Mark Millar has made quite a name for himself with his creator-owned comics. Kick-Ass, Wanted, Nemesis and Superior have been big hits with readers and critically acclaimed to boot, creating what has come to be known as the "Millarverse." Together with artists like Steve McNiven, John Romita Jr. and JG Jones, Millar has created some of the most memorable stories we’ve ever read… and Kick-Ass and Wanted even became hit movies! All the stories are quality, though not for the more sensitive readers out there because Mr. Millar doesn’t exactly shy away from the violence. Nevertheless, his work has the Cosmic Comix seal of approval!

The newest addition to the Millarverse, Superior, comes out this week in hardback!

SUPERIOR HC $24.99 Simon Pooni had it all going for him – plenty of friends at school and good looks, and his coach called him one of the most talented basketball players he’s ever seen. But that was when he could still move his legs. Now, he’s living with multiple sclerosis, missing all the little things he used to take for granted, and escaping into the world of movies and comics with his best friend. Then…SUPERIOR entered his life. It’s the newest smash super-hero comic from Mark Millar and SECRET INVASION artist Leinil Francis Yu! Collecting SUPERIOR #1-7.

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Ever since Ed Brubaker took the reins on Captain America, that book has been a huge hit with readers of all kinds, and it has attracted attention from much of the mainstream media. Brubaker had already established himself as a fine writer of crime comics — like Marvel’s Criminal, DC/WildStom’s Sleeper — but he really started to shine when he kicked off the new series of Cap. Starting with the "Winter Soldier" storyline and moving through the high-profile "Death of Captain America," his work has been downright riveting, and earns a fitting place in our Trade Paperback Spotlight. The newest collection, Captain America: Prisoner of War, comes out this week!

CAPTAIN AMERICA: PRISONER OF WAR TP $19.99 Bucky Barnes learned the deadly skills of warfare during WWII, only to have those tools exploited by the Soviets as a brainwashed Cold War assassin. And just when he thought he could break free of the chains of his history, he is thrust into a new nightmare: a Russian prison camp housing a handful of his most vicious and revenged-minded Cold War peers. For Bucky, each ponderous minute that ticks by in the gulag brings another new threat to his life. But for his friends – Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter and Black Widow – it is a race against time to undo the wicked conspiracy that has used Bucky’s past as the Winter Soldier to trap him in a life of cruelty worse than any he’s ever experienced. Collecting CAPTAIN AMERICA #616-619.

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Over the past few years there have been some excellent Batman stories told. But not just in comic book form. We’ve also seen some wonderful work done in hardcover graphic novels by creators like Brian Azzarello, Lee Mermejo, Paul Dini and Sam Kieth. In that light we’re highlighting five such hardcovers featuring the Dark Knight, including a deluxe edition of the legendary Alan Moore and Brian Bolland tale, The Killing Joke!

JOKER HC $19.99 Written by Brian Azzarello Art by Lee Bermejo & Mick Gray In the all-new, hardcover original graphic novel JOKER, writer Brian Azzarello (100 BULLETS) and artist Lee Bermejo (HELLBLAZER covers) – the creative team behind the acclaimed miniseries LEX LUTHOR: MAN OF STEEL – show an even darker and more disturbing side to the most dangerous man in Gotham: The Joker. After yet another stint in Arkham Asylum, The Joker finds "his city" divided among mobsters and costumed villains. Not content to settle for a piece of the pie, The Joker vows to take back the whole damn enchilada by any means necessary. Look for appearances by a slew of Gotham’s most wanted, including gritty takes on Two-Face, Riddler, Killer Croc, Penguin, Harley Quinn and even Batman!

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Secret Wars is one of the most legendary stories in the history of comics, one of those tales that embodies the essence of Marvel Comics: a massive event on a massive scale with every hero coming together to fight. First published in the mid 1980s and written by then Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, it was the first mega-crossover of its kind and still stands as a milestone in the comic book industry. Quite simply, it’s one that everyone should read.

SECRET WARS TP $34.99 Drawn from Earth across the stars, the Marvel Universe’s greatest villains and heroes are set against one another by the mysterious and unbelievably powerful Beyonder, with the winner promised the ultimate prize. But as battle lines are drawn, new alliances forged and old enemies clash, one among them is not willing to settle for anything less than godhood. Can even the combined might of the Avengers, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men prevent Dr. Doom from becoming the most powerful being in the universe? Collecting MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #1-12.

