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.

EVENT OF THE WEEK: COMICA

If you're in London this week, drop in on the Institute of Contemporary Art on The Mall for the second annual Comica event, a week of comics-related exhibitions, panels and movie screenings.

Tonight there's the European premiere of the documentary THE MINDSCAPE OF ALAN MOORE, with a talk by Moore collaborators Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Oscar Zarate and Jose Villarubbia. The film is also showing Tuesday to Thursday.

The rest of the week sees panels featuring Craig Thompson, Johann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, David B, Dupuy and Berberian, Posey Simmonds and Quentin Blake, and Seth and Chris Ware are launching the comic book edition of literary magazine McSweeney's on Wednesday. For more details, visit the ICA website.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: STREET ANGEL

Are your reading habits tired, listless and flat? Do your comics lack bounce and shine? Is your retailer letting you down? Yes? Then you need STREET ANGEL from Slave Labor Graphics! Yes, STREET ANGEL - now with added Spanish pirates!

Of all the comics I've read this year, STREET ANGEL has done the most to shore up my faith in the form. It's the only great book this year to arrive under the radar and earn itself a following based almost entirely on word of mouth. Three months ago, creators Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca were unknowns. By the end of the year, if there's any justice, they'll be familiar names, because few creators make as indelible a debut as STREET ANGEL #1, as fun and vibrant a comic as you're likely to read. The book is a rare example of total newcomers arriving on the scene with something genuinely original to show you, and it's solid proof that, despite the industry's best efforts, real talent and innovation can still break through.

The titular hero, Jesse Sanchez, is a homeless skateboarding martial arts avenger who takes on the gangs of ninjas that infest her ghetto neighbourhood and wrecks the plans of maniacal supervillains, sometimes between panels. That's just how good she is. The book is smart, terrifically funny, and visually dynamic, and if the two creators get much better, they'll probably be unbearable. In fact, all the critical praise will doubtless go to their heads and they'll be crap by issue three.

Get a taste of STREET ANGEL #2 right here, and do everything the law will allow to get your hands on the first two issues. [Andrew Wheeler]

IDENTITY PARADE

Never has such an epic battle of two heavyweights been so eagerly anticipated as this machiavellian power-struggle. Not since Oasis vs Blur, not since Bruno vs Tyson, not since Saddam vs Bush. This is the ultimate battle, Ragnarok captured between 44 accumulative pages of four-colour glory. DC fights Marvel to the bitter end in what comic fans have been clamouring for since Superman first forgot to put his kecks on first.

Or possibly not. For anybody who isn't as attentive to comics news as a UN Weapons Inspector, both DC and Marvel are launching mini-series with similar-sounding names - DC's IDENTITY CRISIS, and Marvel's IDENTITY DISC. In an even more cynical move, Marvel actually renamed their mini and decided to launch it the same day. So what was initially an overblown mini from DC that promises to leave the DC Universe changed - for real this time! - is now an overly childish PR stunt that Marvel have hitched their wagon to.

DC's IDENTITY CRISIS tells of a mysterious death in the DCU ("Who could it be, obscure D-List super-hanger-on?" "I'm not sure, Batman. Why don't I open this suspicious package filled with white powder? Maybe the answers in here?") that all the super-heroes must solve. It's written by Brad Meltzer - the man with the unenviable task of following Kevin Smith on GREEN ARROW - and Rags Morales - from the highly respected and shortly lived HOURMAN series. It looks a pleasing enough murder-mystery.

IDENTITY DISC, on the other hand, is written by Robert Rodi, renowned only for the abominable Vertigo misstep CODENAME: KNOCKOUT and an ill-judged run on ELEKTRA that eventually led to it's cancellation. However, he's joined by Tony Harris (STARMAN) on covers and John Higgins (WAR STORIES), which should give it a pleasant enough look. It's essentially a super-villain team-up story involving a computer disc containing all the super-heroes secrets being stolen. Who's behind it? What will happen to the contents? Is that the right way to spell 'disc'? [John Fellows]

GIVE WAR A CHANCE

If you're British or Irish and older than about 25, chances are you grew up reading great UK war comics like COMMANDO, BATTLE or WARLORD. Now, I'm not British or Irish, but I knew a man who was, and he got me addicted to British war comics.

