Hello comics fans, and welcome to your weekend edition of Comics Relief! Before we get started today, I must once again issue a bit of a SPOILER WARNING first — we’ll be talking about big reveals from last week’s DC Rebirth comics, so if you’ve somehow managed to avoid spoilers for those books, go read those comics and then come back. Got it? Great. Now let’s get this show on the road…
Bryan Hitch’s Last 5 Issues of Justice League Get Canceled
The current Justice League of America title by Bryan Hitch has been one of the highlights of the past year of DC Comics, placing DC’s “Big Seven” heroes in big, larger than life stories that recall the best of Grant Morrison’s JLA era. But Bryan Hitch is a notoriously slow artist, and on top of it all, he’s also writing the book. And with his new Rebirth Justice League series (which he is just writing, not illustrating) about to hit, the final five issues of the previous Justice League of America have been badly delayed. And now, mid-story, they’re being outright canceled.
DC Comics have just announced the cancellation of the final five solicited issues of Justice League of America, issues #9 through #12, plus Justice League of America Annual #1, although DC is telling retailers they “will be resolicited at a later date.” Covers and solicitations have been released for all five issues, and the last issue, #8, ended with the death of Superman. We know he has to get better though, because he died again in Superman #52. Hitch’s JLA series has been a highlight of the New 52/DCYou era and we hope it will get a proper conclusion at some point. [Newsarama]
Latest Civil War II Image Teases More Character Deaths
If you caught the first issue of Marvel’s Civil War II from Brian Michael Bendis, you know there were two major casualties of classic Marvel heroes. One died, and one was severely injured and might die (I won’t say who, you’re just going to have to buy the issue). Now Marvel is teasing another major character death for issue #3 of Civil War II, and have released this teaser, asking the question, “Who will fall?” Which of course then leads to the question “How long before they get back up?” You can check out the latest teaser image below: [Newsarama]
ONI Press’ Fresh Romance Print Edition Gets SDCC Special Cover
Oni Press’ romantic anthology series Fresh Romance, created mostly by women, made quite a splash last year as a digital-first series, curated and published by Janelle Asselin. Now the print collection is slated to be published and in stores on August 10th 2016. However, certain lucky attendees of San Diego Comic-Con will be able to pick up their copy three weeks early at Oni Press’s booth #1833 from 20th July. The SDCC exclusive variant will also feature a cover by Babs Tarr, which you can check out below. [Bleeding Cool]
Cover for 3rd Printing of DC Universe Rebirth puts Wally West front and center
The first big reveal of the DC Universe: Rebirth one-shot from Geoff Johns was the long, long awaited return of Wally West to the DC Universe. Now DC is celebrating that return with a special cover for the third printing of the one-shot, with Wally West front and center, trying to escape the Speed Force back into our dimension. You can check out the Wally-centric cover by artist Gary Frank and colorist Alex Sinclair below: [Comic Book Resources]
Watchmen Co-Creator Wasn’t Consulted by DC About Their Big Plans for Dr. Manhattan
And while we are on the subject of Rebirth, The second big reveal at the end of last week’s DC Universe Rebirth was the revelation that Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan was the omnipotent being that has been manipulating the DC timeline and created the New 52 universe. The inclusion of a Watchmen character in a DCU story is a big deal and has never been done before. While Alan Moore hates DC quite publicly and was no doubt not consulted about it, what about artist Dave Gibbons, Dr. Manhattan’s co-creator?
Well, in an interview during MCM London Comic Con recently, several reporters asked Gibbons about the fact that Dr. Manhattan was going to be a part of the actual DC Universe, and an adversary at that. He then told the reporters “no comment,†and when a follow-up question asked if DC had even sent him an email about using Dr. Manhattan, he replied, “No, they didn’t.†Time to make some calls, DC. You already have one Watchmen co-creator hating on you…you don’t want two. [Comics Beat]
Latest Humble Bundle is Perfect for Old School Ghostbusters Fans
Some people are having a very traumatic time over the concept of any new Ghostbusters hitting the big screen again (you know who you are). But if you are a die-hard, old school Ghostbusters fan and want to express your love for Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore, then I suggest you check out the current Humble Bundle for Ghostbusters comics from IDW, featuring the characters from the original films and animated series. Right now for just $15 bucks, you can get a ton of classic Ghostbusters material, including the X-Files crossover issue. (Yes, there was one.) You can check out the Bundle right here. [Comics Alliance]
New ROM Series from IDW Gets Huge Amount of Variant Covers for Issue #1
ROM, the late seventies/early eighties toyline about a badass space knight–and which was a very successful Marvel comic for years–is now joining his Hasbro siblings in a new IDW series this July. Along with the first issue comes a huge amount of variant covers. Among the names doing variants for ROM #1 are Rob Liefeld, Dave Messina, Dave Dorman, Michael Golden and a whole lot more. You can check out some of the covers in our gallery below, and for the rest, click on the following link: [Bleeding Cool]
Images: DC Comics / IDW / Marvel Comics / Oni Press
