The Shipping Forecast is Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week, courtesy of the fishing crew at the Ninth Art lighthouse. Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Check out the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change.

PLYMOUTH PICKS:

HAWKMAN #1 (DC Comics)
Very few people ever read the short-lived BLACK CONDOR series in the early 90s. The high point was Rags Morales's pencils, which gave the gangly lead character a look like no other - he really looked like he was flying. Not levitating, not hovering, not suspended in mid-air. Flying. Now add in James Robinson making the most unlikely of hits happen with STARMAN (and demonstrating a desire to write Hawkman within its pages), and Geoff Johns's solid, dependable writing skills... and by golly, with a team like this, HAWKMAN might be DC's surprise hit of the year.

CREEPS #3 (Image)
Forget X-MEN or DOOM PATROL; Dan Mishkin and Tom Mandrake really understand how to create a team book full of genetic freaks. With disturbing visuals, ambiguous heroism at best, and a strong gang mentality among its characters, this book subverts all the expectations of the average comic reader. It's the story of deformed, misshapen people who aren't out to save the world - they're just fighting to survive in it. Mishkin's writing is at its strongest ever, and Mandrake's artwork on SPECTRE and MARTIAN MANHUNTER seems to have been a warm-up for the powerful images of CREEPS. Fans of the late, lamented BLOOD SYNDICATE will like this - and so, I suspect, will most other readers as well.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

LONE WOLF AND CUB (Dark Horse)
For some reason this never shows up on the shipping list, which is a bizarre and grievous oversight to put it mildly. The publishers are calling this "America's best-selling manga" which doesn't surprise me in the least. With US creators like Frank Miller praising this series to the heavens, many people are discovering that manga has a lot more going for it than SF scenarios and big-eyed protagonists. This is epic stuff - we're a little over half way through a story that's going to take up 28 volumes of around 300 pages each. It's an intense window into an almost alien culture, governed by complex codes of honour and hierarchy.

The real selling point is Goseki Kojima's art, dwelling with as much care on the details of the natural world as on the visceral visual punch of the fight scenes, but Kazuo Koike's script also compels the reader into total immersion in the world of early Tokugawa-era Japan. LONE WOLF AND CUB deserves its status as one of the world's classic comic series. Much kudos to Dark Horse for republishing it both completely and affordably. The format of the books means that each contains at least four chapters, not all of which explicitly serve the main story thread, so it's easy for a new reader to pick up any volume and try the series out. So go on and do it.

SLOW NEWS DAY #5 (Of 6) (Slave Labor Graphics)
I know. Every time this comes out I keep on recommending it. Well, I'm sorry, but it's an appalling week for the forecast (even Oni's new title, MARQUIS, leaves me less than whelmed) so you're getting SLOW NEWS DAY again. Ahem. The standard German Bight SND review: SLOW NEWS DAY, Andi Watson, slice of life, yadda yadda, appealing minimalist art style, yadda yadda, ear for dialogue, waffle waffle, character-driven, drone drone; LOOK, JUST BUY IT! HAVEN'T WE TOLD YOU ENOUGH? blah blah blah. I'll say exactly the same when the trade comes out, you know.

VIKING PICKS:

SWAMP THING VOLUME 5: EARTH TO EARTH TP (DC Vertigo)
Alan Moore kick-started his U.S. comics career with Swamp Thing, telling the tale of a modern day Earth elemental trying to come to terms with what he is, while cohabiting in a swamp with his girlfriend Abby. To say that it's good is an understatement - SWAMP THING directly led to the formation of the entire Vertigo line. The art's utterly gorgeous - John Totleben's incredibly detailed style lends itself perfectly to the lush splash panels full of foliage, and the man's no slouch when it comes to storytelling, either. These are the horror stories that lead to HELLBLAZER and SANDMAN. You can't afford not to buy SWAMP THING.

FISHER PICKS:

CRY FOR BLOOD TP (DC Comics)
This is Greg Rucka's vivid tale of a vengeful and embittered young woman with ties to the crime family of a corrupt and decaying city, who finds herself framed for the murder of a local Mafia don, and has to make an unlikely allegiance to clear her name. Yeah, OK, so it's actually called BATMAN/HUNTRESS: CRY FOR BLOOD, but if I'd said that, would you have read this far? And doesn't it sound like it ought to be pretty darned good? Two things Greg Rucka does well are crime stores and stories with female leads, and Rick Burchett's linework is crisp and expressive. If you can resist judging a book by its spandex, this could be well worth picking up.

NOBLE CAUSES #2 (Image)
Yet more spandex! But in Jay Faerber's NOBLE CAUSES, the superhero mufti is just a cover for a soap opera story about a high-profile family plagued by scandal. Admittedly, a mix of soap operas, superheroes and National Enquirer headlines is a tough sell for some people (and a natural choice for others), but judging by the preview and the first issue, NOBLE CAUSES has the potential to be a real winner. Faerber is spinning a very tight and entertaining tale, and artist Patrick Gleason is a real discovery. In issue one, the book's supposed hero was killed. I'm fascinated to know where things will go from here.

