The Shipping Forecast for December 11th

If it's December, it must be nearly holiday time, and this week our Fishermen find there's more than enough to keep them reading for the long nights ahead. Whether your fancy is a plate full of humbug or a date with Santa, there's something for everyone down at your comic store.
09 December 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:

HATE ANNUAL #3 (Fantagraphics)
A good dose of HATE just in time for the holiday season. You can use it as a cleansing dose of misanthropy and go back out into the world full of Yuletide cheer, or you can reassure yourself that you were right about the rotten state of humanity all along and finish off your shopping with more violence in your soul than anybody else out there; yes, even that grandmother of twelve. There's something reassuring about HATE for those of us who grew up in tandem with Buddy Bradley. He's like the guy who you knew at university whose every habit and foible was familiar to you, and a decade on you meet occasionally and he's still the same guy underneath - even if he's married, breeding and running his own business. Its kind of good to run into him again, but you're glad you're not sharing living space anymore. But, apart from the annual update from the Bradleys, what else can we expect from the third HATE annual? Well, as the Fantagraphics website isn't telling me any different (or indeed, anything) there should also be a selection of short text and comics pieces from various friends of Peter Bagge and one or two of his own illustrated essays. Lots of reading matter for your money, and ideal for engaging your attention while you roast your bah-humbugs by an open fire. [German Bight]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

FABLES: LEGENDS IN EXILE TP (Vertigo/DC)
You asked for it, you got it. A great new series from Vertigo with sharp writing by Bill Willingham, slick art by newcomer Lan Medina, and a value-priced trade paperback of the first five issues rushed into stores only two months after the storyline's conclusion. Not convinced? Would it help if we mentioned a storyline where exiled "fables", living in seclusion in New York City, have to solve the brutal murder of Rose Red? These aren't your children's fairy tales; this is a smart reinterpretation which is bound to delight all who read it. And at under ten dollars, it's at a great price to try out. We think you'll like this. A lot. [Plymouth]

ELEKTRA VOL 1: INTROSPECT TP (Marvel Knights)
Elektra is one of Marvel's trickier characters, since, well, her whole story has already been told (she is supposed to be dead, you know). Plus, of course, the people who told it were Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz, who not only aced it, but wrapped it in a bow and stuck a cherry on top. Since then, Peter Milligan and Brian Michael Bendis have both taken a crack at explicating the assassin's continued existence, and neither one has done her justice. All reports indicate, however, that where they failed, Greg Rucka may be succeeding. Elektra isn't a superhero, she's a murderer, and Rucka's approach to the character accepts that difficult starting point and builds upon it, making the assassin a protagonist worth investing a little time in. Greg Horn's disasterously nasty covers may have kept you away from this series, as they did me, but remember: you can always wrap the trade in brown paper, and then it won't seem so bad. [Fisher]

BLACK HOLE #10 (Fantagraphics)
Charles Burns knows what lurks under your bed and in the shadows. There's no other way to describe how Burns is able to understand what scares us. BLACK HOLE is a comic that uses the horror genre to its fullest--not by grossing us out, but going for a quieter, more deadly approach of revealing things slowly and at the worst possible moment. With a sexually transmitted disease moving among teens that mutate them horribly, and which results in the mutated teens forced to live in the woods away from the rest of civilization, you're starting to get an idea of just what BLACK HOLE is really about. And then, of course, things get worse. Each issue of BLACK HOLE stands on its own perfectly; definitely stop on in to experience one of the most chilling comics being published to date. [Plymouth]

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.

LI'L SANTA VOL. 1 (NBM Publishing)
Is it any surprise that Lewis Trondheim is the king of French comics? The latest of his albums to get brought into the English-speaking market, LI'L SANTA, is a superb collaboration between Trondheim and artist Thierry Robin. This silent book is an adorably fun romp through a day in the life of Santa Claus, as he has to tackle all the pressing issues that exist for the master of Christmas cheer. If making toys wasn't tough enough, there are runaway reindeer, mountains of mail to answer, and that pesky Dragon that keeps destroying everything in its path. LI'L SANTA is going to bring Christmas cheer to whomever touches it and is a great gift, for others or even to yourself. You've earned it. [Plymouth]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR DECEMBER 11th:

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

DARK HORSE

SEP020042 KISS PHOTO CVR #4 $2.99
SEP020041 KISS RUBI CVR #4 $2.99
OCT020034 OH MY GODDESS #93 TRAVELER (PART 3 OF 5) $2.99
SEP020044 SUPERMAN ALIENS II GODWAR #4 (Of 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

