1) Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #8

With the recent announcement of Marvel’s big 2012 event being Avengers vs. X-men, look for this 9 issue series to increase its popularity in the coming months.  Aside from the fact that this series features Avengers, X-men, and the Young Avengers, its return of Scarlet Witch to prominence will undoubtedly play a role in next year’s event.  Allen Heinberg and Jimmy Cheung are also apparently killing an Avenger in this issue, which may be yet another instigator in the upcoming conflict between the heroes.

2) Shaky Kane’s Monster Truck GN

I first came across Shaky Kane’s name reading Eddie Campbell’s excellent Alec series.  At that point it was just a name associated with an artist whose work I hadn’t seen.  Then, last year fellow Heroes staffer Justin Crouse recommended a book called the Bulletproof Coffin by David Hine and one Shaky Kane.  To my surprise the art was a strange combination of surreality, psychedelia, and clearly the product of a fan of Silver Age comics.  This week’s Monster Truck is another fine example of this captivating artist.  Spread out over the 50 page continuous single panel are an assortment of American pop culture bits including zombies, killer clowns, car-sized insects, dinosaurs, monsters, and classic cars.  It’s also quite poetic in a strange, quirky way.

3) Justice League Dark #4

There have been quite a few customers who have mentioned how much they’re enjoying this tale of supernatural Justice Leaguers.  For those who might not like the more mainstream of DC’s 52 titles, this one might be a good one for you to pick up.  Following the exploits of darker characters like John Constantine, Deadman, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, and Shade the Changing Man, this title benefits from veteran Vertigo writer Peter Milligan, as well as the appropriately horror-tinged art of Mikel Janin.  To top it all off, they get a great cover from artist Ryan Sook every issue.

4) X-men: Schism HC

Wisely, Marvel decided to release a collection of this popular minseries before the end of the year.  Teaming writer Jason Aaron with talented artists like Frank Cho, Adam Kubert, Daniel Acuna, and Carlos Pacheco, this hardcover not only collects the entire 5 issue series chronicling the schism between Wolverine and Cyclops, but also contains Generation Hope #10-11, and the X-men: Regenesis one shot that led directly into the new Uncanny X-men and Wolverine and the X-men series.  Plus, you get almost 225 pages in a hardcover format for considerably less than you would if you were to purcase all the single issues contained in this book.

5) Chase TP

Readers over recent years have really responded to the dynamic art of J.H. Williams III.  If you’re only familiar with his work on books like Batwoman, Promethea, and Detective Comics, this week DC collects one of his popular series from the olden days of the 1990s.  This title was interesting in that it focused on a shady government organization that monitored superheroes, while allowing it all to be seen through the eyes of one of the agents who began to develop strange abilities of her own.  In addition to collecting the entire Chase series, included here are also lots of other Chase appearances from that time.  Over 350 pages of comics for under $30!

> Bonus Picks of the Week: Aquaman #4, Captain America # 5 AND 6, Flash #4, Kick Ass 2 #6, Batman: The Dark Knight #4, Walt and Skeezix HC vol. 5, and Spaceman #3.