Farinas is the artist behind ACT-I-VATE webcomic MOTRO, and he has recently taken to drawing Marvel and DC battles packed with superpowered Lego minifigs.

[Ulises Farinas via Forbidden Planet]

Let's get the Mythical stuff out of the way first, shall we? Marvel's (Incredible) Hercules begins his latest and greatest storyline in this week's special one-shot, Assault On New Olympus, which guest-stars Spider-Man and leads into the regular series with plenty of other guest stars in issues ahead.

Not to be outdone, DC collects the recent Wonder Woman storyline Rise Of The Olympian in both hardcover and softcover, and it's well worth a look - I admit to being thrown by it when it was being published in single issues, but the destination is worth sticking around for; it's also the largest scale adventure for the character in years, as well. DC also has the first issue of Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love, a spin-off from Bill Willingham's Fables that sees fairytales' most deadly secret spy go globetrotting on her latest dangerous mission with wit, panache and some great art from Shawn McManus, for those who like characters who've been around before there were comics.

Talking of long-lasting characters, Ricardo Delgado's dinosaur epic Age of Reptiles returns this week with a new series, The Journey, which shows why dinosaur migration isn't as simple as it sounds. If you go in expecting an unusual, challenging but surprisingly beautiful read, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Much less beautiful (by design), Anthrax's Scott Ian writes Lobo: Highway To Hell, the first issue of which is out tomorrow and sure to be, uh, "heavy." Or something.

For those looking for more superheroic thrills, DC spins out The Great Ten from 52 (A plan only slightly flawed in that 52 finished over two years ago, and few people remember who The Great Ten were; they were the government-sponsored Chinese superteam). Marvel launches Paul Cornell's new Black Widow: Deadly Origin series, as well as a new Deathlok series (Deathlok: Pretty much, "What if Captain America was a cyborg with a bad attitude in the future?" It's as good/bad as that idea may sound to you).

And I guide you away from those in the tights and bright colors to my current hometown of Portland, where Greg Rucka's new series Strumptown is set. Yes, Stumptown (Rucka's new detective series, which he talks about right here, but comes from love of The Rockford Files and Magnum PI) may lack any sign of supernatural, sci-fi or urban fantasy hallmarks that would make it io9 material, but nonetheless, it's likely to be the best thing you could spend your money on at the comic store this week. Consider it recommended.

Just like last week, the week before that and every single one of these posts, you can meet all of the comics released to comic stores tomorrow on this here Diamond Distributors shipping list, and then find your closest comic store to purchase all the goodies mentioned here. You know it makes sense.

The movie's screenplay was written by Kevin Smith and eventually rewritten by Wesley Strick. The whole thing was set to film in 1999. But after spending loads of cash, the studio eventually dropped the movie, which centered on Superman's demise. This was a good thing, because as much as I enjoy a bad Nic Cage movie, with the yelling on every other emphasis, I don't think I could handle him as America's greatest hero.

[Tim Burton JP via IGN]

Let's get the familiar names out of the way first, shall we? Marvel have the first issue of Ultimate Comics: Armor Wars, which places Planetary and Transmetropolitan writer Warren Ellis in charge of Iron Man again, freed of too many continuity woes and watches what happens. Also out of continuity, Spider-Man Noir reimagines Peter Parker in 1920s New York, while the in-continuity (and non-Sam Jackson-esque) Nick Fury realizes the futility of existence in Secret Warriors Volume 1: Nick Fury, Agent of Nothing. Less existential pondering and more ass-kicking can be found in Hulk: Planet Skaar and Hercules: Prince of Power, both of which explain the finer points of "smashing," I believe.

Smashing may help the political state of the Romulan empire, which is somewhat shaky in IDW's Star Trek Romulans: Schism, while Dynamite add their voice to the licensed choir with what may turn out to be the surprise of the week: The first issue of Galactica 1980, resurrecting (and promising to improve) Lorne Greene's far-from-finest hour as the original Battlestar Galactica finds Earth in the middle of disco.

DC Comics have a couple of interesting collections to consider this week: Showcase Presents Warlord Vol. 1 reprints the beginnings of DC's premiere sword and sorcery comic - with some great art by Mike Grell - while Tom Strong Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 does the same for the first year of Alan Moore's retro "science hero" series which lurches from semi-parody to sincere tribute to stories gone by, with amazing art by people like Chris Sprouse, Art Adams and Dave Gibbons.

