INTRODUCTION
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We’re entering that time of the year. The leaves have fallen from the trees. There’s a crisp feeling and crackle in the air as we enter the doldrums of winter. Some of us even experience the pain… errm… beauty of snow. Any way you slice it, we all move a little slower come winter and the comic industry is no different. There’s not as much coming out this month, but there’s still stuff worth talking about.
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE
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I’m most excited about Ruins #1 from Marvel Comics with Warren Ellis writing the script this month. Ellis always does a spectacular job, and though he’s shown his face in the premiere publishers before, he doesn’t make much of an appearance at Marvel too often. The new series investigates the evil that men do, and I’m always a big fan of Ellis’ approach to that. Check it out.
NOV082395 Ruins #1 $4.99 retail
*** 50%-OFF AT WWW.COMICSNOW.COM ***
DECONSTRUCTING COMICS
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Visit www.deconstructingcomics.com and catch these cool podcasts!
November 3: Women in Comedy Strips: Is writing funny female characters a bigger challenge than making male characters funny? Or is it all a matter of approach? Paige Braddock (Jane’s World) and Hilary Price (Rhymes with Orange) join Tim to discuss a topic we picked up from Webcomics Weekly episode 35!
November 10: Phil Hester! Yes, the Phil Hester of Green Arrow and Irredeemable Ant Man! He gives Tim his take on breaking into the Big Two, the future of comics, Robert Kirkman’s manifesto, and more!
November 17: Tim and Kumar discuss Schulz and Peanuts, and also “Schulz and Peanuts,” David Michaelis’ controversial biography of the master of the comics page.
More reviews and creator discussions on the way!
www.deconstructingcomics.com
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:
NOV080047 BPRD Black Goddess #1 $2.99
NOV080141 Batman and the Outsiders Special #1 $3.99
NOV080192 Batman The Brave and the Bold #1 $2.50
NOV080132 Black Lightning Year One #1 $2.99
NOV080203 Mysterius The Unfathomable #1 $2.99
NOV080212 Resistance #1 $3.99
NOV082323 Dark Avengers #1 $3.99
NOV082428 Dead of Night Feat. Werewolf by Night #1 $3.99
NOV082371 Dr Doom Masters of Evil #1 $2.99
NOV082394 Punisher #1 $3.99
NOV082395 Ruins #1 $4.99
NOV082406 Secret Invasion War of Kings #1 $3.99
NOV082361 Spider-Man Fear Itself #1 $3.99
NOV082419 Wolverine Switchback #1 $3.99
NOV082375 X-Men vs. Hulk #1 $3.99
40%-OFF TRADE PAPERBACK DEALS:
NOV080055 Fear Agent TP Vol 5 1 Against 1 TP $14.95
NOV080221 Complete Death Deluxe Edition HC $34.99
NOV080228 DMZ TP Vol 6 Blood in the Game $12.99
NOV080185 Superman Brainiac HC $19.99
NOV080184 Tangent Supermans Reign TP Vol 1 $19.99
NOV080191 Wonder Woman The Ends of the Earth HC $24.99
NOV082242 Walking Dead TP Vol 9 Here We Remain $14.99
NOV082450 Captain America Prem HC Truth $24.99
NOV082451 Daredevil Prem HC Born Again $24.99
NOV082446 Marvel 1985 Prem HC $24.99
NOV082443 Mighty Avengers Prem HC Vol 4 $19.99
NOV082440 New Avengers HC Vol 3 $34.99
NOV082460 Secret Invasion TP $29.99
NOV082467 Ultimate Spider-Man TP Vol 21 $15.99
NOV082444 Ultimatum Prem HC March on Ultimatum $24.99
NOV082470 X-Force TP Vol 1 Angels Demons $15.99
TOP-10 and TOP-100
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Check out Comics NOW! Inc.’s Top-100 on IRX Productions.
Download the December 2008 Top-100 PDF file (it’s 8KB!) at:
http://www.irxproductions.com/comics/dec08top100.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
“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. (1) Batman
3. (3) Detective Comics
4. (9) All-Star Batman & Robin
5. (7) Justice Society of America
6. (6) New Avengers
7. (-) Uncanny X-Men
8. (8) Amazing Spider-Man
9. (-) Green Lantern
10. (10) Action Comics
TOP 10 INDEPENDENT COMICS
1. (1) Transformers All Hail Megatron
2. (-) Transformers Maximum Dinobots
3. (-) Transformers Revenge Fallen Movie Preq
4. (3) Transformers Animated Arrival
5. (6) Boys
6. (4) Angel After the Fall
7. (8) Black Terror
8. (7) Fallen Angel
9. (9) Red Sonja
10. (-) Transformers Best O/T UK Time Wars
THE GOOD STUFF
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DC COMICS
FACE OF EVIL: GRUNDY #1
FACE OF EVIL: PROMETHEUS #1
FACE OF EVIL: DEATHSTROKE #1
FACE OF EVIL: KOBRA #1
Basically, the Faces of Evil one-shots are all about, well, evil bad guys (surprise! It’s accurately named! Who would’ve seen that coming). We’ve got stories of some of the biggest and baddest bad guys in the whole big, bad DC Universe. If you like any of these villains, I’d recommend getting their individual story. If you’re not a fan, I have a feeling these one-shots aren’t going to do anything to convince you otherwise.
