The Shipping Forecast is 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 make our picks of the most noteworthy new books hitting the shelves.

Following last week's tragic events in the US, there is a very high likelihood that delays in shipping will occur. Please consult the Diamond website for further details.

DOGGER PICKS:

US WAR MACHINE #2 (Marvel Max)
Marvel's thrilling new experiment in weekly black-and-white comics continues. I'm not buying this book, and nor should you be. It's shit. And worse, your retailer has had to order this one blind, right up to about issue #9, with very little idea of how good it is, how well they can expect demand to alter, exactly what sort of customer it will appeal to, or any of the other things that they use as a guide when ordering comics. I mention this because I really don't think it's fair that Marvel gets the cash for this rancid offering, yet it already has, and Marvel has stuck your retailer with the bill. Rotten business practice.

ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #1 (Fantagraphics)
This, on the other hand, will be very good indeed. Jessica Abel, she of SOUNDTRACK and MIRROR, WINDOW, has a new book out. Another slice-of-life drama, by the sound of it. Abel's artwork is lovely looking, and her dialogue and characters are some of the most realistic I've encountered. I've not read SOUNDTRACK, but MIRROR, WINDOW is a series of touching stories about normal people, their triumphs and tragedies, warts and all. If this is as good as her previous offerings - and I have no reason to suppose that it'll be anything but - then you can't afford to miss it. Find out more at the Artbabe website, www.artbabe.com.

SLOW NEWS DAY #2 (Oni Press)
SLOW NEWS DAY didn't ship last week, so I thought it was worth reminding you to keep an eye out for it this week. As I said last week, Andi Watson's linework is gorgeous, his composition is fantastic, and his stories are often beautiful and touching. The series tells the story of an American woman who comes to Britain to work on a newspaper, and instead of the Big Paper she dreams of, finds herself working on a small regional newspaper. Well worth your time.

CROMARTY PICKS:

POWERPUFF GIRLS #19 (DC)
It's been a while since I recommended this one. But of course that doesn't matter, because, typically for a children's comic, every issue of POWERPUFF GIRLS is self-contained. If you have a child, or young relative, you should really buy them this comic. It's cheap, it's funny, it reproduces the cartoons very faithfully, and frankly you don't even need to have seen the cartoon to 'get it' - this is simply one of the best children's comics available right now.

ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #1 (Fantagraphics)
Jessica Abel is slowly but surely making her mark on the mainstream comics consciousness, and here's hoping that LA PERDIDA will seal that fate once and for all. A four-part story under Abel's Artbabe umbrella, LA PERDIDA is the story of Carla, an American girl whose absentee Mexican father drives her to a romantic fascination with Mexico. Ninth Art reviewed SOUNDTRACK, Abel's collection of Artbabe strips, a while back - if LA PERDIDA is anywhere near the same quality of storytelling and character observation, I for one certainly won't be disappointed.

INKPUNKS QUARTERLY #2 (Funk-O-Tron)
After the success of BATTLE POPE, Funk-O-Tron seem to be really gunning for the big time, what with this and the forthcoming DOUBLE TAKE (the new home for Casey and Adlard's CODEFLESH, previously of DOUBLE IMAGE). Apparently this is the "long-awaited return" of INKPUNKS QUARTERLY - I wasn't aware it even existed before, let alone went away. Anyway: virtual reality, a sci-fi Captain Nemo, a war in Tokyo, and a kung-fu heroine meets a big cyborg gorilla. How can you refuse all that? More than double the length of US WAR MACHINE, but less than twice the price. That's a hint, by the way.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

FRED THE CLOWN #1 (Hotel Fred Comics)
This actually arrived in stores last week, but slipped our notice. A while ago a group of British-based cartoonists formed Les Cartoonistes Dangereux, put out less than half a dozen works of sterling quality, and then disappeared. Roger Langridge has followed up the first very funny Fred book of many years ago with another very, very funny book. Langridge is clearly having a whale of a time telling silly little stories and parodying everything from Dr. Seuss to the famous Charles Atlas ad. By the way, is it just me, or are there enough parodies of the Atlas ad out there to fill a hefty little TPB if anyone would take the trouble to compile it? Maybe it's some sort of indie cartoonist initiation ritual. In any case, this book is proof of the maxim that you have to wait for quality, because the next issue is promised in January. Still, have a look at the website, www.hotelfred.com, for weekly strips and a taster of what you're missing out on. Warning - could cause undignified laughter.

ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #1 (Fantagraphics)
Jessica Abel is a mistress of comics vérité - books where nothing that spectacular happens, and the characters talk about it in ultra-realistic dialogue. She's good at crystallising those small moments of emotional intensity that are part of everyday life into compelling comics. From the write ups, this promises to be a little bit of a departure, as this is a long story as opposed to Abel's usual collection of vignettes, so there's a kind of plot. A half Latina girl, brought up as Anglo, goes on a road trip in Mexico, hooking up with her ex on the way. Expect something a little more inclined to the visionary, an exploration of dream life combined with Abel's accurate eye for the details of the ordinary.

FISHER PICKS:

OUTLAW NATION #13 (DC Vertigo)
Rumour has it that OUTLAW NATION, Jamie Delano's twisted American family saga, is slated for cancellation. Worse, DC Vertigo has made no effort to release a collection, perhaps reasoning that a story that forsakes self-contained arcs isn't easy to collect. That didn't seem to stop them with PROMETHEA, of course. So now we have a problem. This is a great series that deserves a long life, and DC Vertigo isn't giving you a chance to discover that. Issue thirteen represents the best jumping-on point this book is likely to have, so why not buy this issue and give the book a chance? Then, if you like it, mail DC Vertigo and let them know. If fans can save SPIDER-GIRL from cancellation, they bloody well ought to be able to save this.

