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:

EPICURUS THE SAGE TP (DC Wildstorm/Homage)
There's a double bill of Sam Kieth books this week, but this is probably the more hotly anticipated of the two. I've never read EPICURUS before, but people I know who I know know comics have nothing but praise for the two long-out-of-print graphic novels collected in this new edition. In a funnybook that takes Greek philosophy as its unlikely subject matter, writer William Messner-Loebs is said to have provided a smart, scathing satire on pompous intellectualism that takes on all the megastars of Greek thought along the way, as well as gods, generals and shepherds (though they all fancy themselves great thinkers, of course). When it comes to smart and funny, you couldn't ask for a better artist than Kieth, whose gifts for exaggeration and expression are hard to beat. A Greek classic; spare it a thought. [Fisher]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

ZERO GIRL: FULL CIRCLE (DC Wildstorm/Homage)
And here's the other one. Sam Kieth was discovered by a new audience with his first Homage mini-series, the original ZERO GIRL, a boldly weird paean to teenage hormones that was quite unlike anything else on the shelves. The follow up was the almost-as-excellent FOUR WOMEN - quite the most twisted thing I've read in ages - and then came this ZERO GIRL sequel, FULL CIRCLE, picking up the story several years later. Amy Smootster, the teen with a fear of squares and a magical affinity for circles, is now a grown woman, but there's a new girl in town in the form of Nikki, the troubled daughter of Amy's former school crush Tim - and she has an unrequited crush of her own to deal with. It doesn't match up to the brilliance of the original, but it should be a tighter read in trade than it was in monthly instalments, and Kieth's uncompromising visual dementia always provides an extraordinary experience. [Fisher]

BOP!: MORE BOX OFFICE POISON STORIES (Top Shelf)
Many years ago, I bought every issue of Alex Robinson's BOX OFFICE POISON, more by accident than design. I knew nothing of shipping lists back then but I would happen on each issue in turn at one or other of the comic shops I visited. I liked the book; it had a well-written continuing story and little back-up strips that were a pure outlet for Robinson's tastes and goofier humour. Then Top Shelf picked the story up and published it as a veritable brick of a paperback. It won awards and did rather better for itself then it seemed to as a series. However, the collection only contained the ongoing story, with the extraneous material excised to make for a smoother read. Now the tidy folk who don't clutter their lives with single issues of comics or dirty themselves in back issue bins are going to have the chance to see the BOP ephemera. There are 88 pages of it here, including the one-off BOX OFFICE POISON KOLOR KARNIVAL, re-presented here in glorious black and white. Ideally read after the previous collection, this will also appeal to lovers of quirk and may make a few converts to Robinson's work after a quick flick-through. [German Bight]

EL CAZADOR #1 (CrossGen)
You'd have to be blind, deaf and dead not to know that this summer's big-buzz movie is PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, so it's interesting to see that this week sees the launch of CrossGen's own piratical title, EL CAZADOR. It's difficult to see how that could have been deliberately planned, given that POTC has exceeded all expectations, but it seems Crossgen may have been handed a ready-made audience on a plate for this tale of a Spanish donessa who turns avenging pirate. With Steve Epting on pencils, it won't lack for grit and vigour. The only possible stumbling block comes from comments by writer Chuck Dixon that the book will be an "historically accurate" version of buckling the swash, which can't help but raise some questions about the excitement factor. Still: pirates. Arrrrr! [Cromarty]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR SEPTEMBER 10th:

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

DARK HORSE

JUL030039 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL: SHADOWS ONE SHOT #82 (MR) $2.99
JUL030022 CRIMINAL MACABRE: A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY #5 (Of 5) $2.99
AUG030023 DRAWING ON YOUR NIGHTMARES: HALLOWEEN 2003 SPECIAL ONE SHOT $2.99
JUN030017 HELL #2 $2.99
JUL030031 KISS ART CVR #13 $2.99
JUN030032 ULTRAMAN TIGA #1 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

