From DC, there are two not-really-io9-but-still-worth-looking-into books in the new "Vertigo Crime" imprint: Brian Azzarello's Filthy Rich and novelist Ian Rankin's John Constantine story Dark Entries, although the latter isn't really a crime book per se.

But leaving those aside, DC's big releases of the week include Blackest Night: Superman, in which the Man of Steel has to come to terms with his daddy issues because, hey, his dad has risen from the dead (but which dad? That's why you have to buy it, people). And the first issue of the new Batgirl series, which will hopefully answer the question of who's taken on that name these days once and for all.

A week of new starts, then, but Marvel are taking the opposite tack with some great collections of old material. Okay, Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes isn't really old - it's the start of Warren Ellis' run on the series. But for classic stuff, you can't really go wrong with Kurt Busiek's time-bending Avengers Forever. Or the Spider-Man/Mary Jane: You Just Hit The Jackpot collection, which brings together lots of stories of the comics couple that only Joe Quesada and a Satan analogue could tear apart. Less well-known but not less interesting, Black Widow: Sting Of The Widow offers a hardcover introduction to Scarlett Johannson's femme fatale before next year's Iron Man 2 hits theaters, collecting some of the character's earliest appearances.

Elsewhere, the idea of the Bad Girl gets two different hardcover takes. Image's exploitathon Bomb Queen gets her very own Omnibust (Get it? Because she has tits! Ah, subtlety...) And Boom!'s enjoyable Buffy with an attitude series Hexed gets a deluxe collection that's well worth picking up.

If you're looking for some movie action, IDW releases the first issue of its Astro Boy Movie Adaptation, while Dynamite brings Bruce and Barack together in the opener to Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama (Yes, really). Dynamite also has the first issue of Project Superpowers: Meet The Bad Guys, wherein Alex Ross' revamped Golden Age heroes meet their matches for the first time.

Most interesting book of the week has to be Days Missing, a new mini-series created by the production company owned by Gene Rodenberry's son, Rod. Pushing itself as being created "in the Roddenberry tradition of thoughtful, philosophical, and topical science fiction," the first issue boasts a good creative pedigree, with Phil Hester and Frazer Irving providing writing and art (Each issue will feature a different creative team), and a story about a mysterious figure who shows people their true potential... for a price. We'll have a review tomorrow, but it's definitely worth looking out for in the stores.

As always, you can find a list of all the books being released this week here, and then look for your local comic book store here. Just beware of mysterious figures offering to expose new sides to you that were unaware of; it never ends well.

There's an embarrassment of riches for you at your local comic book store this week. In the midst of their grim Blackest Night event (the second issue of which is released this week, alongside the first issue of Blackest Night: Batman), DC Comics launches what may be its most upbeat superhero series: Adventure Comics, about the recently-revived Superboy as well as the Legion of Super-Heroes, courtesy of Geoff Johns.

DC is also letting you catch up with what's going on in the Superman series with Superman Secret Files And Origins 2009. And pick up the first issue of new spy comedy Red Herring, with art by the severely underrated Philip Bond — which is reason enough to go and buy it already.

Marvel, meanwhile, is putting its eggs in the basket marked "Ultimate Comics." Well, not entirely — Jeff Parker's final issues of the incredibly enjoyable X-Men First Class are collected in X-Men First Class: Finals (If you've been burned out on mutant drama and angst, consider this a must-read). And there's European space opera to be had in Universal War One: Revelations, which collects the recent mini-series of the same name in smart hardcover format.

But otherwise, Marvel's big news this week is the relaunch of their Ultimate line, with Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics: Avengers, wherein Brian Michael Bendis and (the spectacular) David Lafuente (Spider-Man) and Mark Millar and Carlos Pacheco (Avengers) strip two of the publisher's big franchises down and start building them back up. Having seen previews of Spider-Man, it's the one I'm pushing: Beautiful art, smart writing and a Peter Parker you can't help but feel for.

We're not even done! Dynamite Entertainment collects the first year of its Battlestar Galactica comics in the Battlestar Galactica Omnibus Vol. 1 (Worth reading for the Greg Pak story that takes up the bulk of the book, which deals with concepts that were raised, but never properly dealt with, in the series itself). Meanwhile, Oni Press releases Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen, the series that turns the fake newsman's fake SF character into a terrifying, if hilarious, reality.

IDW Publishing has your back if you enjoyed this cinematic summer, with first issues of both Star Trek: Nero (All the backstory you wanted and didn't get from the movie!) and Transformers: Tales of The Fallen. But the star of IDW's show this week — and definitely one of the comics you owe it to yourself to pick up tomorrow — is the first issue of Starstruck, which is almost indescribable but can be almost summed up by "Sexy, Space Opera-y, and at times Ridiculously Funny." But all of that is almost beside the point; you should want to buy it for the breathtaking Michael Kaluta art alone.

If all of the above isn't enough for you, check the complete list of books shipping from Diamond Distributors to see what else may take your fancy. Just remember to make sure that your wallet is fully charged when going to pick up your haul, though, because you'll probably find more than you anticipated tomorrow.

This is actually a great week for collections. There's the Final Crisis Revelations collection, which fans of the current Detective Comics run featuring Batwoman should pick up. Written by the same writer, Greg Rucka, it shows Renee Montoya's Question going up against Darkseid's mind-controlled Gotham City... including Batwoman herself.

DC also has a new hardcover edition of the classic Flash of Two Worlds storyline, which introduced the multiverse to superhero comics and started something that, even forty years later, the company is still mining for new story material.

Marvel aren't exactly slouching either, and their best release this week is most definitely Agents of Atlas: Dark Reign, the first collection of Jeff Parker's must-read series — okay, there was a collection of the mini-series that preceded this, it's true — that embraces Marvel's pulp past and turns it into something new and glamorous.

If hardcovers are too expensive for your taste, there's always individual issues. This week, there are a few great-looking new launches. Like DC's new Doom Patrol (with Metal Men as a back-up strip, by the classic Justice League International creative team of Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire.) Marvel, meanwhile, has Iron Man: Armor Wars (Iron Man! Versus other Iron Men!). Dark Horse has Star Wars: Dark Times - Blue Harvest #0 (which collects the online previews for the New Hope-era story).) And IDW launches Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Q, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Superhero fans who want to see good guys gone bad have a couple of things worth picking up this week. Boom! Studios' Irredeemable gets a paperback collection of its first four issues, letting you catch up with Mark Waid's "fall of a hero" fable in time for the fifth issue, also released on Wednesday. And Avatar is releasing the first issue of Absolution, Christos Gage's new series about a superhero who gets pushed to the limit... and then decides that he's done with limits.

And that's not even all. Warren Ellis' graphic novel Frankenstein's Womb, about the secret story behind the writing of Mary Shelley's classic novel, also makes its way into stores. And Dynamite's Terminator: Revolution continues the comic version of John Connor's story with a truly time-bending tale of Johns meeting to defend each other against the ultimate Terminator. Or something.

But the book of the week may be The Gigantic Robot, Tom Gauld's art comix story about a giant weaponized robot who doesn't fulfill his purpose. Sparse, beautifully illustrated and entirely not what you'd expect, it's well worth picking up.

As ever, all of this week's new releases can be found here, before being purchased at your local comic store. Whatever your tastes, you're likely to find something you want this week.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the collection of Superman & Batman Vs. Vampires & Werewolves — well, other than its name and its ridiculous high concept that's just one step away from adding Abbot and Costello - that's released this week.

And I'm sure that a fair number of people are excited about the collected edition of Voltron: A Legend Forged. Or Boom! Studios' Zombie Tales 2061 (the plot synopsis is in the title, people). Even DC's Fight Club for Superpowered Teenagers Terror Titans is worth picking up, but the fact remains that only two books are downright essential reading this week.

The first is Citizen Rex #1, the beginning of a new series by Love & Rockets' Gilbert and Mario Hernandez. I could try and explain why you must read it, but the official description from publishers Dark Horse does a much better job than I ever could:

Twenty years ago, the most famous, lifelike robot in the world was engulfed in scandal, arrested, and deactivated. Since then, an anti-robot movement has developed, while body modification is in and prosthetic limbs have become hot, black-market items. Stories like these are the stock-in-trade of gossip columnist Sergio Bauntin, whose startling revelations earn him the constant scrutiny of both the mob and the city's mysterious investigators, the Truth Takers. When Sergio catches wind of sightings of the long-missing robot celebrity CTZ-RX, all of these interests will collide in violence and intrigue.

If you're still not convinced, the preview will change your opinion for the better.

And if that's not enough for you, there's always The Surrogates: Flesh And Bone, the prequel to the original series that's about to be released as what the kids used to call a "major motion picture." We read this back in April and thought it was one of the best things we'd seen in a long time, and that still holds true; easily one of the best SF comics of the year, if not the best, you owe it to yourself to pick this up tomorrow.

If the option of picking up two of the best science fiction comics to come along in years isn't enough for you people, then you should probably consult the complete shipping list from Diamond Comics to see what else will be arriving in stores this week... and then, perhaps, checking out where your local store is, just in case it's moved while you're not looking. After all, if robots can hide amongst human beings unnoticed, who knows what else could happen?!?

