The Shipping Forecast for July 16th

The pick of the week's releases from Ninth Art's aquatic assemblage of archly analytical anglers.
16 July 2001

Step aboard, landlubber! The Shipping Forecast is here to provide you with your regular tour 'round the inlets and archipelagos of the new comics hitting the shelves this week, equipped with nothing more than a sextant, a compass and a copy of the Diamond shipping list. Listen well, for our four able-bodied seapersons are wizened and wise.

The fates dictate the whims of the shipping list. If it all changes, don't come crying to us.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2 (DC Vertigo)
Would you Adam and Eve it? An American writer who doesn't lapse into godawful "British" scripts, and a London-set thriller disguised as a ghost story, guv'nor. It helps that Ed Brubaker has Bryan Talbot on board as artist and proofreader, and this also means the art is as atmospheric as the writing. Brubaker seems to have picked up the characters of dead schoolboys Edwin and Charles almost seamlessly from the Gaiman stylebook. A great miniseries - small and perfectly enjoyable.

USAGI YOJIMBO #50 (Dark Horse)
Fifty issues, more than ten years, and still one of the best and most consistent titles out there. Don't let the cartoony style and cute animal characters fool you. This is a comic capable of inducing feelings of sorrow and chills down the spine as well as the laughs you'd expect. In this landmark issue, we may very well see the death of Usagi. Or will we? I've had enough hints of this to make me more excited than usual at the prospect of reading the book. Considering last issue's reappearance of the truly terrifying villain Jei, we should be in for the book's best story arc ever. Get over your anti-furry prejudices add Usagi Yojimbo to your list of favourites.

VIVA LOS MONKEYSUIT (Monkeysuit Press)
A.K.A. Monkeysuit volume 3. Or, what happens when you let animators do comics. They turn out stuff of embarrassingly good quality. Damn them. This snuck out a couple of weeks back and slipped under the lighthouse's radar, but as your faithful indie correspondent I fished it out anyway. Nothing escapes my beady eye, and it shouldn't escape yours either. Ranging from beautiful and sweet to downright disturbing, there's stuff in this anthology to keep everyone happy. Until these people give up their day jobs, read MONKEYSUIT for the best writers and artists you've never heard of.

DOGGER PICKS:

QUEEN & COUNTRY #3 (Oni Press)
What d'you mean, you're not reading this? Rucka and Rolston serve up another helping of their excellent spy thriller, starring British intelligence operative Tara Chace. This is Greg Rucka's black and horrible story of life in the service of one's country and the risks it entails, and the author appears to have a solid grasp on the nasty realities of work at the sharp end of black-ops. Artist Steve Rolston brings the story to life with his beautiful, kinetic linework.

SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2 (DC Vertigo)
More or Ed Brubaker and Bryan Talbot's detective story featuring Neil Gaiman's creations from the pages of SANDMAN. Issue #1 should have re-assured the Gaiman fans that Brubaker knows how to handle the characters and keep them interesting, while giving the rest of the audience some idea of the status quo. Here's where we should get down to the real plot. With a creative team like this, it seems unlikely that DEAD BOY DETECTIVES is going to disappoint.

FISHER PICKS:

ELEKTRA #1 (Marvel) The day Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesad hired writer Brian Michael Bendis may have been a lot like the day Barnum met Bailey. Two incorrigible showmen, one exhausting line-up of Greatest Shows On Earth. ELEKTRA marks the latest child of this immodest union, and features art from Chuck Austen, the man causing a stir with his forthcoming weekly 12-issue series US WAR MACHINE. Not enough hype for ya? Well, there are also the painted covers by Greg Horn, but frankly, they're hideous. Still, if Bendis keeps his promise of returning Elektra to the glory of her Frank Miller days, the story will be worth wading through the hokum for.

CAPTAIN MARVEL #21 (Marvel)
Opinions seem to be fiercely divided on Peter David. Some say he's a dreadful geek who isn't half as funny as he thinks he is, while others say he's a dreadful geek who is exactly as funny as he thinks he is. Based on the evidence of this book, he's one of the best comedy writers in comics, with a knack for telling great superhero stories even as he subverts them. It doesn't hurt that Chris Cross provides the art. His uniquely stylish art and superb grasp of expressions really add to the enjoyment of this book. The current plot involves an evil wizard, a comic convention, and a punchline so wicked it would be wrong to spoil it here.

DORK: WHO'S LAUGHING NOW TP (Slave Labor Graphics) Woo-hoo! Evan Dorkin's first-rate comedy anthology, available in trade paperback for the first time! If you've not read Dork before, fork out the twelve bucks for 112 pages of Eisner, Ignatz and Harvey-award winning humour. With strips like Fisher Price Theater and The Devil Puppet's Invisible College of Secrets, how can you resist? Thanks to Dorkin's mini-strips, this package is real value for money - each cent you pay will be rewarded with a chuckle. If, you've never read Dorkin before, read just one strip, then tell me you can live without this book.

CROMARTY PICKS:

SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2 (DC Vertigo)
Featuring two incidental characters from a single issue of SANDMAN, this could easily be dismissed as a quick cash-in. But this is Ed Brubaker and Bryan Talbot, not creators normally associated with thoughtless books - and judging by last month's debut issue, this series is worth sticking your neck out for, with a postmodern Boy's Own Adventure feel as two schoolboy ghosts try their hand at playing detective, aiding a homeless runaway on the cruel streets of London. Intelligent and genuinely funny.

