[GameTrailersVia]

Spock
Died: Sacrificing himself by bringing the warp engines back online at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, leading to his dying from exposure to radiation.
Undied: His body was resurrected in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock thanks to the Deus Ex Machina powers of the Genesis Planet, and it turned out that his soul had lived on all along thanks to mind melding with Bones.
Cause of Undeath: Mind-meld and blatant plot ridiculousness in order to keep the fans happy. Admittedly, it was all set up in Star Trek II, but still.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, his soul was alive the entire time in Bones, but his body had enough time to go through a funeral and being shot off into space, so... 50/50? But not really, let's face it.

Ellen Tigh
Died: Poisoned by her husband after (in his eyes) betraying humanity in "Exodus, Part II" at the start of Battlestar Galactica's third season.
Undied: Instantly downloaded into a new body as part of the Fifth Cylon retcon, as revealed in the fourth season's "Sometimes A Great Notion."
Cause of Undeath: Traditional cylon download/rebirth.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, she was instantly reborn, which suggests that she was never actually dead as such, but the whole Fifth Cylon thing muddies the waters... especially when she was reborn as someone who wasn't exactly the Ellen she was when she died. We're going with "Kinda, but not really."

Boba Fett
Died: Falling into the Sarlacc's mouth in Return Of The Jedi.
Undied: Climbing back out of the Sarlacc's mouth in comic sequel Star Wars: Dark Empire.
Cause of Undeath: He was swallowed by apparently never chewed or digested and climbed his way out, apparently.
Does It Count As Death?: If you believe Dark Empire, not in the slightest. George Lucas apparently disagrees, however; it's said that he edited Fett's last appearance in the special edition of Return Of The Jedi to make it clearer that it's meant to be the end of the character.

John Sheridan
Died: Avoiding certain death by nuclear explosion at the end of Babylon 5's third season finale, "Z'ha'dum," by jumping into a pit so deep that it was impossible to survive. Oh, and then there was that nuclear explosion, which presumably would've destroyed the pit and everything within it anyway.
Undied: At the start of the show's fourth season, Sheridan was revealed to be in a limbo between life and death because of his love for Delenn. With the help of - and 20 years worth of lifeforce from - helpful fellow limbo-ite Lorien, he comes back to the land of the living.
Cause of Undeath: As Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting would say, choosing life. Who knew it was that simple?
Does It Count As Death?: Nope. Think of it as getting as far as death's foyer, before deciding to turn back because you'd changed your mind.

Tasha Yar
Died: Wanting out of her Starfleet contract early, Denise Crosby got her character killed at the hands of a gloopy, ooky oil monster in the first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation "Skin of Evil."
Undied: Thanks to time travel shenanigans, turns out never to have died in the alternate timeline of third season episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," and then manages to return to the past of the original timeline at the end of the episode in a way that still doesn't make a lot of sense.
Cause of Undeath: Alternate timelines having prevented her from dying in the first place.
Does It Count As Death?: Well, a Tasha Yar definitely died. In fact, as we learn upon the appearance of the second Yar's daughter Sela, the other Tasha was killed unsuccessfully trying to escape from the Romulans, so it looks as if any and all Tashas would end up dead one way or another.

Superman
Died: At the hands of the apparently unstoppable Doomsday in 1993's The Death of Superman storyline.
Undied: Midway through the follow-on The Return of Superman storyline, when it's been revealed that none of the four characters who've taken up the mantle are the real thing.
Cause of Undeath: He woke up. No, really; the audience is pretty much told that he'd never died in the first place, he'd just gone into superhibernation in order to heal from the fight.
Does It Count As Death?: Not at all, but it definitely counted as a moneyspinner for DC Comics, who went on to kill Green Arrow and Green Lantern within the next couple of years, as well as teasing deaths for the Flash and breaking Batman's back.

Bucky
Died: Trapped on a bomb that mentor and Nazi-fighting partner Captain America had managed to jump off of before it exploded, as explained way back in 1963's Avengers series.
Undied: In 2005's "Winter Soldier" storyline of Captain America, where he got reintroduced and prepped to become the new Captain America in 2007.
Cause of Undeath: Turns out that Bucky was, in fact, blown to bits by the exploding bomb... It's just that they were pretty large bits. Large enough to rebuild him into a brainwashed no-good commie assassin who gets put on ice between missions, until he meets Cap, goes rogue, remembers who he is, and then uses his mighty Russian technology for the good of American mankind.
Does It Count As Death?: What's brainwashed Russian assassin for no?

