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: AMERICAN VIRGIN

This week sees the first issue of Vertigo's unusual new series AMERICAN VIRGIN hit the stands. Unusual because, unlike PREACHER, HELLBLAZER or Y: THE LAST MAN, AMERICAN VIRGIN is a straight character drama, ostensibly without any fantastic elements.

The story sees Adam Chamberlain, a young evangelical minister and professional celibate, fall out of the glare and adulation of the public spotlight and into a world that, from his perspective, might as well be Hell on Earth. This causes Adam to question his faith, his choices and his psychosexual make-up as he is exposed to a wide spectrum of sexual (and violent) stimuli.

When I first heard about AMERICAN VIRGIN, my first response was glee. I find the notion of enticing, persuading, cajoling or pressuring people into signing 'virginity pledges' disgraceful, for reasons too long and depressing to go into here, so the notion of a series lampooning the hymen brigade made me quite happy. But having read this interview with series writer Steven T Seagle, it's clear that the book is aiming a little higher than straight satire.

Stories where characters are confronted with their own bullshit, or at the very least made to re-examine their own dogma, are fertile ground for drama. The external background to Adam's internal conflict - the agenda-driven mother with political aspirations, the absentee fiancée, the wild card sister (cf Y: THE LAST MAN) - would only seem to compound this drama wonderfully.

Art for the series comes from the pen of Becky Cloonan. Following the success of DEMO, Cloonan's plate has become rather full. She's combining her work on AMERICAN VIRGIN with production of her solo manga, the neopiratical EAST COAST RISING. As preview pages here and here demonstrate, Cloonan is a perfect choice for this sort of character-driven adult drama. Frank Quitely's stunning covers (somewhere between abstract pornography and grotesque Freudian nightmare) should help the series jump, or possibly thrust, off the shelves.

America - or maybe the world - exists in a state of sexual dissonance, where puritan disdain and liberal tolerance rub against each other like gimps in a phone box. AMERICAN VIRGIN looks set to exploit that contrast for all it's worth, carving a niche for itself not only within the Vertigo line, but also the wider world of comics as well. [Matthew Craig]

THE FAMILY WAY

'Retcon' is a dirty word to superhero fans. It's one thing to say that Mary Jane had always known Peter Parker was Spider-Man, but it's a bit more of a stretch to say that Doctor Light and others were crap villains because they'd been lobotomised by Zatanna, or that the whole of the Black Panther's previous comics history didn't actually happen. More palatable are the 'untold tales' style of stories, which reveal details without drastically affecting the state of play of the characters.

Joe Casey's already done a couple of series in this mould for Marvel; AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES, and X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM, which were pretty fun little numbers following the titular heroes over the earliest days of their teams. With that in mind, the idea of FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST FAMILY (a series bearing alliteration of which Stan Lee would be proud) is a welcome one.

Essentially following the same formula as the previous minis, FF:FF deals with the period immediately following the team's cosmic accident, as they struggle to get it together as a group and cope with their newfound powers. Casey's current work on GODLAND is a positive sign here - he's adept at writing Big Kirby-Crackle Action stories of the kind exemplified by the World's Greatest Comics Magazine, and he's a good choice for this kind of material.

Artist Chris Weston is a bit more of a doubtful proposition for this title - Weston's art is generally great stuff, but it's more often seen gracing the pages of books starring less simplistic characters, such as THE FILTH or WAR STORY. It's possible that Casey's story is an intimate character piece of the type that Weston is adept at, but if so, then that doesn't seem to be particularly FF-ish.

Whatever it turns out to be like, Casey and Weston are a talented pair, and the series is going to be worth checking out at least the first issue of. Just as long as they don't reveal that Reed Richards has always secretly been a clone of Hitler with Elvis's brain from outer space, it should all be fine. [Alistair Kennedy]

THE MISLAID GENERATION

The period between the Silver Age of comics and the rise of major creators in the 1980s is one that is often glossed over in considerations of comics history. It's as though there was a decade-long period between GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW and Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL where nothing happened. In today's age of creator-owned comics and company exclusives, it's sometimes painfully easy to forget that, once upon a time, there was just Marvel and DC, and it seemed like creators had nowhere else to go.

The Comics Journal has provided a taste of that era in THE COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY 6: THE WRITERS, featuring over 350 pages of creator ruminations from 1975 to 1985. It starts with Steve Gerber, who left Marvel over a dispute involving his character Howard the Duck at the start of this period, and ends with a one-on-one with a once up-and-coming SWAMP THING writer named Alan Moore.

These interviews provide a window into the realities of writing for Marvel and DC in the 1970s and 1980s. Len Wein talks about what it was like to transition from being a writer to an editor, while Steve Englehart talks about trying to transition to novels from comics. A double-interview with Marv Wolfman talks about the end of TOMB OF DRACULA in the late 1970s and the rise of THE NEW TEEN TITANS in the 1980s - and, in turn, the decline of the comics industry and the rise of the direct market.

A highlight is a lengthy interview with author Harlan Ellison, which sparked a lawsuit from JONAH HEX writer Michael Fleisher - and created a long-standing rivalry between Ellison and TCJ publisher Gary Groth. Ellison (who has said that this interview was reprinted without his permission) opens with a lament about how a number of writers seemed to lack the ambition to move beyond traditional superhero comics - a criticism that many still apply to the writers of today.

