Welcome to The Forecast. Every Monday, Ninth Art's hand-picked team of crack comic pundits offer a rundown of some of the best, worst and most noteworthy books on the shelves of your local comic shop.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: THE LOSERS

After two and a half years of publication, THE LOSERS teaches us that it's better to burn out than to fade away. A story about a team of Special Forces soldiers who declare war on the CIA after their Agency handler tries to assassinate them, the stakes have steadily escalated to the point where it had to end with a big fuck-off bang rather than needlessly prolong the experience.

And what a bang; this is the issue where the team finally come face to face with Max, the sneaky no-good sonofabitch who double-crossed our protagonists in the first place. Rumour has it that not all of the cast will survive the confrontation, so brace yourself for a shock. There'll be no shame in crying manly tears of sorrow over the final frames, and you can even wear a black armband if you must.

Diggle and Jock are the team supreme, the comic book equivalents of Sam Peckinpah in his whiskey-soaked prime. They've delivered a thoroughly modern spy thriller that alternates explosive action with terse dialogue and subversive politics. Plus, they do a roaring trade in black comedy, a rare display of jocularity in the customary gloom of the Vertigo stable.

Now their collaboration is over, there are two small points of consolation on this momentous occasion. Firstly, there's a film adaptation in the works, which means that someday soon (and if it's done right) you'll see your favourite Loser up there on the big screen strutting their stuff. Secondly, there's the certainty that Diggle and Jock will be working together again real soon. Well, it's not so much a certainly as a desperate fanboy wish, but if enough people pester DC/Vertigo it will surely happen, right? Right? Right. [Bulent Yusuf]

RUNNING JUMP

It's nigh on impossible to satisfy some comics readers. They say that every story they read has been done to death already (though when you see that upcoming IRON MAN writer Daniel Knauf's arc is essentially the plot of ARMOUR WARS it's hard to argue), but when you give them a brand new book like CHASE, SENTINEL or AZTEK to peruse, they leave it for dead, and the clanging chimes of cancellation are never far behind.

Thank goodness for RUNAWAYS, then. Although Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona's critical darling (the only survivor of the ill-fated Tsunami line, barring the miniseries revival of SENTINEL) met a sticky end after eighteen issues, the success Marvel found with the digest collections, together with the increased status Vaughan has accrued since the original launch, has led to increased sales for the relaunch.

Following the story of six kids who have run away from home after discovering that their parents are supervillains, RUNAWAYS has met with plaudits for its twist-laden plotting, quip-tastic dialogue and likeable characters. This week's issue, featuring littlest hobo Molly Hayes, is a stand-alone story, and it's an ideal place for new readers to dip their toes in the water and see what they make of the book.

With strong writing and art, and covers by the likes of Jo Chen, James Jean and Marcos Martin, RUNAWAYS is a book that manages to deal with the history of the Marvel Universe without ever being hamstrung by it. With sales figures on RUNAWAYS now looking a lot more promising, it looks like this one could run and run. Don't leave home without it. [Alistair Kennedy]

BAT TO THE FUTURE

Maverick Nu Yoyker Paul Pope returns to the DCU after his stunning issue of SOLO with a new BATMAN mini-series, YEAR ONE HUNDRED. Pope's always been a man who works by his own rules, and it's a testament to his unique visual style that editors and publishers will let him. He's quite happy to flit between the comforting embrace of Vertigo with such series as 100% and HEAVY LIQUID and doing one-off projects for the super-heroists, such as X-STATIX, SPIDER-MAN: TANGLED WEB and BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS. Perpetuating the rock 'n' roll image that in turn entices hipper-than-thou indie kids and disgusts capes 'n' tights-loving nerds whilst refusing to be stuck in any box, Pope is one of comics' genuine stars.

And in this series, the titular man of bat takes a welcome break from the current madness of Red Hoods and Crises Infinite to return to his core values. This is the man who Pope wittily describes as "someone with the body of David Beckham, the brain of Tesla, and the wealth of Howard Hughes... pretending to be Nosferatu".

