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: SLEEPER

The only person you can rely on in life is yourself, so the last thing you should do is place your entire life - your past, your present and your future - in the hands of one man. Yet that's exactly what spy Holden Carver did when he agreed to go undercover for his International Operations superior, John Lynch. Carver's cover story was so impressive that only Lynch would know it was a lie. Which would be dangerous for Carver if anything were to happen to Lynch...

In this second collection of the first season of SLEEPER, ALL FALSE MOVES (DC WildStorm), Carver is shown a possible light at the end of the tunnel - a chance for redemption. After we watched him slowly chip away at his morals, his convictions and his soul in the first half, Carver is met by a mysterious man who may be Lynch's backup plan. But can Carver believe him when the only one who can verify his story lies in a coma?

SLEEPER carves out a fascinating new niche in the well-trodden good/evil superhero marketplace. Less a morality tale than an anti-morality tale - it poses questions such as, has Carver become evil to survive? Did the situation just bring his worst traits to the surface, or is it all part of his undercover spy act?

Watching Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips working together at the top of their game is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Brubaker perfectly captures the issue-by-issue pace of a TV series, and Phillips utilises his thick ink brush in an almost painterly fashion. The darkness of Carver's criminal world is mirrored in Phillips' line, the rigid structuring of the military world Carver came from mirrored in the panel composition. It's a thrilling character study, but also full of labyrinthine twists and turns. You don't need to read the first volume, OUT IN THE COLD, but there's really no reason for you not to own both. Snap it up before the second season of SLEEPER begins. [John Fellows]

BUGTOWN WELCOMES CARELESS DRIVERS

Do not be misled by the title of Matt Howarth's new mini-series, SAVAGE HENRY: POWERCHORDS (MU Press/Aeon), the first issue of which is in stores now. The lead character isn't savage in the least - and neither, for that matter, is Howarth's work in general. But I suppose SWEETLY GOOFY HENRY would make a much less snappy title.

Howarth's a prolific guy, but he's been doing few solo comics lately, and I think it's been several years since he's done one starring his signature Bugtown characters. And what is Bugtown, you ask? Well- when you were a kid, you probably played cops-and-robbers or some other game based around guns, right? Remember how nobody, upon getting "shot," would ever simply lay down and die? No, everybody always had an excuse, revealing hitherto-unsuspected bulletproof vests, personal force fields, powers of teleportation, etc. That's what Bugtown is like. It's a place where the laws of physics are not merely confuted, but blown to smithereens and gleefully stomped upon.

Bugtown's leading citizens are Ron and Russ Post, commonly billed as Those Annoying Post Bros, sadistic psychopaths who use their native godlike powers to kill as many people in as interesting ways as possible. Aside from mass murder, their chief passion is electronic music, the more obscure and tougher to endure the better. Sometimes, as in POWERCHORDS, real-life musicians show up to jam and to go adventuring with Henry and his band the Bulldaggers, a band so heavy that it features Lord C'thulu on keyboards.

Sounds like a lot of macho posturing, right? But nothing could be further from the truth. No matter how bad the behaviour of the characters gets, the work never loses its feel of merry absurdity. That's what's endearing about Howarth - like Savage Henry, he comes off as a man of boundless enthusiasm and without a truly nasty bone in his body. Plus he's got a unique, appealing cartooning style and a wild visual imagination.

Howarth has a new ongoing series coming soon, to be called simply BUGTOWN. I await it eagerly. It's always a kick to spend time in the twisted, weird, strange and dangerous world Howarth has constructed. [Chris Ekman]

WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?

The zeitgeist's a funny thing. After years of an obscure topic being completely off the radar screen of the entertainment industry, you get two films about it at once. DANGEROUS LIAISONS and VALMONT. The two ROBIN HOOD films. And, soon, duelling Hannibal epics - one starring Vin Diesel and one starring Denzel Washington.

In comics, we have Marvel's WITCHES (now on issue two) and DC Vertigo's THE WITCHING coming out head to head this week. Both are about three witches (the Goth one, the Ginger one, and the Ethnic one) brought together to combat great evil.

And that's where the similarity ends. Marvel's WITCHES #1 is basically Charlie's Angels with magic (and Dr Strange as Charlie). Dr Strange is has been used fantastically by J Michael Straczynski on SPIDER-MAN and Garth Ennis on THOR: VIKINGS, but here the character and story are hamstrung wooden writing and dull plotting. It's a shame, because Mike Deodato Jr's art is very pretty, and the concept is a good one.

Vertigo's book, with script by Jonathan Vankin and art by Leigh Gallagher and Ron Randall, certainly both reads and looks better - you're more likely to be laughing with the comic, rather than at it. The plot boils down to three witches teaming up to undo the evil acts performed by another magician, but Vankin makes it seem a lot more convoluted than that.

The witchcraft-related project to really watch out for is Si Spencer and Dean Ormston's BOOKS OF MAGIC: LIFE DURING WARTIME, out the week of July 7th. Ormston's art is perfect for a horror title, and judging by the opening pages alone, Si Spencer's writing promises to be in a different league from these other witch crafters. [Alex de Campi]

FADE TO GRAY

GRAY AREA is John Romita Jr's first creator-owned project, after spending forever at Marvel under the shadow of his father's classically clean-line artwork. I always assumed that's why JRjr got the job, as I've never been a fan of his art: it's messy, his people look too alike, and his women are more manly than Frank Quitely's.

