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: THE CROW

I loved James O'Barr's CROW. The first one, I mean. The original. I thought the movie was better, which I know is a pretty big sin. I must've seen it at least seven times in the cinema, which was a feat considering it was a long bus trip either way to get to the cinema (multiplexes with their surround sound and cushy high-backed seats hadn't yet made it to the antipodes...).

The second movie, THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS, I enjoyed too, although from what I've read, the studio had a hand in messing it up. But I liked the connecting thread of Sarah, the little girl from the first film, being all grown up in the second. If Miramax hadn't tampered with it, the film would've ended with Sarah being the next person to be resurrected by the Crow. Alas, it was not to be. So I haven't seen the third CROW film yet...

Luckily, Kitchen Sink, who at the time were spinning out the mythology with more CROW comics, followed up the idea of a female Crow. None of these new comics, of course, had the same appeal as the original CROW: it was an interesting premise, but it was the same story over and over.

CROW: FLESH AND BLOOD (now reprinted by Dark Horse, $9.95) took a different tack, removing the overtly urban aspects of gangs and all that entails and placing the story in the country. Iris Shaw, Federal Conservation officer, is killed by right-wing activists (see? Told ya it wasn't gangs this time). Unfortunately, Iris wasn't the only person killed (the solicitation text spoils the brilliant twist, but I won't), and she's reborn as the Crow to set things right. Alex Maleev (DAREDEVIL) provides the beautiful black and white art to James Vance's haunting story. [Ben Wooller]

A MAJESTIC FOLLY

Being euro-centric, black-and-white loving, indie autobiog comic reading homosensualists one and all here at Ninth Art towers, we all gather on a monthly basis for The Ceremony. We invoke the sacred hand-gesture, stuff significant pages from CEREBUS down our pants (obviously, it's A DISTANT SOIL for the ladies) and light the pyres with all those unsold back-issues of POWER PACK. And by flickering shadow-light, we remove our hoods and commence our next phase of Operation: Destroy All Superheroes.

I personally burn with an anger only ever saved for serial-killing paedophiles. I, in fact, have embarked on a one-man terrorist spree with my ultimate goal to stake out the Marvel offices with a high-powered rifle and enough cocaine to fell a rhino. But it's all a facade. A shambles of a mockery of a travesty. We all love superheroes in secret. Mr Wheeler has an unclean love for LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, for Ms de Campi it's all about the NIGHTWING and it's best not to say what Mr Duff does with all those BLADE mini-series. We're all deviants in our private and non-legally threatening way.

Me, I've a soft spot for my fair share of stupid sounding characters, Mr Majestic being the daftest of a good bunch. Any superhero who decides that the only way to preface their chosen superlative with the overly formal "Mister" is asking for trouble ("Mr Terrific"? Say what?). But I just can't stop buying anything he appears in. Those early Alan Moore WILDCATS appearances. His doomed-to-failure ongoing with Joe Casey (featuring the funniest single comic in existence, his date with raging cyborg psychopath Ladytron). And now, to compound his utter lack of a point, there's his getting lost in the DCU. Admittedly an easy mistake to make, I never forget whether it's third on the left after Slave Labor or that alley just behind Oni.

But luckily, I can justify it through the power of superior craftsmanship and ironic detachment. Juxtaposing an overt Superman pastiche with the actual Superman is genius verging on the insane. Hiring Lanning & Abnett (LEGION) - the revampsters massif - to write and getting the highly-talented Kerschl (ICEMAN) to draw will sell any series to me. The combination of writers who know what to ditch and what to polish with a great comedy artist yet to break it big will make this less of a guilty secret. Although, obviously, you didn't hear it from me. And if any of the other Ninth Eight ask, we were just discussing Fantagraphics new I'M A SUICIDAL MONKEY WITH PARENTAL ISSUES black & white OGN, right? [John Fellows]

SWAG FROM SAN DIEGO

The San Diego Comicon ended over a week ago and I'm still wrecked. Luckily, I have tons of new comics to aid the recovery process. So instead of picking things off the Diamond shipping lists, I thought this week I'd highlight a few of the comics that were on sale at Comicon that are difficult to find or a little outside the mainstream. Caveat: Not all of them are new. But they are new to me and, perhaps, to you.

