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: HOW LOATHSOME

This glorious series was thankfully accorded the collection it deserves courtesy of NBM last week - a sumptuous digest hardback edition, with freshly recoloured (or should that be 're-sepia-ed'?) internal art and an extremely reasonable price tag of $18.95.

It's the content that makes it such good value. While lurid tales of 'gender outlaw' Catherine Gore's adventures involving drugs ingested, fetishes indulged and genders inverted may not be to everyone's taste, the characters are vivid, recognisable, and bursting with personality. Sure, you may think them to be horrible, horrible people, but they are authentic and recognisable. There are no safe two-dimensional archetypes here.

Tristan Crane and Ted Naifeh's story manages to portray the dark world of alternative culture without dwelling on sordid details or dismissing it all as either kitsch kinkiness or devilish deviancy, and it carries a black and vital sense of humour throughout. Naifeh's art is a suitable mix of wiry, scratchy lines and velvet pools of ink, although now it has a lovely washed-out quality due to the sepia colours. Loathsome is probably the last word that should be used to describe this collection. [Lindsay Duff]

MY SECRET WAR'S NO SECRET ANYMORE

Remember SECRET WAR #1? It came out from Marvel about three months ago. Nick Fury plus secret ops team comprised of Marvel's biggest anti-hero heroes vs Bad Guys. Or at least that's what it said on the tin, and what we'll theoretically get once Bendis actually finds the gear marked 'plot' and engages it.

Bendis writes extremely clever dialogue - and boy, does he write it. Lots and lots of it, covering up all of Gabriele dell'Otto's lovingly rendered, fully painted art. So much dialogue that in SECRET WAR #1 they added a 5-page script at the back for an extra scene that added nothing to the overall story.

In fact, that's the big problem with SECRET WAR, and Bendis in general when he's rushed. Despite the forest of speech balloons, the plot of SECRET WAR #1 was so thin that Steranko could have fit it in one page, with room left over for random op-art designs and a gratuitous pic of Valentina in a bikini and white go-go boots.

Issue #2 will be worth picking up for Gabriele dell'Otto alone, but for those who missed #1, here's a Steranko-style recap:

PAGE ONE (AND ONLY). SIX PANELS.

PANEL 1: Luke Cage lies in hospital bed. Nick Fury stands over. Jessica Jones glares nearby.
FURY: How is Luke doing?
JESSICA: He's in a coma, idiot. Why are you here, Fury? What did you know about this attack?

PANEL 2: Fury testifying inside White House to Shadowy Government Types.
CAPTION: One year ago.
FURY: ... a villain called the Tinkerer, giving second-rate caped criminals access to vastly superior technology. Technology they are using to commit stupid, minor crimes, and revenge attacks on superheroes.

PANEL 3: Fury points to picture of hot black-haired Slavic babe.
FURY: Obviously, someone is bankrolling the Tinkerer's operation. Black Widow identified their backer in Latveria - their Prime Minister, Lucia von Bard-

PANEL 4: Shadowy government type.
G-MAN: Thank you, Mr Fury. That will be all.
FURY: But -
G-MAN (link): THAT WILL BE ALL, MR FURY. The government is not willing to endanger its political relationship with Latveria...

PANEL 5: Fury and Valentina, walking out of White House.
FURY: Dammit, Valentina, those pencil-pushers are stopping me from doing my job!
VALENTINA: That's nice, darling. What do you think of my new go-go boots? They were on sale!

PANEL 6: Fury standing over Cage again, looking regretful. Jessica Jones in background, still suspicious of Fury.
CAPTION: Present Day.
FURY (whispers): It's happening again... I should have done something before... [Alex de Campi]

THEY ARE LEGION

The most frequent lament that I hear from people who don't read DC's THE LEGION is that they wish the series were collected in trades. Well, good news. Although THE LEGION isn't being collected in trades any time soon, the current series is winding down with the promise of starting anew in the fall, as a result of some "big plans" DC have for the title, and this at least should provide the perfect jumping-on point for new readers.

In the interim, expect to see the kind of loose and accessible fare available in a long-running title that's about to take a breather. While this is generally the point in a series when new readers run as far away from a title as possible and old readers curse themselves for their investment in the series, there's also a bittersweet kind of pleasure in savouring the last few issues of a much-loved series that's winding down.

