Kid Flash 1
What Seems To Be The Problem? After gaining his powers in a recreation of the same accident that gave Barry Allen his, Wally West went through something his mentor hadn't - super-powered puberty. The same changes that made Wally a man also made the superspeed chemicals toxic, which meant that each time he used his powers, he took another step closer to death.
Is Death Guaranteed? Nope. In what can only be described as "lazy plotting," Wally was zapped by a villain's energy blast that managed to cure him of this ailment, a fact he celebrated by taking on the role of the Flash after Barry Allen's apparent death.

Impulse/Kid Flash 2
What Seems To Be The Problem? Even if puberty doesn't kill you, being a super-speedster comes with other deadly problems if Bart Allen is anything to go by: He's suffered from a hyper-metabolism that ages him much faster than he should on two separate occasions, now.
Is Death Guaranteed? Only kind of. After the problem was apparently solved the first time by forcing Bart to overload his own metabolism by running really fast (No, I'm not really sure how that works, either), it came back to haunt him in later life, and he died from it - except that his younger self was somehow stolen away into the future and brought back to life. I'm not sure how that worked, either, but at least it undid the character's unfortunate (and somewhat sensationalistic) death.

Spawn
What Seems To Be The Problem? Al Simmons was a murdered soldier who returned to Earth as a Hellspawn, with seemingly unlimited magical powers. Problem is, those powers are limited depending on the lifeforce of the symbiote he's become attached to on the process - Using his powers too often could result in its death... and his.
Is Death Guaranteed? Not in the slightest. As the series continued, creator Todd McFarlane and others came up with numerous workarounds, including new power sources, and various metamorphoses for the symbiote instead of deaths. As long as McFarlane can continue to make money from Spawn, expect death to be avoided.

Warlock/Doug Ramsey
What Seems To Be The Problem? It's the ultimate buddy movie waiting to happen: He's a techno-organic entity who requires other beings' lifeforce to survive! He's a nerd with a mutant gift for languages who'll happily give up his lifeforce to be part of the New Mutants! Talk about an enabling relationship.
Is Death Guaranteed? For Doug? Yes, although it wasn't Warlock's fault - He jumped in front of a bullet meant for fellow New Mutant Wolfsbane. Warlock lives on (and for awhile, even thought he was a re-animated Doug), helping to defeat alien invasions in Marvel Comics' Annihilation: Conquest and is due to return to the revived New Mutants series soon, as is Doug... as a zombie.

Kid Psycho
What Seems To Be The Problem? The wonderfully-named Legion of Super-Heroes wannabe Kid Psycho can use his advanced will power to move objects with his mind, and even travel through time thanks to the entirely unexplained telekinetic power of mind-time-travel (No, we really don't know about that either). The only problem is that, with each use of his magnificent mind, he takes one year off his life.
Is Death Guaranteed? Sadly, yes; he sacrificed himself during DC Comics' 1985 Crisis On Infinite Earths. The 31st Century is a lesser place for his loss.

Marvel Comics may have thought they were being original with a month of Wolverine covers "inspired" by classic artists to commemorate the launch of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie earlier this year - and we have to admit that all of the above all-original works are well done and kind of awesome - but Worth1000.com beat them to that idea punch more than three years earlier with their Superhero ModRen Photoshop contest. Here are some of the entries.

Many more at the link.

McFarlane tells MTV News that he'd like to cast DiCaprio in his remake-that's-not-a-remake. Not that DiCaprio would play the undead antihero. "The main character isn't Spawn, per se, it's the guy chasing Spawn," McFarlane told MTV News. That is, DiCaprio would play a detective — but a new character, not fan faves Sam or Twitch. McFarlane said the film would play as a Godfather-like crime drama in which DiCaprio's character would come to discover that something supernatural and diabolical is going on beyond the usual cops-and-robbers stuff.

Why DiCaprio, who McFarlane says was always in the back of his mind for the role? "It's a big wish, but his dad was a big fan of underground comic books and he came from that," McFarlane told MTV. "It's not a big special-effects movie, it's a character movie, so I could shoot it in 40-50 days and you don't have to budget that much time."

No word, of course, on whether DiCaprio is actually interested or available, or whether comic book readers might not prefer to see someone a little more, um, rugged hunting down Spawn. Still, given the shift in focus, we won't be the first to holler, "YARM!" Your mileage, however, may vary.

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane spilled the beans about his hoped-for reboot to MTV's Splash Page blog:

The thing I've had in my head for a long time isn't a big comic-book movie... Everything's real; it's like ‘The Departed,' ‘L.A. Confidential' or something like that - and there's only one thing out of the ordinary in the story I've written, which is the thing people know as Spawn. And only a few people see it.To me, it's more along the lines of ‘Jaws,' where you didn't see [the shark] for half the movie, and then you caught glimpses of him. 'Jaws was somewhat fantastic in that movie, and to keep it low-budget I can't have spaceships and super-villains and all that stuff.

Instead, what you'll see, apparently, is an undead guy in black clothes:

[Y]ou'll never see Spawn in his full regalia, because to me, he's more of a sentinel, like a living shadow. I've shown the artwork [to potential investors] and he's all black; he doesn't look exactly like what people have seen in the comic book.

Call me cynical, but this seems as if McFarlane has forgotten that all of Spawn's fans like the comic because of the art. Storywise, it's a generic mess of "Guy dies, comes back for revenge" with a time-limit built-in for cheap suspense. You lose the over-the-top visuals and try to make it "real," and you lose everything that made the character popular in the first place. But what do you think?

Todd McFarlane Reveals ‘Spawn' Reboot Details, New Character Costume [MTV Splash Page]

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.

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.

The new line sets up a brand-new setting for the character. According to the publicity for the toys,

The historic 35th line of SPAWN action figures makes the leap to the year 3047, when a heroic team of robot warriors fights to defend Earth from the unstoppable force of the villainous Mechanoid Army.

Mechanoid Army? 3047? What's that got to do with Martin Sheen overacting like crazy, that's what I want to know. Still, at least they look cool, which is probably the main thing.

Spawn Series 35: Robot Wars [Spawn.com]