If you're looking for more Gibbons, this is definitely your week; he pops up (again working with his Watchmen collaborator Moore) alongside many other creators in the enjoyable The Spirit Archives: The New Adventures hardcover collection of a short-lived 1990s attempt to revive Will Eisner's classic character, but the motherlode for Gibbons fans - or Frank Miller fans, for that matter - is the deluxe collection The Life and Times of Martha Washington In the 21st Century, which brings together all of Miller and Gibbons' alternate future political satire, from Give Me Liberty all the way to last year's The Death of Martha Washington. Individual, powerful and weirdly compelling, it'd be the book of the week, if it wasn't for two other Dark Horse releases.
Those would be Beasts of Burden, a new series by Space Ghost (and Milk & Cheese) writer Evan Dorkin and artist Jill Thompson about the pet protectors of a particularly supernatural neighborhood (Look here for a sample of what to expect and fall in love), and Super Spy creator Matt Kindt's new graphic novel, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, which takes a serious and beautiful look at the old cliche of the man who was as tall as a building. Both are highly recommended.

Whether you're looking to buy all of Dark Horse's impressive slate this week or something else, the Diamond Shipping List can help you decide what you should be spending money on, and the Comic Shop Locator Service will make sure you know where to spend it. Just remember to pick up something new and unusual this week; it's a good week to go outside your norm.

Each month, Zuda, the online branch of DC Comics, selects 10 eight-page comic pitches to compete. The winner, based on reader votes and ratings, receives a contract for a 52-page run on Zuda, with the possibility of renewal after that.

Unfortunately, there are a number of firm and near misses in this round. Mystery Jungle is a Lost World pastiche so straightforward it's dull, Incarna loses its narrative thread in a sea of ninja zombies, and Wheeljack Union resembles Atomic Robo without the charm. More promising is the rather twee My T-Shirt Fairy Tale, which uses the interesting concept of narrating through novelty t-shirts, but doesn't quite have the art or story to back it up, and The Symptoms, about a superpowered punk band that battles a zombie-like menace, but could use a little more attitude.

There are, however, some real standouts in the pile. One of the clear frontrunners for this month is the dreamily rendered Goldilock, a science fiction drama about the exploration of a newly discovered planet. After the people of Earth have long searched for a new home, the planet Goldilock seems perfect for human habitation, and a team has been dispatched on a two-year mission to explore the planet and determine if it holds any sentient life. Goldilock features an unusual color palette and a beautifully strange array of creatures, and manages to introduce a large cast in its eight pages without feeling overly busy.

And, on the somewhat lighter side of things is Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins a B movie-inspired horror comic that doesn't skimp on the blood and guts. Thirteen year-old horror movie buff Robbie Jarvis lives in a small town suddenly plagued by bizarre and gory accidents, accidents suspiciously accompanied by a trail of pumpkin seeds. The comic tempers its sinister squash with an animated look and a wicked sense of humor, ending on a wonderfully gruesome one-liner.

Voting for this month's Zuda contestants will close around noon on Wednesday, September 30.

[Zuda Competition]

The new Superman ruling was just the latest development in a running battle over the legal rights to the last son of Krypton. The heirs to Superman's creators, Joe Siegel and Jerry Shuster, have been battling over the rights, and legal control, of Superman for years now. This time around, they were arguing that Warners paid sister company DC Comics too little for the movie and TV rights to Superman, in a "sweetheart deal." In order to win this case, Warners had to prove that Superman's screen incarnation wasn't worth that much — which the company did, by citing the poor performance of Superman IV: The Quest For Peace and the lukewarm box office and critical reception of Superman Returns.

Horn told the judge:

What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman [Begins] got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us.

He also said, flat out, that the company doesn't have a Superman film in development — at all. So forget all the speculation about whether Bryan Singer or Brandon Routh might come back. Judge Stephen G. Larson wrote:

No script has been written, filming has not commenced, and the earliest a ‘Superman' film could be theatrically released would be in 2012.

According to Variety, there may be a bit of a deadline for Warners to figure out its issues with Clark Kent, and get a movie rolling. At least, attorney Marc Toberoff, representing the Siegel heirs, claims that his clients and the Shuster estate will own all copyrights to Superman:

This trial was only an interim step in the multifaceted accounting case which remains, in that it only concerned the secondary issue of whether DC Comics, or DC Comics and Warner Bros., would have to account to the Siegels. To put this in further perspective, the entire accounting action pales in comparison to the fact that in 2013, the Siegels, along with the estate of Joe Shuster, will own the entire original copyright to Superman, and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters.

