Let's quickly get the superhero stuff out of the way, shall we? DC is launching a new Azrael series, mixing Batman and The DaVinci Code for a new religious hero to light Gotham's streets. Or something.

DC is also putting out a hardcover collection of the much-delayed, but much-awesome Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds series, that redefined the Legion of Super-Heroes franchise at least until the next reboot.

Marvel sees that collection and raises Captain America: Road to Reborn, another hardcover collection, this time of the Cap issues leading up to Steve Rogers' return. Marvel also offers Dark Wolverine Vol. 1: The Prince, a collection of the first solo stories starring Wolverine's bastard (in many senses of the word) son, and the special issue Dark Reign: The List - Hulk, in which gamma irradiated monsters come face to face with Marvel's current New World Order (I predict smashing).

Keeping outside of monsters for the time being, Nexus: Space Opera and Star Trek: Mission's End offer your fill of interstellar drama for the week, with the former bringing back the cult space cop superhero from its 1980s indie comic heyday and the latter offering a take on the final days of James Kirk's original five-year mission. Sticking with movies, the first issue of GI Joe Movie: Snake Eyes lets Ray Park, the movie's own silent ninja, co-write a story about his own character.

But none of those, as fine as they are - and Nexus and Star Trek are both particularly fine - hold a candle to Image Comics' reissue of Five Fists of Science, Matt Fraction and Steven Saunders' alternate-history tale of Twain and Tesla teaming up to save the world from forces more ancient and deadly than many could imagine. If ever there was a book I could eagerly recommend to the majority of io9 readers, it'd be this one. Go forth and buy.

Oh, but not yet. We've still got the Hallowe'enish books to go! You know about Angel Vs. Frankenstein after yesterday's preview, but IDW also has Frankenstein's Mobster, a pun-laden, funny gangster romp recasting of Mary Shelley's misunderstood monster, and Spike Omnibus, a collection of stories about Joss Whedon's other vampire with a soul, for horror fans this week.

Marvel, meanwhile, has the first issue of The Stand: Soul Survivors, a new series adapting part of the Stephen King novel, and DC are putting out their annual DC Universe Hallowe'en Special filled with spooky shorts starring superhero favorites. 'Tis the season, after all.

Whether you're looking for things going bump in the night, or giant steampunk inventions designed to scare the world into peace, you'll be able to find it on this week's shipping list from Diamond Distributors, and then inside your local comic store. But, seriously: At least leaf through Five Fists Of Science. You'll thank me afterwards.

We reviewed webcomic Templar, Arizona earlier this month, looking at Spike's richly drawn universe marked by unusual architecture, businesses where you can legally contract a prostitute or eat a puppy, and subcultures devoted to complete honesty, usurping buildings for public housing, or the worship of the ancient Egyptian gods. We talked to Spike via email about her inspirations for Templar, Arizona and what the future holds.

What prompted you to write an alternate history comic in the first place?

It's a cheat. Ha, I can't lie, it's just a blatant cheat. I always wanted to write a comic full of imaginary subcultures that took place in an invented city, but with the "alternate history" angle tacked on, I can custom-fit the environment. I don't want cell phones, so there aren't any. I don't want Arizona's crazy meth problems, which would just be silly to omit if I were writing about the state's underclass realistically, so that's gone, too. Whatever I say, goes. And when something comes up, someone asks me why Templar's Arizona is (x) instead of (y), well hey, alternate history!

I also wanted the city to be more timeless than a product of my specific age. I don't know if I'm completely successful in that regard, but it was definitely part of the motivation. I don't want anyone looking at TAZ twenty years from now and saying, "Man, iPhones and internet. This is so 2000s!"

To what extent do you have the alternate timeline of "Templar" sketched out? Do you have a sense of why the universe is the way it is?

A lot of alternate history fiction has that one big event that changed everything as a base. The Nazis won World War II, the US lost the Revolutionary War, the Roman Empire discovered gunpowder, China discovered America. Templar doesn't have that. It's more subtle. Lots of small things are different. The world is still recognizable. And I have my reasons for that.

