Welcome to the weekday edition of  Comics Relief, where in today’s news, Marvel’s “Merc with the mouth” Deadpool is simply hogging most of this comics news cycle. Someone’s getting a big fat head in anticipation of their new movie. Read on for all the (sure to be gory) detailsâ¦.
Rob Liefeld Returns to Deadpool with New Original Graphic Novel Bad Blood
Last week we talked about Rob Liefeld‘s return to Marvel, andâdespite some suggestions it might be anotherâit appears that it his first project back is indeed centered around his original creation, Deadpool, after all. Mavel has formally announced Deadpool: Bad Blood, a new OGN with X-Men ‘92 writers Chris Sims and Chad Bowers.
While speaking to the folks at Comic Book, Liefeld said, “This is literally a story I’ve wanted to share for the last twenty years. I actually started drawing pages of it out in my notebook back around 2007, it’s something I do when I get ideas, artistically riffing, so the idea that I’m actually seeing the story and the pages come to life is a thrill! I don’t want to give anything away, I’m just trying to add something memorable to the canon.”
Other Liefeld Marvel creations will be showing up in Bad Blood as well, like Cable and Domino. No official release date has been set for Bad Blood, but expect it around the time the Deadpool movie comes out in February, 2016. You can check out Liefeld’s cover art below. [Nerdist]
But Wait! There’s Still More Deadpool News!
Hold your horses, Wade Wilson fans! There’s still more Deadpool news this week! Marvel has also announced Deadpool and the Mercs for Money, a new five-part miniseries from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Salva Espin. The new series teams Wade Wilson up with a team of the Marvel Universeâs most deadly killers for hire.
In speaking with IGN, writer Cullen Bunn said of the new book âDeadpool and the Mercs for Money is The Dirty Dozen and The Expendables, if Deadpool was in charge instead of Lee Marvin or Sylvester Stallone. It’s Saving Private Ryan if, instead of rescuing a soldier, they were trying to make a metric ton of cash.â
The first issue of Deadpool and the Mercs for Money goes on sale in February. You can see the cover for issue #1 by Declan Shalvey below: [IGN]
Diana’s Classic Origin Story Restored in Legend of Wonder Woman
DC Comics recently announced an all-new miniseries slated for early next year called The Legend of Wonder Woman, which is set to be kind of a primer of sorts for new fans ahead of her movie debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. One thing that Wonder Woman fans were wondering about was whether or not this mini-series would be set in the current “New 52” DC continuity or not, as Diana’s early years haven’t been really covered in the new DCU yet.
Well, in an interview with HitFix, writer Renae De Liz said this version will be an updated telling of Diana’s more classical originâbut with a few new twists of her own. So this won’t be the New 52 “we kill men and sell male babies for weapons” barbarian version of the Amazons, or Princess Diana as the daughter of Zeus. She’ll even have her magical birth origin restored, at least for this iteration of the story.
In the interview, De Liz desribes her version of Paradise Island as a, “Themyscira that was magical, and filled with the unknown. Where anything could happen, for good or bad.” For more info, you can read the entire interview at the following link: [HitFix]
Cable Set To Join The Uncanny Avengers
Issue #2 of Uncanny Avengers hit the shelves this week and in the preview for the book’s third issue, we finally got a glimpse of the longstanding Marvel character said to be the team’s final member. Turns out? It’s none other than Cable, the mutant solder from the future. With Deadpool also a member of the Uncanny Avengers, the creative team probably couldn’t resist pairing these two up again.
In an interview with Marvel.com, writer Gerry Duggan said of the new Avenger that, “Cableâs long term plans with the team are complicated. He’s got an agenda that he was pursuing in the future, but thatâs on hold. Cable will be seduced by the secret mission of the Uncanny Avengers; for Cable, it’s a mission thatâs worth sticking around for.” [Marvel]
DC All-Access Previews Superman: American Alien
Writer Max Landis made a big splash online with his Death of Superman video a few years back, and now he’s writing a new series exploring Clark Kent’s youth in Smallville, in a new 7-part miniseries Superman: American Alien. The first issue hits this week, and DC All Access recently spoke with the first issue artist Nick Dragotta about this new interpretation of Kal-El’s early years.
Dark Horse to Adapt Six Chinese Graphic Novels
It’s been announced that Dark Horse Comics is teaming up with Le Vision Pictures USA to adapt six Chinese graphic novels into English-language comics, and eventually, feature films. The current comics slated to be adapted are the digital comics “P.A.I.U. â Paranormal Activity Investigation Unit,” “The Path to Immortality,” “The Descendants of Straw Mountain,” “Gods of China,” “The Naughty Queen,” and “Magical Days.” Combined, these digital comics have generated more than 400 million hits. For more on this partnership, click on the following links: [Hollywood Reporter via Comic Book Resources]
IDW to Make Valentine’s Day Variant Covers Next February
Halloween’s barely over and the Christmas stuff’s already begun springing up everywhere. So is it too early to talk about Valentine’s Day yet? It isn’t for IDW at least, as the publisher has announced a series of variant covers for February that look like the kind of Valentines you’d pass out in elementary school. You can check out a preview of these cool covers in the gallery below. [IDW]
What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!
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IMAGES: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / IDW / Dark Horse Comics