DC Comics launches two new series this week; Justice League: Cry For Justice is a six-part spin-off from the main Justice League of America series, written by soon-to-be-new-JLA-writer James Robinson. It focuses on Green Lantern, Green Arrow and their pals deciding to kick ass to work out their grief issues over the deaths of Batman and the Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis.

There's also the much-less-heralded — but much more exciting — Greek Street, which sees cult writer Peter Milligan begin a Kings-esque retelling of classic Greek myths recast in the London Underworld; it's smart, sexy and disturbing in all the right ways, and the art from Davide Gianfelice will make believers of everyone. Well worth picking up.

Marvel mixes things up by launching two much-talked about series: Marvel Divas - better known as "that comic with the terrible cover that upset a lot of people" - and Captain America: Reborn. Even though I'm convinced I know how Reborn is going to turn out, there's no chance I won't be picking this up for Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch alone... and, despite the unpromising interviews and pre-release controversy, preview pages for Divas suggest that it might not be the exploitative T'n'A-fest we were all expecting.

If you're looking for something completely out of left-field, I'd steer you away from horror-movie-on-paper Bad Kids Go To Hell (It does what it says in the title, folks). Instead, I'd push you towards the sealegs of Far Arden, Kevin Cannon's tale of a crusty old sea dog searching for a mythical island that may or may not exist. You won't be disappointed.

That said, release of the week is probably Star Wars: Invasion, a new series from Dark Horse taking place 25 years after Return Of The Jedi, and bringing the characters we know and love from the original movies face to face with new scum and villainy in the form of the Yuuzhan Vong. Classic Expanded Universe action the way you want it, as they used to say in the comics, only without using those exact words.

Galaxies far, far away and time-tossed superheroes can all be found in your local comic store, and if none of the above comics take your fancy, there's always the complete Diamond Distributors shipping list for the week to peruse to come up with something better. But is there anything better than Star Wars done right...?

Sister blog Jezebel was just one of the voices complaining about the July-launching series that, essentially, rips off Sex And The City and indie comic Ultra by pairing up four superheroines so that they can talk about boys and shoes (Sadly, I'm only semi-joking; here's series writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa introducing the concept last month: "In the series, they're an unlikely foursome of friends—Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon—with TWO things in common: They're all leading double-lives and they're all having romantic trouble... there's definitely that 'naughty' element to it, but I also think the series is doing to a deeper place, asking question about what it means...truly means...to be a woman in an industry dominated by testosterone and guns. (And I mean both the super hero industry and the comic book industry.) But mostly it's just a lot of hot fun"). But when a fan suggested that what we'd read about the series so far looked a little sexist, Marvel's Quesada was quick to dissemble:

If you're [a] Marvel reader and truly feel we're sexist, then why are you reading our books? Now, perhaps you're not a Marvel reader, then if that's the case, I'm not quite sure what you're criticizing if you don't read our books?

...The cold hard reality of publishing and trying to sell our books to as many people as possible, so here's an example of what happens more often than you may think here at Marvel. From time to time, we'll be launching a title that doesn't focus very heavily on the super heroic. From time to time I'll get a cover sketch and it doesn't have a costumed hero or villain on the cover, what we internally refer to as a "quiet cover." On those occasions, more often than not, I ask my editors to direct their cover artist to give me at least a first issue cover with the characters in costume. Why? Because it will help launch a book that will most likely have trouble latching onto a large audience. We want to give every title the best possible chance to be successful. Marvel Divas is no different and that's why you're seeing our strong female leads in their super hero personas. Let me try an example outside of comics. I'm a huge fan of Pink, I really dig her music and love her voice. Love her or hate her, I would say that she's an amazingly strong and intelligent female performer and song writer in the pop genre. In many of her songs she even criticizes the over sexualized female pop stars of the day and their over the top videos. But when you look at Pink's CD covers, while she's looking strong and like she's looking like she's having fun, she's also looking really sexy. The reason is simple, she's trying to grab people's attention and sell some albums. Comics are no different and as much a part of the entertainment business as any other medium, and the cold hard truth is that if we were to launch Marvel Divas with a "quiet cover," I guarantee you the book would be canceled before it hits the shelves. That's it in a nutshell, I could sugar coat it for you and give you a million other reasons that would sound plausible, but that's not what I do.

So there you have it; Pink is to blame for the crazy proportions and arched backs of this cover:
Well, Pink and the realities of the comic book marketplace, that is. Shame on you all. You made this happen.

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