There’s vegetable. And there’s somewhere in between. That’s where Dr. Pamela Isley, a.k.a. Poison Ivy, finds herself. Instead of battling the Dark Knight, she is now a researcher at the Gotham Botanical Gardens, studying the possibility of creating plant-human hybrids. But when her fellow scientists start turning up dead, she’s both the natural leading suspect…and the only person (or plant) who can crack the case. To solve the mystery, Poison Ivy must team up—or throw down—with her oldest friends and closest frenemies, from Harley Quinn to Catwoman to the Swamp Thing. Can she keep things under control, or will she be responsible for a deadly new harvest? Find out in POISON IVY: CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH. Sprouting from the brains of the up-and-coming creative team of writer Amy Chu and artist Clay Mann, it’s a mean, green murder mystery starring one of Batman’s greatest rogues!Collects: Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death #1-6.

    (And fans of Rucka--assuming they get around to reading this at all--will still likely hold the opinion that Atticus Kodiak could take Batman in a standup fight any day.) DC shook up Gotham--literally--in its 1999 Batman plot arc: a 7.6 earthquake rocked Gotham City, wreaking enough destruction to bring the broken, crime-ridden, runt kid-brother of Metropolis and New York to its knees. In the story line's most indulgent liberty, those fat cats in Washington decide to write off Gotham, à la Escape from New York, blowing up the connecting bridges, mining the surrounding waterways, and signing into law the Federal Declaration of No Man's Land, which makes it a crime to even set foot in the city. The usual suspects from Arkham Asylum, Two-Face and the Penguin, the Riddler and Dr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Mr. Zsasz, file out to begin running the show, strong-arming and manipulating the block-by-block turf battles that envelop the now-ultraviolent city. A conflicted Batman shows up fashionably late, only to find that these lunatics are the least of his worries: Lex Luthor, Superman's archfoe, has nefarious designs on Gotham too. Could this possibly get any better? Sure, No Man's Land is derivative fiction, but the appeal of Rucka--and, of course, Batman--can make this one worth the read. --Paul HughesCollecting BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND #1, BATMAN #563-564, BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT #83-84, DETECTIVE COMICS #730-731 and BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #116.

    Classic Marvel icons such as the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil appear in this intriguing world of 17th-century science and sorcery, instantly familiar to readers, yet subtly different in this new time. Marvel 1602 combines classic Marvel action and adventure with the historically accurate setting of Queen Elizabeth I's reign to create a unique series unlike any other published by Marvel Comics.Collecting Marvel 1602 #1-8 - penciled by andy Kubert and digitally painted by Richard Isanove, with covers by Scott McKowen.

    Vaughan (PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, Y: THE LAST MAN) uniquely combines big city politics and superheroes in this criticially acclaimed series. Set in our modern-day world, EX MACHINA tells the story of civil engineer Mitchell Hundred, who becomes America's first living, breathing super-hero after a strange accident gives him the power to communicate with machines. Eventually Mitchell tires of risking his life merely to maintain the status quo, retires from masked crime fighting and runs for mayor of New York City, winning by a landslide after the events of 9/11.Illustrated by Tony Harris, EX MACHINA BOOK ONE is the first chapter of one of the finest series ever from Vertigo.Collects Ex Machina issues #1-11.

    Worlds died. And the DC Universe was never the same.In 1985, DC Comics dramatically altered comics' original universe with Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-issue series that rocked the comics community, tragically dooming some of DC's most beloved characters and drastically altering others. An unforgettable and defining event in comics history, Crisis was arguably the first companywide crossover to make good on its promise of lasting change.Written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, with inks by Dick Giordano, Jerry Ordway, and Mike DeCarlo, Crisis on Infinite Earths finds the alternate worlds that once were a hallmark of the DC Universe under siege by a mysterious force powerful enough to wipe out the lives of billions.Painstakingly restored and meticulously recolored, Crisis on Infinite Earths is at last available as a handsome and affordable softcover collection.