The last edition of the comics criticism and review website Ninth Art went live this morning. After five years of intelligent commentary and satire, the time has come to move on and do something else.

In a sizable final update, I have no less than four articles for you to peruse:

THE LIGHTHOUSE AWARDS: THE BEST OF THE BEST
Ninth Art selects the best comics and most exciting creators of the last five years, including Morrison and Quitely's Western Manga WE3, Oni Press' spy drama QUEEN AND COUNTRY, and the woefully underrated writer-artist Carla Speed McNeil. My contibution: a retrospective on the beautiful magical drama PROMETHEA.

STAR OF MACEDONIA: AN INTERVIEW WITH ED PISKOR
Ed Piskor is a lucky young pup. Barely twenty-three years old and already drawing his first full-length graphic novel for Random House Publishing. The book: the travelogue and docucomic MACEDONIA. The author: AMERICAN SPLENDOR's Harvey Pekar.

CAN'T GET NO
Rick Veitch's experimental graphic novel, dealing with the parallel trauma between one Yuppie on the verge of a nervous breakdown and a county reeling from the World Trade Center disaster.

THE FORECAST FOR JUNE 21st 2006
The Forecast team picks the best comics from the week's new shipping list. In an unusual move, I step out from behind the Shipping List to rail against the latest violation of Marvel Comics iconic SPIDER-MAN, who has been in the real-world news this week for doffing his mask in a misguided and irrevocable sales-baiting stunt.

And that's that. I've been a writer for Ninth Art since June of 2004, although I was a reader from Day One. It has been a privilege to take part in such a strong and intelligent chorus. My contributions to the site can also be found at my website.

ADDITIONAL NOTE:

Matthew Craig - The Blog! is going on hiatus as of this date. Thank you for reading the blog over the last three years: remember to visit The Matthew Craig Dot Com for regular updates, including a new full-length Hondle novella.

Matthew Craig, Hondletown, 19/06/2006

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Rolf Harris' website has a drawing board for people to play with. You can submit your drawings for the master's approval.

I don't think I'll win any prizes for this, but you should go and see what other people have done.

My Granma Never Wore This Coat © M.P.Craig 2006

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Part 200,001: JAKE THE PEG: THE MOVIE ADAPTATION

I am so, so sorry.

Jake The Peg © Rolf Harris
Lex Luthor © DC Comics
Kevin Spacey appears in Superman Returns
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Part 120,00x - BATMAN: GOTHAM UNDER THE SKIN

I always liked the symbiotic relationship between Batman and Gotham City. I guess, technically, the Dark Knight could ply his trade in any great metropolis (except, perhaps, Metropolis), but without the great ornate architecture of Gotham - the gargoyles, the maddening, impossible angles - he wouldn't be quite the same man.

I think Kent Williams explored a related idea - that Batman and Gotham were a part of each other, each keeping the other alive - in the first volume of BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE. There's a long tradition of quasi-shamanic places of power in fiction. Alan Moore's VOICE OF THE FIRE is a prime example of such things.

The cover image was modified from that used for BATMAN #650, which was painted by the incomparable Jock. I reduced it to the slightly abstract silhouette you see above in order to emphasise the relationship between city and saviour, creation and creator, Yin and Yang.

Expect more such remix covers in the near future, as I try to teach myself something about cover design.

Batman © DC Comics
Original Art by Jock
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There's a new strip up at The Matthew Craig Dot Com, today: War Dog.

Written by me, illustrated by Simon Mackie, and inspired by real events, War Dog is the story of three generations of the same family, united by a need to celebrate the life of an unlikely hero.

The story was inspired by a real-life memorial to all the dogs, cows, elephants and glow worms sacrificed on the altar of human folly. They may not have had much say in the matter, but such animals saved lives, on any and all sides of War, as well as in civilian life. As such, they deserve to be remembered, even if only in the abstract sense. Please give generously to your local animal charities. You may end up saving more than just a poodle's life, some day...

I hope you enjoy the story. The original script can be found here.

War Dog © M.P.Craig & S. Mackie 2006

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"Ridge"
By Matthew Craig

I arrived at the ridge, with my wife and dog in tow.

Then I realised that I wasn't married, and my dog was dead.

He smiled at me, anyway.

We had pie.

You think I'm making this up, but it's true.

Except for the bit about the pie.

I turned to my dog, and said:

"I wish we had a car."

"Mm," he replied.

Ridge © M.P.Craig 2006
Based on the OneWord Sixty Second challenge
Keyword "ridge"

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In the weekly Forecast feature, Ninth Art spotlights the best of the new comics releases. This week, I have written about three series that have caught my fancy:

SCOTT PILGRIM (Oni Press)

"Bryan Lee O'Malley's SCOTT PILGRIM is a word of mouth classic, and it's not hard to see why. The books feature a diverse, well-rounded cast, led by the delightfully knuckleheaded and occasionally unsympathetic Pilgrim. The plot expresses the disaffection of young adulthood through the twin media of videogames and Hard Rock, and the art offers an emotional range and depth of field to be savoured. Also, hot girls."

MY INNER BIMBO (Oni Press)

"BIMBO finds Lo...reflecting on his life and the choices he has made, including marrying an older woman. Dreaming of what might have been, Lo is confronted by an unlikely physical manifestation of his undernourished emotional landscape - the eponymous bimbo bombshell."

GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA: SHOUAN JUNAI GUMI (Tokyopop)

"One of my favourite manga is GTO: GREAT TEACHER ONIZUKA, in which a shiftless rebel discovers new purpose in life when he resolves to become a high school teacher.

"...Fujisawa-san has devoted approximately 10,000 pages to exploring one character's road to maturity. It took the publishers of...AMAZING SPIDER-MAN thirty-eight years to rack up that many pages. And Stan Lee didn't stick around for all of them."

Click here to read the complete Forecast, including Affable Al Kennedy's take on DC Comics' SECRET SIX.

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