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.

Get your space opera thrills with Nova Vol. 1: Annihilation Conquest. Nova, the Marvel Universe's answer to Green Lantern, came back from total obscurity during 2006's Annihilation mega-crossover. This trade collects the first seven issues of the Nova series that came after Annihilation ended. It crosses over with some other storylines, including Civil War, but manages to remain amazingly readable on its own.

Also from Marvel: The Ultimates Vol. 2 gets collected in a $35 hardcover.

If you're looking for something less superhero-y, Astronaut Dad Vol. 1 looks pretty great. It's a coming-of-age tale in the 1960s, about two kids who discover their dads aren't just astronauts in training — they're working on an orbital spy program. It's the first of two volumes, and it's only $5.95. And from IDW, there's the Transformers Megatron Origin TP, which reveals at last how the Megatron became the baddest bot and gathered his own Manson Family in the form of the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, in the floppies, Fantastic Four #552 starts to reveal what Reed Richards was really up to during Civil War. Many fans had a lot of complaints about Richards' apparently out-of-behavior psycho behavior during that series, and writer Dwayne McDuffie has been slowly rebuilding Richards into a believable character again. So this could be an interesting character-saving patch, or a pointless detour.

Also, Battlestar Galactica: Origins #1 shows how Gaius Baltar became the puppy-eyed, weepy, threesome-having politician/religious figure he is today. Nexus: The Origin reprints an award-winning one-shot from 1991 that gets you up to speed on Horatio Hellpop and his tortured world. And Booster Gold #5 dares to tamper with one of comics' most iconic — and controversial — stories, as Booster travels back to stop the Joker from shooting Batgirl in the spine.