The Shipping Forecast for November 12th

Buddy, can you spare a quarter? Dark Horse makes a tempting offer for its CONAN revival, plus there's more vintage machismo from SGT ROCK, and a more modern approach to two-fisted tales with Casey and Adlard's CODEFLESH.
10 November 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:

CONAN THE LEGEND ONE SHOT (Dark Horse)
When most people think of Conan the Barbarian, it's rather unfortunate that a certain Governor of California is the first thing that leaps to mind. Maybe that's why Dark Horse decided to kick off their all-new CONAN comic books with a special 25 cent introduction. Featuring a 16-page story by new CONAN creative team Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord, it certainly sounds promising; Busiek's proven himself able to write a great number of genres, and the advance art by Nord looks nothing short of gorgeous. With Dark Horse currently reprinting the classic CONAN comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, they've set the bar pretty high for the new series. Hopefully their great confidence in Busiek and Nord will pay off. For just twenty-five cents, it's definitely worth a look. [Plymouth]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

CODEFLESH (AiT/PlanetLar)
As a series, Joe Casey & Charlie Adlard's CODEFLESH was hampered by appearing in an anthology rather than its own monthly four-issue series. Although it could have worked in 2000AD, in DOUBLE IMAGE (from Image) and DOUBLE TAKE (from Funk-o-Tron) it was inappropriately paired with light comedy pieces. This made it a less satisfying purchase for customers in the US market, who had resisted much better anthologies than these. However, CODEFLESH deserves a life of its own. It is the violent tale of a bail-bondsman with anger management issues, and contains an idea more plausible than most of why someone "fighting crime" might wear a mask. Having been banned from his job because of a violent outburst, the central character opts to continue in disguise. If you think of Steve Ditko's Question or Alan Moore's Rorschach, you'll get the picture. Charlie Adlard varies his art from project to project, and here he uses coarser, more aggressive strokes to get over the message. The story has its episodes linked by new art and text from the two collaborators, should make the collection hold together much better. [Forties]

SGT ROCK ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC (DC Comics)
No doubt organised to coincide with the delayed release of Vertigo's Azzarello/Kubert SGT ROCK: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE, this 220-page reissue of fourteen early 1960s issues of OUR ARMY AT WAR starring Sgt Rock would be a must buy, if it weren't $50. This pricing makes no sense, when the Azzarello/Kubert Sgt Rock is a 150 page hardback for $25. It's a shame, as these later issues of OUR ARMY are some of the best-written American war comics of the period and Joe Kubert's art is, of course, fantastic. Sgt Frank Rock and Easy Company's adventures against the Nazis in World War II were the closest American war comics ever came to the level of quality and sophistication of Britain's Commando comics. But if you can't choke up the $50 for this edition, try looking on eBay, where old runs of OUR ARMY go fairly cheap (and a few online stores are already steeply discounting the hardback). Or just buy yourself a run of old Commandos. You should be able to get about 100 for $50. [Shannon]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR NOVEMBER 12th:

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

DARK HORSE

SEP030033 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: THORNS ONE SHOT #84 (MR) $2.99
SEP030018 CONAN THE LEGEND ONE SHOT $0.25
AUG030051 RING VOL 1 TP $14.95
AUG030022 SYN #3 $2.99
AUG030034 ULTRAMAN TIGA #3 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

SEP030232 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #622 $2.25
SEP030240 AQUAMAN #12 $2.50
SEP030213 BATGIRL: YEAR ONE TP $17.95
SEP030218 BATMAN: CHILD OF DREAMS SC $19.95
SEP030219 BATMAN: CITY OF LIGHT #2 (Of 8) $2.95
SEP030220 BATMAN: DEATH AND THE MAIDENS #4 (Of 9) $2.95
SEP030211 BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #173 $2.50
SEP030245 DEMON: DRIVEN OUT #3 (Of 6) $2.50
SEP030246 DOCTOR FATE #4 (Of 5) $2.50
SEP030282 ELFQUEST: WOLFRIDER VOL 2 TP $9.95
AUG030213 EMPIRE #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.50
SEP030312 FABLES #19 (MR) $2.50
SEP030248 FALLEN ANGEL #5 $2.50
SEP030297 GEN 13 #15 $2.95
SEP030227 GOTHAM CENTRAL #13 $2.50
SEP030251 GREEN ARROW #32 $2.50
SEP030258 HERO #10 $2.50
SEP030267 JSA #54 $2.50
SEP030272 LEGION #26 $2.50
SEP030325 MAD ABOUT THE COMIC STRIPS TP $12.95
SEP030229 NIGHTWING #87 $2.25
AUG030259 POSSESSED #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
SEP030302 ROBOTECH: LOVE AND WAR #6 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP030288 SCOOBY DOO #78 $2.25
SEP030277 SGT ROCK ARCHIVES VOL 2 $49.95
SEP030304 STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #17 (MR) $2.95
SEP030237 SUPERMAN & BATMAN: GENERATIONS III #11 (Of 12) $2.95
SEP030305 THUNDERCATS: HAMMERHAND'S REVENGE #2 (Of 5) $2.95

