The Shipping Forecast for June 25th

Missed out on Farel Dalrymple's widely acclaimed POP GUN WAR? Couldn't find those back issues of ELECTRIC PIANO, with classic Kyle Baker? Need a hefty hit from Jim Woodring's FRANK? Then steel yourself, because this just might be your week.
23 June 2003

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:

POP GUN WAR TPB (Dark Horse)
Farel Dalrymple's POP GUN WAR launched around the same time as Leland Purvis' VOX, and while the two books are very different, it's interesting to note that this collection comes from the same publisher that picked up on Purvis' talent last year. POP GUN WAR is a surreal, whimsical urban tale of New York; a story where the main character is 'merely' a young boy wearing a pair of discarded angel's wings, and far stranger things hide in plain sight on the streets of New York. Trying to describe what happens in POP GUN WAR is a little like trying describe a dream - it possesses so little conventional logic that purely recounting the narrative is pointless. Instead, pick this book up and lose yourself in Dalrymple's observations on city life; his deft turn of dialogue; his enormous talent with a brush; and most important, his ability to take the reader on a fantastic, dreamlike journey. [Cromarty]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

CASEFILES: SAM & TWITCH #1 (Image)
The original SAM & TWITCH series was a milestone in the ascension of Brian Michael Bendis to superstar status, and it was also the first time many readers took notice of Bendis' current DAREDEVIL art partner Alex Maleev. Unfortunately their run on the title ended rather unceremoniously, with Bendis apparently fired from the title by publisher Todd McFarlane when Bendis quit his other McFarlane book, HELLSPAWN. Presumably they've since patched things up, because Bendis' old friend and TORSO co-writer Marc Andreyko is the writer on the relaunched detective series, so hopefully his career will also now go sky-high. I think that means I can buy this book in good conscience, which is a relief, because it's the first time the brilliant Scott Morse has leant his considerable storytelling talents to an ongoing series. That alone makes it well worth investigating. [Fisher]

FRANK HC (Fantagraphics)
Jim Woodring had vivid hallucinations as a child. Learning this fact about him was almost a relief, because it explains so much about his comic FRANK. His mute hero wanders through a strange world with strange floating angels that look like ceramic piñatas, the devil is forever appearing with strange world-warping devices, and Frank's father seems to have a doppelganger wandering around, although I've never decided if it's the real or the fake that's the "evil" one. Woodring's comics will alternately delight and disturb you with their sheer inventiveness, both in concept and execution. This really is one of those rare books that is unlike anything else you've ever seen, and Fantagraphics collecting all existing material (plus a ton of new work) into one hardcover should be music to everyone's ears. Except, knowing Woodring, the sounds are probably like a strange mix between a music box's chimes and a bassoon. And it sounds really, really good. [Plymouth]

CHALAND ANTHOLOGY VOL 2 HC (Humanoids)
Still trying to find a market for the Euro hardcover album, Humanoids follows up on an able pitch towards the art-comics crowd with the second of its gorgeous reprints of Belgian clear-line artist Yves Chaland's work. This volume, reprinting the last two Freddy Lombard stories along with other full-colour illustrations and sketchbook materials, is a welcome addition to a miniscule cross-section of quality clear-line work (most of it from NBM) that has been made available in North America of late. Those unfamiliar with Chaland's work can expect the palate-cleansing visual approach normally associated Herge's TINTIN, but in service to a story that is more narratively dense and clearly more adult in tone. Definitely one of those volumes you'd rather see in this format anyway, and well worth the extra strain on the wallet. [Trafalgar]

UNDERCOVER GENIE TP (DC Vertigo)
While new work from Kyle Baker is always hotly anticipated, it's fair to say that KING DAVID wasn't on a par with his earlier work, and his art on Marvel's TRUTH was, to put it charitably, phoned in. This, though, is old work from Baker, and as such you can anticipate it with a degree of certainty that it's going to be worth your time and money. UNDERCOVER GENIE collects long lost and hard to find shorts and scribblings from such sources as The Village Voice and the classic anthology mini, ELECTRIC PIANO. This is vintage Baker; if you loved WHY I HATE SATURN or THE COWBOY WALLY SHOW, it's essential, and if you didn't love those books, then you are dead to me! Dead! [Fisher]

THE LOSERS #1 (DC Vertigo)
Vertigo has always kept a keen eye on fresh talent emerging from the other side of the Atlantic, and it's a practise that has paid dividends, not least in signing up the pairing of Andy Diggle, best known on US shores as writer of the recent LADY CONSTANTINE miniseries, and Jock, artist on an issue of Mike Carey's HELLBLAZER run. Their latest collaboration, THE LOSERS, is a crime-and-espionage thriller in the vein of 100 BULLETS, with the basic premise of a Special Forces team being on the run from the CIA after they discover something they shouldn't have. It looks simply gorgeous, and judging by Diggle's other punchy and hardboiled work in 2000AD, the story should be sufficiently muscular and finely honed to shove its way right to the top of the Vertigo pile. To me, THE LOSERS looks like a dead-set winner. [Finisterre]

ILLEGAL ALIEN TP (Dark Horse)
I'm not sure what confluence of factors went into Dark Horse's decision to reprint writer James Robinson and artist Phil Elliott's ILLEGAL ALIEN graphic novel, but this forecaster couldn't be more pleased. Before James Robinson got completely sidetracked with writing superheroes and movies about superheroes, he was able to bring a fresh voice to comics that, to me, never read sweeter than when he was teamed up with clear-line devotee Phil Elliott. This story, an odd mixture of science fiction and mafia crime fiction, is strangely life affirming and powerful, as the more fantastic elements of the story are downplayed in favour of the human interaction and characterization. An excellent hors d'oeuvre to awaken the hunger before Elliott's newest venture, CAPTAIN TUPELO, ships from Slave Labor next month and the Robinson-written LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN film deposits whatever singular flavour it's going to leave in its wake. [Trafalgar]

