DC are hitting the ground running with a full-on dose of J.J. Abrams in the first issue of their Fringe tie-in comic. That's followed by the launch of Gail Simone's sure-to-be-twisted ongoing Secret Six series, where six anti-heroes do their best to appall the moral majority on a regular basis. There's also the Adam Strange Special, which ties in with Jim Starlin's current wrap-up to the Rann-Thanagar war storyline

But after that, it's reprints all the way. Most worthy of your attention: Starlin's own Death Of The New Gods series gets a hardcover collection. And the 1980s B-Movie-tastic Invasion! series (You can tell that it's pulpy from the exclamation point, can't you? It's about aliens invading Earth and destroying Australia. No, really) gets a surprise paperback edition.

Image Comics, meanwhile, put no truck in the book format: They just collect the first three issues of The Darkness into a thicker comic, call it a "Reader's Edition," and offer it to you for less than $4 (Albeit only one cent less, but it counts).

The same format — but not the same price point, sadly — sums up two of Marvel's most anticipated comics this week. Kick Ass: Must Have Edition and 1985: Must Have Edition both collect the first three issues of two of Mark Millar's latest hits for those lucky enough to have missed them the first time around, both for $4.99. Also, Marvel is putting out the $20 Iron Manual guide to how Iron Man's armor works (I'm not joking), a hardcover collection of the first issues of J. Michael Straczynski's The Twelve, a new San Francisco-bound X-Men anthology series called Manifest Destiny, or if you're really desperate, the first issue of Marvel Apes.

The best release of the week comes from a small indie company that you won't have heard of, though; we've written about The Martian Confederacy before and, come Thursday, you'll have your own chance to experience the weird, wild and downright woolly frontiers of Mars for yourself, courtesy of Jason McNamara and Paige Braddock. In a week otherwise dominated by reprints and retcons, make a point of taking home at least one book that dares to do something new. Involving bears.

It's normally at this point that I point out that you can find the complete shipping list for the week here, and then use the Comic Shop Locator Service to find where to buy said comics but, let's face it: You know all that already, right? Just remember: When you go into your nearest store, the first thing you want to say is, "Some guy on io9.com told me to buy..." and then just name anything listed above. Seriously. I'm hoping for kickbacks.

Let's get everyone else's books out of the way first, shall we? Dark Horse ask what may be the unexpected question of the week - "Who wants to relive Pamela Anderson's second-greatest hit?" - with their Barb Wire Omnibus release. But then they make up for it with the particularly awesome MySpace Dark Horse Presents anthology, collecting the best of the first year of their web anthology, including the deservedly award-winning Sugarshock by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon. Image Comics are offering the first collection of their new-age illuminati supervillain book New World Order, and Marvel continue their alien war story with the first issue of Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man. Much more interesting from the House of Ideas is the first issue of the third volume of Runaways or the first hardcover "omnibus" collection of Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil run.

But, as I said, DC just plain have everyone else beat this week. They have the collection of mind-bending Duncan Rouleau's time-traveling robot Metal Men, which was completely underrated when originally released and will reward anyone willing to put the time and effort into it. Same goes for the Brave And The Bold: The Book Of Destiny collection, which features time travel, parallel worlds and more super-heroes than you can shake multiple sticks at.

If you're following the Final Crisis storyline, then you might want to check into Brad Meltzer's DC Universe: Last Will And Testament, which shows what happened to your favorite characters on the last night before Darkseid took over. Then skip over to Grant Morrison's sure-to-be-awesome Final Crisis: Superman Beyond, in which everyone's favorite corporate icon breaks free of reality's bounds in order to save his true love. (And if you find that Morrison's take on the Man of Steel agrees with you, then you should definitely pick up this week's paperback release of All-Star Superman, if you've somehow missed it until now.)

More Morrison can be found in the first hardcover re-release of his over-the-top JLA run, which features alien invasions, robots learning about humanity and the trouble with falling for your own dreams, all dispatched with humor and surprising speed. Somewhat stunningly, each of these - well, maybe with the exception of the Meltzer book, and that's only because of my personal distrust of any man who has a crush on Terra - is well worth your time and money. They're the kinds of books that reawaken your love of superheroes, science fiction or just comics that like to tackle their subjects with imagination and a sense of humor. Go forth and spend your hard-earned dollars with only a little bit of fear.

As you may have heard by this point, a full list of this week's books can be found here, and you can take that list to the comic books store closest to you... which you can locate by going here. Just remember to tell your local store clerk that, like Elvis, you were born standing up and talking back.

Marvel Comics have their lightest week in quite some time, which clears the way for Amazing Spider-Man #568, the first part of the six-issue "New Ways To Die" storyline that brings Venom back into Spider-Man's world, as well as introducing the potentially-awesome, potentially-disastrous new character "Anti-Venom" to the world. If any Spider-fans need more reason to pick it up, what if I tell you that it also returns Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, to his rightful place as Spider-villain? Exactly.
DC Comics have two great launches to compete against any number of webheaded bad guys, however; Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds sees uber-writer Geoff Johns and uber-artist George Perez team up to smash three different versions of the 31st century together and see what survives, while G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker's Air offers up a heady mix of technology, terrorism and spirituality in a story that starts with a flight attendant who's afraid of flying and ends up somewhere off any map you've ever seen.

If those two books don't tickle your fancy (and if not, then for shame: they're the two I'm most looking forward to this week), then IDW and Dark Horse have you covered: Doctor Who: The Forgotten is due in stores tomorrow, launching IDW's "All of the Doctors, ever" mini-series with story by Tony Lee and art by Y: The Last Man's Pia Guerra. More excitingly, though, Dark Horse has Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a graphic novel based upon the upcoming video game (and written by the game's writer , Haden Blackman); you can find a seven-page preview of the book here, if you're not convinced, but for those of you who may be craving a less cartoony take on George Lucas' legacy, this is for you.

By this point, you know what comes next: A full list of this week's books can be found here, which you can use to build your very own shopping list that you can take to your very own local comic store... which you can locate by going here. Use those powers wisely, my friends, and remember: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering, and suffering leads to you realizing how much you need something like The Force Unleashed to remind you why you liked Star Wars the first time around.

Marvel's third issue of Halo: Uprising (delayed, if rumors are to believed, because Bungie changed the direction of the next Halo game mid-production) isn't the only treat that the House of Ideas has in store for you this week - They're also expanding their Secret Invasion with three new mini-series about the Skrull attacks starring the Inhumans (written by Heroes writer Joe Pokaski), Thor (written by Casanova and The Invincible Iron Man's Matt Fraction) and the X-Men. And if even that just leaves you hungry for more Mighty Marvel Action, then there's also X-Men Origins: Jean Gray, a one-shot starring everyone's favorite telekinetic redhead with some stunning art by Mike Mayhew.

