------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE - ISSUE NUMBER 88 Edited by: David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] ________________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Page------>> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ------------------------------------------------------------------------- o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ This publication is brought to you by the members of the premiere BBS network for the discussion of comics books and the people who create them, The ComicBook Network!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ComicBook Network was founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to: ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the FREE subscription list. ________________________________________________________________________ T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page! TRIVIA CONTEST......................... Guesses & Answers [3] Network Buzz........................... News, gossip & rumors [4] CSN Insider............................ Comic Shop News [5] Guest Column .......................... Lonnie Johnson [6] The Pen Is Mightier.................... Brian Matus [7] Top Comics for December ............... Matt High [8] My View: VIRTUAL COMICS ............... David LeBlanc [9] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [A] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights [B] How to join ComicBook Network.......... BBS 101 [C] Bulletin Boards Linked into CBN........ CBN node list ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net by David LeBlanc On the racks this week, in case you missed them: Barry Windsor Smith: Storyteller #3 (a comic on time every time!) Preacher #22 JLA #2 Weapon Zero/Silver Surfer Web Site of the week: The Masterlist of Comic Stores and Card Shops http://www.open.org/curtis/masterlist.htm which we have added to our LINK page along with a new entry for EVENT COMICS, Syco Distribution and COMX TV. I would like to call your attention to Peter David's column, BUT I DIGRESS ... in Comic Buyer's Guide #1204 this week. He has managed to capsulize the current goings on at Marvel, the causes and possible ramifications for the immediate future rather well, I think. He makes some rather astute observations and some ominous predictions. Doomsaying has never been in vogue as it is right now but people have to face the fact that if Marvel stops publishing, even for a few months, the ramifications to every part of the industry will be astounding and long lasting. I don't believe, as some like to say that the form is dying, but rather it is in a down cycle and we may have yet to bottom out. Publishers need to find ways not only to go to market but to stimulate and grow it. Maybe the answer lies in more and new distributors to support the growing smaller publishers. Perhaps a co-operative effort is needed to advertise on radio, tv and even free inserts in other publications to raise the awareness of the general public as to the diversity of the modern day comic books. Whatever is needed the professionals can't sit back and depend on talent or the latest trend to carry them anymore. A word on this issue before I leave you to it. This magazine started as a collection of posts and reviews from our BBS network, The Comic Book Net. As we got more readers, outside contributors began to be added until today much of the content is from off the network. I am glad to say that for once things have come full circle. Lonnie Johnson learned of our publication and submitted the ash can of his comic, CANUS, for review. He also participates online on the FIDO COMICS echo where I am the moderator and has joined the ComicBook Net as a member SysOp. I am happy to present to you his first entry as a guest columnist from a posting recently on the net. Like Brian Matus' column last week, it raises some food for thought about matters we should be concerned about. If you have any thoughts about it, please write in to make them known. I'm off to watch Sliders, Millennium and Nash Bridges after I put this one to bed. Hope you enjoy it. HAPPY HANUKKAH! David LeBlanc [ComicBkNet@aol.com] Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note: letters of comment, complete with the sender's Email address, may be used in future issues of the CBN E-Mag unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Email address will be withheld upon request. +++++ From: coarr@erols.com (Chris Oarr) Dear David, Glad to see CBN rolls on. I was talking to Bill Hughes the other night, and he told me about the website. It sure is easier than dialing up a BBS. I don't have a lot of time for that sort of thing these days, but it's nice to check in on every once in a while. Please sign me up for the EMag list. Speaking of the EMag, imagine my surprise when I open my first EMag in over a year and read my name at the top of issue #87. Any mention of SPX is good in my book, even if that picture from the pig roast is kind of goofy. [Well here you are again at the top of the letter column and in my opinion the pig looked mighty tasty but how come we got to see your backside? And did you know you are mentioned in the letter column of CBG #1204 this week?] This year's Small Press Expo broke records on just about every front. Over 60 exhibitors took part, more than 450 people attended, we raised over $1600 for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and the show broke even. In addition, SPX hosted a first-ever "small press summit" between creators and a group of Diamond executives headed by Bill Shanes, VP in charge of purchasing. It was an informative and healthy dialogue for all involved, from the first time creators to industry vets like Jeff Smith and Charles Vess. And of course there was the pig roast, a new SPX tradition. In all, I'd say we had a great show this year. CBN members should know that we're already working on the Fourth Annual Small Press Expo, which will be a multi-day event---dare I say it, a full-blown "con"---rather than a five hour show. As Frank's Wizard article indicates, SPX was already a "weekend" for many of the artists, retailers, and organizers involved, so we're really just connecting the dots for SPX IV. It'll be held September 19-21 in Bethesda, Maryland and will feature more than 100 artist-exhibitors, industry panel discussions, and loads of cheesy programming. Definitely a good time to travel to the Washington, DC area, whether you're a fan, retailer, or up and coming creator. I'll be sure to post CBN all the details about exhibiting and preregistration in March. However, if anyone wants to be put on the SPX mailing list, they're welcome to drop me a line anytime at coarr@erols.com. Again, great to see the EMag flourishing. Keep up the good work! ---Chris Oarr [Great to hear from you Chris, don't be a stranger] +++++ From: jbarker@i-traffic.com (John S. Barker) Greetings! Enjoy the great work each week! You guys do a great job! And I promise sometime soon I'll give a you a writing submission sometime soon. Quick Story: Spent t-giving in Traverse City, MI (visiting from New York City). And what was the first thing I did on Friday? Yep, found a local comic book store. Pretty good. Though, I found some early Strangers In Paradise v.2 issues (3-6) for $2.75. Snatched 'em up quick, and the guy behind the counter said said "oh, I didn't know we had any in the back issue bin". And I was thankful that there was some fun and adventure in the hobby of collecting comic books. -john barker +++++ Brian Matus sparked some comment last week, and perhaps others tried to write while my mailbox was temporarily overloaded with those OMEN BETA files. If you tried to reply to last weeks issue and did not get through my apologies for the inconvenience. If this does happen in the future, because you just did a REPLY to the issue which is mailed from Netcom, you can always send mail to the official address which is ComicBkNet@aol.com, as did this respondent: Subj: Boiled Angel Date: 96-12-03 21:28:16 EST From: PELusiphur To: ComicBknet Dave, I just read Brian Matus' article on Mike Diana in #87. While I understand and respect your opinion on the matter, I tend to disagree with you and side with Brian on this. I have had little to no respect for Diamond over the past year or so, ever since Diamond and Marvel singlehandedly shut down Capital City Distribution and turned the comic world on it's head, but this is low, even for them. If Diamond feels this book is obscene, that's fine; they're entitled to their own opinion. But considering that Diamond is pretty much the only comic book distributor out there right now, I feel they have a duty to supply retailers with all kinds of comics, even the ones they dislike, because what they dislike may be just what their customers enjoy. They should not let their personal tastes interfere with their duty to supply comics to all kinds of readers, not to just those who share their closemindedness and cowardice. [Er, DUTY? What is the duty of a person running a business? I learned it was to make a profit so that the business continues in operation. Not only is that good for the owner(s) but for the employees who need to earn a living. How many other comic books of marginal value are they *obliged* to carry by your criteria, ones that are not remotely objectionable as well? Who are you or we to decide for them what they should or should not carry, even at a loss, so that some imagined *duty* is carried out?] I also feel that Matus is correct about this being a violation of the first amendment. [He never said that, and it is NOT a violation of any rights. Diana had a right to print whatever he wanted, a right he exercised. If this was a violation, Diamond and other distributors would have been hauled to court long ago.] If Diamond will not carry Diana's work, then there is hardly any way for him to sell comics or make a living. [If he had not been arrested, he probably would have melted into obscurity without notice, besides Diamond is not responsible for his ability to earn a living, Diana is. If he can't sell enough product to make a living he should seek another line of work, or change the product.] Diamond is taking that right away from him, [No, they are not. They are refusing to carry his product, which is their right] since they are the only main distributor. Diamond is one of the biggest problems of the industry today, and we can all thank Marvel for turning Diamond distribution into the blind, money hungry monopoly it is today. [Yes, all large corporations with a large share of their market are inherently evil. While you are assigning blame, don't forget all those guys who jumped on the exclusivity band wagon, DC, Dark Horse, Image, et. al.] Hopefully, this new distributor, SyCo, will help break the stranglehold Diamond currently has over the comic book industry. Matus also recommended a list of mature readers comics, many of which I currently read myself. Just so eveyone knows, From Hell just finished with issue #10 about three months ago. Hellblazer WAS a good comic, I stopped reading it after Steve Dillon and Garth Ennis left. If anyone is thinking about picking up an issue of Hellblazer, pick up one of the Ennis and Dillon issues, not the current ones. Posion EIves is probably the best comic that Matus listed. I love that book, as you can probably tell by my name. I woun't have mentioned Jinx in the same paragraph as Poison Elves, though. I'm sure all of my fellow PE readers remember just how much Drew Hayes loves Jinx and it's creator (remember #14's starting note?). I also wouldn't call Penthouse Comix or Verotica "mature". These are adult comics. and there is a huge difference between "adult" and "mature". While I personally do not read any adult comics, I do believe that anyone who wants to read them, as long as he is of the proper age, has a right to read them if he wants to. That's where Diamond went wrong- they tried to tell people what they could and could not read. In my opinion, they are taking advatage of the position of power they have, being the only major distributor out there today. --Teresa Gonzales +++++ From: bmatus@suffolk.lib.ny.us (Matus) To: ComicBknet@aol.com Thank you for forwarding Teresa Gonzales' letter. If I may, I'd like to add some comments to the end of her letter: Thanks for writing in. I wish I had some CHEESY PRIZE(tm) to give you, as you are the first person to write in regarding one of my columns, but unfortunately I don't. If I happen to come across one in the future, I'll send it your way. In the meantime, I'd like to make some clarifications on your letter: #1 - I don't think Marvel had any intention of running Capital out of business. I believe their only motivations were to keep as much money & control to themselves as they could (and to create their own CHEESY CATALOG(tm), MARVEL VISION). What led to Diamond controlling the direct market was their exclusivity deal with D.C. This led Image, Dark Horse, Acclaim, and a number of other publishers to also sign deals with Diamond, while Kitchen Sink Press, Viz, TSR, and some other smaller publishers to try to support Capital by signing deals with them. Unfortunately, most stores didn't order enough books from these publishers to make it worth either keeping their Capital account open, or to open an account with them (which made it really hard to find issues of FROM HELL). #2 - Diamond never made an official statement, that I know of, regarding whether or not they felt BOILED ANGEL was obscene. I believe they only dropped the book because some judge in Florida felt it was obscene. #3 - Diamond is not violating the first amendment, but they are definitely not supporting it either, which I feel they should, as they are primarily a book distributor. #4 - I also don't feel that Diamond is one of the biggest problems in the industry. I do feel that exclusivity deals are a detriment to competitive distribution, which only leads to problems like these. Imagine if that same judge got his hands on one of the steamier issues of SIN CITY, the drug-laced orgy issue of PREACHER, or SANDMAN #50, which people wrote in and objected to because Neil Gaiman mentioned that the sultan had a harem of young boys. Would Diamond stop distributing these books? Would they no longer carry books by Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, and Neil Gaiman? Would these authors even be able to find a publisher? Am I being overly dramatic now? Whew! On a lighter note, I feel one of the biggest problems in the industry are all of the poorly written and drawn books! To fight this, everyone should order all 10 issues of FROM HELL, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's retelling of the Jack-the-Ripper murders. Including the bibliographies and author's notes at the end of each issue, this is the most comprehensive retelling of the JTR murders you are likely to get in any medium. And unlike some authors, when he strays from the historical record and extrapolates, he lets you know. Hellblazer is still a great read, and any issue is a good one to pick up. If Paul Jenkins were to leave the book, I'd like to see Grant Morrison, Mark (the best SWAMP THING run since Alan Moore) Millar, or Warren (HELLSTORM, DRUID) Ellis write the book. Nothing against Warren (EXCALIBUR, STORMWATCH, DV8) Ellis, but the first two titles he worked on for Marvel redefined the term "horror comic" for me. JINX is a great crime comic (see also Bendis' A.K.A. GOLDFISH), regardless of how Drew Hayes feels about the author. I don't let WHO other people don't like, affect WHAT I read. Sorry about the lack of distinction between "mature" and "adult" comics, but I was trying to make a point that Diamond was still distributing all of these other books, yet refuses to distribute BOILED ANGEL, or anything by Mike Diana. I think the fact that they refuse to publish anything by Mike Diana, sight unseen, disturbs me most of all. Brian Matus P.S.: I hope it's not too late (or too long) to get in Sunday's CBEM. P.P.S.: Thanks again for having me and my long-winded opinions. bmatus@suffolk.lib.ny.us "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean everyone isn't out to get you" [TRIVIA CONTEST] Last week's question: >> What *special* logo, beside the title, was on the cover of every issue of "Crisis on Infinite Earths? << [Sometimes we get a few responses, then I throw out an easy one and we get a lot. Rather than take up a lot of space, because everyone pretty much was on target, let me acknowledge those who made the effort to try and win: Mike Kirkpatrick, Jeremy Finestone, Paul Phillips, Martin Scherer, Brian Cruz, nexus1@soho.ios.com, Jim Welch, Jason Sacks, Scott O'Connor, Rob and Cindy Collier, Marlous de Neef, Hank Kanalz, Charles Krauss, and Casey Lau. [Only one gets to win and the first one to get it right was: From: garpete@metro.net (Gary Peterson) The DC bullet was converted into a "50" with the words 12 part maxi . series following it. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: From: Janice Bradford & FX According to Dharma, what is Quantum Juice? Bonus Question: Who created it? IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE: The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm). The editor will be the sole judge as to which guess arrived first! Please be sporting and send only one guess at a time. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump the readers! You MUST submit the correct answer with your question. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry From Walt Stone, after we noticed the mention in Wizard #65; Marv Wolfman, Craig Miller, and Rick Rosen dba WolfMill Entertainment, signed a deal with John Carbonaro to develop products featuring the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Right now, this involves a proposed animated series. ABC Studios currently has the option for this series, now being worked up by WolfMill Entertainment. WolfMill has the rights to every presentation of the Thunder Agents except for that of comic books, where I am acting as agent for John Carbonaro. As yet, we are still without a publisher. The animated series as currently proposed does differ from the traditional Thunder Agents. The biggest changes made are to the characters Raven, Menthor, and Undersea Agent. Dynamo remains the same, and Lightning's character has been lightened up somewhat. There is another (new) character involved with NoMan's android body in the animated series. Walt Stone waltstone@juno.com thunderagents@juno.com +++++ The following wire report appeared this week in NEWSDAY: TO THE RESCUE. Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., which defaulted on $650 million in loans, said lenders permitted it to draw the remaining $15 million from its credit line to pay bills. Marvel also said it's seeking another $130 million from lenders to finance investments and for working capital. +++++ Antarctic Press consolidates its line of comics, focusing on several key titles Official Press Release Date: December 3, 1996 To: All comic book distributors, trade publications, and retailers As 1996 draws to a close, Antarctic Press is looking forward to an even bigger and better year ahead -- we are pleased to announce our schedule of planned releases through Spring1997. After taking a very close look at the comic books Antarctic Press has published in the past several months and studying the current state of the comic book industry, Antarctic Press has decided to discontinue publishing several low-selling titles so that we may focus our energies on our more popular and better-selling publications. Starting in March 1997, Antarctic Press plans to publish around ten comic books a month -- a significant reduction from 1996, when the company produced between 18 and 20 new issues each month. "At one point, we tried to manage 24 titles in a single month, and to maintain that kind of schedule, we had to five or more first issues per month," says Publisher Joe Dunn. "This put a lot of strain on our talent pool and our production resources, and several comics ended up being very late." By only concentrating on ten titles per month, Antarctic Press will be able to produce comics on schedule, and the quality of each comic book will improve significantly. "With fewer comics on the calendar, we can spend more time working on each title, and I think that retailers and readers will be pleased with the improvements that they will see." The reduced schedule for 1997 will also allow Antarctic Press to increase its promotion on the remaining titles. "Before, when we were dealing with two dozen titles at once, it was difficult to effectively 'get the word out' on everything," says Manager of Promotions and Sales Matthew High. "At times, a new book would get lost in the shuffle. However, now that we are focusing on ten titles a month we will be able to spend more time with each new comic, and pass along more information about those comics to the retailers and the press. With this concentration on our most-popular and best-selling titles, our customer service to the retailer as well as the fan should improve greatly." Some of the comics that Antarctic Press has on the schedule for 1997 include: Warrior Nun Areala, Shotgun Mary, Robotech, Ninja High School, Gold Digger, Hepcats, Luftwaffe 1946, and Haana. Other titles on the schedule include: Addam Omega, Judgment Pawns, Box Office Poison, Helter Skelter, Diesel (by Jochen Weltjens), and several others to be announced at a later date. Also, following the success of the first Warrior Nun Areala action figure, Antarctic Press is planning on producing more action figures in 1997, starting with Shotgun Mary in April. For more information on Antarctic Press, or for more information on what Antarctic Press has planned for 1997, please contact Matthew High at (210) 614-0396 (phone) or (210) 614-5029 (fax). +++++ A.M.WORKS BREAKS OFF FROM ANTARCTIC PRESS A.M.Works, the independent comic publisher of Dean Hsieh's Athena and Will Allison's Pervert Club, has resumed publication of both comic series. Earlier this summer, it was announced from both A.M.Works and Antarctic Press that both titles from A.M.Works were going to move to Antarctic Press for publication. Prior to the announcements, Dean Hsieh and Will Allison had both signed contracts for monthly publication of Athena and Pervert Club from Antarctic Press. However, recent internal reorganization of Antarctic Press had resulted in changes of the original contracts. Therefore, upon further negotiation and discussion, Dean Hsieh and Will Allison decided to terminate their contracts with Antarctic Press and go back to A.M.Works. The break is friendly and mutual, as it will allow both companies to concentrate fully on their product lineup. As solicited originally, Athena #0 will still be published by Antarctic Press and ship in December. Afterwards, Athena #7 will appear in the January edition of Previews for March release, and resume thereafter on a monthly schedule. Pervert Club #7 will appear in the February edition of Previews for April release, and resume thereafter on a bi-monthly schedule. Both Athena and Pervert Club have received tremendous support from the industry, especially for two small black-and-white titles often categorized as "American manga." Both titles have received positive coverage from a wide variety of sources, including Animerica, AnimeFX, Hero Illustrated, and Wizard. Both creators were recently interviewed for an upcoming Wizard article featuring American manga-style artists, including such recognized names as Adam Warren and Ben Dunn. Before this brief hiatus, A.M.Works published both titles bi-monthly for a year, never once missing a shipping deadline, and we hope to continue this record of timeliness and quality in the future. The A.M.Works website is temporarily down, but hopefully it will be on-line soon. Please feel free to e-mail us with further questions or comments. -- Dean Hsieh deaner@mail.utexas.edu +++++ Kurt Busiek has made it known that he is taking a short break from scripting Untold Tales of Spider-Man #19 and will have a co-plotter on #20. His schedule has been tight with that book, Astro City, Shattered Image, Wizard's Tale and the launch of Ninjak and Thunderbolts. A recurring problem with blood vessels in his nose once again showed up last week and after all was done he got more behind in his work than he's comfortable with. Tom Brevoort had gotten G.L. Lawrence to pitch in on those two issues of UTOS. Kurt plans to script #20 and be back in full on #21. +++++ SMASH Magazine reports that Horizon will not be producing vinyl and solid model kits of Marvel Entertainment Characters after the end of the year. Their license was not renewed and they will discontinue sales of the kits as of February 28, 1997. also: DV8 will be carrying a "mature readers" advisory to retailers as of the solicitation for #6 and Wildstorm will advise retailers to treat all previously solicited issues as if they were solicited that way as well. NOTE: They will NOT be labelled that way on the book, this is just to let retailers know that they should consider who they sell it to. Alan Moore's VOODOO will be solicited the same way. also: Wildstorm will be adding UPC bars on the front covers of their comics starting with those solicited in December, recognizing the number of retailers who are computerizing inventory. They are also shortening the returnable window to just two weeks from the solicited date starting with books shipping in February. Anything beyond 2 weeks of the promised in-store date will be returnable. They recognize the problems their recent lateness has caused. +++++ Rumors are circulating that Nicolas Cage is eyeing the role of IRON MAN which is in the early stages of development for 20th Century Fox. So far Cage and his reps declined comment as did Fox. +++++ Infama's On Her Way!! Ever since SINNAMON #1 hit comic shops, fans of this unique "bad girl" comic have been clamoring to see more of Sinnamon's arch foe, the buxom brunette Infama. Catfish Comics publisher Angelo Furlan has spent the last two years teasing readers with an Infama #1, but always with the provision that the book would be done only when he could assemble an art team that would do justice to the character. Well, sometimes it pays to wait. Infama #1 will be coming out in May 1997, and the fun-loving brunette's activities will be drawn by none other than Greg LaRocque, known for his work on Flash (with Mark Waid), Web Of Spider-Man, DC's Fighting American mini-series, among other books. Mr. LaRocque will pencil and ink the book, which is slated to be published in black and white format. He and SINNAMON artist M. Gerald Delaney will collaborate on the cover. "I'm still in a happy daze about this book", says Angelo Furlan, writer of all things Catfish. "It literally came together in less than an hour. I was on the phone with Sy Picon when the conversation turned to Infama. I mentioned I had written a script which was still waiting for the right artist to come along. It turned out that Sy's a good friend of Greg LaRocque. The next thing I knew, I was on the phone with someone whose artwork I'd admired for years. I e-mailed him the script, and much to my delight, he liked what he read." The story starts from events in SINNAMON #9 (available in January) and follows Infama as she embarks on a fun-filled romp through Toronto. The brunette with the magical gem will actually be forced to the limits of her powers as she faces off against a foe who is her polar opposite in many ways. Infama #1 will be available through Diamond and SyCo Distributing. Angelo Furlan Writer/Creator of SINNAMON, BRUISER, and STUF. email me at: afurlan@pathcom.com +++++ Aliens Being Discriminated Against, Says Comic-Book Publisher NEW