VOL. 10 #10 – October 2008
INTRODUCTION
————————
Now that I live in a larger city instead of the tiny, little, backwater town
in the Appalachian Mountains that I used to, I now have access to an IMAX
theater. So it was that at 8:00am Sunday a few weeks ago, I decided to
check out the new Batman movie in all of its IMAX glory (certain action
sequences and interstitials were filmed in IMAX’s super-large 70mm film
format goodness.
The Dark Knight is absolutely spectacular. In fact, the supporting cast is
so excellent that you might not notice that there isn’t a whole lot of
Batman time in the film. In addition, Heath Ledger is freaking spectacular
as The Joker (and this scripting of the Joker is the most accurate of the
villain to date).
Unfortunately, Ledger was a big giant drug addict, and went and off’ed
himself at the height of his career (I know I sound like a bit of a jerk,
but, drugs are bad… the whole “just say ‘no'” thing started with mine and
Ledger’s generation). This is particularly sad because I’d really like to
see more of this Joker.
Anyway… we’re entering the Halloween season in comics, so let’s get down
to the good stuff…
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
———————————————
Out of all the titles this month, the one that intrigues me the most is
Wolverine: Manifest Destiny. I’m not sure what it is, but now that Logan
knows his past, I just can’t get enough of all of his hilarious hijinx that
he’s screwed up over the years. This one investigates what happens when you
seriously piss off a girlfriend over 50 years ago. For some reason, I’m not
thinking she’s hot anymore…
AUG082411 Wolverine Manifest Destiny #1 $2.99 retail
*** 50%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***
DECONSTRUCTING COMICS – www.deconstructingcomics.com
—————————————————————————————-
Our biggest news this month is that the podcast is moving! We’re in the process of leaving the Global Comics site for our new, bloggier home at deconstructingcomics.com! Mulele and Tim will discuss this in the August 4 episode, as well as reviewing “The Goon: Chinatown and the Mystery of Mr. Wicker.”
Then on August 11, Tim and Brandon review the graphic novels “Iron West” by Doug TenNapel, and “Path” by Gregory S. Baldwin.
Planned for August 18, Kumar will join Tim to review two manga, “Dr. Slump” and “Cromartie High School”. More reviews and interviews in the works, as well Patrik W’s impressions of San Diego Comicon!
www.deconstructingcomics.com
HUGE DISCOUNTS AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM
————————————————————————-
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:
AUG080208 Ferryman #1 $3.50
AUG080117 Final Crisis Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 $3.99
AUG080116 Final Crisis Resist #1 $3.99
AUG080115 Final Crisis Submit #1 $3.99
AUG080120 Superman Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves #1 $2.99
AUG080126 Terror Titans #1 $2.99
AUG080213 Top Ten Season Two #1 $2.99
AUG080219 Unknown Soldier #1 $2.99
AUG080124 Vixen Return of the Lion #1 $2.99
AUG082405 Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #1 $3.99
AUG082335 Captain America White #1 $3.99
AUG082296 Enders Game First Series #1 $3.99
AUG082350 Ghost Rider Danny Ketch #1 $3.99
AUG082369 Marvel Zombies 3 #1 $3.99
AUG082411 Wolverine Manifest Destiny #1 $2.99
AUG082407 X-Men Original Sin #1 $3.99
AUG082417 X-Men Worlds Apart #1 $3.99
40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:
AUG080174 Batman Private Casebook HC $19.99
AUG080225 Exterminators TP Vol 5 $14.99
AUG080229 Fables TP Vol 11 $17.99
AUG080183 Green Lantern Secret Origin HC $19.99
AUG080178 JLA Avengers TP $19.99
AUG080185 Superman Batman Vengeance TP $12.99
AUG080190 Will Eisners Spirit Archives HC Vol 26 $59.99
AUG082435 Civil War HC $39.99
AUG082436 Civil War HC DM ED $39.99
AUG082438 Hulk Prem HC Vol 1 Red Hulk $24.99
AUG082439 Immortal Iron Fist Prem HC Vol 3 $24.99
AUG082440 Incredible Hercules Prem HC Secret Invasion $19.99
AUG082453 Marvel Zombies TP Hulk DM Cover $15.99
AUG082454 Marvel Zombies TP Iron Man DM Cover $15.99
AUG082452 Marvel Zombies TP Spider-Man Cover $15.99
AUG082431 MMW Atlas Era HC Vol 1 $59.99
AUG082432 MMW Atlas Era HC Vol 1 Var Ed Vol 106 $59.99
AUG082469 Punisher Max TP From First to Last $15.99
AUG082468 Punisher Max TP Vol 10 $16.99
AUG082446 Spider-Man Prem HC With Great Power $19.99
AUG082465 Spider-Man TP A New Goblin $12.99
TOP-10 and TOP-100
—————————–
Check out Comics NOW! Inc.’s Top-100 on IRX Productions.