DC Comics, in comparison, take it relatively lightly; in addition to the fourth part of Batman RIP, there's the launch of Final Crisis: Revelations (which sees the new Question take on her former partner-turned-official-personification-of-the-wrath-of-God, Cris Allen) as well as the long-awaited (by me) collection of 1988's most awesome crossover, Millennium. Alternatively, you could take that $100 you have laying around and spend it on the oversized hardcover Absolute League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier.

To get back to the tie-in books of the week, though: Moonstone has the first issue (of two) for Buckaroo Banzai: The Prequel, while IDW pushes both boundaries and your wallet with the following: Transformers Best Of The UK: Time Wars, Transformers Animated: Arrival, Igor: The Movie Adaptation (in both comic form and collected edition), as well as the first issue of Scott Lobdell's Galaxy Quest: Global Warning. Most importantly of all, however, is Viper Comics' sole release of the week, The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability, which collects all of the original comic series into one handy-dandy, easy-to-carry-and-just-as-easy-to-read 336 page book for your entertainment enjoyment. If you like the TV show, you owe it to yourself (and your local comic store) to pick this up.

That local comic store can be found here, in case you're wondering. And if you're also wondering what else is coming out this week? You can find your answer here. You can thank me later.

DC's big releases of the week are probably Countdown: Arena, which is much more fun than any comic with no plot and ugly art has any right to be (I'm not joking about the lack of plot; here's literally everything that happens in it: Three different versions of many DC superheroes have to fight each other or be killed. The end.), and The Flash: The Wild Wests, in which writer Mark Waid tried his hardest to recast the Fastest Man Alive as the father in a superhero sitcom family with varying results (The first issues are by far the best, not only because of the way in which the story peters out by the end, but also because Daniel Acuna's art is a beautiful thing to behold); much more worthwhile, though, is Dark Horse's The Mask Omnibus, Vol. 1, which will remind all who have forgotten that there was always more to the tale of the magical green mask than either Jim Carrey or Jamie Kennedy could ever hope to relate to moviegoing audiences.

The independent publishers seem to have sensed weakness from the majors, with IDW releasing the beautiful and nonsensical-in-the-best-way Complete Zombies Vs. Robots collection for just $24.99 (the cheapest way to read about the undead fighting the mechanically-living while also taking on Amazons and also a giant squid or two that you can find, I believe) and Devil's Due releasing the 99-cent preview issue of Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia's new comic, Rest. But both of these valiant efforts for variation are likely to be crushed by the sales behemoth that is Marvel Comics' Spider-Man, which tries to take over your local retailer with three different titles this week.

In preparation for the apparently-upcoming movie, Venom: Dark Origin launches its six-issue-run, telling the apparently ill-lit beginnings of Spider-Man's alien, while much happier times can be found in the King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special, which hopefully includes ol' webhead getting ginchy on the beach with Annette and Frankie with a title like that. And if both of those aren't enough spider-action for you, then there's always the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man Family, where - I swear to you this is true - there's a strip called Mr. And Mrs. Spider-Man about Peter and Mary-Jane being married and preparing to have a kid. Who could resist?
(Just in case you can resist, Marvel is actually putting out something that has nothing to do with their favorite franchise this week: NYX: No Way Home revives the "gutterpunk" version of the X-Men from a few years back, with novelist Marjorie Liu getting rid of the teenage prostitute and focusing on a more YA-friendly direction.)

As is the case each and every week of each and every year, the full list of this week's releases can be found here, with the whereabouts of your local comic book store being found here. Just make sure to support your local Spider-Man while you're there; that guy really doesn't get enough attention.

Actually, it's really a relatively quiet book outside of the major publishers, with Chopper Zombie - which we've previously written about here - the only new indie book of interest coming out. The Chopper in question was on show at San Diego, freaking small children out while simultaneously getting gearheads excited:

If your tastes run towards the less gory and more whimsical, then perhaps you should check out Dark Horse's Robots & Donuts, a collection of fantasy artist Eric Joyner's paintings of toy robots from the early 20th century in unexpected settings. Equally whimsical is Marvel's Skrulls Vs. Power Pack, which brings Marvel's second-favorite family of superheroes face to face with everyone's favorite Secret Invaders.

Skipping over to DC for a moment, they have a couple of big books this week: Justice Society of America Annual has Geoff Johns exploring the multiverse by returning Power Girl to Earth-2 finally, while Keith Giffen explores the afterlife in the first issue of Reign In Hell. Maybe more appropriately for the io9 audience, Wildstorm's new dystopic reality begins in the first issue of the re-re-relaunched Wildcats; no Grant Morrison or Jim Lee this time around, but there is a completely-fucked world for our heroes to deal with.

Image sidesteps any notion of continuity with their second Popgun anthology by an amazing selection of creators including James Kochalka, Dan Hipp and Paul Pope, and it's probably the pick of the week. Nonetheless, Marvel has two more books that I must mention: Fantastic Four: True Story sees Doctor Who writer and io9 favorite Paul Cornell take on Marvel's first-family of superheroes (admit it; you thought I'd leave you hanging on that one), while True Believers may be the ideal io9 comic book: A team of superpowered bloggers on a mission to expose the seedy underbelly of the Marvel Universe in a first issue that features a superpowered all-female fight club watched over by old men dressed up as the Hulk, Spider-Man and other familiar faces? With one of our heroes undercover as a hooker who complains that she won't give a john a "crusty bunker"? Who could resist? It's not perfect, of course - Paul Gulacy draws it, for one thing - but it's the kind of zeitgeist-shagging over-written schlock that we don't see enough of these days, and therefore highly recommended.

By now you know the drill: You can find the whole list of this week's releases here, and look for your local comic book store here. Just ask them for the one about the crusty bunkers.

Marvel Comics are keeping their side of the bargain, admittedly; if you're not interested in the hardcover reprint of poorly-drawn 1980s miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine or the Skrulls! oneshot (pretty much a collection of fact files to bring you up to speed about Secret Invasion's Secret Invaders), then you're pretty much limited to two books: the reprint of the first couple of issues of the Halo: Uprising comic to remind you what happened now that the end is finally nigh, and the far-more-enjoyable-than-it-has-any-right-to-be 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men, where the team moves to San Francisco and parties at the SFMoMA. In other weeks, it'd easily be the must-have book of the week.

Sadly, though, DC are doing their best to claim that title for themselves with the long-long-long awaited return of Ambush Bug in Ambush Bug: Year None, wherein Keith Giffen's fourth-wall breaking snarkfest takes the last five years of DC's output to task for being confusing, depressing and just plain not fun. You know you want to read that. Collections-wise, you can catch up on space religion in the unfortunately-named-but-actually-fun Countdown To Adventure (starring Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange from 52), catch up on the joys of matrimony with Green Arrow/Black Canary: The Road To The Altar, and catch up on how the mighty have fallen with Authority: Prime, where superhero comics' one-time most daring title is reduced to generic continuity schlock. If that last sentence made no sense to you, then perhaps you should avoid superheroes altogether and pick up the X-Files Special, instead.

