For once, let's get the superhero stuff out've the way first: Marvel have two hardcover collections out this week that are worth a look. First up, Hulk Vol. 1: Red Hulk collects the first six issues of former Heroes writer/producer Jeph Loeb's weirdly enjoyable comedy about a brand new, psychopathic Hulk running around shooting bad guys and punching good guys, while Mythos Vol. 1 brings together some dully-written, but beautifully-painted retellings of the origins of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk and Ghost Rider. Image Comics launches I Hate Gallant Girl, a new series about what happens to the girl who lost the superhero version of the Miss America contest (Clue: Bitterness). Little beats DC's superhero haul for the week, though; besides the paperback edition of the wonderful Darwyn Cooke anthology Batman: Ego And Other Tails, there's also the first issue of Kevin Smith's new Batman mini-series, Cacophony and, only five years later than you'd expected, a paperback edition of the more-enjoyable-than-it-has-any-right-to-be JLA/Avengers crossover series.

However, there's more to life than capes, you know, as the song almost goes. Dark Horse are leading the non-superhero charge this week with the first issue of The Cleaners, about a forensic clean-up team in LA that has to deal with deaths caused by somewhat supernatural sources... something that Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden would know about; sadly, he's busy in his own first issue of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front, a four issue adaptation of the novel that makes its debut this week (Somewhere, everyone who told me to read the novels is cheering). Urban fantasy of a particularly weird kind can be found in two collections from Image Comics: Bill Sienkiewicz's psycho-serial killer drama Stray Toasters and Ted McKeever's Ted McKeever Library Vol. 1: Transit both return some classic 1980s weirdie comics to print that are well worth your time and money.

Book of the week, however, isn't actually a comic. But don't let that put you off Fables: Covers By James Jean, a new hardcover that collects more than seventy-five of the the most gorgeous creations ever to grace the front cover of anything, never mind just comic books. Jean, who's worked for Prada, the New York Times, Knopf, Target and many, many others, has been creating some of the most beautiful images on a monthly basis for the (very enjoyable in its own right) Fables series for years, and this collection pulls them all together, along with sketches, commentary from the artist and others, and yet another brand new, beautiful cover image. It's the holiday gift that you should get for yourself and others, in case you were wondering.

(All of the images in this week's column are Jean Fables covers, by the way.)

In case you need any other reason to hit your local comic store (found, of course, via the Comic Shop Locator Service), then the complete list of this week's new comic releases should be able to provide many. But, seriously; how can you resist that James Jean book? Have you no eyes?

At its best, The Spirit newspaper strip was about so much more than crime fighters in masks and smart suits and femme fatales: It was all about groundbreaking look and storytelling that slowly but surely turned away from the genre stereotypes towards something that was both larger in scope and smaller in execution. It's not just that the strips were good in and of themselves - although they are, or else they wouldn't be worth reading more than half a century after they were created - but that there was an added thrill that came from watching Eisner and his studio creators stretching the boundaries and expectations of the entire medium on a weekly basis. As Alex has already mentioned, the splash pages brought influences from outside of comics to bear, redefining not only the way that comics could look, but the way that creators thought about the way that comics could look... but just as importantly as the visuals, the writing of the series evolved throughout the strip's initial 12-year run, outgrowing its pulp origins to become something more Runyonesque and humanist; as the series went on, stories would center on characters as more than just stereotypes or plot devices but as individuals in their own right (This focus on the little guy continued in Eisner's later work on books like The Dreamer, The Building and Invisible People).
As the series transcended its roots and invented new tools of the trade, it became known as a masterpiece because of the skill of its creators (Eisner wasn't the sole writer or artist for the strip, and during World War II, wasn't involved in the strip's creation at all - other creators involved during its original run included Jules Feiffer and Wally Wood), and because of the subtlety of its execution. What made The Spirit special was the work itself, not the character - It wasn't another Spider-Man or Batman that could endure no matter who was writing or drawing it that month; The Spirit belonged to the Eisner studio, because The Spirit was, at its core, a coherent body of work, instead of a franchise.

(This would be why there was no real attempt to revamp the character by other creators until 2007's series from DC Comics by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone - Yes, I'm ignoring the failed The Spirit: The New Adventures anthology series from the mid-90s, because that was as much a series of love letters by various creators to Eisner as it was an attempt to deal with this Spirit as a character or series with any life left in it - and even Cooke took his lead from Eisner, offering up a series of stories about individuals that hopped genre and influence with each issue; he realized that there is arguably no way to do the Spirit justice without trying to match Eisner's heart, ambition and, yes, spirit.)
Now, compare and contrast this with what we've seen of the Spirit movie. The trailers and posters have been eye-catching in their own way, yes... but they've also lost almost everything that actually mattered about the original strip. Everything seems fake, whether it be visually with CGI-created backgrounds and manipulated actors, or in terms of story with cliched femme fatales, cackling villains and dialogue that replaces the nonchalant wit of Eisner's original hero with either slapstick base humor or tough guy cliche. It's unmistakably the work of Frank Miller - even the tagline, "My city screams," sounds like a line that his bitter Batman or Sin City's Marv would utter more than anything Denny Colt would say - but the problem with that is that everything that made The Spirit important as a series or as a character is a million miles away from Frank Miller's aesthetic.

