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.

Please note that this week's comics will hit US stores a day late due to the public holiday on Monday.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: CONVERSATION

There are all sorts of dialogues in comics. There's the dialogue on the printed page ? the interaction between characters in a story. There's the dialogue between the writer and the artist (or between penciller and inker), which often creates the sort of friction that turns to magic (or crap) in the finished product. Then there's the dialogue between the creator and the consumer - not the congratulatory to-and-fro of the message boards, but the communication of ideas and concepts between one human mind (approx.) and another (approx.).

Comics can be such a slow, painstaking process that it's hardly surprising that there aren't more literal conversations within its pages. After all, only a certified lunatic would want to draw one half of a conversation, scan it, and email it across the country for another artist to complete/deface, before starting the process again with the next topic. A certified lunatic.

Or possibly James Kochalka.

Kochalka is the driving force behind Top Shelf's CONVERSATION, a new series in which the artist and diarist engages his favourite creators (this issue: BE A MAN's Jeffrey Brown) in a back-and-forth "jam," covering topics such as Life, Work, and Art - which, for some cartoonists, may well be the same thing.

As described here, Conversation involves the use of Kochalka's elfin avatar. This approach will no doubt make the finished product that bit more engaging (c.f. Scott McCloud's affable abstraction), but the mind boggles as to how a creator such as Frank Miller might conduct himself. And if that wasn't enough to make your brain hurt, just imagine what Miller's recent Will Eisner interview would have looked like if it had been drawn, instead of transcribed.

The cynics in the audience will no doubt be questioning the value of marrying two potentially dissonant art styles. After all, it might overwhelm the meat of the conversation - to wit: the text. But I think that might be missing the point.

Whether it's Kochalka and Brown, Eisner and Miller or Roberta Gregory and Jack Kirby, a book like this is more than just an exchange of ideas and anecdotes. By utilising the full artist's palette, as it were, it operates on more levels than mere dialogue can reach, allowing the reader to gain valuable insights into not only the process, but the people behind the process.

Top Shelf's CONVERSATION looks set to continue the showcase renaissance started by DC's SOLO. A key component of this trend has been the relative affordability of each book. Expensive oversized hardcovers are all well and good, but they price the average reader - including me - out of the market. Long may the Conversation continue. [Matthew Craig]

SMASH THE SYSTEM

We don't often think of the etymology of those little four-colour booklets that we pull down from the shelves of our LCS every week, but nevertheless, they're all comic books. Not, of course, that there's much in them that's often very comic (just look at the current grim DC line-up, for example), but that's where it's from. Marvel's first mutant made his debutant appearance in the pages of MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES WEEKLY #1, and while it's plain to see that Namor was just a little bit out of place there, that's because he's not a humour character. Still, comics used to be funny. We would do well to remember that more often.

Dan Slott's obviously never forgotten that point, and this week the average comedy content of comic books is due to go up by a fraction as Slott and artist Juan Bobillo return with the second season of their critics'-favourite series SHE-HULK. The mixture of one- and two-part stories, together with a teasing fondness for the Marvel Universe and, y'know, plenty of gags, made for a book which struggled to make it in a marketplace obsessed with crises and disassembling (of course, its cheesecake covers by Adi Granov, which have been replaced by cheesecake covers by Greg Horn, show there are some lessons it would just be too easy to learn). Positive word of mouth was such, however, that the little book that could has fought back, and should receive a boost to its opening sales figures in the form of the return of dead Avenger Hawkeye, as She-Hulk teams up with him to face the terrors of... the US probate system?

As with many books that get a second chance, those who enjoyed it the first time round are a bit mad-eyed and evangelical about the whole thing. Of course, they're right to be so. This is a funny book in a world of depressing funnybooks. Buy SHE-HULK.

Or we'll come round to your house and rip up all your X-MEN comics. [Alistair Kennedy]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR OCTOBER 19th 2005:

Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change.

DARK HORSE

AUG050047D BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #106 (MR) (NOTE PRICE) $3.99

DC COMICS

JUL050277D ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE #4 (OF 16) $2.99
AUG050262D AUTHORITY REVOLUTION #12 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99
AUG050186D BATGIRL #69 $2.50
AUG050182D BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #70 $2.50
AUG050187D BATMAN JOURNEY INTO KNIGHT #3 (OF 12) $2.50
AUG050281D BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #15 (MR) $2.75
AUG050257D CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON #1 (OF 9) $2.99
AUG050283D CHIAROSCURO TP (MR) $24.99
AUG050285D HELLBLAZER #213 (MR) $2.75
AUG050261D INTIMATES #12 $2.99
AUG050223D JUSTICE #2 (OF 12) $3.50
AUG050287D LUCIFER #67 (MR) $2.75
AUG050228D MANHUNTER #15 $2.50
AUG050225D OUTSIDERS VOL 3 WANTED TP $14.99
AUG050245D POWERPUFF GIRLS #67 $2.25
AUG050194D ROBIN #143 $2.50
AUG050266D ROBOTECH THE SHADOW CHRONICLES #2 (OF 5) $3.50
AUG050233D SEVEN SOLDIERS KLARION THE WITCH BOY #4 (OF 4) $2.99
AUG050195D SUPERMAN #222 $2.50
AUG050202D SUPERMAN IN THE FORTIES TP $19.99
AUG050277D TOMORROW STORIES BOOK TWO TP $17.99
AUG050274D TOP TEN BEYOND THE FARTHEST PRECINCT #3 (OF 5) $2.99

