The Shipping Forecast for November 19th

There is life after Alan Moore, we swear. This week, for example, there be monsters, thanks to Dark Horse's BPRD and IDW's GRUMPY OLD MONSTERS. There's also a goddess to look out for, and one very angry flower.
17 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:

GRUMPY OLD MONSTERS #1 (IDW Publishing)
Classic schlock-horror monsters plus zimmer frames equals comedy goldmine! Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Creature, the Invisible Man and Frankenstein's Monster, having no more villages to destroy or pyramids to break out of, are whiling away their days in the Rest In Peace home, "a retirement care facility for mature monsters with special needs". It's a pleasant, if boring, existence. But when Dr Frankenstein's granddaughter Tiffany arrives with the news that property developers plan to raze Castle Frankenstein and build luxury condos, the old monsters decide to break out of the retirement home for one last adventure. This is a rare original work by writers Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, who are mainly known for STAR WARS, X-FILES and STAR TREK comics, and BUFFY and DUNE novels, and it's a really cute little all-ages story. The animation-style art by Paco Cavero and Guillermo Mendoza is bright and engaging, but possibly lends the story a little too much of a Saturday-morning-cartoon flavour. [Shannon]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

OH MY GODDESS! VOL 17: TRAVELER TP (Dark Horse)
Often the problem with an extremely long-running series is that the same things start happening over, and over, and over. For a while, it seemed to be the case with Kosuke Fujishima's OH MY GODDESS, where each new episode involved people trying to discover earthbound goddess Belldandy's secret powers, or trying to break up her relationship with Keiichi (which is what brought her to Earth to begin with). That's why TRAVELER is such a breath of fresh air; it seems to start off simply enough (with a device to create additional space inside the house instead creating infinite space), but then turns into a story about loneliness, friendship, and sacrifice. It's extremely sweet and touching, there isn't an easy solution, and Fujishima's art looks delicately gorgeous as always. After a slight slump, it's good to get a reminder of why OH MY GODDESS has managed to survive as a popular series for such a long time. The earlier volumes may have been the funniest entries in the series by a long shot, but this is easily the most heartfelt. [Plymouth]

BPRD: THERE'S SOMETHING UNDER MY BED ONE SHOT $2.99 (Dark Horse)
Like a lot of people, I stopped buying HELLBOY and its derivatives when Mike Mignola stopped writing and drawing it. Every so often I pass by WEIRD TALES or BPRD in the shop and contemplate giving it a try again. The time has now come. Joe Harris, screenwriter of the film DARKNESS FALLS, takes over the BPRD title for this one-shot exploring one of the most enduring fears of childhood: the monster under the bed. It's the sort of simple yet gripping concept that makes you smack your forehead and say, why didn't I think of that? Children are disappearing in a small town. But when fish-man Abe Sapien and ghost Johann Kraus show up from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence to investigate, the kids don't know what's scarier - Abe and Johann, or the thing under the bed. But then something very horrific indeed starts creeping into the children's' innocent fantasy worlds. The art by Adam Pollina has a lovely moodiness, with nods to children's-story illustration in the delicate colouring. [Shannon]

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.

BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER: THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF PERFECT ENERGY (LeftOver Books)
Everyone loves BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER. Actually, everyone loves that one BOB THE ANGRY FLOWER strip about apostrophes, which is entirely right and proper, but everyone should also be loving everything else about Bob. ULTIMATE BOOK is the fourth collection of Stephen Notley's sublimely misanthropic BTAF strips, and it's just as magnificent as it's always been. Bob basically lives Notley's life one step removed from reality, reflecting whatever Notley's obsessions are that week. It doesn't score every time, but when it's good, it's geeky, pithy, mean-spirited nirvana. ULTIMATE BOOK sees Bob at his most political, doing battle with Dick Cheney via the medium of telerobotics, and at his most lovelorn, with the introduction of the wonderful Lovebot ("State the location of the clingy bitches"). The collection also features a full-length Lovebot story, Notley's annotations (sort of like a DVD commentary), and, yes, more of Bob's embittered guide to proper punctuation. [Fisher]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR NOVEMBER 19th:

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

DARK HORSE

SEP030024 BPRD: THERE'S SOMETHING UNDER MY BED ONE SHOT $2.99
SEP030032 CANNON GOD EXAXXION #19 (MR) $2.99
AUG030033 GRENDEL: GOD & THE DEVIL #9 (Of 10) (MR) $3.50
AUG030050 OH MY GODDESS VOL 17: TRAVELER TP $17.95
AUG030035 SPYBOY: THE M.A.N.G.A. AFFAIR TP $9.95

