The Shipping Forecast for January 24th

There are octopi in the fishermen's nets this week, but that's not half as surprising as the bushel of gaming geeks they've caught in their traps. Plus, two devils to choose from, but can they recapture that old black magic?
19 January 2004

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:

OCTOPI AND THE OCEAN (Top Shelf)
Really, how could we at the lighthouse resist a title with such piscatorial promise as this? Published by those purveyors of the highest-quality quirkiness, Top Shelf, this slim volume packs as much oddity into 56 pages as pilchards into a tin. Told largely without words, this is the story of a young boy who finds himself in the middle of a deep-sea conflict between fanatical sharks and lovelorn octopi when all he really wanted to do was catch the bus. Newcomer Dan James has an art style that uses heavy black and white contrast and stylised figures to complement the inventive, surrealistic stories that he tells. Even the panel layouts break away from the expected pattern of left-to-right flow. There's a preview here for the curious. [German Bight]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

DORK TOWER VOL VI: 1d6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION TPB (Dork Storm Press)
For a series that seems to feature very little besides self-referential in-jokes for role-players and gamers, DORK TOWER has done remarkably well to have reached a sixth collection (issues 19-24 are collected in this volume). John Kovalic clearly knows and delivers what his readers want, but there's a lot more to this title than just nerd references. As well as being a successful thrice-weekly web-strip at dorktower.com and guesting in various other RPG periodicals, it also sells in respectable quantities as a comics title in its own right. Kovalic's art and structuring are refined and well suited to wry six-panel-one-joke pages, and the humour is actually a lot broader than endless gags about Hit Dice and Saving Throws (which is unsurprising, if you have to fill three strips a week every week...). Worth a look, whatever your opinion of role-playing. [Finisterre]

DAREDEVIL #56 (Marvel Knights)
I shall be doing a little dance when the ship comes in with the new comics this week, as the Brian Bendis/Alex Maleev run on DAREDEVIL finally resumes after what seemed like a tortuously long wait. When last we saw Ol' Hornhead, he'd given his enemies a thorough pasting and had decided to take over the running of the Hell's Kitchen underworld. Now we get to see the fallout of his dramatic decision, and it's a fair bet that there will be those on the sides of both angels and demons who won't be happy to see this devil in charge of Hell. With this creative team behind it, DAREDEVIL is quite simply one of the best drama series you're likely to come across in any medium, and in a rare move for a superhero comic, it's a drama where actions really do seem to have consequences. [Fisher]

LUCIFER #46 (DC Vertigo)
LUCIFER used to be one of the best comics going, but things have coasted for a bit (well, for most of 2003) while author Mike Carey has been distracted by writing chores on the all-too-similar HELLBLAZER. Lucifer was always most interesting when he was placed in situations with normal mortals on Earth. The early, Lucifer-as-nightclub-owner storylines were brilliant. The more recent, sub-Nietzschean "God is AWOL" plot has unfortunately taken us far from that, and the comic has suffered as a result - to the point where Lucifer has frankly become as dull as he is all-powerful. When Carey writes about the "little people" and what happens to them when they interact with Lucifer, he's really first-rate, and I'm hoping that this new four-part arc, 'The Stitch-Glass Spinner', will bring us back to the book's strengths: small characters, caught up by Lucifer in a tide of events against their will and beyond their control. [Shannon]

PICKS OF 2003:

In addition to our annual Lighthouse Awards, Ninth Art gives its regular pundits a chance to nominate some of their other personal favourites of the previous year. This week, Shannon offers a look at some of her top reads in 2003.

SHANNON: Hello, my name is Shannon and I love mainstream comics. When they're good, they're really, really good, and 2003 gave us a few masterclasses in mass-market writing. First up was the ongoing WILDCATS 3.0 by Casey/Nguyen. Joe Casey is vastly underrated as a writer; he has an unparalleled grasp of storytelling tricks and techniques, which he uses to full effect in this tale of post-modern heroes. Shifting effortlessly between comedy, suspense, action, and tragedy, WILDCATS is a book that never ceases to surprise. Neither did Waid and Kitson's EMPIRE miniseries from DC, a stunning what-if-Dr-Doom-ruled-the-world thriller that always ended in a shocking twist, and began with a shocking twist, and also had something totally unexpected happen in the middle of each issue. If you missed EMPIRE, buy the trade. I'll be shouting from the lighthouse roof when it comes out. Lastly, the Giffen/DeMatteis FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE was six issues full of laugh-out-loud charm - watch for both the trade and the sequel this year.

