Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, the pick of the best new comics hitting stores this week, as chosen by the salty seadogs at the Ninth Art lighthouse. The forecast is compiled with the help of the Diamond shipping list. For the most up to date shipping information, check out the Diamond website.

Last week we introduced a new fisherman with distinctly mainstream tastes. This week we introduce a new indie-inclined fisherman, Fastnet, to restore the forecast's balance.

FASTNET PICKS:

POP GUN WAR #2 (Absence of Ink Press)
The first issue of Pop Gun War was published when creator Farel Dalrymple won a Xeric Award; the second seemed lost without trace until Absence of Ink Press stepped in to publish it. And it should be worth the wait. This is a prime slice of magic-realism, centring on a boy who finds an angel's discarded wings. So far, so LUCIFER, you might say; but this is a very different beast - reflective, atmospheric and dream-like, but not self-consciously so. Dalrymple's black-and-white art is, quite simply, some of the best you'll see in a comic store, combining the inkiness of Eddie Campbell with the control of Gene Ha. And the good news is, Absence of Ink hopes to publish POP GUN WAR quarterly from now on.

PRIVATE BEACH #4 (Slave Labor Graphics)
More from the twisted world of David Hahn sees our heroine, Trudy Honeyvan, starting her new - and distinctly fishy - job as a nightclub hostess, while coping with 'dangerously stupid co-workers, Easter eggs and frogs'. What started as an entertaining, if slightly over-familiar, mix of off-centre sassy female characters and X-FILES-ish goings-on is beginning to shape up into something darker and stranger, as Hahn settles into his storytelling. And refreshingly, the atmosphere arises as much from the characterisation as from the plot twists. If this weren't enough to recommend this issue, there's the bonus of a back-up story from BOX OFFICE POISON creator Alex Robinson.

OCHLOCRAT (Comics Conspiracy)
Ah, explosions and ultraviolence! Now this is what we want. We fishermen get plenty of time to expand our vocabulary, so we know that Ochlocracy is mob rule. The Ochlocrat of the title, according to writer Doug Miers, is "a rabble-rousing crusader in a plutocratic future, a journalist vigilante, an elected official empowered by spot polls to supersede normal due process and mete out 'popular justice'." This slice of political post-apocalyptic mayhem boasts the brilliant Gerry Alanguilan on pencils and inks. Alanguilan is best known as an inker on WOLVERINE and X-FORCE, and this is his first full-length American comic as penciller. It's stunning stuff - have a look at his website for some examples. This is a one-shot, so with no continuity and no continuing story to worry about, it might present a perfect opportunity if you want to try something new. With explosions.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

COMICAL TRAGEDY OF PUNCH AND JUDY GN (Slave Labor Graphics)
For those of you on the Western side of the Atlantic, where Punch and Judy shows were not a major mind-warp of your childhood, this book's going to give you a good insight into why the British grow up the way they do. This one-shot is a fairly straight adaptation of the story of Mr Punch, if indeed it's possible to define the story from its many sources and variations. It's written and researched by Christopher P Reilly, so what's been produced is a decent, authoritative version with occasional (and forgivable) flights into scripting whimsy. If it has footnotes or a reading list it'll be even better. The preview pages show off Darron Laessig's art to good effect - it looks, as it should do, like a particularly warped cartoon. This comic looks lovely, and it's educational. You'll thank yourself for picking it up.

GOODBYE CHUNKY RICE - REVISED EDITION (Top Shelf)
There are some comics that I'm really looking forward to this year, and several are from Top Shelf. The one I want to see most of all is Craig Thompson's BLANKETS. Why? If you have to ask that, then you need to read this. GOODBYE CHUNKY RICE is one of the best graphic novels I've ever read. Thompson came out of the obscurity of small press minicomics to produce an artistic fait accompli that left many people gasping. The revisions made to celebrate over 10,000 copies in print are a redesign of the book, but no change to the story. I loved it on first reading, and I still do after many re-readings. Many readers will admit to shedding a tear over it. GOODBYE CHUNKY RICE is about love and heartbreak in many forms. It's a fantastic, moving read and the art is wonderful. You'd be an idiot not to own this.

MURDER ME DEAD TP (El Capitan)
I raved about this when it was coming out issue by issue, and I'll take the opportunity again now that it's being published in a collected edition. This is another great example of comics noir from the creator of STRAY BULLETS, which should be enough to let you know that it's the real deal. David Lapham took a break from his regular title to try his hand at a limited series (which went slightly over the planned number of issues) and came up with a fine thriller that's better than most contemporary prose thrillers I've read recently. MURDER ME DEAD is about as twisty and turny as you could wish for, with a conclusion that I really didn't see coming. Effortlessly expressive art, fine, fine writing and a really good way to use up a few hours.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #64: SKIN (Dark Horse)
With all of the new attention and excitement over Dark Horse's LONE WOLF AND CUB reprints, it's a bit surprising that some of that hasn't shifted over to BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL. Manji, the ronin warrior cursed with immortality until he kills one thousand evil men, might be considered the star of the series, like Ogami Itto over in LONE WOLF. Unlike LONE WOLF, though, it's the younger, more vulnerable of the two that steals the show. Rin, desperate for Manji to avenge her family's deaths, goes through twists and turns along this journey of growth that you need to read to believe. Hiroaki Samura's epic is a wonderful mix of styles, both traditional warrior drama and modern cyberpunk sensibilities. It's rough, it's violent, it's in your face, and it's a really smart, sharp series. (And with nine trade paperbacks already out, catching up will be a breeze!)

