It’s hard to be a fan of Garth Ennis. You want to recommend his work to people, but you run the risk of offending them. Ennis is best known for Preacher, an acclaimed ’90s series about an East Texas minister searching — literally — for God. The comic is as profane as it is profound. For every heartfelt dialogue on the true meaning of friendship, there’s a close-up on a castrated man’s crotch as he sits on a toilet, or something equally shocking.

Ennis’ latest series is Jennifer Blood, the third issue of which went on sale yesterday. The title character is a stay-at-home mom by day and a vigilante by night. As the husband of a stay-at-home mom, I’m aware of what a ridiculous concept this is. But so is Ennis. He heightens the absurdity by framing the story through Jennifer’s diary entries. For example: “I just don’t trust little bullets — 5.56 is nice and light, and you can carry lots and lots of it, but you just can’t smash the life out of people the way you can with 7.62.”

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Fear Itself #1 (of 7): Writer Matt Fraction and artist Stuart Immonen bring you the latest blockbuster miniseries that will CHANGE THE MARVEL UNIVERSE FOREVER! Yeah, just like Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and The Siege have all changed the Marvel Universe forever … all since 2006. [Yawn] 

Superstar: As Seen on TV: I’m more interested in this collection of a series drawn by Immonen and written by Kurt Busiek. It’s about a media-savvy superhero whose power is dependent on his popularity.

Herc #1: The only character that Hillcrest High School graduate Greg Pak has written more than the Hulk over the past few years is Hercules. Yesterday, Pak made the following appeal via Twitter: “Hey, let’s play this crazy prank … Tomorrow, everyone go to the comic shop and buy “Herc” #1! It’ll be CRAZY! WHO’S WITH ME?”

The Complete Johnny Comet: This softcover collection of Frank Frazetta’s classic newspaper strip would make a fine addition to any fanboy’s bookshelf.

Die Hard: Year One Vol. 2: My favorite thing about this is the cover art featuring Bruce Willis with a full head of hair.

Heritage Auction Galleries recently sold a first edition Archie comic for $167,300, a record for a non-superhero comic. From the release:

“Archie may have a ways to go to catch the likes of Superman and Batman, his Golden Age counterparts,” said Lon Allen, Managing Director of Comics at Heritage, “but you can bet that collectors sat up and took notice when this comic brought that price. This amount exceeds the priciest of Spidey and Hulk comic books we’ve sold, which brought in excess of $125,000 each.”

 (h/t a spiffier Glasstire)

On page two to six of Detective Comics #27, a new character steps into the frame, introducing one of the most iconic characters in American history: Batman. The original 1939 production proofs for that issue will be auctioned by Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries on February 24:

The saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” comes to mind here, as these pop culture relics were literally heading for the dust bin of history: they were rescued in 1975 from an old steamer trunk sitting on a curb awaiting trash pick-up in Rego Park, Queens. Mario J. Sacripante spied the trunk outside of the building where he lived, and where – he soon learned – Bob Kane, Batman’s creator, had also lived for many years.

“I actually knew what it was that I had found, having been around antiques and collectibles all my life,” said Sacripante. “There was enough comic history, material and original art work for me to figure out that Bob Kane had lived here long before I moved next door. I learned later that a friend’s father actually knew Bob Kane when he had lived in the building.”

Image: The cover of Detective Comics no. 27

Fantastic Four #587: As you may have heard, a member of the Fantastic Four dies in this issue. But the clock is already ticking on that character’s resurrection. The truth is, each member of the Fantastic Four will outlive you and me and anyone else reading this. Superman, Captain America, Batman, the Flash, and the Green Lantern have all had their own overhyped death scenes,yet all of them are alive and well, starring in several comics each month.

Cowboy Ninja Viking Vol. 2: Based on positive word-of-mouth, I picked up the first paperback collection of this series about schizophrenic secret agents. My favorite part was discovering all of the other “triplet” combinations. For example, the titular cowboy-ninja-viking’s biggest rival is a conquistador-pirate-oceanographer, and his wife is a sniper-chef-samurai. 

Infestation #1: Only in comics could you have a story that involves the Optimus Prime, Snake Eyes, Mr. Spock, and Dr. Peter Venkman. Oh, and did I mention there are zombies?

Steampunk Palin: In a not-too-distant future, Sarah Palin saves the world with a lot of hot air.