Download the September 2008 Top-100 PDF file (it’s 8KB!) at:
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/sep08top100.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 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. (2) Justice League of America
2. (4) New Avengers
3. (5) Secret Invasion
4. (7) Amazing Spider-Man
5. (-) Final Crisis
6. (3) Detective Comics
7. (-) Justice Society of America
8. (-) Astonishing X-Men
9. (9) Superman Batman
10. (10) Uncanny X-Men
TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS
1. (1) Transformers All Hail Megatron
2. (2) Transformers Spotlight
3. (5) Angel After the Fall
4. (7) Boys
5. (4) Transformers Animated Arrival
6. (8) Transformers Movie Prequel
7. (6) Project Superpowers
8. (10) Spike After the Fall
9. (9) Fallen Angel
10. (-) Red Sonja
THE GOOD STUFF
—————————
DC COMICS
FINAL CRISIS: SUBMIT #1
Oh, for the love of all that’s holy on the planet, am I really going to have
to go through another month of reviewing FC’s (errm… DC’s) new series of
Final Crises. No, wait… DC has THREE freaking new series of Final Crisis
coming out this month. That’s it. I’m done. I submit. Wait. That’s the
title of this one. Hmmm.
By Grant Morrison, Matthew Clark, and Norm Rapmund.
40 pages. Mini-series. $3.99 retail.
FINAL CRISIS: RESIST #1
Okay. DC is playing red-pill, blue-pill with us on this one except that you
need to buy both issues to truly figure out what they’re talking about. “Submit” suggests that we should investigate what happens if you choose to
submit to Darkseid’s Anti-Life Equation while Resist obviously asks the
question of what you should do if you, well, resist.
By Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, and Ryan Sook.
40 pages. Mini-series. $3.99 retail.
FINAL CRISIS: RAGE OF THE RED LANTERNS #1
Their naming scheme has lost its logic. I understood the whole
Submit/Resist thing, but now DC just wants to bring back Sinestro. Okay,
then, here it is: the return of Sinestro. Are you all excited? I remember
reading about Sinestro what feels like 13-15 years ago, and he wasn’t a
particularly entertaining character then (what with all his gems and
stuff…).
By Geoff Johns, Shane Davis, and Sandra Hope.
40 pages. Mini-series. $3.99 retail.
SUPERMAN AND BATMAN VS. VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES #1-2
Being that it’s Halloween Time and all, I’m a little forgiving of the
downright preposterousness of this title. Really. There are few times in
the comic industry where there is absolutely 0% subtlety in a comic’s title,
and this is one of those special times. Batman and Superman have to fight
vampires and werewolves lest they lose the entire DC Universe to
blood-sucking furry monsters – I thought Krypto the Super-Dog was removed
from the modern DCU? Strange.
By Kevin VanHook and Tom Mandrake.
32 pages. Mini-series. $2.99 retail each.
VIXEN: RETURN OF THE LION #1 of 5
This mini-series investigates the real killer of Vixen’s mother. In order
to get there, the Justice League is sent on a mission against the
mega-mobsters of Intergang. I didn’t make that up. I really didn’t.
By G. Willow Wilson, Cafu (rhymes with “snafu”), and Josh Middleton.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.
TERROR TITANS #1 of 6
The Terror Titans are the “bad” Teen Titans for those of you who are so
brain-dead that you didn’t pick it up from the play on the TT title. The
leader of this team is named “Clock King” which either sounds like a bad guy
from Mega Man 2 or a rip-off of a City of Heroes baddie. Either way, he
thinks he’s got the gusto to lead his team in a direct attack on the Teen
Titans.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.
SUPERMAN: NEW KRYPTON SPECIAL #1 of 9
Superman rescues 100,000 Kryptonians. I know. I thought the planet blowing
up was supposed to be Superman’s origin, too.
By the whole Superman team (not kidding).
One-shot special. $3.99 retail.
SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN SPECIAL #1
It’s been over 40 years. Can we please, PLEASE, stop using the word “pal?!”
No one uses the word anymore. It’s not even in my PARENTS’ vernacular, for
crying out loud. Anyway, Jimmy Olsen investigates everything to do with
Superman because he has a massive man-crush on the Man of Steel (who doesn’t?).
By James Robinson, Jesus Merino, and Ryan Sook.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99.
THE FERRYMAN #1-2
Think Wanted meets Shooter and you’ve got Ferryman. The Ferrymen are
black-ops bad-asses and Gideon Thorne is the best of the best. This series
is about him.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail each.
TOP 10 SEASON TWO #1 of 4
Top 10 returns after what might be the longest hiatus ever. Unfortunately,
it’s not written by the right team so it’s probably going to suck a whole
lot of donkey snot. Regardless, there’s a new police commissioner for
Precinct 10 and a new rookie with “an ugly secret.”
By Zander Cannon and Gene Ha.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.
