And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground. Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

    Is he a man, monster or both? It's the Incredible Hulk, born of a gamma blast that scientist Bruce Banner was caught in.

    Penciled by GIL KANE, JOHN BUSCEMA, TOM SUTTON, BOB BROWN & HERB TRIMPE. Cover by GIL KANE. As the 1970s dawned, Marvel Comics marched into a new era. An era whose heroes increasingly reflected the turmoil and social unrest of the time. And as Marvel's heroic pantheon evolved, a newly christened hero debuted to herald that new era: Adam Warlock! Mixing super-hero action with equal parts social consciousness and allegory, writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane, in some of the most accomplished work of his career, launched Warlock on a wild ride across the cosmos to Counter-Earth! Hastened by the High Evolutionary to be the savior of this parallel planet, Warlock, armed for the first time with his soul gem, must do battle with the evil Man-Beast for the very planet itself! Featuring guest-appearances by Dr. Doom, Reed Richards and no less than the Incredible Hulk, this volume of never-before-collected stories is one you won't want to miss, and you can bet your pet rock on that! Collecting MARVEL PREMIERE #1-2, WARLOCK #1-8 and INCREDIBLE HULK #176-178. 288 PGS.

    Now Sam Wilson, formerly the Avenger known as Falcon, carries on the fight for liberty and justice as the all-new, all-different Captain America!

    The Spider-Verse is here! When the Inheritors begin exterminating spider-characters throughout the multiverse, every single Spider-Man ever is needed to save the day! A spider-army gathers, including Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Spider-Woman, Mayday Parker, Kaine, Ben Reilly, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Ham and scores more...but how can they defeat Morlun's deadly family when Peter faces a power struggle against a ghost from his past: Doctor Octopus, the Superior Spider-Man?!COLLECTING: Amazing Spider-Man 7-18, Superior Spider-Man 32-33, Free Comic Book Day 2014 (Guardians of the Galaxy) 1 (Spider-Man story)

    Which incarnation of Deadpool will be eliminated in this issue? And will the tragedy prove too much for Wade Wilson?

    The successful X-MEN ORIGINS series continues! In this one-shot, we see the origin of Bobby Drake, A.K.A. ICEMAN! See the small town beginnings that helped forge the coolest mutant of them all! Written by Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, with fan favorite artist Phil Noto!

    government, backed by powerful international forces and led by the man known only as Bastion, is about to launch a massive strike against the X-Men. The strike has one goal: the extermination of the entire mutant race. This is the X-Men's darkest hour.COLLECTING: GENERATION X 26-31, X-FORCE 67-70, X-MEN 65-70, UNCANNY X-MEN 346, WOLVERINE 115-118, CABLE 45-47, X-MAN 30

    Christos Gage (Thunderbolts, House of M: Avengers) is joined by international superstar artist Mario Alberti (CREDITS) to bring you the most misunderstood team of all time meeting the most misunderstood super-hero of all time in a mystery that starts in the early days of the Marvel Age and winds it's way through to today! Collects X-Men/Spider-Man #1-4.

    The Marvel Zombies have left Earth, turning their ravenous attentions to outer space! But when the zombies finally return home and find a tiny pocket of mankind still alive, will they feast on flesh once more — or can they learn how to overcome their all-consuming hunger? Then, dimension-traveling zombies have found their way into the Marvel Universe, and no one is safe! Machine Man, Jocasta, Morbius, Werewolf by Night and the Son of Satan must repel the undead epidemic — but will they uncover the traitor lurking within their own headquarters? And when the Marvel Zombies are unleashed on yet another unsuspecting dimension, can the guilt-ridden undead Spider-Man stop a gruesome history from repeating itself?Collects Marvel Zombies 2 #1-5, Marvel Zombies 3 #1-4, Marvel Zombies 4 #1-4, Marvel Zombies Return #1-5 and material from Marvel Spotlight: Marvel Zombies Return.

    Join the action as this Super Hero battles for mankind in this complete origin story as told in Thor. Re-live all of The Avengers' individual stories before they reassemble in Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron.