ERIC'S "PODCASTIC!!!" COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER
VOL. 10 #4 – April 2008

INTRODUCTION
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It’s one of those months where there’s really nothing unbelievable coming out. Sure, there’s a title here or there that makes me intrigued, but, overall, it’s nothing special. There’s some new stuff coming worth talking about, and then there’s all the regular stuff that keeps us engaged. However, I will say that this is the first month where Eric’s Newsletter is available in podcast form. Intrigued? Check it out! Soon to be on iTunes? Maybe.

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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There are few comics that have had as big an impact as American Splendor. Without exaggeration, this comic seriously transformed the industry by giving writers the ability to focus on the mundane, and, yet, make it fascinating. Because of this, the pick-of-the-month has simply got to be American Splendor Season Two #1.

FEB080291 American Splendor Season Two #1. $2.99 retail.

*** 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:

FEB080291 American Splendor Season Two #1 $2.99
FEB080205 Batman Death Mask #1 $5.99
FEB080184 DC Wildstorm Dream War #1 $2.99
FEB080282 Friday the 13th Abuser and the Abused #1 $2.99
FEB080273 Number of the Beast #1 $2.99
FEB082221 Daredevil Blood of the Tarantula #1 $3.99
FEB082246 Giant Size Avengers Invaders #1 $3.99
FEB082227 Hulk vs. Hercules When Titans Clash #1 $3.99
FEB082230 Iron Man Legacy of Doom #1 $2.99
FEB082240 Secret Invasion #1 $3.99
FEB082257 Thor Ages of Thunder #1 $3.99
FEB082260 X-Men Divided We Stand #1 $3.99
FEB082264 Young X-Men #1 $2.99

40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:

FEB080248 Batman: The Joker's Last Laugh TP $17.99
FEB080242 Green Lantern HC Vol 2 $24.99
FEB080243 Green Lantern Tales of the Sinestro Corps $29.99
FEB080287 Heroes SC $19.99
FEB080251 Justice League of America Vol 3 HC $19.99
FEB080252 Justice TP Vol 1 $14.99
FEB080280 Welcome to Tranquility Vol 2 TP $19.99
FEB082301 Daredvil Hell to Pay Vol 2 TP $15.99
FEB082304 Fantastic Four Beginning of the End TP $14.99
FEB082298 Hulk: Planet Hulk TP $34.99
FEB082287 Marvel Zombies Dead Days HC $29.99
FEB082297 Secret Invasion Infiltration TP $19.99
FEB082300 What If: Civil War TP $16.99

TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions. Download the February 2008 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8KB!) at:

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

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (2) Transformers Spotlight Grimlock
2. (2) Transformers Spotlight Mirage
3. (3) Boys
4. (-) Transformers Focus on Decepticons
5. (-) Transformers Timelines Nightbeat
6. (-) Wizard Magazine
7. (6) Angel After the Fall
8. (8) Fallen Angel
9. (-) Soulfire
10. (7) Red Sonja

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

PIGEONS FROM HELL #1 of 4

This is one of those comics where the title just makes me giggle over and over again even though the storyline seems kind of interesting. There’s this house filled with the souls of the damned, and when dusk settles across the land, tons of pigeons fly from the house, supposedly the souls of the damned escaping from the house. But, at the end of the day (literal pun not intended), they’re still pigeons… and, I mean, really, how scary are pigeons?
By Joe Lansdale (W), Nathan Fox (A), and Dave Stewart (C).
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

DC COMICS

COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #4-1

What can you really say about Countdown aside from… holy flying monkey turds am I so incredibly happy that this money-sucking comic series is finally coming to an end. *ahem* These are the final four issues of the series where the “Great Disaster” has finally happened and everything and the kitchen sink is raining down.
By Various Artists and Writers.
32 pages each. Ending a massive-maxi-series-of-death. $2.99 retail each.

DC/WILDSTORM: DREAMWAR #1 of 6

This is one of those things that every premiere company has to do when they have multiple imprints – crossover events! You had to see this one coming. DC’s got its mainstays: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, and then in Wildstorm, it’s got Zealot, the Midnighter and Deathblow. Of course, the Earth’s coming to an end when the Justice League shows up in the Wildstorm Universe and it’s the Justice League’s fault (can we say “reality conflict” anyone?).
By Keith Griffen (W), Lee Garbett (A) and Trevor Scott (A).
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

TITANS #1

Remember when the Avengers got destroyed in the Marvel Universe in an effort to recreate the series? Smell the air for a second and you’ll see that DC is trying the same thing with the resurrection of Titans. I know what you’re thinking – doesn’t DC already have about 50 different Titans titles? Ahhh… but that is TEEN Titans. This is the original team coming back including Nightwing and his amazing friends (somehow, that sounds familiar, too). Anyway, someone (or something… wooooo) is trying to kill off the Titans and they’re going to have to come back together to figure out what’s going on.
By Judd Winick (W), Ian Churchill (A), and Norm Rapmund (A).
40 pages. Ongoing series. $3.50 retail.

