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: THE ATHEIST

With the recent box office success of CONSTANTINE and the return to our screens of DR WHO, you might almost be tempted to say there was a minor one-man-against-the-horrors-of-the-world renaissance going on.

Well, Image has decided to add a little more fuel to that fire with the release of THE ATHEIST, by Phil Hester and John McCrea. In Hester's own words, the lead character is, "A misanthropic genius who uses his off-the-charts intelligence to save the world from all sorts of bizarre threats. He doesn't do it out of the kindness of his Grinch-sized heart, but because these far out menaces are the only thing that stimulate him intellectually."

Hester's work has remained on the fringes of both the industry and the superhero ghetto. He's a man far more interested with the freaks and the freakish of the world, as exemplified by his best known work to date, THE COFFIN. Having to split his time between being an indie horror writer and the artist of some of the most main of mainstream titles, like GREEN ARROW and NIGHTWING, has created an almost-dichotomy between the two Phil Hesters - with the odd bit of bleed between. But this is resolutely THE COFFIN's Phil Hester, and it looks ever so promising.

To say it was all on Hester's back would be to miss another important draw to this project, John McCrea, the artist behind one of my most favourite series of recent time, HITMAN, and a rare talent whose art was obviously deemed "unsuitable" by the fanboys. He's skulked about on projects here and there since his collaboration with Ennis, but now he has something he can get his teeth into, something that suits his dirty tongue-in-cheek horror style and should help him make his mark. It took me a while to get used to his self-inked work without the pristine lines of Gary Leach (Avatar's new DICKS series helped), but they're perfect for this.

Image's non-stop rush to pump out as many new titles as possible would seem foolhardy in today's industry, but only if they can't all be as interesting as this. It's been a long time since the Image of old, which had a dozen or more CYBER-DEATH-FROG-NINJAK-SQUADS on its books, and favoured glossy splash pages of straining biceps over quality and interesting material. But now Image's monthly line up always brings something of note. Here's hoping THE ATHEIST can find itself a gap on the shelves and gain the readership support that Hester and McCrea deserve. I have faith in them. No pun intended. [John Fellows]

SUCK IT AND SEE

Having grown up a Marvel boy, I've always tended to buy a lot of the publisher's first issues. I've not bought nearly so many of its second issues, though. I try the series, I discover it only wants me for my money, not my brains, and I move on.

These days, my buying habits have changed. I still buy a lot of first issues, but even if I like the book, I rarely come back for the second. With Marvel's 'throw everything to the wall and see what sticks' approach to its trade paperback programme, I've taken to reading first issues just to get an idea of whether the eventual trade will be worth my time. The trades look better than the comics, they're often cheaper (sometimes they're digests), and I save myself from having to buy the same thing twice.

The policy has borne a lot of fruit lately. There's the Peter David MADROX series, which was a great throwback to his X-FACTOR days. Then there are the unlikely draws of the DR OCTOPUS and MAN-THING series and next month's HUMAN TORCH, none of which would normally spark my interest, but the first issues convinced me that the work of rising star artists Kaare Andrews, Kyle Hotz and Skottie Young were well worth my continued support. And this week there's BULLSEYE'S GREATEST HITS, which teams talented new writer Daniel Way with old warhorse Steve Dillon for what looks to be a solidly entertaining origin story.

Next on my personal hit list is TOXIN, by Peter Milligan and Darick Robertson. Milligan is one of comics' best writers, but his Marvel work can veer dramatically from the highs of X-STATIX to the bewildering lows of his current run on X-MEN. TOXIN is the story of the latest murderous spider-symbiote, and his frustrated host Pat Mulligan's attempts to use the monster's powers for good. It's billed as a dark comedy, and that should mean Milligan on good form. With redoubtable Roberston providing the pencils, it's a promising package, but it'll be up to that first issue to convince me that I want to buy the trade. [Andrew Wheeler]

THE CONUNDRUM OF THE AGE

One is "faster than a locomotive", the sole survivor of an alien world. The other is (allegedly) "the fastest man alive", granted the power of Peg-It by the mysterious Speed Force. In SUPERMAN VS THE FLASH (DC Comics), we will finally have an answer to the question that has taxed the minds of fandom since time immemorial: who's faster?

These heroes have raced on a number of occasions, and around a number of different tracks. They've raced to satisfy inscrutable alien punters. They've raced to raise money for the United Nations. They've even raced to save Jimmy Olsen from being burned at the stake (although, to be fair, Superman did dawdle a bit, that time). In fact the only thing that appears to have stayed constant has been the chap in the flappy red cape. There have been a number of Flashes, but only one Superman.

