The Shipping Forecast for July 24th

Dig down the back of the sofa. You'll need every penny you can find for the new collections of CINDERALLA, K CHRONICLES, ANIMAL MAN and DAREDEVIL, not to mention the latest works from Mike Mignola and Alan Moore.
22 July 2002

The Shipping Forecast is Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week, courtesy of the fishing crew at the Ninth Art lighthouse. Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Check out the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

BONEYARD #7 (NBM)
I'm way past due giving BONEYARD the push it's due in the forecast. I'll try to compensate here. Some people are just really good at the craft of comics, and Richard Moore is one of them. The concept of an ordinary man and a gang of friendly monsters may not be the most attention grabbing; Moore's art may not be the most showy, his plots may not be the most twisty; but this is a really, really good comic. Moore's love of his story and sheer craftsmanship explodes off every page. The artwork is low-key perfection, showing off what one man can do with a brush, ink, god-given talent and dedication. The story is compelling, pacy and laugh-out-loud witty. Do me a favour - try out this book just once. You'll thank yourself. (If you want, you can thank me as well.)

K CHRONICLES TP: WHAT A LONG STRANGE STRIP (Top Shelf)
What with being on a lighthouse on the other side of the Atlantic, we don't get many US newspapers over here. None at all, actually, so we have to wait to see Keith Knight's work in print when it finally makes its way over in book form. Knight has a slyly vulgar sense of humour and draws strips where you can feel the influence of Harvey Kurtzman driving him like a stock-car racer. His stock-in-trade is observational humour with a large serving of absurdity on the side. It's rare to find a cartoonist who can switch from scatological to serious with such ease, but Knight pulls it off beautifully. Fans of Pete Sickman-Garner should get a real kick out of this.

TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD #3: MOMENTS (Clib's Boys Comics)
Romance comics, eh? Soppy twaddle that fell as feminism rose, right? Yes, yes, now go play with your THUNDERCATS comics and leave the opinions to the grown-ups. It's a shame that romance comics died out, as there's a place for good emotional stories played out in the real world in the wider spectrum of comics. Tom Beland is valiantly plugging a large gap in the market all on his own, and doing it rather well. TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD is the story of an unfolding romance built on a chance encounter, and it really is true, at that. As skilled with words as he is with pictures, newspaper cartoonist Beland's story of how he met his wife and fell in love is sweet, funny and life-affirming.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

JUNKO MIZUNO'S CINDERALLA GN (Viz)
In the pages of PULP magazine, CINDERALLA was a wonderfully twisted take on the Cinderella fairy tale, involving zombies, yakitori sauce, and stepsisters who demand Cinderalla create new bras for them. Buying the collected edition has three advantages over reading it in PULP, though. You don't have to wait a month for another fantastic instalment, it takes up far less space on your bookshelf, and Junko Mizuno has coloured the entire story in wonderful Day-Glo shades of pink and purple. Be the envy of all your friends when you're the first one to get your hands on a copy of CINDERALLA.

DUNGEON #1 (NBM)
Lewis Trondheim and Johann Sfar's DONJON series in France is one of the most wildly successful series of its time. A fun, tongue-in-cheek fantasy saga that's already spawned several other spin-offs (taking place in the future or past of the main story), it's now finally seeing print in the English language as DUNGEON, courtesy of NBM. This story of deception and mistaken identities appeals to just about everyone who reads it; NBM is so sure, it's even got a preview on its website. Confidence well earned, this fisherman might add.

BATMAN #605 (DC Universe)
Call it the little crossover that could. When 'Bruce Wayne: Murderer?' was first announced, it was treated with derision and scorn from both BATMAN fans and casual observers. The one thing no one counted on, though, was the skill that primary writers Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker would bring to both it and the sequel story 'Bruce Wayne: Fugitive' (plus great art from Scott McDaniel, Steve Lieber, and company). Now, it all comes down to this final issue, as all the pieces in the puzzle are assembled... but knowing everything that's happened up until now, it's clear that the answers don't always add up to a happy ending. This could very well be the Batman showstopper of the year.

FASTNET PICKS:

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN VOL II #1 (DC Wildstorm/ABC)
Is it art, or is it fanfic? And seeing as it's Alan Moore, does it matter? LOEG is, by some distance, the standout book of the America's Best Comics line, and its return is definitely a good thing. I don't think any writer but Alan Moore could write this sort of stuff - in the first series, he perfectly captured the essence of both his characters and his setting. Whether you're looking for a recasting of the heroes of Victorian popular literature in the comics that they inspired, or just a damn good story with some great jokes, then this is certain to be a good bet. Oh, and what's going on in the story? The Martians are coming, that's what. And what's more, we're promised, "a visitors' guide to some of the world's strangest places - a magical mystery tour unlike any other!"

HELLBOY: THE THIRD WISH #1 (Dark Horse)
Mike Mignola's already published one of the comics of the year with AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD, and his return to his best-known character is good news. As I've said before, this is the last HELLBOY we'll see for a while - Mignola is heavily involved in the HELLBOY movie - but that isn't the only reason for the anticipation. This is the first story to see Hellboy away from the BPRD, and hopefully that means an end to the Nazi goonery that formed the increasingly strained backdrop to previous stories. It'd be nice if Hellboy didn't fall through a floor at some point, too. This begins the long-promised 'Hellboy in Africa' story, featuring talking lions, a giant fish-woman, sundry faerie characters and a chicken. There's nothing else like HELLBOY in terms of story or art, and it'll be a long time before this is collected. Do I really need to tell you to buy it?

VIKING PICKS:

ANIMAL MAN: ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES TPB (DC Vertigo)
Hooray! DC finally caves in to years and years of people telling them to reprint more of Grant Morrison's early superhero story, ANIMAL MAN. One of the titles that helped establish the Vertigo line, ANIMAL MAN was at first glance a fairly simply story about an environmentally concerned superhero with animal-based powers. But naturally, with Morrison at the helm, it span off into something much stranger, eventually becoming a fourth wall breaking tale about the relationship between fictional characters and the outside world. This trade picks up where the original ANIMAL MAN collection left off. Both books are well worth your time and attention.

FISHER PICKS:

DAREDEVIL: WAKE UP TPB (Marvel Knights)
Brian Michael Bendis is causing quite a stir with his current run on DAREDEVIL, and when the UNDERBOSS trade hits the stands, you can be sure we'll be pointing it out to you. In the meantime, here's an appetiser, the four-part story with painted art by David Mack that marked Bendis' debut on the monthly book. Ol' Hornhead himself isn't in it a whole lot, though. This is really a Ben Urich story, which sees the Daily Bugle reporter chasing the story of the son of a Daredevil nemesis who has retreated inside his own head after suffering some mysterious trauma. It's a tender, intelligent and terrifically well-illustrated little tale.

Comics shipping in the US on July 24th:

DARK HORSE
MAY020020 HELLBOY: THE THIRD WISH #1 (Of 2) $2.99
MAY020017 KISS CAMPBELL CVR #1 (Of 3) $2.99

DC COMICS

APR020483 AMERICAN CENTURY #16 (MR) $2.50
MAY020262 ANIMAL MAN VOL 2: ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES TP (MR) $19.95
MAY020192 BATMAN #605 (Note Price) $2.95
MAY020197 BIRDS OF PREY #45 $2.50
MAY020241 CARTOON CARTOONS #12 $1.99
MAY020198 CATWOMAN #9 $2.50
MAY020219 GREEN ARROW #15 (RES) $2.50
MAY020228 JSA #38 $2.50
MAY020231 LEGION #10 $2.50
MAY020272 LUCIFER #28 (MR) $2.50
MAY020252 OUT THERE VOL 1: THE EVIL WITHIN TP (MR) $12.95
MAY020203 ROBIN #104 $2.25
MAY020235 SHAZAM FAMILY ANNUAL #1 $5.95
MAY020208 SUPERGIRL #72 $2.25
MAY020206 SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #128 $2.25
MAY020237 TITANS #43 $2.50

