The Shipping Forecast for November 20th

It's a potential revolution for comics, and it's here at last. No, not the black Captain America, but Viz's major new English-language anthology, SHONEN JUMP. Oh, OK, so there's a black Captain America as well.
18 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:

SHONEN JUMP VOL 1 #1 (Viz Comics)
If you've been living under a rock for the past six months, you might not have heard about the arrival of the English-language SHONEN JUMP. In Japan, SHONEN JUMP WEEKLY sells millions of copies every week, and is known for stories that appeal to teenage boys in particular. Now Viz, in cooperation with Japanese mega-company Shueisha, is unleashing a monthly SHONEN JUMP anthology in North America. This magazine will offer a strong line-up of stories that will greatly appeal to young boys (DRAGON BALL Z, YU YU HAKUSHO: GHOST HUNTER, ONE PIECE, YU-GI-OH!, and more), and it also offers major newsstand distribution and massive tie-ins on the Cartoon Network. At 288 pages, it's a reasonably priced anthology that's going to bring in new readers from outside the Direct Market. In other words, this could very well be the Next Big Thing. (Don't worry, Direct Market, Viz loves you too. and the first two issues are completely returnable for you.) This fisherman may not be the target audience age group for SHONEN JUMP, but even he's going to cast his line out and reel one in for a closer look. You should too. [Plymouth]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

TRUTH #1 (Marvel)
It's easy to forget that the idiosyncratic Kyle Baker was ever a work-for-hire artist, given that he's mostly known for his excellent, fast paced and dry-witted graphic novels such as WHY I HATE SATURN and YOU ARE HERE. He therefore seems a particularly offbeat choice for Marvel's new Captain America origin series, which intends to address the serious question of the mistreatment of black soldiers in the US military by introducing the idea that the Super Soldier serum was refined through the use of African-Americans as guinea pigs. It will be interesting to see how Baker applies himself to the work, not only because it's been so long since he last worked on any 'normal' comics, but also because it's a while since he provided art for another writer - in this case, Vibe magazine editor Robert Morales. Baker's recent KING DAVID book for DC Vertigo, while a sadly disappointing tale, did look lavishly beautiful, and while this story presumably won't call for as much exquisite detail, preview pages still suggest we're in for something of a treat. [Fisher]

AMY RACECAR VOL 1 (El Capitan)
She's smart, she's packing heat, and she's taken on God himself. Well, sort of. AMY RACECAR VOLUME 1 collects the first five outlandishly over-the-top appearances of Amy Racecar from the pages of David Lapham's STRAY BULLETS and the AMY RACECAR COLOR SPECIALS as she lies, cheats, steals, and blows up her way through the world... or is that blows up the world? These visions of revenge gone horribly wrong are an over-the-top fantasy brought to life, a virtual roller coaster ride in story form, because one can never predict just what will happen next in an AMY RACECAR story. Anything and everything's fair game here. Of course, once you're done with the AMY RACECAR collection, make sure to get everything else in the STRAY BULLETS series, and you'll be one happy reader indeed. [Plymouth]

THREE DAYS IN EUROPE #1 (Oni Press)
Before getting to the meat of this pick I should make it clear that one of Ninth Art's founding editors, Antony Johnston, is the writer of '3DIE'. Go into this preview knowing that, but also be assured that we at the lighthouse only pick the books we've really been looking forward to. So although this marks a major foray into comics creating by one of "our team", there are other reasons to get excited about it - and if you don't believe me, you can go to Oni's website and check out the previews for yourself in the Sunday comics section. This is a rare genre in comics - a romantic comedy, in which two New Yorkers each try to save their ailing relationship by booking their partner's perfect weekend away. Unfortunately, they book them on the same weekend. Big oops. Can the relationship survive a blunder like that? We have five issues - with lovely art by Mike Hawthorne - to find out. It'll be a trip. [German Bight]

BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR:

Because we can't always give you the most up-to-date shipping information, we'll also give you an occasional look at some of the best books that have recently shipped or are expected to ship in the coming weeks.

BLOOD SONG: A SILENT BALLAD (Harcourt)
A graphic novel brought out by book publisher Harcourt, this is the latest work by Eric Drooker who previously created FLOOD! A NOVEL IN PICTURES . Known more as an illustrator than a comics creator, Drooker has produced a graphic novel in the most literal sense - telling an entire story in pictures, with no words used at all. This is a story rich in symbolism, addressing US (or, more broadly, western) foreign policy, refugees and freedom of expression. If Drooker's politics and 'Message' are worn on his sleeve, then what of it? This is titled as a ballad, and ballads are not known for their subtlety and restraint. BLOOD SONG has an epic sweep, signalled by its start and finish on views of the galaxy, but Drooker has a deft touch with symbolism. For example, most of the story is illustrated in black, white and shades of indigo, with flashes of colour at some of its most significant points - as when pink light shines out of a tent while the young couple inside fall in love. Above all else this is a beautiful book, with Drooker's gift for clear illustration (particularly his use of light) elevating this above "good comics".