YORK, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- "Aliens are getting their worst PR since the 1950's," says comic-book publisher Steve Stern. "Movies like Independence Day and Mars Attacks, and TV shows like the X-Files and Dark Skies are fueling an intense paranoia about ETs." Stern is the writer/creator of the alien comic-book hero, Zen Intergalactic Ninja. "After ten years of publication, the Zen live-action movie is finally slated to begin production in early '97," Stern said. "With more alien hate-fests on the horizon, including Men in Black and Starship Troopers, it's imperative that movies start to present a positive image of aliens." He says that the concept that aliens are evil is a not-so-subtle form of discrimination. "Starting in the 50's, sci-fi flicks like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers projected our fear of communism onto aliens. Now that communism is no longer a threat, this alien paranoia is clearly working on a deeper level. Read: if it looks different from me, it has to be evil." He points out that the original comic-book alien -- Superman -- is depicted as human. "Even though he came from the planet Krypton, Superman's creators choose to make him look like an Earthling. Perhaps they felt that readers -- especially younger ones -- would have been uncomfortable with an alien-looking hero." Zen, on the other hand, is blue-skinned, and his only facial feature is a set of large, dark eyes. "We need to become accustomed to 'lifeforms' that look different from us," Stern said, "and to accept the idea that they can be just as good and heroic as we are. "E.T. the Extraterrestrial was a case in point, and indicates that we are willing to take aliens literally to heart -- but there hasn't been a similar alien icon for decades. I hope that Zen can help fill that void." ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] CSNsider by W. Batty and C. Biggers This is the CSNsider from CSN 495#, which will be in shops on 12/12/96. It is reproduced in its entirety with the expressed permission of COMIC SHOP NEWS! Warren Ellis reports that Six Steel Hearts, the series he was producing for Caliber with artist John Cassaday, has been taken off the schedule; Ellis explains that Cassaday is proving so popular as an artist that it was difficult to work the book in his schedule without forcing him to give up something else, so Ellis felt that postponing the series was the best thing to do for all concerned... Alas, Mark Waid has confirmed that he and Brian Augustyn are taking a year off The Flash. "I've been with the book for almost seventy consecutive issues, Brian for over a hundred, and frankly, we plan to do at least that many more," Waid said, but he felt like a break was needed for them to recharge. Look for them to begin their twelve issue hiatus with Flash #130; in the interim, they have selected Grant Morrison and Mark Millar as the writing team for the one-year interim period... It looks very possible that the Milestone/DC partnership may be coming to an end in the spring of '97; sources at Milestone say that it's not a certainty, though... Now that Fox-TV's Millennium has been given a go for the whole season at Fox, interest in a Millennium comic book is really picking up, with two companies vying for the rights... In case you haven't heard, the theatrical release dates for the three revamped Star Wars films are as follows: A New Hope - January 31st; The Empire Strikes Back - February 21st; Return of the Jedi - March 7th... Dark Horse has plans to reprint in comic book form some of the company's most popular series from their first ten years, beginning with Aliens Versus Predator, which kicks off its six issue run in February... In March, Dark Horse releases its first Star Wars illustrated novel, Dark Forces-Soldier for the Empire, a 128-page graphic story album written by William C. Dietz and illustrated with twenty-five full-page paintings by Dean Williams... Crusade Comics has announced a new "print to order" policy effective immediately; the company will no longer significantly overprint its books. "Speculating on comics makes for an unstable marketplace, for retailers and publishers," Crusade publisher Bill Tucci explained.... Brian Michael Bendis reports that Jinx makes the move from Caliber Press to Image's new black and white line beginning in June of '97... DC has announced that Batman: Masques, the Mike Grell Batman one-shot originally scheduled for January release, has been postponed; DC will reschedule it for a later date... And speaking of rescheduling, Vertigo's Sandman Bookends have been pushed back to February release... Clayburn Moore, president of Moore Creations, has announced that his company will offer a series of action figures featuring Chaos! Comics characters beginning in the fall of '97; Lady Death will be one of the four characters who will be featured in the first release... Mike Vosburg introduces a new character, Lori Lovecraft, in a Caliber one-shot slated for February release; the book focuses on a Hollywood starlet and her misadventures in the world of low-budget films... Bernie Wrightson's Batman/Aliens crossover book, first mentioned over a year ago, is finally on the schedule at Dark Horse; the $4.95 first installment of the two-issue series is scheduled for March 7th release. Ron Marz is writing the series, while Matt Hollingsworth supplies the colors... Kabuki: Sin Deep, Act 2, which features a cover by Alex Ross and a cover by David Mack that form a montage when placed side-by-side, will feature a tribute to the late Mike Parobeck. A portion of the proceeds from this issue will be donated in Parobeck's honor to Voices In Action, a charitable group that works to prevent the sexual abuse of children... We've already told you that Batman will meet Image's WildCATs in '97, but he's also about to cross paths with DC's Wildcat in February in a three-part miniseries, Batman/Wildcat, written by Beau Smith and Chuck Dixon and illustrated by Sergio Cariello, Art Thibert, and Danny Miki... Oscar Jimenez will supply the art for JLA #s 8 and 9 while regular JLA illustrator Howard Porter works on the JLA/WildCATs mega-crossover title tentatively scheduled for '97 release... Is the late SF master Robert A. Heinlein about to get his big comics break? It looks possible, now that Paul Verhoeven is bringing Heinlein's Starship Troopers to the big screen next summer. Not only is a comic adaptation of that film in negotiations, but publishers have expressed an interest in Glory Road, Farnham's Freehold, and Stranger In a Strange Land. +++++ CSN is available exclusively at over 1,000 finer comic shops nation-wide. A list, sorted by zip code, of shops that carry CSN is available at our website. CSN only costs your shop a dime each, so if they don't carry it, nag them until they do. Isn't your patronage and satisfaction worth a dime a week? We post some art to go along with this news at our website: http://www.dreamsville.com/CSN/CSNsider.html Ward Batty wardo@netdepot.com Cliff Biggers cliffbig@netdepot.com (c)Copyright 1996 CSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Guest Column by Lonnie Johnson [Lonnie is a SysOp and member of ComicBook Network. A preview of his new book Canus, which will be out soon, was reviewed in CBEM #76. Here is a message posted to our network, which I think is of interest to us all.] I recently have been doing a lot of research and digging for info on the comic industry, I just thought I would spill my findings in here, and wanted to see if you had a response:) First, the price issue, I do not honestly know the deals Marvel, DC and Image get from their distributors, but several Indy's as well as our own, get this from Diamond. 60% of our cover price belongs to them, we get to keep 40% . A 2 dollar cover price would only get us .80 cents. for a 5000 print run ( minimum allowed by printers for color) the books cost us about .50 cents apiece to print. This leaves us .30 cents per book to eat on, and buy computer equipment for coloring, and advertise and conventions... As the print run goes up, the cost per book goes down, In my opinion Marvel DC Image Dark Horse and others don't have an excuse for the high prices, but most Indies are justified in their 2.75 price for color books. My second finding, a big problem with the industry as a whole, seems to be with the comic shops themselves. A recent dealing with a local shop here will hopefully show what I mean. As you know we are struggling to put out of first comic soon. We negotiated with several comic shops local to us, to do signing appearances etc. The largest of these locals we gave ( free) 30 ashcans, agreed to appear for free, and any other promotional they wanted. This same shop, several weeks later, called my partner, told him they had not ordered 1 measly book, but could he please send them some after it was printed ( for free) and did we have any posters ( for free). All the other shops in the area ordered at least 25 books or more, and asked for nothing but us to show up. If retailers are not willing to try new books, then no one will ever get to see them. I would think retailers would be interested in helping artist get started, that's why they are in business isn't it? To promote and sell comics? We have not received one bad review of