The Shipping Forecast for December 18th

As those cold winter nights draw in, it's time to warm yourself up with some Hawaiian heat, some swashbuckling action, and some top class imports from Europe and Japan. Pour yourself eggnog and settle in for a treat.
16 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:

HAWAIIAN DICK #1 (Image)
If there's one thing I'm always keen to see in comics, it's more decent noir, so I really hope this will be a worthy addition to the genre. All signs suggest it could be. A full colour three-issue series by B Clay Moore and Steven Griffin, it's a supernatural detective story set in 1950s Hawaii, with a healthy dose of retro tiki design and local mythology mixed in among the femme fatales and car chases. The previews look absolutely gorgeous. Griffin has a style that evokes David Lapham mixed in with some of the strongest European crime comics; his sense of place is evocative, and the colours are vivid and lush. The amazing thing is that it's all done on computer, but you really couldn't guess. The story sounds like it should appeal to anyone who has enjoyed books like SKINWALKER and MIDNIGHT, MASS, and an escape to Hawaii is just what the doctor ordered for this time of year. I have a feeling this series could be the start of something big, so be sure to be one of the first to check it out. [Fisher]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: BEASTS TP (Dark Horse)
Never let it be said that Dark Horse doesn't know how to treat a hit series. Take Hiroaki Samura's BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, which could only best be described as "cyberpunk samurai without the technology". It's a gritty, urban samurai story about family dynasties coming to an end, people turning into their enemies, the price of revenge... oh, and the lead character having magical worms inside his body that regenerate all damage done to him. (To be fair, it's really just an excuse to have poor Manji sliced up on a regular basis and then still be alive!) Add in beautiful pencil-shaded art that explodes across the page, and you can see why BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL is such a hit... but that could also be thanks to Dark Horse. You see, not only do they (and Studio Proteus) package the collections extremely attractively, but said collections also show up on a regular basis. This new book, BEASTS, is hitting stores three months after its final instalment; that way if you're just reading the collections, you're never far behind, and if you simply can't wait to find out what happens next, it's a quick and easy process to catch up. Hats off to Dark Horse for treating one of their biggest sellers so well... and of course, for simply publishing one of the best comics from Japan at the moment. [Plymouth]

HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE #1 (DC Vertigo)
In which Vertigo gives in a little to the spirit of pantomime season - fun, adventure and cross-dressing. Andy Diggle, once editor of 2000AD, writes his first US-published title, and he's starting out in grand company. His artist is Goran Sudzuka, formerly of the much-missed-around-the-lighthouse OUTLAW NATION, and he gets to play with a character created by Neil Gaiman in SANDMAN. That said, SANDMAN spin-offs can and have gone wonky before. So what are the auspices for LADY CONSTANTINE? For starters, it's being treated as a HELLBLAZER spin-off, putting it in the exalted company of Jamie Delano's BAD BLOOD, and secondly, the previews display a lack of pretension to anything other then a good story. Diggle may try and make a point about the place of women in the turbulent politics of the late 18th century, but the big theme in this book looks as if it'll be the story. Johanna's a pistol packin' surrogate momma to her (disguised) little sister. She's a ballsy (and judging by the cover, bosomy) lass who enjoys having a degree of power which other women could never posses. Expect swashbuckling action, demonology, a locked box mystery and a wholly enjoyable, entertaining miniseries. [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.

THE INCAL VOL 1: ORPHAN OF THE CITY SHAFT TPB (Humanoids Publishing)
Humanoids have finally collected the first six issues of THE INCAL, Alessandro Jodorowsky's companion series to the much-lauded METABARONS, and it's an absolute corker. Jodorowsky is without peer in the field of slightly insane science fiction on an operatic scale (not that this is a particularly crowded field). The art, by Zoran Janjetov, is heavy with the influence of the story's original co-creator, European comics legend Moebius. It has been recoloured for this re-released edition, which may not please everybody, but the glossy tones are perhaps a little easier on the eye than the garish and flat colours of the original. Although THE INCAL doesn't quite have the full-scale lunacy of the METABARONS, it benefits from being more considered and more concerned with the bizarre world of the City Shaft, home to the hapless protagonist John Difool, an idealistic young man trapped in enforced squalor. This first volume is largely a scene-setter for the increasingly world-shaking events of later issues, but it is a satisfying piece of paranoiac and dystopian sci-fi on its own. Buy this book, or the Techno-Technos will take you away. [Finisterre]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR DECEMBER 18TH:

