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The Forecast for October 13th 2004
Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's core team of comment writers, the Ninth Eight, will be your guides to the best, worst, weirdest and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop. BOOK OF THE WEEK: BORN If, like me, you rush out and purchase tickets to every two-bit, shit-house super-hero bilge-passed-off-as-celluloid movie going... you'll have seen some especially bad movies. But if you also, like me, never really liked super-heroes to start with, you'll not be particularly fussed when most of them meet your low expectations. However, when a comic that you really enjoy by one of your favourite creators is crafted into a flickering image... and turns out to be the Mount Olympus of turds, you'll be so disappointed that ?going postal? would seem a slight against your emotions. Luckily for you (and me), anybody who's cursed the invention of cinema after catching the Thomas Jane starrer THE PUNISHER (only recently released in the UK) has the calming influence of Marvel's latest PUNISHER collection, BORN. Renamed from THE WAR WHERE I WAS BORN to just BORN in the wake of Wolverine's hit origin series ORIGIN, the series depicts the moment when Castle's murderous alter-ego The Punisher was born psychologically rather than physically. Being, ostensibly, a war comic, it shows Castle's last tour in Vietnam before returning home to his family... and the terrible, terrible effect his time there had on his mental health. It's long been part of Ennis' interpretation of the character that he was always The Punisher, but just waiting for an excuse or a reason to become him full-time - that he's long since got his revenge for the slaughter of his family and that now he's just doing it because he likes it. But what this collection makes explicit is that he's always been good at killing - and enjoyed it ? and that there may be some greater more malevolent force behind it. Whilst the series denouement reads better as a schizophrenic conversation between Frank's conscience and the negative elements of his personality that helped him through 'Nam, it's still interestingly open to interpretation. Ennis' love for war stories has crawled into every project he's worked on, but this is one character his predilections seem made for. Ennis evokes the utter pointlessness of war and the feeling that there's only one man left in the entire country who cares enough to kill - even for the wrong reasons. He's joined by friend and talent extraordinaire, Darick Robertson, who achieves an almost photo-realism under the inks of Tom Palmer and the vivid colouring of Paul Mounts. A shout out must also go to cover artist Wieslaw Walkuski and his jaw-droppingly detailed series of almost stop-motion images. Even if you have no affection for the character, buy BORN for one of the best war stories released for years. [John Fellows] MIGHTIER THAN THE PEN There was a time when, every weekend, I'd run down the local newsagent/video store and rent HOWARD: A NEW BREED OF HERO. I'd get home, fire up a frozen pizza, and pop the tape into the Betamax. I was 10. And although I was a bit uneasy with the whole girl-kissing-a-duck thing, I thought a talking, guitar-playing duck was the coolest thing in the world. I had no-one to tell me otherwise. That said, I'd never read Steve Gerber's HOWARD THE DUCK. I remember an ad in an old STAR WARS comic, which had Howard in a sword and sorcery setting, looking, as always, out of his depth. At the time, I?d never encountered the work of the man who unleashed that duck on a world he never made. HARD TIME was Steve Gerber?s contribution to DC's ill-fated Focus line, with art from former Oni regular Brian Hurtt (QUEEN & COUNTRY, SKINWALKER). Ethan Harrow (a very apt name, if you ask me) is sent to prison after a Columbine-style prank doesn't go to plan, and people really end up dead. So the fifteen year old gets shipped off to the big house, and has to deal with prison, being a teenager and, yeah, having superpowers. The trade collects the first six issues, so readers can catch up, seeing as the series doesn't appear to be cancelled... yet. [Ben Wooller] GOD ONLY KNOWS MY FAITH IN FRANKIE is notable for a number of reasons, but first and foremost, it's one of the best mini-series that Vertigo has produced in a long time. The story concerns a deity called Jeriven who has a flock of the faithful numbering precisely one - a young girl called Frankie. Jeriven is as immature and naive a god as Frankie is a person, and so when her faith in him is tested, they both face life-altering decisions. It's funny, touching and manages to have all-ages and unisex appeal, which is the absolute holy grail of bookshelf comics, so if there is any justice, this should be a big hit. Writer Mike Carey's LUCIFER is another Vertigo title that was a favourite of Ninth Art, although it seems to have grown rather lacklustre of late; in contrast, Carey's writing has never been better than it is on FRANKIE, and in Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel, the art is just as playful and cool as the script. Another reason for the book?s notability ? and another reason to hope for its success ? is the format of this collected volume. Originally a normal-sized comic printed with coloured art, FRANKIE has been reduced to a digest-size and reprinted in black and white, presumably to appeal to manga-purchasers. This also means it has a nice low price tag, so there's every reason for those who like comics that are every bit as delightful as they are exciting to pick this title up - this is a book that will definitely reward your faith. [Lindsay Duff] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR OCTOBER 13th 2004: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE JUL040051V BERSERK VOL 5 TP $13.95
DC COMICS AUG040448D 100 BULLETS #54 (MR) $2.50
IMAGE JUL041773 SAVAGE DRAGON #118 $2.95
MARVEL AUG041815D BULLSEYE GREATEST HITS #2 (Of 5) $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS JUL043268E ANIMERICA EXTRA OCT 2004 VOL 7 #10 $4.99
The Ninth Eight are Matthew Craig, John Fellows, Kieron Gillen, Alistair Kennedy, Zack Smith, Andrew Wheeler, Ben Wooller and Bulent Yusuf. 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. Back. |