I admit, I'm biased; I've followed and enjoyed Willingham's Fables since the release of the first collection, way back in 2003 so, in one sense, I was a sitting duck for this new 300+ page adventure set in a world where fairy tales live on in present day New York. On the other hand, having been a fan for so long, the idea of Willingham attempting to spin-off the at-times-very-visual comic (with a lot of credit going to the series' main artist, Mark Buckingham) into prose was worrying: What if the book showed that he was more talented at comics than prose? What if the novel tried too hard to overexplain things for new readers and, in the process, alienated old ones like myself? What if, away from the restrictions of the monthly grind, the novel would become an overindulgent, unsatisfying experience, as previous spin-off graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall seemed at times?

As it turns out, I needn't have worried: Despite a somewhat awkward start (Where, yes, Willingham veers close to killing momentum and interest through world-building for people who've just come in) and seemingly rushed climax, Peter & Max distills all of the charm and sly, subtle invention that Willingham has brought to the familiar characters in the series so far into an all-new story that sidesteps the comic's continuity for the most part, offering something that's familiar enough to reassure old faithfuls, but also unencumbered by a past that would scare off newcomers. The Peter and Max of the title are Peter Piper (who, as we all know, picked a peck of pickled peppers) and his brother, and the novel tells parallel stories of the characters' youth (which includes Little Bo Peep, as well as the Black Forest and the fine town of Hamelin, which may need some help with a rat problem) and the lead-in to their modern day reunion, something that Peter isn't particularly looking forward to. Fans of the comics can expect cameos from Bigby, Rose and other familiar characters, but this is a surprisingly self-contained story, even with the additional comic strip epilogue to place everything in context for those who need to know these things.

(The comic strip is illustrated by Steve Leialoha, who also provides spot-illustrations throughout the book. It's worth taking a minute to point out how lovely these illos are; Leialoha doesn't always get the credit he deserves for his comic book work, but these illustrations are beautifully rendered, with a European-influence that makes them curiously old-fashioned and storybooky, appropriately.)

Where Willingham falls down is pacing; as I said above, the end of the book feels oddly rushed, as if Willingham had a set number of pages for the book and realized too late that he had to get everything tied up and off-stage. It's not that the ending is a letdown, or even disappointing, but there's something... off about it, somehow. It's a minor complaint, and not enough to stop me from eagerly recommending the book. For fans of Fables, it's pretty much the novel you want it to be; for everyone else, if you've ever wanted to read a surprisingly epic story of love, loss and old fairy tales reimagined with more than a little self-awareness about the source material, Peter & Max is just what you're looking for.

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel is available in comic stores now, and released in bookstores next week.

For those scared of books without pictures, we'll start with what else is available this week. Boom! Studios launches a new series based on Pixar's The Incredibles and a new series called Kill Audio that really has to be seen to be believed; it's a horror/sci-fi comic about a little indestructible man trying to destroy music? Maybe? You'll know what I mean when you take a look at this:

DC gets into the spirit of the season by putting out the first issue of a bi-weekly horror-centric Batman series, Batman: The Unseen, for Hallowe'en, and World War Z's Max Brooks keeps everything horrific with his new graphic novel The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.

Marvel, meanwhile, goes entirely in the other direction, with the first issue of X-Babies. Or if you'd rather read more mature mutants, there's also the first collection of the 1990s retro guilty pleasure X-Men Forever and the first issue of the sure-to-be-fun X-Men Vs. Agents Of Atlas.

Non-X-Book launches from the publisher also include the collections of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four (Reed Richards comes to terms with the newly-grim outlook of the Marvel Universe) and Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (Horse-headed alien version of Thor against planet-eater Galactus), as well as first issues of Doctor Voodoo: Avenger Of The Supernatural and Spider-Man 1602, which really does offer a 17th century version of Peter Parker.

Book of the week, though, is a real, honest-to-goodness book: Peter & Max: A Fables Novel is, as the title suggests, the first prose novel to spin out of the Vertigo series Fables. Written by that series' creator and writer, Bill Willingham, it's everything a fan of the series could want - and everything a non-fan could need to get initiated. We'll have a review later this week, but for now, know that it's something you should be adding to your shopping list.