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's unfair, really. Even if you ignore the dual Obama-bandwagon-jumping of President Evil and Drafted: One Hundred Days (pitting the president against zombies and aliens, respectively), there's a lot to look for in stores this week.

Marvel focuses on familiar faces with its Marvel 70th Anniversary anthology, new Uncanny X-Men: First Class retro series, Dark X-Men: The Beginning franchise redo and Hulk: Broken Worlds parallel-green-dude collection.

IDW does the same with a GI Joe: Best Of Storm Shadow anthology. And a collection of the alternate history "what if the Klingons fucked everything up" story, Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Last Generation.

DC, meanwhile, make a great play for winning the week even before you get to Wednesday. For one thing, there's Jeff Lemire's The Nobody (which we reviewed last week). There's also a collection of the recent spin-off comic from NBC's Chuck, a re-issue for the oversized (and extra-paged) edition of DC: The New Frontier and a specially-priced ($1) new edition of the first issue from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's wonderful All-Star Superman.

Plus, of course, there's the new deluxe hardcover Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow, which collects all of Watchmen and V For Vendetta writer Alan Moore's work on the Man of Steel under one set of hardcovers for the first time.

The only competition for that line-up comes from Dark Horse, who's releasing a handsome hardcover version of horror comic Pixu: The Mark of Evil by indie sweethearts Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (Consider it highly recommended).

But, still. Wednesday Comics has our attention and our heart - A weekly 12-issue series of oversized strips by some of comics' best cartoonists, starring some of DC's best known characters (and some lesser-known but equally awesome - Adam Strange? The Metal Men?), it has the potential to be either the kind of comic that reminds you of the medium's potential, or a terrible carwreck. But either way, we'd be first in line to pick it up. Just the thought of seeing Paul Pope, Karl Kerschl, Eduardo Risso and Ryan Sook artwork at that size in the first place makes our fannish hearts go all a-flutter, never mind writing from Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman, Walt Simonson and many, many more.

Whether it's weekly proof that comics can dazzle and entertain or watching the leader of the free world shoot aliens in the head, consider your local comic store the place to be tomorrow... and if none of the above sounds your scene, set your peepers on this week's Diamond Distributors Shipping List, Daddio, to see what else you cool cats could be reading. Just don't bother us; we're going to be wondering whether we should frame some of that gorgeous newspaper-size Wednesday work...

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...?

Admittedly, fans of beefcake may find the amusingly titled Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker #1 - All Beef Edition more to their liking. (I promise, I am not making that title up.) But I'm sure there's an audience out there for Barack The Barbarian, the swords and sorcery satire launched by Devil's Due this week.

If equally ridiculous comics are your forte, then DC's Superman: Tales From The Phantom Zone reprints some stories about Superman's least favorite interdimensional prison, while William Shatner Presents Tek War promises to be ridiculous in a whole other, ego-trippical, way.

Marvel Comics's weekly haul may look very grim at first view, with so many books tying into the ongoing Dark Reign storyline. The books The Sinister Spider-Man, about Venom, Zodiac, about a new - and suitably deadly - character up to no good, and Dark Avengers/X-Men: Utopia, bringing Norman Osborn's bad guys to San Francisco to screw around with mutantkind.

But fans of ultraviolence and snark will treasure the complete collection of The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, while everyone else can treasure two recent classics: Kathryn Immonen and David LaFuente's Patsy Walker: Hellcat and a hardcover collection of The Immortal Iron Fist by Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker and David Aja, both of which are as highly recommended as I can manage.

Over at DC, it's all about the ladies for their two new releases. Paul Dini brings together Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy for the new series Gotham City Sirens. And Greg Rucka and JH Williams III launch Detective Comics into a new era of greatness, with the beautiful new Batwoman strip (and Rucka and Cully Hamner provide a Question back-up, for extra value).

Dark Horse, meanwhile, have the first issue of their great new Predator series coming out. And IDW have three GI Joe books for you to use as preparation for next month's movie: the Movie Adaptation, a Movie Prequel and the first volume of a new regular series. Who knew that military maneuvers had so much homework?

If you're still looking for more four color fantasies, you could do worse than take a peek at this week's Diamond Distributors Shipping List, which - as ever - is completely printable for a trip to your local comic store. Just make sure that your credit card is ready to take a pounding.

Dipping our collective toes into the cross-media area of the pool for awhile, Doctor Who: Autopia is a new one-off story to keep you in the Who mood while you're waiting for The Waters of Mars. Also, Joss Whedon's Runaways run gets a cheap ($9.99 for six issues!) collection as Runaways: Dead End Kids Digest.

If you're looking for a new take on old science fiction tropes, the second series of Warren Ellis' Anna Mercury launches with a different look at the multiverse. And Marc Guggenheim's Resurrection also launches a second series, letting you return to an Earth post-alien invasion, where no-one is quite sure what kind of world they're living in any more.

For those needing their superhero fix, DC's Red Robin takes Tim Drake - the former Robin - off around the world as he tries to prove that Bruce Wayne isn't as dead as many people think he is. (Go, Tim! But you may need a time machine before you're finished!) And you can find out Bruce's true fate in the hardcover collection of Final Crisis (and pick up some other stories from the same era in the Final Crisis Companion coming out the same day).

Marvel, meanwhile, are indulging a Chris Claremont jones, with the X-Men: The End Trilogy collection of Claremont's 18-issue finale to the franchise. (Be warned: He spun another series out of it, so it's not a final finale.) There's also the first issue of X-Men Forever, a new series that lets Claremont pretend that he never stopped writing the characters in 1991, by ignoring every story that came afterwards. If you'd like something less wordy and more bloody, Christos Gage's Absolution offers up another take on the "When a superhero crosses the moral line and decides that doing so was kind of fun" story.

But let's face it; everything else this week may pale beside the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan #1, a movie adaptation 27 years in the making (Yes, the movie was that long ago); IDW, realizing that STII was the one movie that had never been made into a comic, have finally fulfilled someone's dreams and offered a chance to see Spock die again.

But if you'd rather watch something come back to life, Dynamite's Buck Rogers #1 brings back the classic pulp hero for an all-new audience, offering space thrills and even some spills along the way. But sadly, no Twiki.

All of these books - and many more, as evidenced in this week's shipping list - can be found at your local comic store, which can be found using the Comic Shop Locator. Just do us a favor and spend a quiet moment when ringing up your week's purchases for the loss of Buck's annoying metallic friend. Bidi bidi bye, old buddy.

Let's get that Batbook out the way first; Grant Morrison attempts to make up for the sturm-und-drang of Batman RIP with the first issue of Batman And Robin, his new series starring the new Batman (Dick Grayson, formerly the original Robin) that he's likened to both Crank and the old Adam West show mixed with David Lynch. His All Star Superman partner Frank Quitely is drawing this one, so expect beautifully-designed pages of madness, and a superhero comic that, if nothing else, is unlikely to be dull.

Leaving the superheroes behind for now - Well, apart from pointing out that Marvel's putting out a collection of the retro-with-a-twist Age Of The Sentry quasi-parody series, and DC have both Batgirl: Redemption and Green Lantern Corps: Sins of The Star Sapphire to fulfill your superpowered needs - it's time for vampires to take the stage with a couple of books from Oregon-based Dark Horse. There's Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Tales Of The Vampires lets the wonderful Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos tell a story about a young impressionable kid hanging out with a bad crowd (Hint: They drink blood) in the Buffy-verse (You can find a preview here). And then Werewolves On The Moon Versus Vampires pretty much tells you all you need to know with its title alone.

Even that, however, is not the high-concept must-have of the week. No, that honor belongs to Chew, the new series by John Layman and Rob Guillory that offers up a detective who gets psychic impressions from what he eats, living in a future where bird flu has led to the banning of poultry. Oh, and he works in homicide... which means he eats dead people. Given Layman's enjoyably dark sense of humor, his citing of Y The Last Man and Monk as influences and his enjoyably dark sense of humor, I can't see a way that Chew could disappoint.

In case you're looking for some more aperitifs for your reading palate, this week's list of new comics will, I'm sure, offer something for every palate. To keep the metaphor going, consider the Comic Shop Locator your menu for a particularly store-like cuisine. Just remember to tip your waiter before you leave. It's always safer that way.

As you might expect, the dystopias in question come from Marvel's X-Men franchise, where smiling is a sign of weakness. In addition to the collection of their WWII-era origin of Ian McKellan's favorite villain, Magneto: Testament, there are the more fictional hellscapes on offer in X-Men: Inferno (New York becomes infested with demons!) and X-Men Future History: Messiah War Sourcebook, which details the backstory of a future that makes Terminator Salvation look like the wonderful world of Oz.

Alternatively, you could just pick up the first issue of Dark Horse's Aliens relaunch, for a horrific world than requires less tolerance for superpowered soap opera, or Spider-Man: The Short Hallowe'en for a New York that is devoid of demons but written by Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader and Seth Meyers (All of today's Manhattan-based demons have been diverted to Jeff Parker and Kyle Hotz's Dark Reign: The Hood, which offers up tales of the New Avengers's newest crime boss, who just so happens to be evil-demon-powered).

