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The Forecast for March 30th 2005
Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's core team of comment writers, the Ninth Eight, will be your guides to the best, worst, weirdest and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop. BEETLE JUICE DC twists the Event Comics dial all the way to eleven this week with the next instalment of the universe-spanning, senses-shattering, bookshelf-battering megastory born in the pages of IDENTITY CRISIS. DC Comics' COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS looks as deeply ominous as it sounds, with a hideous abortion of a cover that takes men as accomplished as Alex Ross and Jim Lee and smashes them into a mangled Brundlefly of an artist, recalling George Pérez as filtered through the eyes of a steroid-rage Francis Bacon. The title suggests that we are but a few short steps away from a third world-walloping series, called INFINITE CRISIS. One assumes that "INFINITE" means that aftershocks from the event will spread backwards through time, as well as forwards, rewriting all our favourite comics as they go. So we can now expect to see things like Mirror Master skidding on Cliff Baker's punctured lung, Space Cabbie murdering hitchhikers, and Doll Man being arrested for importuning a My Little Pony, instead of all the good stuff... I've always been fond of loser heroes, and the Blue Beetle is one of the biggest. A tubby technologist by the name of Ted Kord, Bluey's better moments have been as part of the old JUSTICE LEAGUE, or reinvented as the Nite Owl for WATCHMEN. Either way, the character is a poster child for cheerful mediocrity, and as the preview shows, he accepts this role with aplomb... which bodes ill for the future of the Blue Beetle. DC has a bit of a habit of dragging out sacrificial lambs for these kinds of events. After all, nothing says "significant" like the brutal marmalisation of a low-rent cult favourite. In ZERO HOUR, it was the Old Farts Brigade; in EMERALD TWILIGHT, it was Coast City and the Green Lantern Corps; and in IDENTITY CRISIS, of course, it was poor old Sue Dibny. Judging by the cover to COUNTDOWN, it looks like Ted's next. Still, at least he's got one thing going for him: unlike Sue Dibny, the Blue Beetle is a genuine superhero. So if he is killed, he won't stay dead long. And because it's DC, the resurrection will probably get a whole summer miniseries all to itself. And the Blue Beetle will finally be the star, instead of the spit-roast... [Matthew Craig] THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES After the disappointment that was ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE - an overly long "first act" that could have eschewed four of it's five issue run without any loss of clarity - comes the second in Warren Ellis' ULTIMATE trilogy, ULTIMATE SECRET. Now working his way through Marvel's 'Young Guns' like a rock-star through groupies, he's joined by Steve McNiven on art duties. After Trevor Hairsine was unable to meet his deadlines on NIGHTMARE, Steve Epting was brought on to assure it's timeliness. Here's hoping Niven's gorgeous linework can be witnessed on all four issues. With the release of the fifth issue of ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE, Ellis's - and, indeed, Marvel's - plans for this trilogy became evident. It all had to lead up to something big and the "something" turned out to be Galactus. Or Gah-lak-tus, because Ellis knows that fear speaks phonetically. Ellis' work for Marvel has been surprisingly good (despite the letdown that was Ultimate Doom), perhaps because it's long-term work and not the restrictive thee-issue runs he'd tried before, and because it's forced him out of his usual genres and made him play with the rest of the kids in the superhero playground. The previews demonstrate some of his most obvious tics, but also hint at a more interesting plot this time around. Niven's line-work looks to have evolved somewhat and has a firmness and maturity that saw him shoot to fame with only a few mainstream projects under his belt. His work at CrossGen (a business failure, its only lasting success has been as an artistic testing ground) and for Marvel on MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 got him this gig, and he deserves it. Whilst ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE may have seemed almost comically over-stretched, I'm sure the entire trilogy will work far better read as a whole. However, why spare yourself the monthly rush of superhero comics by some of the most creative people in the industry? [John Fellows] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 30th 2005: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE JAN050077D BPRD THE DEAD #5 (OF 5) $2.99
DC COMICS JAN050266D BATGIRL #62 $2.50
IMAGE JAN051587D AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #4 $2.95
MARVEL NOV041813D ASTONISHING X-MEN #9 $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS JAN052618E AFTERMATH BREAKDOWN #5 $2.95
The Ninth Eight are Matthew Craig, John Fellows, Kieron Gillen, Alistair Kennedy, Zack Smith, Andrew Wheeler, Ben Wooller and Bulent Yusuf. Ninth Art endorses the principle of Ideological Freeware. The author permits distribution of this article by private individuals, on condition that the author and source of the article are clearly shown, no charge is made, and the whole article is reproduced intact, including this notice. Back. |