It’s Comics Relief time kids, and this week we’ve got news on how you can get certified in “Superhero 101” from none other than Stan Lee himself, more teases about the return of Milestone comics, and, of course, more news about Marvel’s upcoming Secret Wars. But first, check out a sneak peek at DC’s latest variant cover featuring two incarnations of Batman’s #1 girl, Selina Kyle, kickin’ it with all her loot….

DC Debuts Gorgeous Adam Hughes Variant Cover For Convergence #0

DC has released their variant cover for Convergence #0, and it’s a gorgeous image from the artist many consider to be the king when it comes to drawing beautiful women, Adam Hughes. This cover features two versions of Catwoman, as she appeared from the 1940s till about the mid ’80s, in her purple dress and green cape, side by side with her modern black leather-clad incarnation, lounging out on a pile of stolen money. The only thing that would have made this better is if somehow the Batman ’66 Catwoman had made it in there somehow too, but I guess you can’t have everything. Check out the cover below in its “correct” orientation. [Newsarama]

The X-Tinction Agenda Returns As The Latest Secret Wars Spin-Off

Thought Marvel was done teasing past comic event stories coming back as aspects of Battleworld in the upcoming Secret Wars? Nope, not by a longshot. This June, Marvel launches a four-issue X-Tinction Agenda series, written by Arrow’s Marc Guggenheim with art by artist Carmine Di Giandomenico. The original X-Tinction Agenda was the mutant crossover that led to big changes in the X-Men line of books, ultimately resulting in 1991’s record setting X-Men #1, as well as X-Force and the second version of X-Factor.

Set in an alternate timeline that springs out of the events of the original crossover from 1990, X-Tinction Agenda is set under the “Warzones!” banner, and features the characters of Havok and Wolfsbane leading the mutant nation Genosha rebuilding after the events of that series. Havok and Wolfsbane will be joined by Mystique, Phoenix, Wolverine, Beast, Rictor and Chief Magistrate Anderson from the original crossover, as well as a newly created character named Bulletproof. The coolest twist is that in this universe, Beast brought back the X-Men from Giant Size X-Men #1, and not the ’60’s team, so you get a younger, less “house-trained” version of Wolverine in the mix as well. [Comic Book.com]

The Smithsonian Joins With Stan Lee For A Course On The History of Superheroes

If you ever needed to double check that comic books and comic book culture has now gone legit, here’s something that will remind you: The Smithsonian Institute (yes, THAT Smithsonian) is launching a series of lectures on the history of comics, featuring none other than Stan Lee and Michael Uslan. Of course if you’re reading this you know who Lee is, but Uslan is the Batman fan who helped bring the character to big screen in 1989, has been a producer on every Batman movie since, and is something of a comics history expert himself.

Launching in May, “The Rise of Superheroes And Their Impact On Pop Culture” is a five-week course which looks back on the history of superheroes from 1938 to the present, covering everything from the the senate trials of the ’50s that contributed to the Comics Code, to the current superhero-fueled pop culture we live in today. Officially taking the course requires a “minimum fee,” and upon completion, students receive a certificate signed by Lee and Uslan, but if you’re just wanting to learn and don’t care about the diploma, you’ll also be able to audit the course for free. You can click on this page at edX for more information. [Comics Alliance]

Marvel Goes WAY Back For Their Next Secret Wars Tie-In

So far, Marvel has been heavily mining the big comic book events of the 80’s through the 2000s for its pieces of Battleworld in the Secret Wars, but this time they’re going back even further, to the late ’70s Avengers storyline “The Korvac Saga.” That particular story centered around Michael Korvac, one of the many cosmically powered heroes of the Marvel Universe whose power was too much for him to handle.

Now writer Dan Abnett is set to write an all-new continuation of the Korvac Saga, as part of Marvel’s Secret Wars. The series has the original, future versions of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and then puts them in service of Korvac as lord of a Battleworld domain known as “Forest Hills.” They ended up being at odds with Wonder Man, who has formed his own version of the Avengers and resides in “Holy Wood.” This Secret Wars stuff just gets weirder and weirder….[Newsarama]

DC Set To Celebrate The Spirit’s 75th Anniversary This Summer

Although it’s recently been announced that Dynamite Entertainment is re-launching Will Eisner’s classic noir hero the Spirit this summer, it seems DC isn’t totally done with the character just yet. According to reports, DC Comics announced a new Spirit hardcover to celebrate the character’s 75th anniversary this summer. It’s entirely possible that this is just a hardcover collecting older material which DC might still have the rights to publish. Maybe Dynamite only has the license for new Spirit material? I’m sure we’ll all know more by summer. In any event, looks like fans of the Spirit will have plenty to choose from in 2015.  [Bleeding Cool]

 Milestone 2.0 Gets A Teaser Trailer

A few weeks back we teased the return of Milestone comics, the ethnically inclusive line of comics from the early ’90s that spawned such characters as Static and Icon. Well, we now have our first semi-official teaser for the re-launch of Milestone. A motion graphics artist by the name of jsjcreative, who was acquainted with the late Milestone founder Dwayne McDuffie, is behind the teaser and had this to say about creating it:

“22 years ago this week Hardware #1 the 1st issue of Milestone Media’s comic universe hit the news stands. This month also marks Milestone Co-Creator, Writer & Editor in Chief, Dwayne McDuffie’s Birthday and the day of his transition from this world in 2011. Years back after Milestone’s first edition of books had ceased publishing, I asked Dwayne if there was something I could do for him, something animated since I had transitision from comics to motion graphics. He asked me to animate an italicized Milestone “M”. “That’s it??” I thought. He wanted it for his webpage and I let the idea drift away from me.

This past January Oscar nominated Producer, Film Director and Comic Writer Reginald Hudlin, and original Milestone Co-Creator, Creative Director Denys Cowan and President, Derek T. Dingle announced Milestone will return with a live action Static episodic show and more details that will be announced this summer. The entire piece is designed and animated by me of course. Took about a week from concept to final. Its the least I could do in honor of Dwayne and, it seemed like the perfect time for me to Celebrate Milestone 2.0, Dwayne’s Birthday and deliver on his simple ask.

Milestone Forever.” [Bleeding Cool]

MILESTONE 2.0 TEASER from jsjcreative on Vimeo.

8 Year Old Boy Really, REALLY Wants His Comic Strips Back.

And finally, in quite possibly my favorite news item of the week, an 8-year old boy called his local newspaper when he found out that they were pulling the comics page from it. He begs for the return of his favorites like Frank and Ernest, Ziggy, Garfield, Close to Home, Peanuts, Dilbert and Nancy, although the last one only when egged on by his parents, which you can hear in the background. All of this sounds cute right? Yeah, it’s adorable until he starts calling the folks at the paper “Idiots. Jerks. Sh*tholes.” I know I’m supposed to be outraged at these kids today and their lack of respect, but I just think it’s cute there’s a little boy who still cares this much about freakin’ Garfield. You can listen to the whole lovely call below. [Comics Beat]

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Got a favorite news item this week? Let us know in the comments below!