That list, as usual, can be built by visiting this list of everything being released to comic stores by Diamond Distributors tomorrow, and as ever, you can find your nearest comic store by visiting the Comic Shop Locator Service. As for my recommending a non-comic book in a comic book column...? I promise I'll try to do better next week... but you should take a look at Peter & Max nonetheless.

For those scared off by the idea of dropping many clams on collected editions, I'd like to steer you in the direction of the first issues of The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh (Mark Waid's supernatural super-science mystery series comes back for a second go-around). Also, there's Spider-Man: The Clone Saga (in which one of the 1990s' worst mistakes gets a second chance as original architects of the storyline Howard Mackie and Tom DeFalco do it over and try to do it right, this time.) And finally, the GI Joe: Cobra Special, which - as unlikely as it sounds - is a thriller that plays with the comic format surprisingly effectively as it fills in the background of the public face of the Cobra organization... But I'll tell you more about that in another post later today.

That said, this really is a week for collections. Dark Horse has the much-anticipated second volume of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's incredible Umbrella Academy (The Umbrella Academy: Dallas). Dynamite offers the obscure but ahead-of-its-time Power & Glory (by American Flagg's Howard Chaykin).

Meanwhile, from the opposite end of the superhero spectrum (which is to say, sound and fury signifying lack of critical approval) comes from Marvel's Ultimatum hardcover. (Marvel also has an accompanying epilogue collection, Ultimatum Requiem, as well as the Golden Age revival book Avengers/Invaders, hitting stores tomorrow).

The week, however, really belongs to DC Comics. DC offers the first collection of the Zuda strip High Moon (Vampires and werewolves in the old west, and if there's any justice, soon to be a major motion picture.) Also, two "deluxe" editions of classic comics are making a comeback with Absolute Promethea Vol. 1 and Fables: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1. Promethea collects the first year of Alan Moore's post-feminist, post-deconstructionist take on the female superhero archetype, while Fables brings together the first two paperbacks for a suitable introduction to Bill Willingham's addictive updating of fairytales, myths and legends. Both are highly recommended in any format, but it has to be said... they do look great in these new oversized hardcovers.

As usual, the complete list of comics reaching your local comic store can be found here, and said local comic stores can be found here. Even if you're not looking for a massive slab of classic comics, you should take a look, anyway.

Jennifer Check (Jennifer's Body)
Nature of Her Hunger: Demonic Possession — the result of a "virgin" sacrifice gone wrong.
Preferred Food Group: Boys, although she might make an exception for Amanda Seyfried.

Cal Thompson's ex-girlfriends (Peeps by Scott Westerfeld)
Nature of Their Hunger: Parasitic Infection, passed along through sexual activity.
Preferred Food Group: Whatever crosses their paths.

Lyekka (Lexx)
Nature of Her Hunger: Innate. She may look humanoid, but she's really a carnivorous plant.
Preferred Food Group: Pretty much anything and everything (including whole crews and countries at once), though she keeps her gums off the Lexx crew, out of affection for Stan.

The (Mostly Female) Carnivorous Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park)
Nature of Their Hunger: Innate. If you're going to keep Raptors and Tyrannosauri around, you have to expect a few casualties.
Preferred Food Group: Meat in general.

Heidi Barrie and Rhonda Kelley (Buffy the Vampire Slayer "The Pack")
Nature of Their Hunger: Hyena Possession, though they weren't very nice to begin with.
Preferred Food Group: High school principals.

Jodi Melville (Smallville, "Craving")
Nature of Her Hunger: Meteor-rock radiation, combined with an intense desire to be thin.
Preferred Food Group: Anything with fat on it.

Bilquis, The Queen of Sheba (American Gods by Neil Gaiman)
Nature of Her Hunger: Sacrificial. She devours men during the sex act to maintain her fertility goddess power.
Preferred Food Group: Men, though her preferred orifice for intake is not her mouth.

Zenelle (Madman)
Nature of Her Hunger: Mantis-like. Females of her species devour their mates.
Preferred Food Group: Men she's bedded, with the exception of one of the Mutant Street Beatniks, with whom she's fallen in love.

The Women of Eureka (Eureka, "Maneater")
Nature of Their Hunger: Chemical. An ancient spore turns the dial up on Carter and Dr. Stone's pheromones, and if what happened to the wolf whose lady friend got a whiff of his pheromones is any indication, the women of Eureka literally want to eat them up.
Preferred Food Group: Carter and Stone, though they never actually manage to sink their teeth into them.