Miller's take on the world is tougher - and, as anyone who's been following his work for any length of time could recognize - more mean-spirited than Eisner's; it has a streak (I'll leave it up to you to decide how big a streak) of misogyny that Eisner lacked (Whatever sexism Eisner had in his head - or racism, as "fans" of Ebony White would point out - were more from his being a product of his era than any true bigotry or hatred, I'd argue), and perhaps most disappointingly for fans of The Spirit, Miller's work is a large blunt instrument smashed against whatever story he's trying to tell, instead of the scalpel that Eisner, or his studio creators, would have used.

Ultimately, Miller's movie Spirit could, on its own terms, be wonderful. Despite the unpromising trailers and teases that we've seen, it may be the stylish, sexy, exciting action movie that it so clearly wants to be. That would be great. But there is nothing that I've seen, either in the pre-release material for the movie or in any of Miller's earlier work that shows that he has it in him to translate what was so special about the newspaper strip - the real The Spirit - onto the screen, or even that he has any real inclination to try. And as someone who loves that version of the character, that's why I'm continually disappointed by everything we learn about the movie - and why I'm so negative about it.

Paul Pope (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: His works range from the scifi title THB to the manga-esque Supertrouble to the future-Batman epic Batman: Year 100. He's also done comics for Toonami's website.
What we'd like to see: Pope's visual storytelling style is un-paralleled, but he's also a super-imaginative writer. His Batman is both more vulnerable, and more resourceful, than most of the super-lucky versions in comics or film. But we'd really like to see Pope do a movie version of a scifi epic like THB, the story of a teenage girl on Mars, and her superpowered bodyguard, who's a small rubber ball until you add water. (Then he turns into a huge super-guy.)

Mike Allred (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: Mostly, Allred is known for his series Madman, the story of Frank Einstein, a Frankenstein's monster-esque superhero, and his friends. Madmen is one of 100 projects that Robert Rodriguez is supposed to be turning into a movie. His earlier series, Graphik Musik, is well worth hunting down for storylines such as G-Men From Hell, now a cult indie movie. He also did a rock 'n' roll scifi story Red Rocket 7, and teamed up with Peter Milligan on the fantastic post-modern X-Men spinoff X-Statix.
What we'd like to see: Allred should wrest the Madman movie back from Robert Rodriguez, and do his own take on the brightly colored undead superhero storyline. After seeing Spy Kids, I'm sure Rodriguez could do a fun version, but I want to see Allred's own crazy vision on the big screen. And if Allred wanted to have Milligan help him with the script, after their incredible colllaboration on the X-Statix comics, that would be fine with us.

Chris Ware (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: He channels old-old-old-school comics masters like Winsor McKay (Little Nemo) in comics like Jimmy Corrigan or Quimby the Mouse. He also does a series of strips about a character called the Super-Man, who is like a messed up version of Superman with receding hair and a domino mask, who sometimes falls to his death and sometimes goes around killing people and wreaking havoc.
What we'd like to see: Give Allred a Michel Gondry-sized budget and let him make a weird off-beat movie with a bitter twist.

Darwyn Cooke (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: He helped super-writer Ed Brubaker revamp Catwoman in 2001, with a fresh look that combined the clean lines of Batman: The Animated Series (which Cooke worked on) with a gloomy noir sensibility. Then he went on to reinvent the origins of DC Comics' silver age characters with the miniseries DC: The New Frontier, which became a direct-to-DVD animated movie. Finally, he teamed up with Jeph Loeb to do a Batman/Spirit minseries, and then wrote and penciled a Spirit series for a year.
What we'd like to see: Scrap Miller's The Spirit and give us Cooke's on the big screen instead. I don't even care if Miller's done filming. Just include Miller's version as an extra on the DVD of Cooke's version. Cooke's series nailed what Miller's movie looks like it'll miss out on: the playfulness and vividness of Will Eisner's original comics. And Cooke found ways to bring the Spirit into the 21st century without losing what was cool about the character originally.

