Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's weekly pick of the most noteworthy comic books hitting the shelves this week by way of Diamond.

We want to make this service as useful to you, the reader, as possible, so if you have any comments, please visit our Delphi forum and make your feelings known. We've already made a few changes, including making the forecast PDA compatible, and the Shipping Forecast will continue to evolve to meet your needs, so long as you tell us what those needs are.

One reader suggested we should ask our attendant mariners for some fishing tips to go alongside their comic picks. Well, who are we to quibble with public demand?

FISHING TIP: For reasons not yet fully understood, fish are influenced by lunar phases and the position of the moon, so you'll always get a higher yield during the new or full moon and during the three days either side. For a good catch, keep an eye on your lunar almanac.

Now on to this week's picks. Please note that the shipping list is subject to change, while the phases of the moon are usually reliable.

CROMARTY PICKS:

SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1
This series by Ed Brubaker (DEADENDERS, SCENE OF THE CRIME) and Bryan Talbot (THE TALE OF ONE BAD RAT, HEART OF EMPIRE) is about two English public schoolboys who appeared in just one issue of SANDMAN. Except that they're ghosts. And they want to be detectives. I mean, come on people. This is about as odd as it gets in terms of concept. I'm betting on this 'doing a LUCIFER' and being good enough to become an ongoing by next year.

RARE CREATURE TP
It could be argued that Slave Labor Graphics these days is synonymous with 'goth', and a cursory glance at RARE CREATURE wouldn't necessarily change that opinion. But Kelley Seda's bizarre fable - a girl befriends her deformed reclusive neighbour, and discovers passage to a freakish underworld - is much more than another persecuted-outsider angst-ridden tale. Seda's art, idiosyncratic and dreamlike, helps keep this comic a cut above. If you missed the original series, now is your chance to make amends.

DOGGER PICKS:

SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1 (Of 4)
Another SANDMAN cash-in. What's really irritating about the all these attempts to milk more money out of Neil Gaiman's legacy is that with very few exceptions, they've all been excellent comics, and this one promises to be no exception. With a creative team like Brubaker and Talbot, this promises to be one that should not to be missed.

EAGLE VOL 3 TP
I love EAGLE. It's a cracking (if sometimes simplistic) political drama, and a well-crafted tale about self-discovery. Each instalment never fails to leave me wanting more. In addition to that, if you slip one of these collected editions into the inside pocket of your jacket, it'll stop any bullets that might be aimed at your heart as handily as any bible.

FISHER PICKS:

PROMETHEA BOOK ONE TP
This paperback trade collects the first six issues of PROMETHEA, and any collection of Alan Moore's magical mystery tour is a fine and wondrous thing. Unfortunately, the first story arc was more than six issues long, begging the question, what were DC thinking when they made issue six the cut-off point for the first trade? Clearly PROMETHEA isn't going the SANDMAN route of easily defined story arcs, but even so, this strikes me as a rather unhelpful approach that won't help draw in new readers.

DAREDEVIL NINJA TP
Bendis' first run on DAREDEVIL is about to close, and his second run begins on the other side of summer (squeezed in among ELEKTRA, ALIAS, POWERS and his two ULTIMATE books. Yoinks!). This, however, is his first DAREDEVIL story, the three-issue NINJA mini, and to be honest, it's disappointing. The art by Rob Hanes is certainly original, and deserves attention, but the story is disappointingly light, and well below the work Bendis is producing on the main title. One for die-hard fans only.

OUTLAW NATION #10
I don't know when this first story arc is ever going to end. I'm beginning to fear the possibility of a 200-page trade paperback that falls apart as soon as you bend the spine. But it's safe to say that the story itself is still holding together nicely! (Ouch.) OUTLAW NATION has been building up nicely all through its first year. It's not as attention grabbing as some of the bigger name Vertigo books, nor is it as easy to pin down with a two-line concept, but it does serve up a gripping and highly enjoyable story month after month.

