The Shipping Forecast for October 29th

Get your hands on some vintage horror at the comics castle this Halloween - plus there's a range of tricks and treats available from creators Jimmy Gownley, Judd Winick, Jimmy Palmiotti and Jim Mahfood.
27 October 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:

ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA VOL 1 TP (Marvel)
So there's around thirty of these Essential Marvel volumes out now? It's an enlightened programme, to release older comics in an affordable format (because we know that "collectors" push up the prices of old comics so that "readers" can't read them). It's now possible for the keenest fan of X-MEN or THE AVENGERS to find out what their favourite characters were up to before those stories are either booted out of continuity via some "Universe-wide" crossover or rehashed for the younger generation. Of course, Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's TOMB OF DRACULA is above all that, because it stands in its own right as a classic of both comics writing and comics artwork. No continuity has been harmed in the making of this book. And of course, there is plenty of Dracula continuity out there, as he is the single most popular character in the movies. In fact, tell your non-comic reader goth friends about this book. This volume runs at an impressive five hundred and sixty black and white pages for around ten pounds or fifteen dollars. That's got to be worth the stake. [Forties]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

AMELIA RULES: SUPERHEROES #1 (Renaissance Press)
In the same month that sees a new edition of the Volume #1 collection released by Ibooks, AMELIA creator Jimmy Gownley commences a brand new series, published through his own Renaissance Press. AMELIA RULES is very much a "proper" all-ages book, the kind of comic written and drawn specifically for kids to enjoy. The first volume dealt with Amelia moving with her mother to stay with her aunt after her parents' divorce, using an effective combination of outright kid's humour and some surprisingly touching moments. All I know about this new series is that Amelia and her mother are moving once again, but if it's anything like the first volume, I expect this to be a must-read for anyone who likes kid's stories - no matter how old you are. [Cromarty]

21 DOWN TPB (DC WildStorm)
Ah, WildStorm. Publisher of some of the industry's most innovative, well-written and under-marketed comics. So you missed Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's 21 DOWN the first time around? Join the club. I'd probably have missed the trade too, given WildStorm's underwhelming marketing support, except a friend thrust the first two issues into my hands the other day and said, "you have to read this!" 21 DOWN takes the basic concept of GEN 13 - boy gets mysterious visit, gains superpowers, but will die on his 21st birthday - and focuses on the darker aspects. The superpowers that protagonist Preston Kills gets are the ability to see the moments just before and just after a person's death, and his brother, an NYPD detective, has exploited this for his own career. Now 20, and pretty much just killing time until he dies, Preston hooks up against his will with platinum-blonde FBI agent Mickey Rinaldi to find out who's handing out these powers, and how Preston can escape his fate. This trade collects the first seven issues of the series, and is an original, gripping, Raymond Chandler-esque look at the nastier side of superpowers. [Shannon]

STUPID COMICS #2 (Image)
While GRRL SCOUTS may offer Jim Mahfood a wider audience (complete as it is with hot, chronic totin', high flyin' urban ladies), for this critic's dollar, he is traditionally at his best on shorter pieces focused on satire, as one can expect to find here in STUPID COMICS #2. While humour is inevitably the result, Mahfood provides a dark edge to his comics, which hold cultural notions of wealth, success, race, and gender under close scrutiny, and often surprise with the depth of Mahfood's observations. If you thought comics always needed a hip-hop Evan Dorkin, and you're not reading Mahfood, maybe it's time you started? [Trafalgar]

X-STATIX #13, 14, 15 (Marvel)
Marvel backed out of its original plan to have Princess Diana brought back from the dead and added to the pages of X-STATIX, so this five-issue arc, originally entitled "Di Another Day", has been retitled "Back from the Dead", and Diana has been changed to Henrietta Hunter, a dark-haired "pop princess". But she still has a big ancestral home, and her death was still greeted with nationwide mourning. You get the picture. The revisions to rinse the Di out pushed back the book's schedule so that these three issues coming out a week apart - #13 is in stores now, #14 is due out this week, and #15 comes out on November 5th. Like the 159 bus, you wait ages, then three appear at once. Was it all a marketing gimmick? Probably. Was it in dubious taste? Definitely. Should you buy it? Absolutely. It's first-rate work from Pete Milligan, the best and most interesting writer on the X franchise next to Grant Morrison (and the genius behind TANK GIRL: ODYSSEY, a faithful and very funny adaptation of the Homerian epic). Even if you avoid the X franchise as a general rule, this is a series worth checking out. [Shannon]

COMICS INTERPRETER VOL 2 #1 (Robert Young)
After a few years of making the circuit as one of comics' hippest fanzines, The Comics Interpreter makes its first appearance on Diamond's shipping list with a new #1 issue. This particular issue features a couple of great interviews, such as those with Paul Pope and Hans Rickheit, along with plenty of intelligent reviews and articulate commentary on comics. While lacking some of the design niceties associated with newer, high dollar magazines like Comics Art, The Comics Interpreter offers criticism junkies a new outlet and one surprisingly lacking in overwritten jargon. [Trafagar]

