Welcome to your weekend/C2E2 edition of Comics Relief, where in today’s column, we’ve got several announcements coming out of the Chicago convention, as well as lots of other comics news. Read on for all the details…

Fans Petition Creators To Bring Back Young Justice As A Comic Book Series

The DC Comics-based animated series Young Justice, which featured the young proteges of the Justice League, only ran for two seasons on Cartoon Network, but despite strong fan support, it sadly never made it to a third. Various reasons have been given — despite decent ratings, the toys didn’t sell, and only older audiences were watching, and not the key toy buying demographic of young kids.

Right now there is a petition going to bring back the show for a third season via Netflix, and although that has a slim chance of becoming reality, this latest fan petition has a better one. This particular petition asks for series creators Christopher Jones and Greg Weisman to write a comic book series based on the continuity of the show to wrap up the storylines left unresolved when the series was abruptly ended. Could it happen? Who knows, but it has a better shot of happening than a third full season at this point. You can add your name to the petition by clicking here. [Newsarama]

Civil War II Factions Stand Revealed

After several weeks of teaser images, we finally know which sides the heroes fall on in the upcoming Civil War II event series from Marvel..and the answer is actually kind of surprising. The preview images, which feature art from Jim Cheung, show that over on Captain Marvel’s pro “imprisoning criminals before they’ve done the crime” side, we’ve got Spectrum, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Blue Marvel, Medusa, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Vision, War Machine, and Spider-Man.

On Iron Man’s side, we’ve got Black Widow, Deadpool, Captain America (Sam Wilson), Hulk, Hercules, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Thor, Miss America, Star-Lord, and Daredevil. Not exactly how I’d expect those teams to shake down at all, which has raised my interest for this series a few notches. For more on this reveal, head on over to our full story on the subject: [Nerdist]

Marvel Makes Several Announcements On New Comics Prior to C2E2

At the comics retailer breakfast right before this weekend’s big C2E2 Convention in Chicago, Marvel took the opportunity to make several announcements about upcoming books. Included among those announcements was a new Punisher series from Becky Cloonan, illustrated by veteran Punisher (and Preacher) artist Steve Dillon. Also announced was that in Amazing Spider-Man #15 in June, Mary Jane Watson would be wearing Peter Parker’s old “Iron Spider” armor from the first Civil War series. Is she “Iron Jane” now? (And please think of a better name than that Marvel).

Also among the announcements was that current Deadpool: Mercs for Money limited series will become an ongoing series sometime later this year. There will also be a second spin-off series of Civil War II to follow Civil War II: X-Men, called Civil War II: Spider-Man, launching in June, by Christos Gage and Travel Foreman. Finally, Marvel showed the cover to Spider-Man centric series Dead No More, which had what appears to be Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, and others coming back from the Great Beyond. Now this can’t be a good idea, can it?

You can check out Alex Ross’ cover image from Amazing Spider-Man #15, which features MJ in her Iron Spider armor, below. [Bleeding Cool, Comic Book]

Valiant Signs Fifteen Artists To Exclusive Contracts

Also ahead of this weekend’s C2E2, publisher Valiant Comics has signed an impressive fifteen artists to their roster in exclusive contracts. Among the names signing on are Raul Allen, David Baron, Diego Bernard, Doug Braithwaite, Khari Evans, Robert Gill, Trevor Hairsine, David Lafuente and several others. For the full list, head on over to the following link. [CBR]

Supergirl Goes From Being A Digital-Only Series To Being A Periodical After All

Although it was originally announced as a digital-only comic, to be followed by a hardcover collection some months later, DC Comics has decided to release their new Supergirl book –based on the current hit CBS TV series — as a six issue periodical series as well.

According to their press release, due to popular demand, The Adventures of Supergirl will now ship twice monthly for three months, beginning with The Adventures of Supergirl #1 (collecting Digital First chapters 1-3) on May 11th, 2016. The new series comes from writer Sterling Gates, and a group of rotating artists including Bengal, Jonboy Meyers, Pop Mhan, Emanuela Lupacchino, Carmen Carnero, Cat Staggs and Emma Vieceli. [Newsarama]

Titan Comics Previews Art From New Penny Dreadful Series

One of the more exciting titles coming soon from British publisher Titan Comics is their new series based on Showtime’s gothic drama Penny Dreadful. The new series is going to be a prequel of sorts to the first season of the show, which finds Eva Green’s character of Vanessa Ives searching the world for her best friend, Mina Murray Harker (the same Mina Murray Harker abducted by Dracula in Bram Stoker’s original novel). Titan has released some preview pages from the first issue from artist Louie De Martinis, best known for his work on Heavy Metal, which you can check out below. Penny Dreadful #1 hits comic shops on May 4th. [Comics Beat]

BOOM! Studios Previews New Series Goldie Vance With Unique Promotion

The newest series announced as coming from BOOM! Studios is Goldie Vance by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams, which is described as a Veronica Mars-esque teen-detective series. The new book centers around the adventures of 16-year-old Marigold “Goldie” Vance, an amateur sleuth who spends her time-solving mysteries at her father’s luxury hotel.

In a clever promotion, the folks at BOOM! Studios have created a brochure to advertise the Florida hotel to the prospective traveler, which they have sent to comics retailers as a promotional item. BOOM! provided Comic Book Resources with a look at the brochure, which you can see in our gallery below: [CBR]

—

IMAGES: DC Comics / Cartoon Network / Marvel Comics / Titan Comics / BOOM! Studios / Valiant