There was once a time when we all feared that hyper-intuitive artificial intelligence and robots might one day pose a threat to humanity, but to look at our current technological landscape, it's seeming much more likely that our collective obsession with our phones and the growing gig economy might be what does us in.

The Boy Scouts and vending machine sandwiches aren't really similar, though they are both designed to provide people with the things they need: guidance, information, or, well, nourishment.

If you spend any time on social media, then you’ve undoubtedly at some point found yourself exhausted, annoyed, and wondering if the internet was a mistake. Those of us who spend too much time staring at screens often joke about how we should never tweet or post and should perhaps just log off.

Everyone has different ways of coping with the day-in-day-out toil of working a job, optimistically trudging toward whatever one’s version of a “weekend” is. But for many, to work often means to pour yourself into labour that doesn’t necessarily bring you any sense of joy, freedom or expression.

What does a perfect world look like, exactly? Is it a place where everyone agrees to get along because we’ve set aside our differences, or is it a place where the trauma that so often gives birth to those differences never existed at all?

Even though the culture has bought into the idea that a person's teenage years are some of the most tumultuous of their lives, sometimes one of the weirdest parts of transitioning into adulthood is realising that you were actually way more together (relatively speaking) when you were younger.

If you, like me, are a sensible person who knows better than to willingly put yourself in obvious danger, then you know to stay far away from large bodies of water, because they are teeming with aquatic horrors just waiting to kill you. This is a fact.

The single-minded determination of a person hellbent on avenging their murdered family members is strangely similar to the passion displayed by very committed tech enthusiasts who line up for launch day events.

As much as we all like to fancy ourselves as self-sufficient islands, it's impossible to really get through life while also enjoying yourself if you don't have people in your corner who want to see you succeed.

Narratively, this week's best new comics have little in common other than the fact that they're a testament to the fact that everybody needs a little help to make it through hard times - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

In times of great need or extreme stress, pretty much everyone's survival instinct kicks in and we all default to certain coping mechanisms that have gotten us through our entire lives. For some people, that means cooking. For others, it means performing.

Close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine the apocalypse. What's it like? Would you survive? Often, when we think about the end times, we envision desolate landscapes devoid of all life, and destabilised communities that are constantly at war for whatever scant resources are left.

You know the funny thing about Brussels sprouts? Most people who think they don't like them have actually just never had them prepared the right way. Rule of thumb: Always roast them, never steam them. Because to steam a Brussels sprout is to invite a world of terror and anguish into your life.

Our perception of reality is defined by a unchanging set of rules. That which goes up must eventually come back down. Those who are long dead are destined to stay that way. If those rules changed, however, our relationship with reality would break down. For instance, how would you react if gravity suddenly vanished? If you're anything like the heroes of this week's best new comics, the answer is... complicated.

Despite the fact that they all come from worlds where teams of superheroes save the multiverse on a daily basis, most of the heroes in comic books baulk when they realise that their only hope of surviving the arcs of their own stories is - wait for it - working with other people.

The stars of this week's Pull List selections have watched as war and plagues have ravaged the world time and time again, only to see humanity come to the brink of destruction before settling back down and eventually forgetting whatever lessons that might have been gleaned from the last Major Event™. When we meet them again in their respective presents, the world is on the brink of collapse yet again, and this time they all believe it really, really could be the end of all things.

Everyone knows that when you make deals with demons, whether they be supernatural or simply devilish in their temperaments, there's always, always a price to be paid in the end. And yet, people are always surprised when it's time to settle up their debts - and then realise there's a catch.

Though Father Time stalks us all in anticipation of the inevitable moment when we pass on from this life to the next, that doesn't stop us from doing everything we can to stave off death as best as we can.

One of the greatest things about comic books is that they can (and often do) tell stories about updated versions of classic teams we're all familiar with, and at a much more rapid pace than you'd see in television or movies. As a result, comic teams change rosters almost as quickly as individual team members change costumes, something this week's very best new comics understand and take advantage of in the very best ways.