Note: I'm not including the Star Wars prequels here, because the big letdown was The Phantom Menace in 1999. After that, the other two movies couldn't really be letdowns.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again. This was the moment we realized Frank Miller wasn't really Frank Miller any more. He agreed to do the long-awaited sequel to his most famous and groundbreaking graphic novels, the story that redefined Batman for a generation — and he turned in a bland caricature of his earlier brilliance. You can complain all you want about the assitude of All-Star Batman And Robin and The Spirit, but TDKSA was the start of the hackery. Worst moment: When the Joker turns out to be the much-abused Dick Grayson, and Bats kills him without a second thought.

Fox's Reign Of Terror. Firefly should have been one of the great success stories of the 2000s. It's hard to remember now how invincible Joss Whedon seemed going into Firefly — with two hit shows under his belt, he was the writer of several huge movies. And now he was bringing his patented mixture of rollicking adventure and twisted artiness to a space opera. Sure, Firefly's "Cowboys in Space" thing may have confused people at first, but the show really does sell itself, after just a few minutes' viewing, thanks to vivid characters. The failure of the TV show didn't just damage Joss Whedon's career — it damaged media SF as a whole, helping to push us towards canned remakes and reboots. And Firefly's demise was just the first of a trail of broken dreams and disappointments, culminating in the cancellation of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the burial of the promising Virtuality.

NASA and the space program. The decade did hold some great achievements for NASA, including the Mars rovers and some probes traveling outwards into the solar system. But it's hard not to feel a bit crushed by the fact that NASA is retiring its fleet of space shuttles without having a replacement lined up. We're going to have to hitch a ride with the Russians from here on out, and it feels a bit, well, disappointing. Especially with science-fiction promising us that this is our time to explore the solar system and beyond it, the stars themselves.

Ang Lee's Hulk. Before this movie came out, I would have sworn that Ang Lee never made a bad film. His track record included arthouse sensations like The Wedding Banquet, The Ice Storm and Sense And Sensibility, but also the brilliant actioner Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. He was also perhaps the most artsy director to take on a superhero icon to date (no offense, Tim Burton). There was every reason to believe Hulk would be both epic and heartfelt — but instead, we got gamma-irradiated poodles, daddy issues and a Hulk who sulked. We probably won't ever get a really great Hulk movie now, after two failures, which sucks. The Hulk deserves a proper outing, in which he fights monsters and marauders and crushes buildings. The Hulk needs to discover that he's not the worst monster in his world, and have larger-than-life adventures. Ang Lee just wasn't capable of giving that to us.

The Matrix sequels. This seems like a no-brainer in retrospect, but maybe you need cyber-Colonel Sanders to take you back and explain to you how much we were all looking forward to The Matrix 2 & 3. Ten years ago, The Matrix was the freshest thing to come out in ages, despite playing on ideas that books had explored for years. Its blend of fetish and noir and cyberpunk and Hong Kong action felt viciously original. And there were just so many ideas for the sequels to explore, so many mysteries about the machine world to uncover. And then... we just sort of descended into muddle. And long rave scenes. And blind Jesus. Walking out of The Matrix Reloaded, I remember someone turning to me and saying, "Well, that wasn't even the best powerpoint presentation I've sat through lately."

Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. DC Comics' biggest "event" storylines of the mid-2000s seemed to be groping towards a more adult, more flawed view of their major superheroes, with some of comics' most talent writers on board. But they overshot, landing in angstville and bombarding us with retcons that rewrote the "Satellite era" of the Justice League. As if in an attempt to capture the cachet of Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke two decades earlier, these stories gave us female heroes being raped or abused, and turning into murderers. And Batman saying to Superman, "The last time you inspired anyone was when you died." The melodrama was thicker than the walls of Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and yet when it was all over, it was hard to understand what any of it had been about. The superheroes were closer to a bickering family (calling each other by their first names all the time) and the threats they faced seemed more existential and less external.

Superman Returns. There were a slew of other disappointing superhero movies in the past decade — but mostly you knew going into them that they were going to be ass. Who really thought Brett Ratner would make a good X-Men movie? Even Spider-Man 3 showed every sign of being ass-flavored long before it came out, despite Sam Raimi's involvement. But this film was Bryan Singer coming off two great X-Men films and The Usual Suspects, and he was doing the gutsy move of making it a sequel to the two Donner movies instead of going for the standard-issue reboot. Singer doing Donner — how could it be bad? Uh. Well, there's the part where he changed Clark Kent into Stalkerman. And then there's the Son Of Superman thing. But also, maybe, there's just the fact that the Donner movies were of a different era, and you can't bring that back.