The Flash
Died: Which one? Barry Allen died in 1985's Crisis On Infinite Earths. Wally West disappeared and was, at various times, presumed dead/missing/no-one could make up their mind in 2004's Infinite Crisis, and Bart Allen kicked the bucket in 2007's The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13.
Undied: Wally came back in 2007's Justice League of America #10, Barry in 2008's Final Crisis #1 and Bart in 2009's Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4.
Cause of Undeath: Both Barry and Wally had, it turns out, never died. Barry had been swallowed into the Speed Force, which is the cosmic... thing... that gives all super-speed characters their powers in the DC Universe, while Wally's fate was ultimately (after a couple of failed attempts that were quickly contradicted) decided upon a variation of "He took his family on vacation to an alien planet and didn't tell anyone." Don't ask. Bart, meanwhile, did die, kind of... but his teenage self was trapped in a futuristic lightning rod and then magically released in the 31st century to fight Superboy Prime. Again, it's probably better if you didn't ask.
Does It Count As Death?: No question for either Barry or Wally (No), but Bart... I have no idea. I've read Legion of Three Worlds multiple times, and still don't understand the explanation that's given there; let's just never mention it again and pretend it didn't happen.

Jason Todd
Died: As the result of a real-life phone vote to see if Todd, the second Robin (as in Batman and), should be killed at the hands of the Joker. Seriously, 1988's comic industry, what the hell were you thinking?
Undied: 2004's Batman revealed that Todd was not only not dead, but had magically aged more than most other characters in the DC Universe in his off-panel absence.
Cause of Undeath: Superboy was punching the walls of reality, and things went a bit weird. You know how it is with these superheroes and their punching the walls of reality; history gets rewritten all over the place. Just be glad that Batman didn't end up as Batdinosaur. Although, now that we think about it, that'd be awesome.
Does It Count As Death?: Magically contradicting Schrodinger and his cat, Jason Todd both did and didn't die. His official history has it that he died, and then just came back to life thanks to the punching of reality, meaning that he was still alive. So, while it ultimately doesn't count as permanent death, there was a death in there somewhere.

Jean Grey
Died: In 1980's famous Uncanny X-Men #137, where she sacrifices herself for the good of the universe to stop herself from becoming overwhelmed by the godlike power she possessed that might lead her to eat a couple of planets if she got peckish.
Undied: It's revealed in 1986's Fantastic Four #286 that the Jean Grey who killed herself was never actually Jean Grey at all, but the Phoenix force, who's been cosmically imprinted with Jean's personality. Don't worry; the Phoenix force was already back by that point anyway.
Cause of Undeath: Jean hadn't died (at that point), and the resurrection of the Phoenix force was somewhat implied by the name - The official explanation was that the Phoenix force hadn't actually died either, just lain dormant until someone else (Jean's daughter from an alternate timeline. If you don't already know, don't ask) claimed it.
Does It Count As Death?: Before the retcon and ruined Chris Claremont's X-Men once and for all you bastards, it did. Now? No-one died until years later, when Jean really got the Phoenix power and then ended up dying anyway. Guess there's something unlucky about the name or something.

Fans of Marvel Comics' ongoing Dark Reign storyline will be happy this week. In addition to Dark Reign: The List - X-Men, there's also Dark X-Men: The Confession (which, in the mighty Marvel tradition, ties into Dark Reign, X-Men and the recently completed Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia) and Dark Reign: Made Men, which looks at what's happening for the villains not in the center of Norman Osborn's scheme to villainize America.

For those who prefer a brighter Marvel Universe, Joss Whedon's entire X-Men run gets a collection in the Astonishing X-Men Omnibus. And the X-Men Origins hardcover brings together some beautifully illustrated retellings of the earliest days of the mutant franchise. Spider-Woman #1 is the paper version of the motion comic, but the oddest release from Marvel this week is Pet Avengers Classic Vol. 1, which offers up an anthology of stories about Marvel's Mightiest Pets. Yes, really.