He also claims that the court ordered that if Warner Bros. doesn't start production on a new Superman movie by 2011, the Siegels and Shusters will be able to sue for damages.

So there may be a bit of urgency for Warners to change its mind about Supes. But only one thing is really certain: scads more litigation are in the Man Of Tomorrow's future. [Variety and New York Times]

CHUD spoke with McBride (currently stuck in another dimension in Will Ferrell's Land Of The Lost), and he revealed that his dreams to bring on some DC villains for his adaptation of the comic Hench, about an ex-football player who gets work as a henchman for local villains.

While this is a noble idea, I doubt he'll get the DC big-dog bad boys. But wouldn't it be kind of brilliant if McBride was only allowed to bring the truly crap DC villains to life? Think of the randoms like Toy Man, Orca or Calendar Man. It could be pretty hilarious just to see Orca in the flesh (or blubber, if you will.)

The other two science fiction films McBride is working on include an animated picture called Despicable Me. He works with Steve Carell (who plays a villain who acquires three orphans). And then there's a 1980s-set feature called Mr. Machine. McBride describes the flick (which he collaborated on with David Gordon Green):

"It takes place in the '80s," McBride said in a group interview on Friday in Hollywood, where he was promoting Land of the Lost. "It's kind of like a Gremlins kind of feel, about these kids who make this robot for their science project. It ends up taking over their town."

Sounds pretty engaging, and we're pretty desperate for ORIGINAL material in science-fiction films, so we're grateful to McBride and company, merely for coming up with something on their own.

[via Scifi Wire]

But first, a couple quick notes. There are obviously way more examples of alien writing systems out there, but these are all ones that have been "deciphered" such that we can actually write in them. There are some major alien languages that remain mysterious, including the Gallifreyan omegabet, which allegedly has millions of characters. I've provided links to fonts based on these alphabets; if you don't know how to install fonts on your computer, here is a handy guide. With that out of the way, and following a brief but very honorable mention to J.R.R. Tolkien's Tengwar script from Lord of the Rings, let's get started on some alien alphabets...

1-2. Alienese I and II, Futurama

As part of their truly gargantuan effort to make the 31st century a fully realized universe, series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen (well, mainly David X. Cohen) created Alienese, an alien alphabet that was primarily used to write humorous graffiti in the background of scenes. The alphabet has precisely the same twenty-six letters and base ten number system as English , and the writers didn't create an Alienese language to go along with the alphabet, so everything it said was in English (the main point of Alienese was to do in-jokes, after all). All of this allowed Futurama fans to decipher the alphabet within about thirty minutes of the show's premiere, forcing the writing staff to come up with a more fiendish challenge, which became Alienese II.

Instead of the simple letter substitution of the first alphabet, this second alphabet uses a modular addition system, where the symbol to represent a given character changes based on the letter before it. Here's how it would work in English: say you want to write "Fry." First assign each letter of the alphabet the numerical value that is one less than their position in it, so A = 0 and Z = 25 (the reasons you have to do this are too complicated and boring to go into). You first choose the fifth letter, which of course is "F." For "R", the seventeenth letter, you combine the values of "F" and "R", which is 5 + 17 = 22, which means you use "W." With "Y", you add 24 to 22, which gives you 46. Since there are only 26 letters, you subtract 46 - 26 = 20, and so the final letter is "U". Thus "Fry" is spelled the equivalent of "Fwu" in Alienese II. Oh, and don't worry - none of the rest of these alphabets are even remotely this complicated.

You can download the fonts here (although you'll have to do your own addition with Alienese II). You can also instantly convert between English and either language here. If you're still a bit confused about modular addition, you can check out a more detailed primer here.

3. Ancient, Stargate

After the insanity of Alienese II, here's a nice straightforward alphabet used by the Ancients on Stargate. It's a fairly close phonetic match for the English alphabet, although "f" and "u" are represented by the same character, so there are only 25 letters total. Supposedly, the letters can take on new meanings when written upside-down. As far as numbers go, the Ancients actually used a Base 8 system, but they invented two additional numerals so that they could more easily deal with races that used a decimal system. There are no symbols for punctuation in the Ancient alphabet. The makers of Stargate were somewhat inconsistent in how they used the alphabet, occasionally writing context-appropriate messages in English, but more often simply using the language for in-jokes.