Heroes seasons 2-4. Just imagine, for a moment, if this show had lived up to the promise of its first season. I know it's almost impossible to picture it, but just try. This mutant soap opera thrived on showing us the complications and craziness that come from secret super powers, against the backdrop of a sinister mutant-hunting conspiracy and a super-powered serial killer. But the show wrote checks it couldn't cash, including showing us Claire growing into her heroic destiny and Hiro becoming a future shaved-headed badass. Most of all, the show ducked out on its very title, opting to show us histrionics and family squabbles in place of actual heroism.

Watchmen. It was perhaps the greatest graphic novel of all time — almost certainly the greatest superhero comic of all time — lovingly recreated on screen by the ultimate OCD nerd. Every panel of the comic, recreated as concept art, then as storyboards, then as living, breathing people in costumes, surrounded by CG. Finally, a movie made by us for us. Except. The result, though lovely as anything, looked sort of lifeless once you took it out of the Smashing Pumpkins music-video trailers. The characters didn't quite live and breathe — especially Silk Spectre II, who needed to be the heart of the story. And the ending wasn't just missing a giant squid, or some other huge monstrosity to replace it — it was also lacking a certain coherence and urgency. Once people start talking about power signatures, it suddenly turns into an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Maybe Watchmen could never have lived up to the book, but it could have been more thrilling than this, with a different Silk Spectre and a more thunderous ending.

Battlestar Galactica's big finale. I know that opinions will differ on this one — but just consider. BSG's finale was one of the most hyped things of recent years. We read endless interviews in which Edward James Olmos, Ron Moore and various others told us that the final episode would shake us to our very cores, and make us weep and smear paint and throw up on ourselves. Meanwhile, Syfy ran promos over and over again that said that "All Will Be Revealed," and I don't remember an asterisk leading to a disclaimer explaining that "All" in this context actually meant a limited number of things, not including how Starbuck came back from the dead or what the hell was up with the Opera House. Even if you think this was the most brilliant conclusion in history, you have to admit BSG promised too much.

This week sees the release of Fall Of The Hulks: Alpha, the first chapter in a story promising some level of closure to storyarcs that have stretch back to 2006 and, with any luck, thinning the Hulk Herd just a little. Because, yes, there are now seven different Hulks co-existing in the Marvel Universe, and that seems like at least five too many. We've come up with a scorecard for the Hulks of various colors, just to make it easier for you to jump onboard Marvel's latest big event.

The Originals
Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters, these are your lives.
The Reds
Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters, these are your potentially evil dopplegangers.
The Bastards
Bruce Banner, these are your children. Jen, you're off the hook for this one.

Fall Of The Hulks: Alpha is released on Thursday.

As the Hulk's son, he has the same enhanced strength and healing power as his dad, but is into tattoos and bad rock music.

Lyra
The result of the Hulk's DNA being stolen by a time-traveling feminist who came from a future where no man was worthy to father her child and sabotage had left technology unable to propagate the human race - I promise, I am not making this up - Lyra has returned to the present day to assure the future of her kind, Terminator-style, by breeding with Norman Osborn. Understandably, she realized that wasn't really something she wanted to do, but decided to stick around in this timezone to fight crime and find some other way to keep the future (and her past) safe.

Unlike her father, Lyra actually gets weaker as she gets angrier, as the result of genetic manipulation by her mother's race, the Femizons. Yes, the Femizons. I refer you to the part about me not making this up.

Hiro-Kala
After Skaar had left to go to Earth, Hiro-Kala was revealed to be the other Son of Hulk. Raised unaware of his parentage and as a slave, Hiro-Kala inherited his mother's powers, and has revealed himself to be an able and more-than-a-little-ruthless little bastard; he managed to avenge Galactus' destruction of his home world by tricking him into eating another planet that he'd "poisoned". Sure, destroying an innocent civilization and planet for revenge may seem extreme, but it got the job done.

