The Shipping Forecast for August 21st

So you weren't planning to buy AMERICAN SPLENDOR, SERAPHIC FEATHER, AGE OF BRONZE or BIGG TIME this week? Read this week's forecast, and you'll have to think again.
19 August 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:

AMERICAN SPLENDOR: UNSUNG HERO #1 (Dark Horse)
Harvey Pekar has been producing comics for longer than some of you have been alive. He only writes, chronicling unfolding lives of ordinary Americans, and then gets some of the most respected people in the independent comics scene to illustrate for him. The results are invariably fascinating and often, well, splendid. The new UNSUNG HERO three-parter is based on Pekar's long acquaintance with Vietnam War veteran Robert McNeil. Illustrated by David Collier, creator of documentary comics and former soldier in the Canadian army, UNSUNG HERO is the story of one man's life in Vietnam and beyond. Pekar has a knack for turning stories about catching the bus into work into affecting comics, so it goes without saying that I'd consider this to be one of the comics you really should buy this week. Remember SAFE AREA GORAZDE? How could you forget? If you liked that, you'll like this.

BIGG TIME (DC Vertigo) Ty Templeton, the man who came from Canada to bring us, ooh, all sorts of offbeat stuff (although there's a special place in my heart for Teddy Payne and the Blue Bears) ambles within range of our radar again. BIGG TIME is an oft-delayed graphic novel that Vertigo has finally let the rest of us have a look at. Templeton's always been in possession of a dry, satirical wit, and BIGG TIME sounds like he's doing what he does best - producing an immaculately drawn and sharply funny comic, this time musing on fame and fate. The story sounds deceptively simple: Homeless man urinates on high voltage subway rail, instead of dying gains ability to see angels, notices that his is a malicious wastrel, demands to be made famous, is made famous. If we cross our fingers and wish hard enough, this may be the best comics satire on showbiz since THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW. Ty Templeton can probably pull this off, folks, so give him your money and a chance.

HELLBOY: THE THIRD WISH #2 (Dark Horse)
It seems a bit silly highlighting the second part of a two-part story for your reading pleasure, and even more silly to justify it on the grounds that this is Mike Mignola's best work ever. For those of us who were starting to worry that HELLBOY was going to spend the rest of his time on earth falling through floors in spooky old castles and fighting Nazi gorillas (but, y'know, looking amazing while it happened) this miniseries is a welcome indicator of things to come. Our hero has left the BPRD and ventured out to find some answers to the Big Questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing here?" Only in his case the fate of the world may depend on the answers. Mignola is obviously enjoying expanding his settings from mountains to seascapes, and his scripting is just perfect. The scene in issue #1 with the old sea goddess and the mermaids was just chilling. Horror comics done beautifully.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

SPACEMAN ONE SHOT (Oni Press)
You've almost got to take a look at this just for the way it was constructed. Mike Allred (MADMAN, X-STATIX) is writing this one-shot and pencilling the main character of Spaceman; Lawrence Marvit (SPARKS) is providing layouts, painting the backgrounds, and pencilling the rest of the characters (whom Allred then inks), and Laura Allred colours all the characters. What's it about? Who knows? Who cares? This book is going to look gorgeous, and with the Allreds and Marvit on board, chances are it will read really sharp to boot.

SERAPHIC FEATHER: SEEDS OF CHAOS TP (Dark Horse)
Have you ever read something that was so stylish and slick that your mind just sort of glazed over the plot because the execution was that fantastic? That's as good as any way to describe SERAPHIC FEATHER; Hiroyuki Utatane's art is a real joy to look at, with his stylish characters gliding across the page, surrounded by fantastic technological designs of a colony on the Moon. Even better, when you go back and read what Utatane and Yo Morimoto came up with in terms of a story, you'll find that it makes perfect sense - a power struggle to get control of mysterious alien artefacts known as Emblem Seeds. SEEDS OF CHAOS is the second SERAPHIC FEATHER collection to date (it's being serialised in SUPER MANGA BLAST); once you see this, you'll see that you need to get the first volume (CRIMSON ANGEL) as well.

JETCAT CLUBHOUSE TP (Oni Press)
What do the world's youngest rock star, an adolescent superhero, and a child mummy have in common? Absolutely nothing, which is why they work so well together in Jay Stephens's JETCAT CLUBHOUSE. Stephens's stories are like the cartoons you watched as a child, only better; they're hysterically funny, but don't dumb themselves down. Violence was never this much fun. As an added bonus, Stephens even includes some colour sections for added excitement. Woohoo!

FASTNET PICKS:

AGE OF BRONZE #14 (Image)
Another instalment in Eric Shanower's superb - but apparently under-appreciated - retelling of the Trojan War story. Top-notch draughtsmanship and storytelling combined with exhaustive research to tell a story full of venal, appalling characters and a fair helping of sex and violence - what's not to like? Look, in this issue alone we have bisexuality, an attempted seduction and (what I'm really looking forward to) adverse weather conditions. Well, I am a seagoing type. This is obviously a labour of love for Shanower and - as with most of my selections - the main reason I'm bringing it to your attention is that there's nothing else like it around, either currently being published or in the back-issue bins. Even if you don't buy this issue, go take a look at the initial TPB in the series, A THOUSAND SHIPS.