Download the alphabet here. And, because I'm trying to encourage this sort of thing, here is a link to the Gospel of Matthew transliterated into the Ancient alphabet.

4. Ath, Crest of the Stars by Morioka Hiroyuki

This Japanese science fiction trilogy, along with its sequel Banner of the Stars, dealt with the Abh, an interstellar but strongly feudal race that was originally bioengineered by a highly nationalist faction in far future Japan. They speak Baronh, a language based on ancient Japanese. Created as slaves, the Abh at first had no written language, but upon gaining their freedom created Ath, a relatively independent alphabet that nevertheless had some basis in Japanese kana scripts.

You can get the font here.

5. Interlac, DC Comics

In the 30th century era of the Legion of Superheroes, Interlac is the common constructed language of the United Planets. Considering the hugely diverse backgrounds of the Legion and their penchant for fighting evil on faraway alien planets, a lingua franca like Interlac is a very real necessity. Although the language was first used in a 1969 issue of Adventure Comics, it wasn't until 1984 that Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen standardized the alphabet into the consistent set that it is today. Recently, the titles of the five JLA and JSA books that made up the Lightning Saga were written in Interlac. And, in a sign of great cosmic respect, the Guardians use Interlac to write the Book of Oa.

Download the font here.

6-8. The Klingon Alphabets, Star Trek

Klingon is probably the most famous science fiction language. Developed by linguist Marc Okrand for the Star Trek movies, Klingon is officially written using our alphabet. However, Klingon ships often have markings on them that clearly look like letters, which has led Klingon enthusiasts to search for a proper Klingon alphabet. This came when an unidentified figure from Paramount used the letters seen on the show to make an alphabet, which he or she then sent to the Klingon Language Institute. This alphabet, known as pIqaD, does not have a set correspondence between its letters and the English alphabet equivalents. The Institute has proposed the mapping seen above, but official sources say this is incorrect.

A more official, albeit more bizarre, Klingon alphabet was originally developed by the Astra Image Corporation for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. These were also later used for the Skybox trading cards made for The Next Generation. Although there are still 26 phonetic values, just like in English, there are now only ten letters, meaning various characters double, triple, and sometimes quadruple up in possible meanings. This of course means that many words, some with directly opposite meanings, will look identical. Nevertheless, this alphabet is the one most often used by Star Trek production teams when adding Klingon lettering.

Finally, there is the so-called Klinzhai script, which comes from The U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Manual, published in 1980. Based on concept art and other fragments seen in The Original Series, the alphabet has the major disadvantage of being formalized before Marc Okrand constructed the Klingon language, making it difficult to correlate with what is now "known" about the sounds of the Klingon language.

Get the first pIqaD here along with several other Star Trek alphabets of varying degrees of officialness. Unfortunately, I can't find a font for the second pIqaD. You can download Klinzhai here. And, for the Star Trek fan who has everything except a Klingon keyboard, here is a Klingon keyboard.

9. Kryptonese, DC Comics

Kryptonese automatically gets points because it's the only writing system on this list that's a syllabary, not an alphabet. It grew out of several fan letters that attempted to rationalize the various squiggles used in the fifties and sixties to represent the language of Superman's destroyed home planet Krypton. Exasperated by the barrage of letters, DC editor E. Nelson Bridwell tried to end the unsolicited alphabets by explaining in one issue that Kryptonese actually had 118 letters. In a development that should stand as a lasting tribute to linguistic geekiness, Bridwell immediately started receiving proposals for 118-character Kryptonese alphabets. Bridwell, himself a lover of trivial minutiae, decided if the job was to be done, he really should be the one to do it, and set about combing through old comics to find 118 unique squiggles that he could designate as the various sounds of Kryptonese. Although this exercise was, of course, completely arbitrary, the end result was the massive syllabary you see above.

Unfortunately, there are currently no fonts available online for Kryptonese, partially because its non-alphabetical nature would make it difficult for most keyboards. But here is a great site covering its history and mechanics.