BORN #1 (Marvel Max)
When Garth Ennis first came to PUNISHER, it seemed clear that he was just there to have some fun. However, in recent months he's shown signs of taking the title a little more seriously, with excellent stories like "Brotherhood", "Downtown", and now the highly promising "Streets Of Laredo". So expectations can be pinned fairly high for BORN, Frank Castle's answer to ORIGIN and TRUTH. Coming from Ennis and Darick Robertson, the creative team on the no-holds-barred FURY series, and again published through Marvel's Max imprint, this promises to be a fairly explicit and uncompromising look at one of Ennis's favourite subjects: The Vietnam War. And, no doubt, the companionship of men. And people getting their faces shot off. [Fisher]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JUNE 25th:

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

DARK HORSE

APR030022 BTVS #58: SLAYER INTERRUPTED (PART 3 OF 4) ART CVR $2.99
APR030018 DEVIL'S FOOTPRINTS #4 (Of 4) $2.99
APR030021 HELLBOY: WEIRD TALES #3 $2.99
MAR030024 ILLEGAL ALIEN TP $10.95
MAR030030 POP GUN WAR TP $13.95

DC COMICS

APR030174 ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: THE DC UNIVERSE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE TP $19.95
APR030231 ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #3 (Of 5) $2.95
APR030146 BATMAN #616 $2.25
APR030155 BIRDS OF PREY: SECRET FILES 2003 $4.95
APR030205 CARTOON CARTOONS #19 $2.25
APR030156 CATWOMAN #20 $2.50
MAY030172 EMPIRE #0 (Of 6) $4.95
APR030181 FLASH #199 $2.25
APR030185 GREEN LANTERN #166 $2.25
APR030240 HELLBLAZER #185 (MR) $2.75
APR030191 JLA #82 $2.25
APR030197 LEGION #21 $2.50
APR030242 LOSERS #1 (MR) $2.95
APR030207 MUCHA LUCHA #3 (Of 3) $2.25
APR030216 OUT THERE #18 $2.95
APR030218 PLANETARY/BATMAN: NIGHT ON EARTH $5.95
APR030222 STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES VOL 1 TP (MR) $14.95
APR030164 SUPERMAN #194 $2.25
APR030172 SUPERMAN ARCHIVES VOL 6 HC $49.95
APR030201 SWEATSHOP #3 $2.95
APR030229 TERRA OBSCURA #1 (Of 6) $2.95
APR030226 THUNDERCATS: DOGS OF WAR #1 (Of 5) $2.95
APR030247 UNDERCOVER GENIE TP (MR) $14.95
APR030227 WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #11 (MR) $2.95
APR030202 WONDER WOMAN #193 $2.25

IMAGE

MAR031266 CASEFILES: SAM & TWITCH #1 (MR) $2.50
APR031286 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE VOL 2 SANTALUCIA CVR #4 $2.95
APR031306 VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE #2 (Of 5) $2.95
AUG021224 WITCHBLADE #60 $2.99
APR031314 WITCHBLADE #66 $2.99

MARVEL

APR031525 AGENT X #12 $2.99
APR031543 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #54 $2.25
APR031564 AVENGERS #68 $2.25
APR031560 BLACK PANTHER #61 $2.99
APR031532 BORN #1 (Of 4) (MR) $3.50
APR031563 FANTASTIC FOUR #70 $2.25
APR031513 HULK: NIGHTMERICA #1 (Of 6) $2.99
APR031511 INCREDIBLE HULK #56 $2.25
APR031555 INHUMANS #2 $2.50
APR031550 MYSTIQUE #3 $2.99
APR031548 NAMOR #3 $2.25
APR031544 PETER PARKER, SPIDER-MAN #57 $2.25
APR031590 RAWHIDE KID TP $12.99
APR031549 RUNAWAYS #3 $2.50
APR031526 SOLDIER X #12 $2.99
APR031565 STARTLING STORIES: THING: NIGHT FALLS ON YANCY ST #2 (Of 4) $3.50
APR031534 WAR MACHINE 2.0 #2 (Of 3) (MR) $2.99
APR031519 X-TREME X-MEN #27 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR032002 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #72 $2.19
APR032006 BETTY #127 $2.19
APR032009 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #116 $3.59
APR032102 BRATH #5 $2.95
APR032319H CHALAND ANTHOLOGY VOL 2 HC $24.95
APR032242F FRANK HC 39.95 45.0 21.9725 43.95
MAY032711H HEROES & MONSTERS UNOFF GUIDE TO LXG TP $18.95
MAR032214F KRAZY & IGNATZ 1929-30 MICE BRICK LOVELY NIGHT $14.95
APR032011 LAUGH DIGEST #185 $2.39
APR032121 MARK OF CHARON #4 (Of 5) $2.95
APR032117 MERIDIAN #37 $2.95
APR032111 PATH #16 $2.95
MAR032216F PIRATES & THE MOUSE DISNEYS WAR AGAINST UNDERGROUN $24
APR031908F PROJECT TELSTAR GN $16.95
APR032119 RUSE #21 $2.95
APR032187 TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION ONE VOL 2 #3 (Of 6) $2.95
APR032186 TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS EYE OFFICIAL GUIDE #3 (Of 8) $5.25
APR032276 UNCLE SCROOGE #319 $6.95
APR032277 WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES #634 $6.95

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

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