The Shipping Forecast for October 23rd

NEW LOOK! Ninth Art presents the revamped Shipping Forecast, designed to serve you better than ever. It's a big week for DC, but the pick of this week's books is a challenging short story collection from crime novelist Andrew Vachss.
21 October 2002

Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week. This week sees the arrival of a new fisherman at the lighthouse, Finisterre, and the debut of the Forecast's new look, with a pick of the week and a greater emphasis on the must-have new books.

COMIC OF THE WEEK:

HARD LOOKS TP (Dark Horse)
Depending on who you ask, Andrew Vachss is a children's advocate, a crime novelist, a lawyer... or, in the world of comics, the creator of HARD LOOKS. Based on Vachss's short stories, HARD LOOKS's ten issues contained some of the most suspenseful and disturbing stories in comics, primarily focused on crimes related to physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Revenge, retribution, and self-protection are always the name of the game, and Vachss's characters - both good and bad - are the people that surround you every day of your life. Drawn by some of the best names in the business (Dave Gibbons, Gary Gianni, James O'Barr, David Lloyd, Klaus Janson) and topped by a gorgeous cover courtesy Geoff Darrow, this is a trade paperback that everyone should own. [Plymouth]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

GLOBAL FREQUENCY #1 OF 12 (DC Wildstorm)
GLOBAL FREQUENCY appears to be the first of something of a slew of new work from recently-reclused scribe Warren Ellis. The concept looks promising - 1,001 people comprise a secret agent rapid-response team scattered all over the globe, and each issue deals with an adventure for a different agent in a different city - but what's most notable here is the art roster. It includes top-class artists like Steve Dillon and Gene Ha, as well as the first pencil work in almost twenty years from MIRACLEMAN artist Garry Leach, whose art on MIRACLEMAN was so fantastic I start sweating just thinking about it. The concept, the creative team and the buzz all suggest that this will be one of the biggest creator-owned limited series in a while. It definitely deserves investigation. [Viking]

BATMAN #608/CATWOMAN #12 (DC Universe)
The anticipation is high for BATMAN fans as Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee take over the title for a twelve-issue storyline, "Hush". It should fly off the shelves with no help from me, which is just as well. Batman's a bit of a spent icon, to my mind, and I've never been all that impressed with Loeb's longform stories. As for Jim Lee, all those years pushing papers instead of pencilling pages seem to have taken his edge off. So give BATMAN a miss and go for the book that's already proven itself one of the only DCU titles with broad appeal. Cameron Stewart takes over full-time as penciller with CATWOMAN #12, and Ed Brubaker has written the perfect jumping on point for those of you who still haven't given this superbly enjoyable crime adventure series a chance. [Fisher]

Y THE LAST MAN #4 (DC Vertigo)
The basic premise of Brian K Vaughan, Pia Guerra and José Marzan's apocalyptic tale - that every male creature on Earth has died apart from one man and his monkey - was a breath of fresh air (and more importantly, a universally well-received hit) sorely needed by Vertigo, whose output had seemed to have become somewhat stale prior to Y's debut. Now that the dust has had time to settle and the major plot points have been firmly anchored, it remains to be seen where the story will develop from here, given that half the world's population died in the space of a few pages. The adventures of one individual might seem fairly trivial in comparison, so it will be interesting to see if Y will be able to maintain an equally high standard henceforth. [Finisterre]

TRANSMETROPOLITAN: SPIDER'S THRASH (DC Vertigo)
Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson wrapped up TRANSMET a few weeks ago, but there's some way to go for those readers who prefer their cynical political SF in larger chunks. This trade is a crucial point in the storyline, with Spider cut adrift from his employers, and with no means to get his words onto the street, but it also includes three standalone stories that are some of the most politically-charged of the series. Ellis is, as ever, using his characters as mouthpieces to vent his own anger (the 'Business' story tackles child prostitution, and is based on the work of a UK journalist, Nick Davies), but it's none the worse for that. Strong work from both Ellis and Robertson, which proves once again that TRANSMET reads better in trades. [Fastnet]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR OCTOBER 23rd:

Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change.