CAPER #1 (DC Comics)
There are two Judd Winicks. There's the comic genius, author of BARRY WEEN, who turns in tight, mile-a-minute stories brimming with humour and pathos. Then there's the author of BLOOD + WATER and various spandex titles, who writes plodding, thin stories which, although showing an almost palpable love of their subject matter, fall short of the mark. One of these Winicks has turned his hand to gangster noir with CAPER, a series of three four-issue arcs. It kicks off with the story of Izzy and Jacob Weiss, hitmen for the Jewish mafia in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. I fear it's the second Winick we've been burdened with, as once the "gee whiz" factor of gangsters speaking Yiddish wears off, the underlying story lacks the pace and attitude it needs; Winick's usual puppyish desire to please simply doesn't work in gangster stories. Farel Dalyrimple's art is appealing, but fails to express a sense of darkness and danger. If your idea of a good gangster movie is MARRIED TO THE MOB, you'll like CAPER. If you're more of a GODFATHER fan, you may find this series lacks bite. [Shannon]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR OCTOBER 29th:

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

DARK HORSE

AUG030018 CRUSH #1 $2.99
AUG030017 GALACTIC #3 $2.99

DC COMICS

AUG030250 21 DOWN TP $19.95
AUG030183 BATMAN/JOKER: SWITCH $6.95
AUG030184 BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD'S FINEST TP $19.95
AUG030204 CAPER #1 (OF 12) (MR) $2.95
AUG030245 CARTOON CARTOONS #23 $2.25
AUG030185 CATWOMAN #24 $2.50
AUG030206 CRISIS ON MULTIPLE EARTHS VOL 2 TP $14.95
AUG030213 EMPIRE #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.50
AUG030215 FLASH #203 $2.25
AUG030218 GREEN LANTERN #170 $2.25
AUG030226 JLA #89 $2.25
AUG030235 LEGION #25 $3.95
AUG030244 TEEN TITANS/OUTSIDERS SECRET FILES 2003 $5.95
AUG030269 TERRA OBSCURA #5 (Of 6) $2.95

IMAGE

AUG031194 AGE OF BRONZE #18 $3.50
AUG035137 HEDGE KNIGHT COLLECTED EDITION $4.95
AUG031234 REALM OF THE CLAW JUNGLE CVR #1 (Of 6) $2.95
AUG031235 REALM OF THE CLAW WHITE CVR #1 (Of 6) $2.95
AUG031245 SOMETHING WICKED #1 (Of 4) $2.95
AUG031257 STUPID COMICS #2 (MR) $2.95
SEP031324 TOMB RAIDER #33 CVR POSTER (Net) PI
JUL031242 VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE #5 $2.95

MARVEL

JUL031475 AVENGERS #72 $2.25
AUG031533 CREW #6 $2.99
AUG031564 ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA VOL 1 TP (C: 2) $14.99
AUG031554 ETERNAL #5 (MR) $2.99
AUG031496 HULK: GRAY #2 (Of 6) $3.50
AUG031605 MARVEL MANGAVERSE VOL 4: X-MEN: RONIN TP (C: 2) $13.99
AUG031543 NAMOR #8 (Note Price) $2.99
AUG031512 NEW MUTANTS #6 $2.50
JUN031577 SILVER SURFER #2 $2.25
AUG031553 THOR: VIKINGS #4 (Of 5) (MR) $3.50
AUG031538 VENOM #7 $2.25
JUL031522 X-STATIX #14 $2.99
AUG031511 X-TREME X-MEN #33 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

AUG032449 AMELIA RULES!: SUPERHEROES #1 (Of 6) $2.95
AUG032007 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #147 $3.59
JUL035159 AZUMANGA DAIOH MANGA VOL 2 TP (PU#589) $9.99
AUG032010 BETTY & VERONICA #194 $2.19
JUL032085 CRUX #30 $2.95
AUG032139 ELVIRA #126 $2.50
AUG032558 EXCEL SAGA VOL 3 TP (C: 3) $9.95
JUL035160 FULL METAL PANIC MANGA VOL 2 TP (PU#589) $9.99
JUL035135 GUNSLINGER GIRL MANGA VOL 1 TP (PU#588) $9.99
SEP032334 JANE'S WORLD #8 $2.95
AUG032096 MYSTIC #41 $2.95
AUG032101 NEGATION #23 $2.95
MAR031919 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #5 $2.95
JUN032456 QUEEN & COUNTRY #19 (MR) $2.99
AUG032567 RANMA 1/2 TP VOL 6 2ND ED (C: 3) $9.95
JUL032095 RUSE #24 $2.95
MAY031906 SCURVY DOGS CURR PRTG #1 $2.95
AUG031956 SERENITY ROSE #1 $2.95
AUG032192 SHIDIMA VOL 1: COMPLETE TP $16.95
AUG032122 SIGIL #41 $2.95
AUG032020 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #129 $2.19
JUL032118 SOULSEARCHERS #62 $2.50
AUG031931 STRANGERS IN PARADISE SOURCE BOOK $2.95
AUG032189 TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS EYE: OFFICIAL GUIDE #7 (Of 8) $5.25
AUG032296 UNCLE SCROOGE #323 $6.95
JUN032015 VAMPI VICIOUS #2 DOGAN CVR ED $2.99
JUN032014 VAMPI VICIOUS #2 LAU CVR ED $2.99
JUN032016 VAMPI VICIOUS #2 LTD NORTON CVR ED $9.95
JUL035246 WAKE THE DEAD #1 2ND PRINTING $3.99
AUG032294 WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES #638 $6.95
AUG032123 WAY OF THE RAT #18 $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.