CABLE #97 (Marvel)
This is the last x-book relaunch for the foreseeable future, and it recasts Rob Liefeld's highly imaginative Big Soldier With A Bigger Gun as a globe-trotting warzone troubleshooter. David Tischman, best known as Howard Chaykin's co-conspirator on the similarly themed AMERICAN CENTURY, provides the words, while Igor Kordey provides a distinctly European art style. This is certainly fresh territory for an x-book, and while that's no guarantee it'll be any good, it should be worth a look. The fact that the art sample in Previews shows a jet sticking out of a ruined building in the Middle East does lead one to wonder if we'll see this book at all, of course.

Comics shipping in the US on September 19th:

DARK HORSE

JUL010032 BTVS OZ #3 (Of 3) $2.99
JUL010033 BTVS OZ PHOTO CVR #3 (Of 3) $2.99
JUL010020 GRENDEL THE DEVIL INSIDE #1 (Of 3) (MR) $2.99
APR010052 OH MY GODDESS PART X #5 HAND IN HAND (PART 2 OF 2) $3.50

DC COMICS

JUL010381 AMERICAN CENTURY #7 (MR) $2.50
JUL010319 BATMAN CRIMSON MIST SC $14.95
JUL010322 BATMAN ORPHEUS RISING #2 (Of 5) $2.50
JUL010323 BIRDS OF PREY #35 $2.50
JUL010371 GEN 13 #69 $2.50
JUL010349 JIST WITH JOHN BUSCEMA CREATING SUPERMAN $5.95
JUL010350 JSA #28 $2.50
JUL010370 MONARCHY #7 $2.50
JUL010372 NINJA BOY #2 $2.95
JUL010353 ORION #18 $2.50
JUL010392 OUTLAW NATION #13 (MR) $2.50
JUL010362 POWERPUFF GIRLS #19 $1.99
JUL010328 ROBIN #94 $2.25
JUL010394 SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #4 (Of 4) $2.50
JUL010332 SUPERBOY #92 $2.25
JUL010334 SUPERGIRL #62 $2.25
JUL010331 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #118 $2.25
JUL010396 WAR STORY JOHANNS TIGER (MR) $4.95

IMAGE

JUL011263 CREECH OUT FOR BLOOD #2 $4.95
JUN011331 KABUKI VOL 5 METAMORPHOSIS TP $24.95
APR011397 SPAWN #111 $2.50
JUL011249 UNIVERSE #2 $2.50
JUN011344 WARLANDS VOL 1 TP $14.95

MARVEL

JUL011500 CABLE #97 $2.25
JUL011534 CAPTAIN AMERICA #47 $2.25
JUL011535 CAPTAIN MARVEL #23 $2.50
JUL011517 DAREDEVIL #24 (MR) $2.99
JUL011520 ELEKTRA #3 $2.99
JUL011536 FANTASTIC FOUR WORLDS GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE #10 $2.99
JUL011523 GHOST RIDER HAMMER LANE #4 $2.99
JUL011507 ROGUE #2 $2.50 MAY011700 SPIDER-MAN VISIONARIES JOHN ROMITA SR TP $19.95
JUL011539 THUNDERBOLTS #56 $2.25
JUN011602 ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM UP #7 SPIDER-MAN & DAREDEVIL $2.25
JUL011493 US WAR MACHINE #2 $1.50
JUN011636 X-MEN VIGNETTES TP $16.95

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN012148F ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #1 (Of 4) (MR) $4.95
JUL011832E BETTY #104 $1.99
JUL011834E BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #124 $2.19
JUL011988E CRUX #6 $2.95
JUN012046 DARK ANGEL VOL 3 TP $15.95
JUL012292E DRAGONBALL Z PART 4 #10 (Of 15) $2.95
JUL012293E EL HAZARD PART 3 #3 (Of 6) $2.95
JUL012062F HEY WAIT (MR) $9.95
JUL012009F HICKSVILLE (O/A) $19.95
JUL012176E HOPELESS SAVAGES #2 (Of 4) $2.95
JUL012089F INKPUNKS QUARTERLY #2 $2.95
JUL011930E INSANE CLOWN POSSE PENDULUM #11 $5.99
JUL011838E JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #80 $3.29
JUL012174E KISSING CHAOS #1 (Of 8) (MR) $1.95
JUL011915E LADY DEATH LAST RITES #1 (Of 4) $2.99
JUL011914I LADY DEATH LAST RITES PREMIUM ED #1 $9.99
JUN012050 LODOSS WAR CHRONICLES HEROIC KNIGHT #12 $2.95
JUL011796F MAGIC WHISTLE #5 $2.95
JUN012132 MURDER ME DEAD #8 (MR) $2.95
JUL012297E NEON GENESIS EVANGELION BOOK 5 COLL ED TP $15.95
JUL012296E NEON GENESIS EVANGELION BOOK 5 TP $15.95
JUL012300E NO NEED FOR TENCHI VOL 10 MOTHER PLANET TP $15.95
JUL011987E SCION #16 $2.95
JUL011888E SIMPSONS COMICS #62 $2.50
JUL012240F SMILE VOL 3 #10 $4.99
JUL011779E STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 10 TROPIC OF DESIRE TP $12.95
JUL011778E TERRY MOORES PARADISE TOO #3 $2.95
JUN012188 VAMPIRELLA #2 REG ED (Note Price) $2.99

MAGAZINES

JUL012309 ALTER EGO #10 $5.95
JUN012416 BEST OF FAWCETT COMPANION SC $15.95
JUL012314J COMIC SHOP NEWS #744 PI

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

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.