Favourite hardback graphic novel: BIRTH OF A NATION, by Aaron McGruber and Reginald Hudlin, art by Kyle Baker. The mainly black, lower-income neighbourhood of East St Louis secedes in protest over the Bush election and forms the independent republic of Blackland. Mayhem ensues as the city's mayor discovers just how hard it is to run a country. BIRTH OF A NATION is laugh out loud funny as it skewers Stuff You Can't Talk About in American Urban Politics with surgical precision.

Favourite softcover GN: the ARSENIC LULLABIES trade. Knocks Pabst Blue Ribbon off the pedestal as Milwaukee's finest achievement. Douglas Paszkiewicz writes and draws this cult favourite comedy series starring such very, very wrong characters as Voodoo Joe (with his army of zombie foetuses); Baron von Doughnut; the Boogie Man; and Edgar Bryers, US Census Agent, with licence to kill. If you have a sick sense of humour, you need this book.

Favourite indie comic: EL MUERTO, THE AZTEC ZOMBIE. Published by Los Comex. Take one Latino kid growing up on Jack Kirby and US comics, give him an obsession with death and Mexican pop culture, and you get Javier Hernandez's story of a kid who gets hijacked by the Aztec gods of Death and Dreams on the way to a Dia de los Muertos party and sent back as an Aztec Zombie. The first issue was a bit rough, but I have the feeling this is going to shape up into a really nice series. Hernandez seems to be in the same circle of guys as Rafael Navarro, author of MASKS OF SONAMBULO. MASKS is another great comic full of Mexican pop culture references, a series of noir tales starring a detective who wears a Mexican wrestler mask and can see your dreams.

Favourite indie minicomic: OMGWTF, by David Iseri. David Iseri's style is incredibly mature for a 21-year-old, blending Jamie Hewlett-style absurdism with a strong manga influence. All I can say is I'm really, really jealous.

Favourite why-haven't-I-read-these-already books: COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE NIGHT THINGS (Oni Press) by Ted Naifeh, and UZUMAKI by Junji Ito (Viz). Courtney Crumrin is the story I wanted to read as a little girl. Parents who are stupid and venal, kids at school being horrible to each other (in other words, childhood as it actually is), and tough as nails Courtney opening up a can of whup-ass on them via her grandfather's magic spell books... with sometimes unexpected results. UZUMAKI is a legendary horror manga; while it didn't give me as many nightmares as it gave my friends, that might be because I was too busy drooling over Junji Ito's art. Ito is up there with Takehiro Inoue as one of my absolute favourite manga artists ever. [Alex de Campi]

CHEAP IS THE KNIGHT, AND LONG

Oh dear. Yet another marketing gimmick to kindle interest in yet another cross-title Bat-Event. This year, month, or however long it's been since the last one, the WAR GAMES event will enshroud Gotham in gang war, with the Caped Crusader caught in the middle, and it all starts with this issue. Now, it remains to be seen whether the people that a 12-cent comic is aimed at - fickle comic-purchasing dilettantes, perhaps, or value-seeking members of the general populace - will stick with buying the whole range of Bat-Titles for the entirety of the story, presuming that they can work out the byzantine reading order over the range of Batbooks.