The Boys #50: Garth Ennis’ shocking satire of superheroes reaches a milestone issue. If you’re easily offended, do not read this one or any of the previous 49.

Memoir #1: This series has an intriguing premise: Everybody in a small town wakes up one day with no memories of where or who they are … except one man. Dun-DUN-dun.

Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert #1: Normally, a Jurassic Park comic would not attract my attention. But John Byrne got his hooks in me a long time ago.

Starman Omnibus Vol. 6: This is the final installment in a series of hardcover reproductions of one of my favorite ’90s series.

Wolverine and Jubilee #1: Speaking of ’90s nostalgia …

Spawn #200: Before he started manufacturing action figures and buying historic baseballs, Todd McFarlane was one of seven artists who left Marvel to form a company where they could own the characters they drew. That company was Image Comics, and McFarlane’s contribution was Spawn. Nearly 20 years later, McFarlane has become a businessman who pays other writers and artists to craft the monthly adventures of his creation. In fact, it’s trumpeted as “an event” when McFarlane draws a comic these days. Ironic, huh?

The Infinite Vacation #1: The first issue of another series written by Nick Spencer elicited a rousing “meh” from me, but the premise of The Infinite Vacation tempts me to give him another shot. This book is set in a world where “trading your way through unlimited variations of yourself is as commonplace as checking your email or updating your status.”

The Sixth Gun: Cold Dead Fingers: You don’t come across many stories of supernatural firearms set in the Civil War.

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth: Gods #1: It’s hard to ignore a piece of promo copy that begins, “As Texas goes to Hell …”

The Walking Dead Weekly #1 Did you dig watching survivors fight zombies on AMC’s The Walking Dead? Were you tempted to sample the comics that inspired the TV show? Because new readers might be intimidated by a series that is already up to its 80th issue, Image Comics is reprinting the entire thing on a weekly basis, starting today.

Batman Beyond #1: The future version of the Dark Knight has starred in cartoons for years, but this is first ongoing comic series.

Weird Worlds #1 (of 6): I know nothing about the character he’ll be drawing (Tanga), but if Kevin Maguire is drawing anything, I’m interested.

Ultimate Comics Captain America #1 (of 4): Writer Jason Aaron made his name with The Other Side, a miniseries about the Vietnam War. Now he’s pitting Captain America against his Vietnam-era counterpart. This series is also notable because it is being released digitally and in print simultaneously, a rarity in comics.

The Littlest Zombie vs. The Littlest Vampire: (pictured above) OK, surely this one-shot — which San Antonio-based Antarctic Press describes as “Tom and Jerry meets 28 Days Later” — is the zenith of pop culture’s current obsession with zombies and vampires, right?

Fables #100: Bill Willingham’s critically acclaimed series about “fables” such as Snow White, Little Boy Blue, and the Big Bad Wolf living on the fringes of modern society has reached the 100-issue milestone. To celebrate, this issue is padded out to 100 pages with a prose story, a “puppet theatre,” and a board game.

Pantheon: Similar to Fables, this series is about gods living among us mere mortals. What’s notable about Pantheon is that it was created by actor Michael Chiklis, and the character of Zeus is drawn to look like — you guessed it — Michael Chiklis.

27 #1 of 4: Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain are among the famous musicians who died at 27. This series is about a modern-day rock star who’d really like to live to see 28.

Stan Lee’s Starborn #1: Stan Lee has lived way past the age of 27 — nearly six decades past it, in fact. But the co-creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and so many others is still dreaming up superheroes.

Black Harvest: This is a collection of a six-issue series written and drawn by Arlington’s own Josh Howard. Set in Jericho, Texas, it’s about a teenage girl working with a paranormal researcher to figure out the mystery behind her three-year disappearance.

Danny Husk: The Hollow Planet: I’ve never seen one second of Kids in the Hall. But if you have, you may recognize the titular hero of this graphic novel written by Kids cast member Scott Thompson.

Finding Nemo: Losing Dory: I will definitely buy this, just to see if these characters, who have ensnared my sons for hundreds of repeat viewings, might also keep their attention in print.

Although it was published in 2003, I’d never read Red until this week. Heck, I’d never even heard of this comic until ads started appearing for the film adaptation that opens Friday.

