High concept books can be a pretty mixed bag. It's one thing to come up with one of those compelling, bizarre premises that grab the reader's attention, but if the substance isn't there to back it up -- or even if it's done in the wrong tone -- they fall flatter than just about anything else you'll find on the shelves. When they work, though, the results can be pretty amazing, and fortunately, Damon Gentry and Aaron Conley's Sabertooth Swordsman is definitely the kind that hits.

It's a big, sweeping adventure with new, strange twists on a story we've all seen before, and its also one of the most fun comics I've read in a long while.

Not to be outdone by DC Collectibles' ongoing Batman: Arkham Origins/Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate video game tie-in action figure reveals, Mattel's unloaded two new promotional images of its 6" B:AO Batman and Deathstroke toys. The timing is solid considering last week's steady stream of E3 reveals, including new gameplay footage and screen shots of Batman confronting an army of goons hired by Black Mask to wipe him from the streets of Gotham. Serving as Batman's most capable rival in terms of combat, Deathstroke's been a major player in game promos, which is probably why Mattel's honed in on the increasingly action figure-ified villain for its retail line.

If you're mad about the ending of Man of Steel, particularly the one event that seems to have most touched a nerve with some Superman fans, don't lay the blame at the feet of co-plotter and producer Christopher Nolan. At least, not all of it.

Director Zack Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer had to convince Nolan (also the director and co-writer of The Dark Knight trilogy) that the controversial moment was the way to go. Read the whole, spoiler-filled story and hear it in podcast form after the jump.

A nominee for this year's Eisner Award for Best Anthology (and last year's winner), Dark Horse Presents has been one of ComicsAlliance's favorite titles since it was relaunched in 2011 to continue the classic and influential series' tradition of showcasing emerging talent alongside some of the best established writers, artists and cartoonists mainstream and underground comics has to offer. Each issue comes with quirky, undiluted excursions into the minds of uniquely talented creators, usually with immersive new serials or idiosyncratic short stories but also in the form of recurring, cult favorite characters and properties for which Dark Horse has served as caretaker for many years.

On sale this week is the 25th issue of DHP, which the publisher has stuffed with 80 pages of new material including the first Dark Horse work by Matt Fraction, who offers a trippy time-travel story with mind-bending artwork by Christian Ward. DHP #25 also features the start of a new Buffy The Vampire Slayer serial by longtime Buffy writer Jane Espenson and artists Karl Moline & Andy Owens; and "Underground," a violent new serial conceived by author Andrew Vachss. And of course new episodes of Fred Van Lente and Freddie Williams II's sixties superhero revival "Brain Boy"; Ron Randall's cyberpunk "Trekker," Mike Baron and Steve Rude's political space opera "Nexus"; Dan Jolley and Leonard Kirk's resurrected DC project "Bloodhound"; and more.

Dark Horse Presents #25 goes on sale tomorrow (Wednesday, June 19), but below you'll get an extended preview of the auspicious issue that includes never-before-seen pages.

This year's San Diego Comic-Con International is almost upon us, and that means it's time once again for that harrowing social experiment where retailers put a limited number of items in a gigantic room with 150,000 fans and sit back to watch the chaos. It's basically the kind of thing that the Joker does, but on the upside, somebody's going to walk away with some pretty cool stuff.

Case in point: Entertainment Earth's SDCC 2013 exclusive Regular Show and Adventure Time Lunchboxes, based on the Cartoon Network shows (and the awesome Boom! Studios comics). Check 'em out (as well as some suggested uses) after the jump.

When it comes to all ages comics, one body of work that tends to hide in plain site is Mo Willems's massively popular series of Pigeon picture and board books for younger children (and anyone who reads to or with children). Circulating in bookstores, libraries and generally anywhere where kids are found since the 2003 release of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Willems' series of word-balloon infused titles exude all the charm and humor you'd expect from a Sesame Street, Codename: Kids Next Door and KaBlam! veteran and, ten years later, are probably owed for familiarizing an entire generation with the mechanics of sequential art. Today Disney Publishing Worldwide adds yet another dimension to the creator's work in comics and cartooning with the release of the aptly titled Don't Pigeonhole Me! Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook, which as the name makes plain, collects 20 of the creator's more personal works.

Eyewear designers Warby Parker released two new Superman-inspired frames to tie-in with the release of Man of Steel last weekend. Warby Parker designs eyewear with both style and affordability in mind, and the "Chamberlain" and "Percey" frames in the Man of Steel collection are no exception. With subtle red/blue detailing on the temples, these bold retro frames are fit for both men and women who are looking to add a dash of Daily Planet to their faces at $95 each (including prescription lenses) -- $15 of which will be donated to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their writing skills.

Since I have yet to try on a pair of these specs myself, I cannot confirm whether or not these glasses will successfully hide your secret identity from your skeptical coworkers.

Before you get too wrapped up in Zero Year, this Wednesday you'll have a chance to get caught up on Year One. Because that's how we do things in comics now: we go backwards. On sale this week is a brand new collection of two great Year One stories that sharpened up the continuity of their respective characters, and added new depth and clarity to backstories that were previously kinda flat and fuzzy. Batgirl/Robin: Year One gathers two separate miniseries that could each claim to be the definitive story for their Bat-family members: Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty, and Javier Pulido; and Batgirl: Year One by Scotty Beatty, Chuck Dixon (same writers, different listing) and Marcos Martin. And let me tell ya, Batgirl and Robin are two great tastes that go great together. Okay, that probably came off a little creepier than I intended, but let's push forward.

A few folks (including Daredevil writer Mark Waid and ComicsAlliance's Chris Sims) have referred to elements of director Zack Snyder's Man of Steel as "disaster porn," but just how much damage is actually dealt by Superman, Zod and company in the movie?

Buzzfeed aimed to find out, so it contacted the folks at Watson Technical Consulting to assess the cost, in lives and in monetary figures. The results are pretty staggering.

1992 was a pretty good year to be a kid who loved comics. The reason that holds up best is probably -- and by that I mean definitely -- Batman: The Animated Series, but there was another show that had just as big an influence on my childhood: the 1992 X-Men cartoon.

Hitting at the height of the franchise's popularity, X-Men translated all the action and melodrama that made the comic such a success to the world of Saturday morning cartoons, and it got its hooks into me like almost nothing else. That's why ComicsAlliance is heading back through the archives for an in-depth look at every single episode of X-Men. This week: "Enter Magneto!" in which a jailbreak of Thin Lizzyan proportions doesn't exactly go as planned.