This year's FCBD - set, as usual, the day after the summer's big comic-related movie opens - has 41 different freebies for you to read, as well as two additional miniature figures to collect (If you really, really want that Iron Man Heroclix figure, get yourself to your local comic store early Saturday morning, people) and all manner of creator signings galore (Go here for a complete list of who is signing where). If nothing else, it's a good chance to pick and choose some new things to read and get hooked on; here's our pick of what you should be spending your free time and nothing else on.

While DC Comics and Marvel Comics are both putting two books out each for the event, Marvel distinguishes themselves by both of their books being brand new material: X-Men: FCBD 2008 Edition offers Mike Carey and Greg Land giving you the start of "the future of mutantkind", while the more kid-friendly Marvel Adventures features movie franchises Spider-Man, the Hulk and Iron Man teaming up to fight crime and reduced box office potential. DC's also splitting their books between "regular" and kid books, offering reprints of the very, very good first issue of All-Star Superman and the not-as-good-but-still-worthwhile kid book Tiny Titans, which sees Puffy Ami-Yumi's favorite underage superteam as even younger kids in school. Don't ask, just pick it up.

Other all-new material includes Dark Horse's Hellboy/BPRD issue, with new stories by creator Mike Mignola and friends, Project Superpowers resurrecting public domain superheroes courtesy of Kingdom Come's Alex Ross, Del Rey's Dabel Bros preview book of novel adaptations (including previews of work by Dean Koontz, Jim Butcher and George RR Martin's Wild Cards series) and Red5 Comics' fun retro throwback SF series Atomic Robo.

Most worthy of the reprinted material are the EC Comics Sampler - reprinting several stories from the publisher that made Frederic Wertham go apeshit and bring congressional hearings into the comic book industry in the 50s - and Oni Press' Maintenance #1, which follows the unlucky janitorial crew of an evil scientist think tank. There's also classic Disney duck action in Gyro Gearloose and a couple of international anthologies worth looking into with Drawn and Quarterly's Gegika: A Drawn+Quarterly Manga Sampler and Fantagraphics' IGNATZ: International Graphic Novels At Their Zenith.

There are many more books available tomorrow - go here for a full list, including some previews - but why not just find the store closest to you and pick up whatever looks most interesting to you, even if it is Sci-Fi/Virgin's The Stranded? It's not like it's going to cost you anything, after all...

It's another of those strange, uneven, weeks for comic releases with Marvel taking it easy with the exception of a couple of collections worth noting (Marvel Zombies: Dead Days collects the second series of the "What if Marvel's heroes all became zombies and ate each other?" comedy, while What If? Civil War brings together the last few specials of alternate worlds where Iron Man isn't a dick and Spider-Man didn't sell out entirely.)

And DC is launching some particularly uninspiring series in response. I mean, sure, Batman: Death Mask will probably be several shades of awesome and I'm sure there's an audience for the Marv Wolfman nostalgiafest that is Titans (bringing together all of "The New Teen Titans" again for the first time since... Well, Devin Grayson launched a book called Titans about nine years ago), but The Number Of The Beast? Do fans really want to see Warren Ellis and Jim Lee's creative legacies beaten up so badly that they'll buy a third six-issue series about apocalypse visiting DC's Wildstorm imprint in a row?

No, the real interest of the week is in the independents aisle. The comic version of Wild Cards launches, for one thing, and Brett Ratner's future movie Harbinger revisits its comic past in the Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover collection.

If your retro taste is for something much older, then you may find yourself drawn to the classic 1950s SF pulp found in a reprint of Frank Hampson's beautifully-illustrated Classic Dan Dare: Reign of The Robots, which will make even the most cynical young ones amongst you marvel at just how gorgeous old British comics were, back in the day.

The pick of the week, however, is Aqua Leung, a new graphic novel by Amazing Joy Buzzards creator Mark Andrew Smith with artist Paul Maybury that tells the story of Aqua, an asshole kid who discovers that he's actually the only surviving member of the royal family of Atlantis and sets out to regain his throne, clear his family name and beat up sharks. Even though it already sounds awesome, the book itself is twice as good as you'd expect, and despite it not really being science fiction, it's easily the one thing that you should be leaving your comic store with this week.

Wondering where that comic store would be? Check here. Wondering what else is coming out this week? Check here. Just remember to check out the story about the Atlantean boy king next time you're out.

Each of the 28 contestants in the contest - visualized by Mike Miller, a somewhat controversial former DC Comics artist - will be posting "confessionals" about the unfolding contest as it goes on, written by different writers from the Wild Cards books. Kevin Andrew Murphy, whose first character (Rosa Loteria) is already offering gossip about her fellow contestants, promises that if readers ask questions of certain characters, they may just answer:

Of course, the contestants are all busy with challenges on the show, but who knows, some of them might answer.

American Hero [Wild Cards Books.com]

The new series, called Wild Cards: The Hard Call is being brought to you by Dabel Brothers Productions, who've made a cottage industry of bringing fantasy and sci-fi properties — and their creators — into comics over the last couple of years (Some of their previous hits have included adaptations and original stories from the likes of Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton and Wild Cards' daddy himself, George R.R. Martin). Unlike the majority of their line, this series by creators Daniel Abraham and former DC Comics and Image artist Eric Battle offers up a brand new story instead of an adaptation, although it's aimed squarely at the existing fanbase as the press release shows:

Over twenty years later, Wild Cards is returning to comic books, but this time, with a brand new story set in the present day where the Wild Card virus strikes again at a high school in Colorado. The survivors are rushed to New York City's clinic for those affected by the virus. And while one student has drawn the joker, two more have discovered that they are Aces — one with the power to release electricity from his body, and another with the ability to travel through mirrors. Meanwhile, Croyd Crenson, the ace known as "The Sleeper," has been framed for murder in the New York City slum known as Jokertown... and he's not going to rest until he clears his name.