IMAGE
MAY021161 ALONE IN THE DARK ONE SHOT SPECIAL $4.95
MAY021162 BATTLE OF THE PLANETS #1 $2.95
MAR021355 FUSED #2 $2.95
NOV011526 SPAWN #118 $2.50

MARVEL

MAY021495 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #43 $2.25
MAY021469 APACHE SKIES #1 (MR) $2.99
MAR021702 BLAZE OF GLORY TP (C: 2) $9.99
APR021791 DAREDEVIL: WAKE UP TP (C: 2) $9.99
MAY021523 DEADLINE #4 (Of 4) $2.99
MAY021521 INCREDIBLE HULK #43 $2.25
MAY021524 INFINITY ABYSS #4 (OF 6) $2.99
MAY021509 MARVEL KNIGHTS VOL 2 #5 $2.99
MAY021474 MUTIES #6 $2.50
MAY021517 ORDER #6 $2.25
MAY021484 SOLDIER X #1 $2.99
MAY021499 SPIDER-MAN: TANGLED WEB #16 $2.99
MAY021525 THING: FREAKSHOW #2 (Of 4) $2.99
MAY021485 X-TREME X-MEN #16 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAY021802 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #60 $1.99
MAY021806 BETTY #115 $1.99
MAY021808 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #108 $3.29
MAY022197 BONEYARD #7 $2.95
MAY022362 CERES, CELESTIAL LEGEND PART 3 #2 (Of 4) (C: 3) $3.50
APR022211 DORK TOWER #19 $2.99
APR022330 DOUBLE TAKE #3 $3.50
MAY022200 DUNGEON #1 $2.95
MAY022325 GROWING UP ENCHANTED #1 $2.95
MAY022367 GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN #2 $7.95
MAY022222 HOPELESS SAVAGES: GROUND ZERO #2 (Of 4) $2.95
MAY022369 JUNKO MIZUNO'S CINDERALLA GN $15.95
MAY022327 K CHRONICLES TP: WHAT A LONG STRANGE STRIP $12.95
MAY021903 LADY DEATH: DARK ALLIANCE #2 $2.99
MAY021908 LADY DEATH: GAUNTLET FOIL CVR #1 $20.00
APR022135 LADY DEATH: GODDESS RETURNS #2 $2.99
MAY021826 MAXIMUM FORCE SPECIAL #1 (MR) $2.99
JUN022174 MYSTIC VOL 3 TP: SIEGE OF SCALES $15.95
MAY021949 NEGATION #8 $2.95
MAY022219 ONI PRESS COLOR SP 2002 $5.95
APR022004 PATTY CAKE & FRIENDS VOL 2 #6 $4.95
MAY022349 POKEMON ADVS PART 7 #4 (Of 5) (C: 3) $4.95
APR022137 PURGATORI: GOD KILLER #2 $2.99
MAY022225 QUEEN & COUNTRY #10 (MR) $2.95
MAY021973 RADISKULL AND DEVIL DOLL #1 $2.95
MAY022341 REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA VOL 2: TO PLANT TP $15.95
MAY021950 SIGIL #26 $2.95
MAY021951 SOJOURN #13 $2.95
MAY021894 STATIC X #1 $5.99
MAY021895 STATIC X COLLECTORS ED #1 $20.00
MAR022201 STRAY BULLETS #26 (MR) $3.50
MAY021882 TAROT: WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #15 $2.95
MAY022202 THIRD DEGREE #3 (Of 4) $2.95
MAY021922 TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD #3: MOMENTS $2.95
MAY022121 VOGELEIN #3 (Of 5) $3.00

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.