Welcome to the Shipping Forecast, Ninth Art's pick of the best and most notable new releases hitting comic stores each week.

COMIC OF THE WEEK:

[i1] WHISKEY DICKEL INTERNATIONAL COWGIRL GN (Image)
This character's had a bit of a past, having her genesis in an idea that occurred to writer Mark Ricketts waaaaay back in 1982. More then twenty years later, most people will be scratching their heads and asking "Whiskey who?" So, indeed: Who is Whiskey Dickel, and what kind of a job description is International Cowgirl, anyway? Whiskey appears to be a confident, rootin' tootin' take-no-crap kind of a gal, and that endears me to her from the offset. She was previously the focus of Caliber's INTERNATIONAL COWGIRL MAGAZINE in the early 90s, which made a little splash, but then the ripples died out. The latest bright young thing to put his hand to illustrating Whiskey is Mike Hawthorne, who invests the character with some real vigour, and it's his work in a brand new story that's the big selling point of WHISKEY DICKEL. The whole fun package also contains selected reprints from INTERNATIONAL COWGIRL MAGAZINE, an illustrated screenplay of the never-made Whiskey Dickel movie, and various cowgirl pinups from top creators. [German Bight]

ALSO THIS WEEK:

CINNAMON: EL CICLO #1 (DC Comics)
It seems that cowgirls are the new pirates, although this week's other cowgirl has an even older pedigree than Whiskey; Cinnamon is a pre-Crisis DC gunslinging gal getting a 21st century makeover courtesy of HOPELESS SAVAGES creator 'Calamity' Jen Van Meter. The series is set in the 'New West' of the present day, and sees Cinnamon as a modern hired gun who gets caught up in some unpleasant family business. Art comes from Francisco Paronzini, the latest name to emerge from the awesome Argentinean talent pool that also gave us Eduardo Risso, Marcelo Frusin and Leandro Fernandez - so expect plenty of style, and gallons of black ink. [Fisher]

[i2] FAREWELL GEORGIA #1 (Slave Labor Graphics)
I've never heard of Ben Towle before, probably because he's apparently never published anything before, but I'm confident we'll hear of him again judging by the quality of this anthology work. FAREWELL GEORGIA is a collection of four Georgia folk tales - wiley shaggy dog stories with a shared sense of the fantastic - three of which originally appeared on Towle's personal website. Towle's accomplished cartooning should appeal to fans of James Sturm's excellent THE GOLEM'S MIGHTY SWING, as should Towle's gift for storytelling and his apparent fondness for Americana. [Fisher]

HUMAN TARGET #1 (DC Vertigo)
Pete Milligan's widely-acclaimed psychological thriller gets its own ongoing run, starting from this week. This is most definitely Good News, as the original mini-series is one of the most intelligent and absorbing action comics I've read, and Milligan is capable of producing top-notch thrills and spills. The story centres on the 'Human Target' Christopher Chase, who assumes others' identities to foil assassination attempts and similar dastardly plots - but his life is set to become even more complicated as his latest role and his whole existence is jeopardised. Art and covers are by the talented CATWOMAN artist Javier Pulido, who is more than able to follow the work of the late, great Ed Biukovic on the original series. Set your sights on HUMAN TARGET this week. [Finisterre]

WONDER WOMAN #195 (DC Comics)
She's royalty, born and raised as someone destined to lead. She's an ambassador, manoeuvring the layers and traps of world politics. She's a superhero, one of the strongest beings on the planet. She's favoured by the gods, even briefly being the Goddess of Truth. And in all of these aspects of her life, she uses her power to help people even as she keeps others from trying to exploit it. This, in a nutshell, is the Wonder Woman that Greg Rucka and Drew Johnson want to tell their stories about. Advance looks at their first issue by the new creative team show a deep understanding of the many facets of the character, which uses a new addition to the cast to provide a fresh look into the life of comics' favourite Amazon. Those who read last year's WONDER WOMAN: THE HIKETEIA (released in softcover last week) will already know what a strong grasp Rucka has on the character; now, lucky us, we get to see it every month. [Plymouth]

[i3] SMAX #1 (DC Wildstorm/ABC)
TOP 10 fans rejoice! When the much loved series by Alan Moore, Gene Ha, and Zander Cannon came to a close, we had two spin-off projects promised: THE '49ERS by Moore and Ha, and SMAX by Moore and Cannon. For the latter, the wait is finally over. Jeff Smax and his partner Robyn Slinger (aka Toybox) were the heart and soul of TOP 10, as Robyn not only tried to puzzle out her new job as a police officer, but her stubborn and hard-headed partner. Having Moore focus on just the two of them for five issues will be a joy in its own right, even as he plunges them into a fantasy universe that promises to place Moore's visionary imagination on display. What a lot of fans probably aren't ready for yet, though, is having Cannon pencil and ink the series. Those who did read Cannon's REPLACEMENT GOD series will know that Cannon has a wonderfully smooth ink line, giving a real classic look to his pages that brings to mind P Craig Russell. Cannon provided incredibly detailed layouts for Ha on TOP 10, but SMAX should make Cannon a star in his own right. [Plymouth]