10. Kryptonian, DC Comics

One of the many things removed from continuity by Johnny Bryne's Man of Steel reboot was Kryptonese. In its place came Kryptonian, which was a 26 letter alphabet that simply corresponded with the English alphabet. This new alphabet was introduced in 2000, and ever since any Kryptonian you might see in comics (the current World of New Krypton arc has a bunch of examples) are English phrases transliterated into Kryptonian. This also allowed the comics to finish the task of justifying why there's a big "S" on Superman's costume, as the Kryptonian "S" sort of looks like the Man of Tomorrow's symbol. (It's also a symbol of hope on Krypton.) And to think I had simply assumed the "S" just stood for Superman.

Get the font here. You can also go here to check out a truly wondrous attempt to go beyond a simple letter substitution scheme and create a complete, linguistically consistent Kryptonian, complete with nine vowels and twenty-four consonants.

11. Mandalorian, Star Wars

The Mandalorians are best known as the warrior culture that trained Jango Fett and provided the inspiration for both the Fett family's armor and that of the Clone Troopers. In the Expanded Universe books, the Mandalorians have been developed as a fearsome third faction in the war between Jedi and Sith, sometimes following the Sith, but more often content to auction off their deadly services to the highest bidder. Karen Traviss, author of the Star Wars: Republic Commando series, is currently working on developing the Mandalorian language, Mando'a, into a fully functional language. The alphabet you see above comes from the Visual Dictionary companion to Attack of the Clones.

You can download it here.

12. Marain, The Culture books by Iain M. Banks

Banks's series considers the Culture, a utopian society where various alien societies have been brought together in relative harmony under the benign governance of the Minds, a set of highly sophisticated AI. The Minds considered language a vital part of ensuring peace between species, and so they created Marain, a new language with no clear connections to any previously extant tongue. For the Marain alphabet, the Minds used binary as an inspiration, using a 3x3 grid of nine circles, with each circle either blackened or left blank. Lines were then drawn between the dots to construct the symbol, as can be seen in the chart above. Although there could theoretically be as many as 512 unique characters in the Marain alphabet, these 32 symbols in particular were chosen because then can be rotated and flipped without looking like any of the others, making all of them completely unique and distinguishable.

Download the font here under the entry for December 21. For a more comprehensive explanation from Banks as to how the Marain writing system works, go here.

13. Zentradi, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross

This anime series from the early eighties concerned first contact between humans and the Zentradi, giant humanoids created eons ago by a mysterious protoculture to serve as their galactic warriors. The series's creators, Studio Nue, constructed a Zentradi alphabet for the TV series, which they then supplemented with a full-fledged Zentradi language for the followup movie.

You can get the font here.

(Fine print: Since there are frequently a number of individuals who, over time, may have inhabited the same costume and/or bore the same moniker, we’ve picked our favorites.)

SPIDER-MAN (PETER PARKER) VS. SPIDER-WOMAN (JESSICA DREW)
Spider-Man dossier: A nerdy orphan acquires arachnid powers through a radiation mishap. This manifests itself in heightened, agile climbing skillz, a propensity for the slinging of synthetic webs, intuitive “Spidey sense,” and muscle mass.
Spider-Woman dossier: Injected with spider serum to cure a bout with uranium poisoning, she developed similar wall-clinging abilities. The Woman can also wield bioelectric energy, is impervious to poison and radiation, and depending on the tale, can fly.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $1.50. Are Spider-Friends bioelectric? This one is.

SUPERMAN (KAL-EL/CLARK KENT) VS. SUPERGIRL (KARA ZOR-EL/LINDA DANVERS)
Superman dossier: The alien adoptee boasts mega-strength, keen eyesight with laser vision, speed, regeneration—not to mention, of course, flight.
Supergirl dossier: A fellow Kryptonian, she’s said to be Superman’s cousin. As such, this fly girl possesses most of his faculties, as well as telekinesis and teleportation.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $ .95. Though she’s not as deft in deploying her Krypton-given weapons, she’s still a Woman of Steel. With teleportation powers!

CAPTAIN MARVEL (MAR-VELL) VS. MS. MARVEL (CAROL DANVERS)
Captain Marvel dossier: Another Kree expat, he uses solar energy to fuel his superstrength, which also includes energy blasts, the ability to fly, and a precognitive intuition called “cosmic awareness.”
Ms. Marvel dossier: Captain Marvel’s girlfriend acquired her might after surviving a Psyche-Magneton explosion. As a result, the buffer Danvers can fly and expend energy from her hands.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $.50. We concede. In terms of effectiveness, she’s only half the superhero he is.