DC aren't the kind of publishers who'd pull a lame stunt like pet superheroes (Well, apart from the Legion of Super-Pets, and Krypto and Streaky and, okay, never mind). DC would much rather pull lame stunts like phone votes to decide the fates of long-running characters, and in the DC Comics Library: A Death In The Family hardcover, you can relive that bold, classy experiment that ended with Robin being blown up by the Joker. Prouder moments of classic comics get collected in the first volume of Flash Chronicles, reprinting (again) the first appearances of the Silver Age Flash. And the Push trade paperback collects the comic book prologue that was much better than the movie it tied into.

Luckily, and unusually, the two best books of the week are both single issues, allowing you to sample both before running back in a month for seconds. (And they're openings of mini-series, so you don't have to worry about making a long-term commitment.)

Superman: Secret Origin lets Geoff Johns and Gary Frank go to town on the Man of Steel, taking six issues to tell the story of how a baby rocketed from a dying planet could grow up to make the tights and cape combo work in a way that will doubtless entertain and hint at what's to come in the character's future.

Underground brings together the obscenely talented Jeff (X-Men First Class, Agents of Atlas and countless other wonderful books) Parker and Steve (Whiteout, which I promise is better than the movie) Lieber for a series that makes up in adventure and fun what it lacks in science fiction. Check out a preview of the first issue here to be convinced.

As always, all of these books and more can be found on the official Diamond shipping list for the week, and your local comic store can be found using your friendly neighborhood Comic Shop Locator. Just promise us that you'll believe that a man can fly and go underground all at the same time, huh?

The multiverse-spanning "Deep Cover for Batman" offered more of the deadpan over-the-top superheroing that's come to define this fun series; Batman was, as you'd expect if you'd seen more than a couple of episodes of the show, completely unsurprised by the discovery of parallel worlds featuring evil versions of himself - and even fighting Owlman, the evil alternate-Batman from the parallel world's Injustice Syndicate, didn't seem to faze him that much. The mix of grand ideas and comedically low-key delivery (The Drew Carey Show and Office Space's Deidrich Bader excels as Batman, with his faux noir narration) that's made this series such a joy to watch really came to a head with last night's trip to a world where everything was reversed, giving us a crime-fighting Joker and evil versions of the show's previous guest-stars Green Arrow, Blue Beetle and Red Tornado, along with a wonderful climax that saw the off-screen creation of a world full of irradiated zombie superheroes. If ever there was a call for a sequel, it's the promise of irradiated zombie superheroes.
Brave and The Bold never attempts to do anything more than entertain; it's not trying to offer any grandiose "definitive" idea of its characters, or recreate the superhero cartoon - it's literally just trying to make you laugh, get excited, and lose yourself in the story for half an hour. But, in doing so, it's ended up managing to come up with something that mixes the ludicrousness of the '60s Batman TV show with the '70s Bob Haney Brave and Bold comic and the brilliance of the '90s Batman: The Animated Series to create what may be the perfect Batman cartoon. Here's hoping it sticks around for some time.

All Ledgerisms aside, is it wrong of me to be worried about people who saw The Dark Knight and thought, "That kind of creepy guy with the obvious lack of morality? I wanna have him on my face when it's cold!"? Also, what is a "combination ski mask and beanie" anyway? Now I know that I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

The Dark Knight Joker Combination Ski Mask & Winter Beanie [Amazon] (Via)

Author F. Paul Wilson had a chance to see The Dark Knight recently, and found Ledger's Joker rather... familiar:

Yeah, that's my Joker.

Am I saying they couldn't have come up with that Joker without me? Not at all. As I was watching I got hints of the infusion of anarchic nihilism I'd administered, but nothing to write an email about…until the interrogation room scenes and his scene in the hospital with Harvey Dent. I watched those multiple times, recognized the seductive evil a work, and realized the emailers were right: Somebody somewhere along the line, in researching the character, had read [Wilson's short story from the 1989 prose anthology The Further Adventures of Batman] "Definitive Therapy." He may not even remember. I know I didn't realize that Matheson's "Born of Man and Woman" became my "Faces," and Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" became Sibs until I reread their stories. It happens.

Am I gonna sue? Hell, no. First off, I can't. The Joker is not my character and the story was work for hire, so what I did with him belongs to DC. (As I've said before, When you play in someone else's sandbox, they get to keep your castle. This is why I don't do work for hire unless the sand is so special I've just gotta play with it. Like the Joker.)

And second, I think it's cool they liked my guy enough to put him to work in their film.