Image Comics are also making a strong showing this week: The next big Witchblade storyline begins in the first issue of Broken Trinity, Mark Millar and Tony Harris get their political satire on with the debut of War Heroes, Mike Allred's Madman questions reality in the first collection of Madman Atomic Comics, and Tori Amos finally becomes the comic character she's always wanted to be in the indie-creator-tastic anthology Comic Book Tattoo.

And just in case none of that is enough for you, consider the two takes on post-Buffy female heroes available in the indie comicsphere this week: Oni Press' The Apocalypstix finally bring their post-nuclear brand of rock, roll and kick-ass to stores at the same time as Cassie Hack of po-mo horror book Hack/Slash teams up with real-life emo pornlets in the Hack/Slash Annual Featuring The Suicide Girls. And, yes, I wish I was joking about that last one as well.

As ever! All of these books and many, many, more are listed here for your perusal and, if you've somehow made it this far without knowing where your local comic book store happens to be, you can find that out by clicking here. It's probably a great week to go to the store, really, because chances are they may be really quiet...

Let's start with the most fun book of the week: Harper Collins' Method Man graphic novel, written by and starring the Wu-Tang rapper as Mosely Paine, a Hellboy-esque monster hunter in a city known only as "One Bad Ghetto, USA." I smell potential movie deal...

Oddly enough, this isn't the first Wu-Tang comic - that would be 2002's The Nine Rings of Wu-Tang - nor will it be the last. GZA and Ghostface Killah are both working on their own graphic novels.

It's a big week for Devil's Due Publishing. They're releasing the first issue of a new Voltron series, Voltron: A Legend Forged as well as the alien abduction book NYE Incidents, which we've written about before. More mysterious alien lifeforms can be found in Boom! Studios' virus-from-beyond-the-stars Dominion trade paperback.

Wanting more zombie fiction? Then check out Red5 Comics' ZMD: Zombies Of Mass Destruction series, where the undead are used as the last resort in our ever-ongoing war against terrorism. As you may expect, things don't quite go to plan. If your taste for the undead leans more towards vampires, then IDW probably invite you to sample their new Spike: After The Fall series, showing you just what James Marsters' alter ego has been up to post-Angel season 5.

I know, I know; you're wondering what Marvel and DC are doing with themselves during this indie-heavy week. DC is playing it cool, with its flagships both being the work of Geoff Johns: His very enjoyable Superman And The Legion of Super-Heroes storyline gets a hardcover collection, bringing Clark Kent back to his 31st Century teenage hangout, while Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge sees him return to the world of the Flash and attempt to redeem the villains therein (much to the gratitude of those of us who've read Countdown to Final Crisis). Marvel, meanwhile, is pretty collection-centric in terms of interest, with World War Hulk's spin-off series, Warbound, getting a paperback collection and Steve Gerber's classic run on Howard The Duck finally getting the oversized hardcover it's always deserved.

Just like every other week, you can read about each and everything hitting comic stores on Wednesday right here, and then go and find out where your local store is by clicking on this here link. Just remember that, like the Wu Tang Clan, comic book stores are not, in fact, not something to fuck with.

Let's get the bigger publishers out of the way first: With the exception of a preview of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's next project, Captain America: White, Marvel pretty much lets this week slide to focus on the latest issue of Secret Invasion and a hardcover collection for Joss Whedon's (disappointing, let's be honest) Runaways story. DC, on the other hand, just seem to be letting it slide altogether, with the exception of Final Crisis: Requiem, a one-shot memorializing the dearly-departed Martian Manhunter. Instead, turn your attention to Dark Horse Comics, which is happy to fill the gap with their new Hellboy spin-off, BPRD: The Warning and equally new Indiana Jones series, Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods.

Perhaps, however, you'd rather read about robots in disguise who don't go around raping each other; if that's the case, then you should definitely pick up the first issue of Transformers: All Hail Megatron, the "What if the Decepticons took over the Earth?" series that we've told you about already and happen to be waiting for with baited breath. Watching Megatron rule our planet with a literal iron fist seem too much of a downer? Then there's also Transformers Movie Prequel: Saga Of The Allspark premiering this week, giving you all the backstory about the deus ex machina that Michael Bay didn't quite manage to get around to.

For the books of the week, however, you have to go to Image Comics and Ben 10 co-creator Joe Kelly. Not only does his new series I Kill Giants launch on Thursday (featuring Barbara Thorson, a fifth-grader who either has a very, very active imagination or really does kill giants, pixies and other mythical creatures in her spare time), but his children's book Captain Stoneheart And The Truth Fairy also gets a fine re-release. Stoneheart, which started life as an issue of the Elephantmen series, bills itself as "a grim tale of broken bones and broken hearts," but really it's just a beautifully-written, wonderfully-illustrated (by X-Men and Amazing Spider-Man artist Chris Bachalo) children's story... albeit one that you can now get in a deluxe package including the original script, uncolored pencil artwork and CD of the audio version of the story. You can see a trailer for the book here.

As is really honestly always the case, you can find the complete list of everything hitting stores here and then go and buy whatever you want at the store closest to you, a fact that you can work out by going here. Just make sure that your stack has a hippo or robot somewhere in there. Preferably both.Hel

I guess we should start with the only comic featuring the 70-year-old Man of Steel, huh? That would be Superman: Last Son, a hardcover collection of the much-delayed storyline that brought Richard Donner to comics - he co-writes the book alongside Geoff Johns - as well as returned General Zod and the Phantom Zone to current DC continuity. I could tell you more about the story, like the fact that Superman adopts a son, but I know that all you'll really care about is that there's a special 3-D section midway through the book. That Phantom Zone is trippy, man.

Elsewhere in the DC line this week, Superman's oldest rival Captain Marvel gets a new series, with the first issue of kid-targeted Billy Batson And The Magic of Shazam. Less friendly for little tykes, the Dark Knight tie-ins start properly with the first issue of The Joker's Asylum, which makes Heath Ledger's alter-ego into your host as he narrates stories about the other inmates over at Arkham Asylum. Or maybe you want even darker still, with Hellblazer: The Fear Machine collecting some of the earliest stories of magician, former punk and all-round bastard John Constantine from the 1980s, when it was cool to turn yuppies into demons.