HULK (BRUCE BANNER) VS. SHE-HULK (JENNIFER WALTERS)
Hulk dossier: After a gamma-ray accident, this physicist develops a short fuse and with it, an absurd amount of brawn. In addition he’s demonstrated great resilience to physical assaults, drugs, and diseases.
She-Hulk dossier: Hulk’s lawyer-cousin gets a blood transfusion from Banner, transforming her into a quick-healing, tough-to-smack-down glamazon. And unlike him, she can control her temper.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $1.25. She’s not as physically thunderous as the Hulk, but her intelligence and strategic thinking while under duress gives her an edge.

MARVEL BOY (NOH-VARR) VS. MARVEL GIRL (RACHEL SUMMERS)
Marvel Boy dossier: Born abroad (galactically speaking), the Kree also been genetically engineered with roach DNA. Totally gross, sure—but it’s rendered him dextrous, strong, and fast. Also, his saliva can make you hallucinate.
Marvel Girl dossier: The alternate-reality daughter of X-Men Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Phoenix), she harbors endless powers of telepathy and telekinesis, which makes her quite handy at messing with minds as well as the space-time continuum.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $2.00. Her abilities are potent and have the potential to get even more robust.

HAWKMAN (CARTER HALL/KATAR HOL) VS. HAWKGIRL (SHIERA SANDERS/SHAYERA HOL)
Hawkman dossier: A reincarnated Egyptian prince, he dons Nth metal, which helps him fly. He also possesses keen vision and some self-healing powers.
Hawkgirl dossier: The prince’s reincarnated woman, she, too, dons a belt with gravity-defying Nth metal. She also possesses keen vision and some self-healing powers.
For every dollar he makes, she deserves: $1.00. They are equals.

Images: Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Marvel Girl courtesy Marvel.com; Supergirl courtesy DCcomics.com; Hawkgirl courtesy Ian S. Wilson.

Professor E. Paul Zehr studies kinesiology and neuroscience at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. His credentials don't end there: he also practices martial arts and has been collecting Batman comics since he was a kid. He examined hundreds of issues of Batman comics, as well as the films, and worked out exactly what skills Batman has and what it would tale to acquire those skills in real life.

1). Train Your Brain - It takes a lot of natural mental acuity to become the World's Greatest Detective, but you can sharpen your thinking skills with practice (and maybe a steady diet of Murder, She Wrote episodes). But Batman's fighting skills rely on mental focus as much as physical ability. It would take years of dedicated combat and gymnastic training to develop the innate sense of body position and movement necessary.

2). Train Your Eyes - You'll need great eyesight to pick out details at a crime scene, and a wide field of vision to track multiple opponents in a fight. It's not like the Joker is only going to have a single henchmen. Dr. Zehr suggests working on exercises that can widen your field of peripheral vision and visual focus.

3). Eat Lots of Bread - Dr. Zehr considered Bruce Wayne's activity level and determined that he needs to eat about 4,000 calories per day, mostly carbs.

4). Practice a Lot - All the different situations Batman deals with require a combination of strength and agility that's almost impossible for a human to achieve. You can get one or the other, but gaining both will require a training regimen Dr. Zehr describes as, "even more varied than a decathlete's."

5). Buy Heavy Curtains - To fight crime all night, you'll need to sleep most of the day in a very dark room. Otherwise your body clock will by totally screwed up, like having jet lag 24/7.

6). Punch Wooden Posts - This martial arts technique is used to strengthen the bones that take the brunt of the force when delivering Bat-punches. Might want to throw in some heavy running and jump training, so your ankles don't snap when you drop off a three-story building.

All told, Dr. Zehr figures it would take about 20 years of training to accomplish all this (he also discusses some of the technoligical limitations we face in replicating Batman's gadgets), and it will work best if you start during childhood. So what are you waiting for? Image by: DC.