If you're looking for something a little more optimistic, IDW's Star Trek Omnibus collects some of the better Trek comics from days pre-Abrams. Also, Doug (Earthworm Jim) TenNapel's Power Up tells the story of a man whose magic video game console gives him the ability to control the real world.

Old-fashioned superhero thrills, that won't make you feel bad about the future of humanity, can be found in the first collections of DC's Trinity series (Said trinity being Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, of course) and Dynamite's Death Defying 'Devil.

Meanwhile, the much-promised teens-in-tights can be found in DC's duelling teenage superhero collections, Robin The Teen Wonder - an anthology of stories about the various characters to sidekick Batman throughout the years - and Static Shock: Rebirth of The Cool, which'll remind you just how great the 1990s Static series really was.

Whether it's electric garbage-can-flying heroes or grizzled cyborg soldiers from a dying tomorrow, your local comic book store will have them all. And, if you're after something that doesn't fit into those two categories, why not check out the list of everything hitting stores this week (Psst: At least take a peek at the non-SF Bayou). But, come on. Static Shock, people.

Well, I guess I could tell you more... For one thing, this is the week where we find out who the new Batman is (Clue: It's exactly who you think it is) in Batman: Battle For The Cowl #3 (Another hero identity revelation can be found in Marvel's Who Is The Black Panther? collection).

It's also the week where Garth Ennis' The Boys spins out a new series, Herogasm, parodying superhero excess, just as Marvel's Captain America reaches its 50th issue with the start of a storyline apparently as shocking as Cap's assassination.

Shying away from similar controversies, DC looks to the stars for Rann/Thanagar: Holy War, the first (of two) collections of their cosmic jihad storyline, just as Marvel's Planet Skaar Prologue and Ultimate Galactus Trilogy demonstrate more traditional approaches to intergalactic invasions. Also traditional and from Marvel, X-Men Forever: Alpha reprints Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's swansong together ahead of the upcoming series set in that continuity, providing the most old-fashioned book available this week... Well, apart (perhaps) from Batman: Mad Love And Other Stories, a hardcover collecting all of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's joint comic work.

You don't want to know about all of that, though; you want to know about IDW's Transformers extravaganza that sees two movie prequel collections (Alliance and Defiance) as well as the collection of Revenge Of The Fallen: Movie Adaptation and the first issue of the serialization, as well.

How could you ask for more... and even if you did, what would you ask for?

Perhaps Dracula, who gets two books to himself this week, both adapting Bram Stoker's original novel - Ben Templesmith's Dracula presents the original text with new illustrations from the Australian wunderkind, while The Complete Dracula sees the book (complete with "missing" chapters) adapted into traditional comic form over five issues. Why not take a bite out of both, to compare?

Whether it's giant robots or bloodsucking vampires, your local comic store should be able to crave your particular desires. And once you've run down the complete shipping list for the week, you'll have a better idea of what kind of fangs... I mean things are yours for the taking.

It's a surprisingly good week for books this week, with a lot of unusual projects making their debut at the stores. How unusual?

Well, take Marvel's Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers, for example. It's a book about the superheroes of the animal kingdom, whether they're teleporting dogs, firebreathing dragons or frog versions of Thor. It's one of a number of first issues from the self-styled House of Ideas this week, with the others including Dark Reign: Young Avengers (wherein Doctor Who's Paul Cornell takes on Marvel's answer to the Teen Titans) and GeNext United (continuing Chris Claremont's alternate future tale of the X-Men's children).

But can anything really eclipse what may be Marvel's most eagerly-anticipated hardcover collection? No, not World War Hulk or X-Men: Manifest Destiny (although both are released tomorrow.) I'm talking about Secret Wars II, the seemingly-endless, seemingly-cocaine-fueled 1980s excess of Marvel Comics' then-boss Jim Shooter trying to write a story about the meaning of life. Seriously, if you can spare the $99.99, you owe it to yourself to experience it.

By comparison, DC has little to match up... But that's not to say that The Unwritten (which we previewed yesterday) and a new edition of The History of The DC Universe aren't worth picking up. And Superman: New Krypton Volume 1 catches you up on the current crazy status quo for the character, that sees him abandon Earth in favor of his own race.

Elsewhere, IDW launches a new Angel series, Not Fade Away, for the Whedonites, while also putting out Astro Boy Movie Prequel: Underground for those looking forward to this fall's revival of everyone's favorite atomic Pinocchio.

Similar nostalgia will be found in the Flash Gordon 75th Anniversary Special hardcover from Ardden Entertainment. But I'd rather draw your attention to Boom!'s Unthinkable - which Alyssa reviewed this weekend - and The Unknown, which offers up the start of a story that feels more than a little Fringe-esque in all the right ways, as the world's greatest detective decides to investigate what happens after death, considering she's only six months away from her end.

No matter what you're looking for, chances are you'll find some variation of it in this week's complete list of comics shipping to comic stores, and the Comic Store Locator will help you find where your closest store is, so you'll know just where to find your goodies. Just don't be too embarrassed to ask for that book with the frog God Of Thunder.

Actually, even before we get to that masterpiece, there are a few interesting oddities hitting stores this week. DC is launching the first of their Final Crisis spin-offs, the wonderfully bad-mooded Final Crisis Aftermath: Run, as well as the long-awaited first issue of Power Girl's solo series.

Meanwhile, Marvel revives The New Mutants for the first issue of their brand new series. (Also, Brian Michael Bendis' Alias gets a paperback reissue; if you haven't looked at his mature-readers private detective take on the Marvel Universe yet, it's worth checking out).

Elsewhere, you can compare the faces of horror comics through the years; Dark Horse puts out some classics with their first Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery hardcover, while Todd McFarlane's Spawn returns to its roots with an Origins collection. The modern face? Well, that comes from the wonderfully-named Jesus Hates Zombies: Lincoln Hates Werewolves, something sure to make at least one reader very happy (Hello, Bonnie!).

Otherwise, though, it really is all about Plan 9 From Space Strikes Again. Quite why anyone thought that the original movie needed a sequel, I'm not quite sure, but it's now got one in the form of this $3.99 special that promises zombies, aliens and shadowy government conspiracies... and former professional wrestlers, of course. If nothing else, you know that curiosity will make you want to take a look.

As usual, a full list of all comics reaching stores can be found here, and your closest comic store can be found by clicking here, although, of course, your iPhone could also tell you, if you want. Just remember Ed Wood when you visit.

I say "at least," because there're actually a few books worth checking out this week. Dark Horse leads the way with Star Wars Adventures: Han Solo and the Hollow Moon of Khorya, the first in a new series of "graphic novellas" about George Lucas' favorite charming smuggler. You can read a preview here, but I have to admit that I was pretty much sold once I found out it was a pre-A New Hope Han story. What can I say? I'm a sucker for rogues.

Similarly charming - and arguably a little dumber - are the Winchester boys who star in DC's Supernatural: Rising Son, a collection of the recent mini-series of the same name that gives you some backstory to our favorite television demon hunters. Also on the television front, Boom! Studios have the first issue of a new Eureka series, Dormant Gene coming out as well, which should tide us over nicely until the new season starts on SyFy in a couple of months.

If superhero thrills are your thing, then DC has an oversized hardcover edition of Superman: For Tomorrow, the not-what-you'd-expect story by 100 Bullets' Brian Azzarello and Batman/X-Men/Wildcats wunderkind Jim Lee. There's also a much more affordable Green Lantern Chronicles collection of Hal Jordan's earliest appearances.

Marvel, meanwhile, has the obligatory X-Men Origins: Wolverine tie-in before Friday's movie, and the still-surprising Guardians Of The Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcomehardcover that collects the first appearances of Marvel's obscure 1970s future space heroes from various titles like Marvel Two-In-One and The Defenders.

But if you're really jonesing for some alien invasion drama, you can't go wrong with Oni Press' Resurrection, Vol. 1, the first collection of a series by Marc Guggenheim, the Eli Stone creator (and Amazing Spider-Man writer... oh, and the guy who co-wrote the upcoming Green Lantern movie.) Resurrection is all about what happens to Earth after the aliens leave. If Y The Last Man or Lost is your kind of thing, then you'll want to pick this one up, and Oni's making it easier for you by offering this 184 page book for just $6, ahead of Saturday's Free Comic Book Day prologue for the next series (starting in June). Need more to convince you? Oh, alright; here are the first 26 pages to tease and tantalize, but personally I think it's the book of the week.

Even if you're willing to pass up great bargains, you can check out the complete shipping list of what's making it to stores this week to look at what else will be making it to your local comic book store this week, and start setting up your sleeping bag in advance of Saturday's avalanche of free comics, just in case. But, really, come on: $6.00 is a great price for 184 pages.

Actually, there's a pretty movie-centric feel to most of this week's new launches or noteworthy titles; even the non-obvious ones (Detective Comics #853 is finally released, only two months late, finishing up the Neil Gaiman two-part storyline "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader?") have some kind of cross-media connection (It's Batman).

Admittedly, you may have to squint to see that connection with Marvel's new series Skrull Kill Krew, but come on; alien invaders and biker gangs. That's got to have been a movie at some time, right?