JUL030166 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #620 $2.25
JUL030177 AQUAMAN #10 $2.50
JUL030153 BATMAN: BRUCE WAYNE, FUGITIVE VOL 3 TP $12.95
JUL030152 BATMAN: DEATH AND THE MAIDENS #2 (Of 9) $2.95
JUL030182 DEMON: DRIVEN OUT #1 (Of 6) $2.50
JUL030183 DOCTOR FATE #2 (Of 5) $2.50
JUN030217 EPICURUS THE SAGE TP (MR) $19.95
JUL030246 FABLES #17 (MR) $2.50
JUL030185 FALLEN ANGEL #3 $2.50
JUL030227 GEN 13 #13 $2.95
JUL030161 GOTHAM CENTRAL #11 $2.50
JUL030188 GREEN ARROW #30 $2.50
JUL030193 HERO #8 $2.50
JUL030194 HUMAN DEFENSE CORPS #5 (Of 6) $2.50
JUL030196 JLA #86 $2.25
JUL030201 JSA: ALL STARS #5 (Of 8) $2.50
JUL030202 JSA: STEALING THUNDER TP $14.95
JUL030203 JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #23 $2.25
JUL030163 NIGHTWING #85 $2.25
JUL030220 SCOOBY DOO #76 $2.25
JUL030235 STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #15 (MR) $2.95
JUL030175 SUPERMAN & BATMAN: GENERATIONS III #9 (Of 12) $2.95
JUL030171 SUPERMAN: BLOOD OF MY ANCESTORS $6.95
JUL030238 ZERO GIRL: FULL CIRCLE TP (MR) $17.95

IMAGE

JUN031232 DAWN: THREE TIERS #2 (Of 6) $2.95
MAY031210 DISTANT SOIL #36 $4.50
JUN031240 GI JOE/TRANSFORMERS MILLER CVR #3 (Of 6) $2.95
JUL031194 HEDGE KNIGHT MILLER CVR #2 (Of 6) $2.95
JUL031196 HELLHOUNDS SINGLEY CVR #2 $2.95
JUL031244 WILDGUARD: CASTING CALL NAUCK CVR #1 (Of 6) $2.95

MARVEL

JUL031479 CAPTAIN AMERICA #17 $2.99
JUL031528 EMMA FROST #3 $2.50
JUL031483 INCREDIBLE HULK #60 $2.25
JUL031481 IRON MAN #72 $2.99
JUL031500 KINGPIN #4 $2.50
JUL031512 MARVEL 1602 #2 (Of 8) $3.50
JUL031519 NEW X-MEN #146 $2.25
JUL031513 PUNISHER #31 $2.99
JUL031503 SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #4 $2.25
JUL031507 SUPREME POWER #2 (MR) $2.99
JUL031497 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #46 (Note Price) $2.99
JUL031517 ULTIMATE X-MEN #37 $2.25
JUN031592 VENOM #4 $2.25

OTHER PUBLISHERS

AUG031946 A SORT OF HOMECOMING #1 (Of 3) $3.50
JUL032139 ALIEN NINE BOOK 3 GN $15.95
JUN032066 ARCHIE #540 $2.19
AUG032537 BOP!: MORE BOX OFFICE POISON STORIES TP $9.95
JUL032326 DARK DAYS #3: 30 DAYS OF NIGHT SEQUEL (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
JUL032086 EL CAZADOR #1 $2.95
JUL032273 JANE'S WORLD #7 $2.95
JUN032077 LAUGH DIGEST #187 $2.39
JUL032107 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ICONS OF EVIL TRI KLOPS #1 $4.95
AUG031938 SOUTHPAW GN $9.95
JUL032163 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ANIMATED #4 $2.95
JUL032165 TRANSFORMERS ARMADA #15 $2.95
JUL032119 TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD #6 $2.95
JUN032419 VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE LUCITA (MR) $4.95
JUN032081 VERONICA #144 $2.19

The 9A Lighthouse Crew are Trafalgar, Shannon, Fastnet, Plymouth, Viking, German Bight, Finisterre, Forties, Dogger, Cromarty and Fisher.

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