To convince others of his case, Wilson's put "Definitive Therapy" online - and, yes, there are definitely some similarities in the portrayal of the Joker... but both just seem to harken back to the same basic idea of a scary man with a clown's face that came from the Joker's original comic appearances. Go and read for yourself, and make up your own mind, however.

My Joker... Their Joker [Repairmanjack.com]

For its part, Warner Bros is convinced that Ledger's part in The Dark Knight was a supporting one, and something that Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger supports for more cynical reasons:

[T]he most important thing to consider is his chance at the win. I doubt he'd have a shot at beating The Wrestler's Mickey Rourke, or Milk's Sean Penn, or Frost/Nixon's Frank Langella in the Best Actor race. But in the supporting category, his strongest likely competitor is Doubt's Philip Seymour Hoffman, coincidentally the man who defeated Ledger for Best Actor the only other time Ledger was nominated, for Brokeback Mountain. While Hoffman's Capote performance was the sure bet back then, this time it could be a true toss-up.

For my part, I think that the role is most definitely a supporting one. Despite how powerful Ledger's performance was - and it was easily the strongest thing about the movie as a whole, in my opinion - the focus was never really on the Joker as a character, but the effect that he had on others - most notably, Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent. The focus of the film was really those two characters, and if anyone deserves a Best Actor nod from the movie (and I don't think anyone really does, to be honest), it'd be Aaron Eckhart for his take on Dent.

There's been a lot of buzz - and rightfully so- about Ledger's Joker, but I think that it's almost placed too much importance on both the character's place within the movie, and the actor's. Ledger deserves to be nominated for - and, probably, win - the Best Supporting Actor award not because that's where he stands the best chance of winning or because the movie wasn't called The Joker, but because, ultimately, that's what his role actually was in the film everyone saw.

Heath Ledger "100% Supporting" [EW.com]

Within 24 hours of the creation of the Joker's Twitter account, "he" had close to 2000 followers, and was eagerly offering up 140-character versions of his particular brand of wisdom:

I love the sound of this Large Hadron Collider thing.

The news has gotten sooo dull since I've been locked up. How about Anarchy?!! RRRRRRandom Violence! Banana Peel Deaths...

All of this chit-chat is heartwarming, really. Now that we are all acquainted are any of you twits going to assist in my emancipation?

Not that all of the 30 tweets in the first 12 hour period - apparently that internet access for inmates of Arkham Asylum is pretty good - were entirely random; the Joker also chatted with other Twitter users, threatening them and critiquing their senses of humor ("Hey I've got a joke for you twits: What do you call a half naked dead guy nailed to the wall?" followed by "The answer was ART. If any of you twits try to steal a punchline again you can be sure you'll have a front row seat to my artistic side.") in between complaining about Batman's dress sense and the necessity of medication ("Why so sedated?"). Before he retired for his first night, however, he did have a particularly interesting final message to impart:

Oooooh everyone is so bold and brave while I'm locked up in Arkham. You'll be singing a different tune once I've secured my early release.

"bold and brave"? Just like the upcoming new Batman cartoon on Cartoon Network, Batman: The Brave And The Bold - who said that cross-promotion doesn't work? - but that mention of an early release is what seems particularly interesting. Will The Dark Knight appear on DVD and BluRay before its planned December date?

Keep watching the internets for more news, but one thing's for sure - Don't ask the Joker. That guy's nuts.

[The Joker on Twitter]

[Destiny Interrupted]

According to the Roanoke Times, two teenagers from Pembroke, VA, have been arrested and admitted to creating "a series of playing cards that were defaced with threatening writing and left at stores in Christiansburg and Pearisburg — a gesture police said the teens admitted had been inspired by this summer's Batman movie, 'The Dark Knight.'" However, what police are charging them with seems more than slightly excessive: conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.

Don't get me wrong; I'm sure that the cards were upsetting to those that found them (even though all they apparently said was "Joker"), and I agree that they should be charged with something for placing them. But conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism? Really?

The Roanoke Times story makes it fairly clear that the two 18-year-olds, Justin Colby Dirico and Bryan Eugene Stafford, are much more aimless Dark Knight fans than terrorists:

The teenagers "were real remorseful. They said they never had any intentions of harming anybody," [Police Chief JC] Martin said after talking with them. He said it appeared to be "a prank that kind of got out of hand."