In this series Pope zips 100 years into the future from Batman's first appearance to the year 2039, where America has become a police state and no one has any privacy. Holy Satirists, Batman! The previews show Pope at his energetic best, with an aged Batman escaping from overbearing government agents. Hopefully there'll the emphasis will be more on Pope's kinetic interpretation of our generation's greatest action hero and less on the ham-fisted political allegory.

Pope has teamed with Australian design team Rinzen, who've worked for WIRED and THE FACE, to make sure the book looks the part. All of Pope's projects look gorgeous, and even if you don't like the particular style, at least it has a style. It's pulp, it's full of action, it looks gorgeous, it has its head in the present day without being held down by it; it's basically Paul Pope being Paul Pope. God love him for it. [John Fellows]

I KID YE NOT

Successful creators are rarely overnight sensations. For every HELLBOY there's a ROCKET RACCOON. For those who follow creators as well as characters, the impetus is always there to delve into the back issue mountain, hoping to uncover a hidden gem. People who discover Pete Milligan through his superb X-FORCE run might be pleasantly surprised by the whimsical identity crisis of ENIGMA, moved by the poetry of SKREEMER or buoyed by the violent dementia of JOHNNY NEMO.

Some creators have more work in print than others. Grant Morrison, for example, has a back catalogue that runs from ARKHAM ASYLUM to ZOIDS. Every now and again, one of Morrison's old projects resurfaces, hoping for another crack of the whip. Last year saw the Wildean fantasy SEBASTIAN O return to the shelves; this week it's the turn of KID ETERNITY to get the trade paperback treatment.

Kid Eternity is a character that has survived a number of shifts in publisher, focus, and aesthetic. Originally a cheeky child superhero from the Quality Comics stable, home of Plastic Man and the Blackhawks, Kid Eternity was a nameless apparition who had returned from Death with the power to summon and command any dead person. If he needed a shed built, he would merely shout "ETERNITY!" and Christopher Wren would appear, hammer in hand.

Incorporated into the DC Universe after a long period of inactivity, Kid Eternity was first absorbed into the Shazam family, then passed over to Grant Morrison for what became known as "the Vertigo treatment". Finally, Kid Eternity was turned into a MacGuffin for the writers of JSA and Teen Titans to abuse; apparently, he has fewer fans than Hawk and Dove.

Morrison's Kid Eternity, as brought to life by Duncan Fegredo, was 'revealed' to be a pawn of great metaphysical entities, hungry for redemption in the eyes of Heaven. The character, accompanied by a failed stand-up comedian, embarked on an odyssey reminiscent of the reticulated structure of Morrison's SEVEN SOLDIERS cycle. It's a clichéd, "everything you knew was wrong" origin for the character - and god knows, we've seen enough of those in recent years - but it's written by the Grant Morrison, who was then in the middle of his DOOM PATROL run - the same Grant Morrison who had just turned ANIMAL MAN into a metrotextual icon, and the same Grant Morrison who was about to do horrible post-modern things to Dan Dare. So while the premise might be less than edifying, the pedigree is second to none.

KID ETERNITY was Duncan Fegredo's first work for DC, preceding the aforementioned ENIGMA by two years. Fegredo's art continues to be characterised by a strong, inky line and expressive character work: his earlier work, however, was a touch more experimental in terms of palette and storytelling. This might be a culture shock to those readers attracted to the book by the clean lines of ULTIMATE ADVENTURES and JAY & SILENT BOB.

As companies scrabble to satisfy readers' hunger for more Morrison, there will invariably be some duds. KID ETERNITY may rate as one of his lesser works, but it's still worth investigating. Of course, those of us who remember Morrison from his 2000AD days know that there's at least one series in his back catalogue that still needs to see the light of day. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR FEBRUARY 15th 2006:

