Let's start with Electropolis, the new Dark Horse collection of Dean Motter's Retrofuture Deco Noir story (Preview here). Filled with robot detectives, femme fatales and the power of electricity, it's just one of many off-beat genre books appearing at comic book stores this week.

And if Electropolis' pulp fiction is your thing, then maybe the Batman/Doc Savage Special (Dark Knight Detective versus Man of Bronze!) will also float your boat, after all. Or maybe Sky Doll: Doll Factory, a collection of unseen material from the awesome European strip Sky Doll, will provide your reading material for the next few days.

But if you prefer your heroines a little less suggestible than Sky Doll, the first issue of Tank Girl: Skidmarks is probably more your speed. Unsurprisingly, we'd also point you in the direction of the debut of Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows, but we're biased.

Maybe you're looking for something you've already seen in major motion pictures? That's okay; not only is there a preview issue of the new series of Wall-E, but there's also Star Wars Purge: Seconds To Die, which follows a young Darth Vader killing off as many Jedi as possible, post Revenge of The Sith. And that's not all! There's also a paperback collection of DC/Wildstorm's recent The X-Files series.

For those who can't get enough of those superheroes, then I'd recommend the first issue of Warren Ellis' Supergod, his latest "What if superheroes were bastards?" series. Or, on the opposite end of the superhero spectrum, the Absolute Justice hardcover, collecting Alex Ross' expansive love letter to the Super Friends (No, really).

In between those two extremes, there's Dynamite's Project Superpowers: The Black Terror Vol. 1 collection, DC's Green Lantern: Agent Orange collection, which leads into the current Blackest Night storyline, Supergirl: Who Is Superwoman? (in which Sterling Gates and Jamil Igle manage to undo years of abuse and make Supergirl a likable, working character again - good job, people) and the Authority: The Lost Year Reader (reprinting Grant Morrison and Gene Ha's two completed issues of their abandoned run, ahead of Keith Giffen and other artists aiming to complete the story in their absence).

There's also Marvel's PunisherMax (Yes, one word. It's the new "mature readers" title for the character, and maybe Marvel thinks pushing words together is more adult?), Green Hulk/Red Hulk collection (Heroes' writer Jeph Loeb writes a couple of gamma-irradiated monsters in a couple of adventures), the first issue of Strange (Mark Waid's reboot of the former Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme). And also, there's all manner of X-Men books: the Dark Avengers/X-Men: Utopia collection, as well as collections of Wolverine: Tales of Weapon X, Wolverine Weapon X: Adamantium Men and Wolverine/Gambit. All your Wolverine needs should definitely be met this week, let's face it.

If there are any other needs looking unserviced, I'd recommend checking out the complete list of books shipping from Diamond Distributors this week, and then remembering that your local comic book store can be found here. If this week seems overly expensive, don't worry; there's an entire skip week at the end of the year to get some of that money back. Look at it as a loan. Or something.

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.

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...

For those who missed the first "chapter" of Superpowers, you've already missed the return of many public domain superheroes from the Golden Age, as well as a plot that involves an illuminati-like organization that uses zombies as US soldiers in the Middle East, supervillains becoming terrorist organizations in Europe and the true nature of the atomic bomb as a diversionary tactic revealed. Project Superpowers: Chapter Two, which launched this past Wednesday, looks set to keep the weird level up with a President who (spoiler) just happens to be a supervillain from the future, and the return of all manner of child sidekicks ready to kick their former mentors' asses just to keep them in line. But if you're concerned that all this oddness detracts from old-school superhero action, then take a look at the covers for the first four issues of the series below and tell us if they don't make you feel nostalgic for a past you've never had.

Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0 is available now in comic stores.

It's an odd week for new comic releases, with less new projects coming out than recent weeks, but the few that are coming out are all well worth your attention. Who, for example, could turn up the chance to relive their childhood with Power Pack Classic collecting the first issues of Marvel's 1980s pre-teen superteam? Or, for that matter, Batman: The Black Casebook, a collection of some of the out-there 1950s stories referenced by Grant Morrison during Batman RIP? Only those who hate fun, that's who.

If superhero single issues are your thing, Marvel's releasing a new mini-series about Spider-Man's newest bad guy, Dark Reign: Mister Negative, as well as the first (of two) issues of Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem, hopefully answering the question of whether or not Peter is dead (My money's pretty firmly on "No," but you never can tell with Brian Bendis...). There's also X-Men Origins: Gambit, for those who've fallen for Remy LeBeau following his appearance in the Wolverine movie. Plus the X-Infernus collection for those who fell for the New Mutants back in the 1980s like I did (I can't resist...!).

DC also has the first issue of Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen's Batman: Streets of Gotham for people who still need convincing that Dick Grayson really is Batman these days.

Single issue of the week, though, is easily Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0, introducing the second series of one of the most bizarre superhero franchises around, complete with Alex Ross art, for just a dollar.

For those with more money to spare, however, there's a trilogy of books vying for your attention: Brian Fies' Whatever Happened To The World Of Tomorrow uses futurism and comic books to explore a character's relationship with his father to stunning effect, while James Stokoe's Wonton Soup Vol. 2 goes entirely in the other direction, making pop art out of space truckers and cookery.

If neither of those catch your eye, the first year of Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips' superhero spy book Sleeper gets reissued tomorrow, and if you missed it the first time around, it's definitely time to fix that.

All of this week's new releases - including the already-released-in-some-stores Captain America #600 - are listed on this week's Diamond Distribution Shipping List, which is just the thing to check before heading to your local comic store to find your four color fantasies. Just remember that three of those four colors are red, white and blue. The potentially undead Steve Rogers would want it that way.

More than five years after Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra killed off all the males of every species — with a couple of particular exceptions (Yes, I'm avoiding obvious spoilers) — Y: The Last Man #60 arrives on Wednesday to close out the series once and for all, and in the process let everyone know just what happens to the last man on Earth and his pet monkey. Expect poignancy, comedy and more than likely, a headfuck or two along the way in this extra-sized finale. And if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, then you owe it to yourself to start reading here and keep working your way through the series.

Let's see... What is worth looking out for that isn't the rebirth of a comic book icon or the death of a beloved series? Well, as I said yesterday, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic #25 is definitely worth your time, launching the Lucasfest crossover "Vector" on an unsuspecting Galaxy Far, Far Away. Or maybe you'd prefer that Dark Horse got your money for their Predator Omnibus Volume 1, giving you more stories about dreadlocked murderous aliens than you could ever want in one place.

Meanwhile, DC Comics isn't letting the death of Heath Ledger stop them from putting out a collection of Joker stories called Batman: The Man Who Laughs. This volume brings together a handful of fun stories written by the Man Who Killed Captain America (And Then Brought Him Back), Ed Brubaker. And Marvel offers you the chance to get in on the ground floor of their big alien invasion storyline "Secret Invasion" with a collection of the miniseries that's key to the plot, New Avengers: Illuminati.

Of course, there's every possibility that you're sick of death, aliens and space, and just want to relive your youth this week... In which case, Dynamite Entertainment has two retro comic options for you: Adolescent Radioactive Black-Belt Hamsters #1, reviving the honest-to-God Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-off from the '80s for an audience that probably doesn't even remember them. Or Project: Superpowers #0, which launches the new series by Marvels and Kingdom Come's prime superhero fetishist, Alex Ross, full of men in lovingly-rendered tights and pantbulges.

As always, you can see the full list of what to find in your local store here, and find out just where your local store actually is here. Just promise me that you'll pick up Y: The Last Man when you get there.