More nostalgia comes in the form of the imported Doctor Who: The World Shapers, which brings together the little-seen mid-80s run of Grant Morrison on the British Who comic. On the one hand, yes, it's the Colin Baker Doctor, but on the other, rare Morrison... It's a tough one. Equally tough is Star Trek: Mirror Images, a new mini-series that explores one of the greatest Star Trek concepts ever, the Mirror Universe. IDW's Trek comics have been somewhat hit and miss, so the potential for disappointment here is, sadly, great. But it is the Mirror Universe. I mean, goateed Spock...what could go wrong?

If you're looking for things that will make you much less conflicted, I can heartily recommend the following three books: Boom!'s Station is a murder mystery set on the international space station right as things start to go wrong and it looks like everyone might end up dead. If you liked Greg Rucka's Whiteout, chances are you'll enjoy it. Mike Mignola gets slightly ahead of the movie curve this week with a new Hellboy series, The Crooked Man, illustrated by comics legend Richard Corben. So expect the same great writing and slightly off-putting stumpy figures (I kid because... well, because I can, really. But you'll know what I mean when you pick it up).

Pick of the week, however, is easily Buffy The Vampire Slayer #16, which sees Joss Whedon return as writer, as well as the return of his futuristic slayer, Fray. For everyone who hasn't read the Fray series and wonders why this is a big deal, all I have to say is this: Imagine Faith, but from the far future, and with an even worse attitude. I foresee carnage and futuristic cursing that you can get away with in comics, as well as quite a few battles over that weird scythe that both of them think they own.

As is the case every single week, you can see the complete list of everything hitting comic stores this week here, and find out where your local comic book store is by clicking here. Do it because Clark Kent would want you to.

According to Canadian retailer Chris Butcher, the number of this week's Marvel releases seem unusually high in comparison to DC's:

Retailers reading over their invoices for comics and graphic novels shipping [this]week will be shocked to discover that Marvel Comics is shipping about 34 titles next week, to only about 17 titles from DC Comics. It’s a rare thing for Marvel to ship that many titles in a week ([last] week, for example, they only shipped about 17 or so), but to double the output of their closest competitor? That’s very rare indeed… Until you stop to consider that one of DC’s titles shipping [this] week is the next installment in their summer crossover Final Crisis... In addition to numerous Marvel comics scheduled to arrive in the month of June that were seemingly pushed from their original on-sale date to this week (including both [Brian] Bendis [scripted] Avengers books, both X-Men books, [Ed] Brubaker’s Captain America & Daredevil, [Mark] Millar’s Fantastic Four & Marvel 1985, and [Warren] Ellis’ last Thunderbolts) this week also includes three of Marvel’s largest lateness-plagued titles: Hulk #4, Ultimates 3 #4, and even the final issue of Joss Whedon’s Runaways all drop next Wednesday. Plus another 20 comics.

Is it some kind of attempt for Marvel to bury the second issue of Final Crisis, or just the result of trying to get late books out at least in the month they were originally scheduled to appear? We may never know, but at least it'll mean that Marvel fans have a lot to pick up this week. For everyone else, there's always Final Crisis #2, as well as the following:

Dark Horse's Indiana Jones Adventures takes George Lucas' eponymous ode to archeology and pretends that it had a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off that they're then adapting; imagine a version done by Batman: The Animated Series' Bruce Timm or Clone Wars' Genndy Tartakovsky, and you're not a million miles away from what they're aiming at. If you'd rather your childhood heroes were treated with fewer kid gloves, then you owe it to yourself to pick up the first hardcover collection of DC's All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder, in which Frank Miller cashes the checks as he gleefully creates the world's oddest Batman parody. "What are you, dense? Are you retarded or something?" as the saying goes... He's the goddamn Batman.

More respectful versions of familiar icons can be found at the apparently overbearing Marvel — Captain America: The Chosen sees Rambo creator David Morrell write about an alternate end to Steve Rogers' career, while Mythos: Captain America gives another look at his origin as America's favorite soldier. Alternatively, you could pick up the collected edition of Marvel Atlas and find out where all of Cap's origin takes place - Is Marvel's Germany in Europe, or has it been forced out by Latveria?

The two best buys of the week happen to be new books: Warren Ellis' new series No Hero brings superheroes to San Francisco to see which one survives, while Marvel's charity book What If - The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Weiringo completes the unfinished final story by artist Mike Weiringo - who died last August - with new art by artists like Art Adams, Alan Davis, Mike Allred and Stuart Immonen with all profits going to The Hero Foundation, which helps current and former creators without insurance or benefits.

As is always the case, you can find the complete list of everything hitting stores here and then find out where said stores are by going here and putting in your zip code. Just remember: Buying a non-Marvel comic this week isn't just a good idea - It's the right thing to do if you want to fight back against big publisher bully tactics. Potentially.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the amount of big name recent launches everyone has been doing recently, or otherwise a sign of impending San Diego Comic-Con (Publishers are already working on the timing of their big announcements, even though it’s more than a month away), but this is an astonishingly quiet week for new releases – DC Comics pretty much skip the week altogether, although you should probably be looking at picking up the second (and concluding) volume of Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War as well as the tenth and final collection of Y: The Last Man, called Whys and Wherefores (“Y”s and wherefores? Get it? Oh, it’ll make sense when you get to the last chapter). Otherwise, their big release of the week is probably a “deluxe” hardcover reissue of World’s Finest, a beautifully-illustrated (by Steve Rude) Superman/Batman story from the 1990s, as written by Watchmen’s Dave Gibbons.

Marvel, too, is taking this week relatively easy. Sure, there’s the fourth and final volume of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, a paperback release for Neil Gaiman’s revival of Jack Kirby’s Eternals, and even a “director’s cut” rerelease of the first issue of Mark Millar’s increasingly-racist Kick Ass, but nothing really jumps out as particularly worthy of your time or attention. You may be interested by the sound of something calling itself Jack Kirby’s Galactic Bounty Hunters, but trust me when I tell you that you would never forgive yourself if you spent any money whatsoever on that particular book.

No, this Wednesday, the message from your local comic store should be loud and clear: Kill All Parents. That’s the title of a new series by Aqua Leung’s Mark Andrew Smith and Marcelo Dichiara that shows you the darker side of superheroics… which happens to include the murder of any and all parents said superheroes may happen to have. What is behind such a plan, and who is doing the murdering? You’ll have to pick up the book to find out, but there may be a machine that can predict the world that’s coming, and a terrible possible future to avoid, involved. You have been warned.

If that’s not your cup of supertea, then why not try The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, the first collection of Gerard Way’s superhero story that no less than Grant Morrison called “[a]n ultraviolet psychedelic sherbert bomb of wit and ideas.” I think that’s supposed to be a good thing; just don’t hold Way’s My Chemical Romance past against him (And if you’re just in it for the prettiness, this book is worth picking up just for its visuals from Gabriel Ba with covers by Prada-favorite James Jean).