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

DC COMICS

OCT058229 LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED VOL 1 $9.99
NOV030217D SUPERMAN RED SON TP $17.95
DEC050231D BATGIRL #73 $2.50
DEC050229D BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #74 $2.50
DEC050226D BATMAN WAR CRIMES TP $12.99
DEC050223D BATMAN YEAR ONE HUNDRED #1 (OF 4) $5.99
DEC050252D BIRDS OF PREY #91 $2.50
DEC050302D DEVIL DOES EXIST VOL 5 $9.99
DEC050301D ELFQUEST THE GRAND QUEST VOL 13 TP $9.99
DEC050304D GALS VOL 5 $9.99
DEC050332D HELLBLAZER #217 (MR) $2.75
DEC050289D HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI #1 (OF 3) (RES) $2.25
DEC050268D JSA CLASSIFIED #9 $2.50
DEC050269D JUSTICE #4 (OF 12) $3.50
DEC050327D KID ETERNITY TP (MR) $14.99
NOV050327D LOSERS #32 (MR) $2.99
NOV050330D LOVELESS #4 (MR) $2.99
DEC050272D MANHUNTER #19 $2.50
DEC050274D SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY #2 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC050305D TENJHO TENGE VOL 6 $9.99
DEC050335D TESTAMENT #3 (MR) $2.99
DEC050309D YOUNG MAGICIAN VOL 3 (MR) $9.99

IMAGE

NOV051717D INVINCIBLE SCRIPT BOOK #1 $3.99
FEB045201 MAGE VOL 1 THE HERO DISCOVERED TP $29.99
AUG051642D SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 LTD ED HC $59.95

MARVEL

DEC051984D DAREDEVIL #82 $2.99
DEC051985D DAREDEVIL MCNIVEN VARIANT #82 $2.99
DEC052083D ESSENTIAL MOON KNIGHT VOL 1 TP $16.99
DEC052040D GENERATION M #4 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC052022D GIANT SIZE MS MARVEL #1 $4.99
DEC052074D HOUSE OF M MUTOPIA X TP $13.99
DEC052075D HOUSE OF M NEW X-MEN TP $13.99
DEC052005D I HEART MARVEL MARVEL AI $2.99
DEC052010D MARVEL ADVENTURES FLIP MAGAZINE #9 $3.99
DEC052011D MARVEL HEROES FLIP MAGAZINE #9 $3.99
DEC052024D NEW AVENGERS #16 $2.50
DEC052023D NEW MANGAVERSE #2 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC051989D PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #4 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC052028D RUNAWAYS #13 $2.99
DEC052043D SENTINEL SQUAD ONE #2 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC052034D SHE-HULK 2 #5 $2.99
DEC052032D SPIDER-WOMAN ORIGIN #3 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC051972D ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #27 $2.50
DEC052069D ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 13 MAGNETIC NORTH TP $12.99
DEC052053D X-MEN APOCALYPSE DRACULA #1 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC052056D X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS #4 (OF 6) $3.50
DEC052055D X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL #2 (OF 5) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

NOV052977F A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #28 (A) $4.99
DEC032738 ALICE 19TH VOL 3 GN $9.95
DEC052993 ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #10 (MR) $4.95
DEC052815 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #98 $2.25
DEC052818 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #140 $3.59
DEC053014 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #337 $2.95
OCT052723 EMO BOY #4 $2.95
OCT053323 EXALTED #3 POWER FOIL CVR ED $12.50
DEC053015 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #286 $2.95
JAN042824 NEON GENESIS EVANGELION VOL 1 2ND ED TP $9.95
NOV053042F REVOLUTION ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #2 (OF 6) $3.98
DEC052891 SIMPSONS COMICS #115 $2.99
OCT052948 SNAPDRAGONS COLL VOL 1 HERE BE SNAPDRAGONS TP (RES) $12.99
AUG058328F TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #16 (PP #691) $2.95
OCT052947 UNRULY A COMIX & LITERARY JOURNAL #1 $4.99
NOV052733E VAMPIRELLA REVELATIONS HORNE CVR #3 $2.99
NOV052735H VAMPIRELLA REVELATIONS HORNE VIRGIN CVR #3 $9.95
NOV052732E VAMPIRELLA REVELATIONS JUSKO CVR #3 $2.99
NOV052734H VAMPIRELLA REVELATIONS JUSKO VIRGIN CVR #3 $9.95

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.