Zero to hero: Scientist could turn you into Batman. [The Independent]

Ed Boon tells Ripten, "All of the MK characters and all of the DC villains will have fatalities. The DC heroes who don't kill that often will have brutalities that will function just like fatalities but don't actually kill the opponent." Boo, that's just awful. Was there any other reason to want to play this game other than to watch Superman rip out his opponent's spine? Sure spine-ripping may not be in Superman's wheelhouse, but what's the point of teaming up with Mortal Kombat if there will be no mortal combat for half of the characters? [World's Collide and Ripten]

The basic Anti-Monitor action pack comes with one giant Anti-Monitor figure, a few other figures and a map. Anti himself has three different levels of power representing his awesome cosmic might in the original Crisis On Infinite Earths. The con exclusive Anti-Monitor will represent his more recent incarnation as a member of the Sinestro Corps. In addition to a repaint and a corps emblem on his chest, he'll have a totally different combat dial with reduced power levels, making him easier to fit onto a standard team. Image by: Wizkids.

Announcing 2008 Convention Exclusives! [Wizkids]

Sigourney Weaver's role in Wall-E is an interesting reversal of her classic role in Aliens. And meanwhile Hellboy 2 will feature more strange creatures than ever — but no three-headed dog, alas.

And Batman will be defeated more utterly than he's ever been (since Knightfall and The Cult, anyway) in Grant Morrison's Batman, R.I.P. And we'll see Frankenstein (from his Seven Soldiers Of Victory series) again in Final Crisis! And speaking of Batman, a new trailer for The Dark Knight shows the Joker imposing much-needed discipline on those unruly Gotham City crooks.

Frank Miller explained how he tried to translate Will Eisner's vision to a modern movie for The Spirit... and then wound up just making a SIn City film instead. The Incredible Hulk features a lot of really cringe-making injection scenes, with really huge needles. And the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series will feature "vertical" battle scenes, which sounds great even if I'm not sure what it means.

We learned more about the reason for Tory's tears on Battlestar Galactica — and gleaned more details about the show from our secret Cylons. And an incredibly goofy-sounding explanation of our hero Wesley's superpowers was cut from Wanted, the not-quite-adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel about super-assassins.

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.

They even had a notary public on hand to certify that yes, KISS did indeed mix their blood into the ink at the printing press Marvel used.

Talk about putting yourself into your work. It also reminds us when Mark Gruenwald died suddenly in 1997, and they mixed his cremated ashes in with the first collected graphic novels of Squadron Supreme. No idea if Steve would have wanted his body contributed to anything, but it would be nice if Marvel could put out a commemorative edition of Howard the Duck for people who don't know anything but the movie.

• Y: The Last Man: Every male on Earth, human or otherwise, has died from mysterious causes... except for Yorick Brown and his monkey. This all happens in the first issue, and the entire series is about how the remaining women deal with a planet devoid of men. The series will wrap up this year, so if you haven't checked it out, try out issue #1 and you'll have plenty of time to catch up.
• NYC2123: Set in 2123 in a Manhattan that was devastated by a tsunami 70 years ago, the post-apocalyptic survivors struggle to continue living. This comic was originally conceived for Sony's PlayStation Portable and distributed under a Creative Commons license, although you can now read it online and check out the fantastically stark artwork.
• The War of the Worlds: Dark Horse Comics has the entire graphic novel adaptation of this scifi classic online, and it looks pretty vibrant even on a laptop screen. The art looks similar to Kevin O'Neil's in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the Victorian-era story is a favorite of Moore's, so you'll only feel two steps slightly removed from one of his works.
• Doom Patrol: Grant Morrison's take on this superteam from DC Comics past went well beyond the envelope and into the realm of the bizarre. He had god-like supervillains, heroes who could only use their powers when asleep, and of course, Robotman... the lone holdout from the 1960s who has appeared in every version of Doom Patrol. This is some vintage Morrison at his best and most wacky.
• DMZ: This comic book about a civil war raging in the United States in the near future follows a journalist who has become trapped behind the Free States and the United States in the demilitarized zone that is Manhattan. It's not just a comic book, but it's also a harsh political statement about our current government practices.
• Swamp Thing: This title was fading fast and heading into obscurity when DC agreed to let relatively unknown scribe Alan Moore have a crack at it. He rewrote the origin of the character, so he no longer came from chemical origins but was instead a plant elemental. However, we'll forgive him that transgression, since he brought back The Floronic Man, who was bonded to plants through chemicals.
• Chaos PhD: This tribute to the silver age of comic books features very well-drawn art, tongue in cheek humor, and of course supervillains and capes. Plus, a well done web interface that makes it easy to read.
• 1984: George Orwell's classic novel about the future as a free webcomic? Big Brother would not be pleased. Particularly with those other websites you've been visiting on your filthy little computer.