Welcome to your pre-Holiday edition of Comics Relief, fangirls and fanboys! Before Santa comes to eat your cookies and drink your milk, the major publishers have dropped some early Christmas presents for fans — Marvel has created an ongoing series for fan favorite character, Gwenpool! Read on for all the details…

MARVEL Announces The Unbelievable Gwenpool Ongoing Series

Proving that you can cross the character of Deadpool with anything and it’ll be popular, Marvel has announced an ongoing series for their Wade Wilson/Gwen Stacy hybrid called The Unbelievable Gwenpool. The character originally started out as just an image on one of Marvel’s Gwen Stacy variant covers a few months back, then received back up stories in Howard the Duck, and even her own one-shot Holiday Special.

The new series will be written by Christopher Hastings, with art from Gurihiru (the psuedonym for artists Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano). Unlike the original idea behind the character, this actually isn’t an alternate universe version of Gwen Stacy like in Spider-Gwen, despite what the name suggests. Instead, Unbelievable Gwenpool will center around a girl who is actually named Gwen Poole, as she decides to become her own version of Deadpool.

The Earth that this Gwen calls home is one where the Marvel universe isn’t home to real superheroes, but is a fictional line of comics, just like ours. Ok…I’m starting to see how this might actually be fun. The Unbelievable Gwenpool #1 hits in April of 2016. You can check out the cover for issue #1 below. [Entertainment Weekly]

DC to switch from Monthly to Bi-monthly in 2016?

It’s no secret that Marvel has been outshining DC in terms of sales and overall marketshare ever since Secret Wars, as well as the subsequent launch of  the All New, All Different Marvel titles. And according to a new report, DC plans to battle this by having a lot of their top selling titles — books like Batman, Justice League, and Harley Quinn — go bi-weekly instead of monthly.

The question of course is when DC plans to make this official, and just what the creative teams on these titles will be, as not every writer and artist will be able to produce 24 issues a year instead of 12. Right now this is all rumor, but it’s being back up by several sources. Expect to hear a lot more about this new bi-monthly DC Comics in the new year. [Bleeding Cool]

Dark Horse set to adapt two Neil Gaiman stories in 2016

Dark Horse Comics has announced that two of celebrated author Neil Gaiman‘s short prose stories will be adapted into comics next year, and some major artists are attached. Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, the sibling team best known for their work on Casanova, will illustrate How to Talk to Girls at Parties, while A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who worked with Gaiman on his legendary run on The Sandman, will illustrate Troll Bridge.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties is from the 2006 short story collection Fragile Things: Short Fiction and Wonders, and is about shy boys who attempt to flirt with girls at a party, only to discover the girls really are aliens. Troll Bridge is from the 2009 collection Smoke and Mirrors, and is described as a “tragic coming-of-age fantasy masterpiece” about a boy long tormented by a troll. How to Talk to Girls at Parties is scheduled for release on June 15, 2016; Troll Bridge on Sept. 14, 2016. [Comic Book Resources]

BOOM! Studios previews new Power Rangers character designs

One of the more anticipated titles coming from BOOM! Studios in 2016 is the new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers book. Fans are set to get their first taste of the new Power Rangers  in January with a special #0 issue, from the creative team of writer Kyle Higgins and artist Hendry Prasetya. Now BOOM! has revealed some of Prasetya’s character designs for the new series, which are based on the first season versions of the characters from back in 1993. You can see the new character designs below: [Comic Book]

IDW and Marvel team up for Jack Kirby’s The Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition

IDW has been making quite a splash these last couple of years with with their oversized “Artist’s Edition” books, which showcase the original pencil and ink artwork in their original size. Now the publisher is finally adding some work from the legendary Jack Kirby to the Artist’s Edition line-up. Jack Kirby’s The Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition will be a mammoth 15” x 22” hardcover collection, which will includes classic and complete stories from Journey Into Mystery #111, #117, #118, and other stories, plus a beautiful gallery section by Kirby.

Marvel’s Tom Brevoort, who is working with IDW on the book, said “Jack Kirby is still the visual heart of the Marvel style, so having an opportunity to experience his originals at the size they were drawn, corrections and all, is a rare and valuable opportunity for any aficionado of the comic book mediums.” Jack Kirby’s Mighty Thor Artist’s Edition is set to hit in May of 2016. [Newsarama]

Con-Man spin-off Spectrum coming to comics

By now, you have probably at least heard of former Firefly actor Alan Tudyk’s acclaimed new web series Con-Man. Now Tudyk is bringing Spectrum, the show-within-a-show from Con Man, to the world of comic books. Spectrum #0 is set to launch in May 2016 on Free Comic Book Day with the release of its full-sized first issue, with four more issues to follow.

For those who haven’t had the chance to see it, Con-Man is all about an actor from a cult sci-fi TV show, and his misadventures while on the convention circuit. In the world of Con-Man, the show Spectrum starred Tudyk and his fellow Firefly alum Nathan Fillion. The new Spectrum comic will tell the story of the sci-fi/alien invasion show that launched their characters’ careers. Tudyk will co-write Spectrum with Con-Man producer P.J. Haarsma, and feature art from Sarah Stone. Spectrum is the first monthly comic book from publisher Automatic. [Newsarama]

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IMAGES: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / Automatic Publishing / Dark Horse Comics / IDW / BOOM! Studios