5. CIVIL WAR: THE INITIATIVE #1 (Marvel)
Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Warren Ellis; Art by Marc Silvestri
$4.99 | 64 pgs

Marvel's monumental Civil War event was definitely not all that but you have to admit that it did what it set out to do - it redefined the Marvel Universe for the immediate future (until they change their mind). And it seems that the big player in the MU is now Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Now the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., he is in the midst of rolling out his big 50 state initiative of protecting each state with it's own government-sanctioned super hero group. In the Civil War mini-series, Stark was characterized as a grade-A douche bag. Let's see how Marvel handles him from here on out with his big shot in Hollywood - starring Robert Downey, Jr - just around the corner.

This one-shot issue is basically a preview of things to come from Marvel: Captain America in prison, Spider-man goes underground, and new teams come together like Omega Flight and the Mighty Avengers. Written by Marvel House guy Brian Michael Bendis with a special chapter written by Warren Ellis plus 1990's comic fans take note: former X-men penciler and current Top Cow president Marc Silvestri provides the art. Unfortunately there are no previews for this book. Oh well.

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4. JEFFREY BROWN'S FEEBLE ATTEMPTS (Top Shelf)
By Jeffrey Brown
$5.00 | 48 pgs

Feeble Attempts is an anthology of short works by scribbly, 'emo' cartoonist Jeffrey Brown. Brown's work is generally autobiographical stories about relationships, jobs and the bittersweet mundanity of real life. His loose, sketchy drawings bring an immediacy and diary-like reality to his stories that make them highly relatable. Fans of works like Clumsy will be happy with the what they get but may also suprised by some of the more peculiar bits collected here like "My Jesus Is An Awesome Jesus" shown below.

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3. THE LIVING AND THE DEAD (Fantagraphics)
By Jason
$9.95 | 48 pgs

Norwegian cartoonist, Jason, does his second horror-themed graphic novel following You Can’t Get There From Here, which was about a love triangle revolving around Frankenstein's monster. With The Living And The Dead we're in George Romero territory but it's still a love story at heart. One that takes place in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Jason's books are like silent films starring anthropomorphic animals and he knows how to make his characters act with their bodies, even as they stare straight ahead with those dead, little Orphan Annie eyes.

This book unfortunately is coming out way past the expiration date of all the zombie comics we've had in the past few years but I don't think we've seen cartoon animals eating each other's faces yet so there is still ground for Jason to break here.

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2. EX MACHINA VOL.5: SMOKE SMOKE (DC Wildstorm)
Written by Brian K. Vaughan; Art by Tony Harris and Tom Feister
$12.99 | softcover

The fifth volume of Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' tale of New York city's first super-powered mayor deals with the issues of legalizing marijuana and has some violent crimes thrown in to keep it exciting. This book enjoys getting wonky on the policies but always balances it out with some flashbacks to Mayor Mitchell Hundred's days as a goofy looking superhero called The Great Machine.

The issues collected here mark a slight change in art style for Harris as he starts experimenting with washes that bring some new texture to his hyper-realistic yet stylized art.

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1. MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 (Marvel)
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils and Cover by FRANK CHO
$2.99 | 38 pgs

One of the first new books to spin out of the aforementioned Civil War event is a new Avengers book drawn, at least for the first six issues, by fan favorite Liberty Meadows artist Frank Cho. Known for his voluptuous women, Cho will get to play to his strengths with characters like Ms. Marvel and Black Widow but as you see in the scenes below Frank can draw more than just boobs.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis is also the writer of the other Avengers series, New Avengers, which has increasingly taken on a dark, conspiracy-laden tone. This book counters that by promising a more action-packed, classic super-hero approach. Can Bendis pull off both at once? Or will anyone even be paying attention to the writing on this book?