One, this fundamentally is NOT an exercise in what-if history. It's just its own environment. The environment is different to permit the storyline; the storyline isn't the product of the differences in the environment. And two, I'm just a big baby. I want it the way I want it. The Sikh Empire never fell, because I say so. Grass-roots revolutionary communism is rampant, because I want it to be. I want to see how people react in these situations.

Although the subcultures often take center stage, it's interesting to see the technological differences between our world and Templar's, like the absence of cellphones and broadcast television. Why did you decide to make these specific changes?

I'm not gonna lie; cellphones are annoying. In a storytelling sense, I mean. And I know that, because I'm part of the problem. I've watched TV shows and movies, watched everything crescendo to the climax, and sat there thinking, "Jesus, just CALL him. He's GOT to have a phone, he's a secret agent/CEO/21st century human." or "There is no good reason to not call the cops now. You're all stupid."

Have you noticed how the "Oh crap, my phone's got no bars!" scene needs to be kludged into everything, nowadays? Just to set things up for the REAL story? I hate that.

But really, I think the technological situation is a combination of how I was personally living when I started Templar, and having tech-minded friends who consider regaling you with the history of the personal computer awesome dinner conversation. I don't like cells, I don't watch broadcast TV, and I am attached to my computer. Templar reflects that.

To what extent is the city of Templar different from the rest of the country? Ben frequently seems surprised by what he sees, but he also seems to have been rather sheltered in his previous life?

The rest of the country is a lot like Templar. The differences are universal, but Ben is from the rural suburbs. Him moving to to Templar is like someone from our world who can see apple orchards from their bedroom window moving to LA or NYC. Sure, that guy has a general idea of what he's gonna see there. But he's still gonna stare when he sees his first transsexual, medical marijuana storefront, or black person up close.

And Ben, sheltered? Oh, man. I can't wait to get into that. You guys don't know the half of it.

It's easy to chuckle at holier-than-thou groups like the Sincerists or tragically hip characters like Curio and Tuesday. But to what extent do you feel that you're lampooning certain real-life subcultures or people, and to what extent are you chronicling your characters' search for authenticity?

I don't think I'm doing much lampooning at all, just being really unoriginal. I'm reproducing the inevitable complications that go along with any group that decides to give itself a name.

Sincerists have irritable hardliners convinced the new crop of snot-nosed kids aren't true to the cause. Barney John, leader of Reclamation, started his group with the best of intentions, and now he's watching it outgrow him, turn on him, and attempt to handle him like a entourage. Nile Revivalists moved to the states to worship Anubis and Osiris freely, only to discover that their children have no interest in their parents' faith. It's not good or bad, it just happens. So it goes.

And frankly, it's my goal with all my characters to make them truly three-dimensional. I really like trying to introduce them in a way that fools you into forming an opinion on who they are, then kicking what you thought you knew about them off a cliff. Gene the lovable dummy? No, Gene the Pythian oracle. On the floor. Naked. With a hard-on.

Is there a Templar subculture you'd fit into, or at least test drive for a while?

Ahaha oh God, no. What a terrible thought. A lot of them mean well, though. Well, except for the Cooks.

I occasionally get emails from people who think Jakeskin, Reclamation, and Sincerism aren't bad ideas. Those are terrifying emails. But to be fair, I know things they don't know.

It often seems that the major difference between out universe and the universe in Templar is that things are often taken to their logical extreme, as if the absence of zoning laws and FCC regulations creates a fertile breeding ground for addict hostels, shows like "In the Coliseum" or "The Damage Report," and the rather bizarre sculptures of presidents. Is there a comment you're trying to make, or is it more that you try to figure out just what would thrive in a place like Templar?

Templar is less commentary and more watershed. I watch almost nothing but documentaries, I love history and technology and sociological docs. I love museums and National Geographic. I have my favorite bands. And when I see something interesting, I steal it. The Jimmy Carter statue? Based off a real statue of George Washington, one depicting him as Zeus. Addict hostels are real in Britain and Washington state. "In the Coliseum" is just a Tom Waits song.

To what extent are the unusual features of Templar inspired by your own experiences in cities?

Pretty much not at all, I'd say... With the single exception of the scene with a drunken Doctor Bash being hauled out of the middle of the street, which is as close to autobiographical as the comic will ever get.

