The Shipping Forecast for August 15th

Savages, outlaws and freaks, oh my! Run away with the circus with this week's pick of the most notable new comic releases, courtesy of the Ninth Art fishing folk.
13 August 2001

Time goes by so slowly. Yet time can do so much! Like bring new comics to your stores, week after week! And week after week, the Shipping Forecast is here to let you know about the good stuff, with a little help from the Diamond shipping list.

Remember, the Shipping Forecast can be downloaded onto your PDA, or bookmarked on your browser at www.ninthart.org/forecast.

Please note that, while the Shipping Forecast is a constant and reassuring presence in these times of uncertainty and doubt, the Diamond shipping list is whimsical and flighty and could easily break your heart.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

HOPELESS SAVAGES #1 (Of 4) (Oni)
Oni does good two weeks in a row. In fact, knowing what they've got coming up, Oni will carry on doing good for the foreseeable future. So anyway, what started off as a nifty little throwaway idea about a punk rock family has turned into a sweet little multi-part family saga. The attitude's more sass than snot, and all the better for it. Going by the short story in the recent ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIAL, Jen van Meter's going to be telling us a little something about human nature, families and love, with a script that's intended to make us smile. Some may miss Chynna Clugston-Major, the first HOPELESS SAVAGES artist, but Christine Norrie's art suits the more considered pacing of the latest stories to a tee. This is going to work, and it's going to work well. Oh, and the series has Andi Watson covers. Drooling is understandable, but discouraged.

NECROTIC DEAD FLESH ON LIVING BODY GN (Cross Plains Comics)
Well, with a title like that I just had to find out what it was all about. Wouldn't you? So, get this: Dead archaeologist wakes up to find that he's living dead. Big whoop. The problem is that he's necrotic - his flesh is literally rotting off him, so he has to wrap himself in bandages to keep it on and hidden. Thing is, although he's an invulnerable and undying mummy, all he really wants to do is live an ordinary life. Just think what Bob Fingerman or Stephen Blue could do with an idea like that. So it's a shame that what we have here looks like it'll be splattery horror for the gore-freak audience after a storyline with a twist. Drawn in a style that wouldn't look out of place in a Top Cow book, but with maggots. Hey ho. People, today's lesson is that it's not the concept - it's how you execute it. I mean, Alan Moore writes WONDER WOMAN, and we get PROMETEA. Now, just imagine Stan Lee creating WONDER WO... oh. Oh dear.

FISHER PICKS:

OUTLAW NATION #12 (DC Vertigo)
Is this the best monthly book from the Big Four that you're not reading? Yeah, probably. And this issue, the long-awaited resolution of the year-long first story arc, is absolutely the worst place to jump on board. So instead, in the hope that DC Vertigo has the sense to collect the first year into a trade as soon as possible, I'm going to answer the question you've probably been asking every time I've recommended this title. Just what the hell is OUTLAW NATION about, anyway? Answer: It's British cynic Jamie Delano's all-encompassing Great American Novel. It's the epic road trip saga of the immortal Johnson family.

Pulp novelist Story Johnson, aka Billy Bad News, has returned from Vietnam after 25 years of smoking dope in the hopes of returning to Ruth 'Sweetcakes' Hoag, the woman he left behind. However, he hasn't counted on his murderous half brother Kid Gloves trying to destroy his life and the life of everyone he encounters. This includes Mudd, a Gulf vet who wiped out his own family, and Jenny and Martin Reiner, a mother and son on the run from the law because the kid wrote a school essay about a gun. It also includes Sweetcakes herself, not to mention Sundance - the wayward son Story never knew he had, who went off the deep end when he helped gun down an innocent family for the Feds - and Sundance's pregnant girlfriend Rosa, as well as the Free Country militia. And then there's the rest of the Johnson clan, including Hog, Bad Bob, Reverend Hell, Sherriff John Law and George, plus Story's dad, cancerous old Asa, who needs the Johnson blood to keep him alive as he continues to work America's strings behind the scenes. OUTLAW NATION is a hugely engaging and superbly well-told tale, featuring beautifully crisp art by Goran Sudzuka and Goran Parlov. So go mail DC Vertigo and tell them you want to read that trade already!

NEW X-MEN 2001 ANNUAL (Marvel)
Funny, I could have sworn this already late comic was finally meant to hit the shelves last week. Still, I'm sure Joe Quesada has totally understandable reasons, which he will no doubt dutifully provide for the patient and loyal Marvel audience. Ready when you are, Joe.

CROMARTY PICKS:

WHITECHAPEL FREAK (Black Boar Press)
David Hitchcock's lurid and sensational fictional account of Jack the Ripper shipped - unannounced - to UK stores a couple of weeks ago, and should therefore arrive in US stores this week due to the vagaries of shipping from Britain to the US. Presented in tabloid newspaper form (and the style of a 'Penny Dreadful'), this pulp fiction effort is both engaging and inventive - factors we've come to expect from Hitchcock, one of England's most criminally overlooked young cartoonists. To read Ninth Art's interview with Hitchcock, in which he talks about history, self-publishing and Alan Moore's FROM HELL, click here.

DOGGER PICKS:

NEW X-MEN 2001 ANNUAL (Marvel)
You don't need me to sell this to you, do you? Marvel must have managed that already. I mean, the amount of paper and electricity used for their press releases have already done for a few small rainforests, and I understand that Amazonian natives are casting nervous glances around them in case Bill Jemas should leap out of the underbrush and tell them that their home needs to be demolished in order to make the pulp required for his press release about what he had for breakfast this morning. But though Marvel's hype machine may be getting increasingly dull and irritating, and putting all the "debate" about Marvelscope aside, this is by Grant Morrison and Lenil Yu, which means it is going to be fun, modern, and very pretty. Which is all you can ask of a superhero book, really.

