Welcome back to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's weekly look at the latest comic book releases. Every Monday we'll show you the week's shipping list from Diamond, and our four weatherworn wanderers on the waterways will make their picks of the most noteworthy new books hitting the shelves. Please note that the shipping list is subject to change, and that light bait is best for springtime trout fishing.

DOGGER PICKS:

100 BULLETS #26
Azzarello's Hellblazer isn't for me. This, one the other hand, very definitely is. Secrets, lies, and hot blooded murder, all dressed up by the far-too-talented Eduardo Risso. Normally, that is. This time round, Risso provides a framing sequence around some of the other top talents in the industry as this issue recaps the story so far. You're being given another chance to join in with this title. For god's sake, take it, because everyone will laugh at you if you don't.

ONI PRESS COLOR SP 2001
Everyone knows that Oni Press are putting out some of the most varied and interesting stuff out there, these days. This is a bumper special featuring some of their top talent providing a taster of the stuff they do. If you haven't checked out what Oni are up to lately, you owe it to yourself to pick this up and investigate, and if you have checked out what they're up to, you're no doubt looking forward to seeing more of your favourites, only this time, in colour.

CROMARTY PICKS:

100 BULLETS #26
Now this is unusual for a Vertigo series: a specially-designed 'jumping-on point' for new readers. This issue is a recap of the story so far, as told by 'Mr. Branch' and illustrated - in a move which seems to have become trendy - by a bewildering array of top artists: Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Dave Gibbons... you get the idea. Regular artist Eduardo Risso provides the framing sequence, and Brian Azzarello writes the whole thing. One has to be slightly cynical at a blatant plea for more readers - especially when the third collection is long overdue - but if ever a series needed a recap, it was INVISIB - sorry, I mean 100 BULLETS.

WAITING PLACE VOL 2 #9
If you aren't reading THE WAITING PLACE, you should seek immediate medical help, because there is clearly something wrong with you. This is a slice-of-life story which succeeds on every level - engaging, uncompromising, realistic and beautifully told by Sean McKeever and Mike Norton. The comic centres around teenager Jeffry's move from the big city to a remote, snowy backwater called Northern Plains, and the problems of fitting into a place which you'd really rather you weren't in to start with. Who can't relate to that? The large ensemble cast are all well-realised, the situations are universal, and if there was any justice in the world this comic would outsell X-MEN.

MEPHISTO AND THE EMPTY BOX
Top Shelf are, basically, people who do it right. They continually publish books which most executives wouldn't even raise their eyebrows at, and yet score nine times out of ten. MEPHISTO AND THE EMPTY BOX looks like being another hit - Jason Hall and Matt Kindt, the same people behind this month's PISTOLWHIP graphic novel (also from Top Shelf), are excellent craftsmen. And this tale of a newlywed couple whose lives are changed by the stage magician Mephisto sounds odd enough that it Just Might Work.

FISHER PICKS:

STEAMPUNK MANIMATRON TP
This collects the first five issues of a series I gave up reading on issue three. It also includes the two previews, Catechism and Idiosincratica. The reason I gave it up is that it was totally incomprehensible. Joe Kelly's inventive tale of an alternate London, powered and peopled by Victorian eccentricity, gets horribly lost in Chris Bachalo's delirious and dizzying art. It does look fantastic, but it's near-impossible to follow, and the erratic release schedule (it's a Cliffhanger book, kids!) didn't help matters. I'm sorely tempted to give this another chance, but I suspect I'll get as far as cracking the spine before I realise that, no, my poor waterlogged brain can't handle so much burbling nonsense. Pretty vacant.

WOLVERINE BLOOD DEBT TP
Steve Skroce is probably a very wealthy man on the back of his storyboard work for MATRIX 1, 2 and 3, so BLOOD DEBT could be the last of his comic work we see for a while. This trade collects the four issue story Skroce wrote and drew for WOLVERINE, in which our hero goes head-to-heads with a treachorous Yakuza family. The story's a bit overblown (betrayal and murder at every stage, leaving you slightly unsure who's dead and who's alive, not to mention who's on which side), but the highly kinetic art is the best we've seen from the former GAMBIT artist. This is a pre-Quesada Marvel story that sits comfortably in the new Marvel trade programme, and if it's produced on the same glossy stock, it'll make a handsome addition to your bookshelf.

DAREDEVIL: YELLOW #2
Apparently, this story is canon and Frank Miller's MAN WITHOUT FEAR is non-canon. If you care about such things, now is the time to stop caring, because while MAN WITHOUT FEAR is an excellent origin story, YELLOW is a disappointment. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's revisitation of Matt Murdock's early days in the Daredevil suit, back when his long johns were yellow, not red, is proving less appealing than the hype had promised. The team's DC works, LONG HALLOWEEN and DARK VICTORY, have received a lot of acclaim. Based on the first issue of YELLOW, they must have been a lot more exciting than this.

GERMAN BIGHT PICKS:

ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIAL 2001 & DARK HORSE MAVERICK 2001
The boss says that we're only allowed to make up to three picks a week, but he's a scurvy landlubber and I have pirate blood in my veins. So, being a cunning old trout, I'll glue these two together to make the perfect bumper summer fun anthology. In these Pritt-sticky pages you'll find a POWERS/MADMAN crossover story, GRENDEL, BARRY WEEN, Sergio Aragonés doing autobio comix and Frank Miller drawing USAGI YOJIMBO. It's too tough to choose between the two comics. You know I'm right: buy both.

FUZZ & PLUCK #1 (OF 4)
In which we follow the adventures of an understandably angry plucked chicken and a rather dim teddybear. Sounds cute? Don't count on it. Ted Stearn's idiosyncratic and surreal vignettes have appeared in many titles before now, and if my memory serves, started off in David Mazzucchelli's justifiably legendary Rubber Blanket. The relationship dynamic between the two protagonists is like Ren and Stimpy with extra venom, the art style reminds me a little of Kim Deitch and Kaz. If you think you can stomach that, it should be quality entertainment.

