ERIC'S "WHAT THE HECK'S GOING ON AT MARVEL'S HQ?!?" COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 10 #7 – July 2008

INTRODUCTION
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I know it's obnoxious when I get off-topic in my newsletter and talk about non-comic-book related activities, but, holy crap has Sony's Playstation 3 taken off out of the gate in the past months. First off, we've just GOT to talk about the release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Grand Theft Auto 4. HOLY MACARONI! I mean, I've seen some pretty stuff in the past, but these two blow the doors off the joint. Granted, I had to drop over $1500 in recent months grabbing myself a PS3 40GB and a 1080p HDTV (means I'm eating a lot of Ramen noodles, dammit) but I think it's worth it.

Also, if you check out this month's Previews, you'll see that Diamond has started offering Blu Ray movies in a big, big way. As with everything else, you can get these movies at a discount at www.comicsnow.com.

Enough about that… let's get to the comic industry, shall we? Speaking of which, Marvel's got some seriously strange comics coming out in July; I mean, comics that make me wonder exactly what's been going at Marvel HQ. Read on and you'll figure out what I'm talking about soon enough…

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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I hate being predictable, but I feel like I often am when it comes to my picks of the month. This month, I'm going with Squadron Supreme 2. There's something so visceral about this series; the colors, the hardcoreness (hardcoreness?) of the characters, the overall storyline… the hot babes… it all draws me in. And this is no different, really. So, check it out:

MAY082320 SQUADRON SUPREME 2 $2.99 retail

** 50%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM **

DECONSTRUCTING COMICS
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This month's PREVIEWS features two people who have been interviewed by Deconstructing Comics in the recent months. Alex Robinson was interviewed in February and he has his new graphic novel TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN HC (MAY084159) offered for July 2008 ordering. It's only $14.95 retail with huge discounts available from Comics NOW! (www.comicsnow.com). Also, Jason McNamara, interviewed in the March 17th episode, writes MARTIAN CONFEDERACY GN VOL 1 (MAY083907) being released for July 2008, too. It's $15.00 retail with, once again, huge discounts from Comics NOW! (www.comicsnow.com).

Check out these interviews at www.globalcomics.net and check out these guys' comics. It makes you feel just like being there!

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 - http://www.globalcomics.net/podcast. 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:

MAY080170 Batgirl #1 $2.99
MAY080146 Final Crisis Requiem #1 $3.99
MAY080147 Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #1 $3.99
MAY080265 Hellblazer Presents #1 $2.99
MAY080152 Reign in Hell #1 $3.50
MAY080172 Two Face Year One #1 $5.99
MAY080235 Wildcats Worlds End #1 $2.99
MAY082268 Captain America White #0 $3.99
MAY082271 Fantastic Four True Story #1 $2.99
MAY082341 Foolkiller Short Time #1 $3.99
MAY082293 Newuniversal 1959 #1 $3.99
MAY082307 Secret Invasion Front Line #1 $2.99
MAY082320 Squadron Supreme 2 #1 $2.99
MAY082248 Universal War One #1 $5.99

40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:

MAY080216 Dr. Fate Countdown to Mystery TP $17.99
MAY080257 Hellblazer The Laughing Magician TP $14.99
MAY080221 Invasion TP $24.99
MAY080207 Robin Year One TP $14.99
MAY080222 Showcase Presents Superman TP $16.99
MAY080206 Simon Dark What Simon Does TP $14.99
MAY080218 Suicide Squad from the Ashes TP $19.99
MAY082346 Criminal TP Vol 3 $11.99
MAY082381 Essential Fantastic Four Vol 7 TP $16.99
MAY082362 Longshot Prem HC $24.99
MAY082360 Punisher Prem HC Welcome Back Frank $24.99
MAY082369 Thor by J Michael Straczynski TP $14.99

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

Download the June 2008 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) Justice League of America
2. (2) Batman
3. (3) New Avengers
4. (6) Detective Comics
5. (8) Secret Invasion
6. (-) All-Star Batman & Robin
7. (5) Amazing Spider-Man
8. (4) Justice Society of America
9. (9) Uncanny X-Men
10. (7) Superman Batman

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1. (-) Transformers Spotlight
2. (1) Transformers Movie Sequel
3. (-) Transformers Movie Prequel
4. (3) Boys
5. (2) Angel After the Fall
6. (4) Project Superpowers
7. (-) Fallen Angel
8. (5) Red Sonja
9. (7) GI Joe America's Elite
10. (-) Star Trek New Frontier

THE GOOD STUFF
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DARK HORSE COMICS

HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN #1 of 3

In 1956, Hellboy meets some dude named Tom out in West Virginia. Apparently, Tom made a bad deal where he sold his soul to some demon named the Crooked Man (alas, the name for this mini-series). Naturally, Hellboy's always up for a challenge, so the two of them strike off into the Appalachian mountains to try to find the demon and get Tom's soul back. By the way, (*PLUG ALERT*) Comics NOW just happens to be located in the Appalachian mountains, so maybe they'll stop off and read some trade paperbacks on their way through? Devilish, indeed.
By Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, and Dave Stewart.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

THE HELM #1 of 4

Matt's a 30-year-old video store employee who's just had a really bad day. His girl dumped him at work. He got fired. He lives in his Mom's basement. It's a bad time all around. On the way home, he stops by a garage sale and finds an old helmet that imbues him with a special superpower calling him, "The One." However, once the Helm realizes what a big giant loser Matt is, it wants out of the deal, too. Depressing? Definitely. Funny? Possibly.
By Jim Hardison, Bart Sears, and Randy Elliott.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $3.50 retail.

DC COMICS

FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM ONE-SHOT

FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES' REVENGE #1 of 3

You know how a few months back I talked about how tired I was of Final
Crisis? Do you remember how excited I was that it was finally done? I was
wrong. There's more of this crap coming out of DC, and I'm not willing to
give each of them there own paragraphs; they're getting combined. So,
Requiem is the Justice League carrying out the final wishes of Bart Allen
who will get killed off in Final Crisis. Then, Rogues' Revenge is a 3-issue
mini-series where the villains who were accessories to murder will get in
big bad trouble. Sigh.
By various.
Requiem - 40 pages, one-shot, $3.99 retail. Rogues' Revenge - 40 pages,
3-issue mini-series, $3.99 retail.

AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #1 of 6

Ambush Bug is back. This is one of those titles that you'll enjoy if you
like non-linear comedic storylines bounding through a particular comic
universe, in this case, DC. I'm definitely not knocking this sort of thing,
but Ambush Bug is this bug that runs through the DC Universe, so there's
going to be a lot of inane little references that only a true DC geek will
get. Again, this isn't a bad thing, but you're not going to get it if you
don't LOVE it so watch out.
By Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, and Al Milgrom.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

BATGIRL #1

Batgirl's an amazing intellectual property. Everyone loves a hot girl Batman, I mean, seriously. However, for some reason, every time that DC tries to launch Batgirl in her own ongoing series, it ends up flopping in a big, bad way. In fact, the only character that DC really blew the doors off the place with his own series was Tim Drake's Robin (in fact, I still remember the goose bumps the first Robin mini-series gave me back in the early '90s… just awesome). DC's going to give another run at Batgirl (it's the comic industry, this is how we roll) with the new Batgirl ongoing series where Cassandra will try and conquer her own inner demons. Here's hoping they pull it off this time.
By Adam Beechen, Jim Calafiore, and Jonathan Glapion.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

TWO-FACE YEAR ONE #1 of 2

We all know the story of Two Face's origin. Well, at least, we all should. Harvey Dent (a.k.a. Two-Face) had some mental problems as the Assistant District Attorney in Gotham City when some bad guy threw a vile of acid on his face in the middle of a court case. This two-issue mini-series will try to retell the original of Two-Face, as well as what happened in his first-year crime spree.
By Mark Sable, Jesus Saiz, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Mark Chiarello.
48 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $5.99 retail.

WILDCATS: WORLD'S END #1

Wildcats is another of those properties that DC desperately wants to develop into a quality ongoing series. The next attempt has the team re-established after the conclusion of the Number of the Beast storyline. There's going to be a new status quo in the universe (again) and a number of new characters will be brought to the Wildcats team (as well as some old ones). I feel like this is the third or fourth time out for this series, but who's counting, right? Oh, wait… I'm counting.
By Christos Gage, Neil Googe, and Trevor Hairsine.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

HYPERKINETIC #1 of 4

Whew. Some storylines are so bad that I practically need to wear a gas mask while reading them. Here's an example: "Four intergalactic highly skilled female bounty hunters pursue an elusive prey. They end up going through a wormhole and crashing on a weird alien planet. They now have bigger concerns such as giant killer robots and crazy aliens." Really? I mean, really?!?! I've got to take a minute to go outside and get some fresh air. … … okay, I'm back. The smell's still here but I don't think the stench is strong enough to completely knock me unconscious.
By Howard M. Shum, Matteo Scalera, and Oscar Celestini.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

