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The Forecast for September 21st 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. BOOK OF THE WEEK: TRUE PORN Ah, TRUE PORN. If there's one thing I can say for sure about TRUE PORN, it's that mentioning it here will make this one of the most popular editions of the Forecast ever to appear in search engines. Not as popular as if I were to mention 'hot lesbian action', or 'dirty furry fun', or 'amputee schoolgirl bukkake' (comics commentary is really rather niche, by comparison), but it'll be popular nonetheless. I've no idea if the second volume of TRUE PORN (Alternative Comics) contains any hot lesbian action or dirty furry fun, let alone amputee schoolgirl bukkake, but it seems a slim chance. And perhaps that's just as well, as I'm not keen on seeing Chester Brown's or Jim Rugg's interpretations of any of those things. What the TRUE PORN anthologies actually offer is a potentially even more terrifying prospect - true-life sex stories of indie cartoonists. A class of creators usually more prone to offer outpourings of angst and introspection gets to share outpourings of another sort entirely. But if the acclaimed first volume from 2003 is anything to go by, this won't be a collection of slightly embarrassing 'reader's letters'-style attempts at titillation, but a frank and honest exploration of a subject that's rarely intelligently handled. The second volume's line-up doesn't offer as many familiar names as the first, but that's understandable - anthology editors these days must have a real fight on their hands trying to find someone whose anthology schedule isn't packed solid through to the SPX after next. It does offer Hope Larson, Rich Tomasso, David Lasky and the aforementioned Jim Rugg, and with over fifty creators represented, there's bound to be something in there you'll like. And a couple of somethings you'll hate, of course. But as any Google search will tell you, there's a lot of unpleasant porn out there. [Andrew Wheeler] ARBEIT SNIKT FREI? Flying in the face of fashion, this week's WOLVERINE #32 features a tale that some might find unusual in the midst of all the line-wide crossover chaos. Capping Mark Millar's year-long run of unparalleled brutality, WOLVERINE #32 takes us back in time to World War II, where we find the ol' Canucklehead slap-bang in the middle of a concentration camp. That's right. Marvel's (other) flagship character, the hairy yellow midget, the mononucleosis of superheroes, serving time in a death camp. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. On one hand, it's nice to see Marvel trying something genuinely novel within their increasingly conservative comics universe. On the other, there's something a little bit icky about seeing a character so closely associated with garish action figures and Saturday morning cartoons in such an emotionally charged real world environment. That said, Wolverine is a character with at least a little emotional depth (although he may not get to show it that often). He's just human enough to be placed in such an environment without the resulting story becoming utterly risible. And furthermore, there are at least two genuinely good reasons for wanting to see this book. The first, of course, is the artwork. Kaare Andrews has rapidly become one of Marvel's greatest assets. His superlative covers for HULK and PETER PARKER showed him to be an intelligent and versatile artist. Andrews' art for Zeb Wells' DOCTOR OCTOPUS novel married the classicism of Tim Sale to the paranoia of Sam Kieth, resulting in a dark, intense aesthetic that matched the script perfectly. As this preview shows, Andrews' art perfectly captures the frightening chill of such a nightmarish place. The second reason is the dedication of this issue to the late Will Eisner. Mark Millar is notorious for his name-dropping, but by taking advice from the veteran artist in the months before his death, he may have found a way to approach this story that retains the essential truth of the character without betraying the absolute tragedy of the real-life events. Rather than the lecherous slashing bruiser that we all know and love, this issue sees a silent Wolverine acting as an accusatory ghost, more in the mold of a horror character like the Swamp or Man-Things. It should make an interesting change from the usual Grand Guignol that follows Wolverine wherever he goes. WOLVERINE #32 will be available in two editions: the regular full-colour version, and a black and white variant. While the variant comic culture has gotten out of hand in recent times, the themes and artwork on display in this story may afford the practice some small artistic validity. Let's hope that Marvel can resist the temptation to exploit this approach in other, less well-meaning ways. [Matthew Craig] READY STEADY COOK I may be the last person on the internet to say this, but just in case I'm not: why the hell aren't you reading Sinji Saijyo's IRON WOK JAN? I know, I know: it's not on this week's shipping list. But if you're reading this Forecast, you're probably planning on hitting a comic shop sometime soon. When you do, you could do a lot worse than picking up a volume of this fantastic manga. The story follows the eponymous chef Jan Akiyama in his quest to become Japan's King of Chinese Cooking. An arch perfectionist, competitive to a fault, and arrogant with it, Jan believes he'll blaze through the contest unopposed, until he discovers that one of his fellow contestants is a fellow Gobancho chef with a forensic flair. When one of the judges turns out to be a food critic with a grudge, can even Jan's seemingly bottomless bag of tricks save him from failure? IRON WOK JAN is an unexpectedly stunning book. I always knew that there were Japanese comics for every subject, from office jobs to Buddhism, but I never expected to be blown away by a comic that, essentially, turns Doctor Doom into Jamie Oliver - Jan looks more like a megalomaniac than a maker of munchables. While he's not always likeable, you'll find yourself always wanting him to win. The story structure would be familiar to anyone who's had the misfortune to catch BEYBLADE, POKÉMON or any of those Saturday morning dreck-fests, and the pacing is frantic, but the depth of thought with respect to cooking theory and the minutiae of Chinese cuisine is remarkable, and the artwork is superb. Even when the characters are buzzing around the page like big-hatted bluebottles, the storytelling is clear and engrossing. I've long suspected that there's a comic out there for everybody - a way in to this marvellous artform that could bring even the most passionate pulpophobe into the fold. And even though it reads right to left and is in black and white, and even though it's about a chef who lifts weights to make his chopper arm stronger, IRON WOK JAN just might be that book. But the proof of the pudding, of course, is in the tasting. [Matthew Craig] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR SEPTEMBER 21st 2005: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE JUL050026D GOON #14 $2.99
DC COMICS JUL050194D BATGIRL #68 $2.50
IMAGE JUL051614D BLACK FOREST VOL 2 CASTLE OF SHADOWS GN $6.99
MARVEL JUL051870D BLACK PANTHER #8 $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS JUL052839F ACTION PHILOSOPHERS #1 2ND PRINTING $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. |