Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's regular weekly look at the new comics hitting your local store, courtesy of Diamond. Remember, the list is subject to change, so for the very latest information, please visit the Diamond website.

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FISHER PICKS:

MAGIC PICKLE #4 (Oni Press)
This is the final issue of the first series of Scott Morse's wonderfully daft adventures of a reawakened super soldier who just happens to be a pickle, so at this stage it's probably worth waiting a few months for the trade. Shame, though, because if you haven't been reading it, you've been missing a treat, especially with the excellent third issue, in which the pickle went up against a bank-robbing coconut. Those of you who have been clever enough to follow the series may like to know that Morse is selling off the original art at $55 a pop (including postage and packing), so if you want pick up a power-packed page of pickle, drop Morse a mail and tell him which page you're interested in. And tell him Ninth Art sent you.

OUTLAW NATION #16 (DC Vertigo)
With OUTLAW NATION set for cancellation in three months' time, DC Vertigo is going in to 2002 with only four real success stories - HELLBLAZER, 100 BULLETS, LUCIFER and TRANSMET. All series that are being regularly traded. HUNTER has yet to really prove itself, of course, and AMERICAN CENTURY, CODENAME: KNOCKOUT and CRUSADES have all been disappointments. OUTLAW NATION, a series so good that I've probably recommended it more times than any other, was certainly not a disappointment, but such an organic story, with no natural breaks, proved too challenging for currently conservative Vertigo to trade. So, say farewell to another great book. If you're lucky, you might be able to pick up the back issues in the bins somewhere. It's worth the hunt.

CROMARTY PICKS:

LUCIFER VOL 2: CHILDREN AND MONSTERS TP (DC Vertigo)
I 'discovered' LUCIFER a little later than most - in fact, I read it because my carp-loving colleagues wouldn't stop telling me how good it is. And they were right, and I was wrong, and I've never lived it down since. Oh, the shame. So the release of this collection is very good news indeed to me, as my chances of finding these issues anywhere (let alone on a rocky lighthouse island) are pretty slim. In addition to the eponymous arc, this collection contains the acclaimed 'House of Windowless Rooms' story. Carey has managed to sneak up on the SANDMAN mythos quietly and confidently, and if this is half as good as everyone tells me it is, we're in for a treat.

ABSENCE OF INK THEATRE #2 (Absence of Ink Press)
ABSENCE OF INK THEATRE is an anthology highlighting young, ambitious creators. The first issue - 44 pages, no ads, for the price of a 'regular sized' comic - was as varied as you could want from an anthology, featuring some impressive work by people you've almost certainly never heard of. The clear highlights of #1 were 'The Castaways', in which a 13-year-old boy leaves home to try and make his way in the Deep South of the 1930s; and 'Raven's End', the story of a Japanese soldier following the trail of a bird that will lead him to revenge in a world one step removed from our own. Both stories continue in this issue, along with two other feature-length strips (including one satirising British comic writers, apparently) and doubtless more quickie one-page gags. Well worth your money.

DOUBLE TAKE #7 (Funk-o-Tron)
Kick! 'Splodo! Gorillas! Honk if you're a ninja! If you hadn't guessed, REX MANTOOTH: KUNG-FU GORILLA is the draw for me on this one. Matt Fraction and Andy Kuhn's surreal simian superspy had me laughing tears last issue, and this issue it's... well, more of the same. But this time with militant lesbians, giant robots and probably bigger laughs. Oh, and the other half of this comic has a story by some guys called Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard, who - you never know - could make it big one day...

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

JSA #31 (DC Comics)
It's hard to explain what the attraction to JSA is - most fans, in fact, won't be able to give you a straight answer. Ultimately, I think it's a combination of old-fashioned superheroics with a strange sense of family, that these characters are somehow all related and that they genuinely enjoy being around each other. You'd think that something so simple would hardly be a change from the norm in team books, but there you go. Geoff Johns and David Goyer have found a winning formula, though, and while it's too bad that Steve Sadowski won't be around much longer, you can still enjoy his sharp pencils on this issue.

