The Shipping Forecast for November 13th

Christmas comes early! JINGLE BELLE is here, and she's bought a bag full of goodies, including the new Ellis/Rolston series from Homage, Frank Cammuso's noir storybook, and the long-awaited final INVISIBLES trade!
11 November 2002

Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week.

COMIC OF THE WEEK:

MEK #1 (DC Wildstorm/Homage)
New Warren Ellis projects are like buses - you wait ages for one, then a whole bunch turn up at once. MEK, featuring art by the increasingly hot Steve Rolston, centres on an Ellis obsession - using technology to modify the body. It's nominally a murder mystery, but like many authors who research their subjects heavily, Ellis sometimes treads a fine line between telling a story and telling us what he's found out about his subject. It'll be interesting to see how he balances the two here. Rolston's cartoony art (it's obligatory to use the word 'cartoony' when you mention Rolston) has a tricky job to do here - showing us the characters' implants and what they do - but judging by preview art pages, he's done a great job, helped by David Baron's colours. [Fastnet]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

INVISIBLES TP #7: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM (DC Vertigo)
Finally, Grant Morrison's magnum opus is collected in its entirety. THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM collects the final volume of THE INVISIBLES, Morrison's bizarre and amazing diatribe on the relationships between "us" and "them". The most exciting thing about THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM is that certain sections are rumoured to have been redrawn and touched up in those places where the original failed to live up to Morrison's own expectations. The list of artists is long and varied, but Phillip Bond, Sean Phillips and Frank Quitely all make significant appearances. This one is worth your time. [Viking]

JINGLE BELLE: COOL YULE TP (Oni Press)
It sure is rough, being the daughter of Santa Claus. I mean, just think about it; he always knows if you've been naughty or nice, no matter how you're going to present yourself. And when you've got a whimsical, want-to-have-fun streak a mile wide, well, you know that you're just going to end up with coal in your stocking every year. Welcome to Jingle Belle's eternal dilemma. Paul Dini makes JINGLE BELLE an utter laugh riot, and the stories in this collection are no exception. The price of admission is more than worth it just for THE MIGHTY ELVES, where Jingle Belle has to join the North Pole's hockey league, with hysterical results. If that's not enough of a lure, well, did we mention artists Jill Thompson, Jeff Smith, J Bone, Sergio Aragones, Steve Rolston, and more? Just in time for the holidays, JINGLE BELLE is easily one of the funniest books on the market. [Plymouth]

WAR STORY: THE REIVERS (DC Vertigo)
Garth Ennis' well-received series of one-shot Second World War action stories gets a second outing, starting with THE REIVERS, a typically stirring tale of heroism and sacrifice featuring SAS soldiers in North Africa. While war stories are generally formulaic, Ennis has turned this to his advantage by playing with convention. Unlike most 'boys-own' tales, Ennis' WAR STORIES are just as likely to be tragic as heroic. However, it's probably safe to assume that this comic will involve testosterone-drenched manliness and honour. This series has been graced by the talents of some top-notch artists and the trend continues in this issue, with 2000AD and Star Wars veteran Cam Kennedy on pencilling duties. [Finisterre]

MAX HAMM, FAIRY TALE DETECTIVE: THE BIG SHEEP (Nite Owl Comix)
Editorial cartoonist Frank Cammuso's work might be familiar to readers of The New Yorker and The New York Times. Now he's turning his talents to... well, not comics, exactly, but a comics/storybook hybrid filtered through classic crime noir. MAX HAMM shouldn't be confused with the first arc of Vertigo's FABLES, though, which also involved a fairy tale noir. The style and setting here is more Merry Melody than grim 'n gritty, even if the crimes do veer from cold blooded murder to sleazy exploitation. Hamm is your classic Chandleresque private eye (albeit a pig), and when his hard-boiled partner Humpty is bumped off, he goes looking for answers, and gets a Bo Peep at a dirty underworld scam. Deeply daft and very funny, MAX HAMM hits all the right notes if you're looking for something a little silly with a lot of smarts. [Fisher]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR NOVEMBER 13th:

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

DARK HORSE

SEP020014 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #73: FALL FROST (PART 1 OF 6) $2.99
AUG020034 OH MY GODDESS: QUEEN SAYOKO TP $16.95
AUG020037 SUPER MANGA BLAST #26 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

