Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week.

COMIC OF THE WEEK:

MY OWN LITTLE EMPIRE GN (AdHouse Books)
AdHouse Books, the people who brought us PULPATOON PILGRIMAGE, are putting out their third book, and it should be a good 'un. Scott Mills, previously a Xeric grant winner and prolific on the minicomics scene, has turned his third large-format book to the subject of autobiography. His last book, TRENCHES, came out through Top Shelf, and though it was a good story, it confirmed to me that his style is more suited to whimsy than action. MY OWN LITTLE EMPIRE is a tale of teenage folly, and should fall comfortably into whimsical retrospection. The teenage standards are here; school, live music and unrequited love. I'm looking forward to looking back with Mills and shaking my head with wonder at all that teenage stupidity and passion. [German Bight]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP (IDW Publishing) If you haven't already heard it, the story goes that 30 DAYS was originally conceived as a pitch for a movie. No one in Hollywood would bite, so writer Steve Niles collaborated with his HELLSPAWN partner Ben Templesmith to turn it into a comic. At which point Hollywood sat up and took notice, and optioned the comic. Frankly, it amazes me that the concept didn't set Hollywood alight; Barrow, Alaska, is a town so far north that it sees thirty days of darkness in the winter. And this winter, the vampires have arrived in town. Brilliant. Indeed, it was so engaging a concept that the issues of 30 DAYS flew off the shelves, and I never got my hands on a copy. I've heard plenty of good things about this book, but is it good enough to justify the eighteen dollar price tag for just three issues? [Fisher]

JENNIFER DAYDREAMER #1: OLIVER (Top Shelf)
Savvy comic readers in the mid-90s were probably familiar with Jennifer Daydreamer's mini-comics. Her comics didn't so much move from one point to the next as they drifted through a dream-like landscape. Emotional content was always high, and that looks to be holding true in her new book for Top Shelf, JENNIFER DAYDREAMER: OLIVER. The story of an adorable little boy in a devil suit. Daydreamer's new comic looks to be as infectious as ever as the narrative follows its own unique logic. It's been quite a while since Daydreamer's worked in comics, but this new work will hopefully serve as a way to reintroduce readers to the wonders of her books. There are several pages from OLIVER on display at jenniferdaydreamer.com under "Current Project", if you need additional convincing. [Plymouth]

TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD VOL 1 TP (AiT/PlanetLar)
Happy autobiographical comics? It'll never work. Yet Tom Beland's tale of finding and keeping love garnered enough positive crital buzz to convince even this jaded cynic to take a look. Volume one collects the first four issues of TRUE STORY and tells the tale of Beland's meeting with - and long distance courtship of - the woman who would become his wife. It's light in both tone and touch, and Beland has a lovely soft cartoon line in keeping with the blissfully upbeat subject matter. Go on, melt your cold, cold heart. This is true love. Swear to God. [Fisher]

CHANNEL ZERO: JENNIE ONE OGN (AiT/PlanetLar)
The original CHANNEL ZERO was a book that launched a thousand new design sensibilities for comics (well, inspired a few, anyway) and so the return of the protagonist, Jennie 2.5, in a prequel book is a welcome development. Writer and design guru Brian Wood takes a back seat on the art duties this time round, but he has a more than able accomplice in the form of artist Becky Cloonan. We're expecting barbed media criticism, pithy sloganeering and curious black rectangles all over people's faces, but we've been assured that this'll be something all together different. [Finisterre]

QUEEN & COUNTRY VOL 3: CRYSTAL BALL HC/TP (Oni Press)
Espionage, espionage, espionage. It's the coolest word in the English language that I can think of, and this is the coolest espionage comic ever. Even when the actual espionage takes a back seat and the story's just about Tara Chace having a breakdown, or Paul Crocker being a bit of a maverick, it's still fantastically interesting. And look, it's political! You'll learn things! And in the increasingly likely event of a global conflict, you could very probably build some sort of fortified bunker, if you buy enough hardbacks. If you don't buy QUEEN AND COUNTRY, the terrorists have already won. [Viking]

PICKS OF 2002:

In addition to our annual Lighthouse Awards, we've asked each of our Shipping Forecast critics to make their picks of the best of the rest of 2002. We round off the month with the picks of Viking and Dogger.

Viking: 2002 was an excellent year for Marvel, and NEW X-MEN was an excellent Marvel comic. Despite some rocky art, Grant Morrison's innovative writing has ensured one of Marvel's biggest titles remains a must-read. From the slightly less mainstream region of comics, I tremendously enjoyed a collection of Joe Matt's PEEPSHOW - FAIR WEATHER, a charming and funny tale of Matt's youth. Finally, 2002 was the pinnacle, like it or not, of nostalgic robot comics, and there was no comic better tuned to nostalgic tastes than TRANSFORMERS: THE WAR WITHIN. The fan-favourite writer, Simon Furman, on a fan-favourite franchise? Sign me up. But don't tell anyone.