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

DARK HORSE

OCT020030 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #74: FALL FROST (PART 2 OF 6) $2.99
SEP020057 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: BEASTS TP (MR) $14.95

DC COMICS

OCT020790 AUTHORITY: SCORCHED EARTH (MR) $4.95
OCT020791 AUTOMATIC KAFKA #6 (MR) $2.95
OCT020742 BATGIRL: YEAR ONE #1 (Of 9) $2.95
OCT020738 BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #36 $2.75
OCT020746 BIRDS OF PREY #50 $2.50
OCT020792 BLACK SUN #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
OCT020816 FABLES #8 (MR) $2.50
OCT020768 FOREVER MAELSTROM #2 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT020822 HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE #1 (OF 4) (MR) $2.95
OCT020772 JSA #43 $2.50
OCT020826 LUCIFER #33 (MR) $2.50
OCT020787 POWERPUFF GIRLS #33 $2.25
OCT020753 ROBIN #109 $2.25
OCT020801 ROBOTECH #1 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT020754 SUPERGIRL #77 $2.50
OCT020756 SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL #133 $2.25
OCT020827 SWAMP THING: DARK GENESIS TP NEW EDITION (MR) $19.95
OCT020780 WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL 1967 #1 $4.95
OCT020831 Y: THE LAST MAN #6 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE
OCT021714 ARIA VOL 2: THE SOULMARKET HC $26.95
OCT021722 GI JOE VOL 2: RECKONINGS TP $12.95
OCT021726 HAWAIIAN DICK #1 $2.95
JUN021409 RISING STARS #21 (Of 24) $2.99
OCT021774 TOP COW CLASSICS: BATTLE OF THE PLANETS #1 $2.99

MARVEL

OCT022080 DAREDEVIL QUESADA POSTER $5.95
OCT022048 INCREDIBLE HULK #48 $2.25
OCT022015 NEW X-MEN #135 $2.25
OCT022064 NEW X-MEN 3: NEW WORLDS TP $14.99
OCT022055 SHANG CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
OCT022020 SOLDIER X #6 $2.25
JUL021481 SPIDER-MAN: BLUE #5 (Of 6) $3.50
OCT022037 SPIDER-MAN: PETER PARKER #51 $2.25
OCT022043 TRUTH #2 (Of 6) $3.50
OCT022035 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #33 $2.25
OCT022012 ULTIMATE X-MEN #26 $2.25
OCT022022 WEAPON X #4 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

OCT022837 ALL NEW TENCHI MUYO PART 2 #3 (Of 5) $2.95
OCT022840 BATTLE ANGEL ALITA: LAST ORDER PART 1 #4 $2.95
OCT022424 CRUX #21 $2.95
OCT022831 DRAGONBALL PART 5 #7 (Of 7) $2.95
OCT022446 ELVIRA #116 $2.50
OCT022301 GLOOM COOKIE: MONSTERS CHRISTMAS COLOR SPECIAL (MR) $3.95
OCT022782 INVINCIBLE ED #2: BEATING OF ED (Of 6) (Note Price) $3.95
OCT022729 JASON & THE ARGOBOTS #4 (Of 4) $2.95
OCT022343 JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #180 $2.39
SEP022166 LURID #2 (MR) $2.99
OCT022845 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079 VOL 8 TP $9.95
OCT022700 ODDBALLZ #5 $2.95
OCT022346 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #72 $3.59
OCT022835 POKEMON ADVENTURES VOL 7: POKEMON ELITE TP $13.95
OCT022847 RANMA 1/2 PART 11 #10 (Of 11) $2.95
JUN022011 RED STAR ANNUAL #1 $3.50
OCT022432 ROUTE 666 #7 $2.95
OCT022347 SABRINA VOL 2 #40 $2.19
OCT022435 SCION #31 $2.95
JUL022035 STRAY BULLETS #28 (MR) $3.50
SEP021762 TERRY MOORE'S PARADISE TOO #11 $2.95
SEP022044 TRANSFORMERS: ARMADA #5 $2.95
OCT022853 VAGABOND #14 (MR) $4.95
SEP022150I VAMPIRELLA #15 LTD HARRIS CVR ED $9.95
SEP022151I VAMPIRELLA #15 LTD MODEL PHOTO ED $9.95
SEP022149 VAMPIRELLA #15 REG ED $2.99
OCT022856 X 1999 VOL 9: REQUIEM TP $15.95
OCT022836 ZOIDS #11 $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.