There’s lots of news to unpack in today’s edition of Comics Relief, but before we get to the latest reports coming from DC, IDW, and Titan, Marvel Comics has given fans a new tease for the summer’s biggest event. Read on for all the details…

Marvel Releases New Civil War II Trailer

Civil War is coming to the Marvel Universe…and I’m not just talking about the movies here either. This summer, Marvel kicks off Civil War II, with the a new battle royale between the heroes in the pages of the comics. Now Marvel has released an all new trailer for the event series, which you can watch below:

Here’s Marvel’s full press release for the new series, which is set to hit stores this June:

The drums of war beat for the Marvel Universe this June, as the Earth-shattering Civil War II #1 comes to comic shops and digital devices with a jam-packed double-size issue! Blockbuster creators Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez and Justin Ponsor bring you a tale of hero against hero – and a Marvel Universe divided. A new power has emerged, one that can predict the future – for good or for ill. Standing on opposite sides, will the heroes use this new power to prevent danger before it happens? Or will they fight to allow tomorrow to unfold unaltered. Battle lines will be drawn. Lives will be changed. Heroes will fall. Do you stand with Captain Marvel? Or will you side with Iron Man? Choose your side!

The 2016 Eisner Award Nominations Are Here

The Eisner Awards, named after legendary comic book pioneer Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, are the Academy Awards of the comic book industry, easily the most prestigious of all the comic book awards handed out. The nominations for this year’s awards were just announced, and publisher Fantagraphics earned the most nominations with twelve, followed by BOOM! Studios at eight and IDW Publishing with seven.

Marvel’s Silver Surfer from creator Mike Allred also got several nods, including “Best Continuing Series” and “Best Single Issue/One-Shot” for 2015’s #11. The news was less happy for DC Comics; with the exception of comics coming from the Vertigo label, no mainstream DC titles received a nomination this year. For the full list of 2016 Eisner Award Nominations, you can  click on the following link: [Newsarama]

Titan Comics Celebrates 50 Years of Doctor Who’s Cybermen

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who’s famous robot baddies the Cybermen, publisher Titan Comics has announced that they are celebrating with what may be their biggest Doctor Who crossover event yet — Supremecy of the Cybermen. According to the official description, “when The Cybermen kidnap the ousted Gallifreyan leader Rassilon and get their hands on time-travel capabilities, it’s going to take four modern incarnations of The Doctor to stop them.”

The latest event series will be written by George Mann & Cavan Scott, with art by Alessandro Vitti. Supremacy of the Cybermen unites the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth incarnations of The Doctor, and launches this July right before the third annual Doctor Who Comics Day, which will take place around the world on July 9th. You can check out the Alessandro Vitti cover for the series below: [Comics Alliance]

New Chinese Superman Gets A New First Name

In last week’s Comics Relief, we mentioned that the New 52 version of Superman was going to die, leaving his pre-Flashpoint counterpart taking over for him when he’s gone. But before he dies, other characters will be gaining some of the fallen Man of Steel’s superpowers, like Lois Lane and even Lex Luthor. One of these new Supermen is a new, Chinese character, created by writer Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese). Originally announced as being named Kenji Kong, DC has decided to rename him Kenan Kong before the first issue hits.

About the name change, series writer Yang had this to say: “There was a problem, of course. Kenji is a common Japanese name and this would probably cause some confusion, at least at first. What would I think if I were a casual comics reader and I encountered an Asian super hero named Kenji Kong as a supporting character in a couple panels of a DC comic, without any context for the name? I’d probably assume some non-Asian writer had confused Asian cultures.I was only thinking about how I’d make this character and his name work in the particular story I was going to write. I’d missed the forest for the trees.I had to change the name.”

New Superman #1 hits comic shops on July 13. You can see the cover for issue #1 below: [Comics Beat]

DC Rebirth To Tell a Two-Year Overarching Mega Story

In other DC Rebirth news, after the more insular approach to their comics line last year with “DCYOU” didn’t exactly take off with the fanbase, a new report from Bleeding Cool suggests that all the titles featured as part of Rebirth will interconnect as part of a larger mega story, thought up by by none other than DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns.

The stories start on May 25 with the DC Universe: Rebirth #1 one-shot, and as of right now are planned to run for a full two years, culminating in August 2018. It’s hard to speculate on just what this mega story could be with so little information on just what Rebirth is actually…you know… rebirthing, but I’m sticking to my guns and saying that the original, adult Wally West Flash is coming back in some capacity. [Bleeding Cool]

IDW Gives Fans Their First Taste of ROM: Space Knight

ROM: Space Knight was one of those late ’70s toy lines that didn’t last long on toyshelves, but its Marvel Comics adaptation lasted years beyond the action figures popularity. Eventually the Marvel comic got cancelled, but now, after several decades of lying dormant, publisher IDW has snatched up the rights to ROM, and will be bringing out a new series this year. But ahead of that, ROM will first show up on two new variant covers for Micronauts #4. The photo variant shows old school ROM figures from the early ’80s, and another variant comes from artist David Williams. You can check out both covers below: [CBR]

Betty & Veronica #1 Gets 24 Variant Covers

Riverdale’s two leading ladies are getting an all-new series this year, as Betty & Veronica #1 is set to launch this summer from publisher Archie Comics. The new Adam Hughes-written and drawn reboot of Betty & Veronica is set to ship on July 20 with a regular cover by Hughes, a blank sketch cover, and then a whopping 23 variants covers from artists like Tom Bancroft, Cliff Chiang, and several other high profile artists. You can see all 24 covers for Betty and Veronica #1 in our gallery below. [Bleeding Cool]

Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / IDW Comics / Archie Comics / Titan Comics