Paula Gray, Doris Kearns and the Other Women of Dudley, Arkansas (The X-Files "Our Town")
Nature of Their Hunger: Cannibalism in an attempt to gain immortality.
Preferred Food Group: Anyone not in the cannibalism club. But they don't screen for diseases, and a good bit of the town ends up with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

Frau Totenkinder (Fables)
Nature of Her Hunger: Sacrificial. She eats children to increase her magical power.
Preferred Food Group: Children, including her own infants.

Jillian Boone (Fringe, "Midnight")
Nature of Her Hunger: Bacterial. She's been infected with a sort of vampiric syphilis as part of an elaborate blackmail ploy.
Preferred Food Group: Spinal Fluid

The Women of Moodley (Doghouse)
Nature of Their Hunger: Infection by an Airborne Toxin.
Preferred Food Group: Men.

Giganta (DC Comics)
Nature of Her Hunger: Murderous. When you're giant, it's a handy way to dispose of people.
Preferred Food Group: Ryan Choi, The Atom, though just she ends up puking him up later.

Maryann Forrester (True Blood)
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean. She happens to know the perfect recipe for human (and shifter) hearts (and makes Tara an unwitting accomplice to her cannibalism), though she also needs a humanoid sacrifice for her god.
Preferred Food Group: She has a particular affinity for supernatural beings, though nothing undead.

Janet Weiss and Columbia (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Nature of Their Hunger: Unwitting. When you're invited to a dinner party, you generally eat what's placed in front of you.
Preferred Food Group: Meat Loaf — as in the person, not the stuff that's baked with tomato sauce.

Lizzie (My Favorite Martian)
Nature of Her Hunger: Monstrous. Thanks to a gumball that transforms humanoids into other creatures, Lizzie (who is normally shaped like Darryl Hannah) turns into a carnivorous alien beast.
Preferred Food Group: Bad guys.

Giggerota the Wicked (Lexx)
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean — in her words, she "likes to eat."
Preferred Food Group: Pretty much anything, although she finds brains too salty.

Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors)
Nature of Her Hunger: Innate. She's a mean, green mother from outer space.
Preferred Food Group: Anything human.

Helen Sherman (Torchwood, "Countrycide")
Nature of Her Hunger: Epicurean. She and the other villagers happen to enjoy human flesh.
Preferred Food Group: Travelers.

Miss French (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Teacher's Pet")
Nature of Her Hunger: Mantis-Like. Actually, she is a giant praying mantis.
Preferred Food Group: Male virgins, no matter how much they boast about their supposed "experience."

Every Female Zombie Ever
Nature of Their Hunger: Innate. Fish gotta swim, zombies gotta chomp.
Preferred Food Group: Any living human, but there's sometimes a special emphasis on brains.

Where to start with this week's haul? Why not with the return of some classics?

Marvel is reissue some wonderful old-school SF in the Annihilation Classic collection (including the complete Rocket Racoon series!) Meanwhile, Dynamite finally collects the entirity of Garth Ennis' Dan Dare series (lost in limbo since Virgin Comics went under). And SLG Publishing releases Tron: Ghost In The Machine.

Also, Boom! puts out the first of this week's must-haves: The first issue of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the illustrated version of the Philip K. Dick novel that has to be seen to be believed (We'll have a review later today, but suffice to say it's unlike any other comic you've read). Also in the "adapted novel" category? Marvel's collections of Ender's Game: Battle School and Ender's Shadow: Battle School, both also released this week.

Staying in the classic end of the pool, Dark Horse revive Creepy as a new, quarterly anthology title this week, and it's well worth a look. So is the first issue of IDW's new monthly Doctor Who comic, which captures the feel of the television show better than any comic to date.

Potentially something that'll get overlooked this week, and really shouldn't, is Vertigo's specially-priced reissue of the first issue of the wonderful Fables, which should be picked up by any Fables fan. Why, you ask? Because it also contains a preview of Peter and Max, Bill Willingham's first Fables novel. Now you understand.

Those looking for superhero thrills, don't feel left out: Paul Tobin's enjoyable Dr. Doom and The Masters of Evil series gets a collection from Marvel. So do the first issues of Greg Pak's War Machine.

