Comics NOW! Eric's "It was THIS big, really!" September 2003 Newsletter

ERIC'S "IT WAS THIS BIG, REALLY!"
COMICS NOW! NEWSLETTER VOL. 5 #11 - November 2003 Invoice

DISCLAIMER
----------------

Eric's Newsletter is independent of the opinions and views held by the
company, Comics NOW! Inc. and does not represent the opinions of
the employees of Comics NOW!.  If something within this newsletter
offends you, turns you on, or inspires you and you'd like to talk to
someone about it, please send me (Eric) an email directly at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


INTRODUCTION
--------------------

Ah... there it is.  The gentle changing of the color in the leaves, the
faint
crispness in the air alluding to a new season coming upon us... and that
season... is WINTER.  Wow, if there was ever a good reason to stay
inside and read comics, that season is it (Have you ever noticed how I
always seem to find a reason to stay inside and read comics?  Funny
how that works).  At any rate, let's get on with it, shall we?


IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
------------------------------------

Read Cable & Deadpool!  There, I said it.  This is going to be a good
book.  It's going to be a funny book.  It's going to be a good and funny
book.  And it's going to be worth reading.  Granted, I wouldn't stake
my life on it, but, man, c'mon.  Throw a guy a freakin' bone here!  The
first Deadpool series was downright hilarious and got canceled due to
lack of subscribers.  Maybe this one can do better?  Pretty-please?

SEP031540  CABLE AND DEADPOOL #1   $2.99 Retail


THE BIZ
----------

TURNER TURNS TO DC
Buried in legal tape over the rights to his characters as he fights
with our friends over at Top Cow Productions, Michael Turner
has accepted the offer to work for DC.  He's starting with the
Superman/Batman series in a six-issue arc starting with either
February's #7 or March's #8.  Nothing like good art to go with
... well... semi-good storyline.

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE GETS A LITTLE MORE ELITE
JLA Elite will be launching shortly after JLA #100 hits.  This
will be the first time we've seen a second JLA title since the
fiasco in the late-80s, early-90s with JLA International, JLA
Europe, and JLA The Green Planet (never saw that last one?
Heck, neither did I.).

SPAWN TURNS INTO A COW
Top Cow sources say that Todd McFarlane's favorite dying
undead reanimated clown of a superhero, Spawn, will be
headed over to Top Cow.  Hopefully, they'll be able to
introduce two concepts to those unfortunate enough still
reading the title: (1) punctuality (Spawn is nearly six issues
behind its solicitation) and (2) storyline (ever noticed that
Spawn's never had that little-known writing tool known
loosely in the author's world as "plot?")

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR
Intriguingly, Bendis, Millar, and Kubert are scheduled to
launch the next Ultimate title, Ultimate FF, coming this
December.  Why Marvel picked this particular title is
slightly beyond me, seeing as there are a number of
other icons that could use the Ultimate treatment.  Ah,
well.  May be good... maybe not.


TOP-10 and TOP-100
------------------------

Check out Comics NOW! Inc.'s Top-100 on IRX Productions.
Download the October 2003 Top-100 PDF file (it's 8KB!) at:
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/oct03top100.pdf

September '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/sep03top100.pdf

August '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/aug03top100.pdf

July '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/jul03top100.pdf

June '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/jun03top100.pdf

May '03
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/may03top100.pdf

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 pee-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 #560

"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
"#560" - the issue number of the title

TOP 10 PREMIERE COMICS

1.  (-)  Avengers JLA #1
2.  (4)  Marvel 1602 #3
3.  (10) Amazing Spider-Man #500
4.  (5)  Ultimate Six #2
5.  (1)  Batman #620
6.  (6)  Ultimate Spider-Man #47
7.  (7)  Ultimate X-Men #38
8.  (8)  Spectacular Spider-Man #5
9.  (-)  New X-Men
10. (9)  Supreme Power #3

TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS

1.  (-)  Transformers War Within Vol. 2 #1
2.  (2)  Transformers GI Joe #3
3.  (3)  Transformers Armada #16
4.  (4)  Dark Days #4
5.  (5)  Transformers More Than Meets #7
6.  (9)  Sojourn #28
7.  (-)  Masters of Universe He Man #1
8.  (7)  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5
9.  (-) Brian Pulido Lady Death
10. (6) El Cazador #2


THE GOOD STUFF
---------------------

DC COMICS

SUPERMAN: THE KANSAS SIGHTING #1 of 2
So, Jor-El sends his only kid to Earth without doing any other studies
on other planets because, well, Earth is a groovy little planet, right?
Maybe not.  This "What If" storyline explores Jor-El's early trips to
Earth and what sorts of things he may have done to certain Earth
inhabitants to make sure it was a good place for his son to go.
By J.M. Dematteis with Jamie Tolagson.
64 pages.  2-issue mini-series.  $6.95 retail.

JLA #90
Normally, I don't cover mainstream comics that are well within their
numbers (e.g. I like to cover new stuff or comics you may not know
about), but in this case, I'll make an exception.  In this issue of JLA,
Batman and Wonder Woman decide whether or not to go forward
with their feelings toward each other and search for something
special.  If that ain't a reason to pick up this title, I don't know what
is.
By Joe Kelly, Chrisscross, and Tom Nguyen.
32 pages.  Ongoing series.  $2.25 retail.