As opposed to all of the other Hulks, Hiro-Kala isn't on Earth right now - which is probably good, or else he might poison here as well - and hasn't met any of the rest of his family yet.

We're not sure whether or not the Red Hulk has some large plan behind all of his actions, or whether it's just unsubtle writing, but so far we've seen the character kill two long-standing Hulk foes (The Abomination and the Wendigo, AKA the character that Wolverine fought in his first appearance - A moment of silence, please) and cause an earthquake in San Francisco, before joining up with various time-tossed supervillains in order to prevent the Hulk from finding true love. That's right, he's definitely evil. We just don't know why.

Red She-Hulk
If little is known about the Red Hulk, even less is known about the Red She-Hulk, other than the fact that she has similar powers to her male counterpart, and may or may not be the original She-Hulk, former X-Men spin-off character Domino or even former Daredevil spin-off character Elektra in a new radioactive form.

After a particularly destructive rampage, a collection of Marvel's superheroes decided that everyone would be happier if the Hulk was sent to a nice alien planet where he could do whatever he wanted without hurting anyone. Of course, things didn't go plan, and he ended up on a planet filled with enslaved aliens that he helped free, becoming that planet's ruler and, in the process, falling in love with Caiera, who becomes his bride before being killed by the explosion of the spaceship that brought him to the planet. (All of this is from the Planet Hulk storyline, soon to be a DVD animated movie:

In many ways, that trailer hits the highpoints of the story.)

Following the death of his wife, the Hulk got together with a bunch of freed slaves and returned to Earth to punish the heroes who'd sent him to space in the first place, blaming them for the explosion and Caiera's demise. After fighting a lot of superheroes and turning New York's underground into a modern Gladiatorial battle between Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic, it was revealed that it was one of the slaves who'd caused the explosion - He was worried that a happy Hulk was a soft Hulk, and so wanted to make him mad. Never a good move with the Hulk - and the Hulk pretty much let himself get defeated, turning back into Bruce Banner and being contained by the US military (This was World War Hulk).

He was released from captivity to fight the Red Hulk, but ended up having all the gamma radiation in his body drained by his crimson counterpart, meaning that he was stuck as Bruce Banner forever... Or, at least, for a couple of months; while Incredible Hulk #600 made the "Bruce Banner forever" claim in July 2009, it only took until October for Banner to get re-irradiated for future Hulk adventures.

She-Hulk
Jennifer Walters became a Hulk when she had an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner. Unlike her cousin, though, she's had no history of mental illness, and so keeps the same personality when she hulks out, meaning that she's the respectable member of the family. That probably explains why she's been a member of so many superteams, including the Fantastic Four, Avengers and Defenders.

Currently, she's missing, following an explosion. The Red She-Hulk has claimed that she's dead, but, come on. It's comics. That never works.

The company's net income dropped from $50.6 million to (a still impressive, let's face it) $20.4 million in Q3 of 2009, and it's not just down to the lack of a movie in theaters; earnings in every department, surprisingly including publishing, were down compared with the same period last year.

So, should Mickey and his friends be worried? Not panicking, perhaps, but the drop in publishing is concerning; while last summer had Marvel Comics' Secret Invasion mega-epic, this year has seen both an increase in the prices of individual issues as well as the volume of releases and successful "mini-events" like Dark Avengers/X-Men, Dark Reign, the relaunch of the Ultimate line and Captain America: Reborn, which most would've thought should've kept earnings level at least. Is this just another sign that Marvel's strength is now movie making and IP library? And if so, what happens if future movies are more Hulk or X-Men Origins: Wolverine than Iron Man?

Marvel Net Income Declines 60% on Lower Film Revenue [Bloomberg]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perhaps because Marvel were worried that we'd be bored otherwise, the House of Ideas is putting out a star-studded week of new releases this week, with the special Deadpool #900 issue, a new Spider-Man anthology series (Web of Spider-Man), the one-shot Iron Man: Iron Protocols (written by Surrogates creator Robert Venditti!) and the collected edition of long-running-but-that's-only-because-it-was-horribly-delayed-in-the-middle Ultimate Wolverine Versus Hulk, as written by Lost's Carlton Cuse.