SUPERMAN: METROPOLIS #7 (DC Comics)
While this may appear to the naked eye to be the middle of one of the two Superman 12-issue maxi-series running right now, it is a pretty exciting opportunity to see the expressive Teddy Kristiansen (SANDMAN, GRENDEL) finish off what another uncommonly good artist, Danijel Zezelj, delivered with dignity for six issues. Chuck Austen's story here is serviceable to the non-Superman reader willing to suspend a little apathy for the occasional lapse into continuity blather. For those already halfway into the series due to their interest in Zezelj's art, Kristiansen has done some impressive work in the past (my favourite being the BACCHUS COLOR SPECIAL) and has the depth to pull this off with aplomb, if given enough time. It may not be worth sticking with the series based on the merits of Austen's story alone, but Kristiansen is a bold enough choice of artist that I'm in for at least one more issue. [Trafalgar]

THE SHIPPING LIST FOR AUGUST 20th:

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

DARK HORSE

JUN030059 CANNON GOD EXAXXION #16 (MR) $2.99
JUN030019 DH GOON #2 $2.99
JUN030014 GO BOY 7: HUMAN ACTION MACHINE #2 $2.99
JUN030027 GRENDEL: GOD & THE DEVIL #7 (Of 10) (MR) $3.50
JUN030024 KISS ART CVR #12 $2.99

DC COMICS

JUN030211 ARROWSMITH #2 (Of 6) $2.95
JUN030142 BATGIRL #43 $2.50
JUN030144 BATMAN ADVENTURES #5 $2.25
JUN030154 BIRDS OF PREY #58 $2.50
JUN030172 CINNAMON: EL CICLO #1 (Of 5) $2.50
JUN030247 HUMAN TARGET #1 (MR) $2.95
JUN030192 JIST CREATING THE DC UNIVERSE BOOK TWO TP $19.95
JUN030187 JLA: SCARY MONSTERS #6 (Of 6) $2.50
JUN030183 JLA: THE OBSIDIAN AGE BOOK TWO TP $12.95
JUN030252 LUCIFER #41 (MR) $2.50
JUN030225 POSSESSED #2 (Of 6) (MR) $2.95
JUN030208 POWERPUFF GIRLS #41 $2.25
JUN030159 ROBIN #117 $2.25
JUN030236 SMAX #1 (Of 5) $2.95
JUN030164 SUPERMAN: METROPOLIS #7 (Of 12) $2.95
APR030230 TOM STRONG #21 $2.95
JUN030234 WILDCATS VERSION 3.0: BRAND BUILDING TP (MR) $14.95
JUN030202 WONDER WOMAN #195 $2.25

IMAGE

JUN031225 BIG BANG SUMMER SPECIAL #1 $4.95
JUN031243 GI JOE FRONTLINE #12 $2.95
JUN031274 LIBERTY MEADOWS #33 $2.95
MAY031280 TOMB RAIDER #32 $2.99
JUN031335 WHISKEY DICKEL INTERNATIONAL COWGIRL GN $12.95

MARVEL

JUN031608 AGENT X #13 $2.99
JUN031579 CAPTAIN MARVEL #13 $2.99
JUN031566 CREW #4 $2.99
JUN031580 DAREDEVIL #50 $2.99
JUN031611 EXILES #31 $2.99
JUN031571 HUMAN TORCH #5 $2.50
JUN031570 NAMOR #5 $2.25
JUN031559 RUNAWAYS #5 $2.50
JUN031586 SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #3 (Of 4) $2.99
JUN031574 STARTLING STORIES: THING: LAST LINE OF DEFENSE #1 $3.50
MAR031576 ULTIMATE ADVENTURES #5 (Note Price) $2.99
JUN031594 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #45 $2.25
JUN031648 X-MEN EVOLUTION VOL 2 TP $11.99

OTHER PUBLISHERS

JUN032218 ADVENTURE KID BOOK 3: MEGABITE GN (A) $16.95
JUN032067 ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #74 $2.19
JUN032070 BETTY #129 $2.19
JUN032074 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #141 $2.39
JUN032583 DRAGONBALL VOL 12 TP SHONEN J ED $7.95
JUN032157 DRAGONS LAIR: SINGE'S REVENGE #1 (Of 6) $2.95
JUN032584 EXCEL SAGA VOL 2 TP $9.95
JUN031982 FAREWELL GEORGIA #1 $6.95
JUN032075 JUGHEAD'S DOUBLE DIGEST #97 $3.59
JUN032171 MYSTIC #39 $2.95
MAR031904 OUTLOOK GRIM #1 (MR) $2.95
JUN031984 OUTLOOK GRIM #2 (MR) $2.95
AUG032157 POPCORN ROMANCE GN $9.99
JUN032592 SHAMAN KING VOL 1 TP: SHAMAN IN TOKYO $7.95
JUN032591 SHORT CUTS VOL 2 TP $9.95
JUN032138 SIMPSONS COMICS #85 $2.99
JUL031954I XIN: JOURNEY OF THE MONKEY KING #3 LTD LUCAS CVR $9.95

The 9A Lighthouse Crew are Trafalgar, Shannon, Fastnet, Plymouth, Viking, German Bight, Finisterre, Forties, Dogger, Cromarty and Fisher.

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.