LUCIFER #29 (DC Vertigo)
MIke Carey's diabolical epic is going from strength to strength, and with TRANSMETROPOLITAN coming to an end, it looks to be set as Vertigo's flagship title. Which isn't bad for something that most people originally regarded as 'just another SANDMAN spin-off'. It's also promoted Carey into the top rank of writing - there aren't many who can pull off the labyrinthine plotting, closely-observed characterisation, and the changes of pace and tone, from grandiose medieval battle scenes in one issue to knockabout comedy in the next (and for anyone who didn't read #28 go track it down now). A new story arc starts here, making it a good jumping-on point - our ambivalent anti-hero is back in Hell, but needs to regain his lost power to face an attack from an old angelic enemy. And we've got a prestige LUCIFER one-shot and Carey's long awaited debut on HELLBLAZER to come this month as well. This fisherman will be looking forward to his next trip to port.

Comics shipping in the US on August 21st:

DARK HORSE
JUN020015 AMERICAN SPLENDOR: UNSUNG HERO #1 (Of 3) $3.99
JUN020018 HELLBOY: THE THIRD WISH #2 (Of 2) $2.99
JUN020022 KISS CAMPBELL CVR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
JUN020023 KISS PHOTO CVR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
MAY020066 SERAPHIC FEATHER: SEEDS OF CHAOS TP $17.95
MAY020067 SUPER MANGA BLAST #24 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

MAY020261 AMERICAN CENTURY #17 (MR) $2.50
JUN020457 AUTOMATIC KAFKA #2 (MR) $2.95
JUN020395 BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #32 $2.75
JUN020475 BIGG TIME (MR) $14.95
JUN020404 BIRDS OF PREY #46 $2.50
JUN020456 ESTABLISHMENT #12 $2.50
JUN020427 HAVEN: THE BROKEN CITY #9 (Of 9) $2.50
JUN020436 JLA: THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU $6.95
JUN020438 JSA #39 $2.50
JUN020483 LUCIFER #29 (MR) $2.50
JUN020491 MAD ABOUT THE MOB TP $8.95
JUN020487 MIDNIGHT, MASS #5 (Of 8) (MR) $2.50
JUN020453 POWERPUFF GIRLS #29 $2.25
JUN020410 ROBIN #105 $2.25
JUN020417 SUPERGIRL #73 $2.50
JUN020419 SUPERMAN: OUR WORLDS AT WAR VOL 2 TP $19.95
JUN020413 SUPERMAN :THE MAN OF STEEL #129 $2.25
JUN020464 THUNDERCATS: RECLAIMING THUNDERA #1 (Of 5) $2.95
JUN020490 Y- THE LAST MAN #2 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

JUN021371 AGE OF BRONZE #14 $3.50
MAY021161 ALONE IN THE DARK ONE SHOT SPECIAL $4.95
MAR021350 CREED: UTOPIATE #3 (Of 4) $4.95
JUN021381 GI JOE #9 $2.95
JUN021388 HOLY TERROR #1 (Of 4) $2.95
JUN021389 LIBERTY MEADOWS #27 $2.95
JUN021441 WITCHBLADE #58 $2.50

MARVEL

JUN021692 HOOD #4 (MR) $2.99
MAY021538 PUNISHER WAR ZONE VOL 1 TP $15.99
JUN021703 WEAPON X: KANE #1 $2.25
JUN021739 X-FACTOR #4 $2.50
JUN021742 X-TREME X-MEN #17 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN022558 ALL NEW TENCHI MUYO PART 1 #4 (Of 5) $2.95
JUN022016 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #61 $1.99
JUN022017 BETTY #116 $1.99
JUN022020 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #132 $2.19
JUN022565 DRAGONBALL PART 5 #3 (Of 7) $2.95
JUN022093 FUTURAMA/SIMPSONS SPECIAL: CROSSOVER CRISIS #1 (Of 2) $2.50
JUN022566 INU YASHA PART 7 #1 (Of 8) $2.95
JUN022436 JETCAT CLUBHOUSE TP $10.95
JUN022022 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #88 $3.29
JUN022163 MD GEIST COMPLETE ED TP (MR) $15.95
JUN022552 MEDABOTS PART 3 #1 (Of 4) $2.75
JUN022567 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079 VOL 6 TP $9.95
JUN022172 NEGATION #9 $2.95
JUN022419F ODDBALLZ #3 $2.95
JUN022175 SIGIL #27 $2.95
JUN022092 SIMPSONS COMICS #73 $2.50
JUN022176 SOJOURN #14 $2.95
MAY022220 SPACEMAN ONE SHOT $2.95
MAY021731 STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL III #52 $2.95
APR022437 VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE GN VENTRUE (MR) $6.95
JUN022576 X/1999 VOL 8: CRESCENDO TP $15.95

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

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