Grant Morrison (writer)
What he's famous for: God, where do we begin? Umm, okay. He's that rare comics writer who can dip our brains in acid with Vertigo series like The Invisibles or Seaguy, or take us on a wide-screen superhero adventure with JLA or New X-Men — and both stories are equally great. Superhero comics are lucky to have a number of great writers right now, including Brubaker, Brian Bendis, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek. But none of them have Morrison's versatility and range. His graphic novel We3, which is the greatest cute-animal comic and the greatest cyborg comic ever, is supposed to become a movie at some point.
What we'd like to see: I'm torn. Part of me wants to see Uncle Grant tackle a big zoomy superhero fight story along the lines of his JLA arcs like Rock Of Ages. Part of me wants to see him do a more quirky, weird indy project like his Bollywood epic Vimanarama. Ideally, I'd like both, or a fusion of the two: a big action movie with a weird odyssey into crazy-land halfway through. (Oh, and just in case someone is going to claim writers shouldn't direct movies, I'll just say two words: Joss Whedon.)

Gail Simone (writer)
What she's famous for: Simone went from being one of the comics industry's staunchest critics (with the "Women In Refrigerators" website) to one of its rising star writers, with comics like Birds Of Prey and Wonder Woman. Her original series, like retired-superhero saga Welcome To Tranquility, are also well worth checking out for their quirky characters like the Emoticon, a supervillain with a mask that reveals his emotions. But her crowning achievement may well be Villains United/Secret Six, the saga of a group of supervillains who are just trying to get ahead and avoid getting smushed by other supervillains.
What we'd like to see: A Secret Six movie, no question. A PG-13 epic with gunplay, betrayals, twists, and supervillain-on-supervillain sex.

Evan Dorkin (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: He's probably most famous for creating Milk And Cheese, the "dairy products gone bad" who look so cool on a T-shirt (and are a tad boring on the comics page, sorry.) But his best work is elsewhere, including the Dork anthology and its "Eltingville Science Fiction Club" stories, which got made into a Cartoon Network pilot. Just watch this. We'll wait for you:

He also worked on the animated Superman series along with his longtime collaborator Sarah Dyer, produced a surprisingly brilliant comic about superhero Mad-Dog to tie in with Bob Newhart's short-lived Bob sitcom, and made a bunch of Bill And Ted comics that were better than the second movie and spinoff TV series.
What we'd like to see: Give Dorkin (and maybe Dyer) a huge budget and just let them go crazy. Given that he excels at little short gags in Dork, a big-screen Dorkin film would probably have lots and lots of weird little funny bits that barely connected to anything else, and then there would be moments of surprising pathos... followed by someone's eye getting stabbed out. Fun!

Carla Speed McNeil
What she's famous for: She writes and draws the ongoing science fiction adventure series Finder, which deals with issues of identity and authenticity in a far-future Earth. My favorite storyline is "Dream Sequence," about a weird semi-crazy guy whose mind forms the mainframe for a super-popular virtual reality environment, and all the people who want a piece of him.
What we'd like to see: A big-screen version of Finder, directed by McNeil.

Mike Baron and Steve Rude (writer and artist)
What they're famous for: Okay, I'm getting a bit old-school here, but this is a science fiction site, and it would be remiss to leave out Baron and the Dude. They co-created Nexus, a science fictional superhero comic about a guy who has nightmares about very bad people whom he must assassinate. Luckily (?) the weird creature that gave Nexus the nightmares also gave him the power to kill those bad people, and make the dreams stop. But the real stars of Nexus are the huge universe Baron and Rude created, including supporting characters like the stalwart Judah The Hammer and the slippery politician Vooper. The comic recently had its 100th issue.
What we'd like to see: The very first Nexus trade paperback would make a fantastic movie, introducing the main character Horatio Hellpop and his space-faring adventures, including his early relationship with Sundra Peale.

Mike Mignola (writer/artist)
What he's famous for: Mignola's most famous work, Hellboy, has already been turned into two movies directed by the superb Guillermo Del Toro, with Mignola's involvement. He's created a whole world of Hellboy spinoffs, including BPRD and Lobster Johnson. He's also done tons of work on other comics, and created the super-popular one shot The Amazing Screw-On Head.
What we'd like to see: Maybe Mignola could direct Hellboy 3 himself? That would get around his recent concerns that Del Toro will kill off his hero in ways that could make further comic-book adventures feel redundant. And even though we love Del Toro's visual style, we'd love to see how Mignola's own twisted eye would translate to movies. Also, Screw-On Head was made into an animated pilot by the Sci Fi Channel, but what about live-action version?

The story starts out in the 1950s, and heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman are fighting in Korea and Indochina, but she takes a mucher harsher stand than he does, letting victimized women deal out there own brand of murderous justice. He warns her that's the reason Batman is now a fugitive and the Justice Society is disbanded.

