Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's core team of comment writers, the Ninth Eight, will be your guides to the best, worst, weirdest and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: TEENAGERS FROM MARS

TEENAGERS FROM MARS was one of those indie miniseries that appear out of nowhere, garner a whole heap of well deserved praise, and are destined to gain a cult following (ideal, given the B-movie connotation of the title). It got a lot of people talking, and the first three issues sold out, adding to that "Oooh gotta get it!" mystique. Not even fire could stop this thing.

When I first heard about TEENAGERS FROM MARS, I expected some kind of Paul Pope-y, kids running around on rocky, Martian landscapes, that kind of, thing. When I read that it was about a kid going to war over the Wertham-style prohibition of comics, I was even more sceptical. I had images of comic geeks "starting some shit", a la Jason Lee.

Instead, it turned out to be one of the best comics I've read in the last few years. Rick Spears and Rob G took a simple concept - censorship - and created the small town of Mars, an Anytown, a place kids have to get away from before ennui kills them. Macon is one of those kids, and in the space of the eight issue series, he loses his job, meets his dream punk, hangs out with zombies (as it were, and a good two years before zombie comics were hip), gets arrested, and wages a guerilla war on the local authorities - all in the name of comics (oh, and that whole freedom of expression thing).

The trade, the first book to come out of Spears' new company, Gigantic Graphic Novels, contains all the things trades should: preliminary sketches, never-before-seen stuff, and pin-ups, including one by Mike Diana, the inspiration for the story. [Ben Wooller]

BOTH YOUR HOUSES

According to my scorecard, it's Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Brian Bendis, Frank Cho, Bryan Hitch and Mark Millar at Marvel, with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Frank Quitely, Dave Gibbons, Jim Lee and Josh Middleton at DC. DC seems to have the stronger team, but it's not far behind Marvel when it comes to overexposing and diluting its talent pool, and DC's decision to poach Marvel boy Middleton looks just as petty and ill-considered as Marvel's grab for the distinctly DC talents of Lark.

Ah, but apparently that's not what this week's DC VERSUS MARVEL TPB is about. Shame, because the tit-for-tat battle of the exclusives is far more interesting than the crossover event collected in this trade, a relic of an age when neither company could muster a convincing swagger. These days both houses appear puffed with braggadocio as they reheat, recycle and retread, and even something as simple as a BATMAN/DAREDEVIL crossover is too great a challenge of diplomacy for their egos.

DC VERSUS MARVEL was a comic where the readers got to vote on the outcome of five key battles, with the lead icons at both companies reigning triumphant (Batman and Superman for DC, Spider-Man and Wolverine for Marvel), and the whole thing coming down to a Storm versus Wonder Woman clash. It was a pitiable gimmick that saw both companies put their pride on the line as they clung to each other like unsteady drunks. This year they're going toe-to-toe with more confidence in a new but equally lamentable game; whose ill-starred event can suck dry the most creators and best derail a whole universe; DC COUNTDOWN or HOUSE OF M? [Andrew Wheeler]

STARK TRUTH

On the surface, it seemed like a match made in heaven - the ultra-liberal shag-happy bucolic billionaire and the ultra-conservative Mormon author and commentator. But when it was announced that Orson Scott Card (ENDER'S GAME) was going to write ULTIMATE IRON MAN (Marvel Comics, art by Kubert & Miki), the divers alarums were more concerned with the author's politics than they were with what he might have to say about Tony Stark.

This raised an interesting question, and one that has yet to be answered to my satisfaction: can you really divorce the artist from the art? After all, Card's not the first author to say something objectionable outside of his fictional playground (whether you find his fictional playground objectionable is another story). Does it matter if the work is entertaining, but the writer is a jerk? Can a writer with an extreme viewpoint competently and objectively portray a character with a diametrically opposite moral code?

That might be the only good reason to read ULTIMATE IRON MAN: to see if a writer like Card - who might have been one of Tony Stark's most vocal critics, if Stark were real - can tell the story without compromising the character, or, for that matter, his beliefs. Common sense suggests that Marvel wouldn't be publishing the book if that were the case - foil cover or otherwise - but common sense and business don't always ride the same bus. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 2nd 2005:

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

DARK HORSE

NOV040051V STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVENTURES VOL 3 TP $6.95