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You’ve probably seen POWER GIRL mentioned numerous times here at Cosmic Comix. We think the run created by the crack team of Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner (and later taken over by Judd Winick and Sami Basri) made the series one of the best coming out. Why? Because it’s a great story, it’s funny and it speaks to something we don’t get enough of around here: just plain fun! The final volume in the series comes out on Wednesday! Highly recommended!

POWER GIRL VOL. 4 TP OLD FRIENDS $19.99 From robotic dinosaurs to the villainous Maxwell Lord to her own personal fan convention, Power Girl faces a plethora challenges in the final volume of her solo series, collecting issues #19-27. Joining the Woman of Steel are countless DC Universe heroes, including Superman, Batman, Zatanna and more.

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Not too long ago, Wolverine promised Cyclops that X-Force would disband — he lied. A secret society has resurrected En Sabah Nur, putting into motion events that will turn this age of heroes into an Age of Apocalypse! To hold them back, Wolverine and Archangel bring together Fantomex, Deadpool and Psylocke to form the Uncanny X-Force! Stained by their history, they are the only ones capable of making the hard resolutions necessary.

The series, written by Rick Remender and featuring art by Esad Ribic, Jerome Opena and others, has been outstanding. And this week the second collection his the stands!

UNCANNY X-FORCE VOL. 2 TP DEATHLOK NATION $15.99 There are innumerable and varying potential futures awaiting mankind. Among them exists only one constant: the rise of the Deathloks! Seeded in our present they grow, spreading across all possibilities, infiltrating the fate of mankind. One thing stands in their way: a man who shouldn’t exist. They come in waves, an army of time-displaced Deathlok troopers forged from Earth’s greatest warriors – Captain America, Spider-Man, Elektra, Cyclops, Venom, the Thing, Bullseye – all soldiers in the army of Deathlok. All operating under one directive: Fantomex must die! Collecting UNCANNY X-FORCE #5-7 & #5.1.

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The world of Roland Deschain – the world of the Dark Tower – has been a 30-year obsession for Stephen King. And now, King carries his masterwork of fantasy to Marvel, bringing stunning new textures to his epic story! This series seamlessly integrates the wonder of Mid-World and the story of its hard-bitten cast of characters into the finest Marvel Comics storytelling tradition. Artist Jae Lee and color artist Richard Isanove’s work is revelatory, and writer Peter David’s scripts, in collaboration with The Dark Tower: A Concordance author Robin Furth, present an authentic and vital account of Stephen King’s creative vision. 

DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN TP $19.99 A man’s quest begins with a boy’s test. Witness the birth of a gunslinger and the epic sweep of a timeless adventure that has just begun to unfold! Long days and pleasant nights, and may ya do well! Collecting Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN #1-7.

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Writer Scott Snyder has done some incredible work with Batman, not the least of which is his current run on the New 52 Batman series. While recently we posted his Batman: Gates of Gotham mini-series, which delves deep into Gotham’s history, as Mr. Snyder is wont to do, today we are talking about his run on Detective Comics, collected in the Black Mirror HC! We were calling it Rock ‘n’ Roll Batman when it was coming out as Detective Comics and it is absolutely fantastic. Batman as he totally should be: detecting and kicking tail! And of course more about old school Gotham!

BATMAN THE BLACK MIRROR HC $29.99 Don’t miss this epic Batman mystery from Scott Snyder, creator of AMERICAN VAMPIRE, originally published in DETECTIVE COMICS #871-877! First, in "The Black Mirror," a series of brutal murders pushes Batman’s detective skills to the limit and forces him to confront one of Gotham City’s oldest evils. Helpless and trapped in the deadly Mirror House, Batman must fight for his life against one of Gotham City’s oldest and most powerful evils! Then, in a second story called "Hungry City," the corpse of a killer whale shows up on the floor of one of Gotham City’s foremost banks. The event begins a strange and deadly mystery that will bring Batman face-to-face with the new, terrifying faces of organized crime in Gotham.

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This is the set of trades that comprise visionary writer Grant Morrison’s run on BATMAN. Beginning with the Batman and Son collection, which introduced Damien, continuing through the Dark Knight’s end in Batman RIP, and on into Batman & Robin, this is a run that’s not to be missed and paved the way for what you’re reading today. This week we get the collection of issues that followed the Return of Bruce Wayne!

BATMAN TIME AND THE BATMAN TP $14.99 Grant Morrison returns to BATMAN with tales from issues #700-703, illustrated by an all-star roster of artists including Andy Kubert, Tony Daniel and Frank Quitely. Don’t miss this epic that reveals secret details in The Dark Knight’s adventures following BATMAN R.I.P and the return of Bruce Wayne to Gotham City!

