Included in this massive hardcover – the thickets volume in this series to date – are also Avengers-related issues such as Super-Villain Team-Up #9, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2, Marvel Premiere #35, #36, and #37 (3-D Man), and #49 (The Falcon), What If? #3 (Iron Avengers) and #9 (1950s Avengers) and material from Marvel Tales #100 (Hawkeye and the Two-Gun Kid) and Marvel Treasury Edition #13.

The Superman / Spider-Man special begins with Doctor Octopus working hard in his lab where he receives an invitation to do a little deadly science with a villain from Superman’s roster of foes. When radioactive material is stolen from a high tech facility, reporter Clark Kent and photographer Peter Parker travel to the facility to get the scoop.

Jack Griffin is a scientist with a high level of ambition and a low bar for ethics. He also has a lofty opinion of himself, disdain for his coworkers, and sociopathic tendencies. The combination quickly proves lethal in Universal Monsters The Invisible Man, which is now available in a hardcover collection.

Daniel Wise is a former police detective in a near-future Los Angeles, a city that has been victimized by terrorists who set off an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) and rendered the city without power. Months after the incident, electricity still won’t work in the affected area. Horses and walking are the preferred modes of transportation, lighting is by candles or sunlight, and much of the region has plunged into looting. Now the mayor has been kidnapped and Wise finds himself in the middle of it.

Angel and Faith are back, but not together, not even on the same continent. While delivering Giles to Buffy in the US, Faith has joined Kennedy for a mission and the possibility of joining her security organization Deepscan.

Kate Kane is in a bad place in the new Batwoman series. The first issue is set in an upscale health facility where she is being treated for both mental and physical wounds. Much of the issue is dedicated to a therapy session in which she expresses hopelessness and despair. Interspersed between those moments are scenes from her last, terrible fight with the chaotic villain Alice, who also happens to be Kate’s long-thought-dead twin sister Beth.

Detectives Macintosh and Skorzeny have finally had a break in the case of the missing boy, Billy Kinderman. And that break has led to a winding conversation with the Mad Hatter, filled with riddles and a sinister undertone. This is the first chapter in the “Unholy Ground” story arc and leaves readers with a genuinely surprising ending.

The situation on Sakaar just keeps getting worse. First, Korven declared himself king and immediately turned into a vicious ruler, then when She-Hulk chose to defend Quade – who was falsely accused of killing Korven’s wife – Korven decided that she would defend him in combat.

The team consisted of Woo, Namora, the Human Robot, Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, and Venus. One of the main reasons this collected edition is so cool, is that it also includes the first appearances of these characters from the pages of Marvel Mystery Comics #82, Yellow Claw #1, Venus #1, Menace #11, Men’s Adventures #26, and Marvel Boy #1, all gloriously restored. The beautiful rendition of Yellow Claw #1 alone is worth the price of admission.

Writer Mark Evanier and Steve Rude have once again teamed up, this time for a Space Ghost one-shot at Comico.

Alias: Red Band #1 starts with a great cover by David Mack. The complexity of the character is established with two striking views of Jessica Jones encapsulated by layers of symbols, shapes, and text.

Scene of the Crime #1, originally published by Vertigo, cover dated May 1999. I didn’t know a whole lot about the series, and I didn’t yet know much about the creators, writer Ed Brubaker, pencil artist Michael Lark, and inker Sean Phillips. Like a lot of comic fans, over the next few years I would get to know plenty about them, but at this point, I knew what I read in PREVIEWS and what my friends at DC Comics told me. That’s it.