Contributors to Superman vs The Flash include Dan Jurgens, Curt Swan, E Nelson Bridwell and Jim Shooter. Younger readers may not remember Jim Shooter: he was a teenage boy hired to write stories for DC Comics in the 1960s, who grew up to be the seven-foot editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in the 1980s, and whose SECRET WARS series set the tone for many an event comic and crossover catastrophe to come. Shooter's contribution is an elegantly mental affair, and a masterclass in plotting and pacing.

The stories in this trade (a spoiler-filled guide to which may be found here) are, for the most part, a little bit of a throwback to a more innocent time: a time when superheroes palled around with each other without having to smash holes in each other's brains. If nothing else, SUPERMAN VS THE FLASH may come as something of a relief to the reader who has been a little shocked out of late. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR APRIL 13th 2005:

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

DARK HORSE

FEB050058 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #100 (MR) (NOTE PRICE) $5.99
FEB050064 CONAN & THE JEWELS OF GWAHLUR #1 (OF 3) $2.99
AUG040087V STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVENTURES VOL 2 TP $6.95
JAN050090 SUPER MANGA BLAST #50 (MR) $5.99

DC COMICS

FEB050259 ACTION COMICS #826 $2.50
FEB050251 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #190 $2.50
FEB050310 BATMAN STRIKES #8 $2.25
FEB050257 BATMAN THE GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD TP $19.99
FEB050267 BLOODHOUND #10 $2.99
FEB050275 BREACH #4 $2.50
FEB050351 FABLES #36 (MR) $2.50
FEB050256 GOTHAM CENTRAL #30 $2.50
FEB050283 GREEN ARROW #49 $2.50
FEB050295 JSA #72 $2.50
FEB050338 MAJESTIC #4 (MR) $2.99
FEB050326 MEGALEX VOL 1 TP (MR) $14.99
FEB050357 MNEMOVORE #1 (OF 6) (MR) $2.99
FEB050315 SCOOBY DOO #95 $2.25
FEB050328 STRONTIUM DOG THE EARLY CASES TP $14.99
FEB050263 SUPERMAN VERSUS THE FLASH TP $19.99
FEB050330 THIRTEEN TP $12.99
FEB050344 TOM STRONG #32 $2.99

IMAGE

FEB051582 ARMOR X #2 $2.95
DEC041513D ATHEIST #1 $3.50
FEB051585 BEYOND AVALON #2 $3.50
JAN051597 FLAMING CARROT COMICS #2 (NOTE PRICE) $3.50
MAY041415D FLIGHT VOL 1 GN $19.95
FEB051595 MORA #2 $2.95
JAN051609 NOBLE CAUSES #9 $3.50
DEC031335D SAVAGE DRAGON VOL 10 ENDGAME TP $15.95

MARVEL

FEB051893 BLACK PANTHER #3 $2.99
FEB051946 BULLSEYE GREATEST HITS TP $13.99
FEB051892 DISTRICT X #12 $2.99
FEB051923 EXILES #62 $2.99
FEB051927 GAMBIT #9 $2.99
NOV041793D IRON MAN #3 $2.99
DEC048295D MAN-THING WHATEVER KNOWS FEAR TP (RES) (PP #658) $12.99
FEB051870 MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #13 $2.99
FEB051886 MARY JANE HOMECOMING #2 (OF 4) $2.99
FEB051912 NEW THUNDERBOLTS #7 $2.99
FEB051936 POWERS #10 (MR) $2.95
FEB051948 SHE HULK VOL 2 SUPERHUMAN LAW TP $14.99
FEB051916 TALES OF THE THING #2 (OF 3) $2.50
FEB051938 THOR SON OF ASGARD VOL 2 WORTHY DIGEST TP (MR) $7.99
FEB051872 TOXIN #1 (OF 6) $2.99
FEB051882 ULTIMATE X-MEN #58 $2.25
FEB051881 ULTIMATES 2 #5 $2.99
FEB051930 X-MEN THE END HEROES AND MARTYRS #2 (OF 6) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

FEB052907F A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #11 (A) $4.99
FEB052908F A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #12 (A) $4.99
JAN052476 ARCHIE #556 $2.19
JAN052479 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #160 $3.59
FEB052498 COCOPIAZO #3 $2.95
JAN052728I DF GREEN LANTERN REBIRTH #5 SGN $49.99
FEB052577 FATHOM BEGINNINGS #1 $1.99
MAR052562E GOLD DIGGER VOL 5 PKT MANGA TP $9.99
MAR052520F HICKEE VOL 3 #1 (MR) $2.95
FEB052965F HOAX #1 (MR) $2.95
FEB052884F JERK THE RABBIT #2 (OF 5) (NOTE PRICE) $3.50
JAN052627 MEGACITY 909 JUNO JUNG CVR B #6 $2.95
JAN052626 MEGACITY 909 KANG & SUH CVR A #6 $2.95
FEB053089F MOSQUITO GN $12.95
FEB052509 NIL GN $12.95
FEB053091F SCALAWAG GN $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.