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Following the epic death of Cobra Commander in 2010′s GI Joe: Cobra #12, IDW launched three new monthly GI Joe series: GI Joe, Cobra, and Snake Eyes. All three fell under the banner of Cobra Civil War and the three titles depicted the aftermath of the Commander’s death from three entirely different standpoints. But the question was always the same: who will be the new Cobra Commander? The answer to this question would be the Cobra operative who killed the most members of the GI Joe team! That’s Cobra Civil War! A great ride and well worth checking out.

GI JOE VOL. 2 ONGOING VOL. 1 TP $17.99 A deadly competition within COBRA means trouble for G.I. JOEs as they become the snake’s primary targets. COBRA’s new leader will be chosen through a TRIAL BY COMBAT and the score is tallied in BLOOD. The body count is rising and the JOEs don’t even know the game has begun!

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With the recent news that DC Comics will be publishing a series of prequels to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic tale Watchmen – called Before Watchmen — this week we wanted to feature the legendary title in our Trade Paperbacks & Graphic Novels category. We’ve mentioned it before, but only as a part of Moore’s overall body of work. That said, it’s high time Watchmen got its own post! For far too long this little series has flown under the radar! An unsung hero of the comic book world! If you’ve never read it, it’s high time you did!

WATCHMEN TP $19.99 First published in 1986, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen has since been hailed as a modern masterpiece, not just in comic books but in literature. It was included in Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels and hailed as "a work of ruthless psychological realism." It all begins with the paranoid delusions of a half-insane hero called Rorschach. But is Rorschach really insane or has he in fact uncovered a plot to murder super-heroes and, even worse, millions of innocent civilians? On the run from the law, Rorschach reunites with his former teammates in a desperate attempt to save the world and their lives, but what they uncover will shock them to their very core and change the face of the planet!

Brian Michael Bendis is the Eisner Award-winning creator behind many of today’s biggest titles for Marvel Comics. From Secret Invasion to the Avengers, Bendis has had his hand in just about every major Marvel event of the past decade. Before his turn with Marvel, though, he was known for his crime fiction graphic novels, as published by Image Comics. They weer dark, violent, totally compelling, and they all had that signature Bendis dialogue and flow. Here we present the four of them — Torso, Jinx, Goldfish and Jinx — each one reprinted as a Definitive Edition with tons of extras and bonus material.

TORSO TP $24.95 Cleveland: 1935. Eliot Ness, fresh from his legendary Chicago triumph over Al Capone and associates, set his sights on Cleveland and went on a crusade that matched, and sometimes even surpassed, his past accomplishments. Dismembered body parts have started washing up in a concentrated area of Lake Erie Sound. Their headless torsos have left no clues to their identity or the reason for death. Elliot Ness and his colorful gang of "The Unknowns" chased this killer through the underbelly of Cleveland for years. As far as the public was concerned he was never captured. But what really happened is even more shocking. This award-winning collection includes a historic photo essay of the actual murders. Torso was nominated for an International Horror Guild award for best graphic story and for 3 International Eagle Awards.

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Over the past few years we’ve seen some absolutely epic events in the Marvel Universe, each one with ramifications that affected years and years’ worth of Marvel stories. (I’d say more but I hate to give anything away. Suffice it say, people die!) Today we wanted to highlight five such events, starting with 2005′s House of M and working all the way up to Fear Itself! If you’ve been wanting to catch up on recent Marvel Universe history, these trades are a great place to start. And they’ll get you ready for the up and coming Avengers vs. X-Men event!

HOUSE OF M TP $24.99 THE MARVEL EVENT OF THE DECADE IS COLLECTED HERE! The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control, and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Starring the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers! You know how sometimes you hear the phrase: AND NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN? Well, this time believe it, buster! NOTHING WILL EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN! Collects HOUSE OF M #1-8 and THE PULSE SPECIAL EDITION.

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You’ve surely seen mention of SWEET TOOTH here in recent months. It’s one of our favorites right now from DC Comics/Vertigo. It’s a dark, post-apocalyptic tale that follows the misadventures of a young boy who is, shall we say, a little different (see cover images below). But it’s so much more than that, too: family issues, abandonment, human nature, ethics, all that good stuff. It’s all piled in to Sweet Tooth and so far it’s been outstanding. The fourth volume comes out on Wednesday!

SWEET TOOTH VOL. 4 TP ENDANGERED SPECIES $16.99 In these stories from issues #18-25, Gus reluctantly joins Jepperd on a missing persons hunt as the tension between the two continues to grow. Meanwhile, Lucy and the girls meet the enigmatic Walter Fish.

