Comic-Con is upon us, kids, and with that, a deluge of comics news coming all weekend. But even before we hit Comic News Overload this weekend, there’s still a bit of news to go through in today’s edition of  Comics Relief, including the return of a beloved 1980’s property that has thankfully managed to avoid the reboot cycle. Read on for more details…

IDW Announces New Back to the Future Anthology Series

Although thankfully we will never get a Back to the Future reboot as long as original director Robert Zemekis is alive (thank the Gods for your foresight, Mr. Zemekis, for having that in your contract) the world of Marty McFly and Doc Brown is expanding to comics. IDW announced this week that they will be publishing a new Back to the Future anthology comic starting in October, with the subtitle Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines. The series will follow alternate versions of events from the movies, fill in the gaps between them, and offer up prequel stories. The coolest part is that Bob Gale, the co-writer of all three classic movies, will be one of three writers working on the new series.

In a press release, Gale said, “We’ve subtitled this ‘Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines’ because for years, fans have asked questions about things that happened before the events of the trilogy, in between the events of the trilogy, or in our alternate realities. In this series, we’ll finally answer some of those questions, with our focus squarely on the characters everyone loves. In the first tale of the debut issue, we head back to 1982 and witness the very first meeting between Marty McFly and Doc Brown, before their incredible adventures together began. Then in the second chapter, we head back even further to 1943 and see how Doc Brown got himself mixed up in the infamous Manhattan Project!”

All of this sounds awesome, and perfect way to give fans more Back to the Future without rebooting and recasting it with people who probably couldn’t hope to ever fills the shoes of Michael J. Fox and company.  [Comics Alliance]

DC’s Latest All Access Video Showcases Every Justice League Member. Even the ones you forgot.

The Justice League of America has had many, many members in their fifty-five-year existence, and now DC Entertainment has compiled all of them, well over a hundred, for this video. Interestingly, when watching this video you see that in their first twenty years of existence, the JLA was a pretty exclusive club, adding only ten members past the original seven founders in that time frame. The League was a tough club to get into, Then Justice League Detroit happened in the mid 80s, and they let in characters like Vibe, and once that happened, the floodgates were open, and all the riff-raff was allowed in. By the mid-90s, who could even keep track. Check out the video below to see all members, in chronological order.

ICYMI: DC Announces Several Mini-Series Featuring Classic Characters

Speaking of DC Comics, in their first big announcement of new titles since the start of their whole new DCYOU initiative began, the publisher announced this week plans to bring back some old favorites in new mini-series, and depending on how readers react to them, possibly as ongoing series down the line. The initial line-up of mini-series includes characters like Firestorm, The Metal Men, Poison Ivy, Metamorpho, Katana, Swamp Thing and the Teen Titan’s Raven, and even fifties kiddie comic Sugar and Spike. For full creative teams on those series, check out our story on the subject right here.

WTF News Item Of The Week: Grant Morrison Becomes Editor-In-Chief of Heavy Metal Magazine

In one of the strangest moves that maybe no one saw coming, Heavy Metal magazine has hired prolific comic book genius Grant Morrison as their new editor-in-chief. The first issue under his tenure as EIC is set for release in February, with Morrison planning to contribute his own comics and prose work to the magazine on top of his editorial duties.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Morrison said, “We’re trying to bring back some of that ’70s punk energy of ‘Heavy Metal,’ but update it and make it new again. One of the things I like to do in my job is revamp properties and really get into the aesthetic of something, dig into the roots of what makes it work, then tinker with the engine and play around with it. So for me, it’s an aesthetic thing first and foremost.” Whatever Morrison ends up doing, it will no doubt be crazy and amazing. [Entertainment Weekly]

Dynamite Entertainment and Atari Join Forces

Dynamite Entertainment has just entered into a collaborative publishing agreement with video game legend Atari,a deal that includes rights for a comprehensive retrospective hardcover book, and also includes the right to create original comics and graphic novels based on classic Atari games like Centipede, Asteroids, Missile Command and more, as well as reprint existing comic material, like the 1980’s series Atari Force, which was originally published by DC Comics back in the day.

In a statement from Atari COO Fred Chesnais, he says “We are excited to be teaming up with Dynamite Entertainment to bring a modern twist to a classic series of comics and table top books that are rich with historic art”Atari’s roots in the comic book world and iconic art is a collector and video game enthusiast’s dream. Our partnership is a fun way to expose our brand to a new generation and resonate with our long-time fans.” [Newsarama]

Aftershock Comics Announces Initial Line-Up of Writers

In a bit of pre Comic-Con news, new startup AfterShock Comics has revealed the first group of writers for their fledgling company, and it is quite a roster. Among the initial writers are Preacher creator Garth Ennis, as well as Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex), Amanda Conner (Harley Quinn), Paul Jenkins (Batman: The Dark Knight) Justin Jordan (Superboy, Shadowman), Phil Hester (Ant-­Man), Frank Barbiere (Avengers) and Marguerite Bennett (Batgirl, Sleepy Hollow). The company today also tapped writers for its first short-story anthology including Neil Gaiman, Kim Starlin, Amy Chu, and Brian Stelfreeze.

Former Marvel editor Mike Marts, who announced Aftershock comics earlier this years, said in a statement “When we launched AfterShock, our mission was to attract the best comic book creators in the business, and we’re beyond excited to develop original projects with these industry leaders. But it’s only the beginning.” Expect news on what titles these creators are working on this coming weekend at Comic-Con. [Deadline]

The Super Improbability of Marcus Egan’s Heartbreak Is Latest LGBT Superhero Book That Needs Your Help to Happen

Although LGBT Pride month is now behind us (and what a month it was, am I right?) there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to LGBT representation in comics, especially superhero comics. Now internet personality Neil McNeil is creating a new comic book series The Super Improbability of Marcus Egan’s Heartbreak, along with artist Adam Fay, to give us a book described as “HBO’s Looking and the Scott Pilgrim series had a baby.”

A more detailed description of the series goes something like this: “What happens when your ex meets your one night stand? Or when you find out that they also have a past together? And what if they were once sworn enemies in the current world of Superheroes and Super-villains? Yeah, it’s awkward.” Right now the comic needs your help to come to fruition, and the creators have set up an Indiegogo page so you can help out.  You can go to their Indiegogo page here and help contribute.