ELEKTRA & WOLVERINE: THE REDEEMER #2 (Marvel)
Ok, this isn't a comic book; it's a prose novella written by Greg Rucka with illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano. It shouldn't be serialised into three prestige format issues; this was clearly meant to be read as a graphic novel, not doled out piecemeal for three months. It's got a character that shouldn't still be around - why Elektra is still being used says so much about corporate-owned properties, and how the will of their creators is so often ignored. But you know what? The first part was incredible. It doesn't just rise above all of those problems, it jumps up and down on them until you can't even see them anymore, then kicks them in the face a couple of times. When you've got something this exhilarating and fun and downright gorgeous, who cares? I guess Marvel knew what they were doing after all.

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA VOL 1 TP (Viz)
Rescued by a prince as a young girl, Utena has grown up deciding that she will be a prince when she grew up. Now enrolled in an exclusive academy, Utena starts taking those steps towards becoming a prince - and if that means she's suddenly engaged to the mysterious "Rose Bride" and the two have to work together to solve the riddles of the academy, well, there are certainly worse ways of going about it. REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA may be masquerading as shojo (girl's comics) manga, but it's got a lot of interesting stuff going on about gender roles and societal views. Not bad for a comic aimed at pre-teens, huh? With the movie just released on DVD, Viz has chosen the perfect time to start releasing UTENA collections; make sure to grab this one quickly, as it's going to be flying off the shelves.

DOGGER PICKS:

LUCIFER VOL 2 CHILDREN AND MONSTERS TP (DC Vertigo)
I just wish these would come out more often. Like Cromarty, I was stupid enough to ignore this series when it first showed up, and boy, do I regret it now. Mike Carey's Lucifer is exactly what the devil should be - charming, elegant, intelligent, sophisticated and ruthless. I picked up the first trade and was blown away, and I understand that it's in this collection that Carey's ongoing plot starts to kick in. The little I've heard about it has me champing at the bit with anticipation.

WAR STORY: NIGHTINGALE (DC Vertigo)
The last of Ennis' rather hit and miss WAR STORIES series. As has been said many times, Ennis is returning to familiar themes with these stories, but if you've any tolerance for war stories at all, then Ennis is the man to go to. Of course, Ennis' collaborators on these books have all been first rate. The art on this story, about the crew of a ship which finds itself shunned by the rest of the Navy after surviving a vicious assault, is provided by David Lloyd, of V FOR VENDETTA fame, so this should certainly be well worth a look.

Comics shipping in the US on December 19th

DARK HORSE

OCT010014 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER HAUNTED #1 (Of 4) $2.99
OCT010015 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER HAUNTED PHOTO COVER #1 (Of 4) $2.99
OCT010038 CANNON GOD EXAXXION #2 STAGE 1 (PART 2 OF 8) (MR) $2.99
SEP010042 OH MY GODDESS PART XI #4 MYSTERY CHILD (PART 2 OF 8) $2.99
OCT010023 USAGI YOJIMBO #53 $2.99

DC COMICS

OCT010629 AMERICAN CENTURY #10 (MR) $2.50
OCT010552 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #24 $2.50
OCT010584 BATMAN ORPHEUS RISING #5 (Of 5) $2.50
OCT010557 BIRDS OF PREY #38 $2.50
SEP010240 CYBERNARY 2.0 #5 (Of 6) $2.95
AUG010247 DANGER GIRL THE ULTIMATE COLL HC $29.95
OCT010614 ESTABLISHMENT #4 $2.50
OCT010615 GEN 13 #72 $2.50
OCT010595 HAVEN THE BROKEN CITY #1 (Of 9) $2.50
OCT010601 JIST WITH JERRY ORDWAY CREATING THE JLA $5.95
OCT010573 JSA #31 $2.50
OCT010637 LUCIFER VOL 2 CHILDREN AND MONSTERS TP (MR) $17.95
OCT010576 ORION #21 $2.50
OCT010638 OUTLAW NATION #16 (MR) $2.50
OCT010610 POWERPUFF GIRLS #22 $1.99
OCT010560 ROBIN #97 $2.25
OCT010565 SUPERBOY #95 $2.25
OCT010566 SUPERGIRL #65 $2.25
OCT010564 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #121 $2.25
OCT010620 TALEWEAVER #4 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT010640 WAR STORY NIGHTINGALE $4.95