IDW keeps the big name action going: The publisher puts out Star Trek: Countdown (the surprisingly enjoyable prologue to the JJ Abrams movie, starring the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation.) Also, there's Star Trek: Crew (Another surprise, as John Byrne follows the early career of Number One - from "The Cage" - and makes it work.) Plus Seduth 3-D from Clive Barker (as previewed yesterday) and Left Undead, a new take on that old "cop-killed-then-brought-back-by-voodoo" idea from Lost writer Paul Zbyszewski.

If you'd rather read some George Lucas-inspired comics, Dark Horse has a special #0 issue prologue for Star Wars: Invasion, as well as the deco noir of Dean Motter's Mister X: Condemned.

DC, meanwhile, corners its own version of the horror market, with the massive Absolute Death slipcovered collection of Neil Gaiman's goth avatar of release, a new collected edition of Judd Winick's vampire story Blood And Water, and the fun House of Mystery Hallowe'en Annual, showcasing some of Vertigo's current and upcoming series.

All of that, however, is just an appetizer to the Act-I-Vate Primer, a hardcover collection of work from the self-styled "premier webcomics collective". Offering 16 original stories by some of webcomics' brightest and best, it's easily the best of a strong bunch this week.

As usual, you can see the full list of everything reaching comic stores tomorrow here and then find your local comic store here. Just remember to support the internet in your analog purchases, if you know what I'm saying.

Asked by MTV whether the Hulk could show up as the villain in 2012's Avengers movie, Norton said,

In the comics, there was always a tension between [the Hulk and] the rest of the superhero community and he was always this problem... They treat him as this problem. I think that's a fun way to go with it.

That's a much more positive response than he gave to a similar question this summer, but that may be because Marvel Studios president has strongly hinted that the Hulk will likely appear in the movie. Here's hoping he's the unwitting foil of Thor's half-brother Loki, as per the original comics...

Edward Norton Likes The Idea Of Hulk As 'Avengers' Villain [MTV Splash Page]

The heirs to Kirby, who co-created the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America - and had a hand in creating Spider-Man, pretty much completing the set - have sent out 45 notices of copyright termination to companies including Marvel Entertainment, Disney, Paramount (distributors for Iron Man, Hulk and the next five Marvel movies), Sony (the studio behind the Spider-Man movies, 20th Century Fox (X-Men and Fantastic Four) and others, expressing intent to own copyright on Kirby's creations. The notices did not only involve comic books and movies; apparently, Hasbro and Universal also received notices, for the toy and theme park rights as well.

The Kirby estate is taking the claim seriously, hiring Marc Toberoff, the attorney who's been representing the Siegel estate in the recent Superman/Superboy lawsuits. While Marvel itself has offered no comment on the notices yet, Disney issued a statement saying, essentially, that it's not a big deal:

The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.

Considering Kirby's importance to the creation of the core characters in the Marvel Universe, losing any control over the rights of his creations could be costly at best, devastating at worst, for Marvel and Disney. Considering that the Kirby estate was on good terms with Marvel as recently as 2006, when Marvel released a series based upon the previously unseen Kirby concept Galactic Bounty Hunters, expect some form of negotiations to be taking place sooner rather than later.

In Wake of Disney-Marvel Deal, Cartoonist's Heirs Seek to Reclaim Rights [New York Times]

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.

Launching today, US visitors to Vringo's website can download video ringtones starring Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine, the X-Men and many other characters for video-ready mobile devices (Well, aside from iPhones, but additional devices are said to be coming soon) for just $1.99 each. We have to admit; we're suckers for the old 1960s Marvel cartoon theme songs, so it's kind of tempting...

Marvel Video Ringtones [Vringo]

It's a relatively solid week for new releases, with both Marvel and DC offering a raft of them. DC have Red Tornado, a new mini-series featuring one of the most defective, voyeuristic (as readers of Justice League of America know) and powerful robots in comics, and Magog, a new monthly series written by Justice League International's Keith Giffen, drawn by JLA's Howard Porter and starring a pro-active former soldier out to solve the world's socio-political problems by hitting folk. Marvel, meanwhile, have The Torch, and reviving the original (robotic) Human Torch. Plus Marvel Zombies Return is the first issue of an event that'll bring well-known zombie novelists into comics. There's an interesting bunch of collections, including a reissue of Hulk: Grey, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's look back at the early days of the the gamma-irradiated goliath, and a new hardcover collection of the very enjoyable New Avengers: The Reunion series by Jim McCann and David Lopez, bringing back everyone's favorite superhero couple, Hawkeye and Mockingbird.

