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.

FISHER PICKS:

FOUR WOMEN TP (DC Homage)
This has got to be among the strangest books to come out from a Big Two imprint in the past year. Idiosyncratic and evidently somewhat eccentric auteur Sam Kieth tells the tale of four female friends whose road trip takes an extremely sinister turn upon the appearance of two sadistic thugs. It starts off a bit clunkily, telegraphing its theme of friendships placed under extreme pressure, and like Kieth's HULK/WOLVERINE, it looked in danger of not quite coming together at the end. Yet Kieth pulls it all together, and it's likely to be a much more satisfying read as a collected work. Twisted, empathetic and extremely unconventional, it's not quite ZERO GIRL, but it's well worth a look.

POINT BLANK (DC Wildstorm)
The latest from the new Eye Of The Storm 'mature readers' imprint is a spin-off series for WILDCATS' Grifter. Now, I've never read WILDCATS, but I get the impression it's not going to be a prerequisite for this Ed Brubaker-scripted spy noir saga. The solicitation copy all sounds a bit vague (the phrase 'a deadly game of cat and mouse' rears its ugly little head), but Brubaker's done such a good job on CATWOMAN - and LT BLUEBERRY artist Colin Wilson has such a solid pedigree - that I'm certainly going to give this a try. Besides, it leads in to an ongoing series with art by personal favourite Sean Phillips. As good a time as any to venture into WILDCATS territory.

DOGGER PICKS:

FILTH #3 (DC Vertigo)
People have called this confusing. They've said it's Grant Morrison going back to doing weirdness for it's own sake, rather than continuing with the accessibility of his work in NEW X-MEN. Ignore them. We're still only hearing the opening notes of this series, and what we're getting sounds fascinating. This is THUNDERBIRDS filtered through conspiracy theory and psychedelic culture, and it's very funny indeed. And it's illustrated by the absurdly talented Chris Weston, whose marvellous line and attention to detail make every page a visual feast, especially when coloured by Matt Hollingsworth. These are some of the finest talents in comics, producing one of the most interesting and different books out there at the moment. It's not to late to start reading this.

STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #2 (DC Wildstorm)
I heard people complaining that they didn't think that this title needed to be marked for mature readers - all it had that seemed mature to them were a few swear words. But when was the last time you read a straight superhero book that featured it's leads crawling through a sewer, and yes, having to stick their heads under the flow of effluent in order to get where they're going? I know that sounds like a faintly absurd point to make, but it's indicative to me of a more realistic approach to the subject. This is a book about soldiers, and the horrible things they have to do in order to do what is, in the end, a pretty questionable job. Maybe there wasn't much in issue #1 that seemed like conventional "mature readers" fare, but I think this at least bears looking at for a few issues to see where the creative team is taking it.

VIKING PICKS:

ULTIMATES #6 (Marvel Ultimate)
Too brilliant. ULTIMATES is the next inheritor of THE AUTHORITY's crown, taking on the role of the comic that is legitimately evolving the superhero genre as it goes. Artist Bryan Hitch provides an obvious continuity between the two books, but THE ULTIMATES one-ups THE AUTHORITY for sheer balls-out action and insane visual concepts, and the sense of pace is incredible. Last issue's solid rampaging Hulk-fest was among the greatest comic slugfests of all time, and I can hardly wait for the follow-up.

LUCIFER VOL 3 A DALLIANCE WITH THE DAMNED TP (DC Vertigo)
This book is probably in my top three titles currently coming out on a regular schedule. It's catapulted Mike Carey to impressive popularity, and Peter Gross provides some truly lovely art. The story is about the devil starting his own cosmos. What more, I ask you, do you need to know? This trade collects the fantastic storyline in which a bunch of demons in hell play at being in the Renaissance, and what happens when a sinner's soul is let into their circle. If it were a film, it would have half the media up in arms debating its literary worth. But it's a comic, so it needs me to tell you about it. And it needs you to buy it.

