Marvel Comics' reaction to 9/11 was both heartfelt and far-reaching, understandable for a company not only based in New York but one so tied to the city in its demeanor and subject matter (Marvel's New York state is the setting for the majority of its line, being home for years to Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil, amongst many others): Not only did they publish the prerequisite memorial special editions (Heroes and A Moment Of Silence), they also created a short-lived line of emergency services comics (The Call), relaunched Captain America as a hero hunting terrorists (with patriotic covers announcing things like "Fight Terror" and "Never Give Up"), placed a memorial logo of the World Trade Center Towers on all of their comics published for more than a year afterwards, and published a very special issue of Amazing Spider-Man where the company's most well-known character visited Ground Zero to help with rescue efforts, and found that it wasn't only the heroes who realized how terrible the terrorist attacks were:
Yes, Doctor Doom crying may have been a little too much - writer J. Michael Straczynski later denied asking for that in the script to avoid a backlash - but the meaning of all of this was clear: As a company, Marvel Comics had been severely affected by the devastating attacks, and had not only faced up to the reality of such widescale destruction previously fantasized about in their books, but also felt that reality for themselves. This was a sobered company.

Cut to last week's Siege: The Cabal, the prelude to next month's Siege event running across their entire line. Following September 11th, an increasingly political subtext has crept into Marvel's superhero lines, whether it's the "Personal Liberty or Safety" question at the heart of Civil War, terrorist sleeper cell paranoia of the run up to 2008's Secret Invasion or "The People Running Our Country May Not Have Our Best Interests At Heart" theme of this year's Dark Reign, and it's been something that's worked very well for the company: A decade ago, they were coming out of bankruptcy and their future looked uncertain, and now they're being bought by Disney for $400 billion. Siege: The Cabal acts as prologue to the big Final Act of the uber-storyline that's been running throughout their titles since 2004's Avengers: Disassembled, and ends with Norman Osborn - onetime Green Goblin and now head of what is essentially Marvel's Homeland Security department - talking with Norse God Loki about how he can make a pre-emptive strike against the mythical realm of Iraq. Wait, I mean, Asgard:
This explains the opening of next month's Siege, which was released in previews last week:

That's Chicago's Soldier Field getting destroyed, by the way. While there's a game going on, and the stands are full of people. Considering Soldier Field's seating capacity is 61,500, it's probably safe to say that we're talking about upwards of 50,000 fictional deaths in the stadium alone, even going with a "Well, it wasn't sold out" defense, and that's ignoring any damage and deaths in surrounding areas.

I think I'm allowed a W. T. F. around now.

There are so many things that come to mind from seeing this preview, and this amount of devastation for the purposes of getting a plot about good guys teaming up to reform the Avengers going, and to prepare for a new, optimistic status quo called "The Heroic Age". Primarily, it's the thoughtlessness and/or bad taste of the whole thing, especially coming from the publisher who seemed so affected by - or, perhaps, just displayed more of an emotional response to - September 11th (Which resulted in almost 3,000 deaths) and seemed to have come to some level of understanding of what an event of that scale actually means (Hint: It's not four issues of Cap and Iron Man and Thor getting back together to kick some bad guy ass, True Believer!). Don't get me wrong, I understand the difference between fictional death and real death, but that doesn't excuse the strange insensitivity here.

Secondly: Killing tens of thousands of people as an excuse to go to war? This is supervillainy on a ridiculous scale here, way beyond anything we've seen in a long time and not only completely removed from the intentional scale and bombast of old school supervillains, but (a) literally collateral damage given little thought on the road to Osborn's true plan, and (b) unlike other supervillain's genocidal plans, apparently completely successful (I hope that the next scene, not shown in previews, will reveal the Soldier Field destruction to be a fantasy sequence, but somehow I doubt it - And, if it were, it'd seem even more ghoulish to release these pages to get fans excited about reading Siege: "Look, kids! WIDESCALE DEATH TWENTY TIMES LARGER THAN 9/11! THIS IS THE BIG ONE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! EXCELSIOR!"). I'm all for demonizing bad guys, but this is just insane; even going on the "Well, he's mentally unbalanced" explanation Siege writer Brian Michael Bendis has been giving in interviews about the character and project, it makes mastermind Norman Osborn into a character that is impossible to sympathize with, and reduces him to almost cartoon proportions and ideas about evil. All he needs now is a moustache to twirl when explaining his plan to the heroes.

