The Shipping Forecast for August 29th

Men without fear, women without suntan lotion. Find out which are the best books hitting your local store this week, courtesy of the Shipping Forecast.
27 August 2001

Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's weekly look at the latest comic book releases. Every Monday we'll show you the week's shipping list from Diamond, and our three ancient mariners will make their picks of the most noteworthy new books hitting the shelves.

Please note that the shipping list is subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, visit the Diamond website.

FISHER PICKS:

DAREDEVIL MAN WITHOUT FEAR TP/NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD TP (Marvel)
Here are two re-released trades that are essential to any Marvel fan's collection. MAN WITHOUT FEAR is a 'Daredevil: Year One' story by Frank Miller and John Romita Jr that puts Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's YELLOW to shame. A personal favourite. AGENT OF SHIELD is the classic Steranko trade that had such a limited print run last Christmas, and features what has been hailed as one of the greatest and most innovative runs by a single creator on an ongoing title. Oh, it's going to be an expensive week. If the trades actually come out this week, that is. The Marvel website lists them as September releases, so don't be surprised if they don't make the shelves.

X-FORCE #119 (Marvel)
You should be reading this. It's brilliant. You know that by now. So let's talk about something else. Let's talk about X-FORCE #107, which hit the shelves a year ago, and X-FORCE #95, which hit the shelves in August '99. Last year it was the hugely disappointing Counter-X incarnation, a version that wasn't as radical as it tried to be, most likely because it still had to be kid-friendly. Two years ago it was JF Moore's version, in which Moore's attempts to write the characters as real teens were hampered by editorial insistence that he write superhero stories. X-Force is a book that has demonstrated Marvel's editorial interference at its worst, and the company certainly deserves criticism for that. However, it just as emphatically deserves some credit today for the risks it has taken with the Milligan/Allred incarnation.

TOP TEN #12 (ABC/DC Wildstorm)
The book hailed as the best ongoing series in the 2001 Eisner Awards is, with this issue, finishing! Whoops. But it's not gone for good. In the tradition of all the best cop dramas (and this is certainly one of 'em), it's being released in 'seasons'. There's an awful lot to wrap up in this issue, but the deft workmanship of Moore, Cannon and Ha is, I'm confident, more than up to the task. Until the next season begins, Wildstorm assures us there will be some mid-season spin-offs to look forward to. Stay vigilant, kids. Keep watching the skies.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

PRIVATE BEACH #3 (Slave Labor Graphics)
PRIVATE BEACH is one of those little gems that will be building up a readership with every new issue. Especially if I have anything to do with it. If you enjoy books like BOX OFFICE POISON and LOVE AND ROCKETS, you really should be reading this. Creator David Hahn produces wonderfully crisp art, and can switch styles with no discernible strain, to create pithy back-up strips that just make reading this book all the more satisfying. His writing shows an acidic sense of humour that was to the fore in the first issue but is now letting a rather disturbing subplot start to bubble up. In many comics, "expect more of the same" is not a recommendation. With PRIVATE BEACH it's the quality that keeps you coming back for more.

TOP TEN #12 (ABC/DC Wildstorm)
I don't know which is the more frustrating - the wait for this to come out or the knowledge that this is the final issue of TOP TEN for some time. This is the sort of comic which needs a riotous wake to mark its passing. It's the comics equivalent of the brilliant uncle who disappeared off to odd parts of the world for ages and was still welcomed back with open arms because he was always so full of great stories. For me, TOP TEN struck the perfect balance between profound and goofy, outstanding little moments and a consistently satisfying whole. Alan Moore's story always kept your brain in high gear trying to second guess it, and Gene Ha and Zander Cannon's art was packed with delightful details. You know that this last issue is going to be painfully good, but you also don't want this to end. Let's just be grateful it's not a full stop.

CROMARTY PICKS:

WAITING PLACE VOL 2 #10 (Slave Labor Graphics)
How many times do I have to tell you to buy this book? I'm not kidding. This is the best contemporary-life comic being published right now, and you should get down on your knees to thank Sean McKeever and Mike Norton for bringing THE WAITING PLACE into your life. Buy it already!

OUT THERE #4 (DC Wildstorm)
Is it my imagination, or has this book reached issue 4 incredibly quickly? I could have sworn the preview issue only came out just before the San Diego Con. Not that this is a bad thing, in an industry where new books so often fail to meet their schedules. Truth be told, I know nothing about this comic other than a vague "SCOOBY DOO meets BUFFY" premise, and the preview left me rather nonplussed. But since then I've heard good things about it from people whose opinions I trust, so I'm going to give it a look. Maybe you should too.

PRIVATE BEACH #3 (Slave Labor Graphics)
David Hahn appears to be quietly Getting On With It, as I've seen next to no promotion for this book. That could be because it's rather hard to pigeonhole - what started out looking like a whimsical, humorous tale of everyday life for two girlfriends has rapidly become something rather ominous and foreboding. It's a bit like finding out your mother was an outrageous hippy and you were conceived in an acid-soaked romp. A bit. Hahn's linework is almost perfect, his dialogue refreshingly realistic, and the story itself... well, odd. Top stuff.