The trouble with producing a 12-cent comic is that the gross majority of people that it is hoped will buy it would not necessarily do so due to the quality of the comic or the creators involved. Regular DCU scribe Devin Grayson and STAR WARS and GEN 13 artists Ramon Bachs and Raul Fernandez are the creative team, so there is no reason that the book will not be good, but based on past experiences of these ultra-cheap one-offs, they tend to seem somewhat uninvolving to a non-regular reader of Batman and insultingly condescending to an existing reader. However, not all crossovers are to be avoided, and not all bargain comics are without merit - you can investigate whether WAR GAMES is for you for a bargain price, and it might be considered churlish to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. [Lindsay Duff]

ADD END TO X

With The Hulk, Wolverine and The Punisher already having left this mortal coil in Marvel's 'The End' series, the next to die are the X-Men. X-MEN: THE END is written by Chris Claremont with art by Sean Chen. There's really no more appropriate person to write this story than Claremont, as he wrote the bulk of the stories that defined THE X-MEN, and Sean Chen is no slouch either. His pencils have a Marc Silvestri feel and help to ground the story with a defined and classic look.

Claremont takes a page from Grant Morrison's brilliant run on NEW X-MEN and simply takes up the story from wherever he so chooses, in essence delving into the meat of things and spinning the plot out of the last time he was given full run of The X-Men universe. For Morrison, everything came back to 'The Dark Phoenix Saga', and for Claremont it seems to be the mid-nineties where the team briefly wore yellow and blue costumes and traipsed into space with the Shi'ar when they weren't battling Mr Sinister or The Brood, all of whom appear in the first issue as events are set in place for the X-Men's final mission.

Of course, so long as there are copyrights needing to be renewed, these characters will never really die and even if they did, they'd probably return. Equally inevitably, these 'The End' comics will at some point screw up continuity, if you're someone who cares about such a thing. But a good ending gives the rest of the story a deeper meaning, and despite some of his faltering and floundering about in X-TREME X-MEN and whatnot, there's really no better person to be given this chance than Chris Claremont - no other creator has spent as many years with these characters in his or her head, and his work on UNCANNY X-MEN made The X-Men brilliant and sexy, constantly facing doom either deep in space or at home. This could be a spectacular ending. [Frank Smith]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR AUGUST 4th 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

APR040105 CROW FLESH & BLOOD DH PRTG TP $9.95
JUN040039 MILKMAN MURDERS #2 (Of 4) (MR) $2.99
JUN040052 OH MY GODDESS #111 $3.99

DC COMICS

JUN040187 BATMAN 12 CENT ADVENTURE $0.12
JUN040196 BATMAN CATWOMAN TRAIL OF THE GUN #1 (Of 2) $5.95
JUN040199 BIRDS OF PREY #71 $2.50
JUN040389 DC COMICS PRESENTS SUPERMAN #1 $2.50
JUN040188 DETECTIVE COMICS #797 $2.95
MAY040306D ENGINEHEAD #4 (Of 8) $2.50
JUN040394 FIRESTORM #4 $2.50
JUN040400 HARD TIME #7 $2.50
JUN040409 JUSTICE LEAGUE ADVENTURES #34 $2.25
JUN040408 JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE #2 (Of 12) $2.50
JUN040411 LEGION FOUNDATIONS TP $19.95
JUN040697 LOONEY TUNES #117 $2.25
JUN040949 LUCIFER VOL 6 MANSIONS OF THE SILENCE TP (MR) $14.95
JUN040317 MAJESTIC #1 (Of 4) $2.95
JUN040415 MONOLITH #7 $2.95
JUN040203 SCRATCH #3 (Of 5) $2.50
JUN040319 SUPERMAN ADVENTURES VOL 2 THE NEVER ENDING BATTLE TP $6.95
JUN040951 SWAMP THING #6 (MR) $2.95
JUN040811 THUNDERCATS ENEMYS PRIDE #3 (Of 5) $2.95
JUN040952 TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 11 TALES OF HUMAN WASTE TP (MR) $9.95
JUN040810 WILDCATS VERSION 3.0 #24 (MR) $2.95
JUN040956 Y THE LAST MAN #25 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE

MAY041480D BATTLE OF THE PLANETS DESTROY ALL MONSTERS DIGEST SIZE TP $9.99
MAY041481D DARKNESS VOL 2 #13 $2.99
APR041392D GRAY AREA #1 (Of 3) $5.95

