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: HELLBLAZER: HIGHWATER

Disturbed that John Constantine is being played by an American, as an American? Horrified that he's being played by Keanu "Woah" Reeves? Scared of the rumours of a "Constantine-mobile" and magic shotguns?

You're not alone.

I mean, people were originally horrified that Brian Azzarello was going to write HELLBLAZER. After all, a man renowned for a canny grasp of gangsta-speak scripting the misadventures of everyone's favourite blue-collared scouser magician seemed as out of place as Brian Michael Bendis writing SANDMAN.

Constantine is one of those characters who is the perfect vehicle for any type of story, be it the modern horror of Warren Ellis, the lonely haunted souls of Neil Gaiman's few visits, or the defining, mates-down-the-pub tales from Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. So when Azz trapped Constantine in America, in prison even, people were worried.

HELLBLAZER: HIGHWATER (DC Vertigo) collects the rest of Azzarello's run. And seeing as it's his fourth HELLBLAZER trade, then he must have been doing something right. (Ennis has got six trades to his name, and it doesn't look like they'll ever reprint Jamie Delano's original run. Crazy, topsy-turvy INIVISIBLES-esque reprinting schedules!)

I guess there's two things we can be thankful for. First, the CONSTANTINE movie might get some more HELLBLAZER reprints up and running (but then again, probably not). Second, Keanu won't be doing an atrocious English accent - BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, anyone? - and will instead be the blue-collared surfer magician we can all barely tolerate... [Ben Wooller]

WAITING FOR THE STRANGE

Let me tell you about an excellent comic, hamstrung by a wretched delivery system. STRANGEHAVEN (Abiogenesis Press) is an acclaimed and entertaining yarn about a remote, eccentric English village that nobody seems able to leave. The inhabitants of Strangehaven include an Amazonian shaman, a man who claims to be an alien, and members of a quasi-Masonic secret society that's equal parts sinister and goofy.

The book itself, admirably, is neither too sinister nor too goofy, as it could easily be in other hands. Creator Gary Spencer Millidge keeps the book well-grounded; the photographic realism of the art is mirrored in the cozy naturalism of the storytelling, and in the private lives of the (at least superficially) normal people where we see, all too recognisably, crumbling marriages, self-destructive affairs, and the sort of paralysis that only follows a really awful and unforeseen break-up. Everybody compares STRANGEHAVEN to the TV series TWIN PEAKS, but I think the qualities that make STRANGEHAVEN work are ones that TWIN PEAKS had no truck with - balance and restraint.

The problem is, STRANGEHAVEN hardly ever comes out. Ever since #12, the last issue to be collected in trade paperback form (there are currently two collections, ARCADIA and BROTHERHOOD, each containing six issues), STRANGEHAVEN issues have been published precisely a year apart. The issue out this week is #16. Imagine watching TWIN PEAKS episodes on a schedule like that. I hate saying it, but despite the handy recap pages, this is near-insupportable for a suspense comic. The meandering pace of STRANGEHAVEN's storytelling is charming, but the pace of its publication is frustrating.

One can hardly blame Millidge for this - he's a self-publisher, with nobody subsidising him, and so he has to devote most of his time to paying work. Further, STRANGEHAVEN is clearly an unusually labor-intensive book. Photo-realistic rendering is difficult enough in itself, but to do it in a way that breathes and that can be read sequentially with ease - that's damn near impossible, yet Millidge improves at it with every issue. So really, it's a wonder that the book gets done at all.

It doesn't make it any easier to wait, though. And I'm not sure I can hold out until issue #24, which, Millidge has promised, will provide closure for the book's main plots, and which is due to arrive, if the book holds to its annual schedule, in 2012. [Chris Ekman]

SCRATCHING THE ITCH

Bob Kane and his sweatshop's original vision for the character that became Batman included the visionary cinematic release NOSFERATU, the cloaked figure stalking the shadows. To say that Dracula's shadow doesn't fall over Batman would be short-sighted. His entire modus operandi revolves around scaring criminals into stopping. That it rarely works is more of a mark of the true horrors he's chasing, but that still makes him a monster, rather than a monster-hunter. That this horror element of the mythos has very rarely been used to the fullest is because he's had to share a universe with superheroes. But drop him into a different milieu and it's far more apparent.

Sam Kieth was one of the success stories of the nineties writer/artist anti-mainstream movement. His series THE MAXX struck a chord with it's vibrant, splashy artwork and off-kilter worldview, and went on to prove that talent can succeed - and not just in the comics industry. Kieth has been a little quiet up until the last couple of years, when he's popped up here and there on various projects. A few mainstream projects for Marvel on the 'money' icons, a couple of indecipherable creator-owned minis for a WildStorm subsidiary that no longer exists... But now he's being allowed to play in the DC Universe. And with the biggest icon there is.

Juxtaposing "the monster" with the monster, Kieth's 5-issue mini-series BATMAN: SCRATCH focuses on a young werewolf living in a small town. When kids go missing, he's immediately held responsible, but protest his innocence. A mystery fit for a Batman? The obvious comparison between a normal man who makes people believe he's a monster, and the monster who's actually normal but unable to convince people of it, should give Kieth plenty of story potential. It also gives him the opportunity to draw what he draws best - monsters. [John Fellows]

TALES TO ASTONISH

Joss Whedon has certainly done his homework. Where Grant Morrison's run on NEW X-MEN was largely an homage to the seventies Chris Claremont and John Byrne era, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 jumped headfirst into the post-Jean Grey era of the early eighties.

