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.

BEETLE JUICE

DC twists the Event Comics dial all the way to eleven this week with the next instalment of the universe-spanning, senses-shattering, bookshelf-battering megastory born in the pages of IDENTITY CRISIS. DC Comics' COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS looks as deeply ominous as it sounds, with a hideous abortion of a cover that takes men as accomplished as Alex Ross and Jim Lee and smashes them into a mangled Brundlefly of an artist, recalling George Pérez as filtered through the eyes of a steroid-rage Francis Bacon.

The title suggests that we are but a few short steps away from a third world-walloping series, called INFINITE CRISIS. One assumes that "INFINITE" means that aftershocks from the event will spread backwards through time, as well as forwards, rewriting all our favourite comics as they go. So we can now expect to see things like Mirror Master skidding on Cliff Baker's punctured lung, Space Cabbie murdering hitchhikers, and Doll Man being arrested for importuning a My Little Pony, instead of all the good stuff...

I've always been fond of loser heroes, and the Blue Beetle is one of the biggest. A tubby technologist by the name of Ted Kord, Bluey's better moments have been as part of the old JUSTICE LEAGUE, or reinvented as the Nite Owl for WATCHMEN. Either way, the character is a poster child for cheerful mediocrity, and as the preview shows, he accepts this role with aplomb... which bodes ill for the future of the Blue Beetle.

DC has a bit of a habit of dragging out sacrificial lambs for these kinds of events. After all, nothing says "significant" like the brutal marmalisation of a low-rent cult favourite. In ZERO HOUR, it was the Old Farts Brigade; in EMERALD TWILIGHT, it was Coast City and the Green Lantern Corps; and in IDENTITY CRISIS, of course, it was poor old Sue Dibny. Judging by the cover to COUNTDOWN, it looks like Ted's next.

Still, at least he's got one thing going for him: unlike Sue Dibny, the Blue Beetle is a genuine superhero. So if he is killed, he won't stay dead long. And because it's DC, the resurrection will probably get a whole summer miniseries all to itself. And the Blue Beetle will finally be the star, instead of the spit-roast... [Matthew Craig]

THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES

After the disappointment that was ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE - an overly long "first act" that could have eschewed four of it's five issue run without any loss of clarity - comes the second in Warren Ellis' ULTIMATE trilogy, ULTIMATE SECRET. Now working his way through Marvel's 'Young Guns' like a rock-star through groupies, he's joined by Steve McNiven on art duties. After Trevor Hairsine was unable to meet his deadlines on NIGHTMARE, Steve Epting was brought on to assure it's timeliness. Here's hoping Niven's gorgeous linework can be witnessed on all four issues.

With the release of the fifth issue of ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE, Ellis's - and, indeed, Marvel's - plans for this trilogy became evident. It all had to lead up to something big and the "something" turned out to be Galactus. Or Gah-lak-tus, because Ellis knows that fear speaks phonetically. Ellis' work for Marvel has been surprisingly good (despite the letdown that was Ultimate Doom), perhaps because it's long-term work and not the restrictive thee-issue runs he'd tried before, and because it's forced him out of his usual genres and made him play with the rest of the kids in the superhero playground. The previews demonstrate some of his most obvious tics, but also hint at a more interesting plot this time around.

Niven's line-work looks to have evolved somewhat and has a firmness and maturity that saw him shoot to fame with only a few mainstream projects under his belt. His work at CrossGen (a business failure, its only lasting success has been as an artistic testing ground) and for Marvel on MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 got him this gig, and he deserves it. Whilst ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE may have seemed almost comically over-stretched, I'm sure the entire trilogy will work far better read as a whole. However, why spare yourself the monthly rush of superhero comics by some of the most creative people in the industry? [John Fellows]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 30th 2005:

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

DARK HORSE

JAN050077D BPRD THE DEAD #5 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN050055D CONCRETE HUMAN DILEMMA #4 (OF 6) (MR) $3.50
JAN050078D DAMN NATION #2 (OF 3) (MR) $2.99
NOV040039V RING VOL 0 TP $12.95
FEB050047D STAR WARS EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH #1 $2.99
JAN050044V STAR WARS EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH TP $12.95
DEC040031D USAGI YOJIMBO #82 $2.99

