Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's hand-picked team of crack comic pundits offer a rundown of some of the best, worst and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop.

Please note that this week's comics will hit US stores on Thursday due to the Christmas holiday.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #1

As the year draws to a close, it is natural to take stock of one's life. To ask questions of yesterday, and to make promises for tomorrow. If Marvel Comics were to make a new year's resolution, what might it be? Fewer megacrossovers? More time in the bookshop? What exactly is the comics equivalent of giving up smoking?

If Marvel were to choose a new path in 2006, it might be to concentrate on establishing a stronger individual identity for each of its various superhero lines. Superstories such as Avengers: Disassembled, DC's Infinite Crisis and the upcoming Civil War (which can't possibly live up to the name without really and truly destroying the Marvel Universe forever) have a tendency to stifle the creative development of individual titles, because of the need to devote plots and pages to advancing the uber-plot. In a sane world, such calumny would be repaid with plummeting sales, but it seems that the readership is prepared to put up with such action figure comicbookery, as long as it has the faintest whiff of "significance" about it.

That's not to say, however, that Marvel is entirely damned by its Bruckheimerism. Their need to compete with Tokyopop for the mighty manga dollar has resulted in a number of interesting titles. This column has already covered such excellent series as RUNAWAYS and I'M WITH STUPID, but this week sees the return of a quiet little favourite of mine, albeit under a new name.

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE is a gentle high school drama by Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa. Picking up where the previous MARY JANE series left off, it follows Peter Parker's future femme as she struggles through the usual teenage troubles: boys, clothes, cyborgs, homework and vultures. Drawing on the creators' great character skills, the first two books never felt trite or two-dimensional; a mighty feat indeed, in this world of One Tree Hill and Hollyoaks. This third, ongoing series (previewed here) adds a brand-new wrinkle to Mary Jane's world: the possibility of a superhero boyfriend. But if she can't get the Spider-Man of her dreams to notice her, will Mary Jane settle for the nebbish next door?

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE feels like the sort of book Marvel should be doing more of - with their flagship character, if nothing else. It emphasises character over plot, it lives in its own idiosyncratic world, free from thematic dissonance, and most important of all, it's a jolly good read.

Whether you wait for the digest-sized collections, or whether you buy the full-sized comics, SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE will almost certainly be a satisfying way to spend all that money you save by giving up smoking. And what else are superheroes good for, if they're not saving lives? [Matthew Craig]

GOVERNMENT SPENDING CAP

CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON: SECRET EMPIRE TPB Ask fans of Captain America what their favorite run of the character was, and you'll get different answers. Some will mention Mark Waid's run in the 1990s, or Mark Gruenwald's run before that. A few will mention the short-but-acclaimed run by Roger Stern and John Byrne in the 1980s. But for many older fans, the definitive Captain America run was Steve Englehart's in the 1970s.

Like Superman, Cap was a character who seemed curiously out of place as the Silver Age ran down. Englehart's solution was to involve the character in stories that reflected the politically ambigious climate of the era, with Cap's idealism tested by the world he found himself in.

The long-out-of-print "Secret Empire" story (a favorite among back issue collectors due to a rare X-Men appearance) represented one of two peaks in Englehart's run. Borrowing liberally from both Watergate and THE PRISONER, the storyline took the Secret Empire, one of Marvel's third-rate evil organizations, and mixed them with the even more insidious force of politics.

As the good Captain finds himself being beset upon in the media by Quentin Harderman's Committee to Regain America's Principals (abbreviate it), his partner, the Falcon, heads off to the fictional kingdom of Wakanda for some new equipment and jive-talkin' with the Black Panther. What follows is a story full of allegory climaxing with a confrontation at the White House that must be seen to be believed, and a shocking finale that makes Cap question everything he stands for.

There are a few goofy bits, including the aforementioned jive-talkin', a villain called "The Tumbler," and dialogue like, "He whallops like an ATOMIC PILEDRIVER!" But elements such as these contribute to the story's old-school charm. And the scene with the unmasking of "Number One" ranks as one of the best twist endings of a superhero comic ever...you don't see his face, but it's damn clear who it is.