Image Comics, meanwhile, launch Fall Out Toy Works - the first issue of the sci-fi series co-created by Fall-Out Boy's Pete Wentz. Dynamite offer up the collection of the underrated Dead Irons, which takes Universal's classic monster movie monsters and puts them into the Wild West with creepy and understated results. If you're looking for something a little more upbeat, IDW has the first collection of GI Joe: Origins to give you the secret origin of the little paramilitary group that could at the box office, even though you didn't believe it.
The two most interesting books of the week come from the crossover side of creatordom. DC/Vertigo's Sweet Tooth, by Jeff Lemire, brings a different take on familiar (post-apocalyptic, stranger in a strange land) themes. And Marvel's Strange Tales shows the strength of Disney's new IP farm by letting a whole bunch of awesome indie comic creators loose to cause trouble, kick some ass and take some names while they're at it.

If you're looking to pull a mini-Disney and buy some comics instead of a comic company, then kindly direct your attention to the Diamond Distributors Shipping List for the week to see what else is available, besides what's listed above, before heading out to your local comic store to find some IP to invest in. And remember: It's now that much smaller of a world, after all.

Announced at this weekend's Fan Expo Canada convention, World War Hulks: Alpha will introduce the Intelligensia, the evil equivalent of the company's "Illuminati" grouping of Iron Man, Professor Xavier, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Strange that's been active in the run-up to their Civil War, World War Hulk and Secret Invasion events. Writer Jeff Parker explains:

The collective are: The Leader. Dr. Doom. Modok. Red Ghost. Egghead. Wizard, and Mad Thinker... What they have in common is their super minds. Each are so smart that they tend to feel like a different thing altogether than the rest of humanity. Like the laws of man shouldn't apply to them.

And what brings them together? Well, that'd be what's happened to the Hulk recently... which, by the time Alpha is released, will include Bruce Banner's alter-ego's son and daughter living on Earth (One of them's more of a clone-thing than a sex thing, mind you), the continued existence of the still-mysterious Red Hulk and new and equally-mysterious Red She-Hulk, plus some suspicious goings-on surrounding old-school characters Doc Samson (gamma-powered shrink) and She-Hulk (gamma-powered lawyer). As Alpha leads into a story that'll run in both The Incredible Hulk and Hulk, it'll become, according to The Incredible Hulk writer Greg Pak,

the kind of insanely huge, no-holds-barred smashfest that could only be done in comics. For sheer, visceral, fun action, it's gonna be tough to top... All mysteries and character development of our biggest characters pay off in the hugest ways imaginable during this story. It's absolutely critical for Bruce Banner, the Hulk, and every member of the Hulk Family — and it'll set up an incredibly rich dramatic arc for future stories.

World War Hulks: Alpha is released in December.

Captain America
One of Marvel's first characters - he debuted in 1941's Captain America Comics - and, for decades, one of its most underrated. Before Ed Brubaker hit upon the idea of killing him off (Well, kind of, as readers of the current Captain America: Reborn series are well aware of), Cap wasn't a huge seller for the company, but nonetheless, his various series contain some of Marvel's most memorable runs, whether it's Steve Englehart's Cap trying to find his own identity - and the heart of his country - in the 1970s, co-creator Jack Kirby's surreal return to the character (complete with cameos from dead presidents and Hitler), or the dearly-departed Mark Gruenwald's lengthy run that included such highs as the USAgent and SuperPatriot and lows as CapWolf and weird, clunky armor. Brubaker's current run may be the best the character has ever seen, and considering the competition, that's saying a lot.

The Thing
If Marvel Comics has a character that could be called the heart of the company, it's not Spider-Man, Iron Man or Daredevil. Nope, it's everyone's favorite blue-eyed Ben Grimm, AKA the guy who looks like a big pile of orange rocks from the Fantastic Four. There's just something about the character - maybe his angst-ridden inner torment over his appearance and the fact that no-one understands him, or his gruff-exterior (literally and metaphorically, just in case you missed it) that hides a selfless, kind, loving hero - that sums up all of Marvel's outsider/teenage angst/underdog themes in one perfect character. Not for nothing did he manage to make Marvel Two-In-One work throughout the 1970s.