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR NOVEMBER 20th:

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

DARK HORSE

SEP020055 CANNON GOD EXAXXION: STAGE 2 (PART 3 OF 5) #11 (MR) $3.50
SEP020020 GRENDEL: RED WHITE & BLACK #3 (Of 4) (MR) $4.99
JUL025131 MISSPRINTED HARD LOOKS TP 3RD ED ILLUSTRATED CVR $19.95
JUL025132 MISSPRINTED HARD LOOKS TP 3RD ED PHOTO CVR $19.95

DC COMICS

SEP020220 AUTOMATIC KAFKA #5 (MR) $2.95
SEP020164 BATMAN: BRUCE WAYNE: FUGITIVE VOL 1 TP $12.95
SEP020155 BATMAN FAMILY: SUICIDE KING #4 (Of 8) $2.25
SEP020159 BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #35 $2.75
SEP020168 BIRDS OF PREY #49 $2.50
SEP020221 BLACK SUN #3 (MR) $2.95
SEP020236 DESPERADOES: QUIET OF THE GRAVE TP $14.95
SEP020244 FILTH #6 (Of 13) (MR) $2.95
SEP020193 FOREVER MAELSTROM #1 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP020171 GOTHAM GIRLS #4 (Of 5) $2.25
SEP020198 JLA/JSA SECRET FILES #1 $4.95
SEP020251 LUCIFER #32 (MR) $2.50
SEP020209 POWER COMPANY #10 $2.75
SEP020217 POWERPUFF GIRLS #32 $2.25
SEP020173 ROBIN #108 $2.25
SEP020184 SUPERGIRL #76 $2.50
SEP020176 SUPERMAN: DAY OF DOOM #2 (Of 4) $2.95
SEP020182 SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #132 $2.25
SEP020254 Y: THE LAST MAN #5 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

SEP021214 DARKNESS EXCLUSIVE HOLOFOIL ED #1 $5.95
SEP021211 DARKNESS VOL. 2 #1 $2.99
SEP021205 PARADIGM #3 $3.50
SEP025105 SAVAGE DRAGON: THIS SAVAGE WORLD TP $16.95
SEP021209 TECH JACKET #1 $2.95

MARVEL

SEP021488 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #47 $2.25
AUG021562 CABLE VOL 2: THE END TP $14.99
SEP021463 DAREDEVIL #39 $2.99
SEP021503 INCREDIBLE HULK #47 $2.25
SEP021529 MIGHTY MARVEL POSTER ULTIMATE MARVEL UNIVERSE $5.95
SEP021472 NEW X-MEN #134 $2.25
SEP021514 SHANG CHI: MASTER OF KUNG FU #3 (Of 4) (MR) $2.99
AUG021519 SPIDER-MAN: GET KRAVEN #5 (Of 7) $2.25
AUG021565 SPIDER-MAN: QUALITY OF LIFE TP $12.99
SEP021493 TRUTH #1 (Of 6) $3.50
SEP021486 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #31 $2.25
AUG021567 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 3: WORLD TOUR TP $17.99
SEP021480 WEAPON X #3 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

SEP022376 ALL NEW TENCHI MUYO PART 2 #2 (Of 5) $2.95
MAY022066 AMY RACECAR VOL 1 TP (MR) $19.95
SEP021846 ARCHIE DIGEST #194 $2.39
SEP022379 BATTLE ANGEL ALITA LAST ORDER PART 1 #3 $2.95
SEP021894 BLACK TIDE CVR A MILLER #3 $3.50
SEP021895 BLACK TIDE CVR B MURPHY #3 $3.50
SEP021929 CRUX #20 $2.95
SEP022368 DRAGONBALL PART 5 #6 (Of 7) $2.95
JUL022151 DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: BLACK AND WHITE #3 (Of 6) $2.99
AUG022050 FATE OF THE BLADE #3 (MR) $2.95
OCT022430 FIRST VOL 3 TP: SINISTER MOTIVES $15.95
SEP022223 LEGACY OF THE INVISIBLE MAN GN $6.95
AUG022042 LOUIS RIEL #8 $2.95
SEP022222 MOONSTONE NOIR: BOSTON BLACKIE GN $5.50
SEP021939 ROUTE 666 #6 $2.95
SEP021853 SABRINA VOL 2 #39 $2.19
SEP021941 SCION #30 $2.95
SEP022364 SHONEN JUMP VOL 1 #1 $4.95
SEP022394 SILENT MOBIUS VOL 9: TURNABOUT TP $15.95
SEP022256 THREE DAYS IN EUROPE #1 (Of 5) (MR) $2.95
SEP022008 UROTSUKIDOJI BOOK 3: THE CHOJIN RETURNS (A) $16.95
SEP022402 VAGABOND #13 (MR) $4.95
AUG022172 VAMPIRELLA #14 LTD MCCREA CVR ED $9.95
AUG022173 VAMPIRELLA #14 LTD MODEL PHOTO ED $9.95
AUG022171 VAMPIRELLA #14 REG ED $2.99
SEP022274 ZENDRA VOL 2 #5 WICKED WISH (Of 6) $2.95

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.