Find the best and the brightest of the comic book world right here, before the books hit the shelves. Thumb through the gallery above, and click on thumbnails below for larger images. We’ll update the post throughout the month so check back to see this growing gallery of covers and pages from upcoming releases from top publishers. To see more art from recent releases, check out our comic book news section and archive of comics-art galleries. RECENT AND RELATED The ‘master manipulator’ Nick Fury Mark Ruffalo: Hulk has found his family Avengers’: Cobie Smulders up for sequel duty ‘Avengers’ set visit: Whedon’s heroes and humor ‘Avengers’ gallery: Marvel’s heroes assemble HCFF: McDowell and  ‘Clockwork’ on May 19 HCFF: Zombie!: Zack Snyder, Robert Kirkman HCFF: Rainn Wilson unmasks ‘Super’” HCFF: Pixar Sunday: ‘Wall-E,’ “Brave’ preview HCFF: Robocop, reloaded for 25th anniversary HCFF: An Evening with Stan ...

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise are striking an alliance with The Doctor and his TARDIS-traveling companions in a comic series from IDW –”Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who: Assimilation2.” In the eight-part comic, the two transatlantic titans of television are teaming up against a villain pairing that threatens to destroy the galaxy: Cybermen and the Borg. The series is co-written by Scott and David Tipton (who helmed “Star Trek: Infestation,” which follows a zombie epidemic in a Star Fleet colony) and Tony Lee, the longtime “Doctor Who” writer. Here’s an exclusive first look at J.K. Woodward’s (“Fallen Angel“) cover for issue #4, which hits comic-book shops in August. Also, take a peek at the variant covers by Francesco Francavilla, the Italian artist who was nominated for an Eisner Award for his work on “Black Panther” and “Lone ...

This story contains spoilers about “The Avengers.” “The Avengers” passed the $1-billion mark in worldwide ticket sales this weekend, and a sequel is already in the works. Does that mean writer-director Joss Whedon will be back at the helm of the franchise that unites Marvel’s box-office heavyweights, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk? “You know, I’m very torn,” Whedon said in a sit-down interview in Beverly Hills before the film’s U.S. opening. “It’s an enormous amount of work telling what is ultimately somebody else’s story, even though I feel like I did get to put myself into it. But at the same time, I have a bunch of ideas, and they all seem really cool.” Whether he gets his hands on the sequel, Whedon’s fingerprints are all over “The Avengers,” which echoes some tropes found in his ...

The just-published book “Beyond the Wall” is a collection of essays regarding George R.R. Martin and his work. Below is one of the selections: Los Angeles author and essayist Ned Vizzini’s piece on the disdain and disinterest traditionally facing fantasy works that look for a spot on the bookshelf of respected literature.    When I set out to get blurbs for a young adult novel with fantasy elements that I sold in 2010, the person I wanted to beg most was George R.R. Martin. While reading up on roleplaying games’ influence on American culture, I discovered his work through Dreamsongs: Volume II, which, if you’re already chafing for The Winds of Winter, documents Martin’s creative ventures in Los Angeles with Tyrion-esque cynicism. In Dreamsongs I found that in 1983 Martin started playing the Call of Cthulhu and Superworld games so much that he stopped writing for a year ...

Justice League #9 continues the heroes’ exploration of one another in the New 52 universe as they work together to stop menaces both extraterrestrial and close to home. A new story arc, “The Villain’s Journey,” also welcomes back Jim Lee as the series’ artist after a two-issue hiatus. We’ve got an exclusive preview of the comic (you can quick-click through the pages above or find the links below that lead to larger images). The dynamic between Batman, Superman and Cyborg is played out a bit as they search Arkham Asylum for The Key, a being of some sort who is loose in the criminal stronghold. Cyborg’s ominous mention of being plugged into every computer on Earth, including Batman’s, sounds like there may be some tension brewing. Cover | Variant cover | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | ...

If you want to know the weapon of choice in pop culture this year just follow the arrow. Click though the gallery above (be sure to click the “CAPTIONS ON” option) to see why 2012 is a year with a big bull’s-eye on its back. – Geoff Boucher RECENT AND RELATED The ‘master manipulator’ Nick Fury Mark Ruffalo: Hulk has found his family Avengers’: Cobie Smulders up for sequel duty ‘Avengers’: Marvel’s new approach to Hulk ‘Avengers’ soar ahead of “Harry Potter” Whedon finds human side of thunder god ‘Avengers’ set visit: Joss Whedon’s heroes and humor Whedon says Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is a “loner” Mark Ruffalo’s childlike inspiration for the Hulk ‘Avengers’ gallery: Marvel’s heroes assemble  

COSMIC-LEVEL SPOILER ahead, so stop reading if you haven’t seen “The Avengers” — although with $775 million in worldwide box office it’s getting harder to find Marvel fans that haven’t seen director Joss Whedon’s all-star, crowd-pleasing epic. As the credits roll on “The Avengers,” moviegoers see a sinister alien revealed — it’s Thanos, a being obsessed with nihilism and death, eventually falling in love with its embodiment, Mistress Death. The Mad Titan first appeared in Iron Man #55 in 1973 and would become a signature figure in the Marvel Universe’s “cosmic level” sagas — the struggles that brought heroes, monsters, aliens, immortals and gods into conflicts that spilled across space, time and other dimensions. The character was created by artist and writer Jim Starlin, who we caught up with to talk about his Mad Titan getting a Hollywood close-up. HC: When ...

It’s almost here — we’re just one week from the start of the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival and with the franchise in its third year we’ve moved to a sweet new home (Regal Cinemas at LA Live, where in September we brought you a 30th anniversary screening of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with Steven Spielberg and surprise guest Harrison Ford) and expanded the program (four days now with more than a dozen guests, including three that haven’t been announced). To get a bead on the festival, peruse the photo gallery above — be sure to click the “CAPTIONS ON” option if you don’t see text across the bottom of each image – and you’ll get a snapshot description of all of eight of our separately ticketed screenings. The box here on the right leads to the ticketing page. And how about those fun images in the gallery? ...

Our “Super” screening on May 19 just got even more, um,  super. James Gunn, the writer and director of the crime-busting, bone-cracking and (at times) heartbreaking film “Super,” will reunite with the 2010 indie project’s star, Rainn Wilson, on stage  at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The pair will share the stage during a Q&A session following the 8:30 p.m. screening of “Super,” which dresses like “The Greatest American Hero” but runs off the road of sanity like a hipster version of “Taxi Driver.” “Super” follows a short-order cook named Frank (Wilson) who is gripped by rage and despair after his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a  manipulative dope merchant (Kevin Bacon). At his most vulnerable moment, a cosmic message arrives and shoves Frank down a  new path – he dons the mask of the Crimson Bolt and swings a wrench at evil. Gunn made ...

This story contains spoilers about “The Avengers” and previously released Marvel films. When word got out in 2010 that Mark Ruffalo had been cast as Bruce Banner and his big, green alter ego the Hulk in “The Avengers,” many fans of the franchise were furious. They took to the message boards, touting the merits of Edward Norton’s performance in 2008′s “The Incredible Hulk” and decrying the decision to cast a different actor in “The Avengers,” which would finally unite Marvel’s superheroes, including Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. Ruffalo — best known for off-the-beaten-path movies such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and 2010′s critical darling “The Kids Are All Right” — had been unsure of his decision to accept the role in the action-packed flick. But he said the fan outrage was exactly the motivation he needed. “I ...