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Comics Relief: Marvel Celebrates 50 Years Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Frank Miller Announces DARK KNIGHT 3, & Stan Lee’s New Universe

Lots of news coming out of last weekend’s C2E2 Con in Chicago from all the major publishers in today’s Comics Relief, including a doozy of announcement from DC about the return of Frank Miller to the Dark Knight universe after more than fourteen years. But first, Marvel has plans to celebrate the big Five-Oh for their current TV stars and super spies in proper fashion.

Marvel Celebrates S.H.I.E.L.D.’s 50th, And Gives Some Of The TV Stars Their Own Comics

S.H.I.E.L.D., the secret spy organization of the Marvel Universe has never had a higher profile, thanks to their successful ABC television series, and Marvel is celebrating S.H.I.E.L.D’s 50th anniversary this year by putting out five one-shot comics, each focused on a S.H.I.E.L.D. character that’s prominent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, namely Nick Fury Jr., Agent Carter, Agent May, Quake (AKA Skye on the TV show) and Mockingbird.

According to Marvel editor Jon Moisan: “For the Nick Fury story, I’ve brought in David Walker who has worked up a really fun story involving time travel and the father-son dynamic between the two Nick Furys. Agent Carter’s special is going to shed some more light on her past and give some insight into her relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. That one will be bringing Kathryn Immonen back to Peggy’s world. For Agent May’s first ever comic book, I’ve brought in a relatively new writer to Marvel, Jody Houser, who really impressed me with her work on Orphan Black and Vertigo CMYK and I’m excited to see what she brings to the Marvel Universe. The Quake issue is being brought to life by the team of Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon to fill in some of her backstory and explore her relationship with her father and previously unseen mother. Finally, Chelsea Cain will be making her Marvel debut to write a truly badass Mockingbird story that I think fans will really love.” [Marvel.com]

ICYMI: DC Announces Dark Knight III From Frank Miller And Brian Azzarello

Probably the biggest item announced at C2E2 last weekend was the official news from DC that the third part of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns saga will be coming later this year, now with co-writer Brian Azzarello, and officially titled Dark Knight III: The Master Race. Although the first image released had a bloody Superman “S” Shield, it appears that Superman and Batman are not at odds in the third installment, but joined together to fight the mysterious Master Race, whoever they may be. Well, I’m glad we’re not getting yet another version of Miller’s infamous “Superman as a giant tool”story. Read our story on DK3 right here.

Booster Gold Gets A New Origin As Part Of DC’s Convergence

When Dan Jurgens created the character of Booster Gold in the 1980s, he was a disgraced athlete turned janitor centuries from now, who decided to go back in time to become a superhero with his commonplace for the future technology. Although the character has appeared in the New 52, many have assumed that his origin was at least (roughly) the same. Turns out, not so much, as the original Booster’s creator has given the New 52 iteration a new origin. He’s still from the future-the 25th Century to be exact, but now the circumstances behind this arrival to the past are totally different. While rebooting a characters backstory is normal for comics, this may be the first time the original creator has changed it. You can read Dan Jurgens’ all-new  Booster origin story in Convergence: Booster Gold #1 which is out this week. [Bleeding Cool]

Valiant Comics Celebrates Ninjak This Summer With The Shadow Wars

Also revealed this weekend at C2E2 2015, Valiant Comics announced The Shadow Wars–an all-new story arc beginning in Ninjak #6 from writer Matt Kindt and artists like Raul Allen (Bloodshot Reborn, Hawkeye), Juan Jose Ryp (Black Summer), Stephen Segovia (Unity, Convergence), and Clay Mann (Ninjak, X-Men) The series is described as “a one-on-one showdown with four all-new enemies…each more ruthless that the last…illustrated by a different top talent each month”

According to the official synopsis released from Valiant, “Ninjak went to Tokyo to destroy the shadowy Weaponeer arms cartel from the inside out, beginning with its secret council of shinobi masters…the Shadow Seven. Now, the world’s top super-spy is cutting his way through the four death-defying members – The Barbe, Fitzy, Fakir, and Sanguine – that stand between him and the one secret that still eludes him… Who really wields the power behind the world’s most powerful terrorist network? Who is the secret seventh member of the Shadow Seven? And what do they want with Colin King?” The storyline is set to commence this summer. [Comic Book.com]

Stan Lee Creates Another Comic Book Universe With The Unknowns 

In the world of comics, Stan Lee is the definition of the term living legend, but he’s hardly resting on his laurels, even though at 92 it’s fair to say he’s earned the right. Just announced as coming from Lee’s own POW Entertainment, partnered with Arcana Entertainment, Stan Lee is spearheading the creation of an all-new comic book universe, in a new series called The Unknowns.

Planned as both a comic series and animated project, The Unknowns follows two teens who are part of a touring rock band that are chasing down alien invaders; the catch is that some members of their band are also aliens, but good guys. According to Stan the Man, “The Unknowns is an idea I’ve had for a while, and bringing these characters to life with Arcana and Sean Patrick O’Reilly is exciting,” No release date has been announced  yet,  but the publisher states more will be revealed at Atlantic City Boardwalk Con in May. [Newsarama]

Guardians of the Galaxy’s Drax Gets An Ongoing Series From CM Punk

Former WWE star CM Punk is also an unabashed comics geek, and his dipped his toes into writing comics in recent months, starting with Marvel’s recent Thor Annual. Now it looks like he’ll be getting his first regular writing gig for comics, as it was announced by Marvel at C2E2 that CM Punk will be writing the first ongoing series for the Guardians of the Galaxy‘s big green brusier Drax (interestingly enough, played by a former wrestler in the movie.)

The new Drax series will be co-written with an as-yet-unnamed writer, and will focus on Drax’s time outside the Guardians team.”I think we’ll be drawing from the cinematic Drax because that’s what’s mainstream right now; The Drax that I know is like, the Infinity Gauntlet Drax. He’s big and green and he’s dumb. The new Drax is completely different.” No release date was given by Marvel at C2E2, but it’s expected in the fourth quarter of 2015. [Comic Book Resources]

Artist Ty Templeton Describes His Recovery From A Heart Attack In A Fairly Hilarious Manner In His Bun Toons Comic Strip

A few weeks back, we reported the unfortunate news that former Batman Adventures artist Ty Templeton suffered a massive heart attack and was placed into a medically induced coma. Fortunately, despite describing his ordeal as having “died three times”, Templeton is now home and seems to be making a recovery. In fact, he is already back to work on comics, having completed a new installment of his Bun Toons strip that’s usually based around a brief explanation of Marvel’s Daredevil, but this time, it’ really more of an update on Templeton’s own condition. This week’s strip says it all I think: [Comics Alliance]

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