Marvel's also launching Fantastic Force, a spin-off from Fantastic Four written by Doctor Who director Joe Aherne. And Marvel is making up for Gambit Classic Volume 1 - I swear, that title is taunting me by including the word "Classic" - by also releasing collections of Warren Ellis' short Wolverine run as Wolverine: Not Dead Yet and the first volume of the enjoyable-if-blindingly-colored Spider-Man 2099, which introduces you to the Spider-Man of the future. And if you're rich, there's a hardcover omnibus of the first 31 issues of the original X-Men run, for "just" $99.99.

But for the most part, the releases you'll want to look out for are all tied into nostalgia and TV or movies; Dark Horse's wonderful Star Wars: Dark Times series returns, with the first part of Blue Harvest (I'll allow you a moment to get over the geeky perfection of the title), while Boom! Studios has Farscape Script Book, letting fans see Rockne S. O'Bannon's original script and plans for the comic continuation of the beloved TV show.

IDW go for the gold with two collections - GI Joe: The Best of Larry Hama (celebrating the comic writer who shaped the franchise so much during the '80s) and Terminator Salvation: The Movie Prequel, letting you see just what made Christian Bale's John Connor so screwed up (Clue: Everything in his life up until that point).

Dynamite Entertainment, meanwhile, are putting out a collection of the unlikely Army of Darkness/Xena Warrior Princess crossover series, as well as their Battlestar Galactica: Adama flashback book (And, finally, the Final Five comic that was supposed to come out last week), but that's only a distraction from the true prize of the week - Their 25-cent preview of the new Buck Rogers series launching this summer. At that price, how can you resist?

So, come tomorrow - Thursday if you're in the UK (And potentially the rest of Europe?) - strap on that jetpack and fly down to your local comic book store to demand your cheap future. And, if that doesn't do it for you, you can always check out the complete shipping list of what's making it to stores this week and find something else to spend your money on, instead. Just remember to turn that jetpack pack off before entering the store. Comics are flammable, after all.

If you really want to ignore collections in favor of single issues, there're really only four new launches worth paying attention to this week, and they all have movie and/or TV connections.

Marvel's Rampaging Wolverine is an oddity; a pretend issue of an imaginary series that would, theoretically, have been published in the 1970s, but starring Marvel's most lucrative mutant.

You're on much safer ground with IDW's Terminator Salvation Movie Adaptation #0, a prologue to the comic version of the next chapter in Skynet's plan to take over the world of media.

TV, meanwhile, is well represented with Dynamite's Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five (Apparently about the history of our favorite five cylons) and Boom!'s latest Farscape series, Strange Detractors.

However, I'd be remiss if I didn't really point you in the direction of some of the great trade-paperback collections hitting stores tomorrow. J. Michael Stracynski's first attempt at Watchmen-influenced superheroics, Rising Stars gets a complete compendium from Image. Image is also releasing a collection of the "Hellboy but without the sense of foreboding" fun series Perhapanauts.

Marvel Comics, meanwhile, is putting out a hardcover of the surprisingly successful (and surprisingly fun) Marvel Apes, along with a new collection of the first year of the original Exiles series that crosses the X-Men and Sliders into one new reality-hopping idea.

Meanwhile, DC is doing its bit for the good of comics with 100%, a new hardcover edition of comic genius Paul Pope's most coherent and complete work to date; I'm going to be writing more about this tomorrow, but I've gone on about my love for this story already and can definitely say that, if you haven't read this before, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. It's easily the comic release of the week, if not the month.

(Runner-up for that title? Essential Dazzler Volume 2. It's nowhere near as good as 100% - or even that good at all, really - but the 1980s comics featuring Marvel's Disco Diva - who only got her own series after the disco fad had faded - has a weird charm all of its own. For those seeking camp romance comics with added angst and fights, this is definitely for you.)

All of these books and more can be found on the complete shipping list of what's making it to stores this week, and once you've worked your way through that, you'll want to head to the Comic Book Store Locator Service to find out where to find such fine pictorial entertainment. Just remember: Paul Pope and I both say that 100% is a must for your shopping list.

Marvel are apparently trying to flood the shelves tomorrow, but at least they're doing it with good books from good writers. Fred Van Lente is behind the new Savage She-Hulk and Marvel Zombies 4 series. Jeff Parker is writing the reborn Exiles. Andy DIggle is scripting Dark Reign: Hawkeye, and the wonderful Jason Aaron gets a brand new series, Wolverine: Weapon X in advance of next month's movie.

As if that wasn't enough, there's also a new hardcover collection of the last Dark Tower series, Treachery (not to mention Dark Tower: The Guide To Gilead, a fact-file-ish tie-in) and the first issue of time-travel series Timestorm: 2009-2099.

(Of course, time-travel fans may just be picking up the collection of Doctor Who: The Forgotten, which also comes out tomorrow).

While DC's much quieter new release schedule offers mostly continuations of ongoing events and series - I'd definitely point you in the direction of the second issue of Superman: World of New Krypton, just to see if it measures up to the impressive first - that's not to say that they have no new books of note this week. In fact, the Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Vol. 1 collection may just be the best thing out this week, a collection of the 1960s team of misfit heroes (Radioactive test pilots! Racing car drivers without a body!) that offered an off-kilter alternative to the then-cookie cutter cleanshaven heroes they were surrounded with. Definitely recommended.

Also recommended is Ignition City, the new series from Warren Ellis that we wrote about back in November that mixes steampunk, Deadwood and the fate of all old pulp heroes when they're not young and dashing anymore. Ask for it by name when visiting your local funny book emporium.

That'll be the one you can find here, in case you're wondering - and make sure to check out the complete list of books reaching stores this week before doing so. If they ask, tell 'em that the ghost of Flash Gordon sent you.

For those who like your superheroes square-jawed and old-fashioned, the book of the week has to be DC's Flash: Rebirth, which brings Barry Allen - the character whose creation sparked the industry's "Silver Age" superhero boom - back on a regular basis, courtesy of Green Lantern's Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver. The preview pages released so far promise a fast-moving (fittingly, for the fastest man alive) old-school superhero book, and if Johns and Van Sciver can achieve half of what they managed for GL, it'll be a fun ride.

DC is also releasing the first issue of Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye this week, Grant Morrison's latest deconstruction of modern culture through a superhero lens, which promises to be weird, wonderful and probably more than a little confusing for most folks, but that's okay; they could always look to DC's Wildstorm imprint, which has two videogame tie-ins coming out, Prototype and a special Resident Evil collection called Fire and Ice.

Marvel looks to the past this week with Wolverine Omnibus, a movie tie-in collecting some of the X-Man's greatest hits in advance of next month's movie. It's filled with all manner of guest-stars like the Punisher, Spider-Man, the Hulk and Captain America. Talking of the star-spangled Avenger, he's celebrating the 70th birthday of the publisher with the special Captain America Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special.

If your tastes run to the more comedic, then you might prefer the Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular, which shows what happens when editorial assistants get to run the show, and fans of European space war can comfort themselves with Universal War One: Revelations, a new series of the translated French space opera.

But that's not all; Dark Horse releases Who Wants To Be A Superhero: The Defuser, reminding us all about Stan Lee's terrible reality show for hopefully one final time.

And Boom! Studios make their bid for being publisher of the week for the second consecutive week with the first issue of Cars: The Rookie, a new mini-series based on the Pixar movie, and Irredeemable, a compelling new superhero series from Kingdom Come's Mark Waid that looks at what happens when the world's greatest superhero goes too far... Consider it the other end of the spectrum from Flash: Rebirth, but just as good.

Even if you find superheroes to be a blight on today's consumer society, the complete list of this week's new comic releases is sure to contain at least one thing that you'll want to pick up at your local comic store... which you can find by using the Comic Shop Locator Service, in case you've never been there before. But, still, go on: believe a man can fly.

There's no getting around it; for almost every publisher this week, it's all about the reprints. DC collect some of the funniest self-referential comics ever in the black and white Showcase Presents Ambush Bug, Marvel showcases the next generation of mean green mothers with the Hulk: Skaar, Son of Hulk hardcover, Wanted creator Mark Millar's stab at religion, Chosen gets a reissue as American Jesus Volume 1: Chosen (worth picking up if only for the insanely terrible ending, and I say that with something approaching love) and a genuine classic gets new life as Ted McKeever Library Volume 3: Metropol.

(Also released, if Diamond's shipping list of this week's releases is to be believed - although I am convinced that it can't be, because this isn't due for another month - is the collection of IDW's Star Trek: Countdown, the prequel to JJ Abrams' big screen reboot of Gene Rodenberry's franchise, and a fun Next Generation story in and of itself. I keep thinking I should do a recap for Trek fans who haven't picked it up, and the same with IDW's Terminator: Salvation prequel - Would you guys be interested in that?)

That said, Boom! Studios have easily taken the win for the week's releases with two new books based on old friends.

Firstly, Pixar's The Incredibles come to their natural home with the first issue of The Incredibles: Family Matters (written by Kingdom Come, The Flash and many other great things writer Mark Waid), which manages to capture the tone of the movie pretty damn well... but even so, still isn't the best thing to hit stores tomorrow.

