The Shipping Forecast for December 28th

Diamond has been making a list and checking it twice, and now you'll find out if you've been naughty or nice. Is it a lump of coal or a shiny work of four-colour genius that'll be arriving at your local comic store this week?
24 December 2001

Merry Christmas! (Or what have you.) The Christmas lights are up at the lighthouse (that's confused the passing ships), the drinks cabinet has been restocked, and Cromarty's getting up early tomorrow to baste the turkey (he has these urges, you see). And what does Christmas mean? It means the comics will be late!

That's right, this week's comics will ship in the US on Friday the 28th, and delays are inevitable for the rest of the world, too. Next week's comics will also hit stores on Friday. Thankfully, our sources tell us that Santa is still right on schedule.

A quick note on next week's forecast. The shipping list will go up as usual on Monday, but you'll also get a little something extra - the first annual Lighthouse Awards. Our panel of dedicated critics have made their picks of the comics and creators of 2001. Be sure to check in on New Year's Eve to see the results.

Meanwhile, here's the pick of this week's comics, with help from Diamond. God rest those merry gentlemen. For the latest shipping info, check out the Diamond website.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

GIRL GENIUS #0: SECRET BLUEPRINTS (Studio Foglio)
When Phil and Kaja Foglio created their steampunk comic book GIRL GENIUS, they thought about the history of their world. A lot. As in, created an entire history. Those who have been reading GIRL GENIUS have been seeing hints about the nature of the world and just what all this mad science stuff really is. For those who are impatient and want to know more, Studio Foglio has created GIRL GENIUS #0. This book introduces the whole cast, talks about how the world got the way it did, and more besides. It's only $1.50, and it even comes with a free decoder wheel for translating secret messages from the Foglios!

CATWOMAN #2 (DC Comics)
All creators planning on revamping a character should pay close attention; Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke have just shown everyone how to do it. They've simultaneously rebooted the character into something new (making it new-reader friendly) while respecting the past history of the character (making it old-reader friendly). Oh, and did I mention an intriguing first issue with a look into Catwoman's mind as well as a fun storyline about her past catching up? And not forgetting Cooke's gorgeous, uncluttered art style, which has me drooling every time I look at it. More like this, please.

ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM UP #11 (Marvel)
I don't know whose original idea it was to get Chynna Clugston-Major drawing an issue of TEAM UP, starring Spider-Man and the X-Men, but I do want to thank them. The previews of Clugston-Major's art are nothing short of adorable, and Brian Michael Bendis' story involving all of them at the mall sounds like goofy fun. For all I know, half of it is spent bargain shopping at the Gap, but I don't care. With Clugston-Major's manga-influenced (but not derivative) art and Bendis' gift for dialogue, we're in for a fun ride.

CROMARTY PICKS:

SANDMAN PRESENTS THE CORINTHIAN #3 (Of 3) $2.50 (DC Vertigo)
This'll be a nice send-off into the holidays for me - I re-read the first two episodes a few days ago, and there's something I just can't put my finger on here that tells me this is going to have a good ending. CORINTHIAN has certainly changed my views on Darco Makan as a writer (for the better), and Daniel Zezelj's murky but crystal clear artwork continues to amaze me. You really should be reading this.

POWERS VOL 2 ROLEPLAY TP $13.95 (Image)
Forgot someone's Christmas present? Maybe a copy of this will make up for it - although actually, volume one - WHO KILLED RETRO GIRL? - would make a better choice. With this arc, POWERS started to become a little less new-reader friendly, and a little more self-involved. It is, however, still very good indeed, with typical Bendis wit and the usual first-rate art from Michael Avon Oeming. In this book, a group of students are involved in an illegal live roleplaying game where they pretend to be real-life superheroes... and then they start dying. If you already have volume one, and you're not buying the issues, this is a worthy purchase.

FISHER PICKS:

ANCIENT JOE #3 (Dark Horse)
Another week, another Scott Morse miniseries coming to an end, and another name to add to the list of trades you'll want to pick up next year. As m'colleague Ms Bight observed a month back, the first issue of this series took about a minute to read, so it'll read a lot better in a trade. Issue two was a marked improvement, a story about Joe's meeting with a weird little girl with special knowledge of Hell. The final issue in the series could go any which way, but Morse is such a unique and engaging storyteller that my expectations remain high. The plan for ANCIENT JOE appears to be to create a series of miniseries, HELLBOY-style, so you'd be well advised to get in on the ground floor.