In The Dark Knight, authorities and moviemakers alike are quick to label the Joker a terrorist, but he does much more than leave playing cards for people to find. Is this just a case of real life dumbly following art?

Teens dealt charges over Joker cards [Roanoke.com]

It's... a Burger King Joker, I guess? Or perhaps an Emperor Joker? But what with a conference center full of Heath Ledger-alikes, it was nice to see a different take on ol' smiley.
And here's the Joker's Dark Knight nemesis, looking just as impressive as he did with millions of dollars' worth of CGI behind him.
You can just imagine the conversation here, can't you? "Okay, I'm gonna be Arnold Terminator. I'll look bad-ass and have blood all over me. You can be the other guy from T2. Here. Stick this on your hand and dress like a cop."
Dear DC Comics:
This is why a Question movie would look awesome.
Am I the only person who finds this Plastic (Wo)Man strangely sexy? If so, forget I said anything.
He may play a faceless hard-ass in the Halo videogames, but in real life? The Master Chief is a nerd just like you and me.
Hulk Smash! Or, if his plush muscles are anything to go by, maybe he'll just cuddle you to death.
The stars of Star Wars: Episode 2.5: When Those Clones Were Kids.
Sadly, when you tried to open up his chest in real life, it was already full of blood and guts and shit.
While I didn't see any Doctor Mrs. The Monarchs - and shame on all of you for that, collective Comic-Con attendees - this awesome Dr. Henry Killinger (complete with Monarch Henchman) almost made up for it.
No, your eyes really aren't deceiving you; that really is Teela and Evil-Lyn cosying up to the terrifying mascot of Mattel, "Matty". I'm telling you, Matty freaked me out last weekend.
Now that he's lost his main squeeze to a freakily-headed corporate mascot, poor Skeletor has nothing better to do than just hang around the con, heartbroken.
There are two children who are going to grow up to resent their parents. Do you think that when the little girl hits puberty and starts rebelling against her mom and dad, they'll make her wear the Dark Phoenix outfit instead?
You know what makes this Starscream so great? The incredibly happy, smiling face. He may be a murderous killing machine out to enslave humanity, but look at him - He's so cute!
Possibly the best outfits of the entire con - Human Tie Fighters. The only thing that would've made this better would be if someone had thought to decorate the entire con like the surface of the Death Star, so that at the end of Sunday, they could've run around it, while a gang of kids dressed as the Millennium Falcon pretended to shoot at them before shouting "You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing so we can all go home!"

Four Days, Four Hundred Cosplay Photos. Welcome to the Ultimate Geek Gallery [Maximum PC]

Robinson, often cited as the uncredited creator of the Joker, was the guest of honor at a panel that seemed as much about the Joker than the Batman. Part of this comes from the fact that all the current creators admitted that the Joker was their favorite Batman villain, although under duress (Morrison complaining that he didn't want to say it, because it was so obvious; Dini said that he'd "write a Joker comic even if it had nothing to do with the Batman").

A lot of the conversation centered around just why the Joker is so great. Basically, it's because he isn't funny, apparently:

Azzarello: When you try to tell a Joker story, it's not going to have a happy ending. I don't think he's funny, I think he's one of those guys who thinks he's funny. He's bigger than you, and if you don't laugh at his jokes, he'll put a bottle in your neck.
Dini: I think of the Joker as the ultimate bully. Nothing he says is funny, apart from to him.
Morrison: The Joker's great to write, because he changes all the time. He's not even funny at all, he's just bad news. He's the guy who comes in when you're sitting in the subway and sits next to you and he starts reading your book. You're just like, please please please go away, please, and he just keeps coming.
Azzarello: He was easy to write, for me. He doesn't think. He's literally in the now, like a dog.
Robinson: I enjoy seeing the different interpretations of the character. Part of my initial intent was to create a character with all these contradictions against his nature.
Morrison: He has to be the opposite of Batman: Where Batman is healthy, he has to be diseased. When he's the opposite of Batman, you can't go wrong.
Robinson: We didn't explain the whole being, why he's white. I thought it would be cool not to explain it, make it part of the whole mystery of the character. We discussed it and decided not to explain it.
Azzarello: As soon as you give him a definitive origin, you take away a lot of the power of the character.
Morrison: And it shouldn't make sense, he shouldn't make sense. He's chaos.