While there are any number of digressions in these interviews, and some of the discussions of then-current books doesn't hold up, each interview also contains a number of fascinating insights into what it was really like to be a comic book writer and/or editor during this time. Before Newsarama or Wizard, there was The Comics Journal - and this collection provides one of the few in-depth interviews of an era many have ignored. [Zack Smith]

VOICE FOR VENDETTA

This Thursday sees Alan Moore interviewed on BBC TWO's THE CULTURE SHOW in advance of next week's release of V FOR VENDETTA, the movie adaptation of the graphic novel by Moore and David Lloyd.

The film is more timely than ever: it opens as the left-of-centre-right British government is brusquely trying to pass laws that would make the glorification of terrorism a criminal offence. And its plot - a nameless antiestablismentarian in Guy Fawkes drag recruits an ordinary girl in his open war on a fascist British state - might seem to do just that.

While Moore has disassociated himself from the film, the fact that it exists at all in this climate is worthy of discussion - as is the original comic, which was re-released by DC last week.

THE CULTURE SHOW is on BBC TWO this Thursday, March 9th, at 7pm (8pm in Scotland). Clips from the show will be available from the BBC TWO website for a few days thereafter, though this service may not be accessible to overseas users. [Matthew Craig]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MARCH 8th 2006:

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

DARK HORSE

JAN060094 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #111 (MR) $2.99

DC COMICS

JAN060371 AMERICAN VIRGIN #1 (MR) $2.99
DEC050316D AUTHORITY REVOLUTION BOOK TWO 2 (MR) $14.99
JAN060286 BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN #5 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN060332 BATMAN STRIKES #19 $2.25
DEC050253D BIRDS OF PREY BETWEEN DARK AND DAWN TP $16.99
JAN060354 CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON #6 (OF 9) $2.99
DEC050310D CHIKYU MISAKI VOL 3 $9.99
JAN060376 EXTERMINATORS #3 (MR) $2.99
JAN060377 FABLES #47 (MR) $2.75
JAN060308 FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #23 $2.50
JAN060312 HARD TIME SEASON TWO #4 $2.50
JAN060337 HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI #2 (OF 3) $2.25
DEC050311D LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED VOL 7 $9.99
AUG050268D MATADOR #6 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC050322D MAXX BOOK SIX TP (MR) $19.99
DEC050312D MONSTER COLLECTION VOL 5 (MR) $9.99
JAN060346 MOON CHILD VOL 2 $9.99
DEC050313D PIECES OF A SPIRAL VOL 3 $9.99
JAN060328 SEVEN SOLDIERS MISTER MIRACLE #4 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC050314D SWAN VOL 6 $9.99
DEC050279D TEEN TITANS #33 $2.50
DEC050305D TENJHO TENGE VOL 6 $9.99
OCT050310 TOM STRONG #36 $2.99
OCT050311 TOMORROW STORIES SPECIAL #2 $6.99
JAN060363 WILDCATS NEMESIS #7 (OF 9) $2.99

IMAGE

JUL051613 ARTHUR SUYDAM ART OF THE BARBARIAN VOL 2 SKETCHBOOK SGN $14.99
SEP051671 DISTANT SOIL VOL 4 CODA LTD ED HC (RES) $29.95
DEC051816D DOWN #4 (OF 4) $2.99
FEB045201 MAGE VOL 1 THE HERO DISCOVERED TP $29.99
AUG051642D SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 1 LTD ED HC $59.95

MARVEL

JAN062065 CABLE DEADPOOL #26 $2.99
JAN062096 CABLE DEADPOOL VOL 4 BOSOM BUDDIES TP $14.99
JAN062023 FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY #1 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN062098 INCREDIBLE HULK PLANET HULK PRELUDE TP $13.99
JAN062039 MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #10 $2.50
JAN062037 MARVEL SELECT FLIP MAGAZINE #10 $3.99
JAN062035 MARVEL TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #9 $3.99
JAN062069 NEW X-MEN #24 $2.99
NOV052013D POWERS #17 (MR) $2.95
JAN062053 PULSE #14 $2.99
JAN062012 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #24 $2.99
JAN062070 SENTINEL SQUAD ONE #3 (OF 5) $2.99
JAN062068 SON OF M #4 (OF 6) $2.99
JAN062005 SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #14 $2.99
JAN062059 THUNDERBOLTS #100 $3.99
JAN061997 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #91 $2.50
JAN062046 UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE NIGHTMASK $2.99
JAN062077 X-MEN THE 198 #3 (OF 5) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

DEC053185 ATHENA VOLTAIRE FLIGHT OF THE FALCON #2 $2.99
DEC052817 BETTY #154 $2.25
JAN063242 BLACK COAT CALL TO ARMS #1 (OF 4) $2.99
NOV053038F CYCLONE BILL AND THE TALL TALES TP (MR) $16.95
JAN063225F DEVILS PANTIES #2 $4.95
DEC052922 ELVIRA #154 $2.50
OCT052979 GRENUORD #2 (OF 6) (MR) $4.95
DEC052819 JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #9 $2.39
OCT052728 LENORE VOL 3 TP $13.95
DEC052820 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #101 $3.59
NOV053041F PHANTOM VOL 1 GHOST WHO WALKS TP NEW PTG $17.95
SEP052687F PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE TP (MR) $14.95
SEP052688F PLACEBO MAN TP (MR) $14.95
JAN062801F SKY APE KING OF GIRLS ONE SHOT (MR) $4.95
DEC053045 SLAVE CONTRACT GN (A) $19.95
DEC052822 SONIC X #6 $2.25
SEP052767 SOULFIRE VOL 1 SLIPCASE ED HC SGN $69.99
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.