Comics shipping in the US on June 20th:

DARK HORSE

APR010051 GUNSMITH CATS MISTER V #9 (Of 11) (MR) $3.50
APR010030 USAGI YOJIMBO #49 $2.99

DC COMICS

APR010477 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #18 $2.50
APR010493 BIZARRO COMICS HC $29.95
APR010527 GEN 13 #66 $2.50
APR010528 GEN 13 LONDON NEW YORK HELL COLL $6.95
APR010530 JEZEBELLE #6 (Of 6) $2.50
APR010505 JLA GODS AND MONSTERS $6.95
APR010512 ORION #15 (Note Price) $3.95
APR010549 OUTLAW NATION #10 (MR) $2.50
APR010522 POWERPUFF GIRLS #16 $1.99
APR010537 PROMETHEA BOOK ONE TP $14.95
APR010486 ROBIN #91 $2.25
APR010551 SANDMAN PRESENTS DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #1 (Of 4) $2.50
APR010524 SCOOBY DOO SPOOKY SUMMER SPECIAL #1 $3.95
APR010488 SUPERBOY #89 $2.25
APR010487 SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #58 $1.99
APR010470 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL #115 $2.25
APR010511 TITANS #30 $2.50
APR010552 TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 5 LONELY CITY TP $14.95

IMAGE

APR011324 ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS COMIC BOOK #5 $2.95
JAN011234D MAGE THE HERO DEFINED VOL 4 TP $14.95
JAN011262D RISING STARS #15 $2.50
FEB011244D SPAWN THE DARK AGES #26 $2.50

MARVEL

APR011640 CABLE #94 $2.25
APR011666 CAPTAIN AMERICA #44 $2.25
APR011667 CAPTAIN MARVEL #20 $2.50
MAR011540 DAREDEVIL NINJA TP $8.95
APR011668 FANTASTIC FOUR WORLDS GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE #7 $2.99
APR011669 INCREDIBLE HULK #29 $2.25
MAR011569 INCREDIBLE HULK THE DOGS OF WAR TP $19.95
APR011656 PETER PARKER SPIDER-MAN #32 $2.25
APR011670 THUNDERBOLTS #53 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR012392E AQUA KNIGHT PART 3 #4 (Of 4) $3.50
APR011951E ARCHIE #511 $1.99
APR011953E ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #49 $1.99
FEB011803E BAD ART COLLECTION NEW PTG $1.95
APR012376E BANANA FISH VOL 5 TP $15.95
MAR011783 COME IN ALONE TP $16.95
APR012396E DRAGONBALL Z PART 4 #7 (Of 15) $2.95
APR012377E EAGLE VOL 3 TP $19.95
APR012397E EL HAZARD THE MAGNIFICENT WORLD PART 2 #5 (Of 5) $2.95
APR012029E JADE #3 $2.99
APR012301E JETCAT CLUBHOUSE #2 $3.25
APR011961E JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #167 $2.19
APR012030E LADY DEATH ALIVE #3 $2.99
DEC001768E LITTLE GLOOMY #5 $2.95
APR012162E MURDER ME DEAD #6 (Of 8) (MR) $2.95
APR012247F NEW VAMPIRE MIYU VOL 5 GN WRATH OF MIYU $17.95
APR012119 PALOOKA VILLE #15 $3.75
APR011963E PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #59 $3.29
APR012023E PURGATORI THE HUNTED #1 $2.99
APR012025I PURGATORI THE HUNTED #1 PREMIUM ED $9.99
APR012382E RANMA 1/2 PART 10 #3 (Of 11) $2.95
MAR011791 RARE CREATURE TP $12.95
APR012093E SCION #13 $2.95
APR012400E SILENT MOBIUS LOVE & CHAOS #7 (Of 7) $2.95
APR012350F SMILE VOL 3 #7 $4.99
APR012092E SOJOURN PREQUEL $2.95
APR011965E VERONICA #115 $1.99

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.