Unsurprisingly, The Dark Knight came in for a lot of praise, with Morrison calling it "the best Batman movie ever thought of." Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was also singled out for praise, with Robinson saying that it captured the spirit of this generation's Joker.

When it comes to current Batman storyline "Batman RIP," everyone involved is keeping their mouths firmly shut aside from saying that it will change the character considerably. Asked about the origins of the current deconstructive storyline, Morrison explained that he wanted to make his run on the title about the history of the character, including all of the oft-ignored 1950s science fiction stories:

For me, all the Batman stories really happened. Like, when he was 24, he and Robin were running around, tripping on Joker gas.

With fans asking what comes next, Detective Comics artist Dustin Nguyen suggested "Batman SOS," while Morrison teased the room by saying, "New Batman, new Robin? Think about it."

Whatever comes next will be handled by the same creative teams; both Morrison and Paul Dini said that they were on their titles indefinitely, with Morrison saying that he'd write Batman until he died, given the choice. Not that they're sharing who that Batman will be; asked about who their ideal replacement for Bruce Wayne would be, Morrison shouted, "I'm writing it! I can't tell you that!"

After explaining what "RIP" doesn't stand for - It's not "Really Is Pennyworth," as some stealth reveal that the villain will turn out to be helpful butler Alfred Pennyworth; Morrison eventually admitted that RIP stands for whatever you want it to stand for (He suggested "Rubber Is Perfect" as his preferred meaning) - the panel ended with each writer explaining how much politics plays into their interpretation of the character. Brian Azzarello (writer of the upcoming The Joker graphic novel) said that politics played in "a lot," while Dini said that he didn't really think of his writing in political terms. Morrison, of course, closed the panel by summing up his take of why the world needs a Batman:

It's more to do with the way things feel, rather than (specific) events. That's why Batman is a good hero for this culture, which is quite dark and war-based. It's not specific events, it's more a feeling of the way things are... That's why Batman is so cool. He doesn't use guns and he still kicks your ass. That's the whole point. That's his psychology. If Batman kills everyone, he's just another soldier. We don't need another soldier, we have millions of soldiers. We need Batman.

Oldman and Nolan confirmed the next Batman villain would be The Riddler, last played by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever. Asked whether they would recast the role of the Joker due to the sad passing of actor Heath Ledger Oldman expressed his great appreciation for Ledger's portrayal, and said, "Maybe we don't need the Joker. Because we'll have The Riddler." Fascinating, how will Nolan bring to life such an over-the-top character? Granted he brought The Joker to deep and dark reality, so The Riddler could very well be a slightly believable villain.

Director Chris Nolan had no idea about bringing back The Joker, and in fact he says he's not especially gung ho about making a third Batman movie in the first place. When asked about making a third film, Nolan tells Movie Web, "I don't know. I take my projects one at a time, and I am not thinking about that right now. I don't know if I want to come back." Whoa — what's with the sour grapes? You've been making movie magic, why not round out the series while you still have all the actors you love under contract? [Movie Web]

Don't get me wrong; I know that Batman is as much about the gadgets as he is the whole parents-getting-killed-so-he-fights-crime thing. But the last two posters to be released promoting The Dark Knight have both focused much more on the Batcycle than they have the caped crusader; all you can see is his head, on both posters. Holy guano, Batfans; why are Warner Bros hiding the dark knight?

I'm all for mystery, but in the fifteen posters released for The Dark Knight to date, not only is the eponymous hero of the movie absent from eight of them, there are only three where you can really see more than his head or a hand - and in two of those, he has his back to you. When you can actually see more of Christian Bale's Batman in a Got Milk advertisement than the movie's own publicity, you have to wonder what's going on. We've narrowed it down to three possibilities:

Someone finally realized that the movie Batman costume looks ridiculous: Yes, it's practical with all the padding and everything, but look at it - It's like he's wearing a tire. It's a movie where we're already buying a hundred different unbelievable things, so why do we have to care about the believability of his body armor? Whatever happened to the simplicity of the comic book outfit, with the grey and the black and wearing his pants on the outside?

Christian Bale couldn't breathe in and push out his chest for the length of the movie, and almost all publicity shots they had made Batman look fat: Hey, crimefighting's a tough gig, and who can manage to look glamorous all the time when keeping a city safe from Aaron Eckhart 24-7? Just as cops like to stereotypically take a break by having a doughnut or several, so does a Batman like to indulge in his pastry of choice: The bearclaw.