(Second-and-a-half-ly: Killing tens of thousands of people as an excuse to go to war? Is this some kind of veiled "The American Right Wing Were Behind 9/11 As A Way Of Motivating People To Back An Invasion Of Afghanistan and Iraq" thing? After all, Bendis has said about the plot, "much like we've seen in our own modern history, it's not beyond world leaders to fabricate incidents if it serves a purpose." Hmm.)

Thirdly: We've seen this before, in more than one sense. Not only is this a deliberate and literal call-out to the accidental explosion that launched Marvel's Civil War, but the idea of using the destruction of a sports stadium to launch a war is from Tom Clancy's 1991 novel The Sum Of All Fears (adapted into a movie in 1999, but not released until 2002). Of course, in that case, it's a neo-Nazi trying to convince the US and Russia to go to war by placing blame on the event on the Russians, but still, the tone-deaf quality of the plot device becomes even stranger when you realize that it's not even original.

So what to make of Siege's Destruction McGuffin? A sign that, even if the rest of the world hasn't gotten over 9/11, Marvel has managed to move on and enjoy fictional slaughter as a motivator for superheroes to team-up again? Proof that cynical shock tactics outweigh genuine emotional responses when it comes to upping the ante in the name of sales? A thoughtless plot that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth? Maybe I'm just too sensitive to these kinds of things; it's been eight years, after all. Perhaps I should shut up and hope that they blow up an entire continent next so that Doctor Doom can reveal that he really did only have something in his eye down at Ground Zero. After all, destroying Antarctica would be really bad-ass, wouldn't it?

Let's start by getting all of the superhero stuff out of the way. Depending on how much you love the old stuff, chances are your book of the week will either be the hardcover collection of Batman: Battle For The Cowl (In which Dick Grayson decides to carry on that Dark Knight family business) or the Showcase Presents: DC Comics Presents black and white collection of 1970s Superman team-ups with other DC characters both A-list and long-forgotten. (Me, I'm going for the Showcase, if only for the sweet, sweet Jose-Luis Garcia-Lopez art.)

But there are also collections of DC's Black Lightning Year One, the Blackest Night-trailing Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse, Marvel's space-epic War of Kings and the tragically-cut-down-in-its-prime Runaways: Homeschooling. If you're looking for something more in the single issue price range, there's always DC's Justice Society Of America 80-Page Giant and Marvel's Dark Reign: The List - Spider-Man. Or the debut of Reign of Kings: Inhumans.

If War of Kings isn't enough space warfare for you, then Dark Horse has the first volume of Alien Legion Omnibus, in the wake of the movie deal announced yesterday. And Boom! has the first issue of its now-monthly Farscape series. And does it get any more space war than Transformers? Well, yes (Their war kind of takes place on Earth, after all), but the first issue of IDW's new monthly series is also released tomorrow.

Staying with the media tie-ins, IDW also has the first issues of the weekly Legion: Prophets and the mini-series Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ghosts coming out. Meanwhile, Dark Horse has the much-anticipated all-new Dr. Horrible special issue to satisfy your Whedon Jones for another week. Dark Horse is also re-releasing Pictures That Tick, a collection of experimental comics by Sandman cover artist Dave McKean that's well worth your time and money.

Last but not least, you can prepare for the horror of Thanksgiving next week with a couple new supernatural books: Boom! have a collection of their great The Unknown detective series, while DC's Victorian Undead puts Sherlock Holmes against zombies to the... whatever comes after death, I guess.