JLA: LIBERTY AND JUSTICE OVERSIZED SC
As it always is with Alex Ross' stuff, his next special is oversized.
But, man, you've just gotta love the way he presents his art.  This
time, he takes on classic JLA for a story never told.  An alien virus
is invading the planet, and people start to think JLA may be
responsible.  Go figure.
By Paul Dini and Alex Ross.
96 pages.  One-shot.  $9.95 retail.

TEEN TITANS GO! #1
I've got a brilliant concept - let's take a title that's already having
a hard time appealing to a more adult audience because of the age
of its main characters and make it look even more goofy than it did
before.  In addition, let's make the script really cheesy and the kids
nearly downright idiotic.  Yeah.  This'll work.
By J. Torres, Todd Nauck, and Lary Stucker.
32 pages.  Ongoing series.  $2.25 retail.

DANGER GIRL: VIVA LAS DANGER
Danger Girl is back.  Well... maybe not.  Maybe just for a single
one-shot.  Anyway, if you liked the team behind DANGER GIRL
HAWAIIAN PUNCH, then you'll like this.  The girls go to "Sin
City."  That's right, Witchita, Kansas.  Man, that place is seedy.
No.  No.  I mean, Las Vegas... of course.  I was just pullin' out
a bit o' the funny on ya.
By Andy Hartnell, J. Scott Campbell and Phil Noto.
48 pages.  One-shot.  $4.95 retail.

SUPERMAN/THUNDERCATS
Quick question: who'd you think you'd never see in a team-up
comic book?  Superman and Thundercats?  Well, here ya go.
Also, coming soon from Vertigo, Superman/Care Bears.
By Judd "I'm-So-Real" Winick, Ale Garza, and Trevor Scott.
48 pages.  One-shot.  $5.95 retail.

IMAGE COMICS

BLOKHEDZ #1 of 4
Image Comics is the kind of company that needs to learn when
to say "No."  When to say "Enough is enough."  Or perhaps,
when to say, "We're not a minority."  At any rate, here we go
again for another insulting adventure into what it's like to live on
the streets, fighting for respect, and joining a lawless Biker Crew.
God help us all.
By Brandon Schultz with Mark and Mike Davis.
32 pages.  4-issue mini-series.  $4.95 retail.

CLOUDFALL
Intriguing concept -- Allison Andrews is a detective and pretty
darn good.  Her life is fairly dull and normal.  She likes her job.
She kind of likes where things are.  And then the governor gets
killed, all of her friends become enemies, her enemies friends,
and her life gets turned upside-down.  Don't worry.  She'll get
it all solved and back together within 48 short little pages
because this puppy's a one-shot!
By Robert Kirkman with E.J. Su.
48 pages.  One-shot.  $4.95 retail.

MARVEL COMICS

WOLVERINE: THE END #1 of 6
Okay, I've been talking about this long enough.  Once again
Marvel takes a character to the end of the their lifespan and
tries to tell the last story for the character chosen.  In this
case, the lucky contestant is Wolverine.  If you missed out
on Origin (and are too impatient to wait for Origin 2), then
this is the comic for you.
By Paul Jenkins and Claudio Castellini.
32 pages.  6-issue mini-series.  $2.99 retail.

CABLE & DEADPOOL #1
Okay, so I don't really care about Cable at all, but Deadpool
was one of the funniest comic books around before it got
canceled because too many cheap bastards stopped ordering
it!  Okay.  I've dropped my bitterness (for now).  Cable and
Deadpool are back and stuck with each other.  Will they
drive each other crazy?  We can only hope so.
32 pages.  Ongoing (YAY!) Series.  $2.99 retail.


LETTERS COL
-----------------

Send your email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Once again, it's time for me to be humiliated as I get caught up
with writing this newsletter so much that I forget to pay attention
to what I'm talking about.  Last month, I talked about Joker
waking up to a strange transformation.  Mr. Mark Sumimoto
was paying attention a little more closely:

Yo Eric!

Take another look at the art for Batman/Joke: Switch. Notice
the one feature of the Joker we never see is the one for which
he is most famous. That leads me to believe he has lost his
mouth, which is truly a "strange transformation".

Mark

Thanks, Mark!  I'll try to pay more attention next time but it's
good to know that even if I don't, my loyal readers are out
there watching out for me. ;)

Like always, anyone can feel free to send me an email at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


FINAL NOTES
-----------------

And that wraps up yet another month of good stuff and fun
times.  Okay, well, maybe we're just talking about comics
here, but it does wrap another month, right?   At any rate,
join us next month as we close out volume 5 of Eric's
Newsletter and get ready for an all-new year.  Go figure!

As always, remember, what goes around comes around,
and sometimes we all just go round-and-round while on
a merry go-round while we just hang around.  <sigh>

And, as always, thank you for your business!

Eric R. Jacobson

**********************************************
NOTICE:  The series "Eric's ... Newsletter" is copyright and
property of Eric Jacobson.  The opinions, commentary, and
social outcry held within are solely that of Eric Jacobson and
in no way reflect the demented or warped minds of the
employees of Comics NOW!

If you disagree with any of the material in the newsletter, you
can let it ferment in your mind until it becomes a fine wine, or
you can drop me an email at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
**********************************************

Comics NOW! Inc. E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Comics NOW! Inc. Webpage: http://www.comicsnow.com
COMICS NOW! INC. IS TRADEMARK Nathaniel O. Wells

Eric's Newsletter and IRX Productions are copyright 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 to Eric R. Jacobson

Got suggestions for the newsletter or the website?  Drop me a
line at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]