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: WAR STORIES

This week sees the publication of the second volume of Garth Ennis' WAR STORIES (DC Vertigo). As with volume one, the book finds Ennis collaborating with some of the finest names in British comics to produce four tales of courage under fire.

Ennis' books share a healthy respect for the ordinary soldier and a notable distaste for the powerbrokers and chess players who send them off to die. It's a theme that runs throughout war fiction, and in comics it has a strong precedent in Pat Mills' seminal CHARLEY'S WAR.

Cam Kennedy provides art for 'The Reivers', which focuses on an SAS mission into North Africa in 1942. Kennedy is a veteran of the genre, having served in the trenches of BATTLE, COMMANDO and 2000AD, but he is perhaps more famous for the nightmarish Vietnam fantasy LIGHT AND DARKNESS WAR. Kennedy's gritty art and sinewy characters are well suited to war comics, and a perfect match to Ennis' sensibilities.

V FOR VENDETTA co-author David Lloyd joins Ennis for the second story, 'J for Jenny', which examines the consciences of Allied bomber pilots on duty over Germany. Lloyd is a less angular artist than Kennedy, substituting grit for warmth. His most recent work is KICKBACK, a two-part detective story for the European market that's due to see print in English this summer.

The third story, 'Condors', finds four soldiers from opposing sides stuck in the same foxhole during the Spanish Civil War. Art is provided by Carlos Ezquerra, co-creator of JUDGE DREDD, whose previous Ennis-collaborations include the tongue-in-cheek RIFLE BRIGADE and the futuristic assassin drama BLOODY MARY. Ezquerra is one of the medium's best-kept secrets: an artist who can draw just about anything, and whose characters share a meaty gravitas.

Finally, Gary Erskine joins Ennis for 'Archangel', a tale of seaborne peril involving catapult-launched merchantmen (boats disguised as enemy vessels for infiltration and sabotage). Erskine's most recent work has been on Warren Ellis' JACK CROSS. He has a clean, classic line that's similar to that of Chris Weston, whose pencils he inked on THE FILTH and the first volume of WAR STORIES.

Garth Ennis is a modern master of the Western war comic. It's nice to see a creator getting to work with the themes that are important to them, without having to shoehorn them into pre-existing or inappropriate titles, and his choice of artists for these books reflects the long tradition of British war comics. [Matthew Craig]

HAPPY HANUKA

PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE (Alternative Comics) is the story of Mordy, who discovers that if you kill yourself, you end up working a dead-end job in a place that's pretty much exactly the same as the place you just left, except everyone bares the scars of their successful suicides. So, Mordy gets a job at a pizzeria, and goes about his afterlife as usual. Until he finds out that the girl he killed himself over is in town. So, he and his mates go on a road trip to find out why.

Adapted from celebrated Israeli writer Etgar Keret's own novella, KNELLER'S HAPPY CAMPERS, and brought to life by the pen of Asaf Hanuka, this is the first time PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE has been published as a whole in English, though it was serialized in the brilliant BIPOLAR, along with the work of Asaf's twin brother, Tomer. (A quick non-comic aside: KNELLER'S HAPPY CAMPERS is also basis for the movie WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY, starring Tom Waits, which was recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Novella, comic, movie: you can collect the whole set!)

Tomer Hanuka's short stories from BIPOLAR are collected alongside some of his other works from the past five years in THE PLACEBO MAN, also out this week from Alternative Comics, so if you like the work of one Hanuka brother, you've the perfect opportunity to check out the work of the other - and they're both well worth checking out. [Ben Wooller]

MONEY FOR OLD ROPE

There's no such thing as a bad comics character. Every character is somebody's favourite. Every character has a fan, somewhere, who is dying to see them revived, revised or restored to their former glory. From Absolom Daak to Zan the Wonder Twin, it seems as if there is someone for everyone.

Marvel's New Universe was an attempt to combine the creative magic of the 1960s Bullpen with a more contemporary (1980s) sensibility. It set the precedent for the Ultimate Marvel universe, amongst other things, by ditching many of the mystical and pseudoscientific tropes that had been run into the ground in the mainstream Marvel (and DC) universes.

Series included the technodrama CODENAME: SPITFIRE and the Captain Planetesque PSI-FORCE. However, despite the creative freedom afforded by not having to hew to 25 years of continuity - and despite blowing up Pittsburgh and declaring war on apartheid - the New Universe was dead before its fifth birthday. And unlike many comics from that era, the New Universe has stayed mostly dead. Until now.

This week sees the first in a month-long series of one-shots and short stories designed to give the old version of the New Universe one last tradepaperbackery hurrah. UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE sees new writers such as Tony Lee and Fred Van Lente take on these cult favourites, while reuniting New Universe veteran Peter David with one of his oldest characters. The first offerings come in the form of this week's AMAZING FANTASY (featuring a MARK HAZZARD: MERC short) and STAR BRAND.

Star Brand was, in most respects, the heart of the original New Universe. Created by then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, STAR BRAND was part-autobiography, part-GREEN LANTERN homage, which saw the resolutely ordinary Ken Connell granted the power to do whatever his imagination could conceive of. In the classic Marvel tradition, the book was as much about the protagonist's flaws as it was about his superpowers, and while there have been better versions of the same themes, it's hard not to look back on those early stories (featuring art by John Romita Jr) with a certain degree of affection.

