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

TERRIFYING PROSPECT OF THE WEEK:

CABLE/DEADPOOL #1 (Marvel)
Sit down, children, while I tell you a story. Once upon a time there were a pair of second-tier X-titles, very different, and both good in their own way. First, we had AGENT X, starring Deadpool, which was a comedy/action series with added knob gags, ably written by Gail Simone and illustrated by those nice blokes at Udon. Now, Apocalpyse the Marvel Editor tasted this title, and said, it's too, too hot, cancel it! And the writer fled to an exclusive contract at DC. Then there was CABLE and SOLDIER X, starring, well, Cable, a darker-hued action series with stunning Igor Kordey artwork wasted on promising but slightly confused scripts by David Tishman and Darko Macan. Apocalypse the Marvel Editor tasted this title, and said, it's too, too cold, cancel it! After Apocalypse discarded these two titles, he sat down and thought about ways to make money off these characters again. "I know!" he said. "I'll just get in my magic time travel machine and drag both characters back to the 1980s, when many current comic readers weren't born yet (oops). I'll have Cable's original creator Rob Liefeld draw his grossly distorted, anatomically disastrous covers, and Deadpool's original creator, Fabian Nicieza, write plot-free strings of paper-thin gags, I mean scripts, for a new joint title!" And Apocalypse the Marvel Editor saw it, and said it was good, and commissioned Liefeld and Nicieza to produce an X-FORCE mini-series. And there was a wailing and a gnashing of teeth. [Shannon]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

HELLBOY THE CORPSE ONE SHOT (Dark Horse)
Come the movie adaptation, come the loss-leader comic. So it is with this 25c reprint from Dark Horse, ahead of the April release of the HELLBOY movie in North America (the rest of the world, inexplicably, must wait until the autumn). Mignola says 'The Corpse' as his favourite of his short stories, and this one shot comes with a little behind-the-scenes look at how the story has been replicated in the movie. Now, if you're already a HELLBOY fan, you've surely read this story by now. If you're not, and you're wondering what all the fuss is about, here's your chance to get a taste for Mignola's exceptional storytelling and damn near iconic art style. Discover HELLBOY, before it becomes, you know, 'mainstream'. [Fisher]

STREET ANGEL #1 (Slave Labor Graphics)
This little oddity slipped onto the shelves a couple of weeks ago, to some very good reviews, and while we may be a little late to the party on this occasion, never let it be said that we don't always enjoy a good party. STREET ANGEL looks like Allred crossed with Pope, and reads like Mahfood crossed with Milligan, and you can't ask for much better than that. The story of an urban skateboarding 'superhero' in a world where ninjas shoot hoops on the street and supervillains scheme to reunite the world's continents, it's refreshingly absurd, genuinely clever, and very funny. In fact, it's a credit to newcomer creators Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca that they can achieve all this without coming across as total smart arses. Issue two has pirates. Surely this is a cult hit in the making? [Fisher]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 24th:

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

DARK HORSE

JAN045235 CONAN #1 NEW PRTG $2.99
JAN040034 CONAN #2 $2.99
NOV030054D CRUSH #4 $2.99
JAN040024 FREAKS OF THE HEARTLAND #2 $2.99
JAN040022J HELLBOY THE CORPSE ONE SHOT PI
DEC030060 HELLSING VOL 2 TP $13.95
NOV030056D LONE #5 $2.99
SEP030021 SHREK TP $9.95
NOV030042D ULTRAMAN TIGA #6 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

JAN040275 AUTHORITY HARSH REALITIES TP (MR) $14.95
JAN040207 BATGIRL #50 (Note Price) $3.25
JAN040217 BIRDS OF PREY #65 $2.50
JAN040231 CAPER #6 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
JAN040239 GREEN ARROW STRAIGHT SHOOTER TP $12.95
JAN040242 HAWKMAN #26 $2.50
JAN040293 HUMAN TARGET #8 (MR) $2.95
JAN040247 JSA THE LIBERTY FILES TP $19.95
JAN040249 KINETIC #1 $2.50
JAN040294 LOSERS #10 (MR) $2.95
JAN040254 OUTSIDERS #10 $2.50
JAN040270 POWERPUFF GIRLS #48 $2.25
NOV030270D SMAX #5 (Of 5) $2.95
JAN040262 TEEN TITANS GO #5 $2.25
JAN040287 WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #19 (MR) $2.95

MARVEL

JAN041596 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL 6 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TP $12.99
JAN041544 AVENGERS #80 $2.25
JAN041580 CABLE DEADPOOL #1 (RES) $2.99
DEC031560D HULK GRAY #6 (Of 6) $3.50
JAN041558 INCREDIBLE HULK #69 $2.25
JAN041579 MYSTIQUE #12 $2.99
JAN041552 SILVER SURFER #7 (Note Price) $2.99
JAN041535 SPIDER-MAN DOC OCTOPUS OUT OF REACH #5 (Of 5) $2.99
JAN041562 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #4 $2.25
JAN041527 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #55 $2.25
JAN041533 VENOM #12 $2.99
DEC031586D WEAPON X #20 $2.99
JAN041577 X-STATIX #20 $2.99
JAN041581 X-TREME X-MEN #44 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS
JAN042798 ANIMERICA EXTRA APR 2004 VOL 7 #4 $4.99
JAN042116 ARCHIE DIGEST #206 $2.39
JAN042805 BASTARD VOL 3 TP 2ND ED (MR) $9.95
JAN042807 BIG O VOL 6 TP $9.95
JAN042043F DEMO #5 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
DEC032367 DEVIL MAY CRY #1 $3.95
JAN042008F FACTOR VOL 1 TP (MR) $9.95
JAN042339 GI JOE FRONTLINE VOL 2 TP ICEBOUND $12.95
JAN042341 GI JOE VS THE TRANSFORMERS VOL 1 TP $15.95
JAN042812 GUNDAM THE ORIGIN #10 $7.95
JAN042817 INU YASHA VOL 10 TP 2ND ED $8.95
JAN042815 INU YASHA VOL 17 TP $8.95
JAN042816 INU YASHA VOL 9 TP 2ND ED $8.95
JAN042820 MARIONETTE GENERATION VOL 5 TP $12.95
JAN042822 NAUSICAA OF VALLEY OF WIND VOL 2 TP 2ND ED $9.95
JAN042188 RADIOACTIVE MAN THE MOVIE ADAPTATION (RES) $2.99
NOV032660E RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 3 GN $7.95
DEC032164 SABRINA VOL 2 #56 $2.19
JAN042198F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #25 (MR) $2.95
JAN042199F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE DLX ED #25 (MR) $19.99
JAN042197F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE PX PHOTO CVR #25 (MR) $15.00
JAN042016F TEMPTATION TP $8.95
JAN042359 TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE VOL 3 #3 $2.95
JAN042467 UNCLE SCROOGE #328 $6.95
JAN042468 WALT DISNEYS COMICS AND STORIES #643 $6.95

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.