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IRREDEEMABLE – written by the multiple Eisner Award-winning author behind Kingdom Come and Empire, Mark Waid — was named one of comics’ best debuts, and rightly so. The series dared to ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? It’s been compelling from the jump… and the eighth volume in the series comes out on Wednesday!

IRREDEEMABLE VOL. 8 TP $16.99 The Plutonian is back on Earth, and he’s brought the universe’s most dangerous psychotic criminals with him to wreak havoc on the fragile planet! Meanwhile, Survivor’s new Paradigm is caught off-guard, leaving the self-proclaimed "savior of society" without a leg to stand on. When countries around the world unite for one last desperate stand, who will come out on top – and will there be anything left of Earth when the dust settles? Don’t miss the latest volume of Mark Waid’s Eisner-nominated superhero masterpiece!

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Back in 2010, our Best Book You Didn’t Read columnist David Lee wrote about an original graphic novel called A God Somewhere, written by John Arcudi with art by Peter Snejbjerg, published by DC Comics. It was so good it prompted Mr. Lee to say, "Just when I thought all the Superhero-in-the-Real World stories had been told, Arcudi has written a classic of the genre." It really is that good. Unfortunately, it was out of print for a while… but now we’ve got a new printing! And we’re pleased to add it to the line-up of our favorite trade paperbacks.

A GOD SOMEWHERE TP $17.99 The acclaimed original graphic novel is back in a new edition at a new, lower price!  After a mysterious disaster, a young man named Eric finds that he has just as mysteriously developed extraordinary abilities. He starts out trying to help people, but his solitary position in the world isolates him in ways no ordinary human could understand. This original graphic novel charts Eric’s evolution from man to… something else, as seen through the eyes of his family and his best friend, Sam.

You already know what writer Robert Kirkman is capable of; both Invincible and Walking Dead have been huge hits and they are both ongoing favorites here at the store. Today, we bring you another Image Comics series of his, which ended a little over a year ago: Astounding Wolf-Man! A little more on the traditional horror side — as opposed to the zombie apocalypse horror side — but still with that Kirkman quality of story. Highly recommended!

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN VOL. 1 TP $14.99 When Gary Hampton is mauled and left for dead–his life takes a drastic turn. Gary is cursed: When the moon is full he transforms into a beast of the night, a werewolf. This curse will not be used for evil – witness the birth of the world’s most unlikely new superhero: WOLF-MAN!  Brought to you by the writer of The Walking Dead and Invincible! Collects THE ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #1-7.

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In case you’re not familiar with them, SECRET SIX is the name given to a team of consisting mainly of villains who do work for hire. Work that is often of dubious moral character. Written by Gail Simone (Birds of Prey) with a variety of top notch artists, the series was excellent for its entire run. The sixth and final volume comes out on Wednesday!

SECRET SIX VOL. 6 TP THE DARKEST HOUSE $16.99 Collected from issues #30-36 and DOOM PATROL #19! A member of the team is determined to bring back a loved one from the Gates of Hell, and Bane must face his inner demons!

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Darwyn Cooke has made quite a name for himself in recent years. His unique retro style has put him in a different class from other writers and artists, as evidenced most recently by his adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker novels. What we’re talking about today is DC: The New Frontier, which originally came out in 2004 and was immediately hailed as a visionary superhero work. As it says on the back, "DC: The New Frontier takes readers on an epic journey from the end of the Golden Age of heroes to the beginnings of the legendary Justice League of America."

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER VOL. 1 TP $19.99 This volume collects Darwyn Cooke’s acclaimed journey from the end of the Golden Age to the genesis of a bold new heroic era in the late 1950s! Volume 1 collects DC: THE NEW FRONTIER #1-3 plus the three extra pages originally seen only in Wizard Magazine!

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The official continuation of the Angel television series! When last we saw Angel and company, they were charging into battle against Wolfram and Hart’s Senior Partners and facing down endless demons in a dark and rainy alleyway. With this series, IDW Publishing proudly offered up Angel: After the Fall, as presented by Angel co-creator Joss Whedon, with a creative team hand-picked by Whedon himself: the Spike: Shadow Puppets team of Brian Lynch and Franco Urru!

ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL VOL. 1 TP $19.99 In Angel’s final television season, his world ended… but his story didn’t. Picking up where Season Five of the fan-favorite TV show left off, this first softcover collection looks at who lived after that climactic battle, who died, and what happened to all of Los Angeles in its wake.

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