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 TYGER

Few things are as reliable in comics as Garth Ennis' PUNISHER. From the first pages of his six-year run on the character, he re-established Frank Castle as a man of pathological determination. And between mining a rich seam of gallows humour and confronting the reader with most of the darker, more vicious aspects of the human psyche, Ennis has also found time to explore the Punisher's past, in an attempt to discover what made him the man-mountain of mayhem that he is today.

Such attempts to enrich a character's origin story aren't always successful - for every BATMAN: YEAR ONE, there's a BLACK CAT (rape is not a Secret Origin) - but Ennis' first attempt, the Vietnam novel BORN, was a more than reasonable effort. BORN posited the notion that Frank Castle had gotten a taste for killing during the conflict, suggesting that the character had simply been waiting for an excuse to unleash his bloodlust. The story took the Punisher a small but significant step away from his hackneyed 'crazy vet' origins, and provided a nice foundation for the character's more contemporary (bloody) adventures.

As a bookend to the Punisher's story (alongside the remarkable PUNISHER: THE END), you would have thought that BORN would be enough. But no; this week sees the release of THE TYGER, a 56-page novella starring a ten-year-old Frank Castle. In the wake of a school chum's suicide, young Frankie Castle encounters a character of almost supernatural proportions - the eponymous Tyger - and starts along the long dark road to both Vietnam and the war at home.

I'm in two minds about THE TYGER. On one hand, it's Garth Ennis writing outside his comfort zone of war stories and superhero 'satire', with the legendary John Severin providing the art. On the other, it's another pre-origin origin story, and as such, another chance to screw it up. Additionally, the solicitation suggests that The Tyger might not be entirely human. This ties in to one interpretation of Frank's inner monologue from BORN - the notion that he made a deal with a supernatural entity of some sort in order to become the Punisher (sacrificing his wife and children in the process) - but it would alter the character irrevocably if he were to be revealed to be a pawn of anything other than his own dark desires.

That said, given Garth Ennis' low tolerance of mystical mumbo-jumbo, it's probably worth waiting to see what the real story is. [Matthew Craig]

AFTER SAM

The week after OUTSIDERS penciller Matthew Clark suffered a heart attack, and following on from Chris Claremont's severe health issues, we're reminded that the people whose names we see in the credits boxes of our monthly books aren't just robots - they're everyday folks who have problems like you or I, and who are most decidedly mercy to the same frailties as the rest of us. Clark is expected to make a full recovery, but that's sadly not the case for all comics creators.

In June 2005, Jeph Loeb's son Sam died after a three-year battle with cancer. He was a young talent who was starting to break into comics, and who had been tapped by DC to write SUPERMAN/BATMAN #26, a story about Robin and Superboy set during INFINITE CRISIS.

Sam sadly passed away before he could script the issue, but a veritable who's who of comics talents have lined up to pay tribute to him by completing the issue from his plot: Art Adams, Joe Casey, John Cassaday, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill, Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee, Pat Lee, Rob Liefeld, Paul Levitz, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness, Brad Meltzer, Carlos Pacheco, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Michael Turner, Brian K Vaughan, Mark Verheiden and Joss Whedon are all taking a turn at the wheel.

With talent like that behind it, you can tell that Sam Loeb meant a lot to a lot of people, and this kind of tribute is rarely seen in comics. The creators are all waiving their fees, and the art is to be auctioned in aid of the scholarship set up in Sam Loeb's name.

As I was writing this pick, news came through that Alex Toth had passed on. Let's appreciate the good ones we have left, and remember the ones we've lost. [Alistair Kennedy]

RAW POWER

Way back in the mists of time, a man started writing and drawing a CONAN parody which... no, not that one. This was perfectly happy to stay as a Conan the Barbarian parody and not start exploring the fearful woman-void and revisionist religions.

THRUD THE BARBARIAN was created in 1981 when Carl Critchlow was in art college (under the auspices of Bryan Talbot - random factlets grabbed from the internet, fans), making its debut in the fanzines. From there it moved to the place which secured THRUD a place in the heart of anyone who spent a portion of the 80s with mild lead poisoning and high on paint fumes: The Golden Age of Games Workshop's RPG-bible White Dwarf. (That's back in the day when it covered things other than Games Workshop.)

Meanwhile, Critchlow continued his career as a comic artist and illustrator, with his lushly rendered art finding a welcome home in post-Bisley 2000AD. You'll have most recently seen his work in the Simon Spurrier scripted 'Lobster Random'. (In short: Cranky old bastard with mechanical lobster claws on his back hurts people. But funny!) In 2002 he started on a stand-alone THRUD comic, distributed inside the UK, and in 2004 he won the Eagle Small Press Award, which is pretty good going for an eight-foot barbarian with a severe surfeit of musculature and an equally severe deficit of intelligence. And now, at last, THRUD is available through Diamond.

