Welcome to your first edition of Comics Relief for the month of November, fangirls and fanboys! In today’s installment, we’ve got previews of some very cool variant covers coming to us from All-New, All-Different Marvel, plus our first glimpse at a documentary about a long-forgotten comics publisher who nevertheless had a huge impact on the industry. But first, it’s time for fans of DC Comics’ King of the Seven Seas to rejoice, as one of Arthur Curry’s best creative teams is set to return. Read on for all the details….

Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado return to Aquaman

Last week, we reported that Cullen Bunn, the current writer of Aquaman, was leaving the title, in large part due to internet bullying at the direction he was taking the character. So who is DC lining up to replace him? How about the returning creative team of writer Geoff Johns and artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado? Johns announced via Twitter that the “team was back together” and would be producing “Rise of the Seven Seas,” a storyline that was originally teased in the conclusion to Johns’ run on Aquaman last November.

Back when he left the title last year, Johns shared what “Rise of the Seven Seas” would be about, saying, “We are introducing this mythology piece called the Seven Seas in my last two issues and that’s going to continue into a big Justice League story next year. It warrants Aquaman getting help from the Justice League. It’s too big for him to handle alone, so the seven seas, the seven members of the Justice League — it’s all going to be a nice, big story.”

Although this story could be taking place in the pages of Justice League, the fact that Johns mentioned “the team was back together” and that Reis and Prado were his original partners on Aquaman when the New 52 began would suggest a return to the Aquaman title is what’s in the cards. [Newsarama]

AMC’s Preacher trailer causes sales of the comic to explode on Amazon

DC Comics is probably about to sell a lot of copies of Garth Ennis’ and Steve Dillon’s Preacher trade paperbacks from the look of things. Last Sunday, when the trailer for the new television series aired on AMC during The Walking Dead, sales for Preacher trades skyrocketed on Amazon. The first volume, “Gone To Texas,” instantly entered the US top ten graphic novel sales (The Walking Dead was at the top of that chart, as per usual).

Amazon quickly sold out of their backstock of the first hardcover volume, and the paperback version sold out for a while as well, but was then restocked. Now, imagine how well DC’s Preacher back catalog is going to sell when the actual series airs. Somewhere, creator Garth Ennis is looking to buy a new mansion. [Bleeding Cool]

ICYMI: Marvel teases new Disney Haunted Mansion comic

This past weekend, appropriately enough on Halloween, Marvel posted a teaser for an all- new Haunted Mansion comic, which is set to be published under its Disney Kingdoms imprint. Marvel has previously published the theme park-inspired Big Thunder Mountain Railroad comic by Dennis Hopeless and Tigh Walker. No creative team has been announced for this book yet, and all we have is the teaser, which features the three hitchhiking ghosts from the ride’s finale. One thing’s for sure….the new comic probably won’t have anything to do with the Eddie Murphy movie from a decade ago. For more info, read our story on the subject right here.

Jim Lee to make his final convention appearance of 2015 at New Jersey Comic Expo

If you’re a fan of superstar artist and DC co-publisher Jim Lee, then the upcoming New Jersey Comic Expo, which is a new convention that debuts later this month, will be your last chance to meet the artist this year. The organizers of the New Jersey Comic Expo have officially announced that Jim Lee will be among its featured guests for the show, which runs from November 21-22, with Lee slated to appear for a special signing on Sunday, the 22nd.

In a statement, Lee said, “I’ve known [Expo creator] Martha Donato for a long time, and was at her first Long Beach Comic Con. I had a great time, so when she asked me to be at her first New Jersey Expo, I made sure I could make time to be there. Looking forward to seeing my fans on the east coast for my final US show of the year.”  [Comic Book Resources]

Long-gone publisher Charlton Comics to get a new documentary

You might not know the name Charlton Comics, but chances are, you know the characters that were created there, such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question, and more. Charlton was a comics publisher for some forty years, from 1946-86, and was the cheap, lesser known alternative to DC, Marvel, and Archie, and a lot of famous creators got their start there.

The company was started by two guys who met in prison, and that was just the beginning of many shady things the company would do over the years before eventually folding. Still, Charlton had its place in comics history. Their superhero characters would be bought by DC in the mid-80s, and eventually become the basis for the Watchmen. Now a documentary is being produced about the rise and fall of Charlton Comics, and the producers have set up an IndieGoGo to help make it a reality. You can watch the trailer for the new documentary below. [Bleeding Cool]

Marvel’s Black Knight goes ’90s retro in new variant cover from Steve Epting

Marvel has released the variant cover for issue #2 of their new series featuring former Avenger The Black Knight, and for ’90s comics fans, this cover image will definitely be a blast from the past. Dane Whitman’s new series, from the creative team of Frank Tieri and Luca Pizzari, will find him at odds with his former Avengers teammates. However, in the variant cover from artist Steve Epting, it will feature the Knight reunited with his old Avenging buddies.

For the cover, Epting, who was the primary Avengers artist during the early ’90s, showcases the Black Knight in his costume of the time. In one of Marvel’s sillier decisions, they decided to cover his usual outfit of medieval chainmail armor with a bomber jacket. In fact, for awhile there, almost all the Avengers had bomber jackets, no matter how much it didn’t go with their existing costumes. You can check out the Epting’s variant cover for Black Knight #2, which arrives in December, in all its ’90s glory below. [Newsarama]

Michael Cho does pop art style variant covers for Marvel next February

Speaking of variant covers from Marvel, this coming February the publisher has asked Canadian artist Michael Cho, best known for his comic Shoplifter, to provide variant covers to some twenty-five different Marvel titles. The covers for this series are in Cho’s retro pop-art minimalistic style, which fans of artists like Bruce Timm and Darwyn Cooke should really enjoy. So far, Marvel has released twelve of them, which you can see in our gallery below. For news on which of the other titles are going to be part of this series, click on the following link: [Comics Alliance]

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IMAGES: DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Walt Disney Studios