As usual, the week’s new releases can be viewed in full here, and you can find where to shop for the origin stories of new generations of superheroes over here. And, although I’m sure there’s nothing to be worried about, I’d check on how your parents are, just in case you have latent superpowers that you aren’t aware of. You never can tell, after all.

Marvel Comics leads the movie tie-ins with a couple of Hulk-related books. The wonderfully-named Hulk: Raging Thunder brings back Thundra (A superstrong Amazon who hated anything with a penis but had a crush on the Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm, making you wonder about his particularly rocky manhood, and no, I promise I’m not making this up) and gives her a large green specimen of the less fair sex to beat up on. Gender issues have rarely been this violent, true believer! Luckily, the second gamma-irradiated launch this week deals with much more traditional superhero fare, like absent fathers and aliens having stupid names: Skaar, Son of Hulk spins out of the year-long “Planet Hulk” storyline and stars the half-alien bastard son of Bruce Banner’s alter ego, a teenager with green skin and smashing on his adolescent mind as he deals with life in outer space. How can you resist?

(Marvel’s really concentrating on the SF this week – They’re also putting out an anthology of Secret Invasion-related shorts called Who Do You Trust?, the first issue of a new series based on Jack Kirby’s awesome Eternals, a trade of the first half of Kirby’s run on that title, and a collection of the recent, zen, Silver Surfer series, In Thy Name. There’s also a hardback collection of the last Marvel Zombies series, as well. Yes, they are trying to bankrupt you.)

Dark Horse are also concentrating on the tie-in dollar, with a raft of Hellboy product. If the first issue of a new series starring Hellboy’s (former) employers, the BPRD, isn’t enough for you (It’s called War on Frogs, which should really be all you need to know), then there’s also a set of three miniature plastic figures of characters from the series. There's also the Hellboy Book and Figure Set, putting together a Hellboy action figure and hardback digest version of Hellboy's first adventure to make the perfect gift for the Guillermo Del Toro fan in your life.

DC, meanwhile, are throwing their weight behind The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (a collection of stories from the history of Heath Ledger’s favorite Bat-villain.) Plus the first issue of the comic book version of NBC’s Chuck, proving that… well, they’re not really all about the multimedia this week after all. Much more interesting from Superman’s home team is the hardcover collection The Question: The Five Books of Blood, bringing Greg Rucka’s lesbian noir hero into her own for all of you faceless fetishists out there. She used to be on the Batman cartoon, do you think that counts…?

As ever, the full list of this week’s releases can be found here, with your very own low-tech comic store GPS being found here. Just remember, make sure that you're only buying something that has at least an option taken out on it.

It isn't just Serenity lunchboxes from Dark Horse Comics this week; they're also putting out a slab of goodness (in the form of Hellboy spinoff, Lobster Johnston Vol. 1: Iron Prometheus, bringing Mike Mignola's pulp crimefighter face to face with mystic Nazis on the eve of World War II.) And a slab of franchise-appeasing nostalgia (Star Wars Omnibus: Droids Volume 1, showing you yet more comedic misadventures of C3P0 and R2-D2 flying solo without parental guidance. It's just like Weird Science, trust me. Okay, maybe not).

Elsewhere in the world of four color periodicals, the fun is mostly coming from Berkeley's Image Comics: Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer's "zombies, meet porn" comedy XXXombies gets a paperback collection, Earthworm Jim creator Doug Tennapel's new book Monster Zoo (soon to be a major motion picture!) comes out. And most importantly, the first collected volume of Proof (Imagine X-Files crossed with Hellboy, with Bigfoot replacing Mulder) hits stores as well.

Marvel Comics are, as is so often the case, chasing after the movie dollar with Hulk Vs. The Marvel Universe, a 224-page collection of Bruce Banner's mean green alter ego punching your favorite superheroes over and over. If you're looking for more than just violence, Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Origins begins, giving you a massive dose of conspiracy theory to accompany the secret origins of both Captain America and Wolverine; it's pretty, but potentially too dense for its own good. Also pretty is Astonishing X-Men Sketchbook, an art-heavy teaser to Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi's relaunch of the Joss Whedon mutant book.

DC Comics, meanwhile, are pretty much taking the week off with the exception of one book. I mean, sure, the Legion of Super-Heroes: 1050 Years In The Future is going to be an enjoyable anthology of stories from the 50 year history of the superteens from the next millennium, and Robin/Spoiler is more than just Batman's sidekick ruining the next episode of Battlestar Galactica for you (Spoiler is, in actuality, his thought-dead-but-not-really girlfriend). But still, the only DC book that counts this week is the first issue of Trinity, their new weekly book spotlighting the threesome that is Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman's unique relationship. It may not be as sexy as that sounds, but nonetheless, with Kurt Busiek and Ultimate Spider-Man's Mark Bagley at the creative wheel, it's very possibly going to be the most entertaining book to hit the stands in the next seven days.

You know the drill of this part by now: You can find the complete list of everything shipping here and find where to buy the lunchbox of your choice here. Because, seriously people. Lunchboxes.

Boom! Studios - now home to official friend of io9, Ian Brill - has our first new title of the week, Zombie Tales; Sensibly realizing that there's no long-term story potential in zombies unless you're Robert Kirkman (a conclusion obvious to anyone who's seen 28 Weeks Later), Zombie Tales is a new short story anthology series, letting various creators get their favorite zombie fantasies out of their heads before moving on to healthier things.

Alternatively, if zombies are played out for you, you may want to pick up the first volume of Roswell, Texas, which mixes alternate history (What if Texas didn't join the United States, but remained independent?) with a flying saucer crash and all manner of hell breaking loose as a result, courtesy of SF novelist and Lando Calrissian fanboy L. Neil Smith. Now, if only we could put alternate history zombies into a comic, we'd probably be rich. Or ignored.

The big comics from the Big Two publishers are an interesting bag this week. Marvel has the final issue of Joss Whedon's X-Men, called Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men for subtlety's sake, and the much more fascinating Marvel 1985, in which Wanted and Civil War's Mark Millar works out his childhood issues by bringing the Marvel villains from the comics page into "our world," with only one comic nerd recognizing what's going on. Despite the beautiful artwork from Tommy Lee Edwards, is this just another stage of Mark's "comic nerds will save us all" schtick (see Kick-Ass), or something more sinister?

(Marvel's also putting out the second collection of Kung-Fu actioneer The Immortal Iron Fist, subtitled The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. Pick it up and find yourself falling in love with a super-sumo wrestler called "Fat Cobra". No, really.)

DC, meanwhile, is really going after your money this week, however: Never mind the long-awaited first issue of Grant Morrison's Final Crisis epic — as beautiful and grand in scale as it will undoubtedly be — or even the second-to-last issue of Morrison's note-perfect All Star Superman series. It's all about the collections this week.