IMAGE

SEP011081 ARIA SOUL MARKET #6 $2.95
OCT011561 GO GIRL #5 $3.50
OCT011568 LAST SHOT #3 $2.95
OCT011572 POWERS VOL 2 ROLEPLAY TP $13.95
OCT011573 RADIX #1 (Of 6) $2.95
SEP011126 VIOLENT MESSIAHS GENESIS $5.95
JUL011241 ZORRO THE DAILIES TP $18.95

MARVEL

SEP011443 BROTHERHOOD #7 $2.25
OCT011889 CAPTAIN AMERICA #50 (Note Price) $5.95
OCT011890 CAPTAIN MARVEL #26 $2.50
OCT011880 DAREDEVIL #28 $2.99
OCT011886 DOOM EMPEROR RETURNS #2 $2.50
OCT011847 ELEKTRA & WOLVERINE THE REDEEMER #2 $5.95
OCT011882 FANTASTIC FOUR #50 (Note Price) $3.99
OCT011891 INCREDIBLE HULK #35 $2.25
OCT011892 MARVEL UNIVERSE MILLENNIAL VISIONS $3.99
SEP015014 MIGHTY MARVEL MUST HAVES #1 (PU#498) $3.99
SEP011441 NEW X-MEN #120 $2.25
OCT011893 NIGHTSIDE #3 $2.99
OCT011873 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #38 $2.25
OCT011894 THUNDERBOLTS #59 $2.25
SEP011493 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 2 TP $14.95
OCT011858 ULTIMATE X-MEN #13 $2.25
OCT011854 UNCANNY X-MEN #401 $2.25
OCT011859 UNCANNY X-MEN 2001 $3.50

OTHER PUBLISHERS

OCT012138 ABSENCE OF INK THEATRE #2 (Of 3) (MR) $2.99
OCT012210 ARCHIE DIGEST #186 $2.19
OCT012214J BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #52 PI
OCT012387 CRUX #9 $2.95
SEP011952 DORK SHADOWS COLL DORK TOWER TP VOL 2 CURR PRTG $15.95
OCT012494 DOUBLE TAKE #7 (MR) $2.95
OCT012715 DRAGONBALL Z VOL 7 TP $12.95
OCT012718 EL HAZARD PART 3 #6 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT012632 FORBIDDEN BOOK VOL 2 $9.95
AUG011897 GEOBREEDERS #32 $2.95
OCT012171 GLOOM COOKIE #10 (MR) $2.95
OCT012313I JADE REDEMPTION ALT CVR #2 $7.50
OCT012611 KISSING CHAOS #5 (Of 8) $2.25
OCT012300 LADY DEATH CHASTITY #1 $2.99
OCT012301I LADY DEATH CHASTITY PREMIUM ED #1 $9.99
OCT012267 LITTLE WHITE MOUSE ENTROPY DREAMING TP $14.95
OCT012609 MAGIC PICKLE #4 (Of 4) $2.95
OCT012720 MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0079 VOL 1 2ND ED $9.95
SEP012132 QUEEN & COUNTRY #5 (MR) $2.95
OCT012694 REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA VOL 1 TP $15.95
OCT012217 SABRINA VOL 2 #27 $1.99
OCT012388 SCION #19 $2.95
SEP011733 SCREAMING KITTY #2 $2.95
OCT012722 SILENT MOBIUS ADVENT #6 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT012271 SIMPSONS COMICS #65 $2.50
OCT012670 SMILE VOL 4 #1 $4.99
OCT012691 VAGABOND PART 1 #1 (MR) $4.95
SEP011742 VAMPI #13 REG ED $2.99
SEP011743I VAMPI #13 DLX ED $9.95
OCT012574 WORLD DARKNESS VAMPIRE MASQUERADE THEO BELL GN (MR) $5.95

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.