IMAGE

AUG031208 GI JOE BADEAUX CVR #23 $2.95
AUG031209 GI JOE SEELEY CVR #23 $2.95
JUL031201 LEGACY #3 $2.95
SEP031300 SEI: DEATH AND LEGEND GN $6.95
JUL031237 TRAKK MONSTER HUNTER BISLEY CVR #1 $2.95
JUL031238 TRAKK MONSTER HUNTER STAN WINSTON STUDIO ED #1 $14.95
JUL031236 TRAKK MONSTER HUNTER WINSTON CVR #1 $2.95
SEP031316 WILDGUARD: CASTING CALL ADAMS CVR #3 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP031315 WILDGUARD: CASTING CALL NAUCK CVR #3 (Of 6) $2.95

MARVEL

AUG031522 AVENGERS #73 $2.25
SEP031584 CAPTAIN AMERICA #20 $2.99
SEP031573 FANTASTIC FOUR #506 (#77) $2.25
JUL031490 GUN THEORY #2 (Of 4) (MR) $2.50
SEP031575 INCREDIBLE HULK #63 $2.25
SEP031565 IRON MAN #74 $2.99
SEP031556 KINGPIN #6 $2.50
SEP031585 MARVEL 1602 #4 (Of 8) $3.50
SEP031529 NEW MUTANTS #7 $2.50
SEP031545 NYX #2 $2.99
SEP031582 PUNISHER #35 $2.99
SEP031559 SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #7 $2.25
SEP031562 ULTIMATE SIX #4 (Of 6) $2.25
SEP031544 ULTIMATE X-MEN #39 $2.25
SEP031551 X-TREME X-MEN #34 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

SEP032229 ADVENTURE KID BOOK 4: INPUT DEVICES GN (Of 4) (A) $16.95
AUG032245 ANGELS WING #5 $2.99
AUG032006 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #77 $2.19
AUG032009 BETTY #132 $2.19
AUG032008 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #143 $2.39
SEP031994 CODEFLESH TP (MR) $12.95
SEP032368 CVO: COVERT VAMPIRIC OPERATIONS: ARTIFACT #2 (Of 3) (MR) $3.99
APR032178 DORK TOWER #25 $3.99
SEP032158 FIRST #37 $2.95
AUG032016 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #99 $3.59
SEP031971 LICENSABLE BEAR #1 $2.95
SEP032290 LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #9 (MR) $3.95
SEP032446 LOVE FIGHTS #5 (MR) $2.99
SEP032577 MAISON IKKOKU VOL 2 TP 2ND ED: FAMILY AFFAIRS (NOTE PRICE) ( $9.95
MAY032023 MICHAEL TURNER PRESENTS ASPEN #2 (Of 3) $2.99
SEP032166 MYSTIC #42 $2.95
SEP032167 NEGATION #24 $2.95
AUG032102 PATH #20 $2.95
SEP032579 PHOENIX VOL 3 TP: YAMATO SPACE $15.95
AUG032422 QUEEN & COUNTRY #20 (MR) $2.99
AUG032567 RANMA 1/2 TP VOL 6 2ND ED $9.95
AUG032108 RUSE #25 $2.95
SEP032181 SIGIL #42 $2.95
SEP032442 THREE DAYS IN EUROPE TP $14.95
SEP032245 TRANSFORMERS: ARMADA #17 $2.95
SEP032239 TRANSFORMERS: WAR WITHIN VOL 2 #2 $2.95
SEP032597 WEDDING PEACH VOL 3 TP $9.95
SEP032599 X/1999 VOL 12 TP: MOVEMENT $9.95
NOV032664 X/1999 VOL 7 TP: 2ND ED RHAPSODY $9.95
NOV032665 X/1999 VOL 8 TP: 2ND ED CRESCENDO $9.95

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.