Want to catch up on the critically-acclaimed Starman series by James Robinson and Tony Harris? A new hardcover series of collections starts this week. Want to learn more about Superman's home planet? Pick up the Superman: World of Krypton collection (with early art by Hellboy's Mike Mignola). Prefer 1970s SF weirdness? Jack Kirby's OMAC: One Man Army Corps will prepare you for the world that's coming. Looking for some four-color masturbatory material for the costume fetishist in your life? Comic Book Cover Portfolio: Women of The DC Universe will... um... satisfy you? It's literally all coming from DC's wheelhouse this week, friends.

And it's literally all going to your local comic book store, which you can find here. And if you need to know exactly what you'll find in those stores tomorrow, why not look at the complete list?

Specifically, Oregon's Dark Horse Comics — publisher of Star Wars, Serenity and Buffy comics, alongside non-media tie-ins like The Umbrella Academy — are planning on a couple of fixes for your Jones jones. In addition to the first issue of their adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you can also pick up the collected, complete, edition... before the other issues have been published. Curious scheduling decision, or way to blow your mind? Find out on Wednesday.

(While you're at it, you may also want to pick up Dark Horse's Hellboy Companion, a 200-page "definitive guide to the Hellboy Universe", ahead of what's sure to be the sleeper of the season. Am I the only person who thinks that this may be the best summer for comic movies?)

If you'd rather read about other comics-turned-celluloid, then there's always Batman Vs. Two-Face, a collection of stories designed to prime you for the Christian Bale/Aaron Eckhart face-off in The Dark Knight. Or Marvel's hefty $100 Incredible Hulk Omnibus hardcover, reminding you that the first forty-nine issues of the Jade Giant's existence were actually pretty crappy (There's also Hulk Visionaries: John Byrne Volume One, which is a somewhat unusual choice for a movie tie-in considering its... uh... interesting quality).

You can also revisit former celluloid greats with DC's Superman: Escape From Bizarro World, which sees Geoff Johns and Superman: The Movie's Richard Donner co-write the return of Superman's mentally disabled clone brother.

Maybe you're wanting to read something new, though. In that case, Casey Blue: Beyond Tomorrow could be your bag. Casey may have a name like a pornstar, but really she's just your average teenager. There are boy troubles, school troubles and being the only person who can stop an alien invasion troubles. That's right, it's Buffy The Alien Slayer, but admit it - That kind of sounds just a little bit fun, right?

More kick-ass female leads can be found in Tank Girl: Visions of Booga, Alan Martin's second series reviving his 90s-zeitgeist-shagging Australian heavy-artillery fetishist. Meanwhile, Image Comics puts out Invincible Universe Primer, collecting the first three issues of Robert Kirkman's superhero series Invincible, Brit and The Astounding Wolf-Man for the low low price of $5.99, and giving you a jumping-on point for one of the more quietly successful superhero lines of recent years...

Just like every single week of the year, you can find out what's hitting the stores in its entirety by looking at the weekly shipping list, and then go and find out the ending of the new Indy movie two days early by finding your local store and picking up the collected adaptation, just to ruin it for all your friends. You're such a schmuck sometimes.

It really is an embarrassment of riches in this week's new releases. Take, for example, the vampire lover. Usually, they're stuck with some randomly generic goth-lite indie book to feed their fetishes, but this week, they can choose from the Brian K. Vaughan-written Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8: No Future For You (It's the Faith-centric arc, and very good it is, too, first issue of a brand new sequel to The Lost Boys (no, really), The Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs, or Jessica Abel (and friends)'s slice-of-life take on the genre in the graphic novel Life Sucks. How often does that happen?

It's also time to catch up on a lot of books we've featured here in the past:

• Matt Fraction's Casanova finishes its current run with #14,
• Chris Claremont's "Children of the X-Men" series GeNext launches,
• you can fulfill your Tony Stark-isms with The All-New Iron Manual,
• Bruce Wayne meets his end (possibly) in Batman #676 (the first chapter of Grant Morrison's Batman R.I.P., and you can also pick up a hardcover slab of Bat-foreshadowing with Batman: The Resurrection of Ras Al Ghul, collecting an earlier Morrison storyline),
• Geoff Johns' Booster Gold has its first issues collected in the new 52 Pick-Up hardcover,
• and you can see whether Marvel Comics are afraid of nipples or not in the first issue of Euro-import Sky Doll.

For example, you could get your Ed Norton on in advance of next month's movie with the special edition Giant Size Incredible Hulk, which brings you up to speed on the recent history of the jade giant before everyone starts talking, once again, about how they just can't make a good movie out of his comic. If that doesn't satisfy your appetite for greens, then there are also collections of two recent mini-series, World War Hulk: Gamma Corps and World War Hulk: X-Men to show you big green men being scary. Or maybe the first issue of space-bound superheroes Guardians of The Galaxy would be your thing? Remember, they have a talking raccoon. With guns.

Best value for money this week, though, is probably Vertigo: First Cut, a $4.99 collection of the first issues of a number of series published by DC Comics' "mature" imprint, including Western Loveless, New York-dystopic love letter DMZ and M*A*S*H for the 21st Century, Army@Love. If that's not enough for you, then there's also a sneak preview of Air, an upcoming new series from the imprint, included. What more could you want for (slightly, just) less than $5, as long as you don't think about tax?

Just like every other week, you can find the full shipping list to stores here, and then find out where to find the damn stores to shop in here. Just remember that $5 can't barely buy you a Happy Meal these days, is all I'm saying.

Given the lead time required to prep all of tomorrow's books, Marvel took quite a gamble preparing such a glut of Iron Man comics. Luckily, the movie is a massive success, which will hopefully create more interest for the new ongoing series The Invincible Iron Man (written by Casanova's Matt Fraction, and therefore worth your attention). There's also a new mini-series, Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas (written by Iron Man movie director Jon Favreau). And new collections Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin and Iron Man: War Machine (Those of you who liked Jim Rhodes in the movie may want to check out the latter, by the way; it's what happens when he gets his own armor). And then there are other Tony-Stark-starring books like Avengers/Invaders, Secret Invasion, Invasion tie-in Mighty Avengers and the paperback version of New Avengers: Illuminati (which leads directly into Secret Invasion, for those who didn't know). Just imagine what would've happened if the movie had flopped?

Much safer to take the route that IDW have taken, waiting a year to produce the first issue of Transformers Movie Sequel: The Reign of Starscream, an officially-sanctioned-but-sure-to-be-ignored-by-Michael-Bay follow-up to last year's Shia LeBouf vehicle that was more than met the eye. Wondering what happened to the bad guys that weren't Megatron after the credits rolled? This will be your place to find out, as well as where you'll get to meet some new robots in disguise. If you'd prefer a more nostalgic take on the franchise, IDW also has an old-school reprint, Transformers: Best of The UK: Dinobots, collecting stories from the UK comic of twenty years ago. Excuse me, now I feel old.

