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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Space Cases was the brainchild of comics/Star Trek novels/Babylon 5 writer Peter David and Lost In Space star Bill Mumy. You can see the trademark Peter David goofiness in a lot of the humor, but it also has a lot of David's cleverness and willingness to delve into intense shit.

Suzee started out as the imaginary friend of Catalina (Firefly's Jewel Staite), but after Staite left the show Suzee suddenly became real and everyone could see her. Here's a clip of Jewel escaping a space prison using her wits and her Black Canary-esque super-scream:

Suzee's a genius who understands every computer ever, and she has gills on her neck that allow her to breathe in any atmosphere. Plus she can project her mind into other sentients, including the computer in this clip. Plus, her hair rules, way more than Catalina's did. In this episode, the series finale, the lonely and damaged computer wants to keep Suzee prisoner forever. But Suzee teaches the computer that friendship means being willing to let your friends go. And then after Suzee finally leaves, Warlord Shank shows up seeking revenge for that computer virus. The computer tells Shank all about how it's learned the true meaning of friendship. And then Shank says, "Warlord Shank has learned that he doesn't care what you have learned!" And blasts the computer to atoms. Awesome.

Pasty gray. Originally, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby intended the Hulk to be gray. But the printing press kept having trouble with the Hulk's color and he kept coming out green. So he only spent the first few issues of his comic being gray. The original, gray Hulk is sort of surly and crafty, and is very much a riff on Mr. Hyde.

Bright green. For most of his first twenty years or so, the Hulk was green and very stupid. He settled into being a volatile child, alternating between curiosity, petulance and rage. Some writers, especially Len Wein, would give the Hulk incredibly long speeches in baby talk. Here's a free verse poem the Hulk recites when some trees and rocks come to life and attack him, from an issue of Wein's Defenders:

Even here — even in peaceful forest — they will not leave Hulk alone!
Wherever Hulk goes, enemies follow him — try to hurt him!
Why? Hulk does not know! All Hulk does know is —
When enemies attack, Hulk fights back — and smashes — HUH?
Is not enemy — is tree! Hulk is attacked by — tree??
Wha —? Now other trees attack Hulk — and rocks — flying rocks!
Hulk is confused — doesn't understand!
Hulk LIKED trees. Hulk LIKED rocks.
Hulk thought they were his friends — Hulk's ONLY friends —
But if peaceful forest attacks Hulk, too — then Hulk has no friends —
and Hulk will crush anything that gets in Hulk's way!
Do you hear Hulk, rocks?
Do you hear Hulk, trees?
Leave Hulk ALONE — or Hulk will make you REGRET it!

Eventually, writer Bill Mantlo started changing the Hulk's status quo around. At one point, Bruce Banner's mind was able to control the Hulk's body, so the Hulk was super-intelligent. But Bruce kept fearing losing control over the Hulk. In one famous scene during Secret Wars, the Hulk holds up an entire mountain that threatens to crush all the heroes, while Bruce angsts about whether he'll be able to stay smart and civilized much longer. At another point, the Hulk lost all vestiges of Bruce and became just a mindless, destructive beast.

Darker gray. For a short while, Bruce stopped being the Hulk, and Rick James became the Hulk for a few minutes. And then writer Al Milgrom turned Bruce back into the Hulk... except that he was gray and smart. And instead of becoming the Hulk when he was angry, Bruce turned into the Hulk when the sun went down. This gray Hulk was craftier than the original gray Hulk, and more corrupt. After he managed to suppress Banner completely for a while, he moved to Vegas and became an enforcer for a casino, under the name Joe Fixit. He totally crushed a takeover bid by the Mafia (referred to as the Maggia for some reason).

Pale green. And then the earlier green babyish persona bounced back. The Hulk went back into therapy (really!) and managed to integrate his three personas: Banner, the gray Hulk and the green Hulk. The resulting Hulk-fusion was a paler green and less brutish than the earlier Hulks. Instead of purple pants, he often wore flip-flops, unfortunately. But the Hulk's rage kept threatening to consume him, so he finally developed a psychological fail-safe where he would turn into Puny Banner if he got too angry. That way, he couldn't hurt anybody. Plus, comedy.

Bright green, again. And then the Hulk went back to being just his regular smart Banner/dumb green Hulk split for a while. But not so much baby talk. And the Hulk seemed to get smarter over time. By the time of Planet Hulk, he's practically a military genius. And a political mastermind.

Red. There's a brand new Hulk, wreaking havoc in Russia and killing old-school foe The Abomination. And it's not Bruce Banner, who's chilling out in General Ross' Gamma Base? Who is the new, redder Hulk? All signs point to longtime sidekick Rick Jones (who actually became a green Hulk for about five minutes in the 1980s). But we'll have to wait and see...

So which Hulk symbolizes romance? Dude, it's all of them. The Hulk is love. 'Nuff said.

Famous names: Peter David, George Perez

Crunchy goodness: 5

Continuity porn: The future Rick James lives in a giant "trophy room" that includes Captain America's shield, Wolverine's metal skeleton, the Beast's pelt, Magneto's helmet, and Thor's hammer.

Sights you'll never unsee: After the Maestro breaks the Hulk's neck and he's paralyzed, a voluptuous concubine comes to pleasure the Hulk... whether he wants it or not.

Life lesson: Meeting your evil future self may be cheaper than therapy, but the couch is way less comfy.

Sequels: The Maestro makes a brief appearance in the underwhelming Hulk storyline "Ghosts of the Future." Much better is David's Hulk prose novel, What Savage Beast, which features the Maestro recruiting a army of Hulks from alternate timelines.

A Write-Up of the "Trophy Room" Two Page Spread.