our book yet. Even the owner and the business manager of the above shop liked our book. But we can't afford to just "give" them away. I have to wonder how many "good" comics out there have simply disappeared because the retailers wouldn't give it a chance. They buy 100 copies of Spiderman and 25 are in the ".50" bin within a month, but no one will see the new Indy title because the retailer wouldn't give them a chance to be shown. My 3rd and probably my saddest finding is that people just aren't interested in reading comics anymore. TV and the Internet have taken over, written word, and art are slowly phasing out of society. This is of course not true of all people, but it is an ever increasing trend. I don't think comics as an art-story telling form will ever die, but I can tell you the comments I have gotten from personal interviews, E-Mail, BBS's, and other methods are rather depressing. It does not bode well for small Indie companies. In closing, I would like to say thanks for your support, the E-Mag, helping me get hooked into comicbook-net, and your kind review of our ashcan. We get our order numbers back from Diamond on dec 10th, we will print the first issue even if we do not get a 5000 order ( we have to print that many due to printer limitations) and I would be glad to send you one for free if you are interested. As Always, Lonnie Johnson NightOwl Studios aka Nightwing P.O. Box 893111 Sysop Beggar's Forum IV Oklahoma City OK 73189 * Origin: Beggar's Forum IV (405) 787-2540 (23:208/0) [Look for CANUS from Night Owl studios friends and give it a try.- D.L.] ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] The Pen Is Mightier... By Brian Matus First, a note to John Costa: Comicolor Comics is publishing a book called Vampire Bayne, by Ron Leary, Jr. I don't know if this book is the same as the one published by Redline Comics, but you may want to check it out. Good Luck! Before I get to my review of KABUKI#1, I'd like to address some of the comments David made regarding my column last week. #1 - I was not asking Diamond to buy Mike Diana's books, nor to guarantee the sale of his books. I was asking Diamond to put his books' solicitations in PREVIEWS and let the market decide whether his books will sell or not. As far as I know, Diamond does not buy books and then sell them, as a bookstore would, they just fill the orders they receive. #2 - PREVIEWS offers books that are not available for distribution in certain geographical areas (Canada, Hong Kong, and the U.K.) due to their adult (usually sexual) nature. If Diamond fears legal retaliation, they should make the book unavailable in the state of Florida, where the book was deemed obscene, and not penalize the rest of the world, which does not seem to have a problem with his books. #3 - As far as local standards, I don't think the problem is with Diamond, due to the large amount of adult product they ship every month. If Florida's standards are the problem, see #2. #4 - I don't feel comfortable with the analogies to radio and t.v. stations having to air broadcasts from hate groups, as a radio or t.v station can only broadcast one show as a time at great expense, as opposed to the thousands of solicitations PREVIEWS offers every month, at minimal expense. Also, Diamond would not be prohibited from offering other books at the same time as Mike Diana's, nor would they have to worry about getting advertisers for the book, like a radio or t.v. station would have to, to pay for the airing of the show. I don't see how Diamond would suffer any loss by placing Mr. Diana's solicitations in PREVIEWS, nor do I recall any distributors being implicated in the legal proceedings, only Mike Diana, Michael Hunt Publications, and the shop that offered the books for sale. Again, all I'm asking for is that Diamond let the shops decide if they want the books, and the risk. #5 - I acknowledged early on Diamond's right not to carry any product they don't want to. I just felt that they jumped the gun, based on the Florida court's reactionary judgment (I think Ice-T, 2 Live Crew, and many others would back me up on that one). #6 - I did not proclaim this as the beginning of the end of adult products in general! That statement is obviously absurd. I did say that I felt that this may beginning of the end of controversial and/or adult work being able to be published by small comic publishers. If you will note, Diamond still continues to carry adult work from all of the other companies, including Verotik, which was the cause of so many legal problems not so long ago for a little place called Planet Comics (how quickly we forget!). On the other hand, it appears Michael Hunt Publications is out of business. #7 - As far as being overly dramatic, I wonder what William Gaines (R.I.P.) would say about all of this, and how he might relate it to Frederic Whertham's SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT, the Comics Code, and the destruction of E.C. comics. Now, onto the real reason I write this column... [Sorry for interrupting, but the destruction of E.C. had more to do with the actions of their competition than anything the government did. It is my understanding they used the "self-imposed" code to drive E.C. out of business] Review of Kabuki #1 From Caliber Press Writer/Artist: David Mack Scene 1 Computer Colored by Daniel Cabuco Scene 2 Watercolored by Vincent Locke Scene 3 Painted by David Mack As you can see from the above credits, this is not your average comic book. KABUKI takes place slightly in the future, with a strong grounding in Japanese history. Kabuki, the character, is an agent of an organization called the Noh, which seeks to maintain the balance of power between the Yakuza (Japanese Mob), and the Japanese government, usually through violent means. The artwork changes from scene-to-scene, sometimes over the course of a single page, depending on the mood or impression Mr. Mack is trying to convey ("The Medium IS the Message!"). At times it is photorealistic, with exquisite detail, other times it's more like a soft wash of flowing color, never once sacrificing clarity for style. The writing has an equally chameleon-like quality, like a cross between SANDMAN and SIN CITY. At time the story has a mythical feel, and at others it is brutally realistic, combining an intriguing blend of history, action, drama, and suspense. I can't recommend picking up the back issues or trade paperbacks enough, although there is a brief recap in this issue to bring readers up to speed. This book is more that an excellent read, it is a book that evokes the feeling of observing a great history unfold. Until next time... Brian. bmatus@suffolk.lib.ny.us ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] Top-selling comics for December 1996 AP's Matt Top-selling Comics for December 1996, based on pre-orders through Diamond Distributors. These figures do not include Marvel Comics. estimated # # Title Publisher sold (1000's) 1 Spawn #57 Image 153.1 -3.0% 2 Curse of the Spawn #4 Image 133.5 +1.7% 3 Spawn the Impaler #3 Image 125.2 -7.4% 4 Gen 13 #16 Image 111.6 -4.5% 5 Gen 13 Bootleg #2 Image 89.6 -17.2% 6 DC Marvel All Access #4 DC 88.9 -25.1% 7 JLA #2 DC 74.5 -28.5% 8 Ballistic Wolverine DC 69.8 9 Darkness #2 Top Cow 69.5 -17.7% 10 X-Files #25 Topps 66.1 -1.8% 11 Batman #539 DC 65.1 -3.7% 12 Dawn #5 Sirius 63.2 **-11.9% 13 Weapon Zero Silver Surfer Top Cow 60.5 14 Supergirl #6 DC 59.9 -3.9% 15 Shi Daredevil Crusade 59.8 16 Detective Comics #706 DC 59.4 -4.0% 17 Lady Death The Crucible #2 Chaos 59.3 *-35.4% 18 Superman #120 DC 58.1 -9.5% 19 Catwoman Vampirella Furies DC 56.5 20 Gen 13 Zine #1 Image 56.4 21 Sin City Lost Lonely Leth #1 Dark Horse 56.3 22 Adventures of Superman #543 DC 56.1 -8.0% 23 Action Comics #730 DC 55.8 -7.6% 24 Batman Long Halloween #3 DC 53.5 -5.5% 25 Pitt #12 Full Bleed 52.7 **-3.7% 26 Batman Legends Dark Kn #91 DC 51.9 +1.6% 27 Star Wars Golden Age Sith #3 Dark Horse 51.4 -8.4% 28 Superman Man of Tomorrow #7 DC 50.8 **-8.3% 29 X-Files Season One #6 Topps 50.7 -2.9% 30 Nightwing #5 DC 50.5 -6.8% 31 Green Lantern #83 DC 50.1 -2.5% 32 Supergirl Plus #1 DC 49.9 33 Batman Plus #1 DC 49.9 34 Preacher #22 DC 49.8 0.0 35 Superman Plus #1 DC 49.8 36 Batman Shadow of the Bat #59 DC 49.1 -4.1% 37 Mars Attacks Image Univ #1 Image 46.9 38 Robin #38 DC 46.5 -3.9% 39 Flash #122 DC 46.0 -3.2% 40 Catwoman #42 DC 44.7 -3.0% 41 Star Wars X-Wing Rogue W #2 Dark Horse 42.8 -7.4% 42 Astro City v2 #5 Image 42.8 +4.9% 43 Green Lantern Flash Faster 1 DC 42.6 44 Green Lantern Flash Faster 2 DC 42.2 -0.9% 45 Superman/Won. Woman Whom #3 DC 41.2 -13.1% 46 Thrillkiller #2 DC 41.1 -19.4% 47 Wonder Woman #118 DC 40.3 -4.7% 48 Dreaming #9 DC 38.0 -6.9% 49 Azrael #26 DC 37.1 -4.6% 50 Teen Titans #5 DC 36.6 -5.7% 51 Wetworks #24 Image 36.5 -7.4% 52 Wynonna Earp #1 Image 34.5 53 Savage Dragon #34 Image 34.4 +3.6% 54 Superboy #36 DC 34.4 -5.2% 55 Evil Ernie Baddest Battl #1 Chaos 33.3 56 Hitman #11 DC 32.8 -1.8% 57 Aquaman #29 DC 32.6 -3.6% 58 Impulse #22 DC 31.2 -6.9% 59 Avengelyne Armageddon #1 Maximum 30.4 60 Crow Wild Justice #3 Kitchen 30.3 -11.1% 61 Avengelyne #8 Maximum 30.1 -5.6% 62 Supreme #45 Image 30.1 +47.5% 63 Batman Gordon's Law #3 DC 29.4 -13.0% 64 Starman #27 DC 29.3 -2.7% 65 House of Secrets #5 DC 29.2 -5.5% 66 Books of Magic #33 DC 