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: POWERS

First things first: Moral Outrage vented prior to fingers touching keyboards. The modern niche-medium fan has honed Moral Outrage (TM) to a fine precision point, proving that the pen (or "Usenet", as it's now called) is mightier than the sword (or "getting a life", as it's also known). You can get het up about anything and everything as long as you have a weak enough grasp of grammar, a general anti-social demeanour and a need to be hated publicly. You can get disgusted about the most minute of details to the point where the point has become a hammer and you're banging yourself over the head with it.

So when a popular independent comic (as "independent" as Image Comics could ever be) gets relaunched under the Marvel banner, there was a pause for what I call the OED, or Outrage Expectation Duration.

But surprisingly, very little actually happened. Because POWERS was always a superhero series. The only difference is that, while the civilian detectives heroes that Bendis created for this super-crime police procedural series are good characters, they aren't iconic in the way of the characters in a shared universe like Marvel's. In fact it always felt like a series that would have benefited if Detectives Walker and Pilgrim had been investigating Ant Man's death, or finding out that Thor loved to urinate over 14-year-old girls (still unproven in a court of law). Of course, Bendis almost did this with the dearly missed mature readers title ALIAS, but that was more a deconstruction of the lead character than of the universe she inhabited.

So it seems that during the OED, a rare and wonderful thing happened - logic made an appearance. There's no reason why Bendis, with artist Mike Avon Oeming, shouldn't move POWERS over from Image to Marvel if they so chose. Bendis is a powerful enough name to wangle a similar deal out of his adoptive corporate parents. Image may suffer from its loss (being as this was one of the most successful of the main Image titles), but it always felt out of place there anyway. Next to solicitations of, "In a post-apocalyptic future, one detective fights alone against the robot hordes...", it always seemed an oddball. So now the title gets the added protection of Marvel's increased retailer profile, and a new #1. What possible reason could you have to get upset? [John Fellows]

THE THOMPSON TWINS

Sometimes I think I am the only person in all of Western civilisation that didn't love BLANKETS. And sure, I liked GOOD-BYE CHUNKY RICE, but not in an 'ohmigod I cried so much it's the best OGN ever' way. I appreciate that Craig Thompson is both a wonderful storyteller and a fantastic graphic artist, but his previous two books have spent a bit too much time wallowing in sentimentality for my taste. But this month, as Thompson doubles his list of Top Shelf-published titles in one fell swoop, I am becoming actively interested in Craig Thompson, prolific cartoonist.

First up is TOP SHELF CONVERSATIONS #1, the sequential equivalent of a jam session between James Kochalka and Thompson. They talk about life, the universe, and giant killer squid, finishing each other's pages much as married couples finish each other's sentences. I'm interested to see whether the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and whether Kochalka and Thompson nudge each other off balance, or on to newer and greater things.

Next is CARNET DE VOYAGE, a travelogue of Thompson's recent three-month trip across Spain, France, the Alps, and Morocco. Considering that when I saw Thompson at Comica in London, he was growling, "I can't wait to get back to America", I doubt CARNET will be overly sentimental. It has also been turned around incredibly quickly. Thompson only returned from his trip in the first week or two of June. Thompson is a fantastic and incisive observer of human nature, and it will be a delight to see what happens in both these books, when he turns the camera away from himself. [Alex de Campi]

KILL FOR A PINT

Joe Casey is an oddity, a square peg stuck in the mainstream industry's round hole; an American who writes like a Frenchman (an astute observation borrowed from Ms de Campi), a windmill-tilter. At this point the companies still don't know what to do with him, and his fans, though rabidly supportive, are a comparatively timorous few. He's been slung off of titles like a used condom, had the rug pulled away from him, and basically wasted his time with WILDCATS, AUTOMATIC KAFKA, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and a handful of other measured, intelligent, exceptional books lost on the readership and victimized by editorial event-ism.

Well, here's your chance to ignore Joe Casey again, people. This time, though, it's a limited series, an original concept, and a publisher - Dark Horse - that seems more willing to take chances on the bizarre.

According to Casey, THE MILKMAN MURDERS is a story of "suburban horror", an exploration of the extremes of human depravity rendered by another oddball, Britain's answer to Sergio Aragones, the brilliant Steve Parkhouse. Parkhouse, whose name too-infrequently inhabits the Previews catalogue, has already worked on what you could call another "suburban horror story", Alan Moore's classic BOJEFFRIES SAGA.

With the different attributes that each contributor brings to the table, it's difficult to say what THE MILKMAN MURDERS will be, but its unique combination of talent and theme promises, at the least, an intriguing prospect, and a must-read for all the square pegs out there tilting at windmills of their own. [John Parker]

FORCE THE FRANCHISE

I'm not sure who at Lucasfilm decided to get animation maestro Genndy Tartakovsky (SAMURAI JACK) to do an animated STAR WARS cartoon, but it was a good idea, rekindling flagging interest in a franchise that will probably never die. Of course, it seems to be the novels, video games, and now the cartoon all set in the STAR WARS universe that are getting people excited, rather than the films that the franchise is based around.

The CLONE WARS cartoons are short little snippets of animation, running about three minutes each, depicting key battles in the infamous (and somewhat anti-climatic) Clone Wars. You can understand George Lucas wanting a stripped-back storytelling style, concise and focused, after the first two STAR WARS prequels were near-universally panned. And thankfully this doesn't seem to be another EWOKS.

