China cracks down on popular manga and anime, Heroes Reborn comes to comics, and a whole lot more coming to you In today’s edition of Comics Relief. First, however, we’ve got some news from Marvel about just who is taking over the Iron Man franchise once Secret Wars comes to an end…

MARVEL Announces Brian Bendis & David Marquez as New Iron Man Creative Team

Announced at this past weekend’s Special Edition Conference in New York, Marvel finally announced who would be taking the reigns of Iron Man when the book is relaunched as part of All-New Marvel, and it’s none other than Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis has been the #1 writer at Marvel for the past 15 years, writing such huge selling books as Ultimate Spider-Man, New Avengers and All-New X-Men, so it’s no big surprise that Marvel is giving him their flagship character (as far as the non comics world is concerned) Bendis will be teamed up with artist David Marquez for Invincible Iron Man #1 this fall.

“He’s getting new armor, a new girlfriend, new villains, a whopper of a last page and thanks to Kieron Gillen who revealed that Tony Stark is adopted, we’re going to find out who Tony’s biological parents are” says Bendis. “This new armor design has new cool things that it does, including — you know how Tony has 20-30 armors that show up? This one can turn into all of them.” Invincible Iron Man #1 hits in October. [CBR]

Women Rule In September’s True Believers Titles At Marvel

Also announced at the Special Edition Conference by Marvel was that this coming September, the publisher would be continuing their $1 True Believers titles, where Marvel reprints first issues of series for the cover price of $1 as a way to introduce new readers to the books and characters. The comics to be included in this batch are Thor #1, Spider-Gwen #1, She-Hulk #1, Ms. Marvel #1, Spider-Woman #5, Silk #1 and Princess Leia #1. (So Princess Leia is now a Disney Princess and a Marvel heroine? Girl’s got everything. Well, except a planet.) [Bleeding Cool]

The Savage Dragon Prepares for a Shotgun wedding this fall

Savage Dragon creator, writer, and artist Erik Larsen revealed via his Facebook page the upcoming cover to Savage Dragon, issue #209, which shows what looks like the upcoming, shall we say, hastily prepared wedding between Malcolm Dragon and his girlfriend Maxine. If you’re wondering why the wedding is hastily prepared, take a good look at that baby bump that Maxine is rockin’. The pregnancy were previously hinted at in the Free Comic Book Day issue Savage Dragon Legacy, which gave readers a glimpse into the future. [CBR]

Titan Comics Teaming With NBC For Heroes: Reborn comic

The NBC series Heroes is returning to television this fall in the form of event series Heroes: Reborn, and now British publisher Titan comics has announced that they’ll be bringing the world of Heroes to the printed page as well. According to the press release, the story begins with a five-story arc featuring the origins of one of the series’ new main characters.

The new series will be written by Heroes Reborn Supervising Producer Seamus Fahey and Zach Craley and illustrated by Rubine. According to the folks at Titan, “Our new Heroes series is being created in close collaboration with the team behind the NBC show. These aren’t just comics; they’re bonus episodes!” Heroes Reborn issue #1 will hit comic stores in October 2015. [Comics Beat]

BOOM! Teaming With Humble Bundle for their Jim Henson Titles

The world of the late, great Jim Henson comes to Humble Bundle in an all- new comics bundle. BOOM! Studios has re-teamed with Humble to offer comics published by its imprint, Archaia, based on some of Jim Henson’s most famous creations including Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and the Eisner award-winning graphic novel Tale of Sand, adapted from one of Henson’s unproduced screenplays. Some of the creators who have contributed include well known names like Joshua Dysart, Kate Leth, Nate Cosby, Chris Eliopoulos, Marjorie Liu, Ron Marz, Jeff Parker, Ramón Pérez, former Henson conceptual designer Brian Froud, and many more. To see the entire bundle, click on this link: [Humble Bundle]

China Cracks down hard on manga and anime from Japan, including Attack On Titan

China isn’t just a place where they make all your stuff and is responsible for half of Hollywood’s blockbuster money; they’re also a brutal dictatorship that limits the options of its people and what they’re allowed to consume in terms of pop culture. And right now, China is cracking down hard on all manga and anime being imported from Japan.

According to reports, China has blacklisted 38 Japanese cartoons, including the hugely popular Attack on Titan, from appearing online, according to state media. This is all happening amid a broadening crackdown on China’s Internet content, And some 29 Chinese websites have received warnings or fines for carrying manga or anime that “encourage juvenile delinquency, glorify violence and include sexual content.” Some eight websites have also been totally shuttered. This all  intended to “protect the healthy development of youth.” I don’t know about you, but I have a hunch this is all going to backfire badly. Not that the citizens of China have a voice to do anything about it that is. [Japan Times]

Archie re-luanches with 17 Variant Covers

Archie is relaunching this summer with an all-new Archie #1, and the publisher is creating a whopping 17 different covers for the big event for various different retailers and outlets. Contributing arists for the series of variants include  Cameron Stewart,Tom Grummett, Rafael Albuquerque and a whole lot more. You can see all seventeen covers by clicking on this link: [Comics Alliance]