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 GOON

There's a feeling that scanning the racks at the comic shop will never be able to equal, and that's the simple joy found in browsing through a spinner rack at your neighbourhood drugstore. There's just something about twirling the thing around and wincing at Marvels and DCs mixed together with their spines worn down by the thumbs of other patrons. It's a feeling that Eric Powell's THE GOON (Dark Horse) evokes: not insufferable nostalgia, but the unexpected discovery of craftsmanship in what is essentially just a stupid horror book.

In that sense, THE GOON carries on the traditions of EC Comics. EC revelled in over-the-top gore, absurd levels of bone-chilling horror and sensationalist crime stories, all of which were rendered in intricate detail by some of the greatest artists to grace the medium: Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, B Krigstein, Al Wiliamson, Jack Davis, etc. THE GOON treads through much the same atmosphere, with panels that look like they were ripped out of EC reprint editions, and issues containing multiple short stories crammed with gags and violence. The Goon himself echoes the verbal patter of Ben Grimm or Hellboy, while visually resembling a second rate evil henchmen.

The comics are smarter than you'd expect stories about a guy in a wifebeater to be, but while the self-contained serial nature of the books keeps things simple and direct, the lack of a continuing narrative can make THE GOON seem too slight or out of time in a sea of multi-part stories and epic adventures. Then again, part of the thrill in reading comics is in finding a sophisticated story where you least expect it. Plus, the new issue has vampires. [Frank Smith]

HOME IS THE HUNTER

A lot of new series describe themselves as being like an HBO drama series, or "a bit like THE SHIELD", or "a bit like 24". A few years ago, at the height of the decompression-a-rama that blew up around THE AUTHORITY, every new series was, "With a hint of ARMAGEDDON". But the current paradigm has swung once again from the big to the small. Building on the work of SLEEPER, GOTHAM CENTRAL, ALIAS and POWERS, the new zeitgeist is that of episodic drama with a backbone of realism.

Which is where the latest revamp of DC's long-standing MANHUNTER character comes in. The character being largely left alone since the fondly remembered Archie Goodwin version, with the odd attempt at a revamp never really taking off. The most recent attempt by Kurt Busiek on his cancelled POWER COMPANY ongoing adhered too closely to Goodwin's spirit and showed little innovation. This new series should shake everything up, leaving only the name intact.

Marc Andreyko has dug his trench quietly in the background for years. He's always been there, writing unremitting crime-fiction, but never struck it big. Hopefully this new series will shine a much needed spotlight his way. Andreyko has taken the same basic concept behind DAREDEVIL - somebody working in the criminal justice system who is unconvinced of its usefulness and takes it upon themselves to solve problems outside the system - and tweaked it to his own ends.

Andreyko is joined by Jesus Saiz, another creator who has been quietly working away in the background without getting that one gig that would catapult him to stardom. It promises to be a gritty series, unafraid to show characters in an unsympathetic light, and there's not going to be any planet-eating aliens or visitors from the fifth dimension. It's as close as the super-hero oeuvre gets to mainstream, part of a steady war of attrition that could still go either way. I know which way I'd like to see it go. Now it's your choice. [John Fellows]

AN AMERICAN ABROAD

Most Humanoids books are being distributed in the US as 140-page graphic novels, collecting three French albums at a time. The World War II horror book I AM LEGION is one of the few that is being distributed as a 64-page page prestige format edition, in order to get it on shelves in America as soon as possible after it premieres in France. Volume 1, THE DANCING FAUN, ships this week. The reason? The star power of artist John Cassaday, one of the first crop of American talent (along with Kurt Busiek, Chuck Austen and Geoff Johns) who will be working with French publishing legends Humanoids.

I AM LEGION was written by Fabien Nury, who is shaping up to be the French M Night Shyamalan. And just as with Shyamalan, it's hard to provide a plot synopsis without giving away the many twists. Basically, it's 1942, the Nazis and Allies are at a stalemate, but the Nazis discover a strange young Romanian girl with apparent supernatural talents. The girl could put unbeatable power in the hands of the Nazis. But the war has more than one supernatural entity involved in it already.

