Welcome to your holiday weekend edition of Comics Relief, fangirls and fanboys! We’ve got a lot of news to cover heading into the holiday, starting with the return of DC’s #1 LGBT power couple. Read on for all the details…
Gay Super-Power Couple Midnighter and Apollo Get New Series This Fall
Although his own ongoing solo series was cancelled before the big DC Rebirth, Midnighter is getting back together with his old love Apollo for a new six-part mini-series, appropriately titled Midnighter and Apollo. This new series is coming this fall from writer Steve Orlando, who wrote the most recent Midnighter series. The two characters were THE gay power couple of the Wildstorm universe—originally introduced in the late ’90s comic The Authority as gay analogues of Batman and Superman. The duo eventually married and adopted a child, but when the Wildstorm universe was folded into the DCU with the New 52, they were suddenly single again.
Now DC is putting the couple back together, and hopefully this mini-series leads to a new ongoing book down the road. Writer Steve Orlando, who is himself bisexual, has long had a special affinity for Midnighter, saying on his blog, “Getting to write a character that helped me when I was younger and boost the signal to a new generation has been an honor. This is the World’s Finest Couple — kicking back and making each other better than they are on their own.” The new Midnighter and Apollo series debuts in October from DC Comics. [New York Times]
New Marvel Video Series Catalogs Every Iron Man Armor Ever
Ever since he first debuted to the public in Tales to Astonish way back in 1963, Iron Man has had a lot of different variations on his armor. And I mean a lot. Now the folks at Marvel have decided to catalog each and every one of them in a new four-part video series, starting with the bulky gray armor, and culminating in the current red and gold version he wears in the present day Marvel Universe. You can watch the first part of the armor history videos down below: [Bleeding Cool]
Final “Divided We Stand” Marvel Teaser Image Released
After releasing a ton of teaser images for the last few weeks, Marvel Comics has released the full final image of their new “Divided We Stand” initiative. Joining the 16 characters from the previous teasers are 10 new characters: Daisy Johnson/Quake, Elektra, Gamora, Cable, Squirrel Girl, Moon Girl, Kate Bishop/Hawkeye, Dr. Strange, and Amadeus Cho/Hulk.
So, just what is “Divided We Stand” all about? Well, according to Marvel’s Axel Alonso, “This is not an event. It’s the status quo of the Marvel Universe in the aftermath of the war. It’s a glimpse as to whom we can point to in the coming year, with just enough ‘What the heck’s going on there?’ spots to get people speculating.” You can check out the full Divided We Stand image above. [Fast Company]
New Star Trek 50th Anniversary Humble Bundle from IDW is a Stellar Deal
With the 50th anniversary of Star Trek nearly upon us, the folks at IDW have decided to make available a large assortment of their Trek comics for a massively discounted price, via the latest Humble Bundle. As with most Humble Bundles, it is a “pay what you want” deal, but if you pay $25, you get all the Trek books they are offering, plus a Humble exclusive print edition shipped to your house.
This is a $440 dollar value, and if you’re a Trek comics fan, you definitely don’t want to miss out on this one. The sale has already started, but you have until July 13th to get in on the action. You can check out the latest bundle by clicking here. [Bleeding Cool]
Donald Trump is a Super Villain in Spider-Gwen’s Universe, Too.
Spider-Gwen—the alternate universe version of Gwen Stacy who became a superhero—has become one of Marvel’s most popular characters. Now in this week’s Spider-Gwen Annual, writer Jason Latour has revealed one of Earth 65’s most vile villains… and it turns out it’s one of the worst bad guys from our Earth, too! That’s right: on Earth-65, MODOK is actually Donald Trump.
Actually, he goes by the name MODAAK instead in this world, which stands for  “Mental Organism Designed As America’s King,” and is described as “an orange-faced monstrosity with tiny hands and a plan to rule America with hate and fear.” Sounds familiar. This may rankle some readers who don’t want their comics to comment on politics, but I will remind those readers that the first issue of Captain America had him punching out Hitler on the cover. So, you know, there’s precedent. [Comics Alliance]
Cancelled Superman/Wonder Woman Issues Get Print in New Hardcover
With the advent of DC’s big Rebirth, many issues of the Superman/Wonder Woman series never got to see the light of day. Thankfully, fans of that series will get to read those stories as part of a new hardcover collection. Superman: Savage Dawn will now collect the cancelled Superman/Wonder Woman issues #30 and 31, as well as the rest of the “Savage Dawn” story that ran through the Superman titles. The hardcover is scheduled to hit stores on October the 5th. [Newsarama]
Just in Time for July 4th, Meet the U.S.Avengers
Get ready for another all-new Avengers team! Announced just in time for the 4th of July, this new patriotic superteam will be called the U.S.Avengers, and will debut this fall from Marvel Comics, with a new #1 issue. This version of the team will be comprised of Sunspot, Red Hulk, Cannonball, a new Iron Patriot, Pod, Squirrel Girl, and the Captain America from the future, who is Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ grown-up daughter, Danielle Cage. The new team will work for Sunspot’s A.I.M., which has been rebranded as American Intelligence Mechanics. You can read our full story on the subject, and to see character sketches, check out our gallery below! [Nerdist]
Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / IDW Comics