As ever, all of these books and more can be found on the shipping list from Diamond Distributors, while your local comic store itself can be found by using the Comic Shop Locator Service. Do it for reading, you guys.

While present-day Marvel finds itself beginning to tie up their uber-story Dark Reign with this week's Dark Reign: The List - Wolverine and Dark Reign: The List - Punisher, the future presents itself in the form of the Wolverine: Old Man Logan hardcover collection, which can best be described as "What if Mad Max met The Unforgiven, only it was about Wolverine and took place in the future and guest-starred lots of over the top parodies of other Marvel characters as their own 'descendants'?" A particularly guilty pleasure, perhaps, but definitely one that hits a particular target.

Similarly on the "If you like this kind of thing, you'll love this," DC's Ambush Bug: Year None finally finishes its six-issue run with this week's seventh issue - which replaces the much-delayed and rumored-to-be-so-controversial-it-was-killed-by-editorial sixth, originally due out months ago... and that explanation is, oddly enough, one of the best examples of the sense of humor required to enjoy Keith Giffen's weird affectionate superhero parody. More straight-ahead DC thrills can be found in Arkham Reborn - which begins the reconstruction of Batman's favorite lunatic asylum, destroyed after Bruce Wayne died/went time-traveling involuntarily - and World's Finest, which brings together characters from Superman and Batman's supporting casts to solve crimes and compare sales figures.

Elsewhere, Dark Horse has a special issue of the Hellboy spinoff Abe Sapien, as part of its new initiative to get readers to try out new series and franchises (or comics, in the first place; the upcoming Doctor Horrible special is likely to entice some newbies into the fold, I think.)

And those who like that kind of thing are highly recommended to also pick up SLG's Pinnochio: Vampire Slayer graphic novel, wherein Gepetto's little boy realizes that life without cutting your nose off to stake the undead with just isn't worth wishing for. Yes, it's as odd and wonderful as that sounds.

Those looking for nostalgic thrills updated for a new cynical age could do a lot worse than the collection of GI Joe: Cobra, the mini-series I raved about recently (It really is very good.) And for those looking for a beautifully illustrated, touchingly gentle piece of storytelling, the hardcover collection of P. Craig Russell's adaptation of The Sandman: The Dream Hunters can't be beaten; I'd even argue that it's better than Gaiman's prose original.

Just like every week, the complete list of comics reaching comic stores tomorrow can be found here, and your local comic store can be found here. And, if you happen to have some spare change left in your pocket once you've picked up everything you're looking for...? Grab a copy of Boom!'s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep #5; I've got a text piece about Philip K. Dick in the back, and I need all the help I can get, coming after Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction, Rockne S. O'Bannon and Ed Brubaker's efforts...

Let's quickly get the superhero stuff out of the way, shall we? DC is launching a new Azrael series, mixing Batman and The DaVinci Code for a new religious hero to light Gotham's streets. Or something.

DC is also putting out a hardcover collection of the much-delayed, but much-awesome Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds series, that redefined the Legion of Super-Heroes franchise at least until the next reboot.

Marvel sees that collection and raises Captain America: Road to Reborn, another hardcover collection, this time of the Cap issues leading up to Steve Rogers' return. Marvel also offers Dark Wolverine Vol. 1: The Prince, a collection of the first solo stories starring Wolverine's bastard (in many senses of the word) son, and the special issue Dark Reign: The List - Hulk, in which gamma irradiated monsters come face to face with Marvel's current New World Order (I predict smashing).

Keeping outside of monsters for the time being, Nexus: Space Opera and Star Trek: Mission's End offer your fill of interstellar drama for the week, with the former bringing back the cult space cop superhero from its 1980s indie comic heyday and the latter offering a take on the final days of James Kirk's original five-year mission. Sticking with movies, the first issue of GI Joe Movie: Snake Eyes lets Ray Park, the movie's own silent ninja, co-write a story about his own character.

