The Shipping Forecast for November 28th

This week's new books include Josué Menjivar's strange new graphic novel CICADA, Brubaker and Cooke's reimagining of CATWOMAN, and the latest trade edition of 100 BULLETS.
26 November 2001

Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's weekly pick of the best and most interesting new books hitting US stores on Wednesday.

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The shipping list is taken from the Diamond website and is subject to change. Check in with Diamond for the latest updates.

FISHER PICKS:

CATWOMAN #1 (DC Comics)
Regular readers of the forecast will have noticed that I tend to pick a number of Marvel books, mainly because I was weaned on Marvel comics and sprats when I was a lad. This is the first time I've picked a book from the DC superhero universe, so I'm hoping it'll be something special. Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke are embarking on the sort of reinvention project that we've recently come to associate with - yes, you guessed it - Marvel. The old mammary challenged Catwoman in the purple body condom has been given a MODESTY BLAISE-style makeover and a new raison d'etre, as a hero to the disadvantaged. It looks fabulous, and Brubaker is a proven talent, so I'm genuinely looking forward to buying this. If I like it, it'll be my first regular purchase from the DCU... um... ever.

SPIDER-MAN'S TANGLED WEB #8 (Marvel Comics)
Meanwhile, back with those other guys, it's the second issue of the latest TANGLED WEB story. I don't buy the other SPIDER-MAN titles, but I've bought every TANGLED WEB so far - and I wasn't planning to. I intended to stop after the Milligan/Fegredo story, because I had no interest in the creative team of Bruce Jones and Lee Weeks. Then I flicked through #7 in the store and it looked wonderful, so I bought it, and was very glad that I did. A dying man knows Spider-Man's secret identity, and might be able to save his life if he can profit from the information. Jones spins a twisty yarn, and Weeks' art is superb. This is TANGLED WEB at its very best.

NIGHTCRAWLER #1 (Marvel Comics)
New Marvel said it was only going to release limited series when the stories were strong enough to demand it. Shame, then, that the X-Men Icons series kept that promise. Of the series released so far - CYCLOPS, ROGUE and ICEMAN - all have seemed eminently missable. And now there's NIGHTCRAWLER, and if the first issue of this doesn't work, it'll be the last Marvel miniseries I try for a while. Art is by Matt Smith, who has one of those names where you're never quite sure if you've heard of him or not, and the story is by Chris Kipiniak, who Marvel say is a playwright. Whether that's any recommendation remains to be seen.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

CICADA GN (Top Shel)
When trying to describe Josué Menjivar's BROKEN FENDER to people, the best I could do was use the phrase, "a blue-collar OPTIC NERVE". Menjivar's stories were always about wonderfully human, everyday people. After a successful handful of mini-comics that lead to two issues from Top Shelf, Menjivar seemingly vanished off the face of comics. That's about to change, though, with the release of his new graphic novel CICADA. The idea of someone's guilt being likened to the hibernation cycle of the cicada sounds promising, but to be honest, just the fact that it's by Menjivar is good enough for me. CICADA is going to be one of those books that takes most of the industry by surprise. This is your chance to say, "I read it before everyone knew."

BATMAN: THE ANKH #1 (DC Comics)
Chuck Dixon and John Van Fleet's BATMAN: THE CHALICE two years ago was one of those rare projects where I really couldn't care less about the story, which was flimsy and uninteresting. However, Van Fleet's fully painted art was nothing short of drop dead gorgeous. Having seen some preview pages from BATMAN: THE ANKH, I can confirm that Dixon and Van Fleet's new project should be just as beautiful. A criminally underrated artist, Van Fleet's work deserves to be purchased simply so it can be admired. And if Dixon's story this time turns out to be a little more interesting, well, all the better.

LEGION #2 (DC Comics)
One of the few things that always sounded promising was the question, "What will happen when the cast of STAR TREK: VOYAGER gets home?" Not only did they bungle every other missed opportunity given to them, they even missed out on that one. That's not the case with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's LEGION. After being catapulted halfway across the universe for a year in LEGION LOST, the Legion has returned home - and Abnett and Lanning are having a ball and running with it. After years of lethargic writing and plummeting sales, the LEGION miniseries have brought this book back to life.