DC COMICS

SEP030212 BATGIRL #46 $2.50
SEP030216 BATMAN ADVENTURES #8 $2.25
SEP030222 BATMAN: DETECTIVE #27 HC $19.95
SEP030221 BIRDS OF PREY #61 $2.50
SEP030244 CINNAMON: EL CICLO #4 (Of 5) $2.50
SEP030294 DANGER GIRL: VIVA LAS DANGER $4.95
SEP030314 HUMAN TARGET #4 (MR) $2.95
SEP030259 ICANDY #3 $2.50
SEP030261 JLA: LIBERTY AND JUSTICE OVERSIZED SC $9.95
SEP030298 KAMIKAZE #2 (Of 5) $2.95
SEP030274 LEGION SECRET FILES 3003 $4.95
SEP030271 LOBO UNBOUND #4 (Of 6) (RES) (MR) $2.50
SEP030316 LUCIFER #44 (MR) $2.50
SEP030322 ON THE ROAD TO PERDITION BOOK TWO: SANCTUARY $7.95
SEP030275 OUTSIDERS #6 $2.50
SEP030300 POSSESSED #5 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
SEP030287 POWERPUFF GIRLS #44 $2.25
SEP030230 ROBIN #120 $2.25
SEP030235 SMALLVILLE #5 $3.95
SEP030239 SUPERMAN: METROPOLIS #10 (Of 12) $2.95
SEP030238 SUPERMAN: THE KANSAS SIGHTING #1 (Of 2) $6.95
SEP030306 SUPERMAN/THUNDERCATS $5.95
SEP030318 TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 9: THE CURE TP (MR) $14.95
SEP030280 WONDER WOMAN #198 $2.25

IMAGE

SEP031275 HEAVEN'S DEVILS #2 (Of 4) $3.50
NOV021780 SPAWN #130 $2.50
OCT031304 STREET FIGHTER ANDREWS CVR B #4 $2.95
SEP031307 STREET FIGHTER CHEN CVR #3 PI
SEP031305 STREET FIGHTER LAU CVR #3 $2.95
SEP031304 STREET FIGHTER LEE CVR #3 $2.95
OCT031303 STREET FIGHTER LEE CVR A #4 $2.95
JUL031238 TRAKK MONSTER HUNTER STAN WINSTON STUDIO ED #1 $14.95
SEP031316 WILDGUARD: CASTING CALL ADAMS CVR #3 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP031315 WILDGUARD: CASTING CALL NAUCK CVR #3 (Of 6) $2.95

MARVEL

SEP031538 BRYAN HITCH MARVEL UNIVERSE POSTER $5.95
SEP031569 CAPTAIN MARVEL #16 $2.99
SEP031580 DAREDEVIL #54 $2.99
SEP031568 HAWKEYE #2 $2.99
SEP031579 HULK: GRAY #3 (Of 6) $3.50
SEP031531 NAMOR #9 $2.99
SEP031536 RUNAWAYS #8 (Note Price) $2.99
SEP031557 SPIDER-MAN/DR OCTOPUS: OUT OF REACH #1 (OF 5) $2.99
SEP031571 THOR #71 $2.99
SEP031547 WOLVERINE #8 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

SEP032062 ARCHIE: DAY BY DAY VOL 1 TP $10.95
SEP032063 ARCHIE DIGEST #203 $2.39
SEP032065 ARCHIE MYSTERIES #32 $2.19
SEP032571 BASARA VOL 3 TP $9.95
AUG031976 BLACK TIDE CVR A #8 $2.95
AUG031977 BLACK TIDE CVR B #8 $2.95
FEB031824 BONE #53 $2.95
SEP032573 BOYS OVER FLOWERS VOL 3 TP: HANA YORI DANGO $9.95
SEP032160 CRUX #32 $2.95
SEP032322 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #310 $2.95
APR032178 DORK TOWER #25 $3.99
SEP032236 DUEL MASTERS #1 $2.95
SEP035150 DUEL MASTERS #1 DARKNESS COVER $2.95
SEP035152 DUEL MASTERS #1 FIRE COVER $2.95
SEP035154 DUEL MASTERS #1 LIGHT COVER $2.95
SEP035153 DUEL MASTERS #1 NATURE COVER $2.95
SEP035155 DUEL MASTERS #1 WATER COVER $2.95
SEP032237 DUEL MASTERS HOLOFOIL CVR #1 $5.95
SEP032165 EL CAZADOR #3 $2.95
SEP032210 ELVIRA #127 $2.50
SEP032574 FIREFIGHTER: DAIGO OF FIRE COMPANY M VOL 5 $9.95
SEP032371 GRUMPY OLD MONSTERS #1 (Of 4) (MR) $3.99
SEP032290 LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #9 (MR) $3.95
SEP032240 MEGAMAN #3 $2.95
SEP032323 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #259 $2.95
SEP032077 MIGHTY CRUSADERS VOL 1 TP: ORIGIN OF A SUPER TEAM $12.95
SEP032578 NARUTO VOL 2 TP SHONEN J FORMAT $7.95
SEP032228 RECORD OF LODOSS WAR: LADY OF PHARIS COLLECTORS ED BOOK 1 $15.95
OCT032813 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 2 GN $7.95
SEP032078 SABRINA VOL 2 #52 $2.19
JUL032404 SCOOTER GIRL #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
SEP032135 SIMPSONS COMICS #88 (Note Price) $2.99
SEP032182 SOJOURN #29 $2.95
SEP031973 STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 13 TP: FLOWER TO FLAME $15.95
SEP032242 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ANIMATED VOL 1 TP $9.95
AUG032188 TRANSFORMERS/GI JOE #3 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP032008 TUPELO #3 (MR) $2.95
SEP032596 TUXEDO GIN VOL 3 TP $9.95
AUG032388 VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE VOL 2 TP (MR) $20.95
SEP032188 WAY OF THE RAT #19 $2.95
SEP032570 YU-GI-OH VOL 3 TP $7.95

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.