The Shipping Forecast for April 14th

DC Vertigo has a new goth vampire series. Marvel hits us with a crossover. But don't lose hope completely! After a ten-year wait, readers can at last learn the truth about the mythical beast called the 'cat'.
12 April 2004

Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK:

CAT'S DON'T EXIST (Fantagraphics)
There are shipping delays, and there are shipping delays. Doing a little research on this book (as is our obligation to you, dear reader) I find talk of this having been first solicited about ten years ago. Ten years' wait for material that was in existence even then! Now, never let us hear you kvetch about Alan Moore again. But what have we been waiting a decade for? Well, information is a little thin on the ground, but this is the first US-published collection of work by Jis (Jose Ignacio Solorzano), a cartoonist from Mexico. Comprising short comics pieces and single drawings, it includes the titular story - in which cats are mythical monsters - and other pieces on censorship, snoring and more sundry oddities. The introduction is by Tom Robbins, a man who knows what's what when it comes to readable strangeness. It was enough to intrigue Chris Ekman (late of this parish) and it's enough to intrigue me. [German Bight]

BITE CLUB #1 (DC Vertigo)
In another desperate bid to reclaim its share of the goth dollar, Vertigo makes a rare move beyond the bloated corpse of SANDMAN and launches BITE CLUB, a story of vampire gangsters in Miami. Think SCARFACE meets THE LOST BOYS. We've got the murdered Godfather, the youngest son who inherits the empire but - in shock plot twist - is a priest, the kleptomaniac wife, the coke-snorting hitman son, and an assortment of other oddities. It's goth, but it doesn't sound like horror. Vertigo allegedly opted to abandoned horror after Warren Ellis' run on HELLBLAZER, but without it, all the supernatural stuff that Vertigo still churns out ends up strangely toothless. For the cost of this six issue miniseries, you could buy SCARFACE on DVD, which sounds much more tempting. Stay tuned also for Vertigo's THE WITCHING, not to be confused with WITCHES, a series from Marvel launching at the same time. Both star three teenage witches - a ginger one, a Goth one, and an ethnic one - as they discover their powers, blah blah blah zzzz. Or just rent THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. Weren't comics supposed to inspire films, these days? [Shannon]

X-STATIX #21 (Marvel Knights)
So whither X-STATIX now? Marvel's most insidiously self-mocking comic, fresh from a two-issue arc involving such challenging issues as homosexuality, familial strife and celebrity affairs, seems to have fallen foul of New Retro Marvel, as this month's issue features a crossover with that most vanilla of super-teams, the Avengers. Does this mark the end of Pete Milligan's licence to do whatever he likes (short of using dead ex-royals) on the title that remained the last, best hope for something vaguely alternative from the House of Ideas? Or is this going to be a double bluff, making mock of the Avengers? Fingers firmly crossed, readers. At any rate, Mike Allred is back on art duties this time round, so it will at least look great. [Finisterre]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR APRIL 14th:

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

DARK HORSE

JAN040039 BERSERK VOL 3 TP (MR) $13.95
FEB040038 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #88 (MR) $2.99
NOV030034D CHOSEN #2 (Of 3) (MR) $2.99
FEB040026 HELLBOY WEIRD TALES #8 $2.99
DEC030044 ULTRAMAN TIGA #7 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

FEB040239 ACTION COMICS #814 $2.50
FEB040251 AQUAMAN #17 $2.50
FEB040223 BATGIRL FISTS OF FURY TP $14.95
FEB040301 BITE CLUB #1 (OF 6) (MR) $2.95
FEB040304 FABLES #24 (MR) $2.50
FEB040255 FALLEN ANGEL #10 (MR) $2.95
FEB040234 GOTHAM CENTRAL #18 $2.50
FEB040258 GREEN ARROW #37 $2.50
FEB040262 HERO #15 $2.50
JAN040295 ITS A BIRD HC (MR) $24.95
FEB040263 JLA #96 $2.25
FEB040271 JSA #60 $2.50
FEB040237 NIGHTWING #92 $2.25
FEB040293 RED TOKYO STORM WARNING TP (MR) $14.95
FEB040290 SCOOBY DOO #83 $2.25
FEB040294 STORMWATCH TEAM ACHILLES #21 (MR) $2.95
FEB040280 TEEN TITANS #10 $2.50
FEB040282 TOUCH #1 $2.50

IMAGE

DEC031300 AGE OF BRONZE #19 $3.50
FEB041305 BAD IDEAS #1 (OF 2) (MR) $5.95
FEB041314 FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER CVR A WHEATLEY #3 $2.95
FEB041315 FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER CVR B ORDWAY #3 $2.95
FEB041323 KANE VOL 2 RABBIT HUNT TP $12.95
JAN041314 REAPER ONE SHOT (MR) $6.95

MARVEL

FEB041573 CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 $2.99
FEB041592 EMMA FROST #10 $2.99
FEB041564 INCREDIBLE HULK #70 $2.25
JAN041555 INHUMANS #12 $2.99
FEB041607 IRON FIST #2 $2.99
FEB041599 IRON MAN #79 $2.99
JAN041568 MARVEL 1602 #8 (Of 8) (Note Price) $3.99
FEB041558 MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR #1 $2.25
FEB041568 MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 #4 $2.99
FEB041561 MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #1 $2.99
FEB041643 MARVEL MASTERWORKS AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL 6 2ND ED HC $49.99
FEB041644 MARVEL MASTERWORKS AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL 6 HC VAR DUST JACK $54.99
DEC031598 NEW MUTANTS #11 $2.99
FEB041608 SHE HULK #2 $2.99
FEB041595 SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #13 $2.25
FEB041606 THOR SON OF ASGARD #3 (Of 6) $2.99
FEB041579 ULTIMATE X-MEN #44 $2.25
JAN041582 WEAPON X #21 $2.99
FEB041589 X-MEN UNLIMITED #2 $2.99
FEB041566 X-STATIX #21 $2.99
FEB041586 X-TREME X-MEN #45 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

FEB042025F 24 HOUR COMICS VOL 1 TP $11.95
FEB042716 ANIMERICA EXTRA MAY 2004 VOL 7 #5 $4.99
JAN042117 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #151 $3.59
SEP032283F CATS DONT EXIST GN (MR) $12.95
FEB042729 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND VOL 7 TP $9.95
FEB042219 COMIC PARTY VOL 1 GN PARTY TIME $9.99
JAN042334 DRAGONLANCE THE LEGEND OF HUMA #3 $2.95
DEC032372 DUEL MASTERS #4 $2.95
FEB045083 GI JOE FRONTLINE #3 $2.95
FEB042289 HACK SLASH #1 (MR) $4.95
FEB042425F JANES WORLD VOL 2 TP $15.95
MAR042242F KADE PURSUIT #2 $2.95
FEB042501F KOLCHAK TALES OF NIGHT STALKER #3 (MR) $3.50
SEP032578E NARUTO VOL 2 TP SHONEN J FORMAT $7.95
DEC032044 NEVER ENDING SUMMER GN (MR) $11.95
JAN042054 PATTY CAKE & FRIENDS VOL 2 #11 $4.95
APR042302 POTLATCH #3 $6.95
NOV032263 PS238 #6 $2.99
FEB042759 RANMA 1/2 TP VOL 9 2ND ED $9.95
FEB042758 RANMA 1/2 VOL 26 TP $9.95
JAN042131 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #135 $2.19
JAN042360 TRANSFORMERS WAR WITHIN VOL 2 #6 $2.95
JAN042137 VERONICA #151 $2.19
JAN042793F VEROTIK WORLD #2 (MR) $3.95
NOV032666E 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.