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.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: ONE PAGE FILLER MAN

Jim Mahfood's latest graphic novel, ONE PAGE FILLER MAN (Image), is a rolling wave of improvisation that sees the eponymous hero, with his ice-cream-powered sidekick Randy, deal with fame, infamy, and 1980s soul gods, over 170 pages of two-fisted action.

Mahfood is no stranger to improvisational art, having painted dozens of murals at parties and live music events. But deadline pressure aside, this is his first full-length improv comic. And yes. I do feel unclean typing the word 'improv'.

ONE PAGE FILLER MAN is Mahfood at his best, reminiscent of everything from THE TICK to Jack Kirby via THE POWERPUFF GIRLS. It's pure Mahfood - pure in the sense that the rawness of the art, which varies from page to page, isn't ameliorated by any sense of Mahfood second-guessing himself. It's an approach that results in some good hard comics, and while the unrefined art will put some readers off, the sheer infectious dementia of the piece - especially the dialogue - will leave other readers breathless with laughter.

ONE PAGE FILLER MAN is the sort of seat-of-the-pants comic making that makes stunts like 24-Hour Comics Day worthwhile. It starts with a blank page and a chewed pen, but on the best day, it ends with magnificent art. While it's not going to win any awards for neatness, ONE PAGE FILLER MAN is one hell of a beautiful mess. [Matthew Craig]

DEAD RECKONING

Milligan at Marvel. It's always an unnerving prospect. Away from Marvel, Peter Milligan is an excellent and inventive writer, producing brilliant, enduring stories like ENGIMA, FACE and HUMAN TARGET. Mired in the Marvel universe, though, he tends towards disappointing works like ELEKTRA and X-MEN, where his idiosyncrasies and dry humour sit uncomfortably amidst the conventional, continuity-dense heroics.

The golden exception to this rule was X-STATIX, from an era when Marvel encouraged risk and was willing to let Milligan play merry havoc with its mutants. X-STATIX proved a glorious mix of satire and spandex, and it proved to be some of the best work either Marvel or Milligan has produced.

The question is whether they can replicate that success with X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL, which sees Nick Dragotta taking over from Mike Allred on pencils - which might be as well, since Allred's pencils on the later issues seemed to lack enthusiasm. In DEAD GIRL, the titular late heroine faces down those scant few Marvel characters who have managed to die and actually stay dead. It sounds like the sort of Obscurity Legion book that hardcore Marvel fans always love, and it's just peculiar enough that Milligan fans might love it too. Has Milligan finally discovered how to please all of the people all of the time? [Andrew Wheeler]

SEMINAL WORK

GIRLS, the Luna Brothers' extended horror movie as comic is, I confess, my great guilty pleasure every month. Sure, it's about naked women, but it's about evil naked women. And giant sperm. Mustn't forget the giant sperm.

Fast-paced and twisty as hell, GIRLS (Image) contains at least one moment per issue that makes me recoil slightly from the comic. It's the tale of Ethan, a cock-blocked young man who makes a complete asshole of himself at a bar after being rejected one too many times. Then, miracle of miracles, he literally runs into a nice mute naked wet girl who can't keep her hands off him. One thing leads to another, and soon Ethan's small town finds itself fucked.

Literally.

Each issue adds to the mystery of what the hell's going on, and only the Lunas know the truth. In the end, we should have a story that'll take about as much time to read as a real horror movie would to play out. It's not particularly deep, but it's not supposed to be, and it's l a good fun pulp thrill with some trenchant satire each month.

Plus giant sperm. How can you go wrong with giant sperm? [Zack Smith]

STAR STRUCK

I wonder just how stylised Andi Watson's work will eventually become, as I reckon he's probably about three-quarters of the way to just doing a single squiggly line on a page. This being Andi Watson, though, it would be the most artful, stylish and expressive single squiggly line yet rendered in comics.

Regardless of how minimal his art style has become (cue beard-stroking reminiscence about SKELETON KEY), he still knows better than most how to put together affecting and enormously personal slice-of-life tales that, despite being so intimate and quasi-autobiographical, speak to all of us in recognisable tones.

I'm not yet a father, unless some grand conspiracy is hiding the truth from me, but I suspect that LUCKY STAR (Oni Press), Watson's thoughtful meditation on the joys of fatherhood and the struggle to balance work and family commitments, is sufficiently true-to-life that it'll be the perfect preparation for the day when diapers and deadlines go hand in hand. [Lindsay Duff]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JANUARY 18th 2006:

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

DARK HORSE

OCT050046 BERSERK VOL 10 TP (MR) $13.95
NOV050048D BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #109 (MR) $2.99
JUL050054V SAMURAI EXECUTIONER VOL 8 TP (MR) $9.95

