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The Forecast for November 10th 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: SHE-HULK It's somehow typical of today's comics that an essentially risible and misogynistic character who nobody has cared about for years can be used to produce an amusing piece of entertainment. But that's enough about John Byrne; let us instead concentrate on the latest run of a character with which Byrne produced some very notable comics back in the day: She-Hulk. In SHE-HULK: SINGLE GREEN FEMALE (Marvel), the Jolly Green Giantess is thankfully no longer portrayed purely as an exotic and muscular piece of T&A. No, Dan Slott, the writer on this newest incarnation of the title, has had the bright idea of raiding other pop culture media for inspiration, and has hit on the wonderful conceit of making the new She-Hulk like ALLY McBEAL, but with a gamma-amazon in the lead role instead of a stick insect. The tone of the comic is similar to that of David Kelly's TV show, which means it's possibly the first girl-friendly SHE-HULK title in a long time, and it gives those who are well versed in the Marvel Universe a chance to smirk at the various in-jokes and wisecracks that seem to have proliferated through Marvel titles since Bendis started writing 75% of the line. Juan Bobillo's art is never exceptional, but it serves this style of story well, though Adi Granov's Greg-Horn-alike covers are a bit gratuitous. This first trade of the new series is well worth perusing if you're after a nicely wry story with plenty of gags and a strong female lead - in all senses of the word. [Lindsay Duff] SUPERHEROES: THE COMIC! The Impossibles! Man, I used to love that show. Multi Man! Coil Man! Fluid Man! By day, they were a crime-fighting trio, by night, a pop band! Sure some people say they ripped off the Monkees, but even the Monkees weren't original. and... Wait a sec, that cover doesn't say 'Impossibles'... Ah, THE INCREDIBLES. As everyone knows by now, THE INCREDIBLES is the new Disney/Pixar film, written and directed by Brad Bird. As well as once being part of the SIMPSONS team, Bird also made the beautifully retro IRON GIANT a few years ago, arguably the best American animated movie ever made (which also holds the distinction of making me bawl like a kid every single time I watch it). It makes perfect sense that there should be an INCREDIBLES comic, even if it is just a plain old adaptation of the film: the Incredibles are superheroes, after all. Unlike other superhero films that start off purely as celluloid (I'm looking at DARKMAN and METEOR MAN specifically), THE INCREDIBLES should be a winner. The storyline sees superheroes forced to give up their crime fighting ways and go into hiding after being sued by the people they saved, only to be called on to save the world again. The voice talent is excellent, and being a Pixar film, it looks gorgeous. Publishers Dark Horse can't count on a legion of pre-existing fans for THE INCREDIBLES like there is for the STAR WARS comics, but if the movie's as good as everyone's saying, that fanbase shouldn't be long in coming. [Ben Wooller] BETTER MAKE IT A DOUBLE, PEPPER! I've always had a soft spot for Iron Man. Anyone who can still save the world after seven martinis is my kinda guy. And despite my regular grousing about how Warren Ellis doesn't pack enough story into his books anymore, I do hold a torch for him for once having been one of the funniest, sharpest and most inventive writers in comics. So I was thrilled to hear that part of his "year of corporate whoredom" would involve a stint on a new IRON MAN series for Marvel. Issue one of that series debuts this week, a double-sized opener of a six-issue arc, 'Extremis'. The character seems a perfect fit for Ellis: lots of opportunity to witter on about technology (a favourite theme), and the character is already an alcoholic (another favourite theme). By all rights, then, this should be Ellis' standout series of the year. And, luckily, it has art to match. I wasn't entirely convinced when I heard Adi Granov would be the artist on the title, as I'd seen some of his work in METAL HURLANT and, like a lot of CGI-heavy art, it makes for lovely pin-ups but appears very stiff as sequentials. However, Granov seems to have overcome this problem with IRON MAN and I was pleasantly surprised by the previews. The art is ridiculously pretty, and the Iron Man costume looks more believable and up-to-date than it has in a long time. Granov's highly detailed style is perfect for Ellis, as it makes his thee-panel pages seem less sparse. I'm afraid we'll never get back the density of storytelling Ellis had in early TRANSMET, but IRON MAN looks to be better than his increasingly mediocre average. [Alex de Campi] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR NOVEMBER 10th 2004: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE APR040124D SHI JU NEN #2 (Of 4) $2.99
DC COMICS SEP040383 100 BULLETS #55 (MR) $2.50
IMAGE MAY041412D DAWN THREE TIERS #5 (Of 6) $2.95
MARVEL SEP041724 AVENGERS FINALE #1 $3.50
OTHER PUBLISHERS
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. |