Let's get the non-Marvel books out the way first, because there are less of them. Dark Horse releases an ideal stocking stuffer in the shape of Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Slaves Of The Republic, in which Anakin and Ahsoka try to free her people from tyranny.

Meanwhile, Image Comics matches them in crossmedia properties, with One Model Nation, a new graphic novel written by Courtney Taylor from the Dandy Warhols (with art by Street Angel's Jim Rugg) about an alternate history Germany's music-led revolution in 1977. Of course, if you like historical stories, the collection of time-traveling-tales in Doctor Who: Through Time and Space from IDW may be just the right antidote for your winter blues.

Superherowise, the dead are continuing to rise at DC, with two series spinning out of Blackest Night: Blackest Night: The Flash and Blackest Night: Wonder Woman both launch this week, accompanied by the entirely un-undead JSA All-Stars series showcasing the younger members of DC's second team. But that truly pales beside the onslaught of superhero launches from Marvel this week. Brace yourself.

If it's not the alternate earth thrills of What If? Secret Invasion (That's not even a sentence, never mind a question), it's the continuity-heavy Dark Avengers Annual, Siege: The Cabal (A prelude to next month's Siege event that'll get the original Avengers back together in time for that whole movie thing) or Fall Of The Hulks: Alpha.

Retrofun can be found in Uncanny X-Men First Class: Hated and Feared. And while Tony Stark is in bad ways in the regular Iron Man book, we get a look back at his origins in Iron Man: Requiem. It's actually a pretty good week for Iron Man fans; there's also the first issue of Iron Man Vs. Whiplash, which ties in with next year's movie, as does the first issue of Black Widow and the Marvel Girls. Why, after all of that, you'll need the non-superhero Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill to cleanse your palette.

Even if you're not looking for a hint of what to expect from summer blockbusters, you'll find something worth reading on this week's shipping list from Diamond Distributors, or by leafing through the selection at your local comic store. And remember: Comics don't care if you're naughty or nice.

This week, Marvel offers the centerpiece of their current Dark Reign branding, Dark Avengers (the premise of which has been kept secret by the publisher, but appears to be "What if the bad guys dressed up as the good guys and got to do whatever they wanted?") Also intriguing: the first issue of villain-centric series Doctor Doom And The Masters Of Evil, (which is worth checking out based on the creative team alone; Paul Tobin and Patrick Scherberger have done some very fun work on the Marvel Adventures titles before)

Meanwhile, DC has a couple of collections that you should consider picking up: The Strange Deaths Of Batman lets you relive seven near-death experiences for the Dark Knight in light of last week's (not-really) death in Final Crisis. And The Flash: Emergency Stop brings back some of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's enjoyable run (no pun intended) on the scarlet speedster's comic from the mid-90s.

Not to be outdone, Image Comics offers up a couple of classics, in their own way. Frank Frazetta's Moon Maid continues the publisher's trend of adapting well-known Frazetta paintings into full-length comics. The Ted McKeever Library: Eddy Current brings McKeever's wonderful series about a lunatic asylum-escapee who fights crime back into print, in luscious hardcover format.

IDW, meanwhile, continues to have your movie needs covered, with the first issues of Star Trek prequel Countdown and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Movie Prequel: Defiance both waiting for you on the shelves tomorrow.

But, as wonderful as all of these books are, none of them are as essential to your happiness this week as the first issue of Mysterius The Unfathomable. This new series, from DC's Wildstorm imprint, comes via writer Jeff Parker and artist Tom Fowler, who mix spiritual fathers Doctor Who and Dirk Gently to come up with what Parker calls "a book about an unlikable magical guy" who doesn't age, adopts (and discards) new assistants with worrying frequency and investigates the unknown... well, for a price. There's a six page preview of the series here, but really: This one you need to read.

The doubters amongst you can look at this week's shipping list to be convinced, and then consult the Comic Shop Locator just to remind themselves where to buy such fine four-color-funnies. Luckily, I know that you aren't a doubter... I'm sure that you're already working out how many copies of Mysterius you can pick up for friends and family, you're so convinced. Congratulations. We like people like you.

Marvel's official website is playing coy about the new series, but offered the following taglines to help fans guess their identities:

"What he does isn't very nice."

"Back in black."

"Not such a straight arrow."

"Men fear a powerful woman."

"The greatest hero in the Marvel Universe."

The first two are obvious allusions to Wolverine (who, for years, was fond of announcing that he was the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't very nice) and Spider-Man (who starred in a series of stories titled "Back in Black" around the time of his third movie), and the third would seem to match up with the character in the back of the released cover image, Hawkeye (an archer with a criminal background, don't forget). But the final two...? Obviously the unknown woman (who wears a copy of Ms. Marvel's original costume) and the previously teased Iron Patriot. But who are they...? Editor of the book Tom Brevoort hinted to IGN that not everything was necessarily as it seems:

Are they clones? Doppelgangers? Future Echoes? Or something more immediate and horrifying? And once their identity is revealed, that will only propel the Marvel Universe onto a path that will carry it forward towards an inevitable, explosive climax.

Rumors are that the Dark Avengers are the "more immediate and horrifying" option, and looking at that image, that does look more like Spider-Man villain Venom than Spidey himself... With the most recent issue of Marvel series Thunderbolts (Venom's current home) showing that Norman Osborn is trying to position himself as "the greatest hero in the Marvel Universe" (and a great Patriot, too) post-Secret Invasion, perhaps it's not unlikely to guess that he will end up being the Iron Patriot, and the Dark Avengers will be a new take on the old "Bad Guys Pretending To Be Heroes For Self-Serving Purposes" idea.

We'll find out for sure on January 21st, when the first issue of Dark Avengers hits stories.

Who Are The Dark Avengers? [Marvel]