POWERS #22 (Image)
A lot of people I know dropped Bendis and Oeming's superhuman crime saga over the past year, citing repetitive storylines that killed their interest. I thought the same thing for a while, but after rereading the run I've completely changed my mind. The changes in the last few issues in particular, along with the hints at an over-arcing storyline for the series, have me well and truly hooked again.

Comics shipping in the US on August 14th:

DARK HORSE

MAY020060 3 X 3 EYES SUMMONING OF THE BEAST TP $14.95

DC COMICS

JUN020471 100% #3 (Of 5) (MR) $5.95
JUN020412 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #607 $2.25
JUN020397 AZRAEL AGENT OF THE BAT #93 $2.95
JUN020398 BATGIRL #31 $2.50
JUN020396 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #158 $2.50
JUN020425 DEADMAN #9 $2.50
JUN020478 FABLES #4 (MR) $2.50
JUN020479 FILTH #3 (Of 13) (MR) $2.95
JUN020469 FOUR WOMEN TP (MR) $17.95
JUN020426 GREEN LANTERN #153 $2.25
JUN020407 HARLEY QUINN #23 $2.50
JUN020482 HUNTER THE AGE OF MAGIC #14 (MR) $2.75
JUN020431 IMPULSE #89 $2.50
JUN020434 JLA #69 $2.25
STAR09925 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES THE BEGINNING OF TOMORROW TP $17.95
JUN020441 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES THE GREAT DARKNESS SAGA TP NEW ED $14.95
JUN020485 LUCIFER VOL 3 A DALLIANCE WITH THE DAMNED TP (MR) $14.95
JUN020409 NIGHTWING #72 $2.25
JUN020460 POINT BLANK #1 (Of 5) (MR) $2.95
JUN020442 POWER COMPANY #7 $2.75 STAR15955 ROAD TO PERDITION SC $13.95
JUN020462 STORMWATCH TEAM ACHILLES #2 (MR) $2.95
JUN020445 SUICIDE SQUAD #12 $2.50
JUN020449 YOUNG JUSTICE #48 $2.75

IMAGE

JUN021371 AGE OF BRONZE #14 $3.50
JUN021381 GI JOE #9 $2.95
JUN021393 MICRONAUTS #2 $2.95
APR021431 POWERS #22 (MR) $2.95
JUN021430 SUPERPATRIOT AMERICAS FIGHTING FORCE #2 (Of 4) $2.95
JUN021431 TOMB RAIDER JOURNEYS #6 (Of 12) (Note Price) $2.99

MARVEL

JUN021734 AVENGERS ICONS VISION #1 $2.99
JUN021760 BLACK PANTHER #48 $2.50
MAY021470 BLADE #5 (MR) $2.99
JUN021707 CALL OF DUTY THE PRECINCT #2 (Of 6) $2.25
STAR08843 ESSENTIAL INCREDIBLE HULK VOL 1 TP $14.95
JUN021759 IRON MAN #58 $2.25
JUN021735 NEW X-MEN #130 $2.25
MAY021536 NUFF SAID TP $21.99
APR025045 SPIDER-MAN MAXIMUM CARNAGE TPB NEW PRTG $29.99
APR021775 ULTIMATES #6 $2.25
JUN021703 WEAPON X KANE #1 $2.25
JUN021739 X-FACTOR #4 $2.50
JUN021742 X-TREME X-MEN #17 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAY021801 ARCHIE #526 $1.99
JUN022178 EDGE #5 (Note Price) $11.95
JUN022169 FIRST #22 $2.95
MAY021810 JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #177 $2.19
JUN022170 MYSTIC #27 $2.95
MAY021812 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #69 $3.29
JUN022239 SHIDIMA COLLECTED VOL 1 TP (O/A) $9.95
APR022021I VAMPI #20 DLX ED $9.95
APR022020 VAMPI #20 REG ED $2.99
MAY021816 VERONICA #130 $1.99
JUN022171 WAY OF THE RAT #4 $2.95

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.