But none of those, as fine as they are - and Nexus and Star Trek are both particularly fine - hold a candle to Image Comics' reissue of Five Fists of Science, Matt Fraction and Steven Saunders' alternate-history tale of Twain and Tesla teaming up to save the world from forces more ancient and deadly than many could imagine. If ever there was a book I could eagerly recommend to the majority of io9 readers, it'd be this one. Go forth and buy.

Oh, but not yet. We've still got the Hallowe'enish books to go! You know about Angel Vs. Frankenstein after yesterday's preview, but IDW also has Frankenstein's Mobster, a pun-laden, funny gangster romp recasting of Mary Shelley's misunderstood monster, and Spike Omnibus, a collection of stories about Joss Whedon's other vampire with a soul, for horror fans this week.

Marvel, meanwhile, has the first issue of The Stand: Soul Survivors, a new series adapting part of the Stephen King novel, and DC are putting out their annual DC Universe Hallowe'en Special filled with spooky shorts starring superhero favorites. 'Tis the season, after all.

Whether you're looking for things going bump in the night, or giant steampunk inventions designed to scare the world into peace, you'll be able to find it on this week's shipping list from Diamond Distributors, and then inside your local comic store. But, seriously: At least leaf through Five Fists Of Science. You'll thank me afterwards.

Fans of Marvel Comics' ongoing Dark Reign storyline will be happy this week. In addition to Dark Reign: The List - X-Men, there's also Dark X-Men: The Confession (which, in the mighty Marvel tradition, ties into Dark Reign, X-Men and the recently completed Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia) and Dark Reign: Made Men, which looks at what's happening for the villains not in the center of Norman Osborn's scheme to villainize America.

For those who prefer a brighter Marvel Universe, Joss Whedon's entire X-Men run gets a collection in the Astonishing X-Men Omnibus. And the X-Men Origins hardcover brings together some beautifully illustrated retellings of the earliest days of the mutant franchise. Spider-Woman #1 is the paper version of the motion comic, but the oddest release from Marvel this week is Pet Avengers Classic Vol. 1, which offers up an anthology of stories about Marvel's Mightiest Pets. Yes, really.

DC aren't the kind of publishers who'd pull a lame stunt like pet superheroes (Well, apart from the Legion of Super-Pets, and Krypto and Streaky and, okay, never mind). DC would much rather pull lame stunts like phone votes to decide the fates of long-running characters, and in the DC Comics Library: A Death In The Family hardcover, you can relive that bold, classy experiment that ended with Robin being blown up by the Joker. Prouder moments of classic comics get collected in the first volume of Flash Chronicles, reprinting (again) the first appearances of the Silver Age Flash. And the Push trade paperback collects the comic book prologue that was much better than the movie it tied into.

Luckily, and unusually, the two best books of the week are both single issues, allowing you to sample both before running back in a month for seconds. (And they're openings of mini-series, so you don't have to worry about making a long-term commitment.)

Superman: Secret Origin lets Geoff Johns and Gary Frank go to town on the Man of Steel, taking six issues to tell the story of how a baby rocketed from a dying planet could grow up to make the tights and cape combo work in a way that will doubtless entertain and hint at what's to come in the character's future.

Underground brings together the obscenely talented Jeff (X-Men First Class, Agents of Atlas and countless other wonderful books) Parker and Steve (Whiteout, which I promise is better than the movie) Lieber for a series that makes up in adventure and fun what it lacks in science fiction. Check out a preview of the first issue here to be convinced.

As always, all of these books and more can be found on the official Diamond shipping list for the week, and your local comic store can be found using your friendly neighborhood Comic Shop Locator. Just promise us that you'll believe that a man can fly and go underground all at the same time, huh?

Asked whether or not Marvel's current Dark Reign branding and cross-continuity will lead into another line-wide crossover, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said that Reign is the "third act" of a larger story that began with 2006's Civil War. Once that story is finished, individual series will be able to tell their own stories again:

That's not to say that books won't intertwine [but] we're going to focus more on individual titles and families for at least twelve months... You guys need a break, and to be honest, so do we.