WITCH #1
Angry woman comics, but funny angry woman comics. Frustated shopgirls, mad cows and the horror of school - the stuff of nightmares is creative fuel to Lorna Miller. Miller's been making waves in the UK independent comics scence for a while, and now that she's got a US publisher let's hope she can make an impact without compromising her style. If Julie Doucet floats your boat, give this a try and hunt out the Slab O' Concrete WITCH collection while you're at it.

Comics shipping July 5th.

DARK HORSE

MAY010018 DARK HORSE MAVERICK 2001 (MR) $4.99
MAY010037 DIRTY PAIR SIM HELL REMASTERED #3 (Of 4) $2.99
MAY010024 JOSS WHEDONS FRAY #2 (Of 8) $2.99
APR010033 LONE GUNMEN $2.99
APR010034 LONE GUNMEN PHOTO CVR $2.99
MAY010026 PLANET OF THE APES HUMAN WAR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
MAY010027 PLANET OF THE APES HUMAN WAR PHOTO CVR #2 (Of 3) $2.99
APR010040 SUPER MANGA BLAST #13 (MR) $4.99

DC COMICS

MAY010521 100 BULLETS #26 (MR) $2.50
MAY010503 AUTHORITY #24 $2.50
MAY010459 BATGIRL #18 $2.50
MAY010463 BATMAN GOTHAM ADVENTURES #40 $1.99
MAY010454 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #145 $2.25
MAY010525 CRUSADES #5 (MR) $2.50
MAY010519 DESPERADOES QUIET OF THE GRAVE #3 (Of 5) $2.95
MAY010476 FANBOY TP $12.95
MAY010480 GREEN LANTERN #140 $2.25
APR010499 GREEN LANTERN DRAGON LORD #3 (Of 3) $4.95
APR010501 JACK KIRBYS FOURTH WORLD TP $12.95
MAY010486 JSA SECRET FILES #2 $4.95
MAY010500 LOONEY TUNES #80 $1.99
MAY010490 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #34 $2.50
MAY010492 SPECTRE #7 $2.50 DEC000436 STATIC SHOCK REBIRTH OF THE COOL #4 (Of 4) $2.50
APR010535 STEAMPUNK MANIMATRON TP $14.95
MAY010445 SUPERMAN #172 $2.25
MAY010513 WILDCATS VOL 2 #25 (Note Price) $3.50
MAY010495 YOUNG JUSTICE #35 $2.50

IMAGE

MAR011278 ARIA SOUL MARKET #3 $2.95
APR011330 CHASING DOGMA TP (MR) $12.95
FEB011287D FATHOM KILLIANS TIDE #2 $2.95
FEB011286D SAVAGE DRAGON #86 $2.95
FEB011244D SPAWN THE DARK AGES #26 $2.50

MARVEL

APR011671 AVENGERS #43 $2.25
MAY011627 DAREDEVIL YELLOW #2 (RES) $3.50
MAY011637 EXILES CVR A #2 $2.25
MAY011638 EXILES CVR B #2 $2.25
MAY011657 FANTASTIC FOUR #45 $2.25
MAR011561 INCREDIBLE HULK GROUND ZERO TP NEW PRTG $17.95
MAY011658 THOR #39 $2.25
MAY011651 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #11 $2.25
APR011651 WOLVERINE BLOOD DEBT TP $12.95

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR011954E ARCHIE DIGEST #182 $2.19
APR011957E BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #49 $1.99
MAR011896 BONE #43 $2.95
APR012244F DAHLIA VAMPIRE #2 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
MAR011980 DARKCHYLDE REDEMPTION #2 $2.95
APR012115 DORK SHADOWS THE COLL DORK TOWER VOL 2 TP $15.95
MAY012127 FIRST #9 $2.95
APR012245F FUTABAKUN CHANGE VOL 6 #5 (MR) $2.95
APR012170F FUZZ & PLUCK #1 (Of 4) (MR) $4.95
APR012342F GIRL GENIUS #3 $2.95
APR011907E MAD SCIENCE #1 (Of 6) $2.95
MAY012394 MEPHISTO AND EMPTY BOX $3.95
MAY012128 MYSTIC #14 $2.95
APR012249F OGENKI CLINIC VOL 7 #6 (A) $2.95
APR012299E ONI PRESS COLOR SP 2001 (MR) $5.95
APR011886F PABLOS INFERNO #5 (Of 5) (RES) $2.95
APR011908E PATTY CAKE & FRIENDS VOL 2 #3 (Note Price) $4.95
APR011909F PATTY CAKE VOL 1 SUGAR & SPICE MOSTLY SPICE TP $13.95
MAR012209 PIKACHU MEETS THE PRESS VOL 1 TP $9.95
APR012380E POKEMON ADVS PART 4 #4 (Of 4) $4.95
APR012000E RADIOACTIVE MAN #136 $2.50
APR011964E SABRINA VOL 2 #21 $1.99
APR012374E STEAM DETECTIVES VOL 4 TP $15.95
MAR012017 STRAY BULLETS VOL 5 TP (MR) $14.95
APR012180F UNDERWORLD VOL 4 DUH TP (RES) (MR) $9.95
APR012246F VAMPIRE PRINCESS YUI VOL 2 #5 $2.95
MAY012445 VILLIKON CHRONICLES #1 (Of 2) (MR) $7.99
APR011924E WAITING PLACE VOL 2 #9 $2.95
MAR012040 WEASEL #4 (MR) $4.95
APR011925E WITCH #1 (MR) $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.