Dogger: From a purely visual point of view, nothing in 2002 came close to touching Alan Moore and JH Williams masterpiece PROMETHEA. Half the joy of this book is that it makes its achievements with the form look effortless, and I'm looking forward to the finale later in 2003. For pure joy and laughs, though, I found myself turning to HOPELESS SAVAGES: GROUND ZERO. The second HOPELESS SAVAGES mini-series was even stronger than the first, and I'm looking forward to the next one enormously. And for something well outside what I'd expect to see in comics, Andi Watson's beautiful and elegant SLOW NEWS DAY collection was just blinding. Between them, these books represent what I love about comics.

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JANUARY 29th:

Shipping details come courtesy of Diamond. Visit the Diamond website for the latest information, as the list is subject to change.

DARK HORSE

NOV020022 KISS PHOTO CVR #6 $2.99
NOV020021 KISS RUBI CVR #6 $2.99
NOV020017 NEVERMEN: STREETS OF BLOOD #1 (Of 3) $2.99
NOV020019 USAGI YOJIMBO #63 $2.99

DC COMICS

NOV020773 CARTOON CARTOONS #15 $2.25
NOV020797 FILTH #8 (Of 13) (MR) $2.95
NOV020752 FLASH #194 $2.25
NOV020753 FLASH: ROGUES TP $14.95
NOV020781 GLOBAL FREQUENCY #4 (Of 12) $2.95
NOV020733 GOTHAM CENTRAL #3 $2.50
NOV020759 JLA #77 $2.25
NOV020764 LEGION #16 $2.50
NOV020782 RESISTANCE #5 $2.95
NOV020735 ROBIN #110 $2.25
NOV020786 ROBOTECH SOURCEBOOK $2.95
NOV020771 WONDER WOMAN #188 (RES) $2.25

IMAGE

AUG021213 SAVAGE DRAGON #104 $2.95

MARVEL
NOV022035 AGENT X #7 $2.25
NOV022052 AVENGERS #63 $2.25
NOV022048 CAPTAIN MARVEL #5 $2.25
NOV022079 ELEKTRA GREG HORN POSTER $5.95
NOV022029 HULK/WOLVERINE: 6 HOURS #2 (Of 4) $2.99
NOV022019 SHANG CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU #5 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
NOV022042 SPIDER-MAN PETER PARKER #52 $2.25
NOV022050 TRUTH #3 (Of 6) $3.50
NOV022022 ULTIMATE WAR #3 (Of 4) $2.25
NOV022030 X-STATIX #7 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

NOV022614 30 DAYS OF NIGHT TP (MR) $17.99
NOV022339 ARCHIE #532 $2.19
NOV022795 BASTARD!! #14: EMPRESS PART 4 (Of 4) (MR) $3.95
NOV022651 BONEYARD #9 $2.95
NOV022420 BRATH PREQUEL $2.95
NOV022800 CERES, CELESTIAL LEGEND VOL 3: SUZUMI TP $15.95
NOV022287 CHANNEL ZERO: JENNIE ONE GN $9.95
NOV022613 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION #1 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99
NOV025065 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION #1 (OF 5) LTD PHOTO CVR ED (MR $3.99
DEC022782 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION #2 (Of 5) (MR) $3.99
DEC022585 EDGE #11 $7.95
NOV022770 JENNIFER DAYDREAMER #1: OLIVER $4.95
NOV022348 JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #181 $2.39
NOV022422 MERIDIAN #32 $2.95
DEC022397 MY OWN LITTLE EMPIRE GN (MR) $9.95
DEC022420 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #4 $2.95
NOV022350 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #73 $3.59
NOV022426 PATH #11 $2.95
DEC022376 POP GUN WAR CURR PRTG #1 $2.50
DEC022377 POP GUN WAR CURR PRTG #2 $2.50
NOV022669 QUEEN & COUNTRY VOL 3: CRYSTAL BALL HC (MR) $30.00
NOV022668 QUEEN & COUNTRY VOL 3: CRYSTAL BALL TP (MR) $14.95
NOV022814 RANMA 1/2 PART 11 #11 (Of 11) $2.95
NOV022427 RUSE #16 $2.95
NOV022498 SANDSCAPE #1 $2.95
DEC022404 SKY APE: ALL THE HEROES TP $6.95
NOV022525 STRAY BULLETS #29 (MR) $3.50
NOV022403 TAROT: WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #18 (MR) $2.95
NOV022488 TRANSFORMERS: ARMADA #7 $2.95
DEC022403 TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD VOL 1 TP $14.95
NOV022353 VERONICA #136 $2.19
SEP022276 VICTORIAN #17 $2.95
JUN022452 ZENDRA VOL 2 #2 (OF 6) $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.