That might be a short break, however; Quesada added:

When we do them, they sell very well.

Previewing today's release of the first issue from Marvel's much-hyped, star-spangled, series, the publisher yesterday released an eight-page, online-only prelude issue by Reborn writer Ed Brubaker and artist Luke Ross that offers more hints at just what is going on behind the scenes of the Captain America title, as well as tying events into Marvel's larger Dark Reign storyline. What role does the daughter of the Red Skull have in the resurrection of Steve Rogers? And have they thought what the acronym HAMMER actually stands for yet? Clues are dropped and teases are laid, and all for free. What more could you ask for?

Reborn Prelude [Marvel.com]

Admittedly, fans of beefcake may find the amusingly titled Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker #1 - All Beef Edition more to their liking. (I promise, I am not making that title up.) But I'm sure there's an audience out there for Barack The Barbarian, the swords and sorcery satire launched by Devil's Due this week.

If equally ridiculous comics are your forte, then DC's Superman: Tales From The Phantom Zone reprints some stories about Superman's least favorite interdimensional prison, while William Shatner Presents Tek War promises to be ridiculous in a whole other, ego-trippical, way.

Marvel Comics's weekly haul may look very grim at first view, with so many books tying into the ongoing Dark Reign storyline. The books The Sinister Spider-Man, about Venom, Zodiac, about a new - and suitably deadly - character up to no good, and Dark Avengers/X-Men: Utopia, bringing Norman Osborn's bad guys to San Francisco to screw around with mutantkind.

But fans of ultraviolence and snark will treasure the complete collection of The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, while everyone else can treasure two recent classics: Kathryn Immonen and David LaFuente's Patsy Walker: Hellcat and a hardcover collection of The Immortal Iron Fist by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker and David Aja, both of which are as highly recommended as I can manage.

Over at DC, it's all about the ladies for their two new releases. Paul Dini brings together Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy for the new series Gotham City Sirens. And Greg Rucka and JH Williams III launch Detective Comics into a new era of greatness, with the beautiful new Batwoman strip (and Rucka and Cully Hamner provide a Question back-up, for extra value).

Dark Horse, meanwhile, have the first issue of their great new Predator series coming out. And IDW have three GI Joe books for you to use as preparation for next month's movie: the Movie Adaptation, a Movie Prequel and the first volume of a new regular series. Who knew that military maneuvers had so much homework?

If you're still looking for more four color fantasies, you could do worse than take a peek at this week's Diamond Distributors Shipping List, which - as ever - is completely printable for a trip to your local comic store. Just make sure that your credit card is ready to take a pounding.

Marvel are apparently trying to flood the shelves tomorrow, but at least they're doing it with good books from good writers. Fred Van Lente is behind the new Savage She-Hulk and Marvel Zombies 4 series. Jeff Parker is writing the reborn Exiles. Andy DIggle is scripting Dark Reign: Hawkeye, and the wonderful Jason Aaron gets a brand new series, Wolverine: Weapon X in advance of next month's movie.

As if that wasn't enough, there's also a new hardcover collection of the last Dark Tower series, Treachery (not to mention Dark Tower: The Guide To Gilead, a fact-file-ish tie-in) and the first issue of time-travel series Timestorm: 2009-2099.

(Of course, time-travel fans may just be picking up the collection of Doctor Who: The Forgotten, which also comes out tomorrow).

While DC's much quieter new release schedule offers mostly continuations of ongoing events and series - I'd definitely point you in the direction of the second issue of Superman: World of New Krypton, just to see if it measures up to the impressive first - that's not to say that they have no new books of note this week. In fact, the Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Vol. 1 collection may just be the best thing out this week, a collection of the 1960s team of misfit heroes (Radioactive test pilots! Racing car drivers without a body!) that offered an off-kilter alternative to the then-cookie cutter cleanshaven heroes they were surrounded with. Definitely recommended.