Along with crisp, clean artwork by Sal Buscema, this is one of the best superhero stories of the 1970s finally back into print. Hopefully, it'll get Englehart's other great tale, the "Nomad" saga, collected as well. For fans of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's dark, conspiracy-laden on on the book right now, this is a chance to see what inspired it. [Zack Smith]

PAN'S PEOPLE

The cult movie series PLANET OF THE APES combined groundbreaking special effects with dazzling sociological insights to tell a story of racial politics and Cold War nihilism that moved strong men to tears and led directly to the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

On the Bizarro Planet.

A cynic might suggest that the real legacy of PotA is the fond memory of a strangely camp Charlton Heston spouting the sort of lines that would make William Shatner balk, and the iconic image of a half-destroyed Statue of Liberty rising out of the wasteland like Ozymandias' legs. Both have been repeated ad nauseum as genre fiction swallows its own tail, rendering Apes parody as hackneyed as Willy Wonka or Wizard of Oz (interesting, isn't it, that the man who turned Batman into a gothic fetish nightmare would want to remake both Wonka and Apes. Maybe Dorothy should open a LiveJournal...).

But Comics is a sentimental old thing, so it's hardly surprising that someone, somewhere, would want to revive Planet of the Apes in four-colour form, for the first time since Marvel held the license, back in the 1970's.

REVOLUTION ON THE PLANET OF THE APES, which debuts this week, is orchestrated by noted writer-artist Ty Templeton, and released through a small Canadian publisher called Mr. Comics. Templeton's passion for the primates is infectious, and the list of talent lined up for the series impressive (e.g.: Salgood Sam). The series traces the history of the Ape rebellion from its earliest days (as seen in the Heston-free movie sequels), with thematically-tailored back-up stories adding an extra slug of simian fun to proceedings.

If Comics has to become a repository for pop culture artifacts that have gone past their sell-by date - stories of human subservience to nature/machines/old religion being so fin de siecle - then better this than something knocked out for the sake of exploiting a license or retaining a copyright. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR DECEMBER 29th 2005:

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

DARK HORSE

OCT050025 BPRD THE BLACK FLAME #5 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT050024 REVELATIONS #5 (OF 6) $2.99

DC COMICS

OCT050215 BATMAN #648 $2.50
OCT050282 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #16 $2.25
OCT050226 CATWOMAN #50 $2.50
OCT050292 DEVIL DOES EXIST VOL 4 $9.99
OCT050286 ELFQUEST THE GRAND QUEST VOL 12 TP $9.99
OCT050317 FABLES VOL 6 HOMELANDS TP (MR) $14.99
OCT050256 JLA CLASSIFIED #15 $2.99
DEC040268 JSA VOL 7 PRINCE OF DARKNESS TP $19.95
OCT050233 LEX LUTHOR MAN OF STEEL TP $12.99
OCT050275 RANN THANAGAR WAR TP $12.99
OCT050304 SILENT DRAGON #6 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT050269 SOLO #8 $4.99
OCT050279 TEEN TITANS GO #26 $2.25
OCT048007 TOP TEN BOOK ONE TP $17.95
OCT050271 VIGILANTE #4 (OF 6) $2.99

IMAGE

JUN041362D INVINCIBLE VOL 3 PERFECT STRANGERS TP $12.95
AUG051641 SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 HC $39.95
AUG051642 SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 LTD ED HC $59.95
OCT051771 TOP COWS BEST OF MICHAEL TURNER TP $24.99

