Wildly fantastic superhero stories by a cross section of today's cutting-edge urban fantasy and crime writers. Expanding on the concept behind Byron Preiss's Weird Heroes from the 1970s, George R. R. Martin's Wild Card series, and Michael Chabon's McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, The Darker Mask is a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes and the worlds they fight to save. But unique to The Darker Mask stories is that these plots and characters color a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white, idiosyncratic, and male in previous homages to pulp. This is the stuff of urban legends, new mythos, and extraordinary folks who might live in a soon-to-be-gentrified ghetto, the dreary rust-belt of the city, or in another dimension. The Darker Mask offers an eclectic mix of popular fiction writers exploring worlds gritty, visceral, and fantastic. Includes contributions from L. A. Banks, Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Christopher Chambers, Reed Farrel Coleman, Michael A. Gonzales, Gar Anthony Haywood, Naomi Hirahara, Mat Johnson, Victor LaValle, Walter Mosley, Ann Nocenti, Gary Phillips, Jerry A. Rodrigues, Alexandra Sokoloff, Peter Spiegelman, Wayne L. Wilson, and Doselle Young. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller! Hailed as a comics masterpiece, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is Frank Miller's (300 and SIN CITY) reinvention of the legend of Batman. It remains an undisputed classic, one of the most influential stories ever told in comics, and is a book cited by the filmmakers as an inspiration for the most recent Batman movies. It is ten years after an aging Batman has retired and Gotham City has sunk deeper into decadence and lawlessness. Now, as his city needs him most, the Dark Knight returns in a blaze of glory. Joined by Carrie Kelly, a teenage female Robin, Batman takes to the streets to end the threat of the mutant gangs that have overrun the city. And after facing off against his two greatest enemies, the Joker and Two-Face, for the final time, Batman finds himself in mortal combat with his former ally, Superman, in a battle that only one of them will survive. This collection is hailed as a comics masterpiece and was responsible for the launch of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. This volume collects BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS #1-4.

An unstoppable anthology of crime stories culled from Black Mask magazine the legendary publication that turned a pulp phenomenon into literary mainstream. Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared. It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like “Murder Is Bad Luck,” “Ten Carets of Lead,” and “Drop Dead Twice.” Collected here is best of the best, the hardest of the hardboiled, and the darkest of the dark of America’s finest crime fiction. This masterpiece collection represents a high watermark of America’s underbelly. Crime writing gets no better than this. Featuring • Deadly Diamonds • Dancing Rats • A Prize Fighter Fighting for His Life • A Parrot that Wouldn’t Talk Including • Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon as it was originally published • Lester Dent's Luck in print for the first time

A lonely young woman who finds her entire forefather family murdered in an unsolved homicide case soon discovers secret advanced hyper sense powers within herself and an advanced jet pack device invented by her father to don a dark cape, cloak, cowl, and mask to become a hero destined to not only unravel the mystery behind the death of her family but also to search the truth of an ancient order and the true love of her own heart by finding allies and making enemies to forge new truths with the ancient alien transportation device known as the time stone to overcome any obstacle and destined ones form a force fighting evil in space and time.

Between 1991 and 2007 Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics collaborated on an unprecedented level, pitting their top franchises against one another in no-holds-barred throwdowns! In this collection of DC Comics crossovers, Dark Horse brings never republished material featuring a host of heroes back to fans in a single volume. This volume features The Mask, The Grifter, and The Joker in crossover action!

Modeling Classic Combat Aircraft brings together a collection of FineScale Modeler magazine articles on modeling some of the world's most popular and notable combat aircraft of the last 60 years. The articles featured in the pages of this book were deliberately selected and edited by FSM Editor Mark Thompson to provide you with a unique opportunity to peer over master modelers' shoulders as they work step-by-step to assemble, convert, detail, paint, and decal such historic warbirds as the P-51 Mustang, Messerschmitt Bf 109, A6M5 Zero, Avro Lancaster, MiG-17, F-14 Tomcat, B-52H, and many others. Regardless of the scale or era of aircraft you prefer, you'll find in Modeling Classic Combat Aircraft easy-to-follow diagrams, crisp photos, concise instructions, and the proven techniques that will help you complete realistic and dramatic showcase models. Book jacket.