By various.
32 pages. One-shots. $2.99 retail each.
BLACK LIGHTNING: YEAR ONE #1-2
Do you remember Black Lightning? It’s this guy. He runs fast. He’s a vigilante or some junk. Anyway, he returns to the Suicide Slum in Metropolis and wants to help out the residents. He has to go all badass on them, though, because, well, he’s a vigilante and that’s against the law, right?
By Jen Van Meter and Cully Hamner.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail each.
MYSTERIUS: THE UNFATHOMABLE #1 of 6
Okay. As near as I can tell, this is a mini-series about a magician (named Mysterius, unremarkably) and his assistant Delfi. I don’t know much more than that, so buy at your own risk.
By Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $2.99 retail.
RESISTANCE #1-2 of 6
What new video game would be complete without an accompanying comic book, right? We’ve seen City of Heroes, Halo, Mirror’s Edge (which just got panned by reviewers everywhere). Comics imitate games and vice versa (there’s a Watchmen video game on the way). When Resistance 2 was set to blow the doors off the PS3 (bet you didn’t know the PS3 has doors, eh?) then I was pretty sure a comic was to follow. Premise? See game: aliens come to take over Earth… Earthlings fight back. Done!
By Mike Costa and Ramon Perez.
32 pages. 6-issue mini-series. $3.99 retail each.
IMAGE COMICS
G-MAN #1
Have you heard of the Mini-Marvels? G-Man’s the newest one and he’s joined by a bunch of friends – Billy Demon, Tan Man, Sparky and the Suntrooper. Maybe it’s just me, but they sound more like MegaMan villains than superheroes. This is an origin comic, so if you really want to know where G-Man came from and what it’s all about, check it out.
By Chris Giarrusso.
64 pages. Ongoing (?). $5.95 retail.
VELOCITY #1
It’s the Pilot Season winner for this year. Velocity from Cyberforce gets her own series. If you like Velocity from Cyberforce, you probably voted for this series and that means you’re getting what you asked for. The rest of us voted for Aphrodite X (the sequel to IX), so we’re all pissed at you for voting for Velocity. Dammit.
By Joe Casey and ChrisCross.
32 pages. Ongoing series. $2.99 retail.
MARVEL COMICS
SPIDER-MAN: FEAR ITSELF #1
Spider-Man fights the Man-Thing. In Florida. Which is scarier? I mean, on the one hand you’ve got an 800-lbs. gorilla made out of mud, but, on the other hand, you’re in a state where the majority of people still can’t figure out how to vote. Decisions, decisions… it’s ALL scary!
By Stuart Moore and Joe Suitor.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.
PUNISHER #1
Punisher rebooted? Again? No Garth Ennis? Uh oh. I don’t need Spidey-Sense to tell me that this does not bode well for one of my favorite comic series since the early 2000s. The opening scene of the comic has the Punisher preparing to snipe someone in Manhattan using a Skrull rifle, but we don’t know who. Or why. And these were questions that Ennis never made us answer, so I’m nervous like all get-out.
By Rick Remender and Jerome Opena.
48 pages. Ongoing series. $3.99 retail.
RUINS #1
I love me some Warren Ellis. He freaks me out and that’s what he’s paid to do. In this series, the term “marvel” is a synonym for “horror” with the focus being paid to nuclear bombs, internment camps and government oppression (wait. Wasn’t that the last 8 years in the U.S.?). At any rate, Ellis asks if the men and women we call heroes made the situation any better… or just worse.
By Warren Ellis, Cliff & Terese Nielsen, and Chris Moeller.
80 pages. One-shot. $4.99 retail.
SECRET INVASION: WAR OF KINGS
The invasion’s over but the Inhumans are recovering from the huge smack down they received from those lovable green aliens – Marvin! I mean, Skrulls! The Inhumans are pissed and they’re not going to take it anymore, so it’s just a big giant battle of immortal inhuman crazy people.
By Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier and Bong Dazo.
48 pages. One-shot. $3.99 retail.
FINAL NOTES
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The holidays are always a slow time of the year, but at least there are one or two decent gems coming out this month. It’s a new year, after all, and the publishers are pulling back to release a whole new wave of never-ending, all-encompassing, universe-changing storylines on our butts! In the meantime, we can chill out and play with our Christmas toys!
As always, remember, never eat yellow snow.
And, as always, thank you for your business!
Eric Jacobson