Here in the colonial Antipodes, without the blessed advantage of cable TV, it's not easy to get to see the CLONE WARS cartoons, so I'll have to make do with the comic version, STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVENTURES VOL 1 TP (Dark Horse). It's not an adaptation of the cartoon, but will tell new stories about the Clone Wars, no doubt inciting the fans to argue whether or not this is canon. It's written by STAR WARS comics stalwart Haden Blackman, with art by cartoonist Ben Caldwell and the Fillbach Brothers. The overall feel of the cartoon looks to be maintained, with more lightsaber swingin' action to be had. [Ben Wooller]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR JULY 8th 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

MAY040023D BPRD A PLAGUE OF FROGS #5 (Of 5) $2.99
MAY040022D MILKMAN MURDERS #1 (Of 4) (MR) $2.99
MAY040052D OH MY GODDESS #110 $2.99
MAR040020V STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVENTURES VOL 1 TP $6.95
APR040123D USAGI YOJIMBO #76 $2.99

DC COMICS

MAY040325D ACTION COMICS #775 2ND PTG $3.75
APR040352D ARROWSMITH SO SMART IN THEIR FINE UNIFORMS TP $14.95
MAY045045D BATGIRL YEAR ONE TP NEW PTG $19.95
MAY040269D BIRDS OF PREY #69 $2.50
MAY040299D DC COMIC PRESENTS BATMAN #1 $2.50
MAY040260D DETECTIVE COMICS #796 $2.95
MAY040308D FIRESTORM #3 $2.50
MAY040310D FLASH BLITZ TP $19.95
MAY040318D HARD TIME #6 $2.50
MAY040328D JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #33 $2.25
MAY040347D LOONEY TUNES #116 $2.25
MAY040332D MONOLITH #6 $2.95
MAY040354D POSSESSED TP (MR) $14.95
MAY040284D SCRATCH #2 (Of 5) $2.50
MAY040375D SWAMP THING #5 (MR) $2.95
MAY040357D THUNDERCATS ENEMYS PRIDE #2 (Of 5) $2.95
APR040365D TOM STRONG #27 $2.95
MAY040358D WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #23 (MR) $2.95
MAY040377D Y THE LAST MAN #24 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

NOV031251D CASEFILES SAM & TWITCH #9 (MR) $2.50
MAR041400D LIBERTY MEADOWS SOURCE BOOK $4.95

MARVEL

MAY041692D ALPHA FLIGHT #5 $2.99
APR041742D AVENGERS VOL 4 LIONHEART OF AVALON TP $11.99
MAY041633D CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #5 $2.99
MAY041717D CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON MADBOMB TP $16.99
MAY041672D EXILES #49 $2.99
APR041711D FANTASTIC FOUR #515 $2.25
APR041705D INVADERS #0 $2.99
MAY041689D LOKI #1 (Of 4) $3.50
MAY041657D MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR #4 $2.25
MAY041660D MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 1 DIGEST TP $5.99
MAY041652D MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #7 $2.25
MAY041658D MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN VOL 2 DIGEST TP $5.99
MAY041637D OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS 2004 $3.99
MAY041705D POWERS #1 (MR) $2.95
MAY041655D SPIDER-GIRL #76 $2.99
MAY041669D STARJAMMERS #1 $2.99
APR041730D SUPREME POWER #11 (MR) $2.99
MAY041701D THANOS #12 $2.99
MAY041636D THOR #82 $2.99
MAY041649D ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #62 $2.25
MAY041647D ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 10 HOLLYWOOD TP $12.99
MAY041661D UNCANNY X-MEN #446 $2.25
MAY041683D WITCHES #3 (Of 4) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

APR042947 2 SISTERS GN $19.95
MAY042960F AMERICAN ELF COLL SKETCHBOOK DIARIES OF JAMES KOCHALKA $29.95
MAY042185E APOCALYPSE MEOW MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
MAY042186E ARIA MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
MAY042680F BLOOD ORANGE #2 (MR) $5.95
MAY042187E BOSS MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
MAY042957F CARNET DE VOYAGE $14.95
APR042197 DNAGENTS VOL 1 BORN ORPHANS TP $9.95
FEB042313 DUEL MASTERS #6 $2.95
MAY042451F ELVIRA #135 $2.50
MAY042188E GADIROK MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
MAY042189E JINKI EXTEND MANGA VOL 1 TP (MR) $9.99
APR042333 JUGHEAD #159 $2.19
APR042334 JUGHEAD WITH ARCHIE DIGEST #194 $2.39
MAR042565F KID FIRECHIEF GN $12.95
MAY042491E NAMBUL WAR STORIES VOL 1 GN INVASION (MR) $9.99
APR043003 NAUSICAA OF VALLEY OF WIND VOL 5 TP 2ND ED $9.95
APR042337 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #86 $3.59
MAR042170F SALMON DOUBTS GN $14.95
MAY042246F SEAMONSTERS & SUPERHEROES #5 $2.95
MAY042191E SKY BLADE SWORD OF THE HEAVENS MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
APR042341 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #138 $2.19
MAR042365F SOULSEARCHERS #66 $2.50
MAY042192E STEEL ANGEL KURUMI MANGA VOL 6 TP (MR) $9.99
MAY042194E THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES MANGA VOL 5 TP $9.99
MAY042197E TO HEART MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
MAY042962F TOP SHELF CONVERSATIONS #1 $4.95
MAY042601E TRANSFORMERS ENERGON #25 $2.95
APR042579 TRANSFORMERS ENERGON VOL 1 POCKET ED TP $10.95
APR042577 TRANSFORMERS GENERATION ONE VOL 3 #6 $2.95
MAY042490E TREASURE HUNTER BOOK 2 GN $9.99
MAY042584E VOLTRON VOL 2 #7 $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.