It’s Wednesday, which means it’s new comic book day and your mid-week edition of Comics Relief! In today’s installment, we’ve got news on a pretty killer $1 per-issue sale on ComiXology for Batman Day, as well as reports of more manga translations headed to Dark Horse Comics. But first, are the shiny sentry of the spaceways coming back for a new Marvel series? Read on for the full report…

Is Dan Slott & Mike Allred’s Silver Surfer returning for All-New, All-Different Marvel?

One of the more critically acclaimed series from the last big Marvel relaunch, Marvel NOW, was Dan Slott and Mike and Laura Allred’s Silver Surfer series. Although it was not initially in the line-up for the upcoming All-New, All-Different Marvel, Mike Allred recently confirmed at Rose City Comic Con they were returning to the Silver Surfer sometime in 2016, along with writer Dan Slott. Although he later retracted that statement on Twitter, implying there’s only a new Silver Surfer series as soon as Marvel announces it and not before, he encouraged fans to keep their fingers crossed. It seems only a matter of “when” at this point, and not “if.” [Bleeding Cool]

Comixology has huge Batman Day Sale

Saturday, September 26 is official Batman Day at various comic shops, bookstores, and libraries. It’s a holiday to celebrate all things Dark Knight, and as part of the Bat-festivities, Comixology has offered up a huge Batman and Gotham-centric sale to celebrate the occasion, featuring over a thousand comics dropped down to just a dollar each. Among the many Bat books are the first story arcs in popular comics like Batgirl, Grayson and Gotham Academy. And there are a lot more where that came from. You can start going through the large list of title right here. [Comics Alliance]

Humble Bundle teams up with CBLDF For Banned Books Week

In preparation of Banned Books Week, Humble Bundle is offering an assortment of comics by authors that have been challenged, and in some cases, outright banned. Many important and influential big name creators are represented here, including Alan Moore, Scott Snyder, Jeff Smith, Jeff Lemire, Wendy Pini, Garth Ennis, Cory Doctorow, Jock, Kevin O’Neill, the Hernandez Brothers, Julie Doucet, and a whole lot more.

With the help of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), this bundle was curated to be representative of the comics that need protection under the First Amendment. Free from censorship, a wide range of titles from award-winning creators are offered in honor of the week that celebrates them. Like all Humble Bundle offerings, customers can choose how their purchase dollars are allocated, between the publisher and charity.

Humble Comics Bundle: Forbidden Comics Supporting Banned Books Week runs for two weeks and ends Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 11 a.m. PT.

Dark Horse to increase manga titles by 25% in 2016

It’s been a somewhat bumpy year for Dark Horse Comics. First, the publisher lost their long-held Star Wars license to Marvel, and seeing Marvel take those characters and concepts to new sales heights has got to sting just a little. Then Dark Horse had a management shake-up, and longtime Editor-In-Chief Scott Allie was replaced by Dave Marshall. But it would be unwise to count out Dark Horse as a powerhouse publisher. One of the things that Dark Horse always has had going for it is its large amount of Japanese manga titles translated into English.

Recently, Anime News Network asked Dark Horse editor Carl Horn about the company’s commitment to manga titles translated into English. Horn responded by saying, “At present, Dark Horse plans to increase its output of Japanese titles (manga, novels, and art books) by at least 25% in 2016 compared to this year, and it’s possible that might rise a bit, as we are still finalizing our 2016 schedule.” 25% is not a small number. Dark Horse Comics have already announced the release of Kentarou Miura‘s Giganto Maxia and Kengo Hanazawa’s I Am a Hero, among many others, so 2016 should be a good year for manga fans. [Bleeding Cool]

DC Comics rush-solicits Supergirl tie-in comic to the new TV series

Unlike Marvel and Disney, which are experts at corporate synergy between the comic book versions of their characters and their mass media counterparts, DC has always faltered at this for some reason. (For example, why don’t the comic book Teen Titans remotely resemble the super-popular animated incarnations? It’s a no-brainer!) Another odd business decision is to have no ongoing Supergirl comic on the stands just as a Supergirl TV show is about to launch in millions of homes.

Maybe in an effort to rectify this mistake, DC is reprinting Supergirl #1 from 2011, the first issue of the New 52 relaunch, for only one dollar, under the title DC Essentials: Supergirl. The comic is by Michael Green and Mike Johnson, and drawn by Mahmud Asrar and Dan Green, but will feature TV’s new Kara Zor-El, Melissa Benoist, partially  displayed on the cover. It’s due to hit on October 21st, a few days before the TV launch of the new Supergirl series on CBS. [Newsarama]

The Omega Men is un-cancelled by DC Comics…for now.

We reported last week on how DC Comics plans to cancel a large number of their newer titles introduced in June for their DC You relaunch. Among those titles was outer space adventure series The Omega Men from the creative team of writer Tom King and artist by Barnaby Bagenda, which was scheduled to end in December with issue #7.

Now DC co-publisher Jim Lee has taken to Twitter to tell fans that the book was being un-cancelled, and said, “In talking to Dan DiDidio, we’ll continue Omega Men until [at] least issue #12 because of the fans,” Lee wrote. DiDio added, “Folks were right, we promised 12 issues and we will keep that commitment.” This is a smart move on DC’s part, because if fans perceive every non-Batman, Superman, or Justice League related concept to get canned right away, they’ll never bother trying them out in the first place. [Comic Book Resources]

Titan Comics to publish Independence Day prequel comic next year

Next year, the long-awaited (as in twenty years long awaited) sequel to Roland Emmerich’s alien invasion epic Independence Day is hitting theaters, titled Independence Day: Resurgence. Now British comic book publisher Titan Comics has announced they are doing a prequel tie-in series to the new movie. The as-yet-untitled prequel will tell a “rich psychological prison drama” set in the time right after the original 1996 film.

Titan Comics’editor Steve White said, “[This will be] a golden opportunity to segue nicely into next year’s blockbuster sequel by taking the mythos of the original and maybe adding a little darkness to it.” Personally, I think the perfect ID4 prequel would take place after a long, drawn out process to finally get all those global monuments built, and at their grand re-openings after two decades, have the aliens destroy them all over again in like, two seconds. That would be the best prequel ever. Independence Day: Resurgence is scheduled for release June 24, 2016. [The Hollywood Reporter]