The Hulk
On the other hand, the Hulk is like the Thing's bizarro twin in a lot of ways: Making the atomic fear implicit in most of Marvel's original wave of superheroes explicit while still hitting all those outsider/misunderstood/teenage angst notes, the Hulk has become a rorschach blot for whatever his current writer wants to write about: Childhood abuse, MPD, space barbarianism, Bill Bixby's scary eyes (Bonus points can also be had for Peter David's eleven year run on the series, wherein he kept the character in a continuous state of flux while also managing to make it all seem like an organic progression. While the Hulk may be missing a "definitive story" as such, David's decade-plus of movement may be the character's defining period in a lot of ways). Who knew a cliched angry monster could turn out to be so versatile?

Spider-Man
He's not just a tragic hero trying to atone for one moment of selfishness, he's also a corporate figurehead and franchise so lucrative that Marvel breaks out his licensed earnings separately from all their other characters. Oh, Peter Parker, you're so dreamy and able to multitask. The character that made Stan Lee's soap operatics and melodrama work like none other - and, in the process, defined the "Marvel style" as concretely as any amount of Jack Kirby artwork could have ever hoped - has seen some peaks and troughs throughout the years (The Clone Saga? That whole "Devil got me divorced, I mean, unmarried" thing? 'Nuff Said, as Stan would say), but when he's treated well - And he currently is, in three different flavors, with Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man - he offers up a timeless treatise about growing up, and trying to balance adult responsibility with self-indulgent release. With added wisecracks and web-fluid. I think you know what I'm talking about.

Phoenix
Yeah, yeah, I know; you expected Iron Man or Wolverine, didn't you? Well, tough; Phoenix - that is to say, Jean Grey before she got retconned - was, for awhile (Namely, before the retcon), the dark side of Marvel Comics made (four-color) flesh: A character who wasn't only flawed, but who succumbed to her flaws, and paid the ultimate price. Yes, there was the defining moment of self-sacrifice, and yes, you could argue - as Marvel not only did, but made canon - that it wasn't really Jean Grey but some alien-influence that had overwhelmed her inherent goodness, but still: For one brief, shining moment, there was proof that Marvel's characters were as "only human" as their creators promised, and that actions had consequences, no matter how cosmic those actions may have been.

Of course, those are just our choices, and there are literally thousands of others who could've ended up on the list - How did we manage to miss Thor? Or Galactus? Or Dazzler, or Power Pack or Longshot? and so on - but that's what the comments are for. Which character best sums up Marvel's appeal for you? And what (if anything) will you be doing to celebrate Marvel's 70th birthday?

Talking to reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in California, Norton dodged the question of his involvement or lack thereof in Marvel's superhero mashup movie:

I probably won't comment on that just because they keep a pretty tight rein on what they are letting out... I'll let them [address it].

The lack of a concrete "no" is leading many people to assume that he will make an appearance, especially in light of his deference to Marvel despite the rumored creative battles over last summer's Hulk movie. Given that the various comic origins of the Avengers team have always included the Hulk in one form or another, it'd make sense for Banner and his green-skinned alter ego to make an appearance, but only time will tell if Norton's coyness came from a positive place, or just a desire not to break fanboy hearts.

Hulk's Edward Norton mum on Avengers [SciFi Wire]

Spinning out of this week's Incredible Hulk #600, the storyline - that will join Loeb's Hulk series with Pak's revived Incredible Hulk for its duration - follows Bruce Banner now that he is unable to become the Hulk ever again. According to Loeb, the de-Hulked Banner isn't the nerdy, nervous scientist we're familiar with, but a "kick-ass guy" trying to help the Hulk's son, Skaar, survive in a world where the mysterious Red Hulk has made life more uncomfortable for gamma-irradiated beings. Just to complicate matters, the storyline will also feature Loeb's newest creation, Red She-Hulk, due to debut soon in the Hulk series. "And if I'm not told you who Red Hulk is, I'm definitely not gonna tell you who Red She-Hulk is," Loeb joked.

World War Hulks begins in December's World War Hulks: Gamma, written by Loeb and drawn by John Romita Jr.