In comparison, DC has low movie magic this week, offering just Action Comics Annual #11, the sixth and final part of "Last Son," which is Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner's co-written (with Geoff Johns) resurrection of General Zod and the rest of the Phantom Zone villains from the second movie. Oh, they have other books - I'd point out new monthly House of Mystery and Lost-meets-dinosaurs mini-series The War That Time Forgot in particular as worth your time — but when it comes to movie tie-ins, they can't give you lights or camera... only Action.

As is always the case, you can find all of this week's new releases - movie-related and otherwise- listed over here and find your closest shop filled with four color wonders by clicking through to here. All popcorn is optional, and you have to bring your own.

This year's FCBD - set, as usual, the day after the summer's big comic-related movie opens - has 41 different freebies for you to read, as well as two additional miniature figures to collect (If you really, really want that Iron Man Heroclix figure, get yourself to your local comic store early Saturday morning, people) and all manner of creator signings galore (Go here for a complete list of who is signing where). If nothing else, it's a good chance to pick and choose some new things to read and get hooked on; here's our pick of what you should be spending your free time and nothing else on.

While DC Comics and Marvel Comics are both putting two books out each for the event, Marvel distinguishes themselves by both of their books being brand new material: X-Men: FCBD 2008 Edition offers Mike Carey and Greg Land giving you the start of "the future of mutantkind", while the more kid-friendly Marvel Adventures features movie franchises Spider-Man, the Hulk and Iron Man teaming up to fight crime and reduced box office potential. DC's also splitting their books between "regular" and kid books, offering reprints of the very, very good first issue of All-Star Superman and the not-as-good-but-still-worthwhile kid book Tiny Titans, which sees Puffy Ami-Yumi's favorite underage superteam as even younger kids in school. Don't ask, just pick it up.

Other all-new material includes Dark Horse's Hellboy/BPRD issue, with new stories by creator Mike Mignola and friends, Project Superpowers resurrecting public domain superheroes courtesy of Kingdom Come's Alex Ross, Del Rey's Dabel Bros preview book of novel adaptations (including previews of work by Dean Koontz, Jim Butcher and George RR Martin's Wild Cards series) and Red5 Comics' fun retro throwback SF series Atomic Robo.

Most worthy of the reprinted material are the EC Comics Sampler - reprinting several stories from the publisher that made Frederic Wertham go apeshit and bring congressional hearings into the comic book industry in the 50s - and Oni Press' Maintenance #1, which follows the unlucky janitorial crew of an evil scientist think tank. There's also classic Disney duck action in Gyro Gearloose and a couple of international anthologies worth looking into with Drawn and Quarterly's Gegika: A Drawn+Quarterly Manga Sampler and Fantagraphics' IGNATZ: International Graphic Novels At Their Zenith.

There are many more books available tomorrow - go here for a full list, including some previews - but why not just find the store closest to you and pick up whatever looks most interesting to you, even if it is Sci-Fi/Virgin's The Stranded? It's not like it's going to cost you anything, after all...

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.

Even though you're undoubtedly waiting to find out more about the schoolgirl, I'm going to go with the musclemen first, I'm afraid. Marvel's Secret Invasion storyline slowly builds in this week's Mighty Avengers #12 (bringing David Hasslehoff and Samuel Jackson's favorite super-spy Nick Fury back after years in hiding, to fight off the Skrulls trying to take over the planet). And DC are going full-steam to prepare for the upcoming Final Crisis, with the final issues of both weekly snorefest Countdown to Final Crisis and attempted epic The Death of The New Gods making sure the good guys lose before Grant Morrison lets all of the evil Gods out to play next month. Morrison's also the one behind the 675th issue of Batman, which lets new readers catch up on all the shenanigans that Bruce Wayne has been part of recently, before Bruce meets a fate worse than death when Batman R.I.P. begins in the next issue.

(If you're looking for something slightly more optimistic yet equally apocalyptic from your favorite DC characters, you could do worse that Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part 1, the start of Geoff Johns' and Alex Ross' sequel/prequel to Ross' dark alternate-future tale Kingdom Come, which also comes out this week.)

Otherwise, this week's releases are all about your usual two needs: Your early '90s nostalgia jones can be fixed with X-O Manowar: Birth, a new hardcover collection of the first seven issues of Valiant's high concept "What if Conan was Iron Man" series. (If you're older than that, then Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus: The Origin one-shot should serve the same purpose for the early 1980s. I really can't help you for the early '70s, sadly.) And your much-easier-to-admit-to-in-public schoolgirl uniform fetish should be sufficiently pleased with the new compendium edition of Josh Howard's Dead@17. For those who haven't experienced Howard's series, imagine Buffy The Vampire Slayer but with more zombies and drawn by a cartoonier Bruce Timm. There may be a Heavenly prophecy or two mixed up in there, but you didn't hear that from me. Who could want any more than that?

As usual, you can find a complete list of the week's releases over here before finding out just where to buy any and all of these wonderful books by putting in your zip code over here. Even if this week's books underwhelm you, look up your closest store: Free Comic Book Day is just around the corner...

More interestingly, DC are also releasing the collected edition of Faker, which deals with that college-age dilemma that we've all gone through at one point or another: "What if one of my friends isn't actually real, but instead a physical manifestation of the collective subconsciousness of my social circle?" Written by Lucifer's Mike Carey with lovely scratchy art by The Losers' and Judge Dredd's Jock, consider it the pick of a crop of DC trade paperbacks that also include the highly enjoyable second volume of 1950s sci-fi tales known as Showcase Presents: The Legion of Super-Heroes, future dystopian superhero hijinks in Wildstorm: Armageddon and Robin Hood-inspired archery in Green Arrow: Year One.

(If you're not picking up the expensive books tomorrow but have a hankering for some alternate world superheroics, DC/Wildstorm: Dream War #1 takes the superheroes-fighting-each-other trope and adds in a boost of "dream logic," which will be coming to a Jamba Juice near you soon.)

For those of you who are looking for some Iron Man action, Robert Downey Jr.'s latest meal-ticket can be found in no less than eight separate titles this week (and maybe more; is Shellhead still appearing in Avengers: The Initiative?). But the two that you really want to look for are Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 — which sees Iron Man fighting Doctor Doom for the title of "Biggest Asshole In Armor 2008" - and The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, a 720-page hardcover collecting the first fifty-one stories of Tony Stark's career from the days when men were men, women were ornaments and communists were undermining life itself with their every breath.