Also recommended is Ignition City, the new series from Warren Ellis that we wrote about back in November that mixes steampunk, Deadwood and the fate of all old pulp heroes when they're not young and dashing anymore. Ask for it by name when visiting your local funny book emporium.

That'll be the one you can find here, in case you're wondering - and make sure to check out the complete list of books reaching stores this week before doing so. If they ask, tell 'em that the ghost of Flash Gordon sent you.

Way — who created Daken, Wolverine's son, for his Wolverine: Origins series in 2007 — may not have been the one to provide this sub-Oedipal twist to the character (That would be Dark Reign architect Brian Michael Bendis), but he's certainly happy that it happened:

Daken was created in a vacuum — I didn't know or ask about anyone else's plans when I pitched the idea.... Having Daken join the Avengers wasn't part of the original plan, but it's definitely a cool turn of events. Daken's story will eventually loop back into the Origins storyline — but now, with this new wrinkle, it'll have a lot more impact when it happens.

The "Avengers" he's talking about are the Dark Avengers — Norman Osborn's personal team of supervillains pretending to be superheroes, which also includes Spider-Man villain Venom masquerading as Spidey, and Osborn himself wearing an Iron Man suit as the red-white-and-blue Iron Patriot. Given that line up, you'd think that Daken would fit right in, but Way - who'll co-write the monthly Dark Wolverine with Marjorie Liu - has a more generational than ideological conflict in mind for the character:

I look at it like this: The 60's were great. Peace and love in the front and The Weather Underground 'round the back. But, as a generation, they failed. The next generation was born in lockdown, under the intense scrutiny of the federal government, who had made sure that what happened during the 60's couldn't happen again. They didn't even get the benefit of the illusion that their parents had. That's where, in my opinion, we're at with this new generation of characters — Generation Fuck You. The previous generation of superheroes were the Hippies, the idealists. This new crew are the nihilists — the Punks. Their parents didn't make the world better, they just taught the bad guys to be smarter.

Asked whether Dark Wolverine's rise to prominence will be temporary, Way's giving nothing away ("Dark Wolverine will focus on Daken as he plays the part of Wolverine for Norman Osborn's confederate Avenger team, while at the same time furthering his own own, personal agenda. How fucking pro is that answer?"), but when it comes to pitching people on the book itself, he's right there:

Dark Wolverine will officially kick off The Summer of Hate. This isn't your daddy's Wolverine, and there is no future.

Admit it; you're kind of into it, aren't you?

All of the major American publishers are putting out worthwhile books this week, but few are likely to be as enjoyable as the latest issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that flashes Ms. Summers back to her high school days - and into the unseen pilot for the animated spin-off of the show, with art by Eric Wight (Get a preview here). Well, there are a couple as fun, but we'll get to them later.

Superhero fans can indulge this week with the first collection of The End League, Rick Remender's operatic and apocalyptic superhero series, the first issues of Spider-Man Noir (It's Spider-Man! But in the 1920s!), X-Men: Kingbreaker (It's the X-Men! But in space!), Dark Reign: New Nation (It's the Marvel Heroes! But in the latest cynically "dark" incarnation of political drama!) and The Greatest American Hero (Believe it or not, he's walking on air!). If you're looking for actual honest-to-goodness holiday comics, then there's the DC Universe Holiday Special or the 250th issue of Hellblazer, which takes British magician John Constantine on a particularly festive series of fantasy stories by a collection of creators, including 100 Bullets and Joker writer Brian Azzarello and io9 favorite Peter Milligan.

For those looking to get a jump on next year's big movies, Dynamite has the first issue of a new Terminator series, Salvation, while IDW releases the honest-but-lengthily-titled Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Prequel: Alliance. But even Michael Bay-levels of destruction are surpassed in the downright stunning Armageddon Now: World War III, in which 1990s comic icon Rob Liefeld - The man who gave the world, uh, this - turns to the Bible to inspire his latest tale of Rapture-friendly action and men with detachable lower jaws. You know you want it.

