OMAC is one of those characters that has a great concept that almost no-one has been able to do anything with: Basically, he's a nobody who gets retrofitted without his knowledge or consent to become the ultimate soldier, One Man Army Corps (or OMAC, for short). After years of attempts to update the character, work the character into regular superhero universe continuity and just generally redo the concept altogether, the comic version of the character seems pretty broken, but the Brave and Bold version managed to get everything right by... well, playing it relatively straight.

"When OMAC Attacks" wasn't the show's best episode, nor an obvious choice to bring the show back after its summer break - Both of those would be next week's musical episode - but it was entertaining enough, even for non-Kirby enthusiasts (Kirby fans like me would've spent the episode going "Is that really Kafka from the comic? Seriously? Awesome!"); using OMAC as an illustration of classic cartoon moral "Sometimes, it's better not to fight" was a smart move, balanced by the use of alter ego Buddy Blank as last-minute coward-made-good, saving Batman from mysterious villain Equinox. Where it fell down was a lack of the self-aware, more-than-a-little-goofy humor that's often the show's best quality... In fact, if anything, the episode seemed too sincere and straightforward. But perhaps that's because next week used up all the crazy pills.

In the end, it was nice to see the show back, and that goodwill alone was enough to make what was really a middling episode seem better than it actually was. But, having seen next week's "Mayhem of the Music Meister!," I know that much, much better things are around the corner. Better luck next time, then.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a good week for fans of 1960s manga, as IDW launches a new series called Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer ahead of this summer's big budget Wachowski siblings remake. Written by Mad Magazine's Arie Kaplan, the new four-issue miniseries promises thrills, spills and wide-eyed characters who just want to go go go. Absent from the series, thankfully, is any sign of Matthew Fox (sadly, the same can be said for Christina Ricci).

If your nostalgia runs to something slightly more recent, then perhaps the 464-page hardcover collection of four separate GI Joe Versus The Transformers series (none of them the original Marvel comic series from the '80s, unfortunately) may be your thing. You played the scenario out plenty of times in your bedroom, of course, so why not read the way it happened in someone else's imagination? Heavy Metal carnage from another country can also be found this week in ABC Warriors: Hellbringer, a collection of 2000AD's chaos magic-influenced robot strip that has to be seen to be believed.

Meanwhile, as Marvel spends this week recovering from the recent mainstream media coverage of single sexy Spidey and brand new gun-slingin' Captain America, DC Comics steals the week with two well-chosen reprint books. First up, Diana Prince: Wonder Woman, Volume 1 reprints, for the first time ever, that strange period in Wonder Woman's career where — trying to make the character "relevant" to the 1960s — she renounced her Amazon heritage to become an Emma Peel-esque secret agent crime-fighting Mod, complete with zen mentor I-Ching. It's actually weirder than it sounds, both in terms of dated visuals and anything-goes plots, but surprisingly kept going until Gloria Steinem stepped in to complain. Worth reading, and for more than just rubbernecking, however.

Even stranger is the first story collected in the Countdown Special: OMAC , the latest in DC's long line of cheap reprint books tying in with their latest big event. Ignore the second and third stories in this $4.99, 80-page comic; the real meat of the issue is in Jack Kirby's first story, introducing the world to the One Man Army Corps and a version of the future that transcends its initial goofiness, to become one of the strangest, most wonderful sci-fi comics ever made. Consider it a taster for the full-length collection of Kirby's entire run on the series that's coming later this year.

A full list of the week's releases can be found here and, as always, you can find out just where to buy each and every one of those releases by entering your zip code here.