The Shipping Forecast for June 13

The pick of the week's releases from the crusty critics at the Ninth Art lighthouse.
11 June 2001

Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's weekly look at the latest comic book releases. Every Monday we'll show you the week's shipping list from Diamond, and our three waterlogged pundits will make their picks of the most noteworthy new books hitting the shelves. Please note that the shipping list is subject to change.

FISHER PICKS:

RING OF NIBELUNG: GOTTERDAMMERUNG #1
P Craig Russell is one of the finest artists in comics, with a special genius for composition. His RING series is now up to book four, the final book, so this may be a bad time to jump on board, but take a look at this in the store and whet your appetite for the inevitable trade paperbacks. Opera adaptations are a quirky idea, but Russell has made them work time and again, and he has an uncanny ability to convey the landscape of music through his storytelling and art. RING is a true labour of love, and it shows in every glowing page.

PUNISHER #1
Welcome back again, Frank. The PUNISHER maxiseries wasn't a masterpiece, but by heck it was fun. Ennis and Dillon return to do more of what they do best, though perhaps without any scenes of anal rape. Ennis describes this first story arc as a five issue "action movie", which sounds encouraging enough. The return of Detective Soap, the weaselly human voice at the centre of the maxiseries, is also a good sign. Is another ongoing PUNISHER series a good idea? Maybe not. Do I intend to enjoy it as long as I can? Oh, absolutely.

DOGGER PICKS:

MONARCHY #4
I said I'd give this series four issues, back when it launched. If I hadn't promised it that much, it'd have been gone after issue two, but I like McCrea's art, and I've heard good things about Young, so I said I'd give it a decent crack. Issue three was much stronger than the previous couple, so it's still in with a chance to impress me with four, although it's still going to have to manage something pretty special.

OBERGEIST: RAGNAROK HIGHWAY #3
This thing looks beautiful, and has a such a delightfully unpleasant premise that I simply couldn't stay away. A repentant Nazi is raised from the dead (or perhaps more accurately, fails to die) in order to save the world. After the first two issues, I'm half tempted to describe this book as a "horror romp" - it looks like it's going to be lots of bleak and twisted fun.

CROMARTY PICKS:

STRANGEHAVEN #13
Now this... This has been a long time coming. It's the first new STRANGEHAVEN issue in a little over a year, and it doesn't matter. STRANGEHAVEN is one of perhaps three comics out there that are worth a long wait between issues. If you've never read this story of England's strangest village, now is a good time, as the first twelve issues are available in two lovely collections. It's surreal, beautiful, seductively well-told and very, very English.

DOUBLE IMAGE #4
Here's one you may have overlooked in the store until now: DOUBLE IMAGE is an experiment from the minds of Larry Young and Joe Casey, each telling a 12-page story in a flipbook format. Young's INVISIBLE MAN homage THE BOD finishes with this issue, though I suspect Casey's superhero-taxman CODEFLESH will carry on in the pages of DI for a while yet. An odd comic; not quite an anthology, but obviously not normal. Give it a look.

Comics shipping in the US on June 13:

DARK HORSE

APR010029 HELLBOY CONQUEROR WORM #2 (Of 4) $2.99
APR010026 RING OF NIBELUNG GOTTERDAMMERUNG #1 (Of 4) $2.99
APR010028 SERGIO ARAGONES ACTIONS SPEAK #6 (Of 6) $2.99