CROMARTY PICKS:

100 BULLETS VOL 3: HANG UP ON THE HANG LOW TP (DC Vertigo)
If there's one thing that really annoys me about Vertigo's trade paperback policy, it's that they can never seem to agree on a suitable time-gap between issues and collections. 100 BULLETS is now entering the #30s, yet this collection will only just crack the teens. Not bloody good enough, frankly. The comic, however, should be very good indeed - Azzarello is obviously in his element, giving the strong impression that 100 BULLETS is simply the story he was born to write, and Risso's clean, seemingly effortless line proves him to be a storyteller of the first order. The conspiracy theory that simmered under the first two collections apparently goes into overdrive here, and doubtless there will be plenty of violence to go with it. I can't wait.

CICADA GN (Top Shelf)
This is apparently the first full-length graphic novel from Josué Menjivar, creator of the excellent, emotionally charged BROKEN FENDER. CICADA promises to deal with the ramifications and emotional scars of infidelity in a bizarre and interesting way. Once again it seems we can rely on Top Shelf to produce exactly the kind of comics that we want to read, but that few other publishers are willing to touch.

SANDMAN PRESENTS: THE CORINTHIAN #2 (DC Vertigo) I picked the first issue of this, Darko Macan's first foray into SANDMAN territory, and thankfully I wasn't disappointed. Macan's playing the Corinthian as a smug, self-consciously enigmatic bastard, and by golly it works. Daniel Zezelj handles the surroundings of early-century Venice (plus the cast of both ordinary people and the odd psycho) surprisingly well, given his style of heavy lines and brutal shadows. Almost better than it has any right to be, and well worth picking up.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

ANCIENT JOE #2 (Dark Horse)
It's always a joy to see anything new from Scott Morse, and happily, we've been seeing a lot more of it lately (MAGIC PICKLE #3 is also out this week). However, there's a very good reason not to buy this. I'm a great fan of individual issues. It gives a steady income to publishers, which means more comics, which is A Good Thing. The suspense is enough to see you through the wait for the next issue. But this time, I wish this comic had been issued as a trade. We know that Morse's comics work well in book form, as with LITTLEGREYMAN and SOULWIND, and ANCIENT JOE reads as though it was intended for a similar format. The first issue took me less than ten minutes to read, including time to admire the pretty pictures. Sorry, but something's gone askew here. So: lovely work, shame about the format.

SKY APE: WAITING FOR CRIME TP (AIT/PlanetLar)
It's not that I have thing for ape comics, really it's not. It's just that sometimes all the good ideas have a monkey in. SKY APE has already had one TPB to his name, and the only thing differentiating it from the whacked-out acid-fuelled comix of the good old bad old days is the lack of psychedelic colour schemes on the cover. Anyway, there's this gorilla with a rocket pack. He's vaguely troubled by his life, he has adventures. Every single character is a paragon of snappy dialogue. The whole package is kind of fun. Give it a whirl.

SENSE OF WONDER (TwoMorrows)
Not a comic, but a real book with pages of text and everything. This is Bill Schelley's one man tale of being a comics fan in the 60s and 70s. Yes, the emphasis is on geeking out over superheroes, because we are talking about becoming a fan while an adolescent boy in the 60s, but all comics fans do have the common ground of falling for the same odd medium. Schelley's now a "comics historian" and was, in his youth a fanzine writer, so he knows his stuff when it comes to the fine details of the era. Expect an affectionate nostalgia trip that should even appeal to those who weren't around at the time. And, as if you needed reminding, this would make an excellent Christmas/Solstice present for many people. I can think of some seadogs not too far from here...

Comics shipping in the US on November 28th:

DARK HORSE

SEP010021 ANCIENT JOE #2 (Of 3) $3.50
SEP010040 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #62 STIGMATA (MR) $2.99
SEP010034 BTVS #39 NIGHT OF A THOUSAND VAMPIRES $2.99
SEP010035 BTVS #39 NIGHT OF A THOUSAND VAMPIRES PHOTO CVR $2.99
JUL010025 OUTLAW 7 #2 (Of 4) $2.99
SEP010055 SUPER MANGA BLAST #18 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

SEP010259 100 BULLETS VOL 3 HANG UP ON THE HANG LOW TP (MR) $9.95
SEP010261 ANGEL AND THE APE #4 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95
SEP010181 BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #44 $1.99
SEP010180 BATMAN THE ANKH #1 (Of 2) $5.95
SEP010234 CARTOON CARTOONS #8 $1.99
SEP010184 CATWOMAN #1 $2.50
SEP010264 CODENAME KNOCKOUT #7 (MR) $2.50
SEP010200 FLASH #180 $2.25
SEP010266 HELLBLAZER #168 (MR) $2.50
SEP010213 JLA #60 $2.25
SEP010223 LEGION #2 $2.50
SEP010247 MONARCHY BULLETS OVER BABYLON TP $12.95
SEP010249 OUT THERE #6 $2.50
SEP010270 SANDMAN PRESENTS THE CORINTHIAN #2 (Of 3) $2.50
SEP010195 SUPERMAN & BATMAN GENERATIONS II #4 (Of 4) $5.95