It must be very tempting for people to look at the comic and try to find me, because a lot of people are convinced they have. I'm apparently Reagan or Ben, depending on who's arguing the case. Templar contains no self-insertion at the character level, but you'd be surprised how hard that is for some people to accept.

Personally, I'm a bit miffed that there aren't clay bars around and that I can't buy a Chimera soda. Do you put things in your comic that you wish you would see in the real world?

Definitely, clay bars and Chimera being prime examples. But the comic's definitely not my idea of a utopia. Templar's full of things I also consider to be terrible. I think it's important to keep things balanced if you want to keep things interesting.

We've seen that a lot of your characters have mysterious or tragic pasts that have yet to be revealed, but do you have specific arcs planned out for them in the future?

Sure do. Everyone'll get their turn. And that's all I'm gonna say.

"Templar" reminds me a bit of Warren Ellis' "Transmetropolitan" in that we're also being led through an extreme and often overwhelming city by a columnist. But Ben is the anti-Spider Jerusalem — meek, humble to a fault, and unfamiliar with his surroundings. Will we see him come to discover and love things about the city on his own? And will we ever get to see him be a journalist?

Beautiful weather we're having.

One of the most striking things about the comic is the dialogue. Many of the characters have very distinct rhythms of speech, and the tenor of the conversations often speak volumes about the relationships between the characters. Do the speech patterns come from people you know or people you observe in your daily life?

I use a lot of cheats with the speech, just like I use a lot of cheats with the settings. I haven't given any characters specific voices from specific people, but they all have rules they follow. Favorite phrases, favorite curses, frequency of profanity, overall dorkiness, affectations, grammatical shortcuts. Most people have unique speech patterns, and I've always wanted my characters to talk like most people. I write the most natural dialogue I can manage, sometimes to a fault. I've had people complain that the dialogue is TOO realistic, with too many pauses and thick accents. I have a hard time caring about that, though.

You've been our tour guide through Templar for four years now. If I were to spend one day in Templar, what would be the must-see attractions?

The Oarlock, the legal brothel district. Little Cairo, the ethnic center of the Nile Revivalists. Xenophage, if you can both stomach and afford it. Any random copybook shop. And a protest, if you can find one. Bring a helmet.

[Templar, Arizona]

We begin our journey through the city of Templar with fellow newcomer Ben Kowalski. Ben left his home in Yakima, Washington, under mysterious circumstances, and has come to Templar possibly to find himself, but probably to become lost in the local color. Ben has a job writing a column for the city's newspaper, a curiosity about Templar's numerous and often outrageous subcultures, and a nasty habit of never leaving his apartment. Fortunately for us, his neighbor Reagan — an imposingly plump woman who treats lewdness as an art form — quickly drags him (and us) out of his apartment and into the heart of the city.

Spike has described the setting of Templar, Arizona as "a slightly irregular Arizona that fell off the back of a truck somewhere, and now all the power outlets are a weird shape and a couple of wars never happened." It's a world where no one has cell phones, where televisions look like laptop computers and shows have always been by subscription instead of broadcast. In lieu of Judge Judy, Templarites watch Claudius Graves, who forces legal disputants to battle inside his coliseum before dispensing his verdict, and rather than protest stores that sell angora sweaters, animal rights groups protest restaurants that serve puppies and panda.

But perhaps the most striking thing about Templar, and the thing Ben himself is most eager to see, is its host of extreme subcultures, tribes that make up (and disrupt) much of the city life. There are the Nile Revivalists, Egyptian immigrants who've gone back to the religion and traditions of the Ancient Egyptians, even going so far as to give their children names like Thutmose and Ra. The Sincerists vow to be scrupulously and absolutely honest in all their words and dealings. The Pastimes make steampunkers look unenthusiastic. The Jakeskin are a survivalist cult with a knack for petty theft and a ruthless dedication to defending their own. And the Reclamationists are soviet renovators who stage coups on Templar's buildings, seizing them and repurposing them as self-sufficient housing for the masses.