Humanoids' reputation for superlative quality and innovative stories seems to be bringing the best out of its American talent. Cassaday was clearly enjoying himself as he drew I AM LEGION, possibly because of the freedom he was given with the project. Nury wrote LEGION as a screenplay, and Cassaday adapted it to the comic page as he drew. The result is a masterful, cinematic telling of Nury's atmospheric thriller. Cassaday's art is so much more detailed than his recent American work that a senior editor at San Diego was heard to mutter enviously, "How the hell did they get Cassaday to draw backgrounds?" [Alex de Campi]

YESTERDAY ONCE MORE

In the early days of Image, the boys tried hard to make sure we knew their comics existed in a single universe. This included the strange ultra-gimmicky bad guys from SAVAGE DRAGON crossing over into Sam Kieth's MAXX, or off-hand references to Spawn in SHADOWHAWK. Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri immediately established the shared world in the first issues of their respective titles. In the first issue of WILDCATS, Jacob Marlow mentions a dream he had while lying dead drunk in an alley, of armour clad soldiers chasing someone. But it wasn't a dream! In the first issue of CYBERFORCE, the armour clad soldiers chasing runaway mutant Velocity run down an alley, startling a sleeping drunk. Clever, no?

WILDCATS/CYBERFORCE: KILLER INSTINCT (reprinted by DC WildStorm) was the first real crossover between the two teams, revolving around the new character of Misery, a love interest for both Ripclaw and Warblade, and, of course, the cause of the central conflict. Inevitably, it delves deep into their dark shared history when they were all working for the same team. Unfortunately, the whole thing stunk of the same strange love triangle that faced Cyclops, Havok and Madelyne Pryor years earlier in UNCANNY X-MEN (but without the whole clone thing), full of misunderstandings and wool being pulled over character's eyes.

With WILDCATS 3.0 cancelled, and far from being completely collected, I can only imagine that this is being reprinted to cash in on Lee's recent BATMAN work. Any interest here lies with the art, rather than with derivative tales about a derivative superteam, complete with guy with guns, strong guy, mysterious female warrior, rookie, and guy with claws. [Ben Wooller]

ATOMIC

There's an interesting writing exercise that anyone who has taken a college writing course should be familiar with; Take the first line or first paragraph from a story you already know, and write your own story based on it, using that phrase as a springboard for your own ideas.

The concept behind the 'DC Comics Presents' one-shots is very much the same. Choose a classic character, find a classic cover, and create new stories based on that, without allowing the original story to impose limits on the results. DC is literally recycling its old stories now, but it sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? There are two stand-alone stories in each issue, each with a different creative team, and so far the results on the Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern instalments have been just as mixed as those college writing exercises tended to be.

This week's one-shot is DC COMICS PRESENTS: THE ATOM, which is awesome. Screw all those other guys, I want more Atom comics. He's like the Steve Buscemi of the DC universe: the talented character actor that makes all the big movie stars like Batman and Wonder Woman look bad. Plus Brian Bolland draws the cover! A cover with the Atom on it! Plus Dave Gibbons and Mark Waid write this issue! And Dan Jurgens is apparently still alive and hasn't given up his goal to learn how to draw! That's awesome too. I'm for Dan Jurgens, and you know why? 'Cuz he's the little guy, and I root for the little guy. The Atom is a little guy. And I shall root for him as well. [John Parker]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR AUGUST 18th 2004:

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

DARK HORSE

JUN040030 GOON DH ED #8 $2.99
MAY040054V RING VOL 3 TP (MR) $12.95
MAY040018D STEVE RUDE THE MOTH #4 (Of 4) $2.99

DC COMICS

JUN040805 ASTRO CITY SPECIAL $3.95
JUN040193 BATGIRL #55 $2.50
JUN040198 BATMAN ADVENTURES #17 $2.25
JUN040197 BATMAN DEATH AND THE MAIDENS TP $19.95
JUN040191 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #56 $2.95
JUN040200 BIRDS OF PREY #72 $2.50
JUN040945 BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #2 (MR) $2.50
JUN040386 DC COMICS PRESENTS ATOM #1 $2.50
JUN040817 DECIDE VOL 1 TP (MR) $14.95
JUN040808 EX MACHINA #3 (MR) $2.95
JUN040391 FALLEN ANGEL #14 (MR) $2.95
JUN040393 FRACTION #5 $2.50
JUN040398 GREEN ARROW ARCHERS QUEST TP $14.95
JUN040401 HAWKMAN #31 $2.50
JUN040403 HERO #19 $2.50
JUN040947 HUMAN TARGET #13 (MR) $2.95
JUN040816 I AM LEGION THE DANCING FAUN $6.95
JUN040407 JSA STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 (Of 6) $3.50
JUN040950 LUCIFER #53 (MR) $2.50
JUN040414 MANHUNTER #1 $2.50
JUN040417 PLASTIC MAN #9 $2.95
JUN040698 POWERPUFF GIRLS #53 $2.25
JUN040192 ROBIN #129 $2.25
JUN040944 SANDMAN ENDLESS NIGHTS TP (MR) $17.95
JUN040321 SUPERMAN GODFALL HC $19.95
JUN040322 SUPERMAN THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP $19.95
JUN040813 TERRA OBSCURA VOL 2 #1 (Of 6) $2.95
JUN040421 TOUCH #5 $2.50
JUN040812 WILDCATS CYBERFORCE KILLER INSTINCT TP $14.95