MARVEL

OCT051960 AMAZING FANTASY #16 $2.99
OCT051946 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #527 $2.50
OCT051950 ARANA HEART OF THE SPIDER #12 $2.99
OCT051951 BLACK PANTHER #11 $2.99
OCT051952 BLACK WIDOW 2 #4 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT052036 CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON SECRET EMPIRE TP $19.99
OCT051953 DAREDEVIL #80 $2.99
SEP051916D DAREDEVIL FATHER #5 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT051963 DRAX THE DESTROYER #4 (OF 4) $2.99
OCT052003 EXILES #74 $2.99
OCT051965 FANTASTIC FOUR SPECIAL $2.99
OCT052032 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN VOL 2 POWER STRUGGLE DIGEST $6.99
OCT052038 MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS WOLVERINE VOL 2 TP $12.99
OCT051978 NEW AVENGERS #14 $2.50
OCT051982 NICK FURY HOWLING COMMANDOS #3 $2.99
OCT051937 OFFICIAL HNDBK ULTIMATE MARVEL UNIV ULTIMATES & X-MEN 2005 $3.99
OCT051984 SENTRY #4 (OF 8) $2.99
OCT052042 SENTRY TP NEW PTG $24.99
OCT051989 SHE-HULK 2 #3 $3.99
OCT051948 SPIDER-MAN BLACK CAT EVIL THAT MEN DO #5 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT051990 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #1 $2.99
OCT051997 THING #2 $2.99
OCT051987 THOR BLOOD OATH #6 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV052014 ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #1 POSTER $5.99
OCT051938 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #26 $2.50
OCT051941 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #88 $2.50
OCT052026 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 14 WARRIORS TP $17.99
OCT051992 WHAT IF DAREDEVIL $2.99
OCT051995 WHAT IF THOR $2.99
OCT051959 WOLVERINE #37 $2.50
OCT052009 X-FACTOR #2 $2.99
OCT052011 X-MEN #180 $2.50
OCT052014 X-MEN AND POWER PACK #3 (OF 4) $2.99
OCT051998 YOUNG AVENGERS SPECIAL #1 $3.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

NOV053271 ANGEL SANCTUARY VOL 12 GN $9.99
OCT052779 ARCHIE DIGEST #222 $2.39
NOV053272 BANANA FISH VOL 12 TP $9.99
OCT052855 BART SIMPSON COMICS #27 $2.99
NOV053273 BASARA VOL 16 TP $9.99
OCT053356 BASTARD VOL 10 TP (MR) $9.99
OCT052780 BETTY & VERONICA #214 $2.25
NOV053274 BOYS OVER FLOWERS VOL 16 TP $9.99
NOV053275 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND VOL 14 TP $9.95
OCT052887 ELVIRA #152 $2.50
NOV053260 FLAME OF RECCA VOL 16 TP $9.99
OCT053372 FROM FAR AWAY VOL 8 GN $9.99
OCT053373 FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 17 GN $9.95
OCT053363 INU YASHA VOL 24 TP $8.95
OCT053009 JANES WORLD VOL 4 TP $15.00
NOV053263 KEKKAISHI VOL 4 GN $9.99
OCT052973 LITTLE TOKYO ROSE VOL 2 GN (A) $5.00
NOV053270 MAISON IKKOKU VOL 15 2ND ED TP $9.95
OCT052731 MALINKY ROBOT BICYCLE $2.95
OCT053364 MAR VOL 5 GN $7.99
NOV053265 NO NEED FOR TENCHI VOL 6 2ND ED TP $9.99
OCT052735 PARIS #2 (OF 4) $2.95
SEP053022F PHANTOM GRAHAM NOLAN SUNDAY VOL 2 TP $16.95
OCT053375 PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH VOL 14 TP $9.99
OCT053365 PROJECT ARMS VOL 11 TP $9.99
NOV053266 RANMA 1/2 VOL 33 TP $9.99
OCT053376 RED RIVER VOL 10 GN $9.99
OCT053108 REVOLUTION ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1 (OF 6) $3.98
OCT052786 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #157 $2.25
SEP052766E SOULFIRE VOL 1 HC $24.99
SEP053215F STREET FIGHTER II #1 POWER FOIL JO CHEN CVR C $12.50
OCT053369 TOUGH VOL 5 GN (MR) $9.99
OCT053366 VIDEO GIRL LEN VOL 1 TP $9.99
OCT053377 W JULIET VOL 8 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.