It's a weird and warped vision of the world, sometimes comical, sometimes off-putting, and sometimes terribly sad. But Spike's heavy, rounded lines, combined with grayscale and sepia tones give the comic a warm and inviting quality, telling us we're quite welcome to spy on this alien version of America, at least for the time beings. And we often feel precisely like we're spying. Templar consists of a series of vignettes, some dramatic, others focused on the day-to-day, and Spike frequently drops us in the middle of an intimate conversation, pulling back the curtain on her universe and her characters a little bit more. We learn how Sincerists feel about Chinese character tattoos. We meet Curio, a flighty rich girl who desperately wants to be cool, and her also wealthy but successfully hip friend Tuesday. We witness the tension between first generation Nile Revivalist immigrants and their less devout offspring. And we frequently find ourselves back with Ben as he tries to navigate his new home and befriends the outrageous, bizarre, and often mysterious

Spike is a writer who never underestimates her audience's intelligence, and while her scenes are sometimes expository, they are always couched in the unique language of her character. Templar demands close reading, and often rereading, to fully understand what's at work and to catch all the small details and sight gags that crowd her panels. It makes for a rich experience and the sense that we are visiting a fully realized world with characters who are truly, and often frighteningly, alive.

Templar, Arizona is an always-fascinating jaunt through an idiosyncratic universe, which — while often extreme — shares enough with our own world to be both amusing and discomforting. But, while it's not a place you'll want to live, you'll be glad that Spike gives you the opportunity to visit every now and then.

[Templar, Arizona]

The three page short "Almost Darkest" - written by Whedon and illustrated by Jo Chen, the artist behind the amazing covers to the current Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic - may just end up as a seemingly random dream indulging fans' and Whedon's fantasies (Buffy marrying Warren? Really?), but at least it features this sequence:

The strip is available on publisher Dark Horse's website, as part of their Dark Horse Presents online anthology series.

Always Darkest [Dark Horse]

Say what you will about Jonze - perhaps he is too meta and indie for his own good - but I have faith that this movie will be, above all things, beautiful. Let's hope the translation lives up to the promise of these pictures, because who knows where this man's mind can go with real-life monsters.

Where The Wild Things Are comes out on October 16th.

According to Muse Entertainment the movie is described as as:

Alien Western, a sci-fi television film about giant, vicious, alien bugs that come to earth to gorge themselves on the uranium deposits found in the ground of an Old West town, began principal photography this week in Romania starring James Marsters as Sam Danville, an outlaw who is about to be hanged when the aliens land.

Sounds like a Tremors rip, which is fine by me. You can't have enough scifi Westerns, especially when you get old cult character actors involved (yes sorry he will always be Spike to me).

[Muse Entertainment via Whedonesque]

We'll be judging the new Torchwood episodes based on important criteria such as raunchiness and drama.

The naughtiness: James "Spike" Marsters turns up, doing the same Fonzie trick he pulled off in Buffy. Actually, Spike is pretty great in his Adam Ant jacket, with his paralyzing lip gloss and his zany sexual innuendo. He copies Captain Jack's thing of lusting after everything that moves, including a poodle at one point. Oh, and there's a coked-up fish-man who steals a sports car.

How gay was it? Spike gets pretty raunchy with Captain Jack. The former boyfriends do a whole kissy-fighty dance when they first meet up, and then they argue in front of the Torchwood team about which one was "the wife" in their relationship. Answer: Spike was the wife. But he was "a good wife." Oh, and Jack finally asks Ianto the office boy out, and Ianto acts all gruff about it before saying yes. Of course.

Who gets laid? Nobody. In fact, boring old Toby complains for about twenty minutes about his lack of a sex life, while Tosh makes goo-goo eyes at him.

The pointless drama: Where to start? The gang is pouty that Jack was off traveling with David Tennant. In the middle of a conversation, Gwen grabs Jack and pushes him against the wall and shouts, "You left us!" and it feels like she's following a stage direction. Jack acts all put out that Gwen got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, and she hints that she only accepted Rhys' proposal because Jack was out of the picture. Spike is all possessive about Jack (as in the clip above) and wants the two of them to go off and run their old hustle again. I could go on and on.

Was there a plot? Umm. Not sure. There were some bombs, but they weren't really bombs,they were a diamond. But they weren't really a diamond, they were a bomb. And then they weren't. Sorry, not much help there.

Will the kid-friendly edited version make sense to anybody? It'll make as much sense as the regular version.