DC COMICS

JAN050266D BATGIRL #62 $2.50
JAN050262D BATMAN #638 $2.25
AUG040360D BATMAN HUSH VOL 2 TP $12.95
JAN050296D DC COUNTDOWN #1 $1.00
JAN050297D DOOM PATROL #10 $2.50
JAN050344D EL NINO TP (MR) $17.99
JAN050301D FLASH #220 $2.25
JAN050312D LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #4 $2.99
JAN050286D MAJESTIC STRANGE NEW VISITOR TP $14.99
JAN050353D OCEAN #5 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN050377D OTHERWORLD #1 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99
JAN050354D PLANETARY VOL 3 LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY TP $14.99
JAN050319D RICHARD DRAGON #11 $2.50
JAN050281D SUPERMAN FOR TOMORROW VOL 1 HC (RES) $24.99
JAN050327D TEEN TITANS GO #17 $2.25

IMAGE

JAN051587D AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #4 $2.95
OCT041506D CASEFILES SAM & TWITCH #15 (RES) (MR) $2.50
JAN051615D SEA OF RED #1 (MR) $2.95

MARVEL

NOV041813D ASTONISHING X-MEN #9 $2.99
JAN058103D ASTONISHING X-MEN LTD ED VARIANT #7 $2.99
JAN058104D ASTONISHING X-MEN LTD ED VARIANT #8 $2.99
JAN051827D DAREDEVIL REDEMPTION #3 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC041794D DOCTOR SPECTRUM #6 (OF 6) (MR) $2.99
JAN051835D FANTASTIC FOUR #524 $2.99
JAN051886D MADROX MULTIPLE CHOICE TP $13.99
JAN051823D MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #12 $2.99
JAN051838D MARVEL MILESTONES IRON MAN $3.99
JAN051841D PULSE #8 $2.99
JAN051840D SECRET WAR BOOK FOUR (OF FIVE) $3.99
JAN051818D SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #26 $2.25
JAN051873D SPIDER-GIRL VOL 3 AVENGING ALLIES DIGEST TP $7.99
JAN058124D ULTIMATE IRON MAN LTD ED VARIANT #1 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN051810D ULTIMATE SECRET #1 (OF 4) (RES) $2.99
JAN051826D X-23 #4 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN058063D X-23 LTD ED VARIANT COVER #2 (OF 6) (PP #661) $2.99
JAN051888D X-FORCE CABLE VOL 1 LEGEND RETURNS TP $14.99
JAN051866D X-FORCE SHATTERSTAR #2 (OF 3) $2.99
JAN051806D X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE #5 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN051855D X-MEN PHOENIX ENDSONG #4 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN058079D X-MEN PHOENIX ENDSONG LTD ED VARIANT COVER #3 (OF 5) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JAN052618E AFTERMATH BREAKDOWN #5 $2.95
JAN052888F ALONG THE CANADIAN #6 (OF 6) (MR) $2.95
JAN052482E BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #132 $3.59
DEC042480F DEADBEATS #70 $2.50
JAN052707I DFE ARMY OF DARKNESS SHOP TIL YOU DROP DEAD RED FOIL CVR #2 $14.99
JAN052767E DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES VOL 11 TP $7.95
JAN058032E GI JOE #40 2ND PRTG $2.95
JAN052620E HACK SLASH COMIC BOOK CARNAGE $4.95
JAN053035F HELLO AGAIN GN $10.00
JAN052454E I HUNT MONSTERS PKT MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
JAN052799F JANES WORLD #18 $5.95
JAN053031F MINISULK GN $8.00
JUL042493E STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 2 PKT TP $17.95
DEC042541E STUDIO ICE MU MARK LEE CVR A #3 $2.95
DEC042542E STUDIO ICE MU MOOK LIM CVR B #3 $2.95
JAN052558F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #31 (MR) $2.95
JAN052559F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE DLX ED #31 (MR) $19.99
JAN052560F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE PX PHOTO SGN #31 (MR) $15.00
FEB053001F TEMPORARY THE REAL ME #2 $2.95
DEC042536J UDON DARKSTALKERS JOE MAD CVR C POWER FOIL #4 PI
JAN052487E VERONICA #160 $2.19

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.