The first volume of the Justice League of America in Showcase Presents, DC's competitor to Marvel's budget-priced black-and-white Essentials line, collects 20 early issues of the super team, starting in The Brave and the Bold 28-30 and continuing into the first 16 issues of the JLA's own book and Mystery in Space 75 (featuring Adam Strange).Truthfully, a lot of the issues have a sameness to them, with the Leaguers generally splitting up to tackle menaces (usually alien) individually and having to figure out how to handle something specifically designed to neutralize each member's powers, e.g., Green Lantern against something yellow (if only they'd selected those assignments a little better...).Notable issues include the JLA's first appearance, facing Starro the conqueror; the introduction of teen "hipster" Snapper Carr; the "origin" of the League; and the addition of Green Arrow and the Atom to the core lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, the Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman.Fortunately this 1960-62 run by the classic team of Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky (with occasional other contributors) improved as it went along, with more use of teamwork and story lines involving Doctor Light, Felix Faust, the untouchable aliens, and the cavern of deadly spheres.--David Horiuchi

    using SCIENCE. But just as construction of the X-Club's state of the art space elevator nears completion, chaos erupts! And it appears to the world that mutants are to blame. Can Dr. Nemesis, Madison Jeffries, Kavita Rao and Danger clear the X-Men's name before their experiment backfires? Don't miss the story that will surely change how you look at the X-Men and the Periodic Table of Elements FOREVER! COLLECTING: X-CLUB 1-5

    A rocket lands in Metropolis containing a boy Superman thinks is from Krypton. Along with figuring out what that means to him, Superman must protect young... Full description

    A mysterious deity called Rama Kushna gives Boston Brand the chance to revisit the land of the living as Deadman, with the mission of finding his murderer.DEADMAN features spectacular, bravura artwork by Neal Adams, then leading the field with an amazing, hyper-realistic style and trompe-l’oeil unlike anything seen in comics before or since.

    Written by Edmond Hamilton, Jeph Loeb and others Art by Curt Swan, Ed McGuinness and othersCover by Alex Ross Collecting the best team-ups between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, from the pages of SUPERMAN #76, WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #142, 159, 176, 207, MAN OF STEEL #3, BATMAN & SUPERMAN: WORLD'S FINEST #7, SUPERMAN/BATMAN SECRET FILES 2003 and SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #! Advance-solicited; on sale March 14 - 192 pg, FC, $19.99 US

    On the eve of the new millennium, Superman blasts into new adventures by facing the villainous vixen known as Encantadora, and battling both the interplanetary conqueror Mongul and the Eradicator.

    Then, a ghost from Luke's past takes him back to the Hero For Hire biz — and a classic street level team-up pits Luke, best pal Iron Fist, Daredevil, Moon Knight and Spider-Man against the Kingpin and Killgrave the Purple Man!

    Written by Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Planetary), with art by StormWatch: Change or Die's Tom Raney - who also provides a new cover (inked by Crimson's Sandra Hope) - and Randy Elliott, Force of Nature includes the stories that introduced The Authority's Jenny Sparks and Jack Hawksmoor, as well as WildStorm's most infamous villainess, Rose Tattoo. The companion volume to Stormwatch: A Finer World, the new collection begins with StormWatch Weatherman Henry Bendix planning big changes for the group, beginning with a total reorganization of the team. Gathering new StormWatch operatives - including Jack Hawksmoor and woman of the century Jenny Sparks - the Weatherman positions himself as an international superpower, setting in motion the events that would cause the 'Watch's final demise.Collecting: StormWatch 37-42

    Strange as you've never seen him before: as an eye-patch-wearing wielder of black magic! See him take on the deadliest foes in any dimension: Khat, Erlik Khan, Shuma-Gorath, Enitharmon the Weaver and more! Guest-starring the Defenders, Valkyrie, Cloak and Dagger, and some of Strange's closest friends - including Rintrah, Topaz, Clea and Wong! Collecting the Dr. Strange stories from STRANGE TALES (1987) #1-19 and the Cloak & Dagger story from #7.

    through all of infinite time and space! And in the real absence of Marvel's First Family, a substitute FF, hand-picked by the real deal - Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk and the all-new Miss Thing - stand ready to guard the Earth and the nascent Future Foundation ... for the four minutes that the Fantastic Four will be gone. What could possibly go wrong?Collecting: Fantastic Four 1-3, FF 1-3, & material from Marvel Point One.1

    But that was then - and in the years that have passed since that shocking loss, the world has changed. Jean's teammates have lived without her, and some have died without her. But now, when strange and mysterious events start happening all over the world, an unmistakable pattern forms, and Jean's friends and loved ones can only come to one startling conclusion. Impossible as it seems - the one true Jean Grey is back from the dead! COLLECTING: PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY 1-5

    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.

    Once he was Captain America's partner Bucky, a proud member of the Invaders, a founder of the original Young Allies. Now he is Captain America, the Sentinel of Liberty, and when an old enemy suddenly reappears, Jim must re-open the last, unsolved case of the Young Allies--to stop a menace that threatens the world! Roger Stern travels from World War II with Nick Dragotta to the modern age with Marco Santucci to tell a time-tossed epic tale of high adventue!

    If major changes at the Daily Bugle, blizzard conditions and the live-streaming foe Screwball weren't bad enough, the rampage of the furious Freak will have him calling his Avengers teammates for help! COLLECTING: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2007, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) 546-564, SPIDER-MAN: SWING SHIFT DIRECTOR'S CUT

    The only thing standing between the good (and not so good) folks of Earth and an impending shadow of doom are the all-new Nightwing and Flamebird! But who are these two heroes who have taken their names from legends of Krypton's past? Read on to find out as Eisner Award-winning writer Greg Rucka (FINAL CRISIS: REVELATIONS) teams with rising star Eddy Barrows (TEEN TITANS) to kick off a bold new era for The Man of Steel!Collecting ACTION COMICS #875-879, ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #12, and materials from SUPERMAN: SECRET FILES 2009 #1.