DARK HORSE

JUL020027V GO GIRL TP (C: 2) $11.95
AUG020022 GRENDEL: RED, WHITE, & BLACK #2 (Of 4) (MR) $4.99
JUL020023V HARD LOOKS TP 3RD ED (C: 2) $19.95
JUL020056 SUPER MANGA BLAST #25 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

JUL020237 AMERICAN CENTURY #19 (MR) $2.75
AUG020206 BATMAN #608 $2.25
AUG020216 BIRDS OF PREY #48 $2.50
SEP020169 CATWOMAN #12 (RES) $2.50
AUG020286 CRUSADES #20 (MR) $2.95
AUG020257 DEXTER'S LABORATORY #32 $2.25
AUG020270 GLOBAL FREQUENCY #1 (Of 12) $2.95
AUG020234 GREEN ARROW SECRET FILES #1 $4.95
AUG020240 JLA: A LEAGUE OF ONE SC $14.95
AUG020226 SUPERGIRL #75 $2.50
SEP020186 SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS TP $14.95
AUG020297 TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 7: SPIDER'S THRASH TP (MR) $14.95
AUG020298 VERTIGO POP: TOKYO #4 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95
AUG020299 Y: THE LAST MAN #4 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

AUG021193 GI JOE #11 $2.95
AUG021205 LIBERTY MEADOWS #28 $2.95
JUN021410 RISING STARS VOL 3: VISITATIONS TP $8.99
AUG021223 TOMB RAIDER #25 $2.99
AUG021227 WITCHBLADE #1/2 $2.99

MARVEL

AUG021530 ELEKTRA: GLIMPSE AND ECHO #4 (Of 4) $2.99
AUG021543 FANTASTIC FOUR #62 $2.25
AUG021495 HOOD #6 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
AUG021557 MIGHTY MARVEL POSTER: KYLE BAKER: THE TRUTH $5.95
AUG021520 SPIDER-MAN: PETER PARKER #49 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUL022041F ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #4 (MR) $2.95
AUG022377 BATTLE ANGEL ALITA: LAST ORDER PART 1 #2 $2.95
AUG021847 BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #57 $1.99
AUG022379 CERES, CELESTIAL LEGEND PART 4 #1 (Of 4) $3.50
AUG021807 CHARM SCHOOL #6 (MR) $2.95
AUG021932 CRUX #19 $2.95
AUG022077 DFE GI JOE FRONTLINE ALT CVR SGN #1 (C: 2) $19.99
AUG022076 DFE GI JOE FRONTLINE GOLD FOIL CVR #1 $10.00
JUN021983 DORK #4 (O/A) $2.75
AUG022406 DRAGONBALL PART 5 #5 (Of 7) (C: 3) $2.95
AUG022407 DRAGONBALL Z PART 5 #10 (Of 10) (C: 3) $2.95
AUG021852 LAUGH DIGEST #179 $2.19
AUG022410 MEDABOTS PART 4 #2 (Of 4) $2.75
SEP021935 MERIDIAN VOL 4 TP $15.95
AUG022249 ODDBALLZ #4 $2.95
AUG022276 ONE PLUS ONE #2 (Of 5) (MR) $2.95
JUL022241F PETE THE PO'D POSTAL WORKER VOL 1 TP: PETE UNPLUGGED $12.95
JUL022118F POPBOT #3 (MR) $7.99
AUG021945 ROUTE 666 #5 $2.95
AUG021854 SABRINA VOL 2 #38 $1.99
AUG021948 SCION #29 $2.95
JUL021764F SKELETON KEY VOL 1 TP: BEYOND THE THRESHOLD NEW PTG (Note Price) $12.95
AUG022039 SNAPDRAGONS #2 $2.99
SEP022182 TOMB RAIDER #25 ENDGAME JAY CO VARIANT CVR ED (C: 2) $6.99
AUG025082 TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE #5 2ND PRTG (PU#543) $2.95
JUL021994E TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE #6 $2.95
AUG025081 TRANSFORMERS: WAR WITHIN LENTICULAR CVR #1 (OF 6) (PU#543) $5.95
AUG022411 ZOIDS #9 $5.95

MAGAZINES

AUG022420 ALTER EGO #18 $5.95
AUG022428 COMIC SHOP NEWS #801 (Net) PI

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.