Comics shipping in the US on March 6th:

DARK HORSE

DEC010041 3X3 EYES BLOOD OF THE SACRED DEMON TP (MR) $13.95
DEC010030 JOSS WHEDONS FRAY #7 (Of 8) $2.99

DC COMICS

JAN020569 BATGIRL #26 $2.50
JAN020572 BATMAN HUNTRESS CRY FOR BLOOD TP $12.95
JAN020565 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #153 $2.25
JAN020633 CRUSADES #13 (MR) $2.50
DEC010598 DIVINE RIGHT BOOK ONE TP $17.95
JAN020586 DOOM PATROL #6 $2.50
JAN020620 FARSCAPE WAR TORN #2 (Of 2) (RES) $4.95
JAN020622 GEN 13 SUPER-HUMAN LIKE YOU TP $12.95
JAN020595 HAWKMAN #1 $2.50
JAN020616 LOONEY TUNES #88 $1.99
JAN020644 SCI SPY #2 (Of 6) $2.50
JAN020607 SPECTRE #15 $2.50
JAN020579 SUPERMAN #180 $2.25
JAN020645 SWAMP THING VOLUME 5 EARTH TO EARTH TP (MR) $17.95
JAN020610 YOUNG JUSTICE #43 $2.50

IMAGE

JAN021547 CREEPS #3 $2.95
JAN021553 FUSED LEE CVR #1 $2.95
JAN021554 FUSED WOODS CVR #1 $2.95
JAN021555 GI JOE #4 (Note Price) $3.50
JAN021558 NOBLE CAUSES GLEASON CVR #2 $2.95
JAN021559 NOBLE CAUSES GREEN CVR #2 $2.95
DEC011515 OBERGEIST THE EMPTY LOCKET $2.95
NOV011516 POWERS #18 (MR) $2.95
JAN021573 UNIVERSE #6 $2.50

MARVEL

JAN021860 ALIAS #7 (MR) $2.99
DEC011838 AVENGERS #51 $2.25
OCT011902 AVENGERS CELESTIAL MADONNA TP $19.95
DEC011848 BLADE 2 BLOODHUNT TP $19.95
JAN021903 CITIZEN V & THE V BATTALION EVERLASTING #2 (Of 4) $2.99
DEC011851 ELEKTRA TP $15.95
JAN021874 EXILES #11 $2.25
DEC011841 INCREDIBLE HULK #34 POSTER $5.95
SEP011488 MARVEL CROSSOVER CLASSICS VOL III TP $24.95
DEC011840 MIGHTY MARVEL POSTER ORIGIN #4 $5.95
JAN021875 MUTIES #2 $2.50
OCT011900 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN ONE SMALL BREAK TP $16.95
JAN021869 SPIDER-GIRL #45 $2.25
JAN021888 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #20 $2.25
JAN021889 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN COLL ED NEW PRTG $3.99
JAN021876 UNCANNY X-MEN #404 $2.25
DEC011850 X-MEN ICONS CYCLOPS TP $12.95
JUN011636 X-MEN VIGNETTES TP $16.95

OTHER PUBLISHERS

OCT012164 AVAILABLE LIGHT HC $24.95
DEC012137 BETTY #110 $1.99
DEC012140 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #128 $2.19
JAN022706 CERES CELESTIAL LEGEND VOL 1 AYA TP $15.95
JAN022707 DRAGONBALL PART 4 #8 (Of 10) $2.95
JAN022709 DRAGONBALL Z PART 5 #3 (Of 12) $2.95
JAN022316F ELVIRA #107 $2.50
JAN022344 FIRST #17 $2.95
JAN022710 GUNDAM WING EPISODE ZERO TP $16.95
DEC012142 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #84 $3.29
JAN022284 LADY DEATH THE GAUNTLET #1 (Of 4) $2.99
DEC012520 MARQUIS DEVILS REIGN HELLS COURTESAN #1 (Of 2) (MR) $2.95
JAN022345 MYSTIC #22 $2.95
JAN022348 MYSTIC VOL 2 TP $19.95
JAN022648F RAGNAROK #2 (Of 4) $2.99
JAN022700 RANMA 1/2 PART 11 #1 (Of 11) $2.95
JAN022712 SILENT MOBIUS TURNABOUT #3 (Of 6) $2.95
DEC012289 SLAYERS SPECIAL #3 $2.95
DEC012290 SLAYERS SUPER EXPLOSIVE DEMON STORY #5 $2.95
JAN022177 SLOW NEWS DAY #5 (Of 6) $3.50
NOV012131 VAMPI #15 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.