http://www.globalcomics.net). Deconstructing Comics always has a wide variety of comics news as well as their awesome podcasts. There are MP3s available of all previous podcasts as well as XML feed links if you'd like to have an ongoing subscription!

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:
NOV070169 Teen Titans Year One #1 $2.99
NOV070263 Wildstorm Revelations #1 $2.99
NOV072021 Shark-Man #1 $3.50
NOV072008 Youngblood #1 $2.99
NOV072192 Exiles Days of Then & Now #1 $3.99
NOV072150 Hulk #1 $2.99
NOV072193 New Exiles #1 $2.99
NOV072177 Twelve #1 $2.99
NOV072119 Ultimate Human #1 $2.99
NOV072153 World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control #1 $2.99
NOV072167 Young Avengers Presents #1 $2.99

40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:
NOV070226 Batman The Killing Joke Special Ed HC $17.99
NOV070236 Flash Blood Will Run TP $17.99
NOV070297 Hellblazer Joy Ride TP $14.99
NOV070237 Justice League International HC $24.99
NOV070238 Superman Chronicles TP Vol 04 $14.99
NOV072208 House of M HC $29.99
NOV072211 New Avengers Illumniati HC $19.99
NOV072221 Onslaught Reborn TP $13.99
NOV072225 Thunderbolts By Ellis TP $19.99
NOV072217 Ultimate X-Men Sentinels TP $17.99

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions.

Download the November 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 #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

TOP 10 PREMIERE COMICS

1. (1) Justice League of America
2. (2) Batman
3. (3) Amazing Spider-Man
4. (4) New Avengers
5. (5) Detective Comics
6. (-) Astonishing X-Men
7. (-) Justice Society of America
8. (8) Uncanny X-Men
9. (-) Action Comics
10. (9) Superman Batman

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (1) Transformers Devestatio
2. (-) Superpowers
3. (4) Boys
4. (3) Transformers Beast Wars
5. (7) Transformers Best of UK Dinobots
6. (5) Angel After the Fall
7. (8) Fallen Angel
8. (-) Jenna Jameson’s Shadow Hunter
9. (10) Simpsons Comics
10. (-) New Battlestar Galactica Season Zero

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

EVIL DEAD #1 of 4

There are few stories in the horror universe that can be returned to over and over again much like Evil Dead. Enter Ash, everyone’s favorite smartass, wise-cracking, chainsaw-wielding horror hero… I mean, he rocks. Really. This 4-issue mini-series is a revisit to the original film with new scenes and artwork. If you like Ash, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.
By Mark Verheiden and John Bolton.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MY NAME IS BRUCE

Can you ever really have too much Bruce Campbell in a month? Well, Dark Horse is going to at least give it a try! In this series, Bruce Campbell (Ash from the Evil Dead series) plays himself as he goes to a town possessed by a crazy Chinese demon thinking he’s filming a movie. Except the demon’s real!
By Milton Freewater, Jr. and Cliff Richards.
32 pages. One-shot special. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

TEEN TITANS: YEAR ONE #1 of 6

It’s a retold recap of how the Teen Titans originally formed way back in their year one. If you’ve been following the new Teen Titans, then this might be one you should pick up. If you’re like me, and you’ve given up on the TT for quite some time, don’t even care about this one.
By Amy Wolfram, Karl Kerschl and Serge Lapointe.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

WILDSTORM: REVELATIONS #1-2 of 6

Nemesis has a post-apocalyptic vision come to her and explain things that are yet to happen. Nemesis teams up with Backlash and Savant to help her figure out what the heck’s going to happen… in the future.
By Scott Beatty, Christos Gage and Wes Craig.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

Y: THE LAST MAN #60 – FINAL ISSUE

What started as an intriguing storyline that broke down into a plot-less run from country-to-country is now culminating in its final issue. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the last issue of Y and though I haven’t been on-board for over a year, I’m going to buy this one last issue to see how it all comes together (or doesn’t). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that years of mindless drivel finally comes together in a real storyline…
By Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr.
56 pages. Final issue in an ongoing series. $4.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

YOUNGBLOOD #1

Youngblood is back. Again. Yet another all-new monthly story… with less impressive art. Okay. That last comment is a bit of a subjective jab so I retract it but I can’t believe Image is bringing back Youngblood. Wait. We’re talking about Image here. I can totally believe Image would bring back Youngblood. All is well, then. There’s nothing more I can say here.
By Joe Casey and Derec Donovan.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

’76 #1 of 8

The obsession with the 1970s is something I’m never going to understand. I was there. I lived them (at least a few of them). Nothing impressive happened. Horrible fashion. Horrible dancing. Lots of drug use. But, we have a maxi-series telling two tales; one of a 60s-era karate master who comes out of retirement to fight an old opponent and the other is about two bounty hunters chasing down runaway strippers and hit men. Woo-hoo.
By B. Clay Moore, Seth Peck, Ed Tadem and Tigh Walker.
32 pages. 8-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.

NEW WORLD ORDER #1

Supposedly inspired by the research of occult master Jordan Maxwell, the man who exposed the Illuminati. This series attempts to tell the story of the “Lonely Ones” who seek the truth and are trying to awaken the masses to bring together a world of happiness and love… before we all destroy ourselves.
By Gustavo Higuera and Giuseppe De Luca.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

SHARK-MAN #1

I’m not sure which is more ridiculous, the title of this comic or the fact that it’s not a comedy. Alan Gaskill has created a beautiful city off the coast of California that’s being threatened by a crime-filled cancer growing within it. Alan won’t let that happen. He’s going to become… good god… Shark-Man.
By Steve Pugh, Dave Elliott and Michael Town.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail

MARVEL COMICS

ULTIMATE HUMAN #1 of 4

You know how much it sucks to have an alter-ego buried deep within your subconscious that turns you into a giant monster with a penchant for destroying property and trying to kill people. Well, it’s this feeling that brings Ultimate Bruce Banner to talk to Ultimate Tony Stark about finding a way to free him from the curse of the Hulk. Naturally, during their experiments, one thing leads to another and the Hulk gets released and Iron Man has to whup some ass.
By Warren Ellis and Cary Nord.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

HULK #1

How many Hulk series can there be? Hopefully, there’s room for at least one more. Following the events that led to the end of World War Hulk, this new series starts with a new monster, new disasters, and new murders to be solved. Woo woo!
By Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

THE TWELVE #1 of 12

Straczynski is at it again. I swear, if it was anyone else trying this move, I’d say the series wouldn’t make, but this man’s a nutball. So, imagine, if you will, 12 superheroes taken from the WWII “Greatest Generation” era and then thrust into the modern Marvel Universe. Each must try to find their place while, at the same time, avoid a killer who wants to eliminate each one of them. WARNING: Goofy men wearing short-pants and no shirts abound!
By J. Michael Straczynski, Chris Weston and Kaare Andrews.
32 pages. 12-issue maxi-series. $2.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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We’re off to start working on finishing our ten years of covering comic greatness. When I look back at the last decade and realize how much has changed in the industry, I can’t wait to see where we’ll be ten years from now!

As always, remember, age is mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson

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