MARVEL

MAY041639D AMAZING FANTASY #2 $2.99
JUN041575 CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON #6 $2.99
JUN041600 EXILES #50 $2.99
MAY041694D GUARDIANS #2 $2.99
JUN041622 MARVEL AGE EMMA FROST VOL 1 HIGHER LEARNING DIGEST TP $7.99
JUN041616 MARVEL AGE FANTASTIC FOUR #5 $2.25
JUN041617 MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #9 $2.25
MAY041659D MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN VOL 3 DIGEST TP $5.99
JUN041625 OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE HULK 2004 $3.99
MAY041656D RUNAWAYS #17 $2.99
JUN041620 SPIDER-GIRL #77 $2.99
JUN041579 THOR #83 $2.99
JUN041642 THOR VOL 6 GODS & MEN TP $13.99
JUN041568 ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE #1 (Of 5) $2.25
JUN041570 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #63 $2.25
JUN041567 ULTIMATE X-MEN #50 $2.25
JUN041635 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 8 NEW MUTANTS TP $12.99
JUN041597 UNCANNY X-MEN #447 $2.25
MAY041686D WOLVERINE PUNISHER #5 (Of 5) $2.99
JUN041592 X-MEN THE END BOOK ONE DREAMERS AND DEMONS #1 (OF 6) $2.99
JUN041610 X-MEN UNLIMITED #4 $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN042093 50 RULES FOR TEENAGERS MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
JUN042094 ALL PURPOSE CULTURAL CAT GIRL NUKU NUKU MANGA VOL 1 TP $14.99
JUN042703F ALONG THE CANADIAN #3 (Of 6) $2.95
MAY042304F ANT #3 $2.95
NOV032016E AP HOW TO DRAW MANGA SUPERSIZED VOL 4 TP $21.95
MAY042310E ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #154 $3.59
APR042819 BLUE MONDAY PAINTED MOON #2 (Of 4) (MR) $2.99
JUN042095 BOSS MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
JUN042409 COSMIC GUARD #1 $2.99
APR042430 DEADBEATS #66 $2.50
JUN042097 DESERT CORAL MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
MAY042712E DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES VOL 7 TP $7.95
JUN042368 DUCK PRINCE BOOK 2 GN SWANS DILEMMA (Of 6) $9.99
MAR042508E DUEL MASTERS #7 $2.95
JUN042337F ELVIRA #136 $2.50
MAY042994E FLOWERS AND BEES VOL 4 TP (MR) $9.95
MAY042995E GUNDAM THE ORIGIN #12 $7.95
APR042997 INU YASHA VOL 18 TP $8.95
MAY042305F KADE PURSUIT #3 $2.95
MAY042815F KOLCHAK NIGHT STALKER PAIN WITHOUT TEARS GN (MR) $6.95
JUN042527F LOVE & ROCKETS VOL 2 #11 (MR) $4.50
JUN042099 NAJICA BLITZ TACTICS MANGA VOL 1 TP (MR) $9.99
MAR045202E PIRATE CLUB #3 $2.95
JUN042100 PRETEAR MANGA VOL 2 TP $9.99
JUN042101 QUANTUM MISTAKE MANGA VOL 1 TP $9.99
MAY042849E QUEEN & COUNTRY #26 (MR) $2.99
MAY042979E SHONEN JUMP VOL 2 #9 SEPT 2004 $4.99
MAY042317E SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #139 $2.19
JUN042103 STEEL ANGEL KURUMI MANGA VOL 7 TP (MR) $9.99
APR042558 STREET FIGHTER CVR A #9 $2.95
APR042559 STREET FIGHTER CVR B #9 $2.95
APR042560J STREET FIGHTER CVR C POWER FOIL #9 PI
MAY042675F TALK TO HER GN $14.95
JUN042104 THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES MANGA VOL 6 TP $9.99
MAY042453F TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #10 $2.95
MAY042318E VERONICA #154 $2.19
JUN042371 WORLD OF NARUE BOOK 2 GN $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.