Surprisingly given everything I've listed so far, I've still not mentioned the book of the week. That would be Showcase Presents: The Brave And The Bold - The Batman Team-Ups Volume 3, in which more than twenty of the early '70s greatest Batman stories (written by Bob Haney, a man who thought nothing about pointing out that Batman never ages and fights Satan himself on a regular basis) get collected for less than $17. Easily the most enjoyably stupid thing you'll read this week, and if you don't believe me, here's a glimpse of what awaits you if you pick it up.

In case you've not had enough of checking lists twice, then this week's shipping list may make your day. Once you've checked off what's naughty and nice, look for your local comic store and everything will be ho ho ho before you know it.

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]

The silhouette - that appears to give Iron Man the chest symbol of Captain America - isn't the first time that Marvel has teamed a mash-up of the two characters; teasing the aftermath of 2006's Civil War (which pit the two characters against each other), the publisher leaked this image as a teaser, without explanation:
(It was, ultimately, a re-colored version of the cover to a Civil War epilogue comic that featured a regularly-colored Iron Man; this re-colored version ultimately saw print as the cover of a What If? Civil War comic almost a year later.)

This time, our money is on this image being tied to the Dark Reign storyline that follows Marvel's current Secret Invasion series, and promises "a new dynamic" to the Marvel Universe; one that includes a new comic called Dark Avengers, the cancellation of the Iron Man: Director of SHIELD series - perhaps because Tony Stark is no longer in charge of the spy organization? - and a new Punisher series that apparently sees him hunt superheroes. Our guess? This isn't Tony Stark, Captain America or even James Rhodes (He'll be busy in his new War Machine series come December), but a new character connected, in some way, to both the "Dark" Avengers and the new director of SHIELD - and that he, the "Dark Reign" and the "Dark Avengers" will be something to do with a neo-con allegorical rule in the Marvel Universe following the successful defeat of Secret Invasion's aliens.

We'll have to wait longer than expected to see whether we're right or not; Secret Invasion's final issue has been pushed back two weeks, and will now appear mid-December.

As is Marvel's way, Dark Reign exists as little more than a name and a tease right now. Announced at last week's Diamond Retailers Summit in Las Vegas, all that's really known about it is that it's a brand that indicates that any comic using it will reflect the post-Secret Invasion status quo for the Marvel Universe... even though we don't really know what that status quo actually is. It's all the brainchild of Secret Invasion and New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis:

This was an invasion, and from the invasion, certain people take the hit, certain people rise up as the heroes who you wouldn't expect, and from that comes a new power status in the Marvel Universe that some would consider a dark reign and some would consider heaven. One man's dark reign is another man's 'Finally!' ...There's going to be new alliances. There's going to be new teams and team dynamics. A new world dynamic. What people said about [Marvel's 2006 series] Civil War is that it really changed the dynamic between the super heroes and the rest of the Marvel Universe, and this is even a newer dynamic between the Marvel characters and the world they live in.

Such talk brings up some interesting possibilities: One of the recent twists in Secret Invasion has been a portion of humanity turning towards accepting the alien invader's "embrace change" occupation philosophy, so does that mean that Dark Reign will feature a Skrull-occupied Earth? And given the image of a fallen Iron Man above, it's looking likely that Tony Stark will be one of the people taking a hit... but how much of one? Well, the Iron Man: Director of SHIELD book is going to be replaced with an ongoing series starring Jim Rhodes as kick-ass cyborg War Machine, but does that mean that Tony's losing a series, a job, or his life altogether (His other series, The Invincible Iron Man, is continuing - but that doesn't mean that Tony will still be the one wearing the armor, necessarily)? They did kill off the original Captain America, after all...

Of course, if this other untitled teaser image is anything to go by, the Skrulls may be a red herring. Maybe it's Doctor Doom who gets to Reign, Darkly or otherwise, with his new cosmic-powered bling?

(Bonus points to people who can work out why the Kirby and Secret Wars shout-outs are in there.)

Prepare for a Dark Reign [Marvel.com]