And yet, starting it over again feels a little like an acknowledgement of how maligned the series has been since Superboy was rendered obsolete during CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Here's hoping that DC can get THE LEGION on its legs again. The first and most important step - more important than ending the current series - might be to collect some of the relevant back issues in trades to grab the attention of new readers. [Frank Smith]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR MAY 26TH 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

MAR040038D CONAN #4 $2.99
MAR040056D STEVE RUDE THE MOTH #2 $2.99
FEB040022 ULTRAMAN TIGA #9 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

MAR040279D BATGIRL #52 $2.50
MAR040274D BATMAN #628 $2.25
MAR040284D BATMAN HARLEY & IVY #2 (Of 3) $2.50
MAR040342D CARTOON CARTOONS #30 $2.25
MAR040286D CATWOMAN #31 $2.50
MAR040300D DC THE NEW FRONTIER #4 (Of 6) $6.95
MAR040307D FLASH #210 $2.25
MAR040312D GREEN LANTERN #177 $2.25
MAR040313D GREEN LANTERN GREEN ARROW VOL 1 TP $12.95
MAR040318D JLA #99 $2.25
MAR040322D JSA ALL STARS TP $14.95
MAR040325D KINETIC #3 $2.50
MAR040326D LEGION #33 $2.50
MAR040355D PROMETHEA #30 $2.95
MAR040331D RICHARD DRAGON #1 $2.50
MAR040293D SUPERMAN #205 $2.50
MAR040336D TEEN TITANS GO #7 $2.25
MAR040340X THUNDER AGENTS ARCHIVES VOL 4 HC $49.95

IMAGE

MAR041430D DARKNESS VOL 2 #11 $2.99
DEC031335D SAVAGE DRAGON VOL 10 ENDGAME TP $15.95

MARVEL

MAR041647D ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 $2.99
APR045028D ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 1ST VARIANT CASSADAY ED $2.99
MAR045193D ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 2ND VARIANT DELL OTTO ED $2.99
MAR041687D AVENGERS #83 $2.25
MAR041699D IRON MAN #83 $2.99
MAR041660D MYSTIQUE #15 $2.99
MAR041684D SECRET WAR BOOK TWO (OF FIVE) $3.99
MAR041694D SILVER SURFER #9 $2.99
MAR041692D THOR #79 $2.99
MAR041665D ULTIMATE X-MEN #46 $2.25
MAR041671D VENOM #15 $2.99
MAR041658D WEAPON X #24 $2.99
MAR041677D WOLVERINE PUNISHER #3 (Of 5) $2.99
MAR041680D X-STATIX #23 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR042815 ALONG THE CANADIAN #2 (Of 6) $2.95
MAR042864E ANIMERICA EXTRA JUNE 2004 VOL 7 #6 $4.99
APR042322 ANT #1 (CURR PRTG) (O/A) $2.95
MAR042245E ARCHIE #548 $2.19
MAR042246E ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #152 $3.59
MAR042870E BOYS OVER FLOWERS VOL 6 TP $9.95
MAR042974H COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL #2 $24.95
APR042321 EZRA #1 $2.95
MAR042871E FIREFIGHTER DAIGO OF FIRE COMPANY M VOL 7 $9.95
DEC032753 FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 10 TP ENEMY (NOTE PRICE) $9.95
MAR042331E FUTURAMA COMICS #17 $2.99
MAR042465E GI JOE #30 $2.95
MAR042468E GI JOE RELOADED #3 $2.95
MAR042174E GORDON YAMAMOTO AND KING OF THE GEEKS TP $9.95
DEC032758 HOT GIMMICK VOL 3 TP $9.95
MAR042472E MICRONAUTS #3 $2.95
FEB043229I POWERS LTD ED HC (RES) $69.95
MAR042271E SOULFIRE #0 $2.50
FEB042295J STREET FIGHTER JO CHEN POWER FOIL CVR C #7 PI
FEB042694F TROGLODYTES GN $9.95
MAR042610E UNCLE SCROOGE #330 $6.95
MAR042259E VERONICA #152 $2.19
MAR042613E WALT DISNEYS COMICS AND STORIES #645 $6.95

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.