METROPOL COLL ED VOL 3 TP (Of 5) $11.95 (Soaring Penguin/Sorhen Grafiks)
If you're at all familiar with Ted McKeever's work, you'll know what to expect here. It's morbid, vile and disgusting in places, and obsessed with Apocalypse. Which is what's happening in this series, literally - Armageddon is here, and it's time to take sides. The only problem seems to be that the 'good' guys are just as violent and nihilistic as the people they're fighting, while all over the city people are dying (horribly, of course) left right and centre from a killer virus. Each volume of this series is 96 pages, printed on high quality paper, and well worth your money. The series was originally serialised by Epic, and has been out of print since 1995.

Comics shipping in the US in July 16th:

DARK HORSE

MAY010017 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #58 SECRETS (1 OF 4) (MR) $2.99
MAY010015 BTVS OZ ART CVR #1 (Of 3) $2.99
MAY010016 BTVS OZ PHOTO CVR #1 (OF 3) $2.99
MAY010038 GUNSMITH CATS MISTER V #10 (Of 11) (MR) (Note Price) $3.50
APR010052 OH MY GODDESS PART X #5 HAND IN HAND (PART 2 OF 2) $3.50
MAY010020 USAGI YOJIMBO #50 $2.99

DC COMICS

MAY010523 AMERICAN CENTURY #5 (MR) $2.50
MAY010456 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #19 $2.50
APR010519 CARTOON CARTOONS #6 $1.99
MAY010506 GEN 13 #67 $2.50
APR010503 JLA #55 $2.25
MAY010485 JLA VOL 7 TOWER OF BABEL TP $12.95
MAY010483 JSA #26 $2.50
MAY010507 MONARCHY #5 $2.50
MAY010491 ORION #16 $2.50
MAY010530 OUTLAW NATION #11 (MR) $2.50
MAY010501 POWERPUFF GIRLS #17 $1.99
MAY010469 ROBIN #92 $2.25
MAY010531 SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2 (Of 4) $2.50
MAY010470 SUPERBOY #90 $2.25
MAY010473 SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #59 $1.99
MAY010450 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #116 $2.25
MAY010493 TITANS #31 $2.50
MAY010514 WILDCATS SERIAL BOXES TP $14.95

IMAGE

MAY011342 10TH MUSE #5 $2.95
MAR011278 ARIA SOUL MARKET #3 $2.95
APR011330 CHASING DOGMA TP (MR) $12.95
MAY011331 CREECH OUT FOR BLOOD #1 $4.95
MAY011384 DARKNESS #40 $2.50
MAY011353 DOUBLE IMAGE #5 (MR) $2.95
APR011337 FIRE DEFINITIVE COLL TP $9.95
APR011370 WITCHBLADE #49 $2.50

MARVEL

MAY011664 AVENGERS 2001 ANNUAL $2.99
APR011647 BROTHERHOOD #2 $2.25
MAY011665 CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 $2.25
MAY011666 CAPTAIN MARVEL #21 $2.50
MAY011660 DEFENDERS #7 $2.25
MAY011632 ELEKTRA #1 $3.50
MAY011668 FANTASTIC FOUR WORLDS GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE #8 $2.99
MAY011633 GHOST RIDER HAMMER LANE #2 $2.99
MAY011654 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #33 $2.25
MAY011671 THUNDERBOLTS #54 $2.25
MAY011641 X-MEN HIDDEN YEARS #22 $2.50

WIZARD

MAY011864 WIZARD PRESENTS KEVIN SMITH $4.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAY012422 AQUA KNIGHT PART 3 #5 (Of 5) $3.50
MAY011950 ARCHIE #512 $1.99
MAY011952 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #50 $1.99
MAY012116 ASTRA #1 $2.95
MAY012313 BONEYARD #3 (MR) $2.95
MAY012299 DAWN PIN UP GODDESS $2.95
MAR011765 DESPERATE TIMES VOL 2 #4 $2.35
APR011912E DORK VOL 1 WHOS LAUGHING NOW TP $11.95
MAY011912 DR GRAVE #6 $2.95
MAY012424 DRAGONBALL Z PART 4 #8 (Of 15) $2.95
MAY012093 ELVIRA #99 $2.50
APR012170F FUZZ & PLUCK #1 (Of 4) (MR) $4.95
MAY012162 GOLEMS MIGHTY SWING $12.95
MAY011914 HIGHWAY 13 #3 $2.95
MAY012068 INSANE CLOWN POSSE PENDULUM #10 $5.99
MAY011962 LAUGH DIGEST #168 $2.19
APR012079F MAXION #19 (MR) $2.95
MAY012373 METROPOL COLL ED VOL 3 TP (Of 5) $11.95
MAY012333 QUEEN & COUNTRY #3 (MR) $2.95
APR011914E RANKLECHICK & HIS THREE LEGGED CAT #2 (Of 4) $3.95
MAY012420 RANMA 1/2 PART 10 #4 (Of 11) $2.95
FEB011974E SCION #4 (O/A) $2.95
MAY012433 SILENT MOBIUS ADVENT #1 (Of 6) $3.25
MAY012015 SIMPSONS COMICS #60 $2.50
MAY011909 SLEEPING DRAGONS #4 $2.95
APR012364F SOAP LADY HC $19.95
MAY012210 STRAY BULLETS VOL 3 HC OTHER PEOPLE (MR) $34.95
MAY012165 SUMMER OF LOVE HC (MR) $24.95
MAY012018 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #9 $2.95
MAY011966 VERONICA #116 $1.99
MAR012040 WEASEL #4 (MR) $4.95

MAGAZINES

MAY012450 ALTER EGO #9 $5.95
MAY012460 COMIC BOOK ARTIST #14 $6.95
MAY012457 COMIC SHOP NEWS #735 PI

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

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