As usual, it falls to other publishers to come up with the truly unmissable goods this week, and I'm not talking about the return of Captain Action — the 1960s action figure who could transform himself into various superheroes including Batman and the Lone Ranger — in Captain Action #0. (Although, really? It looks like fun.) I'm also not talking about Boom! Studios' new Lovecraft-inspired anthology, Cthulhu Tales. No, I'm talking about the much-delayed (by more than three years) American Flagg hardcover, reprinting Howard Chaykin's 1980s SF satire for an audience who have probably never read anything like it ever before — Brash, bold, sex-crazed (Well, it is Chaykin) and shot through with Reagan-era politics, Flagg is a great clash of old school, the origins of new school, and some crazy graphic design tricks that no-one else would dare do these days. It's 2032, and out-of-work TV host Reuben Flagg emigrates from Mars to Chicago, joining the Plexus Rangers, who enforce the law in the corrupt dystopian city. Highly recommended if you can come up with the $80 for the hardcover.

For everyone else, why not take a look at what else you could buy instead, and then find out where to buy it. Or, alternatively, rob a bank so that the American Flagg book could be yours after all. Your choice...

It's another of those strange, uneven, weeks for comic releases with Marvel taking it easy with the exception of a couple of collections worth noting (Marvel Zombies: Dead Days collects the second series of the "What if Marvel's heroes all became zombies and ate each other?" comedy, while What If? Civil War brings together the last few specials of alternate worlds where Iron Man isn't a dick and Spider-Man didn't sell out entirely.)

And DC is launching some particularly uninspiring series in response. I mean, sure, Batman: Death Mask will probably be several shades of awesome and I'm sure there's an audience for the Marv Wolfman nostalgiafest that is Titans (bringing together all of "The New Teen Titans" again for the first time since... Well, Devin Grayson launched a book called Titans about nine years ago), but The Number Of The Beast? Do fans really want to see Warren Ellis and Jim Lee's creative legacies beaten up so badly that they'll buy a third six-issue series about apocalypse visiting DC's Wildstorm imprint in a row?

No, the real interest of the week is in the independents aisle. The comic version of Wild Cards launches, for one thing, and Brett Ratner's future movie Harbinger revisits its comic past in the Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover collection.

If your retro taste is for something much older, then you may find yourself drawn to the classic 1950s SF pulp found in a reprint of Frank Hampson's beautifully-illustrated Classic Dan Dare: Reign of The Robots, which will make even the most cynical young ones amongst you marvel at just how gorgeous old British comics were, back in the day.

The pick of the week, however, is Aqua Leung, a new graphic novel by Amazing Joy Buzzards creator Mark Andrew Smith with artist Paul Maybury that tells the story of Aqua, an asshole kid who discovers that he's actually the only surviving member of the royal family of Atlantis and sets out to regain his throne, clear his family name and beat up sharks. Even though it already sounds awesome, the book itself is twice as good as you'd expect, and despite it not really being science fiction, it's easily the one thing that you should be leaving your comic store with this week.

Wondering where that comic store would be? Check here. Wondering what else is coming out this week? Check here. Just remember to check out the story about the Atlantean boy king next time you're out.

Okay, so back to those Amazon-fightin', zombie-hatin' robots. As you may be able to guess, Zombies Vs. Robots Vs. Amazons is a hardcover collection of the sequel to Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood's Zombies Vs. Robots, and just like its predecessor, it pretty much does what it promises in the title. As the solicitation for the book explains:

When last we visited the Zombies vs. Robots world, nuclear war had decimated the population of the entire globe, including zombies and robots alike. So who is left to fight? And how is an island of Amazon warrior-women involved this time around?

Elsewhere in the world of comics, one of Judge Dredd's most popular stories gets the deluxe treatment with the release of Judge Dredd: The Complete America, showing just why freedom and democracy are bad ideas in the 23rd century land of the free (Here's a clue: He is the law). Fans of dystopian British pulp SF may also want to pick up Warren Ellis' new series, Anna Mercury, which mixes Lara Croft, the Shadow and — apparently — Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon together to come up with five issues of potential good stuff.

(Also worth checking out in the same vein, but not necessarily SF: Holmes, an alternate-history take on Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite dick, which gets a collection courtesy of AiT-PlanetLar this week.)

For those who find all that dystopian crap too much to deal with, then DC Comics has you covered. You can follow the adventures of the original Last Boy on Earth in the Planet Of The Apes-inspired Countdown Special: Kamandi oneshot. Or you could go for the cute with Shazam - The Greatest Stories Ever Told, which collects more Captain Marvel magic than you could ever want to see.

Of course, it's possible that you would rather avoid old men inviting children into caves, but thankfully, there's a world of other wonders in this week's shipping list, and as for where to buy those beauties of amazement? You can track down your nearest store right here.

Image Comics' Transhuman is a new series by Pax Romana and The Nightly News creator Jonathan Hickman and artist JM Ringuet that oozes potential joy for the faithful. A "mockumentary" about genetic engineering, superheroes and the effort to mass-market a combination of the two, the series looks set to confirm Hickman's reputation for both visually-arresting work and an ability to play well within the SF genre. If you want to know more, you can find a 5-page preview of the first issue here (PDF).

Another premiere that's worth paying attention to this week is the first volume of Flight Explorer, the kid-centric spin-off from popular anthology Flight - It may not all be science fiction, but with a new story about the top-heavy monster Jellaby, and another strip called Zita the Spacegirl, this should be considered for the childlike near you. Even if that happens to be you yourself.

(You can read some more about the book, including seeing preview pages, here).

The third book appearing for the first time on Wednesday is Star Trek: New Frontier #1, a new mini-series tying into the New Frontier novel series. Both the novels and the comics are being written by Peter David, allowing for both coherent continuity and full-on nerditry, both of which are heartily approved around these here parts.

Elsewhere, it's all about the collections. Marvel is putting out hardcover collections of their popular time-travelling 1980s Iron Man versus Doctor Doom stories in Iron Man: Doomquest and their not-so-popular "The Devil annuls Spider-Man's marriage" story in Spider-Man: One More Day.

Meanwhile, DC pulls in some of the best of their 1980s output with the complete run of Dan Jurgens' greedy jerk anti-hero in Showcase Presents: Booster Gold, and then reprints some comic history with the fourth and final volume of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, which not only reprints Kirby's final stories starring Orion, Mr. Miracle and Darkseid, but also does its best to return Kirby's final work with the characters, graphic novel The Hunger Dogs, to the way it was before editorial forces demanded rewrites and changed the ending to make the production of more Super Powers figures that little bit easier. Previously unseen, reworked and re-inked art, and restored script and structure on the strip provides something like a Director's Cut version of one of the lost masterpieces of superhero comics by one of the greatest comic artists who ever lived... which has to be worth a look, right?

As ever, a full list of the week's releases can be found here, and the place to find your personal comics emporium can be found here. Now go and buy the Fourth World book and make a dead comic mastermind a happy ghost already.