What's a nice girl like me doing reading things like these? Easy answer: the comics are consistent and incredibly high quality (there are over 500 issues of COMMANDO, and not a bad one among them); many have uncredited art by famous British comic artists; and... there's just something about war stories. It's the human experience pushed to its ultimate point, and its themes are evergreen: friendship, brotherhood, triumph over adversity and over self, and the search for a moral purpose in a world gone mad. And the wall to wall Panzers and Messerschmidts ain't bad, neither.

Garth Ennis obviously loves war comics too, because the four stories contained in the WAR STORIES VOLUME #1 anthology (DC Vertigo) are some of his best, subtlest and most complex writing in years. His military research is also impeccable. Out in time to coincide (more or less) with the commemoration of the D-Day invasion, the trade contains four 56-page stand-alone stories of World War II from very different viewpoints. Art is by luminaries such as Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd and Chris Weston, who draws tanks and fighters better than any man alive.

Actually, while you're at it, go buy Ennis and Weston's ENEMY ACE (also from Vertigo) - 'tis a joy and wonder to behold, with Weston getting deeply obsessive about drawing fighter planes. And the best news of all? There's another run of four WAR STORIES that Vertigo will hopefully collect in the coming year. [Alex de Campi]

DREAM CATCHER

New Kim Deitch comics are about as regular as a blue moon, and just as spectacular. Like his father, the legendary cartooning and animation giant Gene Deitch, Kim has carved out his own niche in graphic entertainment with his spastic, frenzied compositions, surrealistic story approach, and a more thorough understanding of the dynamics of sequential art than ninety-nine percent of its practitioners.

In the second issue of STUFF OF DREAMS, the Eisner-winning series from Fantagraphics (Best Single Issue 2002), Deitch again explores the life of the misunderstood eccentric and the transcendent powers of great art, just as he did in the fantastic BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS, though this time through the eyes of a self-exiled heir to a Czechoslovakian munitions dynasty who practices his art through the medium of fireworks.

Deitch's sporadic release rate and inability to capture the attention of the comics readership at large has driven some to call him "the forgotten master of underground comix", and that may very well be true: while he has nowhere near the recognition and acclaim of stalwarts R Crumb or Spain, his talent easily places him shoulder to shoulder with his accomplished peers.

If you remain uninitiated to the hectic world of Kim Deitch, grab yourself a copy of THE STUFF OF DREAMS #2 and discover the mastery you've been missing. [John Parker]

TURN ON, TUNE IN

It's too late for me to tell you to jump onto GLOBAL FREQUENCY now, because this is the last issue. But don't worry, there's a trade out for the first half of the series, and a TV show on the way.

GLOBAL FREQUENCY was originally notable for positing the idea of having each issue self-contained (although there have been some threads running through it), as well as having a different artist each issue, with the coup of having Garry Leach's (MIRACLEMAN) return to comics proper after years in advertising (and inking HITMAN). The first issue of GLOBAL FREQUENCY was Leach's most significant comic work in a decade. Sure, that probably doesn't mean much to the kids these days, who only know MIRACLEMAN as something Todd McFarlane's been in court for, and who complain endlessly about the lateness of Ellis's other work, but it means something to those of us who remember the good ole days.

While Ellis's stories here have been hit and miss (featuring some of his favourite topics, like out of control cyborgs, suicide cults, badly-caricatured Australians and love conquering all), it's the art roster than was worth paying attention to. Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry, Jon J Muth, David Lloyd, and Simon Bisley are just a few of the artists who have helped out, with Brian Wood on photographic covers, each one worthy of framing.