DOGGER PICKS:

STORMWATCH VOL 5 FINAL ORBIT TP (Dark Horse/DC Wildstorm)
This isn't Ellis' best work, to be honest. And this trade isn't even his best work on STORMWATCH. But it is the bridge between STORMWATCH and THE AUTHORITY, so for those of you that only discovered THE AUTHORITY late in the game, and have been a little confused as to how we got there, you'll want to get hold of this. If nothing else, you get to watch most of the cast getting slaughtered in a variety of horrible ways by Aliens(tm). Frankly, this is worth buying just to applaud the amount of negotiation that must have gone on to allow the reprint, given that it contains not just material from another company (Dark Horse), but material that the other company is only licensing from yet another company. (Aliens appear courtesy of 20th Century Fox.) Make a lawyer feel his life is justified. Buy this book.

SWAMP THING VOL 4 A MURDER OF CROWS TP (DC Vertigo)
I'm sure I remember picking this back at the start of the month. Would anyone like to inform me as to exactly why reprint material is now shipping this late? Anyway, like I said last time - Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing is what gave us Vertigo. Horror, romance, mythology, sci-fi and many other genres besides, all in one run. Frankly, the colour reprints aren't as nice as the old black-and-white reprints, but it's still Alan Moore's SWAMP THING. What's your excuse for not buying it then?

Comics shipping in the US on August 29th:

DARK HORSE

JUN010028 BTVS #36 FALSE MEMORIES (2 OF 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

JUN010419 BATMAN BEYOND #24 $1.99
JUN010420 BATMAN OFFICER DOWN TP $12.95
JUN010488 CODENAME KNOCKOUT #4 (MR) $2.50
JUN010402 DEADMAN DEAD AGAIN #5 (Of 5) $2.50
JUN010438 FLASH #177 $2.25
JUN010441 GREEN ARROW #7 $2.50
JUN010489 HELLBLAZER #165 (MR) $2.50
JUN010449 JLA #57 $2.25
JUN010473 OUT THERE #4 $2.50
JUN010477 STORMWATCH VOL 5 FINAL ORBIT TP $9.95
JUN010427 SUPERGIRL #61 $2.25
JUN010496 SWAMP THING VOL 4 A MURDER OF CROWS TP $19.95
MAR010454 TOMORROW STORIES #11 $2.95
MAY010518 TOP TEN #12 $2.95
APR010884 WONDER WOMAN SECOND GENESIS TP (STAR03134) $9.95
JUN010409 WORLDS FINEST OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1 $2.95

IMAGE

MAY011352 CLERKS THE COMIC BOOKS TP (MR) $10.95
APR011366 FATHOM KILLIANS TIDE #3 $2.95
MAR011302 SHIDIMA #4 $2.95
JUN011295 TOMB RAIDER #16 $2.50

MARVEL

JUN011625 AVENGERS #45 $2.25
JUL011567 DAREDEVIL MAN WITHOUT FEAR TP NEW PRTG $16.95
JUN011611 FANTASTIC FOUR 1234 #2 $2.99
JUL011565 NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD TP NEW PRTG $19.95
JUN011626 STARTLING STORIES BANNER #2 $2.99
JUN011589 ULTIMATE MARVEL MAGAZINE #8 $3.99
JUN011584 UNCANNY X-MEN #397 $2.25
JUN011594 WOLVERINE #167 $2.25
JUN011595 X-FORCE #119 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN012300F AMELIA RULES #2 $2.95
JUN011964 BART SIMPSON COMICS #5 $2.50
JUN011918 BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #50 $1.99
JUN012373 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND #3 (Of 6) $2.95
JUN012064 CROSSGEN CHRONICLES #4 $3.95
JUN012363 EAGLE VOL 19 FIRES IN THE PLAIN $6.95
JUN012377 GUNDAM WING EPISODE ZERO #5 (Of 8) $2.95
MAY012342 INDEPENDENT VOICES #3 (MR) $2.95
JUN011986 LADY DEATH BAD KITTY #1 $2.99
JUN011921 LAUGH DIGEST #169 $2.19
MAY012122 MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO #26 $2.95
JUN012051 MAXION #21 (MR) $2.95
JUN012063 MERIDIAN #15 $2.95
JUN012378 NEON GENESIS BOOK 6 #2 (Of 4) $3.50
JUN012379 NEON GENESIS BOOK 6 COLL ED #2 (Of 4) $3.50
JUN012380 NO NEED FOR TENCHI PART 12 #1 (Of 6) $2.95
JUN011877 PRIVATE BEACH #3 $2.95
JUN011996 PURGATORI DARKEST HOUR #1 $2.99
JUN011923 SABRINA VOL 2 #23 $1.99
JUN012210F VAMPIRE PRINCESS YUI VOL 1 TP $17.95
MAR012068 VAMPIRELLA MODEL SEARCH SPECIAL $2.95
JUN011878 WAITING PLACE VOL 2 #10 $2.95

MAGAZINES

JUN012356 ANIMERICA VOL 9 #8 $4.95
JUN012406J COMIC SHOP NEWS #741 PI
APR012419 COMICOLOGY #4 $5.95
JUL013176 GAME TRADE MAGAZINE #19 $1.99

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

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