28.9 -2.4% 67 Superman Adventures #4 DC 28.9 -10.5% 68 Backlash #27 Image 28.5 -7.2% 69 Warrior Nun/Avengelyne #1 Antarctic 28.4 70 Grifter #6 Image 28.2 -6.3% 71 Legion of Superheroes #89 DC 27.5 -3.8% 72 Ash 22 Brides #2 Event 27.4 -18.0% 73 Shadowman #2 Acclaim 27.3 -26.6% 74 Books of Magic Annual #1 DC 27.1 75 Stormwatch #43 Image 27.0 -4.6% 76 Bloodhunter #2 Image 26.8 +18.1% 77 Justice Riders DC 26.6 78 Superboy and the Ravers #6 DC 26.4 -9.3% 79 Death Dealer #3 Verotik 26.0 80 Mars Attacks Savage Drag #1 Topps 25.9 81 Legionnaires #45 DC 25.8 -1.1% 82 X-O Manowar #3 Acclaim 25.7 -6.2% 83 Batman Robin Adventures #15 DC 25.5 -2.7% 84 Challengers of Unknown #1 DC 25.1 85 Invisibles v2 #1 DC 24.8 **+29.8% 86 Vampirella Lives #1 die cut Harris 24.6 87 Aliens Lovesick #1 Dark Horse 24.4 88 Predator Kindred #1 Dark Horse 23.8 89 Hellblazer #110 DC 23.5 -1.3% 90 Friends of Maxx #3 Image 23.2 *-1.3% 91 Lobo Mask #1 DC 23.1 92 Turok #1 Acclaim 22.9 93 Power of Shazam #23 DC 22.8 -12.6% 94 Vampirella Strikes Annual #1 Harris 22.6 95 Lobo #36 DC 22.3 -0.4% 96 Glory #18 Maximum 22.3 -5.9% 97 Leave It To Chance #4 Image 21.9 +10.6% 98 Spectre #50 DC 21.6 +4.3% 99 Ninjak #2 Acclaim 21.5 -29.0% 100 Wildstorm Universe 1997 #2 Image 21.2 -4.1% 101 Sovereign Seven #19 DC 21.0 -6.3% 102 Sovereign Seven Plus #1 DC 21.0 103 New Gods #15 DC 20.9 -5.4% 104 Tempest #4 DC 20.8 -6.7% 105 Kid Supreme #8 Image 20.7 +81.6% 106 Simpsons Comics #27 Bongo 20.5 -5.5% 107 Superman Whatever Happened DC 20.4 108 Green Arrow #117 DC 20.2 -4.3% 109 Question Returns #1 DC 20.2 110 Troublemakers #1 Acclaim 20.1 111 Sandman Mystery Theatre #47 DC 20.1 -2.9% 112 Book of Fate #1 DC 20.0 113 BW Smith Storyteller #3 Dark Horse 19.8 -16.1% 114 Vampirella Lives #1 dlx Harris 19.4 115 Spawn #9 offered again Image 19.3 116 Ghost #20 Dark Horse 19.0 -5.5% 117 Steel #35 DC 18.7 -11.4% 118 Youngblood #15 Maximum 18.6 -7.9% 119 Terminal City #8 DC 18.3 -5.7% 120 Power Rangers Zeo #4 Image 18.3 +90.6% 121 Evil Ernie #3 Chaos 18.2 -12.5% 122 Black Lamb #4 DC 18.1 -10.0% 123 Beetleborgs #2 Image 17.8 +57.5% 124 Body Bags #4 Dark Horse 17.7 +11.3% 125 Lady Rawhide #3 Topps 17.3 -8.5% 126 Stray Bullets #12 El Capitan 17.1 *-6.0% 127 Ess. Vertigo Sandman #7 DC 17.0 -7.6% 128 Aztek Ultimate Man #7 DC 16.3 -4.1% 129 Passover #1 Maximum 16.3 130 Seekers Into Mystery #13 DC 14.6 -5.2% 131 Oh My Goddess Robot Wars #1 Dark Horse 14.6 132 Poison Elves #19 Sirius 14.5 -2.7% 133 Night Force #3 DC 14.4 -19.1% 134 Mars Attacks Off. Movie #2 Topps 14.2 -2.1% 135 Fatale #8 Broadway 14.1 -4.7% 136 Santa the Barbarian #1 Maximum 14.1 137 Species Human Race #2 Dark Horse 13.4 -23.4% 138 Ranma 1/2 VI #1 Viz 13.3 +5.6% 139 Satanika #6 Verotik 13.2 *-12.0% 140 Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur #6 Image 13.1 -10.9% 141 Black Pearl #4 Dark Horse 12.9 -19.9% 142 Blindside #3 Maximum 12.9 **-33.2% 143 Time Breakers #2 DC 12.9 -25.4% 144 Mythos The Final Tour #3 DC 12.8 -6.6% 145 Spawn #15 offered again Image 12.7 146 Blood A Tale #4 DC 12.4 -3.9% 147 Cyberella #6 DC 12.3 -14.0% 148 Gunsmith Cats Return Gray #5 Dark Horse 12.1 -2.4% 149 Blade of Immortal Fanatic #1 Dark Horse 11.8 150 Razor vol.2 #3 London N 11.7 -12.7% The top-selling comic books from publishers that did not quite make it into the top 150... 155 Cerebus #213 Aardvark 11.5 -2.5% 159 Cartoon Network Presents #1 Archie 10.4 161 Warrior Winter Wonderland Ultimate 10.2 165 Book of Ballads and Sagas #4 Green Man 9.6 171 Armature #2 Olyoptics 8.9 -23.3% 172 Double Impact #0 High Impact 8.9 179 Mike Danger #9 Big Enter 8.6 -6.5% 191 Uncle Scrooge Adventures #44 Gladstone 7.8 192 Tyrant #6 Spiderbaby 7.7 194 New Bondage Fairies #2 Fantagraph 7.4 -10.8% 195 Hari Kari Live Bloodshed #1 Blackout 7.2 -23.4% 213 Haunt of Fear #18 Gemstone 5.5 214 Pandora #1 Avatar 5.5 227 Goblin Lord #2 Goblin St 4.8 231 Reid Fleming Milkman #7 Deep Sea 4.5 232 ESC #0 Comico 4.5 234 Snowman 1944 #2 Entity 4.5 *-33.8% 235 THB Special Wingtip Caper #1 Horse 4.5 240 Vamperotica Dare Sp #1 nude Brainstorm 4.3 244 Bacchus #20 Eddie Campb 4.2 0.0% 246 Star Blazers #9 Voyager 4.0 *-9.1% 250 X-Flies Bug Hunt #1 Twist Shout 3.9 254 6 Lethal Origins #3 Byron Preiss 3.8 -5.0% 260 War of the Worlds #3 Caliber 3.7 -2.6% 270 Hellina X-Mas in Hell #1 Lightning 3.3 273 Widow Bound By Blood #4 Ground Zero 3.2 -11.1% 288 Hilly Rose #8 Astro Comics 2.8 291 Five Years of Pain #1 Boneyard 2.7 298 Replacement God #7 Slave Labor 2.6 The "estimated number sold" is an estimate of the total number of copies pre-ordered through Diamond Distribution, in thousands. The "change" is an estimate of the percentage change over the previous issue. An asterisk (*) indicates the previous issue was published two months ago (October), and a double asterisk (**) indicates the previous issue was published three or more months ago. Comic Book Market Share by dollar value, December 1996: Publisher Comic Books All Products 1 DC Comics 35.75% 28.90% 2 Image Comics 13.27% 10.32% 3 Dark Horse 6.78% 5.22% 4 Wizard Press 3.64% 3.01% 5 Topps 2.89% 6.25% 6 Maximum Press 2.83% 2.12% 7 Top Cow 2.68% 2.01% 8 Acclaim Comics 2.04% 1.53% 9 Harris Comics 1.93% 1.45% 10 Chaos! Comics 1.47% 11 Sirius Entertainment 1.42% 12 Viz Communications 1.41% 13 Gemstone Publishing 1.24% 14 London Night Studios 1.13% 15 Fantagraphics 1.10% 16 Verotik 1.05% 17 Kitchen Sink .91% 18 Antarctic Press .91% 19 Crusade Comics .88% 20 High Impact Studios .73% Kenner/Hasbro Toys 1.42% Non-Top 20 Publishers 15.95% Note: This information was obtained from Diamond Distribution's DIAMOND DIALOGUE, which publishes various sales charts every month, and is available to comics retailers. This listing includes sales of all comic books (excluding Marvel) sold through Diamond, which constitutes 98-99% of all direct market comic book sales. This list only includes pre-orders, and does not include advance reorders, reorders, or cancellations. This listing also does not include trade paperbacks, magazines, or other non-comic items. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] My View by David LeBlanc VIRTUAL COMICS an imprint of Byron Preiss Multimedia Company Inc. (conceived by Danny Fingeroth & Byron Preiss) Byron Preiss - President Danny Fingeroth - Editor in Chief Virtual Comics bills itself as MultiMedia because not only are they traditional comics, but they are online interactive web page comics, www.virtualcomics.com ; multimedia CD-Rom comic which are interactive and 3D navigable as well as Arcade action games. At first glance it appears a requirement of each title is that the first word begins with T and the last word begins with S, but you'll see what I mean as we go along. THE SUIT #1 $2.50 "Invasion" 1 of 3 Writers D.G. Chichester & Greg Wright Pencils Shawn McManus Inks Dan Panosian Letters & Colors Digital Chameleon This one starts with a group called Skyquest who are investigating an object that crashed to earth. They are part of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and have found there goal it would seem. Upon investigation the metallic object begins to flow and fuse with the nearest of the group, we are told it has done this on countless worlds, searching for a suitable match, but for what? The party is left unconscious and a day and a half later we see what appears to be the same metallic entity in the form of a suit of armor which is formed about a human being apparently. It is being attacked by a group of mercenaries in armor, though far inferior to this version from the stars. It becomes apparent that the Suit is also sentient (hmm... where have we seen that before) and is capable of transforming parts of it self to weapons as the need arises. After this battle, he ends up in another with another "suit" of similar technology but suspect motives who wants certain pieces of our *hero* suit. There is obviously a lot going on for reasons we do not know, and the occupant of THE SUIT is about as clueless as we are. The second fight is not as successful as the first and the end of part one we are left with several mysteries to solve. This one is intriguing enough. I generally do not like being dumped into fight scenes that are not explained until much later but the obvious connection to what is really happening and the leader of the SETI group makes it interesting. The secret of the SUIT is promised for next issue so it seems that part won't be drawn out for too long which is also good. The art is pretty decent though the character design is nothing special, but then how much can you do with a suit of armor? THEY CALL ME . . . THE SKUL #1 $2.50 "From the Depths" 1 of 3 Writer Danny Fingeroth Pencils Ron Lim Inks Jimmy Palmiotti Rest Digital Chameleon Secret Origin take two: this guy has been dating this girl and they get along pretty well. So much so that on the third date she offers her brother's Jeep for their evening out, though he has never met anyone else from her family. The night ends in tragedy as they are run off the road intentionally and the girl ends up dead. He is charged with her murder and learns she never had a brother and her parents are long dead. He gets life without parole and his first night runs up against the "Power Elite" that runs the inmate population. As he is about to be initiated into prison life by the muscle for