DC COMICS

APR010467 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #593 $2.25
APR010478 AZRAEL AGENT OF THE BAT #79 $2.50
APR010469 BATMAN OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1 $2.95
APR010475 DETECTIVE COMICS #759 $2.50
APR010496 FLASH RACE AGAINST TIME TP $14.95
APR010498 GREEN LANTERN #139 $2.25
APR010484 HARLEY QUINN #9 $2.25
APR010500 IMPULSE #75 $2.50
APR010504 JLA BLACK BAPTISM #4 (Of 4) $2.50
APR010507 JLA INCARNATIONS #2 (Of 7) $3.50
APR010548 LUCIFER #15 (MR) $2.50
MAR010448 MONARCHY #4 $2.50
APR010531 MONSTER WORLD #2 (Of 4) $2.95
APR010485 NIGHTWING #58 $2.25
APR010523 SCOOBY-DOO #49 $1.99
APR010532 STAR TREK DIVIDED WE FALL #2 (Of 4) $2.95
APR010514 STARMAN #80 (Note Price) $3.95
APR010547 SWAMP THING #16 (MR) $2.50
APR010553 TRANSMETROPOLITAN #46 (MR) $2.50

IMAGE

MAR011242 APHRODITE IX #0 $2.95
FEB011261D DARK REALM #4 $2.95
MAR011284 DOUBLE IMAGE #4 $2.95
MAR011288 EVE PROTOMECHA VOL 1 SINS OF THE DAUGHTER TP $17.95
JAN011221D GOLDFISH THE DEFINITIVE COLL TP $19.95
JAN011234D MAGE THE HERO DEFINED VOL 4 TP $14.95
MAR011291 MECH DESTROYER #2 $2.95
APR011367 NO HONOR #4 $2.50
APR011371 OBERGEIST RAGNAROK HIGHWAY #3 $2.95
JAN011245D VIOLENT MESSIAHS #6 $2.95

MARVEL

APR011654 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #32 $2.25
APR011663 BLACK PANTHER #33 $2.50
MAR011539 BLACK PANTHER THE CLIENT TP $14.95
MAR011569 INCREDIBLE HULK THE DOGS OF WAR TP $19.95
APR011665 IRON MAN #43 $2.25
APR011630 PUNISHER #1 $2.99
APR011655 SPIDER-GIRL #35 $2.25
APR011636 UNCANNY X-MEN CVR A #395 $2.25
APR011637 UNCANNY X-MEN CVR B #395 $2.25
APR011641 X-TREME X-MEN CVR A #2 $2.99
APR011642 X-TREME X-MEN CVR B #2 $2.99

WIZARD

APR011859E JUST A PILGRIM #4 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAR011824 ARCHIE AMERICANA SER BEST OF 80S $10.95
MAR011829 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #126 $3.29
MAR015079 BEST OF JOSIE AND PUSSYCATS VOL 1 TP (PU#474) $10.95
MAR011832 BETTY & VERONICA #163 $1.99
FEB012089F BIZZARIAN #8 (A) $2.95
APR012058F COLONIA #6 $3.50
APR012091E CRUX #3 $2.95
FEB012087F DAHLIA VAMPIRE #1 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
APR012394E DRAGONBALL PART 3 #13 (Of 14) $2.95
FEB012086F FUTABAKUN CHANGE VOL 6 #4 (MR) $2.95
APR012076F GEOBREEDERS #28 $2.95
MAR011911 INSANE CLOWN POSSE PENDULUM #9 $5.99
APR012381E INU YASHA PART 6 #2 (Of 15) $2.95
FEB011958F
MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO #23 $2.95
JAN012054F OGENKI CLINIC VOL 7 #4 (A) $2.95
APR012090E SIGIL #13 $2.95
APR011910E SONG MYKAL ATLANTIS FANTASYWORLD 25TH ANNIV COMIC $2.99
FEB012041F SOUNDTRACK TP SHORT STORIES 1990-1996 (MR) $12.95
APR011885F STRANGEHAVEN #13 (MR) $2.95
APR011888E STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL III #41 $2.95
FEB012088F VAMPIRE PRINCESS YUI VOL 2 #4 $2.95
APR012372E ANIMERICA EXTRA VOL 4 #7 $4.95
APR012413J COMIC SHOP NEWS #730 PI
APR012375E PULP VOL 5 #7 (MR) $5.95

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

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