UNCANNY X-MEN 2001 (Marvel)
In the midst of the underwhelming gimmickry of 'Nuff Said month, this annual marks the return of another gimmick from the House of Ideas - the Marvelscope comic. Grant Morrison's NEW X-MEN annual was the first to employ this trick, whereby the book is turned on its side and stapled on the short edge. The art by Leinel Francis Yu looked great, but didn't take full advantage of the format. Will Joe Casey and Ashley Wood (and, next week, Chris Claremont and Salvador Larocca on X-TREME X-MEN) fare any better? Wood's coffee-stain art always looks great, but it needs the right story if it's to work, and Casey hasn't exactly wowed the fans with his work on X-MEN so far.

DOGGER PICKS:

PROMETHEA #18 (Wildstorm ABC)
So this is Christmas, is it? One book? Oh well. At least it's a really good book. As we've become fond of pointing out here at Ninth Art, if you're looking for books that really do stretch the storytelling boundaries of the medium, it's very hard to top PROMETHEA. Sure, sometimes its reach exceeds its grasp, but those times are few and far between, and when it works, you really can't do anything but sit back and marvel at the technique of Messrs Williams, Gray and Moore. And even if the philosophy in the book isn't your cup of tea, at least you'll be able to dazzle your friends with your knowledge of kabbalistic esoterica. And who hasn't found themselves needing to do that from time to time?

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

PROMETHEA #18 (ABC/Wildstorm)
The lighthouse Thesaurus is being worn down by our efforts to find new words to describe just how good Promethea looks. What to say? It's beautiful. It's really, really wonderful to look at. The joy of it is that the more Alan Moore takes flight as he goes deeper into Promethea's visionary journey (simultaneously an occult primer in comics form), the more stops the art team pulls out to keep up. And they keep up wonderfully. This is comics as it should be - words and art blending into their own literary form. For those with a hankering for the more prosaic (well, as prosaic as the book can ever get), there's also the StaciaPromethea, gleefully engaging in violence back in the "real" world.

GIRL GENIUS #1 Current Printing (Studio Foglio)
A flurry of activity from Studio Foglio, a flurry of recommendations from the lighthouse. Do you see a connection? Could it be because everything under the GIRL GENIUS name is worth seeking out? Why, yes! Go to the top of the class, and take that comic book with you. The latest issue of this series came out a couple of weeks ago, and it seems that as it continues it picks up more and more readers. So many, that this first issue will have to be reprinted so that people can follow the story from the beginning. Doubtless new readers will also pick this up on various recommendations (I hope so, otherwise we're not doing our job properly). And so the readership of GIRL GENIUS grows. More people turned on to good characters, nifty plotting, action, adventure and corking art. Hoorah!

Comics shipping in the US on Month Date:

DARK HORSE

OCT010024 ANCIENT JOE #3 (Of 3) $3.50
OCT010034 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #63 HUSK ONE SHOT (MR) $2.99
OCT010030 BTVS #40 LITTLE MONSTERS (1 OF 3) $2.99
OCT010031 BTVS #40 LITTLE MONSTERS (1 OF 3) PHOTO CVR $2.99
OCT010020 SERGIO ARAGONES GROO DEATH AND TAXES #1 (Of 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

OCT010553 BATMAN #598 $2.25
OCT010556 BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #45 $1.99
OCT010583 BATMAN THE ANKH #2 (Of 2) $5.95
OCT010586 CATWOMAN #2 $2.50
OCT010628 CODENAME KNOCKOUT #8 (MR) $2.50
OCT010608 DEXTERS LABORATORY #27 $1.99
OCT010569 FLASH #181 $2.25
OCT010574 JLA #61 $2.25
OCT010599 JLA INCARNATIONS #7 (Of 7) (RES) $3.50
OCT010577 LEGION #3 $2.50
OCT010618 OUT THERE #7 $2.50
OCT010624 PROMETHEA #18 $2.95
OCT010639 SANDMAN PRESENTS THE CORINTHIAN #3 (Of 3) $2.50
OCT010603 SUPERMAN TIL DEATH DO US PART TP $17.95
OCT010580 TITANS #36 $2.50

