Last month Marvel announced a September release date for its 3-issue "Strange Tales" miniseries, which will ship under the publisher's mature readers MAX imprint. Labels aside, new previews indicate that book's indie superhero action is the stuff of kids' dreams.

The Beat has an exclusive 3-page preview of the series, which features the talents of indie creators Paul Pope (Heavy Liquid), Peter Bagge (Apocalypse Nerd), Dash Shaw (The Bottomless Belly Button), Michael Kupperman (Tales To Thrizzle) and others.

Specifically, the sample pages show off the work of Nick Bertozzi and Matt Kindt. Bertozzi tackles MODOK in a fashion that's a bit less biographical than his 2007 work "Houdini: The Handcuff King," which is unfortunate because it'd be nice if his hot-tubbing mental organism were in continuity. Kindt's work is likewise appropriate as he puts his "Super Spy" webcomic background to work on Nick Fury and the Black Widow.

If that's not enough, BoingBoing also has a look at Tony Millionaire's "Iron Man" story from the miniseries -- it's got hip discs, shouting and sentient sandwich meat.

Can it be September now, please?