OCT020757 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #611 $2.25
OCT020762 AQUAMAN #1 $2.50
OCT020740 AZRAEL: AGENT OF THE BAT #97 $2.95
OCT020741 BATGIRL #35 $2.50
OCT020735 BATMAN FAMILY #7: MR FUN (Of 8) $2.25
OCT020737 BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #162 $2.50
OCT020817 FABLES: LEGENDS IN EXILE TP $9.95
OCT020793 GEN 13 #4 $2.95
OCT020805 GREYSHIRT: INDIGO SUNSET TP $19.95
OCT020748 HARLEY QUINN #27 $2.50
OCT020770 HAWKMAN #10 $2.50
OCT020825 HUNTER: THE AGE OF MAGIC #18 (MR) $2.75
OCT020811 MEK #2 (Of 3) $2.95
OCT020751 NIGHTWING #76 $2.25
OCT020797 POINT BLANK #5 (Of 5) (MR) $2.95
OCT020808 PROMETHEA BOOK TWO TP $14.95
OCT020788 SCOOBY-DOO #67 $2.25
OCT020802 STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #6 (MR) $2.95
OCT020829 WAR STORY: J IS FOR JENNY $4.95

IMAGE

JUL021139 ART OF JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER HC $39.95
JUL021140 ART OF JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER LTD ED HC $69.95
OCT021722 GI JOE VOL 2: RECKONINGS TP $12.95
OCT021728 KABUKI VOL 6: SCARAB TP $19.95
SEP021196 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CAMPBELL CVR #1 $2.95
SEP021197 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE NOREM CVR #1 $2.95
SEP021195 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SANTALUCIA CVR #1 $2.95
SEP021206 POWERS #26 $2.95

MARVEL

OCT022044 AVENGERS #61 $2.25
OCT022049 BLACK PANTHER #52 $2.50
AUG021526 CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 (RES) $2.99
OCT022028 ELEKTRA #18 $2.99
OCT022059 ELEKTRA VOL 1: INTROSPECT TP $16.99
OCT022050 IRON MAN #62 $2.25
OCT022057 KILLRAVEN #3 (Of 6) $2.99
SEP021497 MARVILLE #3 $2.25
OCT022025 MEKANIX #3 (Of 6) $2.99
SEP021465 PUNISHER #19 $2.99
OCT022038 SPIDER-MAN: LEGEND OF THE SPIDER CLAN #3 (Of 5) $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUL022231 AMELIA RULES #8 $2.95
SEP021844 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #65 $2.19
SEP021847 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #139 $3.59
SEP021848 BETTY #120 $2.19
OCT022841 BIG O PART 3 #2 (Of 4) $3.50
OCT022570 BLACK HOLE #10 (MR) $4.50
JUL021889 BONE #50 $2.95
OCT022449 COLONIA #8 $2.95
MAR022214 DEATH & CANDY #3 (MR) $4.95
SEP021945 EDGE HOLIDAY GIFT PACK $29.85
SEP021946 FORGE HOLIDAY GIFT PACK $29.85
OCT022480 GENERIC COMIC BOOK #11 $1.95
AUG022114 HATE ANNUAL #3 (MR) $4.95
OCT022843 INU YASHA PART 7 #5 (Of 8) $2.95
SEP022261 KISSING CHAOS: NONSTOP BEAUTY #2 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95
OCT022645 MAGE KNIGHT: STOLEN DESTINY #3 (Of 5) $3.50
SEP022170 MARC HEMPEL'S NAKED BRAIN #3 (Of 3) $2.95
OCT022695 MOONSTONE NOIR: HAT SQUAD GN (MR) $5.50
OCT022431 NEGATION #13 $2.95
SEP022035 NODWICK #18 $2.99
OCT022846 PROJECT ARMS PART 1 #4 (Of 16) $3.25
SEP022037 PS238 #0 $2.99
OCT022437 SIGIL #31 $2.95
OCT022438 SOJOURN #18 $2.95
OCT022520 TRANSFORMERS: WAR WITHIN #3 $2.95
OCT022854 VIDEO GIRL AI VOL 5 TP: SPINOFF $15.95
SEP022047 WARLANDS VOL 3 #1 $2.95
OCT022696 WEREWOLF THE APOCALYPSE: FIANNA GN (MR) $5.95

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.