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JANUARY 24th:

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

DARK HORSE

NOV030057 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #86 (MR) $2.99
NOV030015 FREAKS OF THE HEARTLAND #1 $2.99
OCT030015 FUSED THINK LIKE A MACHINE #1 $2.99
OCT030053 MEGATOKYO VOL 2 TP $9.95
SEP030044 SUPER MANGA BLAST #37 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

NOV030210 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #624 $2.25
SEP030291 ARROWSMITH #5 (Of 6) $2.95
NOV030196 BATMAN ADVENTURES #10 $2.25
NOV030194 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #49 $2.75
NOV030201 BIRDS OF PREY #63 $2.50
NOV030222 DC THE NEW FRONTIER #1 (Of 6) $6.95
NOV030273 HUMAN TARGET #6 (MR) $2.95
NOV030237 ICANDY #5 $2.50
NOV030235 JSA #57 $2.50
NOV030239 JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES VOL 1 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN TP $6.95
NOV030241 JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES VOL 2 FRIENDS AND FOES TP $6.95
NOV030262 KAMIKAZE #4 (Of 5) $2.95
NOV030276 LUCIFER #46 (MR) $2.50
NOV030205 NIGHTWING BIG GUNS TP $14.95
OCT030280 POSSESSED #6 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
NOV030256 POWERPUFF GIRLS #46 $2.25
NOV030207 ROBIN #122 $2.25
NOV030247 ROSE AND THORN #2 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT030282 SLEEPER #12 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

NOV031254 DESPERATE TIMES #0 $3.50
OCT031280 LIBERTY MEADOWS #35 $2.95
NOV031272 STAY PUFFED CROSLAND CVR A #1 (MR) $3.50
NOV031273 STAY PUFFED WOOD CVR B #1 (MR) $3.50

MARVEL

OCT031588 CRIMSON DYNAMO #5 $2.50
NOV031524 DAREDEVIL #56 $2.99
NOV031526 ELEKTRA #32 $2.99
NOV031521 EXILES #41 $2.99
NOV031488 FANTASTIC FOUR #509 (#80) $2.25
NOV031545 HUMAN TORCH #9 $2.99
NOV031501 IRON MAN #76 $2.99
NOV031544 NAMOR #11 $2.99
NOV031512 NEW X-MEN #152 $2.25
NOV031536 RUNAWAYS #10 $2.99
NOV031505 SPIDER-GIRL #69 $2.99
NOV031509 SPIDER-MAN DOC OCTOPUS OUT OF REACH #3 (Of 5) $2.99
NOV031498 THANOS #5 $2.99
NOV031515 UNCANNY X-MEN #438 $2.25
OCT031902 UNCANNY X-MEN VOL 2 DOMINANT SPECIES TP (STAR18563) $11.99
NOV031522 WOLVERINE #10 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

NOV032055 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #149 $3.59
NOV032053 ARCHIE MYSTERIES #33 $2.19
NOV032640 BASARA VOL 4 TP $9.95
NOV032057 BETTY & VERONICA #197 $2.19
NOV032646 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND VOL 6 TP SHURO $9.95
NOV032358 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #312 $2.95
JUN032235 DORK TOWER #26 $2.99
JUL032148 DORK TOWER COLL TP VOL 6 1D6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION $15.99
NOV031980 DR RADIUM VOL 1 TP DR RADIUM BATTLES PHILL
KING OF PILL BUGS $9.95
NOV032651 FLAME OF RECCA VOL 4 TP $9.95
NOV032652 FLOWERS AND BEES VOL 2 TP (MR) $9.95
JUL031923 FRAYED ENDS #4 (Of 4) (Note Price) $4.50
NOV032244 GI JOE #26 $2.95
NOV032245 GI JOE COBRA REBORN $4.95
NOV032653 GUNDAM THE ORIGIN #9 $7.95
NOV032617 HAPPY #4 FEMALE (MR) $3.50
SEP032498 JALILA #2 $2.95
NOV032373 JANES WORLD #10 $2.95
OCT032627 KISSING CHAOS NINE LIVES ONE SHOT (MR) $2.99
NOV032655 MAISON IKKOKU VOL 3 TP 2ND ED $9.95
NOV032359 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #261 $2.95
NOV032620 OCTOPI AND THE OCEAN $6.95
NOV032657 RANMA 1/2 TP VOL 7 2ND ED $9.95
NOV032658 RANMA 1/2 TP VOL 8 2ND ED $9.95
SEP032444 SCOOTER GIRL #5 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
NOV031985 SERENITY ROSE #2 $2.95
NOV032130 SIMPSONS COMICS #90 $2.99
NOV032203 SOJOURN #31 $2.95
NOV032066 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #132 $2.19
NOV032560 THE NORM MAGAZINE #2 $4.95
OCT032381 TRANSFORMERS GI JOE #5 (Of 6) $2.95
NOV032278 TRANSFORMERS WAR WITHIN VOL 2 #4 $2.95
NOV032165 TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #7 $2.95
NOV032666 YU YU HAKUSHO 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.