HAPPY #1 (Top Shelf)
Top Shelf Productions first debuted Josh Simmons's entrance into the comics industry in their anthology TOP SHELF: UNDER THE BIG TOP. His stories there were a demented journey into the world of happiness, where people's grins were stretched so wide that their skin sometimes leapt right off their bones. Over the top and utterly absurd, Simmons's satire was hard to look away from, even if you wanted to. Now, Top Shelf has given Simmons his own title, HAPPY. If it's even half as insanely funny as his debut in UNDER THE BIG TOP, then you, too... will be happy.

DOGGER PICKS:

LUCIFER #22 (DC Vertigo)
Lucifer's pride is starting to catch up to him again here, as his new creation comes under threat from all sides. We keep recommending this, here at the lighthouse, and for good reason. While Vertigo's fortunes may have been a bit mixed over the last year, LUCIFER has remained a very pleasant surprise indeed, providing the sort of fantasy/horror mix that made Vertigo's name, and doing it very, very well indeed. What's you excuse for not reading this, then?

NIGHTSIDE #4 (Marvel)
As I recall, there was some fanfare when this book was announced. It was New Marvel's first creator owned book, and one of the early part of the line up for Marvel's MAX line of Mature reader comics. I didn't even notice when issue one came out. To discover that this book has got to issue four is something of a shock to me. Given how little impact this book has had on my awareness, I can only assume that it was being used to see what happened if a book was given no promotion at all. I'd love to tell you why you should be buying this book, being that it's such a big step forward for Marvel, but honestly, I can't, because it totally passed me by. So pick it up, and we can all find out if we're missing anything.

Comics shipping in the US on January 26th:

DARK HORSE

NOV010039 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #64 SKIN (1 OF 2) (MR) $2.99
NOV010017 MIKE MIGNOLAS BPRD HOLLOW EARTH #1 (Of 3) $2.99
SEP010030 SUPERMAN TARZAN SONS OF THE JUNGLE #2 (OF 3) $2.99
NOV010022 USAGI YOJIMBO #54 $2.99

DC COMICS

NOV010563 BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #46 $1.99
NOV010570 CATWOMAN #3 $2.50
NOV010609 ESTABLISHMENT #5 $2.50
NOV010581 FLASH #182 $2.25
NOV010610 GEN 13 #73 $2.50
NOV010582 GOLDEN AGE GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC $49.95
OCT010570 GREEN ARROW #11 $2.50
NOV010591 JSA #32 $2.50
NOV010627 LUCIFER #22 (MR) $2.50
NOV010596 ORION #22 $2.50
NOV010629 OUTLAW NATION #17 (MR) $2.50
NOV010551 POWER COMPANY BORK $2.50
NOV010559 ROBIN #98 $2.25
NOV010577 SUPERGIRL #66 $2.25
NOV010573 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #122 $2.25

IMAGE

NOV011500 DARKMINDS MACROPOLIS CHRISTINA CHEN CVR B $2.95
NOV011499 DARKMINDS MACROPOLIS JO CHEN CVR A #1 $2.95
NOV011501 DARKMINDS MACROPOLIS STORMKOTE #1 PI
JUN011294 KIN VOL 1 DESCENT OF MAN TP $17.95
JUL011236 VIOLENT MESSIAHS #8 $2.95
NOV011539 WITCHBLADE #53 (RES) $2.50

MARVEL

NOV011798 HOWARD THE DUCK #1 (MR) $2.99
NOV011808 MARVEL MANGAVERSE AVENGERS #1 $2.25
NOV011809 MARVEL MANGAVERSE FANTASTIC FOUR #1 $2.25
NOV011810 MARVEL MANGAVERSE GHOST RIDER #1 $2.25
NOV011811 MARVEL MANGAVERSE PUNISHER #1 $2.25
NOV011812 MARVEL MANGAVERSE SPIDER-MAN #1 $2.25
NOV011813 MARVEL MANGAVERSE X-MEN #1 $2.25
NOV011849 NIGHTSIDE #4 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

NOV012154 BETTY & VERONICA #171 $1.99
NOV012153 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #127 $2.19
NOV012453 BONEYARD #5 (MR) $2.95
NOV012550 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND PART 2 #2 (Of 6) $2.95
OCT012170 COMICAL TRAGEDY OF PUNCH AND JUDY GN $6.95
NOV012296 CRUX #10 $2.95
NOV012256 ELVIRA #105 $2.50
OCT012372 GEOBREEDERS #34 $2.95
NOV012527 GOODBYE CHUNKY RICE GN REVISED ED $14.95
NOV012528 HAPPY #1 (MR) $3.50
NOV012225 HAUNTED #2 (Of 4) $2.99
NOV012228 HAUNTED ALT CVR #2 $7.50
NOV012390 INKPUNKS QUARTERLY #3 $2.95
SEP015100 INSANE CLOWN POSSE PENDULUM #12 $5.99
NOV012158 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #83 $3.29
NOV012281 LODOSS WAR CHRONICLES HEROIC KNIGHT #17 $2.95
NOV012283 MAXION #26 (MR) $2.95
OCT012439 MURDER ME DEAD TP (MR) $19.95
NOV012260 OCHLOCRAT #1 $2.95
NOV012091 POP GUN WAR #2 $2.50
SEP011731 PRIVATE BEACH #4 $2.95
NOV012297 SCION #20 $2.95
STAR14691J SEPTEMBER 11 VOLUME 1 PI
NOV012520 SMILE VOL 4 #2 $4.99
NOV012163 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #106 $1.99
OCT012452 SUCKLE THE STATUS OF BASIL TP NEW PRTG (MR) $14.95
OCT012140 TERRY MOORES PARADISE TOO #5 $2.95
OCT012191I VAMPI #14 DLX ED $9.95
OCT012190 VAMPI #14 REG ED $2.99

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.