SEP020181 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #610 $2.25
SEP020161 AZRAEL: AGENT OF THE BAT #96 $2.95
SEP020162 BATGIRL #34 $2.50
SEP020154 BATMAN FAMILY: BUGG & DR EXCESS #3 (Of 8) $2.25
SEP020158 BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #161 $2.50
AUG020209 BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS HC NEW ED $24.95
SEP020167 BATMAN: YEAR TWO: FEAR THE REAPER TP NEW EDITION $17.95
AUG020210 DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN HC $29.95
SEP020242 FABLES #7 (MR) $2.50
SEP020222 GEN 13 #3 $2.95
SEP020194 GREEN LANTERN #156 $2.25
AUG020236 GREEN LANTERN: EVIL'S MIGHT #3 (Of 3) $5.95
SEP020172 HARLEY QUINN #26 $2.50
SEP020246 HUNTER: THE AGE OF MAGIC #17 (MR) $2.75
SEP020248 INVISIBLES TP #7: THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM (MR) $19.95
SEP020203 JSA #42 $2.50
SEP020238 MEK #1 (Of 3) $2.95
SEP020174 NIGHTWING #75 $2.95
SEP020228 POINT BLANK #4 (Of 5) (MR) $2.95
SEP020218 SCOOBY-DOO #66 $2.25
SEP020210 SPECTRE #23 $2.75
SEP020230 STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #5 (MR) $2.95
SEP020175 SUPERMAN: DAY OF DOOM #1 (Of 4) $2.95
SEP020233 THUNDERCATS SOURCEBOOK $2.95
AUG020283 TOM STRONG'S TERRIFIC TALES #5 $2.95
SEP020255 WAR STORY: THE REIVERS (MR) $4.95
SEP020235 WILDCATS: STREET SMART TP $14.95

IMAGE

JAN021570 SPAWN #120 $2.50
AUG021218 TELLOS: SONS AND MOONS (RES) $5.95
SEP021227 TOMB RAIDER: JOURNEYS #8 (Of 12) $2.99
AUG021224 WITCHBLADE #60 $2.99

MARVEL

SEP021505 AVENGERS ICONS: VISION #4 (Of 4) $2.99
SEP021462 DAREDEVIL: THE TARGET #1 (Of 4) $3.50
SEP021511 IRON MAN #61 $2.25
SEP021509 KILLRAVEN #2 (Of 6) $2.99
AUG021564 MARVEL MANGAVERSE TP VOL 2 $12.99
SEP021484 MEKANIX #2 (Of 6) $2.99
SEP021528 MIGHTY MARVEL POSTER JOE QUESADA THE TRUTH $5.95
AUG021557 MIGHTY MARVEL POSTER KYLE BAKER THE TRUTH $5.95
AUG021528 PUNISHER #18 $2.99
SEP021470 ULTIMATE X-MEN #24 $2.25
AUG021567 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 3: WORLD TOUR TP $17.99
SEP021474 X-TREME X-MEN X-POSE #1 (Of 2) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

AUG021841 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #64 $1.99
AUG022049 ARKANIUM #2 $2.95
SEP022377 BANANA FISH VOL 7 TP (MR) $15.95
SEP021729 BEAUTIFUL KILLER #3 (Of 3) $2.99
AUG021844 BETTY #119 $1.99
AUG021846 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #134 $2.19
SEP022380 BIG O PART 3 #1 (Of 4) $3.50
AUG022381 BLOOD LAST VAMPIRE 2002 GN (MR) $15.95
AUG022315 CICI MINI SERIES #3 (Of 4) (MR) $2.50
SEP022005 DARK ANGEL VOL 5 TP: LEGEND OF THE SACRED BEAST II $15.95
SEP021931 EDGE #8 $11.95
SEP021977 ELVIRA #115 $2.50
SEP022383 EVEN A MONKEY CAN DRAW MANGA VOL 1 $15.95
AUG022277 HOPELESS SAVAGES: GROUND ZERO #4 (Of 4) $2.95
SEP022258 JINGLE BELLE: COOL YULE TP $13.95
SEP022259 JINGLE BELLE: WINTER WINGDING ONE SHOT $2.95
AUG021851 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #90 $3.29
SEP022373 MAGICAL POKEMON JOURNEY VOL 7 TP: FROM THE HEART $13.95
SEP022254 MAX HAMM, FAIRY TALE DETECTIVE #1 $4.95
SEP022369 MEDABOTS PART 4 #3 (Of 4) $2.75
SEP021937 NEGATION #12 $2.95
SEP021790 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #3 $2.95
AUG022273 POUNDED TP (MR) $8.95
SEP022390 PROJECT ARMS PART 1 #3 (Of 16) $3.25
AUG021916 RADIOACTIVE MAN #106 $2.50
SEP022391 RANMA 1/2 PART 11 #9 (OF 11) $2.95
JUL021999 SHIDIMA #7 $2.95
SEP021942 SIGIL #30 $2.95
SEP021943 SOJOURN #17 $2.95
MAY022335 SPIDER DLX HC SCAVENGERS OF SLAUGHTERED SACRIFICES $34.95
JUN022533 SPIDER SC SCAVENGERS OF SLAUGHTERED SACRIFICES $14.95
MAY022067 STRAY BULLETS #27 (MR) $3.50
AUG025082 TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE #5 2ND PRTG (PU#543) $2.95
SEP021805 XIN: LEGEND OF THE MONKEY KING #1 LAU CVR $2.99
SEP021808 XIN: LEGEND OF THE MONKEY KING #1 ROYAL BLUE ED $59.95
SEP022375 ZOIDS GN NEW CENTURY $9.95

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

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