We're also introduced to both The Martian Manhunter and Hal "Green Lantern" Jordan in short order, long before they become the heroes we've come to know. We find out how the Manhunter comes to Earth, and how Hal loses his nerve during the Korean war and spends time in a psych hospital. While the Manhunter is trapped on Earth and spends his time watching television (there's an amusing scene where he emulates Groucho Marx and Bugs Bunny), Jordan tries to get into the space program, and eventually gets hired by the Ferris company, run by the boss' wife Carol Ferris.

Over the course of the film, while Jordan develops into a stand-up test pilot and gets drafted into a mission to Mars (sans ring), and the Manhunter fights crime as detective John Jones, different heroes begin unraveling a plot by something called The Center. At first it's not clear if it's a cult, some form of mind-control, or an alien invasion. Additionally, certain heroes like The Flash are being sought by the government, who want to unmask them and expose them and have them register, just like in the recent Civil War series from Marvel. The trouble is, it feels tacked on and cheesy, even though it's the most interesting idea in the film.

In the climactic ending, a whole slew of heroes including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Adam Strange, the Blackhawks, and a ton of others do battle with the Cthulhu-like Center. When things are at their bleakest, Hal Jordan finally accepts the role of Green Lantern, and the ring he was given by the dying alien Abin Sur comes to his aid and gives him a little instruction manual brain-video lesson. They triumph over the dinosaur-spewing baddie, and thus the Justice League is formed. Montages of many more heroes (including the Teen Titans) and villains scroll by as portions of John F. Kennedy's 1960 Democratic National Convention speech play in the background.

Darwyn's art-style is retro-vintage hipster cool, and the heroes are extremely well voice acted (by a pretty impressive list of stars including everyone from Kyle MacLachlan to Lucy Lawless to Neil Patrick Harris... who aren't distracting), but the plot feels mish-mashed together, and needed to be either a miniseries, or a two-part movie. The Flash's "the government is oppressing us!" speech on television could have been the start of a terrific storyline about the persecution of heroes, but it ends up feeling like it was excised far too early.

Also, there are a lot of heroes tossed into the mix who aren't given any lines at all, like Green Arrow and Ted "Wildcat" Grant, and fleeting scenes of folks like Adam Strange. There's a lot of DC comics history being presented in only an hour and a half, and as a result it feels lacking. Some of the animated scenes feel a bit like afternoon cartoons, but other sequences (especially those in space or with planes in flight) are extremely well-done, which add to the feeling that the whole project is uneven.

It'll be interesting to see this when it comes out on DVD, seeing as how they excised certain scenes and changed the story from the graphic novel. There are a slew of extra materials and interviews on the disc, which will hopefully fill some holes. While it's not perfect, it's much preferable to the nothing, which is all we've had in the form of original animated films based on DC Comics properties. If they could spend some more time hammering out the stories and improving the animation, this could be a series that lasts for years. Just give us some Kingdom Come pretty darn soon.

Cooke talked about Henry's reduced role as plot catalyst:

When he sees what happens to John Henry, [J'Onn] thinks "What kind of world is this?" ...[John Henry] is still an important person in the story.

Something happened in the third book... It occured to me that none of these characters were bad, it's just where they draw the line... The minute I stopped thinking of them as 'This guy's the Republican' and 'This guy's the Democrat,' then they became much more interesting characters. Partisan thinking is nonsense. It's ridiculous. There are good people on every side of every argument.

The New Frontier DVD follows Hal Jordan from the Korean War to the Kennedy era, and he becomes Green Lantern along the way. Jordan and the Martian Manhunter are the stars of the new DVD film, according to the screenwriter. Putting "Silver Age" characters back into the 1950s and 1960s makes them seem less dated, and also lets Cooke comment on issues like racism and McCarthyism. The movie hits multiple DVD formats on February 26th, 2008.

But The New Frontier isn't the only classic graphic novel to use this technique. James (Starman) Robinson won plaudits for The Golden Age, a graphic novel which followed a group of classic 1940s heroes as they coped with (once again) McCarthyism in the early 1950s. His comic starred Starman, Robotman, the original Atom and Johnny Thunder.

And then there's John Byrne's underrated Superman & Batman: Generations, which showed both heroes starting their careers in 1939, the year they originally appeared. Byrne placed the heroes in a classic setting (at the 1939 World's Fair), then showed them aging in real time. Both Superman and Batman deal with aging and handing over their responsibilities to their kids and sidekicks. (Later installments follow them into the present day and beyond.)

DC has also published several "Elseworlds" stories taking place in alternate universes, featuring Batman in the 1930s and 1940s. These include Detective 27, Citizen Wayne (a Citizen Kane riff), and Gotham Noir.