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The Forecast for February 2nd 2005
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: BILL & TEDS MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURES If you can't get enough MILK & CHEESE, but also crave being excellent to each other, then Slave Labour Graphics can ably assist you this very week. Evan Dorkin's non-bogus, but short-lived, Marvel series of the early 90's is being reprinted by SLG for every dude who wishes the 80s never ended. If there's a more excellent partnership than the one between the BILL & TED movies and Evan Dorkin, I'm sure I couldn't imagine it. Originally begun as the adaptation of BILL & TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY (the EXCELLENT ADVENTURE adaptation was handled by DC and is lost to the sands of time), the series then spawned a 12-issue run. This first trade - a second will follow shortly - contains the initial adaptation and the start of the series. While it suffers a little from being an adaptation, it's still wildly inventive work from Dorkin that, though originally published by Marvel, doesn't suffer from the normal problems of a Marvel Comic, i.e. Men in Capes (aside from the unreprinted FIGHT MAN cameo, who still belongs to the Mighty Marvel). Dorkin managed valiantly to sidestep the oppressive requests of Nelson Entertainment - the license holders - and produce some great work. But with the success of the cartoon series waning, the comic died a death too. For all of us who grew up with Bill & Ted and still have a wistful nostalgia for the losers, this is one of the few nostalgia trips you can guarantee will still bring satisfaction. Normally, I'd avoid nostalgia-filth like the rotten plague it is, but you need this. Oh, and by the way, the number I was thinking of was 69. [John Fellows] NEVER MIND THE BALLADS The first COURIERS book was a sleek action movie on paper (as they say), complete with the camera shots and opening credits you'd expect of such a film. Kids with rollerblades and heavy weapons taking on Commie bastards in helicopters. In the second book, DIRTBIKE MANIFESTO, Rob G's art was less detailed than it had been before, but part of me was wondering if maybe that was the point: from action movie to dirtbikes and backwoods in a loose manga style. AKIRA without the neon and hi-techery, but with all the speed and violence, plus a nice little touch of social commentary (a Wood speciality). Both books were fun reads, with action a-plenty and small pieces of quirky characterisation in-between the acts of ultraviolence. I expect COURIERS: THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY FUNWRECKER (AiT-PlanetLar) to be no different. Set in 1993, it's the story of how Moustafa and Special met, full of extinct terms like "grunge" and "riot grrl", set in a time when mullets weren't just respected, they were mandatory, and featuring a Chinatown mob boss named Johnny Funwrecker. [Ben Wooller] SHE'S A DEVIL WOMAN Now here's a comic book with a troubled history. Writer/artist Frank Cho, he of LIBERTY MEADOWS fame, was asked to redraw several pages of SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL because Marvel editorial decided the shots of tits and ass were too gratuitous. Which is fine, except this was originally supposed to be a Marvel Max title, hence Cho was entitled to cram as much T and A into these pages as he felt necessary without fear of censorship. It was only because Avi Arad felt a wee tremor in his pacemaker that Shanna was redesignated part of the Marvel Knights imprint - the logic goes that if the art is more palatable to a younger audience, then its chances of becoming a second-rate Hollywood blockbuster are that much greater. Gee, thanks Avi. Anyway, ranting aside, this looks like a good bet this week. Stranded on a mysterious jungle island overrun with hungry dinosaurs, a group of soldiers discover a secret base where evil Nazis once conducted genetic experiments. One of these experiments happens to be none other than the beautiful Shanna, but is she friend or is she foe? And why are her breasts so much bigger than her head? Why do my trousers suddenly feel so tight? Unsurprisingly, this mini-series pays no heed to past continuity, and therefore there's no mention of characters and settings like Ka-Zar or the Savage Land. This is unfortunate, and would normally be highly irritating, but I've got every faith that Frank Cho will deliver a rock 'em sock 'em adventure in the style of XENOZOIC TALES and INDIANA JONES. And if we're really lucky, Marvel will see fit to publish an uncensored edition in the near future. [Bulent Yusuf] THE LIFE AQUATIC Despite what sales charts might tell you, Grant Morrison has a golden touch. In his hands, even the most light and unlikely of premises can be turned into a rich and genuinely emotionally affecting tale. In the case of SEAGUY from DC Vertigo, the premise features an ex-hero in a post-superhero world, with a flying piscine sidekick, and their attempts to help a foodstuff lifeform get back home. Is it a superhero pisstake? Partially, but fans of the super-genre will be pleased by some of the flashbacks, which hint at powered escapades on the sort of galactic scale at which Morrison excels. Surreal yet jolly and vibrant, the bizarre world of SEAGUY, with its bearded warrior-ladies and insane moon-dwellers, is brought to brain-warping life by Cameron Stewart's revelatory art. Although the mini-series itself wasn't as widely read as it deserved to be, the collection will hopefully garner more attention. The best news of all is, Morrison is reportedly planning to bring us more SEAGUY in the future. [Lindsay Duff] NOT BUY THIS BOOK! IT AM WORSE THAN IDENTITY CRISIS! 2003's BIZARRO COMICS saw many of the most talented and popular figures from the world of independent and alternative comics team up to tell some deliciously irreverent stories of life in the DC Universe. Tales ranged from the surreal to the suburban, with Wonder Woman depicted as a cherubic mallrat, Batgirl a squeamish Goth, and Superman a troublesome toddler. Any thoughts of iconoclasm or nostalgia for Cardigan Comics were dispelled by the sheer warmth and quality of the material. In fact, I would go so far as to say that BIZARRO COMICS was the best book to come out of the DC Universe in a dog's age. Which is why I'm so very happy that they are doing more. This week's BIZARRO WORLD hardcover features returning creators Tony Millionaire (MAAKIES), James Kochalka (AMERICAN ELF) and Andi Watson (LOVE FIGHTS), alongside first-time contributors such as Paul Grist (KANE, JACK STAFF), Roger Langridge (FRED THE CLOWN), and Harvey Pekar (AMERICAN SPLENDOR). As with the first volume, the stories in BIZARRO WORLD will range all across the DC Universe, touching on the Justice League, the Legion of Super Heroes, Teen Titans and others. You can read a preview of BIZARRO WORLD here. At $30, BIZARRO WORLD is hardly cheap, but I suspect that it'll be as charming, funny and downright delightful as the original, and certainly well worth the money, though if you can stand to wait, there's certain to be a paperback eventually. [Matthew Craig] THE SHIPPING LIST FOR FEBRUARY 2nd 2005: Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change. DARK HORSE JUN040015 BMW FILMS THE HIRE #2 (Of 6) $2.99
DC COMICS NOV040260D BIZARRO WORLD HC $29.95
IMAGE DEC041536 MORA #1 $2.95
MARVEL DEC041733 BLACK PANTHER #1 $2.99
OTHER PUBLISHERS OCT048139 AFTERMATH BREAKDOWN #3 2ND PRTG $2.95
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. |