HOPELESS SAVAGES #1 (Of 4) (Oni Press)
You probably do need this one sold to you, don't you? This, of course, means that you didn't pick you the ONI COLOUR SPECIAL that we recommended a few weeks back, which makes you a freak and loser. But you have a chance to redeem yourself. Buy Jen Van Meter and Christine Norrie's mini-series about the kids of two 70s punks, and their struggles as they try to find their kidnapped parents. Frankly, I don't think you should need more convincing than that, but in case you do, there are four free strips available for your viewing pleasure here, here, here and here.

Comics shipping in the US on August 15th:

DARK HORSE

JUN010030 BTVS OZ ART CVR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
JUN010031 BTVS OZ PHOTO CVR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
JUN010038 GUNSMITH CATS MISTER V #11 (Of 11) (MR) $3.50

DC COMICS

JUN010486 AMERICAN CENTURY #6 (MR) $2.50
JUN010412 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #20 $2.50
JUN010424 BIRDS OF PREY #34 $2.50
JUN010400 DEADMAN DEAD AGAIN #3 (Of 5) $2.50
JUN010440 FLASH IRON HEIGHTS $5.95
JUN010469 GEN 13 #68 $2.50
JUN010447 GREEN LANTERN NEW JOURNEY OLD PATH TP $12.95
JUN010407 HARLEY QUINN OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1 $2.95
JUN010452 JIST WITH JIM LEE CREATING WONDER WOMAN $5.95
JUN010451 JSA #27 $2.50
JUN010470 MONARCHY #6 $2.50
JUN010472 NINJA BOY #1 $2.95
JUN010493 OUTLAW NATION #12 (MR) $2.50
JUN010465 POWERPUFF GIRLS #18 $1.99
JUN010429 SUPERBOY #91 $2.25
JUN010432 SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #60 $1.99
JUL010337 SUPERMAN GEN 13 TP (RES) $9.95
JUN010406 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #117 $2.25

IMAGE

MAY011347 ARIA THE SOUL MARKET #4 $2.95
APR011329 BATTLE CHASERS #9 $3.50
JUN011329 GO GIRL #4 $3.50
MAR011263 HELLSPAWN #10 $2.50
JUL011199 LITTLE RED HOT BOUND #2 $2.95
MAR011248 RISING STARS #16 $2.50
MAY011363 SAVAGE DRAGON #88 $2.95
MAR011302 SHIDIMA #4 $2.95
MAR011244 TOMB RAIDER MAGAZINE #2 $4.95
MAY011364 WARLANDS AGE OF ICE ICE GEM #1 PI

MARVEL

JUN011598 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #34 $2.25
JUN011617 CAPTAIN AMERICA #46 $2.25
JUN011622 CAPTAIN AMERICA NICK FURY OTHERWORLD WAR GN $6.95
JUN011618 CAPTAIN MARVEL #22 $2.50
MAY011697 DAREDEVIL SPIDER-MAN TP $11.95
JUN011607 ELEKTRA CVR A #2 $2.99
JUN011608 ELEKTRA CVR B #2 $2.99
JUN011619 FANTASTIC FOUR WORLDS GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE #9 $2.99
JUN011609 GHOST RIDER HAMMER LANE #3 $2.99
JUN011620 INCREDIBLE HULK #31 $2.25
MAY011642 NEW X-MEN 2001 ANNUAL $3.50
JUN011600 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #34 $2.25
JUN011621 THUNDERBOLTS #55 $2.25
MAY011646 ULTIMATE X-MEN #8 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN011820 SHADOW REAVERS #1 $2.99
JUN015084 SHADOW REAVERS #1 DENNICK COVER $2.99
JUN011823 TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE VOL 1 TP $9.99
MAY012408 ANIME ART GALLERY ART OF RANMA 1/2 $24.95
MAY011951 ARCHIE #513 $1.99
MAY011954 ARCHIE DIGEST #183 $2.19
JUN012270 COFFIN TP $11.95
JUN012060 CRUX #5 $2.95
MAY011913 DORK #9 $2.95
JUN012375 DRAGONBALL PART 4 #1 (Of 10) $2.95
MAR011787 DREADSTAR TP VOL 4 SECRET OF Z $16.95
JUN012269 HOPELESS SAVAGES #1 (Of 4) $2.95
JUN012369 INU YASHA PART 6 #4 (Of 15) $2.95
DEC002011 MEASLES #8 $2.95
MAY012126 NECROTIC DEAD FLESH ON LIVING BODY GN (MR) $6.95
JUN012372 RANMA 1/2 PART 10 #5 (Of 11) $2.95
JUN012254F SECRET MESSAGES SILENT INVASION ABDUCTIONS #2 (Of 4) $2.95
JUN012059 SIGIL #15 $2.95
JUN012381 SILENT MOBIUS ADVENT #2 (Of 6) $3.25
JUN011966 SIMPSONS COMICS #61 $2.50
JUN012331F SMILE VOL 3 #9 $4.99
JUN015090 SOJOURN COLL ED (PU#487) $3.95
JUN011859 STRANGERS IN PARADISE BOOK 3 PART 3 HC $49.95
JUN011990 VANDALA II #1 $2.99
JUN011993I VANDALA II #1 PREMIUM ED $9.99
MAY011967 VERONICA #117 $1.99

MAGAZINES

JUN012404J COMIC SHOP NEWS #739 PI

RELATED MERCHANDISE

JUN012355F JOHN BUSCEMA SKETCHBOOK SC $15.95
APR012429 WARREN COMPANION LTD ED HC $49.95

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

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