No, that title belongs to the first issue of Boom!'s new The Muppet Show series, which I will tenuously define as sci-fi for the purposes of inclusion here thanks to the Pigs In Space sketch contained therein. For anyone who loved the old Muppet Show TV series... you have to buy this. You really, really won't be disappointed. Unless you hated the comedy and only tuned in for the musical numbers.

For those who know what it is to laugh, you'll have to use the Comic Shop Locator to find out where to buy the wonder (and pick up The Incredibles, while you're at it). For everyone else...? Well, why not look and see what else is coming out this week to find something to tickle your fancy?

It's not just Rich Johnston's fun parody Watchmensch that owes a lot to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic this week; Marvel's two Squadron Supreme collections (J. Michael Straczynski's The Pre-War Years and, to a lesser extent, Howard Chaykin's Power To The People) are very Watchmen-ish in their own ways... and Moore has a "new" book, Alan Moore's Light Of Thy Countenance (actually a comics adaptation of a prose story by other creators), himself. For those who want to escape the shadow of the 1980s, though, there's light at the end of the tunnel.

For one thing, you could escape to the 1960s; the latest collection of Jeff Parker's enjoyable X-Men: First Class series, The Wonder Years is released, and just narrowly loses out on the book of the week position to Letters From Lost Countries, the first collection of Vertigo series Air, which also has a specially-priced $1 issue released to entice new readers to pick up its particular brand of magical-realism; personally, I think it's worth the gamble, even if Letters From Lost Countries has the occasional stumble in getting to its destination.

Otherwise, there're the usual slew of crossmedia tie-ins launching (Star Trek: Crew, which looks back at the pre-Kirk days of the original series, and GI Joe: Cobra, which tells the inside story of America's favorite terrorist force), including my favorite: Sherlock Holmes/Kolchak. There's almost no way that it can live up to that title, but you know that it's going to be fun trying.

Whether your taste is in '80s Gloomanddoom or retro movie chic, you're sure to find something to please in the complete list of this week's new comic releases. Just remember to use the Comic Shop Locator Service to find your local comic store, and - while buying whatever you decide on - tell the owner that you're glad that his or her store is nothing like the one in Heroes.

Let's go with the two non-death-related new books of the week first, shall we? GI Joe Movie Prequel: Duke is IDW's way of giving you a glimpse of this summer's toyline-come-explodo-movie a few months early, as well as filling in the blanks of Dennis Quaid's character's history before you hit the multiplex this August.

Less attached to a major motion picture - but arguably more fun - is Warren Ellis' Anna Mercury Volume 1: The Cutter, the first collection of self-styled "internet Jesus"' latest SF noir femme fatale as she breaks hearts, and into buildings, across the retro-future city.

Otherwise, it's all about deceasing this week. Batman's supposed death leads to many successors stepping forward in Batman: Battle for The Cowl (Our money's on Dick Grayson, but only because Tim Drake's a little bit too short right now).

Meanwhile, Resident Evil's kinda-undead also get their own DC comic book to infect the world with. Talking of infections, Marvel's The Stand adaptation not only gets a new series (American Nightmares), but the hardcover collection of the first series, Captain Trips... which is only going to be released in comic book stores, thanks to the weirdness of publisher licenses.

More familiar undeadities can be found in IDW's new Angel series, Blood and Trenches (a flashback to Angel's adventures during World War I) and Dynamite's new series Super Zombies, which lives up to its title by offering superheroes who happen to be zombies (It's written by io9 favorite Marc Guggenheim, and promises to be more fun than my snark suggests, if you're curious).

That said, the book we're looking forward to most this week may be the first issue of Super Human Resources, which I don't even have to explain, because they've created their very own trailer:

If your tastes demand a little more than any of the above, check out this week's shipping list to find something closer to your still-beating heart, and then find your nearest comic store via the Comic Shop Locator to know where to pick up the comics, whether alive or dead.

DC Comics have a pretty hefty week of important launches hitting stores tomorrow. (And, no, I'm not including "WWII Heroes Fight Dinosaurs" book The War That Time Forgot, the first collection of which is released this week.)

You can catch a glimpse at how Gotham City has been affected by the disappearance of Batman in Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead?, or follow Superman as he abandons Earth to kneel before Zod in the first issue of Superman: World of New Krypton. You can even catch up with the storyline that led to the creation of New Krypton in the hardcover collection Superman: Brainiac, which also includes the last days of poor Pa Kent. There's even a brand new space superhero series launching from the cosmic-awareness addled mind of Jim Starlin, called (appropriately) Strange Adventures.

Marvel are heading into space themselves, with the launch of their new "Intergalactic War - Again!" series, War of Kings; it's one of a number of launches from the House of Ideas this week, which include the Hulk anthology mini-series Hulk: Broken Worlds, a continuity-heavy Dark Reign: Fantastic Four, the wonderfully goofy one-shot Spider-man & The Human Torch in Bahia De Los Muertos (The plot of which is "Spidey and the Human Torch go to Puerto Rico and meet monsters." Seriously, how could you resist?) and the surprisingly fun New Avengers: The Reunion, which offers marriage counseling via superheroes and evil mad scientist cults.

(If you're jonesing for some Wolverine ahead of the upcoming movie, Marvel are there for you as well; they're re-releasing both Barry Windsor-Smith's classic Weapon X and Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's even-more-classic Wolverine mini-series in new editions, just in case you've never read them before.)

Of course, all of the above pales before IDW's Galaxy Quest: Global Warming, which proved that apparently comic book spin-offs of minor SF comedy movies years after they came out can still manage to be more fun than the movies themselves. Just don't let writer Scott Lobdell know I said that.

All of these releases, and many more, can be found by perusing the complete list of this week's new comic releases, and then purchased - if you have "the green" - at your local store which can, as ever, be found using the Comic Shop Locator Service. Although, really, you should know where it is by now. What're you waiting for?

It is, in actuality, another relatively quiet week for new launches this week, oddly enough. San Francisco's Wondercon convention is this weekend, after all, so you'd think publishers attending would want to have something new to show off... but then, they may have used up all their big books at the start of the month for New York Comic Con.

DC Comics are almost entirely quiet, and Marvel's books of note are pretty much confined to New Avengers #50 — in which the New Avengers meet the newer Dark Avengers, for an Avengeroff — and an oversized hardcover collection of the first twelve issues of Mighty Avengers, Marvel's third Avengers title. I'd make a joke here about there being too many Avengers comics, but in May, they're launching two more, including (no joke), Lockheed and the Pet Avengers. Just think about that one for a second.

Also hitting the oversaturation point: Barack Obama. Sure, the gleam is beginning to tarnish a little bit already, but that's not stopping him appearing on the cover of three different publications this week: Wizard magazine has a cover featuring Alex Ross' Superman-inspired pose from last year's San Diego Comic-Con, Youngblood sees him front and center, picking a new team of superheroes to star in the book, and the Savage Dragon has him either shaking hands with the eponymous superhero or, in a Wondercon-exclusive, punching Osama Bin Laden — I promise you, I'm not making that up. That alone is a reason to get to San Francisco this weekend.

Book of the week, then, is almost unique by being a relatively big-name project in an otherwise dead-aside-from-Obama week: Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery is something that we've mentioned before, but that doesn't mean that Ben Templesmith's art has gotten any less impressive in the meantime. Even if the story is terrible — and that's unlikely, given Leah Moore and John Reppion's history — it's got to be worth picking up for that art alone.

If you voted for John McCain, don't worry (Well, about comics, at least); the complete list of this week's new comic releases will still be able to offer you all manner of possibilities for you to spend your money on. Go and check it out, and then use the Comic Shop Locator Service to find out where that money should be spent. Yes, you can.

Firstly, let's get Marvel and DC out of the way; the former is pushing Secret Invasion pretty hard this week, with four collections from the storyline coming out (Frontline, Incredible Hercules, Thunderbolts and the definite pick of the bunch, Captain Britain and MI-13, written by Doctor Who's Paul Cornell and highly recommended). DC, meanwhile, offers the final Diana Prince retro Wonder Woman collection, as well as the somewhat pricey ($295) Rorschach Prop Gun and Mask Set, in case you want to pretend to be a crazy guy who eats too many beans.

Of course, if Watchmen isn't your 2009 movie of choice, IDW would like to have a word... Especially this week, when they're releasing the first collection of their alternate world Transformers epic All Hail Megatron and the first issue of the self-explanatory GI Joe: Origins series.

If you'd rather get a jump on the movies of tomorrow, however, perhaps you should take a look at The Zombies That Ate The World, the undead satire from French publisher Les Humanoids, or perhaps Andrea Atoms, the debut of a new Flash Gordon-esque female space hero. You can even catch up on indie superhero soap Dynamo 5 with a specially-priced "zero issue" to fill in all the gaps in your knowledge.

Pick of the week, though, is The Great Unknown, a series we've previously covered, and one that simply doesn't disappoint: What if someone really was taking the best ideas out of your head? This new series will answer that question... and teach you new reasons to be paranoid in the process.

Remember, your local comic store can always be found, of course, via the Comic Shop Locator Service, but this week more than many offers the chance to meet the new. Check the complete list of this week's new comic releases if you don't believe me.