Over at the Image website, the five page preview doesn't hold much promise. It's riddled with clichés, and we haven't even reached the main thrust of the story. A corrupt cop (pale, shoulder length black hair, typical JRjr nose, cheats on his wife) who's loyal to his partner (they're best mates, keep each others secrets, etc...) has a random run in with some gangsta type. The cops apprehend the criminal with excessive force (what with Chance being corrupt and all), and they talk about the fact that his partner, Patty (complete with red hair and a wife named Doris), once shot a kid who pointed a toy gun at him...

From the sound of the advance publicity, the story soon diverts from THE SHIELD territory, and takes a supernatural turn. Chance gets executed for "double-crossing a drug cartel" (no wait, there's those clichés again...), and instead of winding up in Hell, like he expects (at least he isn't one of those corrupt cops who's given a chance to redeem himself), he's granted "extraordinary powers" (this is a comic book after all...), and is forced to combat evil, in order to... (reads synopsis: shakes head)... redeem himself. [Ben Wooller]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JUNE 23rd 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

APR040112D CONAN #5 $2.99
APR040104D GOON DH ED #7 $2.99
APR040111D SPYBOY FINAL EXAM #2 (Of 4) $2.99
MAR040045D ULTRAMAN TIGA #10 (Of 10) $3.99

DC COMICS

APR040354D AUTHORITY MORE KEV #2 (Of 4) (MR) $2.95
APR040274D BATMAN ADVENTURES #15 $2.25
APR040342D CARTOON CARTOONS #31 $2.25
APR040284D CATWOMAN #32 $2.50
APR040307D FLASH #211 $2.25
APR040310D FRACTION #3 $2.50
APR040370D HELLBLAZER #197 (MR) $2.75
APR040329D KINETIC #4 $2.50
APR040374D LOSERS #13 (MR) $2.95
APR040390D MAD BATHROOM COMPANION VOL 4 TP $9.95
APR040346D POWERPUFF GIRLS #51 $2.25
APR040287D ROBIN #127 $2.25
APR040358D SLEEPER VOL 2 ALL FALSE MOVES TP (MR) $17.95
APR040291D SUPERMAN #206 $2.50
APR040381D WITCHING #1 (MR) $2.95
APR040337D WONDER WOMAN #205 $2.25

IMAGE

APR041392D GRAY AREA #1 (Of 3) $5.95
MAR041412D SAMMY VERY SAMMY DAY ONE SHOT $5.95
JAN041332 WANTED #4 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99

MARVEL

APR041659D AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #509 $2.25
APR041684D ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 DIRECTORS CUT $3.99
APR041683D ASTONISHING X-MEN #2 $2.99
APR041704D AVENGERS #84 $2.25
APR041721D CAPTAIN AMERICA #28 $2.99
APR041709D CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #4 $2.99
APR041689D EXCALIBUR #2 (RES) $2.99
APR041678D MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #6 $2.25
APR041694D MYSTIQUE #16 $2.99
APR041741D MYSTIQUE VOL 1 DEAD DROP GORGEOUS TP (RES) $14.99
APR041716D SILVER SURFER #10 $2.99
APR041740D UNCANNY X-MEN VOL 6 BRIGHT NEW MOURNING TP $14.99
APR041672D VENOM #16 $2.99
APR041697D WEAPON X #25 $2.99
APR041723D WITCHES #2 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

FEB042547F ADVENTURES OF THE RIGHT HAND $3.95
APR042953H ALL STAR COMPANION TRADE PAPERBACK 2ND PRINTING (Note Price) $21.95
APR042964 ANIMERICA EXTRA JULY 2004 VOL 7 #7 $4.99
APR042325 ARCHIE #549 $2.19
APR042401 BART SIMPSON COMICS #18 $2.99
APR045041 DEVIL MAY CRY #1 SPECIAL ED (PU #623) $3.95
APR042580 DUEL MASTERS VOL 1 POCKET ED TP $10.95
APR042321 EZRA #1 $2.95
APR042692 FLESHROT TALES FROM THE DEAD VOL 2 TP (MR) $9.99
APR042994 FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 3 TP 2ND ED DISCIPLE $9.95
APR042553 GI JOE RELOADED #4 $2.95
APR042997 INU YASHA VOL 18 TP $8.95
MAR042565F KID FIRECHIEF GN $12.95
APR042336 LAUGH DIGEST #194 $2.39
APR042664 LUBA #8 (MR) $3.50
APR043010 PROJECT ARMS VOL 5 TP $9.95
APR042820 QUEEN & COUNTRY #25 (MR) (Note Price) $5.99
FEB042504F SILENCERS #4 (MR) $3.50
APR042200 STRANGERS IN PARADISE VOL 14 TP DAVIDS STORY $8.95
MAR042572F STUFF OF DREAMS #2 (MR) $4.95
MAR042849H SUPERHEROES IN MY PANTS TP $12.95
APR042663 TRUCKER FAGS IN DENIAL (MR) $4.95
APR042281 TUPELO VOL 1 TP (MR) $17.95
APR042701 UNCLE SCROOGE #331 $6.95
APR043013 VAGABOND VOL 12 TP $9.95
APR042703 WALT DISNEYS COMICS AND STORIES #646 $6.95
APR042697 WALT DISNEYS VACATION PARADE #1 $8.95

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.