IMAGE

AUG051646D AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS VOL 2 #1 $2.99
JAN051589D BATTLE HYMN #4 (OF 5) $2.95
APR051671D DEADWORLD #2 $3.50
AUG051675D FERRO CITY #3 $2.99
APR051666D INVINCIBLE VOL 1 ULTIMATE COLL HC $34.95
MAY051571 SEA OF RED #5 (MR) $2.99

MARVEL

AUG051979D CABLE DEADPOOL VOL 3 HUMAN RACE TP $14.99
AUG051981D DAREDEVIL VOL 12 DECALOGUE TP $14.99
AUG051907D DAREDEVIL VS PUNISHER #5 (OF 6) $2.99
AUG058181D HOUSE OF M SECOND PTG VARIANT #4 (OF 8) $2.99
AUG051923D MARVEL 1602 NEW WORLD #4 (OF 5) $3.50
AUG051885D MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #19 $2.99
JUL051922D MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE HUMAN TORCH VOL 1 HC VAR ED $54.99
JUL051921D MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE HUMAN TORCH VOL 1 NEW ED HC #1 $49.99
AUG051971D MARVEL MASTERWORKS MIGHTY THOR VOL 4 HC VARIANT ED HC $54.99
AUG051970D MARVEL MASTERWORKS MIGHTY THOR VOL 4 NEW ED HC $49.99
AUG051933D MARVEL MONSTERS FIN FANG FOUR $3.99
AUG051962D MARVEL SELECT FLIP MAGAZINE #5 $3.99
AUG051963D MARVEL TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #4 $3.99
AUG051889D NICK FURY HOWLING COMMANDOS #1 $2.99
AUG051935D OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE HORROR 2005 $3.99
AUG051926D RUNAWAYS #9 $2.99
AUG051987D RUNAWAYS TEAM SHOT POSTER $5.99
AUG051888D SHE-HULK 2 #1 $2.99
AUG051895D SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 $4.99
AUG051955D SUPREME POWER HYPERION #2 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99
AUG051985D SUPREME POWER VOL 3 HIGH COMMAND TP (MR) $14.99
AUG051925D THOR BLOOD OATH #3 (OF 6) $2.99
AUG051890D ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #24 $2.50
AUG051893D ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #84 $2.50
AUG051984D VISION YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW TP $14.99
AUG051948D WEAPON X DAYS OF FUTURE NOW #4 (OF 5) $2.99
AUG051951D X-MEN #176 $2.50
AUG051946D X-MEN AND POWER PACK #1 (OF 4) $2.99
AUG051949D X-MEN COLOSSUS BLOODLINE #2 (OF 5) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

AUG052593F 24 HOUR COMICS DAY HIGHLIGHTS 2005 TP $24.95
JUL052916F A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #21 (A) $4.99
AUG052702E ARCHIE #561 $2.25
JUL053012E BANANA SUNDAYS #3 (OF 4) $2.99
AUG052724F BOLD BLOOD #1 $5.95
AUG052939E DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #333 $2.95
APR052825F DORK TOWER #32 $3.49
JUL052960F DOROTHY VOL 1 TP (MR) $14.95
AUG053307E FROM FAR AWAY VOL 7 GN $9.99
JUL053267E FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 16 GN $9.95
MAY052683E GI JOE VOL 7 UNION OF THE SNAKE TP $14.95
AUG052645E GLOOMCOOKIE VOL 4 CARNIVAL WARS TP (MR) $16.95
MAY052743F GRENUORD #1 (OF 6) (MR) $5.95
AUG052707E HOLIDAY FUN DIGEST #10 $2.39
AUG052708E JUGHEAD #169 $2.25
AUG053287E MAR VOL 4 GN $7.99
AUG052942E MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #282 $2.95
AUG053288E NO NEED FOR TENCHI VOL 5 2ND ED TP $9.99
AUG053289E RANMA 1/2 VOL 21 2ND ED TP $9.95
AUG053290E RANMA 1/2 VOL 32 TP $9.99
AUG053310E RED RIVER VOL 9 GN $9.99
JUL052716F SHYGIRL VOL 1 GN $13.99
AUG052804E SIMPSONS COMICS #111 $2.99
AUG052713E SONIC X #2 (OF 4) $2.25
JUL053176F SURROGATES #2 (OF 5) $2.95
AUG052715E TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #6 $2.39
AUG053226F TOP SHELF CONVERSATIONS #2 $4.95
AUG052972E TRANSFORMERS #0 $0.99
AUG053311E W JULIET VOL 7 GN $9.99

The Ninth Eight are Matthew Craig, John Fellows, Kieron Gillen, Alistair Kennedy, Zack Smith, Andrew Wheeler, Ben Wooller and Bulent Yusuf.

This article is Ideological Freeware. The author grants permission for its reproduction and redistribution 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.