By Tara DiLullo Bennett

With FEARnet?s last piece of coverage of the American International Toy Fair, it?s time to let the heroes take over--with comic-book champions getting some of the love we previously extended to Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Long the bread and butter of the toy business, stalwarts like Spider-Man, Batman and the rest of the Justice League are certainly representing in 2008, but the interesting trend is that eclectic collectible companies are also getting into the fun, not only with their twists on traditional superheroes but with the introduction of their indie comic-book brethren. Here?s a taste of the whole range of fun to look forward to this year:

[Note: Be sure to check out our gallery of Toy Fair superhero images, for exclusive photos of the toys described here!]

Dark Horse

Hoping to capitalize on the upcoming release of Frank Miller?s solo directorial debut, The Spirit, Dark Horse is releasing new maquettes based on the legendary Will Eisner?s artwork of the masked crimefighter. A rep from the company explains, ?The figures are based on his classic artwork and we?re hoping it will become a prized item this season.? Even more impressive is the fact that the figures are created from actual Eisner sketches that were done up should the Spirit 3-D pieces ever get made?and now they are! Dark Horse confirms there will be a limited run, ?but there is no edition size set yet. We will have the mini-bust of The Spirit coming out of the manhole cover, and the ladder comes out. The full figure looks great with his tie flying back.?

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

Collectors looking for an alternative superhero shouldn?t look any further than Mezco Toyz expansive line of 7? and 3 ??action figures, roto-busts, 18? deluxe figures and key chains celebrating the return of Mike Mignola?s cult-hero to the big screen in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. The company plans to have two series of 7? action figures, with Series One featuring Wink, Prince Nuada, Johan Krauss, Liz Sherman and, of course, Hellboy (with Samaritan) and Abe Sapien. Each will include character-specific accessories and come individually packaged. Series Two will feature two new Hellboy sculpts: one without his trench jacket and another with him wounded. There will be an impressive Angel of Death figure, Princess Nuada and Goblin. For high-end collectors, Mezco will release 18? deluxe editions of Hellboy and Abe Sapien in real cloth outfits.

Hasbro ? The Hulk and Iron Man

With two huge comic-book film franchises launching (or, in the case of Hulk, re-launching) in early summer, Hasbro has The Hulk and Iron Man tie-in toys covered, from toddlers to grown adults. For The Hulk, highlights include the Hulk Powerglow Mask that lights up to give you your very own Gamma green eyes. There will be variety of 12 different action figures inspired by the movie.

For Iron Man, there will be 6? action figures from the movie with the Mark I, Mark II and Mark III suits. And there will be characters based on the videogame and comic-book Iron Man incarnations. There will be an Iron Armor Roadster, Stark?s car, which features a missile blaster, and a figure. For roleplay wear, there is an actual wrist repulsor gauntlet that fires six discs for projectiles-in-your-eye fun! A rep from Hasbro also shares that ?in the movie, Iron Man flies with the fighter jets so we have Air-strike Iron Man--you can pump up the figure and then launch him up to 40 feet high into the air. When he gets to peak altitude, he has a detachable jet that pops out and soars to the ground independently of [the figure]. It?s pretty dramatic to watch!?

Mattel ? Batman and DC Universal

Last but not least, hardcore comic-book fans will love the fact that Mattel is going deep into the DC Comics vault to bring some cult characters to action-figure life. A Mattel spokesman explains, ?Last year, we opened the master agreement with DC Comics, and essentially the big announcements are that we are doing the 6? line sculpted by Four Horseman Studios. But the difference now is that we are doing ?Build-It? figures; so as you buy into a wave of five figures you get the parts to build one other character like Rex Mason [a.k.a. Metamorpho]. Series Three will include Wonder Woman and Cyborg. There will also be never-before-seen characters like Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Question and more. And another new thing is the 3 ?? line that will start in Fall ?08. It will really open up in ?09 with a secret storyline that will be big news in Spring ?09. I want to say it?s the first time superheroes are being done in this massive scale.?