Three works to check out this week include a new work by David Lapham, a classic by John Byrne, and the return of an indie stalwart after more than a decade.

Compleat John Byrne's Next Men Vol. 2 (IDW Publishing)

504 pgs. B&W; $24.99

Sin City and Hellboy may be the two titles from Dark Horse's creator-owned line Legend that everyone remembers, but John Byrne's fantastic sci-fi series Next Men was every bit as stellar. Here, IDW collects the back-half of Byrne's lost ‘90s treasure in a second phonebook-sized black and white collection.

Silverfish (DC/Vertigo)

160 pgs. B&W; $17.99

One thing you can say about David Lapham: his books are always interesting. Even when he doesn't quite hit the mark—as on his current Vertigo ongoing series, Young Liars—his work is consistently unpredictable, and when he's on, as he was in his brilliant self-published noir series Stray Bullets, the results can be mindblowing...not to mention as an artist, he's pretty well unassailable. Silverfish, an original graphic novel published as a hardcover by Vertigo last year, will be available as a cheaper softcover starting this week.

Beanworld Holiday Special (Dark Horse)

24 pgs. full color; $3.50

Confession time: I've never actually read Larry Marder's much-loved indie series, but few recently announced releases have gotten people as excited as this Christmas spectacular, Marder's first new Beanworld release in over a decade. Seems like a good opportunity to see what the fuss is about. | Jason Green

---