Warner Bros wants to convince fans that Batman is now a Transformer: It sounds ridiculous, I know, but think about it: Transformers was a massive hit last year, and Warners may be hoping that the audience out there is so hungry for new stories about heroes who can turn themselves into vehicles that they'll mistake Batman's head on a bike to mean that Batman has, himself, taken his crusade for justice so far that he was willing to turn himself into a part-man, part-bike cyborg if it meant Gotham City was even 1% safer at night. And when most people haven't seen anything other than Batman's head and his massive bike, who's to say that that's not the case?

It's sad to see that the folks at Warners seem to be downplaying Batman in the advertisements for his own movie. I mean, I like The Joker as much as the next man, but you pay too much attention to him and not your star and you end up with... well, the first Tim Burton Batman. And no-one wants to go through that again.

[The Dark Knight]

Marvel Comics leads the movie tie-ins with a couple of Hulk-related books. The wonderfully-named Hulk: Raging Thunder brings back Thundra (A superstrong Amazon who hated anything with a penis but had a crush on the Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm, making you wonder about his particularly rocky manhood, and no, I promise I’m not making this up) and gives her a large green specimen of the less fair sex to beat up on. Gender issues have rarely been this violent, true believer! Luckily, the second gamma-irradiated launch this week deals with much more traditional superhero fare, like absent fathers and aliens having stupid names: Skaar, Son of Hulk spins out of the year-long “Planet Hulk” storyline and stars the half-alien bastard son of Bruce Banner’s alter ego, a teenager with green skin and smashing on his adolescent mind as he deals with life in outer space. How can you resist?

(Marvel’s really concentrating on the SF this week – They’re also putting out an anthology of Secret Invasion-related shorts called Who Do You Trust?, the first issue of a new series based on Jack Kirby’s awesome Eternals, a trade of the first half of Kirby’s run on that title, and a collection of the recent, zen, Silver Surfer series, In Thy Name. There’s also a hardback collection of the last Marvel Zombies series, as well. Yes, they are trying to bankrupt you.)

Dark Horse are also concentrating on the tie-in dollar, with a raft of Hellboy product. If the first issue of a new series starring Hellboy’s (former) employers, the BPRD, isn’t enough for you (It’s called War on Frogs, which should really be all you need to know), then there’s also a set of three miniature plastic figures of characters from the series. There's also the Hellboy Book and Figure Set, putting together a Hellboy action figure and hardback digest version of Hellboy's first adventure to make the perfect gift for the Guillermo Del Toro fan in your life.

DC, meanwhile, are throwing their weight behind The Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told (a collection of stories from the history of Heath Ledger’s favorite Bat-villain.) Plus the first issue of the comic book version of NBC’s Chuck, proving that… well, they’re not really all about the multimedia this week after all. Much more interesting from Superman’s home team is the hardcover collection The Question: The Five Books of Blood, bringing Greg Rucka’s lesbian noir hero into her own for all of you faceless fetishists out there. She used to be on the Batman cartoon, do you think that counts…?

As ever, the full list of this week’s releases can be found here, with your very own low-tech comic store GPS being found here. Just remember, make sure that you're only buying something that has at least an option taken out on it.

New York City Clown Gang George, Christopher and Keelin wait in line for the trailer.

Following the clues from the disfigured presidents on their eerie why so serious site, I joined the rest of the Clown Gang in New York City's Bryant Park. We were lead to a theater where they screened the new trailer that premiered at NYCC. As we first reported the Joker continues on his, "Kill the batman," discourse and gathering of criminals for chaos. It all was the same except for one major moment that I can not believe I missed in the first screening, I must have blinked, it's that fast. White night Harvey Dent has a voice over where he says,"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Then Dent is seen on the floor screaming no as we described before but then in an instant, a mere instant, and I hope my eyes weren't playing tricks on me you see a silhouetted man with hair like Dent. This person is scratching the side of their face with a gun. The very tip of his nose and along the side of his profile appears to be flaky and black, like the edge of a burn mark. Here's a blurry screengrab: It happened so fast I had to grab three fans afterwards to confirm that I wasn't hallucinating. They all concurred it was the first screen shots of Two Face. Take a look (if you can make it out) and let me know what you think.

More fans in line for the trailer screening.