Following in the wake of the hugely successful The Darkness video game and summer 2007's smash hit, First Born, The Darkness returns in a brand-new ongoing series by Phil Hester (Green Arrow) and Michael Broussard (Unholy Union). This volume collects Hester and Broussard's first arc on the series, "Empire."

    The world's greatest heroes have grown old and their legacy is a poisonous one to the children who will never live up to their remarkable parents. Unmissable.

    NOTES ABOUT To Kill a MockingbirdNOT the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    Wolverine is on the run, Iron Man has sold his soul to the man, the Hulk is a hero of the people, Cable is M.I.A., Captain America can only bear witness and Hawkeye lives! Join them as they attempt to navigate their way through a world where mutants rule, and Homo sapiens are considered second-class citizens - a world ruled with an iron fist by the master of magnetism himself, Magneto!Collects: Wolverine #33-35, Iron Man: House of M #1-3, Incredible Hulk #83-87, Captain America #10, The Pulse #10, Cable & Deadpool #17 and material from Hulk: Broken Worlds #1.

    You won't find a sicker, more dangerous person in the Marvel Universe. But why? Why is he so vicious? Why is he so brutal? Why does he leave a wake of violence and death everywhere he goes? Look into Sabretooth's eyes and tremble at the truth.

    Plus, bullets fl y in some of Frank's best clashes with the costumes and capes! He'll come between old pals Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and gatecrash Spider-Man's volatile fi rst meeting with Nightcrawler - this ain't no Team-Up! COLLECTING: PUNISHER KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 161-162, HEROES FOR HIRE (1997) 9, PUNISHER (2001) 33-37, PUNISHER WAR ZONE (2012) 1-5, MARVEL UNIVERSE VS. PUNISHER 1-4

    Freeze and Catwoman. Plus, the serial killer named Holiday seems to have returned to a life of crime, but who is committing Holiday's murders this time?

    The story features a world where magic has overwhelmed science. Starring the Phantom Stranger, Deadman, The Challengers Of The Unknown, The Blue Beetle and Klarion The Witch Boy.

    IT'S THE PROLOGUE TO THE BIGGEST MARVEL SERIES OF THE SUMMER! WHO IS THE WATCHER? That's what Nova is wondering after his latest brush with the moon-dwelling enigma he's encountered before! But what he discovers will have a profound effect on the young hero, as well as priming the pump for the most cataclysmic event in Marvel history! WHAT DID HE SEE?

    But for now, he’s a young mutant living in paradise leading a life of adventure! Nathan Summers, son of two of the most powerful mutants on Krakoa, has a destiny leading the youth of mutantkind in rebellion… so why not start now? Gerry Duggan (MARAUDERS, DEADPOOL) and Phil Noto (STAR WARS, POE DAMERON) bring us young Cable as we’ve never seen him before!

    Untreated, they fester and grow into the diseases of fear, uncertainty and hopelessness. Unaided, the law is blinded by bureaucracy and bound to a justice bent toward the protection even of the criminal. The face of a kinder and gentler nation is destroyed, carved into a harlequin's mask; a grim skull. And the wielders of the scythe laugh, secure in the knowledge that their crimes will go without punishment.They are wrong. In the urban jungle, there is one who stands alone and apart; one who lives not for the law, but only to see justice done. The Punisher reaps a different harvest.Once, he was Frank Castle, loving husband and father. A tour in Vietnam had shown him what war was. Part of him died there, but a precious part stayed alive, determined to return to the family he loved, and the peace and freedom that was his America. Part of him held on to live, until his family died in a hail of mob gunfire, victims of the wrong place and wrong time.Daily, criminals greedily cut their portions from the souls of the weak and weary, the foolish and the frightened. One man senses how the guilty feed like parasites on the heart of the American Dream. One man hears when evil laughs at the law. One man sees clearly that the most powerful criminals have placed themselves above the law. One man has become their judge, their jury.One man has become their Punisher.

    And if his clashes with Spider-Man 2099, the Black Cat and Blackout are any indication, he just might be! But as "Peter" earns his doctorate and starts his own company, dark forces gather. Flash Thompson is back in town, and he's brought the Venom symbiote with him! Both know Spidey very well, so will they sense something off about the Superior Spider-Man? And when the Green Goblin takes control of New York's Underworld, Otto faces his final battle. The Superior Spider-Man must bring down the Goblin Nation - even if it means his own defeat, and the rebirth of an amazing hero!COLLECTING: SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN 17-31, ANNUAL 1-2

    Someone Has Murdered Forbush Man!Could someone be targeting all of Marvel's funniest characters for death? That's what Deadpool thinks, and now he's gotta act before someone bumps off Squirrel Girl, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Ant-Man, Howard the Duck, and The Punisher! (Like we said, the funny characters.) Good thing Deadpool is renowned for his investigative skills!Collecting: Deadpool: Too Soon? 1-4

    It's a new beginning as four time Eisner-nominated Best Writer Ed Brubaker makes his Marvel debut, joined by white-hot artist Steve Epting! As the new regular creative team, they will take Cap's life in directions fans will never see coming! In just this first issue, the Red Skull lays the groundwork for his most devastating attack ever on Captain America and the land he holds dear...and with the Cosmic Cube in his possession, how can Cap hope to stop him? Find out in the shocking twist-ending that will have everybody in the industry talking!

    Two tales of tragedy. The vicious Marauders have already slaughtered the tunnel-dwelling Morlocks, and now they plan to kill Cyclops' estranged wife, Madelyne Pryor! And if that means taking on the X-Men, that's just fine with them! Meanwhile, Storm goes on a vision quest to find Forge...but she discovers the evil Adversary pulling their strings, and the X-Men will need to literally sacrifice their lives to stop him! Meanwhile, the New Mutants take in the hybrid creature known as Bird-Brain...but when he flees back to the island where he was created, the team follows and clashes with the Ani-Mator. COLLECTING: Uncanny X-Men (1963) 220-227, Incredible Hulk (1968) 340, New Mutants (1983) 55-61