But it figures that even a series this obscure and short (three issues) would eventually catch Hollywood’s attention. News flash: Comic book movies are big moneymakers. While there are still plenty of second-tier superheroes to bring to the big screen (look for Green Lantern and Thor at your favorite multiplex next year), studios are reading every comic they can in an attempt to find a fresh idea.

The idea behind Red is that the CIA’s most lethal weapon, an assassin named Paul Moses, has been jerked out of retirement. (The title is a reference to a color-coded system for tracking an agent’s status.) A politically appointed CIA director learns of all the horrible things Moses did in the name of his country and orders him eliminated. The problem is, Moses hasn’t exactly mellowed in his old age.

A few weeks ago, as I was cruising the “upcoming releases” sections of the major publishers’ websites, I came across an intriguing bit of promo copy. Image Comics was touting Morning Glories as the one of the year’s most anticipated new series.

Really? The basic concept didn’t knock my socks off: “Morning Glory Academy is one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country. But behind its hallowed doors, something sinister and deadly lurks.” And the creators involved — writer Nick Spencer and Wylie-based artist Joe Eisma — were two guys I’d never heard of. I shrugged, chalked up the “most anticipated” claim to an overzealous marketing department, and moved on to the next website.

Fast forward to this week: I find that Image’s slate of releases today includes Morning Glories #2 and a third printing of Morning Glories #1. A third printing? What makes this book so hot that it had to be sent back to the press twice? What am I missing?

I’m a fan of Allan Heinberg, even though I’m not a fan of any of the television shows he’s produced, such as Grey’s Anatomy, The O.C., or Sex and The City. (OK, I’ll admit I like that last one. That Samantha Jones is one hot cougar.) No, my admiration for Heinberg stems from his side gig — writing comic books.

Heinberg is best known among fanboys for creating the Young Avengers, a team of teenage heroes who each have some tie to a member of Marvel’s flagship team, the Avengers. But these aren’t simply a collection of sidekicks, a la the original Teen Titans. Throughout most of their adventures, the Young Avengers have been discouraged by Captain America, Iron Man, et al, from fighting crime at all.

This is a bittersweet day for comic book fans. After six years, we get to find out how Ex Machina ends. But the 50^th and final issues of that series may be the last comic written by Brian K. Vaughan that we get to read for the foreseeable future.

There’s no way to dance around this: I have a man-crush on Vaughan. The dude is my literary hero. I haven’t read every comic he’s written, but I’ve loved every comic of his that I’ve gotten my hands on.

And I’m not the only one. Vaughan’s work on Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man earned him a writing gig on a little TV show called Lost. He’s also a hot property in Hollywood, penning original screenplays and ones based on his comics, such as Runaways. Vaughan swears he’ll never walk away from the medium that made him famous, but I have no idea what his next comic book will be, much less when it will be published.

Did you read Uncanny X-Men in the ’80s? Did you get a job or a girlfriend or both and wander away from comics? And have you been tempted to dip your toe back in those waters but were intimidated by the idea of having to catch up on 20 years’ worth of stories?

Well, my mutant-loving friend, have I got some comics for you.

There are two kinds of comic book characters: those that are owned by their creators and those that are owned by corporations. Virtually all of the famous superheroes fall into the latter category. Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, and their ilk all appear in multiple comics each month, with their adventures chronicled by a legion of writers and artists, so as to maximize profits for the companies that hold their copyrights.

Martha Washington is a great example of the other kind of character. She debuted in the 1990 series Give Me Liberty, written by Frank Miller and drawn by Dave Gibbons, and has since appeared in a handful of other comics. But each and every one of her stories sprang from the minds of Miller and Gibbons, which made it possible for Dark Horse Comics to collect them all in a single volume: The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century.

With the city buzzing over the Dallas Theater Center’s production of It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman, I thought it would be a good time to retreat to my Fortress of Solitude and inventory some of my favorite Superman comics.

The character was nearly 50 years old when I first gave a hoot about him in 1986. That’s when John Byrne was given carte blanche to rewrite those five decades of history. Byrne was an established star at Marvel Comics, most notably for a lengthy run writing and drawing Fantastic Four, but DC Comics lured him away. I was a Marvel zombie back then, when that term described a loyal customer as opposed to a flesh-eating superhero. But if Byrne was making the leap to DC, then so was I. (jump)