GEARS OF WAR #1
I’m waiting for the series based on Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, but, for the
moment, I’m going to have to settle for Gears of War. Yes, it’s THAT Gears
of War (Xbox 360/PC video game). Big space marines fighting giant alien
monsters. Bring it.
By Joshua Ortega and Liam Sharp.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $3.99 retail.
UNKNOWN SOLDIER #1
Moses Lwanga is a doctor in Northern Uganda in 2002. War is raging and
Moses (aptly named) realizes the only way he can lead his people to peace is
through the mass-slaughter of the big baddies. Go Moses, go!
By Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli.
Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.
IMAGE COMICS
SAVAGE #1 of 4
Peter is a shoe salesman. Sam is Paul Bunyon. The two of them run into
each other when they fall in the middle of a battle between werewolves and
Big Foot. Yes, Big Foot.
By Steve Niles, Jeff Frank, Daniel Wickline and Mike Mayhew.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $3.50 retail.
CYBLADE #1
Dominique Thiebaut is just your average teenage girl who wants to lead a
normal life, but has superpowers that enable her to be… sigh. Anyway, Dom
(as I’m going to call her) has a chip that makes her a “deadly master
assassin) named Cyblade and she no longer wants to be under the control of
the super-evil Cyberdata agency. She breaks free and has to… figure out
who she really is… oh, the teenage drama of it all.
By Joshua Hale Fialkov and Rick Mays.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.
MARVEL COMICS
ENDERS GAME: FIRST SERIES #1 of 5
Big bad aliens are coming back to destroy the Earth, and the International
Military is training soldiers to combat them. They’re using children
because their minds are easier to mold (and they’re more likely to swallow
the whole “big, bad aliens” BS). Anyway, Ender Wiggin is an 8-year-old who’s
the “best they’ve ever found” so now it’s up to this poorly-named kid to
save the planet. No pressure, dude.
By Christopher Yost and Pasqual Ferry.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #1 of 6
Marvel’s got a big thing for this whole “color” stuff: Spider-Man Blue,
Daredevil Yellow… now we’re going with Captain America
Whitey-Mc-Whitey-Pants. We’re headed back to WW2 yet again, of course,
where we find our heroes Cappy Americky and Bucky-Boy going head-to-head
with Sgt Fury’s Howling Commandos. WW2 might not even end the way we’re used to (which makes sense since Captain America didn’t really exist).
By Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale, and Dave Stewart.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
GHOST RIDER: DANNY KETCH #1 of 5
Dan Ketch is the new Ghost Rider. It doesn’t matter who tries to take the
reins of this character or how many times they re-release it, it fails every
single time. I’m not holding out any hope that this one will be different,
to be quite frank.
By Simon Spurrier and Javier Saltares.
32 pages. 5-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 #1 of 4
The Zombies invade the real Marvel Universe through Man-Thing’s Nexus of All
Realities and start to infect Florida. It’s nice that Marvel keeps around
completely obscure characters in order to bring them back when they’re
needed. The next thing you know, we’ll see the rebirth of Darkhawk… or
maybe even Sleepwalker…
By Fred Van Lente, Kev Walker, and Greg Land.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
ASTONISHING X-MEN: GHOST BOXES #1 of 2
Warren Ellis writes up this background story of Subject X – or at least a
little more info on the character. Ghost Boxes tries to investigate the
unbelievable spider-web of loose ends that is the X-Men Universe by
analyzing what’s happened from the choices that were made, and what could
have happened from the choices that weren’t made.
By Warren Ellis, Alan Davis, and Adi Granov.
48 pages. 2-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
X-MEN: ORIGINAL SIN #1
The X-Men Event of the Fall starts here. Wolverine tries to rescue his son,
Daken. Professor X investigates “the most terrifying secret of all!” It
turns out that if he only used Rogaine that he would still have hair!!!
Instead, he’s just saved a bundle on his car insurance.
By Mike Carey, Daniel Way, Mike Deodato and Scot Eaton.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.
WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #1 of 4
Wolverine goes with the X-Men to San Francisco and discovers that he did
something to piss off Chinatown 50 years ago. The leader of a big bunch of
badass martial artists is an ex-girlfriend of Wolvie’s. Apparently, once
you’ve gone “claws,” you never go back.
By Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.
X-MEN: WORLDS APART #1 of 4
A murder happens in Wakanda. Storm investigates. Now, she has to pick
sides: either the X-Men or her husband. Of course, everything will get
cleared up by the end, and everyone will go out and have decaf lattes and
jellybeans.
By Christopher Yost and Diogenes Neves.
32 pages. 4-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail.
FINAL NOTES
———————
It’s Halloween Time! Get your best superhero costume together and get out
there. Better yet, get your super-hot geek girlfriend to wear a superhero
costume and then you won’t even need to leave the house. Mmmm…
As always, if you can’t see it in IMAX, it just ain’t worth seeing (I’ll
take my check now, Mr. Imax, please).
And, as always, thank you for your business!
Eric Jacobson
