Civil War II is coming soon from Marvel, and in this edition of Comics Relief,  the publisher has released their first details on two crucial one-shots set to tie-in to the big upcoming conflict. Read on for all the details we have so far….

Marvel Annouces Two Crucial Civil War II Tie-Ins

Marvel has just announced two Civil War II tie-in one-shots titled The Accused and The Fallen. What exactly these two one-shots will entail is being kept a mystery — as well as who will be writing and drawing them. Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort says that, while they’re not required reading, The Accused and The Fallen will delve deeper into important parts of Civil War II.

In a statement, Brevoort said “Like the other tie-ins that we’re doing, you can just read the core series and be fine. But for greater insight and greater nuance, these one-shots will help to flesh out some of the most important parts of the story.” Civil War II: The Accused and Civil War II: The Fallen hit shelves July 6. [Comic Book]

IDW Brings Us Hasbro’s M.A.S.K this Fall

Along with Transformers and GI Joe, one of Hasbro’s big toy properties of the ’80s was M.A.S.K., which stood for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. (Basically, it was cars that could turn into other stuff, just not giant robots).  Now IDW has officially announced that M.A.S.K. is coming this fall as a comic book series, from the creative team of writer Brandon Easton (Marvel’s Agent Carter) and artist Tony Vargas.

IDW has become the home of the Hasbro properties, with not only regular ongoing series for properties like Transformers and GI Joe, but also Jem, Micronauts, and now ROM. The M.A.S.K. comic launches this November as an ongoing series featuring cover art by Tommy Lee Edwards, which you can see a preview of down below: [Bleeding Cool]

Artist Pays Tribute to Greg Capullo’s Batman

Everyone has mixed reactions to the success and/or failure of DC’s New 52 initiative –but one thing that can’t be argued is that Scott Snyder’s and Greg Capullo’s 51 issue run on Batman was one of the character’s greatest ever in his 75 year history. In honor of that run, which ends this month, artist Rick Celis has redrawn all of Capullo’s covers for Batman since #1, but done in the Batman: The Animated Series style of illustrator Bruce Timm. You can see a side-by-side comparison of his cover for Batman #1 with Capullo’s below, and to see the rest, be sure to check out Rick Celis’ Tumblr. [Comics Alliance]

Marvel Unlimited Wins Webby Award

The Marvel Unlimited digital comic subsciption service has been a cool way to get a lot of Marvel’s historic comics into the hands of fans who would otherwise never get a chance to read them, and now that service is being honored by winning this year’s Best Entertainment Mobile Site & App in the 20th Annual Webby Awards.

In a statement, David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of the Webby Awards, said “Marvel Unlimited has set the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet. This award is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators.” Marvel Unlimited will be honored at the Webby Awards ceremony on Monday May 16, 2016 in New York City, where winners will have an opportunity to deliver one of The Webby Awards’ famous 5-Word Speeches. If I were a betting man, I’d say it’ll be “Make Mine Marvel. ‘Nuff Said.”  [Newsarama]

Preview Valiant’s 4001 A.D. Interlocking Cover

Valiant Comics has a big four issue crossover event comic coming this summer — 4001 A.D., from the creative team of Matt Kindt, Clayton Crain and David Mack. Now the publisher has released an image of the interlocking covers for each issue from artist Ryan Sook,  starting with issue one in stores today.  Below you can see what all four cover images look like together, sans logos. The first issue of 4001 A.D. hits this week at your local comics shop. [Bleeding Cool]

Jim Steranko Celebrates 75 Years of Captain America

Back in the late ’60s, a young artist named Jim Sterenko changed how comics were illustrated with his work on books like Marvel’s Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. Now the veteran illustrator is coming back to Marvel, for a series of special variant covers celebrating 75 years of Captain America, who happens to be Steranko’s favorite Marvel character.

Continuing through 2016 and into 2017, Marvel will be presenting monthly Jim Steranko Variants assigned with some of the most popular Marvel Comics, like  Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1, Steve Rogers: Captain America #1, Civil War II #2, Uncanny Avengers #11, Black Panther #5, Sam Wilson: Captain America #13 and Civil War #7. You can see one example of Steranko’s Cap variant below: [Newsarama]

DC Releases First Four Rebirth Variant Covers

DC Rebirth is coming next month, and the long awaited series of one-shots will herald the “back to basics” approach for many of DC’s top iconic characters. Now the publisher has revealed the first round of variant covers from the relaunch, including ones for flagship heroes like Superman, the Green Lanterns, Green Arrow, and Batman. The Superman variant comes from Andy Park, Green Arrow from Steve Skorce, Green Lanterns from Alex Garner, and Batman from Howard Porter. You can see all the variant covers released so far in our gallery below.

Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / IDW Comics / Valiant Comics