This week at The Joker's Child, the Fantastic Four become the Fantastic Three, and fans will get to see G.I. Joe, Transformers, the crew of the Starship Enterprise and Ghostbusters fight a common foe.

“This is going to be a fun week,” said Len Katz, co-owner of the River Road comic store. “So much is happening.” 

It was announced that “Fantastic Four” #587, one of the new comics at Joker's Child this week, would feature the death of one of their own. According to reports, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, is snuffed out.

According to Marvel Comics, “The tragic saga of “Three” [min-series] has come to an end in the pages of ‘Fantastic Four’ #587—and The Human Torch has fallen. John Storm sacrificed himself so that his niece and nephew, as well as his best friend, The Thing, could escape the Negative Zone.

“Though members have come and gone for brief periods over the team’s 50 year history, the Fantastic Four has always reverted back to the family unit of Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben. With one of these four pillars now gone, Hickman promises inevitable change at the very core of the [Fantastic Four].”

Katz said he saw this coming.

“In the ‘Fantastic Four’ comics, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Sue Storm have all died at some point,” he said. “Johnny was the only who had not died, so we are not surprised.”

When asked if this was the end, Katz said he did not think so.

“These are comic books,” he said. “How many times have people stayed dead?”

Speaking of staying dead, at IDW Publishing, the comic book company is doing its first ever crossover issue. 

“A first in comic book history, IDW Publishing is proud to announce ‘Infestation’.  Starting in January 2011, ‘Infestation’ will infect ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I.Joe’ comics with zombies, zombies, and more zombies. To help create this multi-dimensional saga, IDW is teaming up with fan-favorite writers Dan Abnett and Andy Landing (‘The Thanos Imperative,’ ‘Legion of Super-Heroes) and artist David Messina (‘True Blood’),” said IDW Publishing.

Infestation” #1 ships out this week.

“I have seen some promotional material and they are calling this the ‘Kirtland Situation’ which is a nice nod to Robert Kirkman, the creator of the ‘Walking Dead’ series,” said Katz. “Who else could team four different properties in four different ways?”

He said he expects it to be popular.

“This is the first time IDW is trying their own crossover like ‘Secret Wars’ or ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’,” said Katz. “I am looking forward to this.”