Blame it on publishers focusing on con announcements and con exclusive releases, but this week's haul at your local store seems surprisingly light. (DC only really has the hardcover release of Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge to recommend, while Dark Horse offers up the prequel-era Star Wars Omnibus: Menace Revealed and the first issue of a new Emily The Strange series to non-con-goers.)

But if you're looking for books tying into your favorite moving picture media, you're actually in for a great week - IDW has Doctor Who: Room With A Deja View and Star Trek: Spock - Reflections #1. And Boom! has Farscape: Gone & Back #1. Even Marvel is getting in on the act, with the first issue of new videogame tie-in Halo: Helljumper.

Marvel, to be fair, is pushing the boat out with their books, offering the first issue of martial arts exploitation comic Immortal Weapons and the extra-sized #600s of both Incredible Hulk and Amazing Spider-Man (That last one being all-new material, no filler).

More superhero thrills can be found in Dynamite's Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #1. But not even that updating of Golden Age craziness can compete with the genuine article of insanity known as You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation, the second (and final) collection of Fletcher Hanks' comics from 1939-1941, each one a celebration of a man with a special talent for both cartooning and self-destruction. (We reviewed the first volume here.)

If you're not headed to SDCC - and, really, why not? - then the Comic Shop Locator would be of use to you, as would the full shipping list from Diamond Distrubutors. To everyone else: I'll see you there. I'll be the one looking slightly stressed. Well, one of the ones looking slightly stressed...

Wolverine and The X-Men, the cartoon about Logan getting the team back together in the wake of a disaster, is finally coming to DVD July 21. And there's a previously unaired episode featuring a smackdown between Logan and the Hulk. Here are some exclusive pics:

And here's an exclusive clip from one of the previous episodes. The clip is entitled, "Wolverine Lugs Nitro," which sort of speaks for itself:

Here's more info about those DVDs:

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This July, Marvel Animation and Lionsgate bring Wolverine fans an exciting new DVD from Nicktoons Network's hit animated series Wolverine And The X-Men. The new DVD arrives just after this summer's blockbuster live-action film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and just before the live-action DVD release this fall. In Wolverine And The X-Men: Deadly Enemies, the battles against formidable opponents have begun for Wolverine and the X-Men as they continue their fight to prevent an unspeakable future. Enter the fray with Wolverine and the X-Men in five all-new action-packed adventures including a heart-pounding showdown that pits Wolverine against fan-favorite The Incredible Hulk! The DVD will include an audio commentary from the show creators and will be encased in an embossed O-Card. Wolverine And The X-Men: Deadly Enemies will appeal to fans of all ages when it becomes available on DVD on July 21, 2009 for the suggested retail price of $14.98.

With 45 years of best selling comic books, a massive fan base spanning all ages and three feature films grossing over one billion dollars at the box office, the franchise is a proven phenomenon. The hit series debut of Wolverine And The X-Men was Nicktoons Network's highest rated original series premiere ever with kids and boys. Though the animated series is targeted to Boys 6-11, it also appeals to comic book fans of all ages! The DVD will receive heavy promotion on Marvel.com and Marvelkids.com while the 26 episode series will be supported by a $5 million broadcast promotional plan delivering over 350 million impressions. The DVD release is timed to Hasbro's Wolverine And The X-Men series toy line releasing in August.

SYNOPSIS

Wolverine and the X-Men continue their fight to prevent an unspeakable future as menacing opponents await in Wolverine and the X-Men: Deadly Enemies. The X-Men fight to save Storm's life after the parasitic Shadow King infiltrates her mind. And Wolverine teams up with Gambit to ‘steal back' a technological collar that inhibits mutant powers, before Senator Kelly can use it against them. On the high seas, Nightcrawler battles devious pirates, in the business of kidnapping mutant refugees for their mysterious master, Mojo. In order to protect his friends, Wolverine must face-off against the Incredible Hulk, but he soon discovers there is a new enemy lurking in the darkness. And in a shocking request from Professor Xavier in the future, Wolverine and the X-Men must return a young mutant to the custody of their most relentless adversary, the MRD.

Episodes include:

* Overflow
* Thieves Gambit
* X-Calibre
* Wolverine vs. The Hulk
* Time Bomb

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

o Audio commentary with Supervising Producer Craig Kyle, Head Writer Greg Johnson and Writer Chris Yost

More images can be found at Pool's website.

Super [Ian Pool]