5. INFINITE HORIZON #1 (of 6)
Written by Gerry Duggan & Phil Noto; art by Phil Noot
Image Comics
#2.99 | 32 pgs

It's seems like almost every week now we get a new comic whose setting is a never-ending war in the Middle East. While Hollywood is now trying to find what it has to say about Iraq and the war on terror with realistic dramas set in the present like Redacted and The Kingdom, a lot of comics have been taking the approach of setting their stories in the near-future where America's war has spread beyond just Iraq and Afghanistan as we've seen in comics like Army@Love and Special Forces. The new mini-series, Infinite Horizon, (whose kind of bland title actually sounds unfortunately like a superhero event book) takes Homer's The Odyssey and sets it in this bleak but believable future. A war-weary soldier journeys halfway across the world to get home to his family, encountering some real Homerian looking characters.

The art on this 6 issue mini-series is by Phil Noto, whose beautiful retro-50s-advertising style is an odd choice for this type of story but is also a big selling point for it. Check out a multi-page preview here.

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4. ZOMBIES VS. ROBOTS VS. AMAZONS
Written by Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood; art by Ashley Wood
IDW
$3.99 | 32 pgs

Either the title of this book makes you think this could be the best comic book ever or else it will make you skip down to #3 on this list. You're either a zombie/robot/amazon kind of guy (or gal) or you aren't. Ashley Wood has made a pretty nice career off of people who dig those things and his eerie, kinetic, near abstract drawings of naked chicks and clunky looking robots. This is a sequel to his popular Zombies Vs. Robots series and it banks on the fact that the previous series just needed more chicks.

See more artwork from this book here.

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3. POPEYE VOL. 2: WELL BLOW ME DOWN!
By E.C. Segar
Fantagraphics
$29.95 | 168 pgs

Volume 1 of this hardcover collection of E.C. Segar's original Popeye strips from the 1930s was so well-received that I would be remiss to not tell you that volume 2 is out this week. I haven't read them myself but would really like to, especially after having numerous people sing it's praises to me. This is an immaculately designed oversized hardcover that showcases Segar's wonderful black and white drawings and includes an introduction by Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker and film and cartoon critic Donald Phelps. But most notably this volume contains the introduction of J. Wellington Wimpy, considered by many to be one of the greatest comic strip characters ever.

See more sample pages here.

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2. NORTHLANDERS #1
Written by Brian Wood; art by Davide Gianfelice
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 32 pgs

I'm predicting it now. Vikings will be next years Pirates. Hollywood will get on board soon I'm sure but the trend is starting here with a new ongoing series from Vertigo set in the last period of time that vikings were ever popular - the 11th century. Brian Wood (DMZ) is the writer for the series and while it looks as if he's done his research on the time period he also manages to work in similar themes of disaffected youth that has made his recent books like Demo and Local so popular.

Northlanders' first story which begins this issue follows Sven, an exiled Viking prince who turned his back on his Norse religion in favor of the more cosmopolitan virtues of life in Constantinople. Returning home to claim his inheritance, Sven must fight to free his family from a ruthless uncle.

Here's a pretty extensive preview.

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1. ULTIMATES 3 #1
Written by Jeph Loeb; art by Joe Madureira and Christian Lichtner
Marvel
$2.99

Back in the beginning of the decade Marvel launched their Ultimate universe, a modernized version of their regular universe that was free of the baggage of 40 years of continuity. The flagship title of this line was The Ultimates which re-imagined The Avengers as a government sanctioned superhero group that performed services like disarming foreign countries and saving the world from alien invasion. The first two volumes of the series by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch are the epitome of 21st century superhero comics.

The much anticipated volume 3 starts this week but with a new creative team: Jeph Loeb, writer for both Heroes and Lost and Joe Madureira, one of the most influential X-men artists of the 90s who is returning to comics after years of being effectively out of the business. While the previous look of this book was Bryan Hitch's hyper-realism, Madureira brings a more over the top, kinetic action style. This will be either the jump-the-shark moment for this book or else a fresh new start.