For one thing, you can support Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia, whose new comic Milo Ventimiglia Presents Berserker gets its very own preview #0 this week. The new series - created by screenwriter Rick Loverd and "produced" by Ventimiglia, which presumably means he wants to play the lead if they make it into a movie - centers around people discovering that they're sleeper Norse Gods with all the powers that brings with it. My fingers are crossed for a Hayden Panatierre-a-like cameo by issue three.

If the television episodes of Battlestar Galactica aren't enough dystopian sci-fi for you, then you can bone up on the history of everyone's favorite messiah figure in Battlestar Galactica: Baltar, which explores the backstory that led one man to be self-centered, comedic and somewhat tragic, in his own way. Yes, it tries to add some pathos, but don't hold that against it.

But really, this is the week of the Bat. DC's pushing out the hardcover collection of uneven-but-much-better-on-second-read Batman RIP (which, to be honest, may be worth it if only for the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and his colorful costume). But more excitingly, they're also releasing Batman #686, the first half of Neil Gaiman's Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader? send-off to Bruce Wayne. Illustrated by Andy Kubert, it looks beautiful from the previews that we've seen - and a more than worthwhile memorial to a character who isn't even pretending to be dead right now.

Even if you're not in the mood for Gaiman Gotham, you can check out the complete list of this week's new comic releases to find all the other men in tights (and other stories) available tomorrow, and then the Comic Shop Locator Service will help you find just where you should go to indulge yourself... If you're up to it after NYCC, of course.

Whether it's DC Comics relaunching the Legion of Super-Heroes with a reprint of their first adventure in Adventure Comics #0, or launching a brand new superhero series with The Mighty #1, it's as if everyone is making an effort in this last new release day before this weekend's New York Comic Con.

Devil's Due's first issue of French WW2 supernatural thriller I Am Legion, Dynamite's debut of equally-supernatural western Dead Irons, IDW's collection of Mirror Universe stories in Star Trek: Mirror Images and Image's domestic superhero Jersey Gods all make their debuts this week, and Boom! have their very enjoyable Eureka spin-off appearing for the first time, as well (we have a preview of that later today, for those yet to be convinced about how it'll work as a comic).

However, it's definitely Marvel Comics who're going all out this week. In addition to the first issues of new anthology title Astonishing Tales, rebooted African royalty superhero series Black Panther, undercover hero series Secret Warriors and (our favorite) superhero spy (well, kind of) book Agents of Atlas — along with a new hardcover collection for the rightly-lauded Captain America: Truth series — the House of Ideas has the debut of Marvel: Your Universe, a new anthology series collecting recent issues of hit series for the surprisingly low price of $5.99. Can it get any better?

Well, yes, actually, it can. Because, even if you ignore all of the above books — although they're all very enjoyable and worth picking up — there is one book hitting stores tomorrow that you should beg, borrow or steal enough money to buy. Yes, tomorrow sees the release of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim Versus The Universe, the fifth in the series of his slacker/romance/magic realist/video game/all things awesome stories, and — even though it's only February — it's a fair bet to say that this may be the book of 2009. You know you want it.

There's no way around it; this week's shipping list is going to be a tempting one, and it'll just lead you to find your nearest comic store via the Comic Shop Locator, before eventually leading you to financial ruin. But, with comics like these? It'll almost be worth it.

Marvel Comics is all about the collections this week. There are some more Secret Invasion collections — don't forget, there'll be over twenty in the end, so it's not like you have to rush out and buy them this week to get the full story. Marvel is also putting out hardcovers of Mark (Wanted, Kick-Ass) Millar's Marvel 1985 series (in which Marvel characters cross over to the "real" world twenty-four years ago), Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum: March on Ultimatum prelude (in which various characters prepare for the end of the world, even if they don't know it) and X-Men: Original Sin (in which Marvel starts putting out product ahead of the Wolverine movie later this year).

DC isn't entirely letting Marvel corner the hardcover collection market this week; they're putting out the lengthily-titled DC Comics Classics Library: Superman — Kryptonite Nevermore, which collects the classic 1970s storyline where DC did the unthinkable and let Superman get over his weakness of Kryptonite... well, for a few years, at least. That's not the only thing of note that DC's releasing this week, however. In terms of single issues, the first issue of a tie-in to the amazingly enjoyable Batman: The Brave And The Bold and the final issue of confusing-yet-enjoyable Final Crisis are both arriving in stories tomorrow, and both will be worth your time.

That said, there are two books that really should be added to your shopping list no matter what; Jonathan Hickman and JM Ringuet's Transhuman finally makes it into collected form, allowing you to swallow the sly superhuman corporate satire in one sitting. And as a perfect chaser, Dark Horse's Star Wars: Vector Book One collects the first half of this 2008 crossover event, which follows one character through four different time periods in George Lucas' galaxy far, far away, and manages to make you not only a Star Wars fan again, but also kind of curious as to whether the Expanded Universe really is as exciting as it appears here.

If you're looking for a place to find your personal genetically-modified force, then the Comic Shop Locator is always a good place to start... And once you've found your nearest comic store, double check this week's shipping list to make sure that there's nothing you've forgotten. But remember: The force needs to be within your shopping basket. Always.

This week, Marvel offers the centerpiece of their current Dark Reign branding, Dark Avengers (the premise of which has been kept secret by the publisher, but appears to be "What if the bad guys dressed up as the good guys and got to do whatever they wanted?") Also intriguing: the first issue of villain-centric series Doctor Doom And The Masters Of Evil, (which is worth checking out based on the creative team alone; Paul Tobin and Patrick Scherberger have done some very fun work on the Marvel Adventures titles before)

Meanwhile, DC has a couple of collections that you should consider picking up: The Strange Deaths Of Batman lets you relive seven near-death experiences for the Dark Knight in light of last week's (not-really) death in Final Crisis. And The Flash: Emergency Stop brings back some of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's enjoyable run (no pun intended) on the scarlet speedster's comic from the mid-90s.

Not to be outdone, Image Comics offers up a couple of classics, in their own way. Frank Frazetta's Moon Maid continues the publisher's trend of adapting well-known Frazetta paintings into full-length comics. The Ted McKeever Library: Eddy Current brings McKeever's wonderful series about a lunatic asylum-escapee who fights crime back into print, in luscious hardcover format.

IDW, meanwhile, continues to have your movie needs covered, with the first issues of Star Trek prequel Countdown and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Movie Prequel: Defiance both waiting for you on the shelves tomorrow.

But, as wonderful as all of these books are, none of them are as essential to your happiness this week as the first issue of Mysterius The Unfathomable. This new series, from DC's Wildstorm imprint, comes via writer Jeff Parker and artist Tom Fowler, who mix spiritual fathers Doctor Who and Dirk Gently to come up with what Parker calls "a book about an unlikable magical guy" who doesn't age, adopts (and discards) new assistants with worrying frequency and investigates the unknown... well, for a price. There's a six page preview of the series here, but really: This one you need to read.

The doubters amongst you can look at this week's shipping list to be convinced, and then consult the Comic Shop Locator just to remind themselves where to buy such fine four-color-funnies. Luckily, I know that you aren't a doubter... I'm sure that you're already working out how many copies of Mysterius you can pick up for friends and family, you're so convinced. Congratulations. We like people like you.

Okay, sure; there are other books being released this week that you might want to check out. Dark Horse are starting a new series of Hellboy spin-off BPRD, after all, called The Black Goddess, which is sure to be worth a look.

IDW are launching not only a new GI Joe series but also their Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel series. Marvel is putting out the much-hyped Amazing Spider-Man #583 (The Obama issue, in case you were wondering). And DC collect the first few issues of the enjoyable quasi-anthology House of Mystery into the Room And Boredom paperback (which, admittedly, is very worth your time and attention at $9.99).

But, honestly? The book that stands out from this week's shipping list? That would be Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War.

The four-issue series, timed to coincide with the final episodes of SciFi's epic television show, takes us back to the first Cylon War, to show us all the backstory that we've only had hints of before, about just how that whole little "war" thing got started, letting us see how the Cylons got their human-killing groove on in the first place, and offering up lots and lots of old-school Centurion action to boot. It may not be a full-scale Ronald D. Moore-written television series like we'd want, but it's the next best thing... and perhaps the perfect way to get in the mood for Friday's BSG Season 4.5 premiere.

Definitely a good reason to use the Comic Shop Locator, just in case you don't know where your local android's dungeon is, if nothing else.

The best part about the appeal of SF monkeys is that they pop up in two different books this week. But before we get to those, who don't I tell you about the other books you might want to pick up in order to come down safely afterwards? DC Comics is starting their Faces of Evil branding with Faces of Evil: Grundy, which follows Solomon, the Florida swampland's own undead supervillain, as he prepares for a new series starting later this year. Not to be undone, Marvel launch Spider-Man: Fear Itself, in which ol' webhead comes face to face with Man-Thing, Marvel's version of Swamp Thing who... lives in the Florida swampland. What are the odds?

