This week's comic book expectations

I'm waist deep in "Fable II," approaching (what I think is) the end, but since I'm giving the borrowed Xbox a real workout today, I decided to let it cool down a bit while I got on here and (quickly) went through what to look for on the shelves this week.

CLICK HERE to see the full list, Jam-Packed with great titles. And, once again, it's DC delivering a good portion of those top titles. Marvel really blew their load over the summer with the "Secret Invasion" tie-ins and DC (partially because its own "Final Crisis" titles were all late) is reaping the benefits lately. Heck, everyone wins, right?

As I said, this is going to be quick, since I need to get back to my dog, wife and kid in Albion so I can get down to writing that review, so we're going to go full-on lightning round here:

Captain America #43: With the 18-part Steve Rogers Death/Bucky Ascension storyline over, we're going to see how Ed Brubaker handles writing Bucky on a month-in and month-out basis, beginning here with this story that looks back on Both of Captain Bucky's pasts (as Bucky and as the Winter Soldier). I'm predicting this book to stay VERY strong, with so many loose ends from the last 42 issues still going.

Final Crisis #4: Your guess as to what happens here is as good as mine, all I know is the Anti-Life Equation has been loose on the world for a month and all hell has broken loose. Personally, I am just looking for two things from this issue -- 1) I want to see Darkseid get his hands a little dirty, 2) I want to see a little of the lost month, and how things got so bad so fast.

Final Crisis: Submit #1: Maybe this is where I get to see that lost month. "Submit" is supposed to focus on Black Lightning teaming up with C-list villain Tattoo Man, as they try to keep their wits about them in a crazy world. Unlike the tie-in series, this one-shot does look very pertinent to the main story.

New Avengers #46: The Villains take center stage in this "Secret Invasion" tie-in issue, namely The Hood. Personally, I think it's taken Bendis FAR too long to bring the villains in on this. After all, if the Skrulls take over Earth, I think that would put a crimp in Doctor Doom's plans, wouldn't it?

Secret Invasion #7: And then there's the mothership, where we can expect a whole lot of knock-down, drag-out brawling between the wrinkle-chins and non-wrinkle chins. For as cool as this issue is probably going to look (deep down, we all love watching the biggest brawls, right?), if these final two issues is only this final big fight, "Secret Invasion" fell FAR FAR below expectations.

Superman: New Krypton Special #1: This is one no DC fan should miss. If you think 100,000 Kryptonians loose on Earth isn't going to DRASTICALLY impact all the DC Universe, you're insane, brotha'. How will Clark react, especially given his recent tragedy? How will Kara, who still remembers Krypton, react? And, um, not to mention the rest of the world suddenly dealing with "Kingdom Come" happening. Somebody call Future Peter Petrelli! We can't have a planet full of special people!

Thunderbolts #125: "Secret Invasion" plus a kind-of anniversary issue equals a BIG change for the "Thunderbolts" world, I'd put money on it. This issue will close the Thunderbolts' role in the war in a big way.

X-Men Legacy #217: This is the second part of the "Original Sin" crossover with "Wolverine Origins," and while I was far from floored with the first issue, both in the content and the characterizations, we'll see how this story of Professor X and Logan helping Logan's long-lost illegitimate son plays out.