the Power, Big John, another con, steps in to help out only to be knifed in the back. They get away from the thugs and as he dies John slaps Steve's hand with his, transferring a special tattoo to him. As Steve touches his face he transforms into The Skul, complete with skull chest and belt, cape and a green mask with black flames for his hair. He makes quick work of the gang and escapes from prison as he discovers how to transform back and forth. He heads home but then realizes he must work to clear his name. As he heads to the dead girl's house to search for clues he is attacked by another with similar powers (wait a minute, wasn't that the plot in the last title?) and we are left with the mystery of who this person is, who or what invented this Skul power and what does the Power Elite have to do with all this? Again, some pretty decent art with a similar feel to it due to the coloring. It makes me wonder if the concept here is to have a certain type of comic. A hero who is suddenly given some kind of power but does not know why and a secret organization of some sort attacks him out of the blue. Maybe it has something to do with the CD-Rom or the interactive game designs as well but I get the feeling that it is a formula and there is really no creative spark to it. Well, pretty hard to be too critical after just one chapter. Maybe the third title will help create a bigger picture. THE 6 #1 $2.50 "Lethal Origins" 1 of 3 Writer Fabian Nicieza Pencils Greg Luzniak Inks Andy Lanning Rest Digital Chameleon See what I mean about "T"s and "S"s?? Fabian will not be staying on this title being too wrapped up with Turok, Troublemakers and being Editor and Chief of Acclaim. Nice opening! A splash of a skeleton in green glow explosion, signifying the death of The Blast, one of the original members of "THE 6". The Ionic energy release spreads across the globe and affects certain people in unusual ways. SO, the good guys from TRAC, Trouble Response and ACquisitions are racing the bad guys from DISORDER to find those few people that are gifted with powers as a result of the death of The Blast. The first 3 are Jorge Velez who has transformed into a PITT-like, HULK-like huge guy, the teen telekinetic Nathan Wolf and a self style vigilante Ben Meara known as Ion who can project a beam of energy into any shape (like GL does with the power ring). The two discovered by Disorder are Tucker Pierce whose skin turns to metal and Psyanide, a girl whose story is not yet told to us. They have been persuaded to work for the forces of Disorder and help retrieve the last individual who may be the most powerful of them all. And so this chapter serves as introduction to the main players, a groundwork on most of their powers and a set up for what may be a very short career for the new members of THE 6. Well, I like Fabian's style a lot better than the other two books. There is more of a smooth flow to the story, and he is giving us a lot more information to help us become interested in the story and the characters. The pose on the cover seems to indicate that the 6 new powered people, the 3 and the two and the one will soon form the team that will become THE 6 and we can probably guess they will be working to thwart Disorder and its leader The Primary. The SKUL makes a quick guest shot so we know they are in the same Universe as well. As far as a team book goes it has potential, but another team book does not excite me right now. The artwork is the best of the three I thought, with the same coloring effort from Digital Chameleon. ---- Overall the impression is that they have created these books to forward the the marketing plan of multimedia products. Colorful designs, plenty of conflict and the same feel to the general appearance. I like "The 6" the most but I don't think I'll be buying any of them on a regular basis as I read a full compliment of hero books now and these, though done ably, do not give me enough desire to keep paying for more. Maybe you should check them out for yourself? ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] New Comic Book Releases List by Charles LePage ncrl@fair.net NCRL: New Comic Book Releases List for Wednesday, December 11, 1996, compiled by Charles LePage. This is the *preliminary* list and is not complete. The completed list is posted weekly, usually Monday evening, at rec.arts. comics.info, http://www.america.net/~cslepage/ncrl.html, and Compuserve's Comics Publishers Forum. PUBLISHER, TITLE, ISSUE NUMBER, PRICE IN U.S. DOLLARS ACCLAIM Ninjak #2, 2.50 Turok #1, 3.95 ANTARCTIC Box Office Poison #2, 2.95 Code Name Scorpio #2 (of 4), 2.95 Snowblind #1 (limited edition hardcover), 25.00 Tigers Of Terra Book #2 (AA), 9.95 ARCHIE Betty And Veronica #109, 1.50 Betty And Veronica Double Digest #63, 2.75 Cartoon Network Presents #1 (Space Ghost), 1.50 Little Archie Digest #18, 1.79 World Of Archie #22, 1.50 BIG Beach High #1, 3.25 Leonard Nimoy's Primortals #8, 2.25 BONGO Fleener #2, 2.95 CLAYPOOL Deadbeats #21, 2.50 COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #495, free DARK HORSE Dark Horse Presents #116, 2.95 Ghost #20, 2.5 Gunsmith Cats: The Return Of Gray #5 (of 7), 2.95 Insider #13, free Nexus: Alien Justice TPB, 16.95 DC Animaniacs #22, 1.75 Azrael #26, 1.95 Batman Chronicles #7, 2.95 Batman #539, 1.95 Batman/Captain America TPB, 5.95 Black Lamb #4 (of 6), 2.50 Books Of Magic #33, 2.50 Essential Vertigo: The Sandman #7, 1.95 Green Arrow #117, 2.25 Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collectors Set (net), 3.55 Hardware #47, 2.50 House Of Secrets #5, 2.50 Impulse #22, 1.75 Legionnaires #45, 2.25 Mad Magazine #353, 2.50 New Gods #15 (final issue), 1.95 Night Force #3, 2.25 Preacher: Until The End Of The World TPB, 14.95 Sandman Bookends, 275.00 Starman #27, 2.25 Supergirl #6, 1.95 Superman #120, 1.95 Superman's Metropolis, 5.95 Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, 5.95 Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy #3 (of 4), 4.95 Tempest #4 (of 4), 1.75 HARRIS Vampirella Strikes Annual #1, 2.95 IMAGE Gen 13 #13C (Christmas Cover)(AA), 1.30 Hazard #8, 2.25 Shattered Image #4, 2.50 Spawn TPB #2, 9.95 Spawn The Impaler #2, 2.95 WildCATS #32, 2.50 Wynonna Earp #1, 2.50 KRAUSE Comic Buyer's Guide #1205, 2.95 LIGHTNING Creed: Cranial Disorder #2 (of 3), 3.00 MARVEL Adventures Of The X-Men #11, 0.99 Amazing Spider-Man #420, 1.50 Avengers #4 (Heroes Reborn), 1.95 Daredevil #361, 1.50 Daredevil/Shi #1, 2.95 Essential Spider-Man, 12.95 Generation X #24, 1.95 Ghost Rider #82, 1.50 Howard The Duck Holiday Special, 2.50 Marvels: Shadows & Light #1, 2.95 Onslaught TPB #3 (of 6), 9.95 Onslaught: Epilogue, 2.95 Professor Xavier And The X-Men #16, 0.99 Rune: Hearts Of Darkness #3, 1.50 Silver Surfer/Superman, 5.95 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #3, 1.95 Star Trek: Early Voyages #1, 2.95 Starlord #3 (of 3), 2.50 Uncanny Origins #6, 0.99 Wolverine Encyclopedia, 5.95 X-Factor #131, 1.95 SLEEPING GIANT Death By Chocolate: The Metabolators, 2.50 TOPPS X-Files Annual #2, 3.95 TWIST&SHOUT X-Flies: Bug Hunt #1 (Vampires), 2.95 VIZ Game On USA Vol. I #8, 4.95 Manga Vizion Vol. II #12, 4.95 No Need For Tenchi Part II #2 (of 7), 2.95 Return Of Lum: Sweet Revenge TPB, 15.95 Rumic World Trilogy TPB #2, 15.95 ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] E-Mag Info: Submissions, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights SUBMISSIONS ----------- To submit an article, review, column, etc to our e-mag, simply E-mail it to the editor at: ComicBkNet@aol.com If you have access to the ComicBook Net, submit your articles for consideration in any ComicBook Net conference and leave me a message in the CBN: E-Mag conference giving me permission to use the article. Reviews of mainstream books are welcome and will get included when submitted from sources outside of CBN, they are not excluded off hand. We give more consideration to reviews of indies and self published material as we feel that material deserves more exposure to the general public. If You write intelligent, coherent, and timely reviews of anything it will almost always be printed so give us a shot. Commentary on the state of the industry, and personal observations and reflections related to comics are *most* likely to be included in our publication. We also accept product for review purposes. Advanced copies of comic books will not be returned but anything sent to us will be reviewed in the ComicBook Net Emag. Send all material to: David L. LeBlanc 84 Heather Circle Jefferson, MA 01522-1419 SUBSCRIPTIONS ------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to ComicBkNet@aol.com to be placed on the FREE subscription list. THE CBN WEB PAGE http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet ---------------- If you have access to the World Wide Web, please stop by and visit our web page! On our web page, you can find the latest issue of our E-Mag, as well as an annotated index and all back issues. You'll also find important information on how to join the conversation in the ComicBook Net, and other neat features like newly released comic book graphics, links to Jeff Mason's lists of Comic Book Company addresses and Comic Professionals Email addresses, plus other Comic Book related Web pages! LOCATING EMAG ISSUES -------------------- The latest issue is always available from all the systems linked into The ComicBook Network. You can also find the back issues at America Online, by going to Keyword: COMICS, then choose the menu item _Comic Book Forum_ and then going to the _Comics Library_ from there. Most issues should also be available on Compuserve, Genie, as well as some non CBN affiliated Bulletin Board Systems. All back issues are also available on our World Wide Web page. COPYRIGHTS ---------- The Comic Book Net E-Mag is published by the many participants of The ComicBook Network. This is a compilation of articles and columns which were originally posted in the network's conferences or written specifically for this electronic magazine. Some articles are independent of any connection with CBN and are used with permission. All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Editor, the Network Administration Team or the members and users of The ComicBook Network. Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine (CBEM) is Copyright 1996 by The ComicBook Network. You may freely distribute or duplicate this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Please do not distribute except as the complete file as originally transmitted by The ComicBook Network. ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [B] How to join the COMIC BOOK NETWORK (CBN) Bulletin Board Systems are scattered everywhere across the continent and the world, many of them are free! Chances are, if you have a modem you have the accompanying communications software. Using the Terminal Emulation software that came with your modem, you can dial up one of the many systems linked into CBN (see the listings down a few paragraphs). Most of the boards offer all the message echoes in the ComicBook Network... There are message bases devoted to all the bigger comics publishers, as well as big Small Press and Independent message bases, not to mention sections for general conversation, collecting, gaming and other forms of entertainment. If you are worried about long distance charges, worry no longer! Most if not all the BBS's offer a mail service from which you can download a .QWK packet of recent e-mail to read offline with a program called an offline mail reader. You can read & write messages at your leisure, and then upload your own messages & replies the next time you call your local BBS. There are many .QWK packet readers out there, for every type of computer system. They all give you a better explanation in their documentation than I can. These programs are available all over the Internet and are free to download from most BBS's. I recommend SLMR or OLX-TD for DOS to get started. These "mail runs" (dialing up, downloading the mail packet and uploading replies) generally take less than 5 minutes to accomplish, and at the average after-5pm/weekends/holidays long distance phone rates, that is LESS THAN $.75! See? Even less expensive than many of the commercial information services available! :) So what else can you find on free BBS systems? There are plenty of files for specific types of computers. Some systems also offer other types of message networks ranging from general topics to specific themes like sci-fi, role playing, games, music, etc. And, let's not forget online games. Join into the many different multiplayer games, each system sports different challenges. There's nothing like becoming the most powerful being in a online adventure! And when you _do_ log on, leave a message in The Bullpen conference to ALL, and introduce yourself to us! You're guaranteed to get plenty of replies and all the help you need to join in the fun! ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [C] BBSes Linked into CBN Here's the most up-to-date node listing for the COMIC BOOK NETWORK CBN Node Board Name Sysop Phone ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23:102/0 Warner Robins Net Host Jeff Floyd 1-912-929-3762 23:102/1 The Congressional BBS Jeff Floyd 1-912-929-3762 23:103/0 Russellville Net Host Robert Wood 1-501-968-3910 23:103/1 Karate & Comics &... Robert Wood 1-501-968-3910 23:103/2 The Factory Rick Brewer 1-901-885-9647 23:103/3 The Mystic Curtis Tesch 1-501-284-5503 23:103/4 Conway PC Users Group BBS Tim Stone 1-501-329-7227 23:104/0 Raleigh Net Host Walter Tietjen 1-919-833-3412 23:104/1 TI-Raleigh Maximus Walter Tietjen 1-919-833-3412 23:104/3 Psychotronic Richard Lee 1-919-286-7738 23:104/4 Electronic Hangover Richard Lee 1-919-286-4542 23:104/6 The Federal Post Frank Koza 1-910-436-2055 23:108/0 Melbourne Net Wayne Bell 1-407-253-8754 23:108/2 Never Never Land Wayne Bell 1-407-253-8754 23:109/0 Jacksonville Net Eric Cohen 1-904-363-6347 23:109/1 Extreme Online Eric Cohen 1-904-363-6347 23:110/0 Destin Net Keith Schultz 1-904-654-1631 23:110/1 Steel Dog Cafe' Keith Schultz 1-904-654-1631 23:110/2 Ghost's Realm Kie Dorton 1-904-689-6664 23:111/0 Lake County Net Thomas McNeill 1-904-357-0355 23:111/1 Programmers Citadel Thomas McNeill 1-904-357-0355 23:111/2 Ded Dudez Mike Burgess 1-904-343-7272 23:112/0 Area Code 305 Mitchel Waas 1-305-792-9622 23:112/1 Information Interchange Mitchel Waas 1-305-792-9622 23:202/0 Houston Net Jeff Watts 1-713-568-0825 23:202/1 The RASTER Line Jeff Watts 1-713-568-0825 23:202/2 Dream Sequence Biju Mathai 1-713-835-0965 23:203/0 Nearly Dallas Wayne LeMonds 1-214-494-3702 23:203/2 Star Streams Michael Rudolf 1-214-938-7115 23:203/5 Way Out There Justin Pasher 1-214-680-2755 23:205/0 Odessa Net Dennis Brown 1-915-530-2712 23:205/1 Orion BBS Dennis Brown 1-915-530-2712 23:206/0 Collinsville Net Jeff Bennett 1-918-371-0980 23:206/1 Snart's Dreamland Jeff Bennett 1-918-371-0980 23:206/2 CompuMate Danny Pelletier 1-918-663-3454 23:206/4 The Round Table Garett Merrill 1-918-274-0775 23:207/0 Killeen TX Net T.J. Gohl 1-817-699-2254 23:207/1 Young Blood T.J. Gohl 1-817-699-2254 23:208/0 OKC MetroNet Lonnie Johnson 1-405-787-2540 23:208/1 Beggar's Forum IV Lonnie Johnson 1-405-787-2540 23:208/2 Beggar's Forum IV Lonnie Johnson 1-405-787-2557 23:400/0 Saugerties Net Host John Dragun 1-914-247-9601 23:400/1 Starbase : RED DWARF John Dragun 1-914-247-9601 23:401/0 Mass Net John Harris 1-508-753-3767 23:401/3 Archives BBS John Viera 1-508-995-0085 23:401/7 Keystone BBS John Harris 1-508-753-3767 23:401/8 Call Again Soon Joe Johnson 1-508-791-8456 23:401/9 Muskrat & Heatwave Dennis Racine 1-508-984-4632 23:401/10 HellFire BBS Brock Cordeiro 1-508-979-8930 23:403/0 DC MetroNet Spencer Greenwald 1-703-415-1130 23:403/4 Crystal Aerie Spencer Greenwald 1-703-415-0134 23:403/6 Bifrost Kevin Carlin 1-301-779-9381 23:403/7 Vampyre Bar Darryl Pierce 1-301-698-5194 23:403/8 Womens World East BBS Net Wendy Dumser 1-301-445-1612 23:403/9 DataStorm Tarek Gordan 1-301-390-5243 23:405/0 LI Net Host Tom Pemberton 1-516-422-4225 23:405/1 Asgard.TW BBS Tom Pemberton 1-516-422-4225 23:406/0 Philadelphia Net William Horton 1-215-365-5225 23:406/1 Comic Book Board William Horton 1-215-365-5225 23:406/2 Dark Lands Chris Ford 1-215-487-7315 23:407/0 RoachTel Net Eric Sears 1-716-647-9068 23:407/1 Generation X Eric Sears 1-716-647-9068 23:409/0 St Mary's County Net Linda Peek 1-301-884-9732 23:409/1 Shearata's Realm Linda Peek 1-301-884-9732 23:410/0 Bergen County Net Jacob Greenberg 1-201-722-1495 23:410/1 Bergen BBS Jacob Greenberg 1-201-722-1495 23:410/2 Cyberspace Arcade Rick Smorawski 1-201-440-0563 23:410/3 Unnamed BBS Edward Di Geronimo J 1-201-368-1866 23:410/4 Quantum Zone Wayne Robinson 1-201-307-9225 23:410/5 Virtual Connection Dmitry Korsun 1-201-796-7202 23:411/0 AreaCode 908 Tal Meta 1-908-830-8265 23:411/1 Phoenix Modernz Systems Tal Meta 1-908-830-8265 23:501/0 KY Net Todd Millhouse 1-502-867-0992 23:501/1 Lex Corp Todd Millhouse 1-502-867-0992 23:503/0 Windsor Net Gary Ranchuk 1-519-974-2976 23:503/1 The Trading Post ][ Gary Ranchuk 1-519-974-2976 23:503/2 The Snake Pit BBS Mark Godard 1-519-979-4251 23:506/0 Gananoque Net Mike Serson 1-613-382-1788 23:506/1 Gananoque System Mike Serson 1-613-382-1788 23:507/0 Iowa Net Andy St.Pierre 1-319-359-4449 23:507/2 The Final Destination BBS Andy St.Pierre 1-319-359-4449 23:508/0 KC Area Net Brian J. Stewart 1-816-767-1488 23:508/1 The Oan Citadel Brian J. Stewart 1-816-767-1488 23:509/0 Ontario Net Michael Cross 1-519-850-9929 23:509/1 Dark Knight Michael Cross 1-519-850-9929 23:509/3 Mach 1 Tomasz Heiber 1-519-457-6771 23:509/5 Stargate: Above & Beyond Paul Nicolas 1-519-472-4938 23:510/0 Chi & Burbs Alex Gen 1-708-776-2395 23:510/1 Warp Speed Alex Gen 1-708-776-2395 23:512/0 Area Code 219 Rob Swanson 1-219-325-3655 23:512/1 Rob's BBS Arcade 1 Rob Swanson 1-219-325-3655 23:512/2 Rob's BBS Arcade 2 Rob Swanson 1-219-324-4713 23:600/0 Longview Net Host Jeanne Lejon 1-360-577-7358 23:600/1 Longview On-Line! Node1 Jeanne Lejon 1-360-577-7358 23:600/2 Longview On-Line! Node2 Jeanne Lejon 1-360-577-0276 23:601/0 Tacoma Net Host Robert Richards 1-206-272-8083 23:601/1 Alpha's Attic Robert Richards 1-206-272-8083 23:601/2 Area 51 Paul Powloski 1-206-538-9435 23:700/0 Mexico DF Net Emilio Karam 52-5-264-2994 23:700/1 The Gate Emilio Karam 52-5-264-2994 ________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - End of another Issue .. see ya in the funnny papers!! Captain, I feel I speak for the rest of the crew when I say, To hell with our orders!