Gather round, comics fans, because it’s time for the weekend edition of Comics Relief! In today’s column, we’ve got big news about the prequel to Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, and much, much more. Read on for all the details…

Frank Miller & Brian Azzarello Team with John Romita Jr. for Dark Knight: The Last Crusade

DC has released details on the new one-shot comic from the Dark Knight III writing duo of Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello. The new 64 page comic, called Dark Knight: The Last Crusade, will take place a decade before The Dark Knight Returns, and will finally tell the story of the event that caused Bruce Wayne to hang up the mantle of Batman for so long. In an interview with Newsarama, artist John Romita Jr had this to say about the story:

“I can’t say much, but I can say this book’s a prequel to Dark Knight Returns and it’s got a lot to do with Jason Todd and what happens to him at the hands of the Joker. All this was only touched on in Dark Knight Returns. We know Jason Todd met his end, but this is going to tell the story of how he met his end and what transpires up to that point.”

The Last Crusade will be available on February 16th. You can check out the cover below: [Newsarama]

Quentin Tarantino Writes Hateful Eight Mini-Comic

The Dark Knight Returns isn’t the only high-profile title with a prequel coming soon; Quentin Tarantino’s much anticipated new western movie The Hateful Eight is also getting a prequel comic as well, and in a rather unlikely place: Playboy Magazine.

Playboy’s December issue, which hits newsstands this week, will include a comic book preview of written by Tarantino himself and illustrated by Zach Meyer. Right now, you can read the whole mini-comic on Playboy‘s site at the following link. But remember, this is written by QT himself, so there’s some offensive language. [Playboy]

Is Marvel Planning on Reviving Where Monsters Dwell?

One of the recently concluded Secret Wars spin-off books at Marvel was the pulp-influenced Where Monsters Dwell, a mini-series by Garth Ennis and Russ Braun about an ex-war pilot landing his plane in a weird land full of dinosaurs and exotic barbarian women. The title itself is the name of an old comic from before Marvel was even called Marvel, back when it went by the name Timely Comics.

Recently, Marvel re-registered the trademark for Where Monsters Dwell for “comic books; printed periodicals in the field of comic book stories and artwork.“ This can only mean they’re planning more comics with that title, so fans of the recent Garth Ennis series might be about to get a lot more where that original series came from. [Bleeding Cool]

Don’t Worry, LGBT Comics Fans, Shatterstar Will Remain a Gay Hero

It was announced just this week that artist Rob Liefeld would be returning to characters he created for Marvel 25 years ago, in a new Deadpool OGN called Bad Blood. One of the characters in this new book would be the other-dimensional warrior Shatterstar. This is a bit controversial, based on comments Liefeld made six years ago when writer Peter David revealed in the pages of X-Factor that Shatterstar was gay, a reveal confirming years of rumors about him and fellow teammate Rictor.

After that reveal, Liefeld then took to the internet and said, “Nothing against gays, I have gay family, nuthin’ but love here. Ditto gay characters if that’s what their true origins are. As the guy that created, designed and wrote his first dozen appearances, Shatterstar is not gay. Sorry. Can’t wait to someday undo this. Seems totally contrived.”

Well, six years on, he’s getting the chance to work on Shatterstar again, causing a concerned fan to ask Liefeld directly what he planned to do. Here’s his response:

@MJFeuerborn please don’t worry. Shatterstar’s sexual preferences are not my concern and will not be changed.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) November 13, 2015

Good to see that Liefeld has evolved a bit on this issue, and that LGBT fans won’t have to have another character taken away from them. Deadpool: Bad Blood comes out in 2016. [CBR]

ICYMI: Titan Comics Announces Fourth Doctor Mini-Series

UK publisher Titan Comics have announced that Tom Baker’s incarnation of the Doctor will headline his own five-issue miniseries, titled Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor. The new series will also see the return of Sarah Jane Smith, as was portrayed by the late Elizabeth Sladen. The new mini-series will be written by Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby, with art by Brian Williamson, and will take place in Victorian England, pitting the Doctor and Smith against “a mysterious woman [who] commands a hidden army in a house of the blind.” For more info, read our full story on the new comic at the following link: [Nerdist]

Comixology Has Huge Sandman Sale

In honor of Neil Gaiman’s return to the world of DC’s Sandman, which is now available in the The Sandman: Overture collected edition, comiXology is having a sale on the entire run of Sandman from now until November 16th. Select collections are up to 67% off and you can get over 180 comics for 99¢ each. If you’ve never read any of Gaimain’s epic fantasy saga about the King of Dreams and his family, now is the time to get in on it all. You can click on comiXology’s site  right now and browse through the entire sale. [Bleeding Cool]

Neal Adams Pays Tribute to Himself in DC Variant Cover Series

Artist Neal Adams is a comics legend, having illustrated such comics as Uncanny X-Men, Superman, and many more over the decades, not to mention redefining Batman for an entire generation. Now Adams is paying homage… to himself! This will be for an all-new series of variant covers for DC next February, paying tribute to his own great covers from the past 45 years. You can see all the pencil-versions of the covers in our gallery below: [IGN]

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IMAGES: DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Titans Comics