The issue goes out on a high, with Gene Ha (TOP TEN) closing proceedings: 100 agents, including members from the last eleven issues, face a ransom from a "threat most people could never imagine" (except Ellis and Ha, obviously). I hope this is one Ellis short-form work that ends with a bang, not a whimper. [Ben Wooller]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JUNE 9th 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

APR040077D BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #90 (MR) $2.99
APR040106D LAST TRAIN TO DEADSVILLE A CAL MCDONALD MYSTERY #2 (Of 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

APR040367D 100 BULLETS #50 (MR) (Note Price) $3.50
APR040289D ACTION COMICS #816 $2.50
APR040296D AQUAMAN #19 $2.50
FEB040227 BATMAN DEATH AND THE MAIDENS #9 (Of 9) $2.95
APR040270D BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #180 $2.50
APR040368D BITE CLUB #3 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
APR040369D FABLES #26 (MR) $2.50
APR040303D FALLEN ANGEL #12 (MR) $2.95
JUL030228 GLOBAL FREQUENCY #12 (Of 12) $2.95
APR040311D GREEN ARROW #39 $2.50
APR040315D HERO #17 $2.50
APR040316D IDENTITY CRISIS #1 (Of 7) $3.95
MAR040334X NEW TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC $49.95
APR040286D NIGHTWING #94 $2.25
APR040349D SCOOBY DOO #85 $2.25
APR040360D STORMWATCH TEAM ACHILLES #23 (MR) $2.95
APR040336D TOUCH #3 $2.50
APR040379D WAR STORIES VOL 1 TP (MR) $19.95

IMAGE

JAN041313 PVP #7 $2.95
OCT031299 SOUL OF A SAMURAI #4 (Of 4) (Note Price) $5.95

MARVEL

APR041720D CAPTAIN AMERICA #27 $2.99
APR041693D DISTRICT X #2 $2.99
APR041690D EMMA FROST #12 $2.99
MAR041700D HAWKEYE #8 $2.99
APR041700D IDENTITY DISC #1 (Of 5) $2.99
APR041725D INCREDIBLE HULK #73 $2.25
APR041706D IRON MAN #84 $2.99
APR041671D MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #3 $2.99
APR041666D OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE SPIDER-MAN 2004 $3.99
APR041669D SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #15 $2.25
APR041738D SPIDER-MAN 2 THE MOVIE TP $12.99
APR041728D THE PUNISHER #7 (MR) $2.99
APR041703D THOR SON OF ASGARD #5 (Of 6) $2.99
APR041673D ULTIMATE X-MEN #47 $2.25
APR041722D WITCHES #1 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR042966 ALICE 19TH VOL 5 GN JEALOUSY $9.95
APR042964 ANIMERICA EXTRA JULY 2004 VOL 7 #7 $4.99
MAR042253E BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #148 $2.39
OCT032202 BONE #55 $2.95
APR042460 COUPLE VOL 1 GN $9.99
APR042236 DEMO #7 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
MAR042546I DF NEW TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC SGN $89.99
JAN042361 DUEL MASTERS #5 $2.95
APR042552 GI JOE MASTER & APPRENTICE #2 (Of 3) $2.95
MAR042174E GORDON YAMAMOTO AND KING OF THE GEEKS TP $9.95
APR042461 HARD BOILED ANGEL VOL 1 GN BLUE ANGEL $9.99
APR042555 HEDGE KNIGHT TP $14.95
APR042998 INU YASHA VOL 11 TP 2ND ED $8.95
MAR042256E JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #104 $3.59
FEB042392F LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #10 (MR) $5.95
APR042817 LOVE FIGHTS #10 (MR) $2.99
MAR042699F PHANTOM #3 $3.50
FEB042507F PHANTOM VOL 5 GN VALLEY OF GOLDEN MEN (RES) $6.95
MAR042270E SABRINA VOL 2 #58 $2.19
MAR042267E SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #137 $2.19
MAR042271E SOULFIRE #0 $2.50
APR042282 STREET ANGEL #2 $2.95
MAR042478E STREET FIGHTER CVR A #8 $2.95
MAR042479E STREET FIGHTER CVR B #8 $2.95
MAR042480J STREET FIGHTER POWER FOIL CVR C #8 PI
MAR042572F STUFF OF DREAMS #2 (MR) $4.95
APR042578 TRANSFORMERS ENERGON #24 $2.95
APR042561 VOLTRON VOL 2 #6 $2.95

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.