But the real fun comes from DC's end of the market. They're putting out the hardcover edition of Neil Gaiman's Batman: Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader (which I didn't love, but YMMV, as the kids say). They're also launching Blackest Night, their big summer event with the first issue of the main series as well as the first issue of the anthology Tales of The Corps to help you get up to speed with the main players. The dead will rise, they say, and we're waiting to see just which dead heroes are going to come back to cause trouble for Green Lantern and friends.

Dead superheroes, cosmic classics and even more can be found - as ever - on the complete list of releases from Diamond Distributors this week, and your local comic store remains the best place to buy them. Just remember to save some room in your collection for next week.

First up was new monthly The Unwritten, by the Lucifer team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross - both spoke animatedly about this series, which explores both the power and the danger of fiction. Unwritten will follow boy Tom, who has never managed to escape the shadow of his author father. Based on the real-life Christopher Robin from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, Tom is also a character in his father's fantasy books; everywhere he goes, people know him only as Tommy the wizard. When someone asks him to explain his true identity at a convention, Tom realizes he actually has no idea who he is, and so begins a journey of personal discovery ... and a battle with a shadowy conspiracy who might prove to Tom that he is more fiction than fact. Unwritten's first 32-page issue will be $1.00, and is out in May.

The new ten-issue series Daytripper is the first and longest English language work by creators (and artists of Casanova) Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá, and it takes place in Brazil. Its hero is a lowly obituary writer who dreams of higher callings, yet finds himself overshadowed by his renowned Brazilian author daddy. There's a lovely element of magical realism, too, teased Berger.

New monthly Greek Street is Peter Milligan's angsty, dark take on visceral ancient literature. Milligan set classic Greek tragedies in the modern-day location of London's SoHo, which as he told it is the home of "the lowlifes, the gangsters, the brothels." When young orphan Eddie escapes the children's home, he goes to find his mother - and subsequently sleeps with and murders her. He runs away to Greek Street, and a bloodline of tragedy follows him. His first 32-page story will be in an oversized issue that appears this summer, and is again just $1.00.

Jeff Lemire also has a new graphic novel, The Nobody, which will appear in hardcover in May. It's essentially the story of The Invisible Man, updated to a small fishing village in Maine. Berger said it will be in 2-color and will cost $20.

Next up is the intriguing Luna Park, a time-travelling historical crime thriller. How's that for genre-bending? It follows a Russian gangster who goes back in time to Coney Island, and also journeys through Russia. Luna Park, written by Kevin Baker and drawn by Danijel Zezelj, will be out in November.

Berger was specifically excited to reveal Vertigo's new original graphic novels, which all center around the theme of travel or immigration - racial identity, and how that fits in with a larger human message. The first one she announced, Gone to Amerikay, is written by Stagger Lee's Derek McCulloch and has art by Vertigo favorite Colleen Doran. Amerikay is a sweeping historical drama that follows three generations of an Irish family. They're just starting it now, though, so no word on when that will be released.

Cuba: One Story is the graphic novel that actually made Berger cry. It's the fiction-tinged memoir of Inverna Valesquez, who has never before written comics. "Inverna has been my second mother for 25 years," confessed artist Dean Haspiel. "She told me many stories of her time in Cuba — she was in Castro's army, she was a surgeon, ... I pushed her to purge, to write her story. I was so thrown by what she wrote that I said, 'Karen, I have to have a meeting with you!' I brought Inverna in, and she spoke for one and a half hours. By the end of it, Karen had tears in her eyes. This is my most personal collaboration." Cuba comes out next year, and will also be in 2-color for a "different look," according to Berger.

Finally, Berger presented a quirky-looking travelogue by indie artist Sarah Glidden. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less is the true story of a Jewish girl's birthright tour through her native country - the twist is that Glidden was raised in a left-wing, pro-Palestinian family in America. She went on the tour to challenge her own viewpoint a little, and ended up experiencing a complete emotional and spiritual awakening about the nature of humanity. Editor Jonathan Vankin clearly loved it; he says that while it's meaningful and serious, it's also undeniably clever and funny. That'll be out within the next year.