Less likely to find strange parallels, DC's DC Universe Illustrated By Neal Adams is the first of three hardcovers collecting all of the popular artist's DC work throughout the years that doesn't feature Batman, Green Lantern or Deadman (because all of that stuff has been hardcovered already). On the more recent front, Marvel's Secret Invasion finds itself in paperback form even as its spin-off, Secret Invasion: War Of Kings gets started in a one-off special issue. When it comes to hardcovers, Marvel is doing their best to own that market this week, with Fantastic Four: World's Greatest (the first storyline from Kick-Ass and Wanted's Mark Millar), Spider-Man: Blue (from Heroes' Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale), Ultimate Origins and Universal War One all getting released in the format. They're also putting out a hardcover collection of the first issues from the third series of Runaways, but without creator Brian K. Vaughan writing... Well, it's not as fun anymore, to be honest.

Novelties of the week are the first collection of Rasl, the new SF series from Jeff Smith, creator of the awesome indie comic Bone, as well as the American release of the 2009 Doctor Who Storybook, which I recommended as a Christmas gift last month when it was available on import. But as great as both of those are, neither of them feature science fiction monkeys... unlike these two books:

Marvel's Agents of Atlas resurrects the so-called 1950s Avengers in a story that offers a pretty much perfect mix of thrills, spills and humor... and a super-intelligent gorilla who also happens to be a member of Marvel's favorite spy organization. If you can resist that, then you may have no heart... in which case, you'll also get absolutely nothing out of Showcase Presents Strange Adventures, a 500+ page phonebook collection of stories from 1950s SF anthology series Strange Adventures... which is just a sad, sad thing. Take a chance to become a better person, why don't you? Make 2009 the year you let science fiction monkeys into your heart.

Even the monkeyphobic will find this week's shipping list to be full of joy and happiness this week, before using the Comic Shop Locator to find out just where to buy said happiness. Just remember: For most of the people in the world, happiness is monkey-shaped.

That said, this week's comics aren't exactly the most overwhelming bunch. But I think we can chalk that up to the holidays.

DC Comics have their Final Crisis Secret Files, acting as a stop-gap for fans of the much-delayed mini-series, but the rest of their week is relatively lowkey unless you're wrapped up in a number of ongoing storylines.

Similarly, Dark Horse and Image both have weeks to keep longterm fans happy, but offer little to newcomers.

Only Marvel steps up to the four-color plate with a raft of big name specials, and new series to tempt those few with some holiday money left over — including Ultimate Hulk Annual (in which the cannibal version of the big green giant goes on a road trip across America), Fantastic Four Cosmic Special (in which the FF have to go under quarantine and don't deal with it well) and Cable, Volume 1: Messiah War (which mashes up Terminator and Lone Wolf And Cub to come up with... well, Lone Cyborg and Cub, really).

The Iron Man fans amongst you may want to check out the first issue of War Machine, which sees James Rhodes cut loose in his own set of armor, kicking ass and taking names.

Everyone else, the one comic that you need to pick up this week is Incognito, the new supervillain series from the creators of Sleeper and Criminal. If you need convincing, here's the set up:

What if you were an ex-super villain hiding out in Witness Protection… but all you could think about were the days when the rules didn’t apply to you? Could you stand the toil of an average life after years of leaving destruction in your wake? And what if you couldn’t stand it? What would you do then?

If you need more convincing, you can find a preview of the first issue here, but trust me: This will be the kind of bad-mood treat that you'll find yourself addicted to throughout 2009.

In 2009, you'll still be able to find this week's shipping list here and also use the Comic Shop Locator to find your local comic store. But that's not to say everything will be the same in the future. For one thing, this week's comics arrive in stores on Friday, due to the holiday. But don't take that as a bad omen or anything.

Unsurprisingly, there aren't that many big-ticket items being released the day before Christmas, but that's not to say that a visit would be entirely without value for any last-minute shoppers; Image Comics are putting out not only a more=beautiful-than-it-has-any-right-to-be Spawn: Book Of The Dead handbook, but also a paperback collection of the first seven issues of classic 1980s SF series American Flagg for the Communist-loving American Imperialist in your life. Marvel, too, are going for the patriotic angle with their Captain America: Theater of War: America First! special and, sadly, that really is the title. More expensive and filled with colorful characters and the least-expected Black Panther ever is the hardcover collection Ultimates 3: Who Killed The Scarlet Witch?, which also manages to spoil its first chapter with that title. Well done, Marvel!
Dark Horse manages to get in on the ideal last-minute present for the geek in your life game with Star Wars: Rise Of The Sith Omnibus, a collection of stories about everyone's favorite abusers of the Force, while aesthetes and noir fans alike will find value in the first issue of Mister X: Condemned, a new series by series creator Dean Motter. If you'd rather relive one of the greatest hours of television ever made in comic book form - and, really, why wouldn't you, aside from that whole "Because it was a great television episode" thing - then IDW release the first issue of a three-part adaptation of the "Smile Time" episode of Angel, but I'd be much more comfortable pointing you in the direction of the first issue of Boom! Studios' Farscape, the official continuation of the TV show by creator Rockne S. O'Bannon that is sure to make many a yuletide bright.

(Of course, if you just can't leave the store without a Christmas-themed comic, there's always Army of Darkness: Ash's Christmas Horror...)

If none of those seem like your flavor of comic candy canes, then check out the complete list of this week's new comic releases to find something that won't seem like a lump of coal... and then the Comic Shop Locator Service will guide you to your closest four color Santa. No need to thank us - We're just elves in the grand world of comics.

All of the major American publishers are putting out worthwhile books this week, but few are likely to be as enjoyable as the latest issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that flashes Ms. Summers back to her high school days - and into the unseen pilot for the animated spin-off of the show, with art by Eric Wight (Get a preview here). Well, there are a couple as fun, but we'll get to them later.

Superhero fans can indulge this week with the first collection of The End League, Rick Remender's operatic and apocalyptic superhero series, the first issues of Spider-Man Noir (It's Spider-Man! But in the 1920s!), X-Men: Kingbreaker (It's the X-Men! But in space!), Dark Reign: New Nation (It's the Marvel Heroes! But in the latest cynically "dark" incarnation of political drama!) and The Greatest American Hero (Believe it or not, he's walking on air!). If you're looking for actual honest-to-goodness holiday comics, then there's the DC Universe Holiday Special or the 250th issue of Hellblazer, which takes British magician John Constantine on a particularly festive series of fantasy stories by a collection of creators, including 100 Bullets and Joker writer Brian Azzarello and io9 favorite Peter Milligan.

For those looking to get a jump on next year's big movies, Dynamite has the first issue of a new Terminator series, Salvation, while IDW releases the honest-but-lengthily-titled Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen Prequel: Alliance. But even Michael Bay-levels of destruction are surpassed in the downright stunning Armageddon Now: World War III, in which 1990s comic icon Rob Liefeld - The man who gave the world, uh, this - turns to the Bible to inspire his latest tale of Rapture-friendly action and men with detachable lower jaws. You know you want it.

Surprisingly given everything I've listed so far, I've still not mentioned the book of the week. That would be Showcase Presents: The Brave And The Bold - The Batman Team-Ups Volume 3, in which more than twenty of the early '70s greatest Batman stories (written by Bob Haney, a man who thought nothing about pointing out that Batman never ages and fights Satan himself on a regular basis) get collected for less than $17. Easily the most enjoyably stupid thing you'll read this week, and if you don't believe me, here's a glimpse of what awaits you if you pick it up.

In case you've not had enough of checking lists twice, then this week's shipping list may make your day. Once you've checked off what's naughty and nice, look for your local comic store and everything will be ho ho ho before you know it.

So first of all, those Marvel hardcovers. Guardians Of The Galaxy and Annihilation: Nova, both by the Annihilation writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, promise to be a couple of bite-sized looks at the aftermath of the Annihilation wave and the invasion that followed.

In GotG, the two back-to-back Annihilation wars have weakened the boundaries of our universe. (I hate a universe with bad boundaries.) Dark gods and monsters are trying to push through, and it's up to Star-Lord and his squd of butt-kickers to hold the line. Meanwhile, Richard Rider is the last surviving member of the Nova Corps (a space cop squad, sort of) and he has to use his near-limitless power to police the entire universe. (I'm just guessing he lets some of the universe's petty vice crimes slide.)

I'll be honest: the Buck Rogers collection is the one that's jumping out at me though. It's from Hermes Press, and it collects 900 daily newspaper strips in a 9" by 12" landscape format. (Two strips per page.) They run from January 1929 to some time in 1931. Hermes says the strips include "space ships, anti-gravity belts, space pirates, invaders from other worlds, nefarious villains, and, of course, heroes."

Meanwhile, it's not a hardcover, but DC is putting out a sweet dollop of space opera in Legion Of Super Heroes: The More Things Change paperback. It collects issues 7-13 of the series, from when the dream team of Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen were working together. Someone has constructed a factory in another dimension, and they're building a new Sun-Eater. (For the unitiated, Sun-Eaters are bad. Matter-Eater Lad, on the other hand? Awesome.)

And if that's not enough space action for you, Dynamite Comics is putting out a trade paperback of the first seven issues of Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero. It's not Caprica, but it is another BSG prequel. Discover what happened on the Galactica crew's first mission together, two years before the Cylons fried Caprica.