DC COMICS

NOV050233D BATGIRL #72 $2.50
NOV050230D BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #73 $2.50
SEP050293 EX MACHINA #17 (MR) $2.99
NOV050258D FLASH ROGUE WAR TP $17.99
NOV050324D HELLBLAZER #216 (MR) $2.75
NOV050303D KAMIKAZE KAITO JEANNE VOL 2 $9.99
NOV050302D KIKAIDER CODE 02 VOL 2 (MR) $9.99
NOV050304D LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED VOL 6 $9.99
OCT050322 LOSERS #31 (MR) $2.99
NOV050328D LUCIFER #70 (MR) $2.75
NOV050279D MANHUNTER #18 $2.50
NOV050312D ROBOTECH PRELUDE TO THE SHADOW CHRONICLES #5 (OF 5) $3.50
OCT050294 SEIMADEN VOL 3 $9.99
NOV050283D SEVEN SOLDIERS MISTER MIRACLE #3 (OF 4) $2.99
NOV050284D SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY #1 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV050267D SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN ARROW VOL 1 TP $16.99
NOV050286D TEEN TITANS OUTSIDERS INSIDERS TP $9.99
OCT050295 TENJHO TENGE VOL 5 $9.99
NOV050305D TENRYU THE DRAGON CYCLE VOL 4 $9.99
NOV050332D TESTAMENT #2 (MR) $2.99

IMAGE
NOV051743D GIRLS #9 (MR) $2.99
NOV051745D GODLAND #7 $2.99
OCT051741 IRON GHOST #5 (OF 6) $2.99
SEP051680 KABUKI VOL 5 METAMORPHOSIS TP (NEW PRTG) $24.99
NOV051753D REX MUNDI #16 $2.99
AUG051642D SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 LTD ED HC $59.95
NOV051777D VICE #4 $2.99
SEP051709 WALKING DEAD #25 (MR) $2.99

MARVEL

NOV052034D AVENGERS ABOVE AND BEYOND TP $24.99
NOV051957D BOOKS OF DOOM #3 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV052028D DAREDEVIL VS PUNISHER TP $15.99
NOV051940D FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #4 $2.99
OCT058216 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN WIERINGO VAR #4 $2.99
NOV051988D GENERATION M #3 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV051963D INCREDIBLE HULK #91 $2.99
NOV051962D IRON MAN THE INEVITABLE #2 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV052006D MARVEL ADVENTURES FLIP MAGAZINE #8 $3.99
NOV051952D MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 #26 $2.99
NOV051941D MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #22 $2.99
OCT058217 MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN WIERINGO VAR #22 $2.99
NOV051970D MARVEL SPOTLIGHT WARREN ELLIS & JIM CHEUNG $2.99
NOV051972D NEW MANGAVERSE #1 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV051978D PULSE #13 $2.99
NOV051953D PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #3 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV051976D RUNAWAYS #12 $2.99
FEB041621 RUNAWAYS VOL 1 PRIDE AND JOY DIGEST TP $7.99
NOV051993D SENTINEL SQUAD ONE #1 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV052022D SPIDER-GIRL VOL 5 ENDGAME DIGEST TP $7.99
NOV051982D SPIDER-WOMAN ORIGIN #2 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV051994D UNCANNY X-MEN #468 $2.50
NOV052025D WEAPON X DAYS OF FUTURE NOW TP $13.99
NOV058042D X-FACTOR 2ND PTG VAR #1 $2.99
NOV052026D X-MEN KITTY PRYDE SHADOW & FLAME TP $14.99
NOV051955D X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL #1 (OF 5) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

AUG053316E 1 WORLD MANGA VOL 1 TP $3.99
SEP052664F 7 DAYS TO FAME #2 (OF 3) $3.99
OCT053025 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #26 (A) $4.99
AUG053069F ALEX TOTH READER VOL 2 TP (RES) $25.00
NOV052755E ARCHIE #563 $2.25
NOV052757E ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #167 $3.59
JUN053150 ATOMIKA #6 (OF 12) $2.99
NOV053061F BACKWARDS FOLDING MIRROR #2 (MR) $2.95
NOV052761E BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #73 $2.25
AUG053243F EXALTED #1 REG ED $3.49
OCT052675 FULL METAL PANIC OVERLOAD MANGA VOL 3 TP $9.99
NOV052897E GI JOE AMERICAS ELITE 2ND PTG #3 $2.95
OCT052724 HAUNTED MANSION #2 $2.95
OCT052716 LITTLE GLOOMYS SUPER SCARY MONSTER SHOW #3 $2.95
OCT053134 LITTLE STAR #6 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV053030F LIVING IN INFAMY #2 (OF 4) (MR) $2.95
OCT053104 PHANTOM #9 $3.50
JUL052765E RED SONJA #4 $2.99
NOV052821E SIMPSONS COMICS #114 $2.99
SEP052767 SOULFIRE VOL 1 SLIPCASE ED HC $69.99
SEP053215F STREET FIGHTER II #1 POWER FOIL JO CHEN CVR C $12.50
NOV052982E TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #1 $2.99
NOV052724E VAISTRON #3 $2.95

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.