Batman: Super-Villains Strike
Choose-Your-Fate Adventure Book
By Michael Teitlebaum
Tor/Starscape
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Price: $5.99

If it’s not obvious by the title and description, Batman: Super-Villains Strike is a children’s book, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not completely and utterly awesome. I mean, any book that starts off with the phrase, “You are Batman,” is a book that has already won my heart.

Batman: Super-Villains Strike is a choose-your-own adventure book, which if you don’t know what that is, it’s a story that varies based on the decisions you make at the end of each chapter, which can result in success, stalemate, or death traps. The story in this book specifically kicks off when Batman (you – still awesome) find traces of Catwoman stealing some very expensive items. When you start to track her down, however, you realize that there is no way it could actually be Catwoman because you locked her up in Arkham Asylum previously. This theme starts moving along (as long you make the right choices) to reveal the same scenarios with Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and The Riddler, as well.

Image Comics announced a wealth of 20th anniversary variant covers for the upcoming Spawn #220, including an adorable cover by all-ages friendly cartoonist Chris Giarrusso, which you can view here below.

Spawn #220 marks the return of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to the series as he takes on writing duties while Szymon Kudranski handles art. The Chris G. variant stands out, but is only one of the many variants to celebrate Image’s anniversary. McFarlane will be providing two himself, including “Savage Spawn,” an homage to Erik Larsen’s first issue of Savage Dragon and “Youngblood Spawn,” which pays tribute to Rob Liefeld’s Youngbloods.

Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Written by Scott Snyder
Pencils by Greg Capullo
Inks by Jonathan Glapion
Colors by FCO
Letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
DC Comics
Release Date: May 9, 2012
Cover Price: $24.99

Batman: The Court of Owls is a deconstruction of Batman and Bruce Wayne’s vision of Gotham City. The DC Relaunch provided a landscape in which writers and artists had a way to completely recreate characters and the DC Universe as a whole into their vision. Scott Snyder doesn’t exactly do this. The Court of Owls works as both a perfect starting place for new readers to comics as well as experienced readers who have kept up through the Grant Morrison saga and Snyder’s work on Detective Comics. Characters created and explored during that time period are even featured in the opening pages of this book, so it’s not a title that completely ignores its past, which, whether on purpose or not, parallels the concept of this book. And this book is quite simply a masterpiece.

In Court of Owls, Scott Snyder tells a story of how the past of Gotham City, a past unbeknownst to The Batman, has come to haunt The Dark Knight in a way that no one, other than Snyder, could have ever imagined.

Each and every week “I Have Until Five!” MK2Fac3 and “Best In The World” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of May 9, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Everyone once in a while a man or woman looks at his or her floor and sees large amounts of comic books. This is when that man or woman knows that he or she has either a very unorganized system or a passion that overfloweth. Now, I may not be going anywhere with this, but I’m going to pretend like I am because comics are great, right? Well, yes they are, and some great comics are coming out this week. Oh you want to know what they are? Well we don’t give that information away for free! Oh no! This is The GoD List where you have to read the entire post before you realize all the comics that you should be reading, brohan, but you know what? I’m going to do you a favor, I’m going to give you a teaser! Here: Bats, Owls, Dragons, Mutants, Spiders, Students, Monsters, and Robots! Seriously, that is all you need in life.

Dark Horse Comics has announced the release of Beasts Of Burden: Neighborhood Watch, a one-shot collecting three short short stories by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson, and we have an exclusive look at Thompson’s cover, which you can view here below.

The Eisner Award-winning team bring back some of their most beloved characters in this one-shot, which features the gang of neighborhood pets battling a chicken-stealing goblin, a basilisk, and helping a strange, lost heard of sheep find their way. As usual with Beasts Of Burden, things don’t go so easily. The stories can be fun, humorous, and heartwarming as much as they can be twisted, frightening, and heart-breaking. All these reasons are why I love this comic and this cast of characters. If you haven’t checked out Beasts Of Burden: Animal Rites, it won’t be a necessity to follow the events of Neighborhood Watch, which was originally released in Dark Horse Presents, although I highly recommend it if you enjoy good comics.