It's not just space opera this week, of course. DC still hears its Bat-cash register ringing, with a two-part storyline following up on "Batman R.I.P." Written by old-school Bat-writer Denny O'Neil, the story "Last Rites" deals with the people of Gotham trying to figure out what the heck just happened, and how the city will survive without the Bat. And you can read a six-page preview of the story here, and it looks like it features a dead ringer for Dark Horse's spectral superheroine Ghost. Meanwhile, Batman: The Joker's Asylum collects five one-shot "Joker's Asylum" issues featuring The Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and Penguin.

Not only that, but the pairing you probably never wanted to read is finally out in a collected edition: Painkiller Jane Vs. The Terminator pits the woman with all the powers of Advil against a murderous cyborg from the future.

If you like your media tie-ins just a bit more dino-tastic (and who doesn't?), you might want to check out Transformers: Maximum Dino-Bots #1. (And you can read the first six pages of the issue here, to help you prepare to maximize your dino-bot excitement.)

But probably the best value of the week — and the most likely stocking stuffer — is a reprinting of Watchmen issue #1, for just $1.50. If you still have any friends who haven't read (arguably) the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time, this is the cheap and easy way to get them hooked.

As always, a complete list of new comics is available online here. And if you're lost and disoriented and need to find a comic-book shop pronto, a complete directory of them is here.

Let's go through the non-teen girl books first, shall we? Marvel are trying to empty your wallet by releasing two new X-Men series (X-Men: Noir, which recreates the characters in a 1920s setting, and X-Infernus, a sequel to "Inferno," the 1980s storyline; there's also a hardcover collection of the second half of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men making it to stores as well), as well as the first issue of Ender's Shadow: Battle School, ground-level retro series Marvels: Eye Of The Camera and a hardcover collection of the first half-year of Matt Fraction's great Invincible Iron Man. Almost as fun is Project Superpowers, a hardcover collection of Dynamite Entertainment's wonderful, freaky and none-more-odd superhero revival series, in which big business makes zombies out of soldiers and only superhero buddhists from the '40s can save us. Or something.

Non-superhero, but more movie-friendly, books can be found in Hellboy: The Wild Hunt - a new series for Mike Mignola's demonic demon hunter - and The Spirit, a collection of Will Eisner's original stories that inspired (but not enough) Frank Miller's upcoming movie.

But even those books pale before DC's big launch for the week, Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures In The 8th Grade; a new series that aims to bring the Maid of Steel back to school and back to being something that non-emotionally stunted adult males can enjoy again. As much as I'm all for the reclamation of Supergirl by her original audience, mind you, it's not the best book you'll see this week. That honor falls to The War at Ellsmere, the new book by Faith Erin Hicks, which goes a little something like this:

Jun is the newest scholarship student at the prestigious Ellsmere girls' boarding school - but to a lot of the privileged rich girls, "scholarship student" is just a code for "charity case." Fortunately, Jun has an ally in the quirky Cassie, who swears the stories about the fierce creature that lives in the forest outside of the school are true. Between queen bees and mythical beasts, Jun has quite the school year ahead of her.

You can find a preview here, but as someone who loved Hicks' previous book, Zombies Calling, I can happily recommend this one.

Even if you're not the type of person who's willing to read about schoolgirls fighting crime and monsters, there's plenty more where that came from reaching stores tomorrow; check here, if you don't believe me. And if you are that type of person, you should probably head to your local comic store to take care of that particular jones. Just don't ask for "the book about the young girls in uniforms."

If you think that your family gathering this Thursday - well, if you're in the US, that is - is looking as if it'll be awkward, take heart; you could be in The Umbrella Academy. Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's superhero family returns in this week's much-anticipated Umbrella Academy: Dallas, a new six-part series that shows what happens after you've saved the world - and why it's always worth remembering that JFK did more than just get shot forty-five years ago (You can view a trailer for the series here). Also, if you've never picked up an Umbrella Academy comic before and have $79.95 to spare, the first series, Apocalypse Suite, is re-released in a limited edition hardcover this week for your education and enjoyment.

(Fans of less outre superheroes aren't left unsatisfied this week; as well as the much-delayed final part of Batman RIP - in Batman #681 - there is also Green Lantern Corps: Ringquest, Captain America: The Death Of Captain America Vol. 3, the first of the New Avengers hardcover collections of their "Secret Invasion" issues, and the Wonder Woman issue that we previewed yesterday.)
Two of the most interesting books this week have nothing to do with superheroes, however; 2000AD: The Best Of Tharg's Future Shocks collects some of the best five-page short stories that've appeared in the last 30+ years of Britain's legendary sci-fi comic, with work from Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Peter Milligan and many, many others who cut their teeth on the Galaxy's self-proclaimed Greatest Comic, and is highly recommended. Even more recommended, however, is Sloth, Gilbert Hernandez' spooky suburban dread of a graphic novel, about the boy who fell into a coma because of the boredom of life... and what happened after he woke up (There's a preview here).

I know, I know; you're wondering if there is even more to be grateful for, and the answer is: check out the complete list of this week's new comic releases and smile. And then use the Comic Shop Locator Service to find out where the closest place to go is, just to go and smile in person. That's right; share the love. Make other people thankful.

If it's comics based on film and television, then this week definitely spoils you for choice; IDW alone is putting out the first issue of Star Trek: The Last Generation (An dystopian alternate-timeline version of TNG), the collection of Transformers Movie Sequel: The Reign Of Starscream, and a 3D Transformers Spotlight on Optimus Prime. DC Comics aren't far behind; they've got both the second hardcover collection of Heroes' webcomics (which is better than the first, but I'll say more about that tomorrow) and the first issue of a new X-Files series being released, alongside Batman: Gotham Underground (a collection of the recent series of the same name about Batman's villains) and The Spirit Special, which brings together some of Will Eisner's original stories that inspired Frank Miller's movie.

Marvel, meanwhile, are having a relatively quiet week, but Marc Guggenheim's Young X-Men gets its first collection, while Garth Ennis's non-mature readers take on The Punisher gets a weighty hardcover omnibus all to itself. Less weighty - but no less ridiculous - is Image's Youngblood Hardcover, in which one of the worst comics of the 1990s (by Rob Liefeld, a man who never met a face he couldn't cross-hatch into oblivion) is remixed and rewritten by comics iconoclast (and Ben10 co-creator) Joe Casey.
But even that accomplishment is overshadowed by a book from San Jose-based indie publisher SLG/Amaze Ink: Space Raoul brings together cartoonist Jamie Smart's weird and wonderful tales of somewhat misshapen and inept hero from Space Command. It's childish, doesn't take itself too seriously and is bizarrely awesome; go look for it and you won't regret it.

If you don't know where to look for it - and all of the other books from the complete list of this week's new comic releases, then I would suggest you hit up the Comic Shop Locator Service). Go on; embrace your inner child one more time.

For once, let's get the superhero stuff out've the way first: Marvel have two hardcover collections out this week that are worth a look. First up, Hulk Vol. 1: Red Hulk collects the first six issues of former Heroes writer/producer Jeph Loeb's weirdly enjoyable comedy about a brand new, psychopathic Hulk running around shooting bad guys and punching good guys, while Mythos Vol. 1 brings together some dully-written, but beautifully-painted retellings of the origins of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk and Ghost Rider. Image Comics launches I Hate Gallant Girl, a new series about what happens to the girl who lost the superhero version of the Miss America contest (Clue: Bitterness). Little beats DC's superhero haul for the week, though; besides the paperback edition of the wonderful Darwyn Cooke anthology Batman: Ego And Other Tails, there's also the first issue of Kevin Smith's new Batman mini-series, Cacophony and, only five years later than you'd expected, a paperback edition of the more-enjoyable-than-it-has-any-right-to-be JLA/Avengers crossover series.

However, there's more to life than capes, you know, as the song almost goes. Dark Horse are leading the non-superhero charge this week with the first issue of The Cleaners, about a forensic clean-up team in LA that has to deal with deaths caused by somewhat supernatural sources... something that Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden would know about; sadly, he's busy in his own first issue of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Storm Front, a four issue adaptation of the novel that makes its debut this week (Somewhere, everyone who told me to read the novels is cheering). Urban fantasy of a particularly weird kind can be found in two collections from Image Comics: Bill Sienkiewicz's psycho-serial killer drama Stray Toasters and Ted McKeever's Ted McKeever Library Vol. 1: Transit both return some classic 1980s weirdie comics to print that are well worth your time and money.

Book of the week, however, isn't actually a comic. But don't let that put you off Fables: Covers By James Jean, a new hardcover that collects more than seventy-five of the the most gorgeous creations ever to grace the front cover of anything, never mind just comic books. Jean, who's worked for Prada, the New York Times, Knopf, Target and many, many others, has been creating some of the most beautiful images on a monthly basis for the (very enjoyable in its own right) Fables series for years, and this collection pulls them all together, along with sketches, commentary from the artist and others, and yet another brand new, beautiful cover image. It's the holiday gift that you should get for yourself and others, in case you were wondering.

(All of the images in this week's column are Jean Fables covers, by the way.)

In case you need any other reason to hit your local comic store (found, of course, via the Comic Shop Locator Service), then the complete list of this week's new comic releases should be able to provide many. But, seriously; how can you resist that James Jean book? Have you no eyes?