Finally, it was time for an update on Fables. Bill Willingham couldn't be at the con, but he sent this letter, which editor Shelly Bond read aloud (with no small amount of indignance):

Karen - Don't let Shelly give all the great Fables crossover secrets away at the panel. You know how nervous she gets speaking in public ... and how she has to hit the bottle for four or five belts beforehand! Definitely don't let her reveal that Jack will be sneaking back into the Fables book, or that Snow and Bigby will be exiled to Jack's book. And we definitely don't want her to blab about the new Jack Frost and his relation to our current Jack, or what happens when Jack ends up babysitting Bigby and Snow's cubs. Basically, Karen, don't let Shelly say anything!

That was followed by the exciting news of the first Fables prose novel, Peter & Max, for which Berger displayed a working cover image featuring two pipers. Steve Leialoha will provide illustrations. Unfortunately, Berger revealed, those rumors of an ABC TV series are about to die down - "that's not happening right now," she said, "but maybe someday."

Vertigo's pushing monthlies for all their worth - Berger would like you to know that if you have ever considered buying issues as they come out instead of waiting for the trade collections, this is the time to do it! And they've also placed a high priority on original graphic novels with a politically relevant bent: Promising stuff, surely, from the best cerebral comics publisher out there.

Sky Doll:
This French story about a sexbot who stows away with space truckers to find her true destiny reads like a more enjoyable The Fifth Element, mixing spirituality, sexuality and awkward humor to create a beautifully-illustrated not-so-guilty pleasure.
(Published by Marvel Comics, $24.99.)

Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus:
This four-volume series of hardcovers collects all of the various comics that made up X-Men and Fantastic Four co-creator Kirby's 1970s magnum opus about godlike aliens bringing their war to Earth. Ignored and cancelled due to low sales at the time, these have since taken their place as some of the all-time best American SF comics.
(Published by DC Comics, each volume $49.99.)

The Babysitter Collection:
You probably won't have heard of Andy Ristaino's mind-bending story of Setsuko Kagaku, the Japanese schoolgirl who happens to be the world's greatest babysitter, but once you've seen this amazing, mind-bending book that gleefully rewrites the rulebook on how comics work and questions the nature of reality, you'll never be able to forget it.
(Published by SLG, $29.95.)

Buffy, The Vampire Slayer Season 8:
Surely you need no explanation why the official comic continuation of the TV series - overseen and written in part by Joss Whedon, with the other writers including Cloverfield's Drew Goddard - makes this list. If you have to pick just one of the four collections to date, we'd suggest the Brian K. Vaughan-written "No Future For You", which brings back Faith and Giles for some ass-kicking in good ol' Blighty that doesn't rely too heavily on the uber-arc for the season.
(Published by Dark Horse, each volume $15.95.)

Laika:
Nick Abadzis' semi-fictional biography of the First Dog In Space is subtle, beautiful and enough to break the heart of even the most cynical bastard. If you're an animal lover, then you'll probably be in tears by the end.
(Published by First Second, $17.95.)

Scott Pilgrim:
Bryan Lee O'Malley's enjoyable series of graphic novels - Probably my favorite current series, not that that really matters to you - blends twenty-something ennui, surreal humor (Wait until you meet the vegan in the third volume), video game references, and some wonderful artwork to create something that's both timeless and effortless contemporary. Plus, where else do you get to read about a boy who has to fight his girlfriend's Seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends in order to win her heart?
(Published by Oni Press, each volume $11.95.)

All-Star Superman, Vol. 1:
Superhero comics may not get much better than this recently-completed series by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely; pulling the genre away from angst-ridden punchfests, ASS - yes, I know - instead offers a more contemplative and imaginative Superman who falls victim to Lex Luthor's ultimate masterplan and still tries to save the day, every day. This volume collects the first half of the series; a second is due next year, so you can give it to someone this time in 2009.
(Published by DC Comics, $12.99.)

100%:
Yes, I'm stretching the "recent" thing for this 2005 collection of Paul Pope's series about life in a future New York, full of love stories and artists and people in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it'll always be an amazing book, the closest we'll ever get to Robert Altman directing a science fiction Bukowski. Or something.
(Published by DC Comics/Vertigo, $24.99.)

The Doctor Who Storybook 2009:
Is this too non-comic-booky? Possibly, but each year in the UK, a Doctor Who Storybook is released for kids, featuring brand new stories written by the TV show's writers (The 2006 edition featured the first version of "Blink," by Steven Moffat; this year, Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts and James Moran are all contributing), as well as a "Letter from the Doctor" written by the showrunner (This year is Moffat's first; Russell T Davies has done the last couple). If it helps, there's a comic strip in there too, but I don't think you'll need much more convincing.
(Published by Panini Books, price depending on whatever you pay on import; £7.99 in the UK.)