IMAGE
AUG011139 10TH MUSE PHOTO CVR #7 $2.95
AUG011138 10TH MUSE ROGER CRUZ CVR #7 $2.95
SEP011134 CREECH OUT FOR BLOOD #3 $4.95
APR011353 RAIL $5.95
JUN011315 SPAWN #113 $2.50
OCT011486 TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS HUGHES CVR #1 (Of 12) $2.95
OCT011485 TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS JOHNSON CVR #1 (Of 12) $2.95

MARVEL

SEP011483 AVENGERS #48 (Note Price) $3.50
SEP011484 BLOODSTONE #2 $2.99
AUG011428 BROTHERHOOD #6 $2.25
SEP011476 CAPTAIN MARVEL #25 $2.50
SEP011444 DEADPOOL AGENT OF WEAPON X #4 $2.25
SEP011471 DEFENDERS #11 $2.25
SEP011434 ICEMAN #2 (MR) $2.50
AUG011422 NEW X-MEN #119 $2.25
SEP011445 NIGHTCRAWLER #1 $2.50
SEP011485 PARADISE X THE HERALDS #2 $3.50
SEP011456 SPIDER-MAN TANGLED WEB #8 GENTLEMENS AGREEMENT $2.99
SEP011425 US WAR MACHINE #12 (MR) $1.50
SEP011447 WOLVERINE #170 $2.25
SEP011431 X-MEN EVOLUTION #1 $2.25
SEP011449 X-MEN MILLENIAL VISIONS 2001 $3.50
SEP011450 X-TREME X-MEN SAVAGE LAND #3 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

SEP011770 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #130 $3.29
SEP011846 BAD KITTY RELOADED #2 (Of 4) $2.99
SEP011845I BAD KITTY RELOADED ALT CVR #2 $7.50
SEP011825 BART SIMPSON COMICS #6 $2.50
SEP012029F BATTLE POPE PRESENTS ST MICHAEL #3 (Of 3) (MR) $2.95
SEP011773 BETTY & VERONICA #169 $1.99
SEP012248 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND #6 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP012218F CICADA GN $12.95
SEP012071F COOL DEVICES #1 (A) (C: 3) $2.95
SEP011938 CROSSGEN CHRONICLES #5 $3.95
MAR011980 DARKCHYLDE REDEMPTION #2 $2.95
SEP011952 DORK SHADOWS COLL DORK TOWER TP VOL 2 CURR PRTG $15.95
SEP012241 EAGLE VOL 22 FATHER & SON $6.95
SEP012253 GUNDAM WING EPISODE ZERO #8 (Of 8) $2.95
SEP012245 INU YASHA PART 6 #7 (Of 15) $2.95
SEP012139 KISSING CHAOS #4 (Of 8) (MR) $2.25
OCT012542 LITERARY GRAFFITI #1 $3.50
SEP012138 MAGIC PICKLE #3 (Of 4) $2.95
SEP011935 MERIDIAN #18 $2.95
SEP012255 NO NEED FOR TENCHI PART 12 #4 (Of 6) $3.50
SEP012072F OGENKI CLINIC VOL 8 #4 (A) (C: 3) $2.95
SEP011937 RUSE #2 $2.95
JUN012173F SCUD YELLOW HORSEMAN TP $14.95
AUG012258 SENSE OF WONDER TP $15.95
AUG012164 SEVENTH SEA #1 ABSOLUTION (Of 4) $2.95
AUG012165 SEVENTH SEA #1 ABSOLUTION BAGGED W CCG ED (Of 4) $2.95
SEP011723F SKY APE WAITING FOR CRIME TP $6.95
SEP011781 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #104 $1.99
SEP011826F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #11 $2.95
SEP012069F VAMPIRE PRINCESS YUI VOL 3 #4 $2.95
SEP012044I VAMPIRELLA #4 LTD CVR ED $9.95
SEP012043 VAMPIRELLA #4 REG ED (Note Price) $2.99

The 9A Lighthouse Crew are Trafalgar, Shannon, Fastnet, Plymouth, Viking, German Bight, Finisterre, Forties, Dogger, Cromarty and Fisher.

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.