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Comics Relief: GODZILLA Goes To Hell (Literally) GWEN STACY Takes Over The Marvel Universe, & DRIVE Comes To Comics

Welcome folks, to the weekend edition of Comics Relief! Although WonderCon and Emerald City Comic Con are now in the past, the news out of the comics world keeps on coming. In today’s news round up, we’ve got a sentimental cover for the end of the Ultimate universe at Marvel, more Gwen Stacy than you know what to do with, and hints at the first Transgender hero coming to mainstream comics. But first, IDW is taking everyone’s favorite giant fire breathing lizard to the one place that’s already as hot as atomic breath….

For IDW, Godzilla Goes To Hell. Literally.

In maybe the strangest comics announcement to come down the pike in awhile, IDW Comics have revealed plans for Godzilla In Hell, a comic that is exactly what the title suggests it is. Banished into Hell at the begining of the story (by whom I’d like to know…does God meet Godzilla?) Godzilla then has to fight against some of the most deranged and hideous monsters in the whole of creation while trying to seek out answers as to to who sent him there in the first place. Personally, I’m really curious about the parts of the story where we see Godzilla seeking answers. How does that conversation go?

This five-issue miniseries sees the return to the OG giant monster of writer/artist James Stokoe, who did the 2012 miniseries Godzilla: The Half Century War. Stokoe is set to do the first issue of this new story, while subsequent issues are taking on a variety of other creators like Bob Eggleton and Dave Wachter for the second issue, while Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas and Brandon Seifert are all confirmed for the rest of the series. The first issue of Godzilla In Hell is set for July. [Comics Alliance]

After Seven Decades, DC Comics Packs It Up In New York City And Heads Out West

This week was a historic and somewhat bittersweet one for the folks at DC Comics, who after some 75 years in New York City, are heading out west. April 10th was the final day of DC Entertainment’s New York office, long located at 1700 Broadway, right across from the  historic Ed Sullivan Theater. DC will now be located in Burbank, near its Warner Brothers parent company, where all those DC-themed movies and TV shows are being made. After all, that’s where the money is these days for these characters. Now, only Marvel remains in the city that birthed the modern comic book as we know it. Check out one of DC’s Dan Didio’s pics of the last day below: [Comics Beat]

Mark Bagley’s Ultimate End Cover Pays Tribute To How It All Began

The Ultimate Universe is coming to an end soon, thanks to the events of Marvel’s upcoming Secret Wars, and in honor of fifteen years of storytelling in the Ultimate brand of comics, the artist who helped start it all, original Ultimate Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley, is drawing the cover for Ultimate End #1, in an homage to his own cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #1 from back in 2000. The cover shows newer Spidey Miles Morales swinging through a burning New York City street, the very same one that Peter Parker swung through back in the days when he was Spider-Man (and alive.) and things were somewhat less Apocalypsy. Check out the variant cover for Ultimate End below: [Comic Book Resources]

Gwen Stacy Channels The Whole Marvel Universe For June Variant Covers

Speaking of Spider-people, Gwen Stacy has gone from being a famously dead girlfriend of a male superhero into a hero in her own right, with the popular alternate-universe series Spider-Gwen. Now a host of other beloved Marvel characters are about to get Gwened-up, as Marvel is doing Gwen Stacy variants covers this June, featuring Ms. Stacy as Dr. Strange, Wolvwerine, the Hulk, and others.

As described in the press release from Marvel, “She’s smart, charming and she can lift a car! She’s Gwen Stacy, the Spectacular Spider-Woman and she comes to you each month in the pages of the critically acclaimed Spider-Gwen series! But what if Gwen Stacy had lifted Mjolnir to become Thor: Gwen of Thunder? What if she had been awarded the Eye of Agamotto, and battled the forces of the supernatural as Dr. Gwenge?” check out the first three of twenty variant covers featuring Gwen Stacy for the books Future Imperfect #1, Old Man Logan #2, and Secret Wars #3, all in our gallery below:[Newsarama]

Greg Rucka Set To Write Star Wars: Shattered Empire For Marvel

A few weeks back, it was announced that Marvel was going to be publishing an event comic that was meant to bridge the gap between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, called Star Wars: The Road to the Force Awakens- Shattered Empire. Now we have a writer for that project, and it’s none other than Greg Rucka, the man behind such classics as Whiteout, Queen and Country, Gotham Central, and Detective Comics. The artist on the book is yet to be announced, but with Star Wars Celebration coming soon, I can’t imagine we’ll have to wait much longer to find out who it is. [Bleeding Cool]

IDW Brings Cult Classic Drive To Comics

Announced at WonderCon last week, publisher IDW has released the first details on their adaptation of author James Sallis’ crime noir novel Drive, which ended up becoming a much loved cult film back in 2011, from director Nicolas Winding Refn, and starring Ryan Gosling. Now the novel is getting re-imagined again as a comic book, from artist Antonio Fuso and writer Michael Benedetto.

In a statement, original author James Sallis had this to say: “The idea behind ‘Drive,’ the engine, was to write a contemporary equivalent of those muscular original paperbacks from publishers like Gold Medal — something that will translate beautifully into graphic novels; I’ve spoken of Nic Refn’s film as a perfect storm, where everything, music, script, acting, came together miraculously. IDW’s ‘Drive’ looks to be another perfect storm. This kind of loving development goes beyond adaptation; it’s true re-creation.” Drive #1 is set to come out in August from IDW. [Comic Book Resources]

Will Batgirl’s Old Roomie Become DC’s First Transgender Hero?

Is DC about to get a Transgender hero soon? Signs point to yes, as the character of  Alysia Yeoh, who was introduced to the cast of Batgirl  as the roommate of Barbara Gordon, back when Gail Simone was still writing the book. Ever since the new creative team took over the book, and Batgirl moved from Gotham to Burnside, we haven’t seen as much of Alysia, but this could change big time, as the Barbara Gordon computer algorithm introduced into the book recently, which was looking to wipe out crime by any means possible, predicted the actions by individuals that will lead to more destruction, in order to eliminate them. One of the names included was  Alysa Yeoh, which it predicts will become a vigilante. Well, in comics talk, “vigilante” usually = superhero, so don’t be surprised if we see a big news announcement about comics first Trans hero soon from DC. [Bleeding Cool]

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Got a news item this week you’re especially psyched for? Let us know in the comments below!

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