Valiant Entertainment; $14.99

Of the X-O Manowar issues published to date by the new Valiant, the six collected in this volume are the ones that will stand up, grab you by the lapels, shake you, slap you across the face, and demand to know why the heck you are not reading this series.

If you don’t have a good answer to that question, here’s some advice: now is the time do so. With the two-part “Prelude to Planet Death” illustrated by Trevor Hairsine and the four-part “Planet Death” illustrated by regular series artist Cary Nord, writer Robert Venditti, who hasn’t missed a beat yet, shifts into overdrive. He rolls superhero action, intrigue, history, honor, faith and more into a gripping epic, and the beneficiaries of all of this are the readers.