NUMBER OF THE BEAST #1-2 of 6

I’m a cynical comic previewer, I really am, but there are certain times where a description of a comic makes me groan with the constipation of a thousand repeated storylines. Number of the Beast is about the apocalypse in the Wildstorm Universe where nothing will remain once the writers are done with it. We can only hope…
By Scott Beatty (W), Chris Sprouse (A), and Karl Story (A).
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail each.

SUPERNATURAL: RISING SON #1 of 6

The TV series of the same name has always been interesting to me; this guy teaches his sons how to “hunt” these supernatural beings all over the country. Granted, it’s always done in a very, very cool old muscle car in the TV series. This series attempts to be the origin of the TV show by going back to how dad taught the kids how to hunt.
By Peter Johnston (W) and Rebecca Dessertine (W) with Diego Olmos (A).
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #1 of 4

American Splendor is an iconic comic in the industry. 30 years ago, the original American Splendor made comic readers appreciate the “everyman life.” In 2006, Harvey Pekar was able to resurrect that feeling, arguably. Now, he’s releasing another short mini-series in an attempt to continue the storyline.
By Harvey Pekar (W) and art by various artists.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

WITCHBLADE/DEVI #1

This is one of those crossover storylines that I wonder if anyone out there really cares. Sara Pezzini (the Witchblade) travels to India for some murder investigation (because we all know that the NYPD has serious jurisdiction over in India). Anyway, she gets there and runs into Devi who’s supposedly the incarnate of a goddess and protector of something called Sitapur (it’s a Virgin Comics thing). Anyway, naturally, you can expect that the two of them are going to get into a big knock-down drag-out fight before teaming up to fight the “real” bad guy.
By Ron Marz (W) and Eric Basaldua (A).
32 pages. Limited series. $3.99 retail

Sidenote: Yes, I know that Image had a few other new titles this month but they were “offered-again” titles meaning that they were already ordered once, something happened (which we will refer to as Image-like since they’re the best at delaying titles) and now they’re being resolicited. Yeah, I already described these titles once and I don’t feel Image deserves that much extra attention, thank you very much.

MARVEL COMICS

DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA

Tarantula used to be a bad guy. I mean, literally, he used to be one of the bad guys that regularly fought Daredevil. He’s gotten out of jail and has decided to be a good guy… kinda. He wipes out a gang in his neighborhood and spends his nights playing Robin Hood. Naturally, as is typical of a lot of Marvel Comics, the next part of the description goes like this, “His past catches up with him and he has to turn to Daredevil, his once-enemy, to help him out.” Yeah. Predictable.
By Ed Brubaker (W) and Ande Parks (W) with Chris Samnee (A).
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99.

HULK VS. HERCULES: WHEN TITANS CRASH

Sometimes, there are crossovers that are totally unnecessary. In this crossover, two half-naked mythical men battle each other for no other purpose but to see half-naked mythical men battle each other. If you’re a big fan of the Hulk or Hercules, go ahead and pick up this title. Otherwise, wait for something better because this isn’t going to down anything for you.
By Greg Pak (W) and Fred Van Lente (W) with Leonard Kirk (A).
64 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.

IRON MAN: LEGACY OF DOOM #1 of 4

Seriously, Iron Man goes to hell. I’m not joking. He and Dr. Doom have to team up to fight Mephisto (is it just me, or is this one of the most lame-named bad guys since Sinestro in the DC Universe?). Anyway, the two team up and end up literally having to go to Hell to stop Mephisto.
By David Michelinie (W) and Ron Lim (A) with Bob Layton (A).
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

SECRET INVASION #1 of 8

The Skrulls are invading, the Skrulls are invading. If you’re anything like me, you’re fed up with the Skrulls. Seriously, who really cares anymore? Elektra’s a Skrull? Big deal. Everyone’s a Skrull. There’s a Skrull here, a Skrull there… sooner or later, you’d kind of assume that they’d add up to a real character. In reality, it’s just a cop-out for a bad guy that would take Marvel’s writers some time to come up with. On the bright side, this maxi-series is written by Brian Michael Bendis, and though I don’t really need to say anything else to increase his already supersized ego, the man can write.
By Brian Michael Bendis (W) with Lenil Francis Yu (A).
48 pages. 8-issue maxi-series. $3.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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That wraps it up. I kind of wish that the first episode of Eric’s Newsletter in podcast form could have had more interesting comics, but aside from writing my own, whatcha gonna do, right?

As always, you know what’s better than reading? Listening to someone
else read for you.

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson

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