It's distinctly English. Its excesses showcase Critchlows talents for compelling grotesquery. And as the current wave of Barbarian-comics sweeps the shelves ravaging all they can see, it's clear that the moment is ripe for a parody. I suppose it's just incredibly fortuitous that a perfect one was standing on the edge of the scrum, waiting to crack some skulls in a suitably comic fashion. [Kieron Gillen]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MAY 31st 2006:

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

DARK HORSE

MAR060035D APOCALYPSE NERD #3 $2.99

DC COMICS

MAR060312D 52 WEEK #4 $2.50
JAN060368 ABC A TO Z TOP 10 AND TEAMS $3.99
MAR060280D BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #206 $2.99
MAR060303D CRISIS AFTERMATH THE SPECTRE #1 (OF 3) $2.99
MAR060320D ION #2 (OF 12) $2.99
FEB060281 JLA VOL 19 WORLD WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE TP $12.99
MAR060390D LUCIFER #74 (MR) $2.99
MAR060361D PIECES OF A SPIRAL VOL 4 $9.99
FEB060291 SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY VOL 3 TP $14.99
FEB060275 SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAUNTED TANK VOL 1 TP $16.99
FEB060236 SUPERMAN BATMAN #26 (NOTE PRICE) $3.99
JAN050285 SUPERMAN BATMAN VOL 1 PUBLIC ENEMIES TP $12.99
JUL050214 SUPERMAN BIRTHRIGHT TP $19.99
NOV058069D SUPERMAN THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP $19.99
MAR060346D TEEN TITANS GO #31 $2.25
MAR060338D WARLORD #4 $2.99
JAN060367 WRAITHBORN #6 (OF 6) $3.99

MARVEL

MAR062072D ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #5 $3.99
MAR062064D AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #532 $2.99
FEB062011 BOOKS OF DOOM #6 (OF 6) $2.99
MAR062085D DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #5 (OF 6) $2.99
MAR062158D ESSENTIAL OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE DELUXE ED VOL 2 TP $16.99
MAR068174D FANTASTIC FOUR 2ND PTG VAR #537 $2.99
FEB068182 HALO SAMPLER BOOK (PP #714) $0.99
MAR062087D INCREDIBLE HULK #95 $2.99
MAR062090D IRON MAN THE INEVITABLE #6 (OF 6) $2.99
MAR062082D MARVEL SPOTLIGHT MARK MILLAR STEVE MCNIVEN $2.99
MAR062135D PUNISHER THE TYGER (RES) (MR) $4.99
MAR062111D RUNAWAYS #16 $2.99
MAR062145D SENTINEL VOL 3 PAST IMPERFECT DIGEST TP $7.99
MAR062122D SON OF M #6 (OF 6) $2.99
MAR062123D STORM #4 (OF 6) $2.99
MAR062115D THING #7 $2.99
MAR062058D ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #5 (OF 5) $2.99
MAR062059D ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #30 $2.99
FEB068059J ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR LAND SKETCH VARIANT #30 (PP#710 PI
FEB068058 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR SUYDAM ZOMBIE VARIANT #30 (PP #710) $2.99
APR062038D ULTIMATE MARVEL FLIP MAGAZINE #13 $4.99
MAR062061D ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #95 $2.99
APR062036D ULTIMATE TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #13 $4.99
APR062100D ULTIMATES 2 #12 POSTER $6.99
MAR062153D WOLVERINE ENEMY OF THE STATE VOL 2 TP $16.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAR062958E BETTY #156 $2.25
FEB062946F DEADBEATS #77 $2.50
MAR063225E DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES VOL 18 TP $7.95
FEB062990 ELSINORE VOL 1 PSYCHO SANCTII TP $14.95
MAR063097F ELVIRA #157 $2.50
APR062878 EMO BOY #7 $2.95
FEB062814 GLOOMCOOKIE #27 (MR) $2.95
OCT052714 HICKEE VOL 3 #2 (MR) $2.95
MAR062963E JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #11 $2.49
MAR063243F LIVING WITH ZOMBIES #7 (MR) $2.95
FEB063204 LOCAL #5 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99
FEB063206 MY INNER BIMBO #1 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99
FEB042750 NEON GENESIS EVANGELION VOL 2 2ND ED TP $9.95
MAR062965E PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #103 $3.69
MAR063342E QUEEN & COUNTRY #30 (MR) $2.99
FEB062937F SHADES OF GRAY COMICS & STORIES GN $24.95
MAR062969E SONIC X #9 $2.25
MAR063081F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #38 (MR) $2.95
MAR063082F TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE DLX ED #38 (MR) $19.99
JAN063044F UPTIGHT #1 $2.50

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.