I KILL GIANTS #1 of 2

This one comes out the middle of left field. In fact, I hate to say it, but I'm actually really intrigued by this one (despite my usual bitterness). Joe Kelly attempts to tell a story about a fifth-grade student named Barbara Thorson who carries a Norse hammer in her purse and claims to kill giants. The reality is that she's got huge real-life problems and has created a fantasy illusion to help her cope. Or has she? Either way, this is a tricky needle to thread, but I have faith that Kelly's got the writing prowess to pull this off.
By Joe Kelly and Jm Ken Nimura.
24 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

BROKEN TRINITY #1 of 3

In a desperate, err, interesting attempt to introduce an all-new super-powered character into the Top Cow universe, this series brings together the Witchblade, the Darkness, and Angelus once again. However, this time a new power-imbuing artifact is discovered that will introduce another character into the universe (with the potential with so many more mini and ongoing series, Top Cow can barely contain itself).
By Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic.
32 pages. 3-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

UNIVERSAL WAR ONE #1 of 6

Errm. I'm not embarrassed to say that I don't completely understand the story concept here. There's a civil war between "core planets and outlying planetary settlements" where an "immense wall has cut our solar system in two." Apparently, this wall absorbs all light and matter, but a band of soldiers are court martialed and required to investigate the phenomenon (usually, court martialed soldiers get sent home or to jail, so this is kind a of a strange approach to cruel and unusual punishment). So, the storyline (originally printed in Europe in another language), investigates what these criminals did to get into so much trouble and what happens when they enter "The Wall." Yep. Still don't completely understand what the hell's going on here.
By Denis Bajram. Adapted by Paul Benjamin.
56 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $5.99 retail.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0

This series (like Daredevil: Yellow, Spiderman: Blue, etc.) tries to retell the story of Captain America and Bucky in World War II. Once again, Bucky's origin story will be retold, but this time from yet another angle. Promises have been made that this mini-series will have lasting effects on the Captain America character, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether this pans out.
By Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
48 pages. Mini-series. $3.99 retail.

FANTASTIC FOUR: TRUE STORY #1 of 4

The Fantastic Four enters the realm of fiction to save the cast of Sense and Sensibility and Dante, Wille Lumpkin… errm… I'm not exactly sure what sorts of drinks are being made at Marvel's offices, but I wish they'd share with the rest of us. There are some seriously strange titles coming out of the Marvelworks this month and I'd like to know what they're sniffing to get to this point.
By Paul Cornell and Horacio Dominguez.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

NEWUNIVERSAL: 1959

We're treading dangerous territory here -- Warren Ellis has hand-picked a replacement for himself to write this new one-shot about the newuniversal storyline. The thing is, Ellis is a very delicate and finely-tuned writer. Replacing him with anyone else requires such a leap of faith that I have a hard time following through. To make matters worse, this one-shot is unusually strange: it's 1959 and a group called "Fireworks" has given superhuman powers to three Americans, setting the world on a collision-course… with… errm… destiny. Okay, Marvel… what's up with this stuff in July? Anyway, this one-shot is supposed to expand the mythos of the world.
By Kieron Gillen, Greg Scott, and Brandon Peterson.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.

SQUADRON SUPREME 2 #1 of 6

Following up the Ultimate Power mini-series, Squadron Supreme 2 tries to answer the questions of what happened to Squadron Supreme and to investigate the fact that Nick Fury got left behind in the Squadron Supreme universe at the end of Ultimate Power… weird, eh?
By Howard Chaykin, Marco Turini, and Greg Land.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail..

TRUE BELIEVERS #1 of 5

Marvel's renowned for taking every single thing that ever came out of Stan Lee's mouth and making it into its own series, and True Believers is no different. In the Information Age, a group of "warriors" steps up to podcast everything they learn about the Marvel universe. They'll be investigating S.H.I.E.L.D. (I hate typing all those periods), the Illuminati, HYDRA, Weapon X, the CIA, the CSA, and more. Want to read a podcast??? Then, jump onboard True Believers, my man!
By Cary Bates, Paul Gulacy.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.

FOOLKILLER: SHORT TIME #1 of 5

Foolkiller's back after an ex-con gets murdered in L.A. two days after getting out of prison. When Foolkiller discovers it's a hate-crime organization named the White Angels, he gets involved. However, he crosses paths with the Punisher. Basically, what we're going to have here is two different takes on the same character running into each other in the same universe. This kind of reminds me of an X-Files episode where two doppelgangers encountered each other in a dance club and the universe started to tear itself apart at the seams. Weird.
By Gregg Hurwitz and Paul Azaceta.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.

FINAL NOTES
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July's upon us and it's good to see that the comic industry isn't taking a summer break; they're off in full-force with a slew of new comics. Great!

As always, if you want to write some really out-of-these-world comics, just hang out at the Marvel offices because whatever they're doing there will probably rub off on you… wow.

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric Jacobson

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