Any Showcase or Essential Collection:
Help a friend or family member relive their misspent childhood with these black and white phonebook collections of comics from the 1960s and '70s. DC's brand is "DC Showcase Presents", Marvel's is "Marvel Essential," but both offer over 500 pages of reprinted goodness for $16.99; you can find a list of each line here (Showcase) and here (Essentials).
(Published by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, $16.99.)

Two Additional Stocking Stuffers That Aren't Really Comics, But Still:
Fables: Covers by James Jean:
All eleven volumes to date of Bill Willingham's wonderful Fables would make ideal stocking stuffers as well, but the pride of place has to go to this stunningly beautiful collection of illustrator James Jean's covers to the first 75 issues (and ten collections) of the series. Breathtakingly illustrated in paint, pencil and digitally, the work contained in this book is awe-inspiring.
(Published by DC Comics/Vertigo, $39.99.)

Thrill Power Overload:
Another import that's well worth tracking down, David Bishop's history of the first thirty years of British comic 2000AD is both salacious and educational, filled with gossip and stories about the creation of characters like Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper and the early careers of creators like Alan Moore, Grant Morrison and even Neil Gaiman. Enjoyable even if you've never read an issue of the comic itself.
(Published by Rebellion Books, price depending on whatever you pay on import; £34.99 in the UK.)

The Fables pilot is being written by Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, creators of the short-lived ABC series Six Degrees, and will be directed by David Semel, who also directed the pilots for Heroes and My Own Worst Enemy. The comic book series follows a group of Fables, characters from fairytales and folklore, who flee their magical Homelands after they are conquered by the mysterious Adversary. The Fables arrive in our “Mundy” world and build their own society, Fabletown, based in Manhattan.

There is no word on whether the pilot will follow the first book in the series, in which Fabletown deputy mayor Snow White and sheriff Bigby Wolf investigate the murder of Snow White’s sister Rose Red. But the writers promise that Snow White and Bigby will have similarly central roles in the show as they do in the comic books.

"We set up a structure to allow any fairy tale character to show up in any one episode," Metzner said.

The fairy tale characters will keep some of their trademark characteristics. For instance, Prince Charming will be handsome, while Big Bad Wolf will have to shave a four-day shadow from growing back every day.

But overall, "they are just like real people in the real world who live and breathe and look just like you and me," Metzner said.

This isn’t the first time a network has tried its hand at adapting the series. In 2005, NBC ordered a script for a Fables series, but never made it to production. If ABC ultimately decides to pick up Fables as a series, it could appear on the 2009-2010 television schedule.

[The Hollywood Reporter]

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?

That's not entirely true, of course; there's the new Fables collection, Wolves - but that series, based around what happens after the "happily ever after" at the end of all fairy tales (Here's a clue: Brutal war, New York and marriage, but not necessarily in that order), lacks pretty much any kind of science fiction element that'd let me claim it as part of the io9 mission statement.

There's also DC Universe: Zero, easily the most interesting release of the week - A 50 cent introduction to the current status quo of all of DC's main characters (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, as well as the Legion of Super-Heroes, Green Lantern and others) by writers Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns as well as "a host of comics' best artists" as they say. It all leads into this summer's big Final Crisis, Batman R.I.P., Legion of Three Worlds and Wonder Woman: Rise of Olympus storylines. Even if you're not interested in any of those characters or stories, it's still 32 pages of pretty for half a dollar, so what are you waiting for?

Otherwise, the most interesting two books both come from Platinum Studios, via life as webcomics. A lot has been said about the creating-comics-purely-as-IP-to-sell-as-movies business model of Platinum, but when it produces comics with titles like I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space and Adventures of Tymm: Alien Circus, at least you know that they're not too proud to go sensationalistic in their attempts to get your eyeballs.

As is always the case, you can look at this week's shipping list and see how disappointing it is for yourself here, and then go and find your local comic store here in preparation for the much more exciting free grab-bag that is this weekend. Just give them a call, ask them to keep a copy of DC Universe until you get there on Saturday, and save yourself the time tomorrow. You'll thank me in the end.