IMAGE

JUN041355 DEEP SLEEPER OMNIBUS $5.95
JUN041411 HUMANKIND #1 $2.99
DEC031333D SAVAGE DRAGON #116 $2.95
JUN041413 WITCHBLADE #78 $2.99

MARVEL

JUN041605 CABLE DEADPOOL #6 $2.99
JUN041626 DAREDEVIL #63 $2.99
JUN041632 DOCTOR SPECTRUM #1 (Of 6) (MR) $2.99
JUN041601 EXILES #51 $2.99
JUN041577 FANTASTIC FOUR #517 (Note Price) $2.99
JUN041581 INVADERS #1 $2.99
JUN041630 LOKI #3 (Of 4) $3.50
JUN041590 MAN THING #2 (Of 3) $2.99
JUN041618 MARVEL AGE SPIDER-MAN #10 $2.25
JUN041619 MARY JANE #3 $2.25
JUN041598 NEW X-MEN #4 $2.99
JUN041603 ROGUE #2 $2.99
JUN041589 SHE HULK #6 $2.99
JUN041608 STARJAMMERS #3 $2.99
MAY041687D SUPREME POWER #12 (MR) $2.99
JUN041571 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #64 $2.25
JUN041606 WEAPON X #27 $2.99
JUN041629 WOLVERINE #18 $2.25
JUN041596 X-MEN #160 $2.25
JUN041593 X-MEN THE END BOOK ONE DREAMERS AND DEMONS #2 (OF 6) $2.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN042897 ALICE 19TH VOL 6 GN BLINDNESS $9.99
JUN042895 ANIMERICA EXTRA SEPT 2004 VOL 7 #9 $4.99
JUN042224 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #150 $2.39
JUN042674F BONEYARD #15 $2.95
JUN042409 COSMIC GUARD #1 $2.99
JUN042410J COSMIC GUARD FOIL ED #1 PI
JUN042124F DEMO #9 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
JUN042472I DFE COSMIC GUARD ALT CVR #1 $6.95
JUN042473I DFE COSMIC GUARD ALT CVR SGN #1 $19.99
JUN042569 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #319 $2.95
JUN042369 FULL HOUSE BOOK 1 GN $9.99
MAY042405E FUTURAMA ADVENTURES VOL 2 TP $14.95
JUN042414 GI JOE #33 $2.95
MAY042575E GI JOE MASTER & APPRENTICE #3 (Of 3) $2.95
MAY042203F GIRL GENIUS #12 $3.95
JUN042911 HOT GIMMICK VOL 6 TP $9.99
JUN042227 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #106 $3.59
MAY042844F MAX HAMM FAIRY TALE DETECTIVE VOL 2 #3 (Of 3) $4.95
JUN042571 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #268 $2.95
JUN042919 NAUSICAA OF VALLEY OF WIND VOL 7 TP 2ND ED $9.95
JUN042185 NEOTOPIA VOL 4 #1 $2.99
JUN042704 OJO #1 (Of 5) (MR) $2.99
JUN042229 SABRINA VOL 2 #60 $2.19
JUN042298 SIMPSONS COMICS #97 $2.99
MAY042954F SLEEPING DRAGONS VOL 1 TP BECCAS SCARECROW $14.95
JAN045316 STREET FIGHTER VOL 1 TP NEW PRTG $9.99
JUN042458 TRANSFORMERS POSTER BOOK #1 $4.95
MAY042968H TRUE BRIT TP $21.95
JUN042928 VAGABOND VOL 14 TP $9.95
JUN042427 VOLTRON VOL 2 #8 $2.95
JUN042372 YONGBI THE INVINCIBLE BOOK 1 GN (Of 23) $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.