Morrison has been quoted as saying that his purpose on NEW X-MEN was to straighten up Scott Summers and to make him a much more interesting character. To that end, Morrison was a success, and Whedon seems to have no interest in undoing his work on Summers? character, or any of the other characters for that matter. But where Morrison is interested in the concepts he can plug his characters into to see how they react, Whedon is more interested in, quite simply, how the characters react to one another.

This interest in character development is what made his work on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL so successful and beloved. While you can see his affection for the characters, you also know that no one is going to get off easy. And the X-Men have always been the precursors to the Buffy universe, to which the X-Men are like Greek gods - extremely fault-ridden mythological characters.

This first issue of ASTONISHING X-MEN follows suit with other Marvel titles where the story is going to take a while to get moving; and yet, Whedon also wastes no time in introducing his team of X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast and Kitty Pryde) as well as a variety of interpersonal conflicts and the prospect of some superheroics in the next issue.

What seems to be the main propelling force of this book is how the X-Men have been through so many competing visions over the years and even though they might not get along (they might not even like each other at all this time around) they at least believe in what they're doing. This has always been a theme in Whedon's work - certainly, ANGEL ended at a point that reinforced the bravery in fighting insurmountable odds even when you've lost everything you thought you were fighting for in the first place. Superheroes have been deconstructed so much in the last few decades that it's a welcome change to see a title more involved in building these characters up again. We already know what makes them tick. Their insides have been splayed apart for all to see. But what no one's done successfully in a long while is put the X-Men back together again. Joss Whedon is just the person to do it. [Frank Smith]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JUNE 3rd 2004:

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

Memorial Day Notice: Due to the Memorial Day holiday, comics for the week of May 31 will arrive in US stores on Thursday, June 3, not on the usual Wednesday.

DARK HORSE

APR040103D BPRD A PLAGUE OF FROGS #4 (Of 5) $2.99
JAN045235 CONAN #1 NEW PRTG NORD CVR (PU#613) $2.99
APR040078D OH MY GODDESS #109 $2.99

DC COMICS

APR040275D BATMAN ADVENTURES VOL 1 ROGUES GALLERY TP $6.95
APR040276D BATMAN ADVENTURES VOL 2 SHADOWS AND MASKS TP $6.95
APR040268D DETECTIVE COMICS #795 $2.95
APR040302D ENGINEHEAD #3 (Of 8) $2.50
APR040306D FIRESTORM #2 $2.50
APR040313D HARD TIME #5 $2.50
APR040371D HELLBLAZER HIGHWATER TP (MR) $19.95
APR040325D JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #32 $2.25
APR040345D LOONEY TUNES #115 $2.25
APR040288D SCRATCH #1 (Of 5) $2.50
APR040378D SWAMP THING #4 (MR) $2.95
APR040361D THUNDERCATS ENEMYS PRIDE #1 (Of 5) $2.95
APR040363D WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #22 (MR) $2.95
APR040338D WORLDS BEST COMICS THE SILVER AGE DC ARCHIVES SAMPLER $0.99
APR040383D Y THE LAST MAN #23 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

APR031302D SPAWN #135 $2.50

MARVEL

APR041698D ALPHA FLIGHT #4 $2.99
MAR041688D AVENGERS THUNDERBOLTS #4 (Of 6) $2.99
APR041695D EXILES #48 $2.99
APR041681D MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR #3 $2.25
APR041677D MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #5 $2.25
MAR041675D MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 #6 $2.99
APR041680D SPIDER-GIRL #75 $2.99
APR041715D THANOS #11 $2.99
APR041701D THOR #80 $2.99
MAR041666D ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #6 $2.25
APR041661D ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #60 $2.25
APR041686D UNCANNY X-MEN #445 $2.25
APR041696D X-MEN UNLIMITED #3 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

MAR042570F ARTBABE PRESENTS LA PERDIDA #4 (Of 5) (MR) $4.95
APR042252 BEAR #5 $2.95
MAR042251E BETTY #138 $2.19
OCT032202 BONE #55 $2.95
MAR042602E DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES VOL 6 TP $7.95
MAR042464E DRAGONLANCE THE LEGEND OF HUMA #5 $2.95
APR042232 FANTASY LAND MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
APR042226 FULL METAL PANIC MANGA VOL 5 TP $9.99
MAR042174E GORDON YAMAMOTO AND KING OF THE GEEKS TP $9.95
MAR042255E JUGHEAD #158 $2.19
MAR042254E JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #193 $2.39
APR042267 LITTLE SCROWLIE #6 $2.95
APR042228 LOUIE THE RUNE SOLDIER MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
FEB042392F LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #10 (MR) $5.95
MAR042698F MOONSTONE NOIR BULLDOG DRUMMOND #1 (MR) $4.95
APR042463 NADESICO BOOK THREE TP NEW PTG $9.99
MAR042258E PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #85 $3.59
FEB042507F PHANTOM VOL 5 GN VALLEY OF GOLDEN MEN (RES) $6.95
APR042223 R2 MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
APR042230 RULER OF THE LAND MANGA VOL 3 TP (MR) $9.99
APR042231 SKY BLADE SWORD OF THE HEAVENS MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
APR042464 SLAYERS CITY OF LOST SOULS GN $9.99
APR042224 STEEL ANGEL KURUMI MANGA VOL 5 TP (MR) $9.99
APR042195 STRANGEHAVEN #16 (MR) $2.95
APR042233 SWEET & SENSITIVE MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
APR042229 THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES MANGA VOL 4 TP $9.99
MAR042368F TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #9 $2.95
APR042225 YOUR & MY SECRET MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99

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.