IMAGE

NOV011492 AGENCY #5 $2.95
SEP011081 ARIA SOUL MARKET #6 $2.95
SEP011093 ELECTROPOLIS #3 $2.95
OCT011566 IMAGE INTRODUCES BELIEVER #1 $2.95
SEP011156 INFERNO HELLBOUND BENITEZ CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011153 INFERNO HELLBOUND CAMPBELL CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011152 INFERNO HELLBOUND DWAYNE TURNER CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011154 INFERNO HELLBOUND JUSKO CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011151 INFERNO HELLBOUND KEOWN CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011155 INFERNO HELLBOUND MICHAEL TURNER CVR #1 $2.50
SEP011150 INFERNO HELLBOUND SILVESTRI CVR #1 $2.50
AUG011128 KABUKI VOL 2 DREAMS HC ED $24.95
OCT011572 POWERS VOL 2 ROLEPLAY TP $13.95
SEP011120 TELLOS VOL 2 KINDRED SPIRITS TP $17.95
OCT011520 TOP COW JAM POSTER 2001 PI
SEP011126 VIOLENT MESSIAHS GENESIS $5.95

MARVEL

OCT011895 AVENGERS #49 $2.25
OCT011896 BLOODSTONE #3 $2.99
OCT011861 DEADPOOL FUNERAL FOR A FREAK #1 $2.25
OCT011885 DEFENDERS #12 (Note Price) $3.50
OCT011877 ELEKTRA #6 $2.99
OCT011847 ELEKTRA & WOLVERINE THE REDEEMER #2 $5.95
SEP011488 MARVEL CROSSOVER CLASSICS VOL III TP $24.95
OCT015090 MIGHTY MARVEL MUST HAVES AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #36 (PU#503) $3.99
OCT011862 NIGHTCRAWLER #2 $2.50
OCT011897 PARADISE X THE HERALDS #3 $3.50
OCT011874 SPIDER-MAN TANGLED WEB #9 GENTLEMENS AGREEMENT $2.99
AUG011424 ULTIMATE MARVEL MAGAZINE #10 $3.99
OCT011875 ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM UP #11 $2.25
OCT011859 UNCANNY X-MEN 2001 $3.50
OCT011864 WOLVERINE #171 $2.25
OCT011866 X-MEN EVOLUTION #2 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

OCT012213 BETTY & VERONICA #170 $1.99
OCT012215 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #103 $3.29
OCT012713 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND PART 2 #1 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT012654 GIRL GENIUS #0 SECRET BLUEPRINTS CURR PTG $1.50
OCT012655 GIRL GENIUS #1 CURR PTG $2.95
OCT012580 HOUSE OF JAVA #4 $2.95
OCT012712 INU YASHA PART 6 #8 (Of 15) $2.95
OCT012304 LADY DEATH LAST RITES #3 (Of 4) $2.99
OCT012305I LADY DEATH LAST RITES ALT CVR #3 $7.50
SEP011918 LODOSS WAR CHRONICLES HEROIC KNIGHT #15 $2.95
OCT012374 LODOSS WAR DEEDLITS TALE #5 $2.95
OCT012704 MAGICAL JOURNEY POKEMON PART 6 #2 (Of 4) $4.95
OCT012389 MERIDIAN #19 $2.95
OCT012721 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079 VOL 2 2ND ED $9.95
OCT012719 NO NEED FOR TENCHI PART 12 #5 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT012706 POKEMON ADVS PART 6 #1 (Of 4) $4.95
OCT012705 POKEMON ADVS VOL 4 TRAINER IN YELLOW TP $13.95
SEP011838 ROSE #3 (Of 3) $5.95
OCT012390 RUSE #3 $2.95
JUN012174F SCUD SOLID GOLD BOMB TP (STAR07192) $17.95
OCT012218 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #105 $1.99
SEP011885F SOULSEARCHERS #51 $2.50
OCT012139 STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL III #46 $2.95
SEP011742 VAMPI #13 REG ED $2.99
OCT012534 VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU VOL 1 GN $17.95

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.