DC COMICS

DEC048300 DC VERSUS MARVEL TP $15.95
JAN058057 HELLBLAZER FEAR & LOATHING TP $17.95
JAN050295 DEADSHOT #4 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN050264 DETECTIVE COMICS #804 $2.99
JAN050373 FABLES VOL 5 THE MEAN SEASONS TP (MR) $14.99
JAN050299 FALLEN ANGEL #19 (MR) $2.99
JAN050300 FIRESTORM #11 $2.50
JAN050351 INTIMATES #5 $2.99
JAN050308 JLA VOL 16 PAIN OF THE GODS TP $12.99
JAN050371 JOHN CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER SPECIAL PAPA MIDNITE #2 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN050311 JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE #9 (OF 12) $2.50
JAN050328 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #7 $2.25
DEC040310 LEGEND #1 (OF 4) (MR) $5.95
JAN050288 LEX LUTHOR MAN OF STEEL #1 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN050331 LOONEY TUNES #124 $2.25
JAN050362 PROMETHEA BOOK 4 TP $14.99
DEC040313 RAZORS EDGE WARBLADE #5 (MR) $2.95
JAN050287 SUPERMAN STRENGTH #3 (OF 3) $5.99
JAN050380 SWAMP THING #13 (MR) $2.99
JAN050324 TOE TAGS FEATURING GEORGE ROMERO #6 (MR) $2.99
JAN050360 TWILIGHT EXPERIMENT #2 (OF 6) $2.99

IMAGE

SEP041526D CASEFILES SAM & TWITCH #14 (RES) (MR) $2.50
NOV041597D DARKNESS #19 $2.99
DEC041520 DAWN THREE TIERS #5 (OF 6) (RES) $2.95
NOV041600D HUMANKIND #5 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV041596D RISING STARS #24 $3.99
NOV041599D TOMB RAIDER SGN #50 $19.99
DEC041582 TOP COW 2005 PREVIEW BOOK $0.99
OCT041534 VICTORY VOL 2 CVR A FRANCISCO #3 (Of 4) $2.95
OCT041535 VICTORY VOL 2 CVR B FRANCISCO #3 (Of 4) $2.95
NOV041554D WALKING DEAD #16 (MR) $2.95

MARVEL

DEC041746 ARANA HEART OF THE SPIDER #2 $2.99
JAN051847 CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #13 $2.99
NOV041824D DOCTOR SPECTRUM #5 (OF 6) (MR) $2.99
JAN051851 EXILES #60 $2.99
JAN051800 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #1 $2.50
JAN051843 MARVEL TEAM-UP #6 $2.25
JAN051829 SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL #2 (OF 7) $3.50
JAN051872 SPIDER-MAN VOL 5 SPIDEY STRIKES BACK VOL 1 DIGEST TP $5.99
JAN051798 ULTIMATE IRON MAN #1 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN051811 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #73 $2.25
JAN051802 X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE #1 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN051808 X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE ONE SHOT $3.99
JAN051864 X-MEN FANTASTIC FOUR #4 (OF 5) $3.50

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JAN052617E AFTERMATH DEFEX #5 $2.95
OCT042704F ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #8 (MR) $3.50
DEC042384 ARCHIE #555 $2.19
JAN052692I ARMY OF DARKNESS VOL 1 ASHES TO ASHES LTD ED HC $29.99
JAN052693I ARMY OF DARKNESS VOL 1 ASHES TO ASHES LTD ED HC SGN $69.99
DEC042606F ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #5 (OF 5) (MR) $5.95
JAN042140E ASPEN EXTENDED ED $5.99
JAN052612E D3 SHADES OF BLUE VOL 1 TP $10.95
SEP042615F DESIRE VOL 1 GN (MR) $12.95
JAN052615E GI JOE RELOADED #13 $2.95
SEP042616F IKEBUKURO WEST GATE PARK VOL 3 GN (MR) $12.95
DEC042499 MASCA VOL 1 GN (MR) $9.99
DEC042638 MICKEY MOUSE ADVENTURES VOL 2 TP $7.95
DEC042559F NODWICK #27 (RES) $2.99
DEC042710F ROCKETS & ROBOTS GN $9.95
JAN052431E SEAMONSTERS & SUPERHEROES VOL 1 TP $14.95
NOV042544 SOULSEARCHERS #70 $2.50
DEC042657F TEENAGERS FROM MARS TP (MR) $19.95
DEC042812F THE NORM MAGAZINE #7 $4.95
DEC042395 VERONICA #159 $2.19
DEC042498 WORLD OF NARUE BOOK 4 GN $9.99
DEC042558F WORST VOL 3 GN (RES) (MR) $12.95

The Ninth Eight are Matthew Craig, John Fellows, Kieron Gillen, Alistair Kennedy, Zack Smith, Andrew Wheeler, Ben Wooller and Bulent Yusuf.

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.