There are a lot of heroes who have worn the stars and stripes and put their lives on the line to protect and serve our country. As the US’s Independence celebration nears, I’ve been thinking about the ones who would make my Top Five in the superhero department. I’m sure just about everyone on this list is going to be a no-brainer for longtime comics fans, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this group, who you think should have also been included and, most importantly, why!

A few days ago we received a press release stating artist Frank Frazetta had regained his artwork from a settlement with Underwood Books. Today, we received a letter asking us to retract that press release from the sender, the Law Office of Ted Kessler. THE PULSE is complying with this request. We have no further details of what this means for the status of Frank Frazetta’s artwork.

"One of most acclaimed comic runs of the decade concludes this September as award-winning scribe J. Michael Straczynski brings his historic Thor story to a stunning conclusion in Thor: Defining Moments Giant-Size #1." What do PULSE readers think of his work with Thor? How do you feel about him leaving the series?

I truly believe when I was a little kid (the 1970s), it was the best time to be a superhero fan. Not only did we have Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk in prime time, but Saturday mornings were a treasure trove of animated heroes from the past, present and future! While others might have TGIF'd, I was all about those hours between seven and two on Saturdays!

When something "jumps the shark," usually that's a bad thing, but Chris Reilly is hoping his anthology series Strange Eggs will be one of those able to buck the trend and be just as successful after as before. Close to two dozen creators are involved in this volume of the Slave Labor series. Reilly says the title came from his "childhood trauma" over seeing Happy Days' The Fonz jump that great white ....

In the 1970s, the futuristic Legion of Super-Heroes' Karate Kid, Val Armorr found himself having some adventures in "our" time.  Marvel's Danny Rand, the Iron Fist, was already making a name for himself during that era as well.  Although from different comic universes, what would happen if those two martial arts masters suddenly found themselves on opposite sides of a battle?  If the Karate Kid and the Iron Fist had to fight for their lives, with the world hanging in the balance, who do you think would be victorious?

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, our government gathered a think tank to come up with possible attack scenarios. Fortunately for us, none of their ideas have come to pass. But what if one of those people involved suddenly found his worst nightmares for our country coming true, and not just coming true, but almost word-for-word the way he imagined? That's what's happened to Alan Ripley in Mark Sable's miniseries, Unthinkable. Sable said, " ... years after the Think Tank has closed down, someone is making the attacks that Ripley predicted come true. Ripley goes to the FBI, but the government is now denying the existence of the Think Tank. But as more attacks happen, they not only start believing him, they start believing he is responsible for the attacks."

Will Digger & Friends be as big a hit with the comic book world as they are with the NASCAR industry? That's what IDW is hoping when it's new series featuring the lovable gopher and his pals debuts this July. Jack Briglio's no stranger writing for the all-ages audience that Digger & Friends' aimed at. We caught up with him Briglio to find out a little more about this gopher and his mischievious pals.

Bluewater Productions is going to release a tribute to the King of Pop in comic book format.  "The newest addition to the publisher's critically acclaimed biography library will trace Jackson's rise as a musical prodigy with the Jackson 5  through last Thursdays sad end. The book will feature highlights from his storied career and cover his enigmatic private life."

I recently had the chance to review a handful of recently released video games for the XBOX 360 system. These reviews might help if you're on the fence about getting UFC 2009 Undisputed, Terminator Salvation, [Prototype], Velvet Assassin, or Hannah Montana The Movie; or you've already got them, and would like to discuss the finer points of the games.

ChrisCross will make you .... OK, wrong ChrisCross, but it does seem appropriate that this artist is bringing Joe Casey's Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance limited series to life. This isn't the first time the two have collaborated on a comic's project, ChrisCross said Casey is one of his favorite writers to work with. The artist also said he's having a great time showing how Japan dealt with life after Darkseid and showcasing the SuperYoung Team.

Each month as I see more and more titles hit the market and more and more titles end, I think about the great comic series that are no longer being published, but I think COULD make a comeback. Today are my Top Five Cancelled Series that I think SHOULD return. Some of these should come as no surprise to those who know me ... a few of them, though, might surprise you!

Chris Harden turned lemons into lemonade. When his character, The Fro, didn't make it into the second season of Who Wants To Be A Superhero?, he turned his afro coiffed hero into an award-winning Air Guitar hero and comic book superstar. The first issue of The Fro hits shelves in September from Arcana, but we've got some inside information from Harden himself now on his enigmatic and comical Hair Walker who guards Good Karma from the evils of Dark Karma.

The "Speeding Bulletin" is your weekly Superman news video, recapping the latest events in the world of Superman. It also includes the "Bailey Planet" rant, Neal Bailey's thought of the week, brought to you in his own infamous style.

Old Man Winter & Other Sordid Tales is a collection of short stories from J.T. Yost. Yost won the Xeric Grant to produce this work and told us what it was like competing for that prestigious grant, working on these eclectic stories and keeping up in today's tough economy.

There was something about the cover of Marvel's Contest of Champions that just about guaranteed I was going to be spending my hard-earned money on the miniseries. I loved the idea of the majority of Marvel's heroes going up against each other in some grand competition. Although I was reading more DC comics at that point in time than Marvel, I thought this would be a fantastic way to get a great superhero fix in one place.

Christopher Provencher is just one of the contributors to the gigantic Outlaw Territory western anthology due in stores this week. He re-teamed with Brave New World collaborator, Skipper Martin to tell a tale of a cowboy whose first kiss when he was a young 'un has driven him to try and find his onetime love to see if the spark is still there and if they could possibly ride off into the sunset together.

THE PULSE is very sad to report on the passing of Ed McMahon. The 86 year-old lost his battle with bone cancer. Although most people will remember him as Johnny Carson's sidekick, longtime comic book fans know him as the Host of the Legends of the Superheroes two-parter that aired in the 1970s.