This week's one-shot by Jeff Parker (INTERMAN) and Javier Pulido (HUMAN TARGET), sees the Star Brand come under the scrutiny of a pan-dimensional paranormalist. She wants to unlock the secrets of Ken Connell's power. He wants to unlock the secrets of her space-panties. It sounds like the comic of the year.

In fact the March event is not the end of the New Universe story; this summer sees Warren Ellis launch a new New Universe comic, a sprawling revisionist epic with the aggravating title NEWUNIVERSAL. A tabula rasa take on the concept, in the vein of J Michael Straczynski's SUPREME POWER, NEWUNIVERSAL promises to be closer to science fiction than superheroes, which will no doubt alienate fans of the original comics. All the more reason, then, to dive feet-first in to March's Old New Universe event. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 1st 2006:

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

DARK HORSE

JAN060078 HELLBOY MAKOMA #2 (OF 2) $2.99

DC COMICS

JAN060275 BATMAN SECRETS #1 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN060304 BLOOD OF THE DEMON #13 $2.50
DEC050310D CHIKYU MISAKI VOL 3 $9.99
OCT050298 EX MACHINA #18 (MR) $2.99
JAN060314 JONAH HEX #5 $2.99
JAN060318 JSA #83 $2.50
DEC050262D JSA VOL 10 BLACK VENGEANCE TP $19.99
JAN060333 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #19 $2.25
JAN060339 LOONEY TUNES #136 $2.25
JAN040278 MAXX BOOK TWO TP (MR) $17.95
DEC050312D MONSTER COLLECTION VOL 5 (MR) $9.99
JAN060321 OUTSIDERS #34 $2.50
JUL050271 PIECES OF A SPIRAL VOL 1 $9.99
DEC050297D SUPERMAN ADVENTURES VOL 3 LAST SON OF KRYPTON $6.99
DEC050298D SUPERMAN ADVENTURES VOL 4 THE MAN OF STEEL $6.99
JAN060384 SWAMP THING #25 (MR) $2.99
DEC050314D SWAN VOL 6 $9.99
JAN060362 TEAM ZERO #4 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC050305D TENJHO TENGE VOL 6 $9.99
JAN060361 THUNDERBOLT JAXON #2 (OF 5) $2.99
APR058272D V FOR VENDETTA TP $19.99
DEC050339D WAR STORIES VOL 2 TP (MR) $19.99
JAN060386 Y THE LAST MAN #43 (MR) $2.99

IMAGE

SEP051683 ANT #4 $2.99
AUG051670D BATTLE POPE COLOR #5 (MR) $2.99
OCT051731 FEAR AGENT #3 $2.99
AUG051690D NYC MECH BETA LOVE #5 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV051758D SHADOWHAWK #9 $3.50
AUG051642D SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 LTD ED HC $59.95

MARVEL

DEC051994D AMAZING FANTASY #18 $2.99
DEC051995D BOOKS OF DOOM #4 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC051998D DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #2 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN062025 DOC SAMSON #3 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN062106 ESSENTIAL OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE DELUXE ED VOL 1 TP $16.99
JAN062107 ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN VOL 1 TP NEW PRINTING $16.99
DEC052080D EXILES VOL 12 WORLD TOUR BOOK 1 TP $16.99
DEC051978D FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #5 $2.99
JAN062024 I HEART MARVEL MASKED INTENTIONS $2.99
JAN062038 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #13 $2.50
JAN062044 MARVEL MILESTONES STAR BRAND & QUASAR $3.99
JAN062029 MARVEL TEAM-UP #18 $2.99
JAN062030 MARVEL ZOMBIES #4 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN062040 MS MARVEL #1 $2.99
DEC058187J MS MARVEL TURNER SKETCH VARIANT #1 PI
DEC058186D MS MARVEL TURNER VARIANT #1 $2.99
JAN062067 NEW EXCALIBUR #5 $2.99
DEC052025D NEXT WAVE #2 $2.99
JAN062080 PUNISHER #31 (MR) $2.99
JAN062055 SENTINEL #5 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN062003 SPIDER-GIRL #96 $2.99
JAN062036 ULTIMATE MARVEL FLIP MAGAZINE #10 $3.99
JAN062034 ULTIMATE TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #10 $3.99
NOV051939D ULTIMATES 2 #10 $2.99
DEC052047D UNCANNY X-MEN #470 $2.50
JAN062063 UNDERWORLD #2 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN062049 UNTOLD TALES OF THE UNIVERSE STAR BRAND $2.99
DEC052051D X-FACTOR #4 $2.99
JAN062079 X-MEN THE END MEN AND X-MEN #3 (OF 6) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

DEC032738 ALICE 19TH VOL 3 GN $9.95
AUG053270E ALL NEW TENCHI MUYO VOL 7 TP $8.95
DEC052814 ARCHIE #564 $2.25
DEC052816 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #168 $3.59
OCT053176 BEOWULF #7 ALTERED STATES $2.99
JAN063242 BLACK COAT CALL TO ARMS #1 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC053304 COFFEE AND DONUTS GN $10.00
NOV053038F CYCLONE BILL AND THE TALL TALES TP (MR) $16.95
OCT052714 HICKEE VOL 3 #2 (MR) $2.95
OCT052728 LENORE VOL 3 TP $13.95
DEC053141 LOCAL #4 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99
SEP052687F PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE TP (MR) $14.95
SEP052688F PLACEBO MAN TP (MR) $14.95
DEC052969 PS238 #15 $2.99
FEB052996 QUEEN & COUNTRY DECLASSIFIED VOL 2 #3 (MR) $2.99
DEC052824 VERONICA #168 $2.25

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.