In this weekend’s Comics Relief, we’ve got news on the long-awaited return of indie comics favorite Tank Girl, an Archie Comics horror themed line of books, and the return of ’90s favorite The Age of Apocalypse. But first off, our first glimpses into the world of the long awaited sequel to cult favorite film Trick ‘r Treat to arrive this October, in the form or original graphic novels…
Legendary Announces Trick r’ Treat and Krampus Original Graphic Novels
Legendary Comics is taking the twisted stories from the mind of Michael Dougherty from the screen to the printed page with the announcement of two graphic novels based on Trick ‘r Treat and his upcoming film, Krampus. Hitting stores later this year, the all-new books are tied into the world of Dougherty’s highly-anticipated big screen releases. The Trick ‘r’Treat OGN will feature new  Halloween themed stories by Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, and Todd Casey, written by Batwoman writer Marc Andreyko, with art by  Fiona Staples, Zid, Stuart Sayger, and Stephen Byrne.
The story for Krampus, described as  a horror comedy, “unleashing the ancient Christmas demon Krampus and his maniacal holiday-themed henchmen, Krampus mixes fear, fun and festive thrills for an adventure that will change the way you see the holidays forever.” Krampus  is also by Dougherty, Shields, and Casey, written by Brandon Seifert and with art by Michael Montenat, Stuart Sayger, Maan House and Christian DiBari.
In a statement from Michael Dougherty, he says “I’ve been having way too much fun working with Legendary and the rest of my team bringing the ancient legend of Krampus to the big screen, and I look forward to expanding the film’s dark Christmas mythology onto the comic page. And hopefully the fans who’ve been patiently waiting for Trick ‘r Treat 2 will enjoy this deeper peek into Sam’s world until he finally rises from the pumpkin patch once more. Happy Holidays.†Trick ‘r Treat hits in October, and Krampus will be in stores this November.
Archie Comics Launches New Horror Line
Just a few years ago, the idea of an Archie Comics horror line would have sounded like an oxymoron, but with the success of the zombie book Afterlife with Archie, the publisher is looking to expand their version of a bloodier, more supernaturally tinged Riverdale. The new imprint, called Archie Horror, will feature the return of Afterlife of Archie after a year-long hiatus, as well as the recently launched The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a full-on occult horror story set in the ’60s. and another as-yet-unnamed third title. The publisher said the third book would feature a “major” female Archie character from the past, remained mum on who it would be. Any Archie fans want to take a guess? [Entertainment Weekly]
Age of Apocalypse Latest Additions To Secret Wars‘ Battleworld
The latest reveal of Marvel’s Battleworld in Secret Wars is a return to the much beloved mid-’90s X-Men event series Age of Apocalypse, which featured an alternate world where Professor Xavier had died young, leaving Magneto in charge of his X-Men, in a world where Apocalypse has taken complete control. The new Secret Wars version will be written by original series writer Fabian Nicieza, and drawn by artist Gerardo Sandoval.
The world of Apocalypse in will be very similar to the original series, with certain differences, like making former New Mutant Cypher a key character this time around. According to Nicieza, “The only thing I’ll say is that Doug Ramsey (Cypher) can not only interpret all languages, he can also discern the intent behind the words spoken; That’s a very important power to have when one group of mutants is trying to find out what secret weapon the humans seem to be working towards and another group of mutants is trying to convince everyone that Apocalypse is bat-crap crazy!†Age of Apocalypse joins The Secret Wars in July. [Marvel.com]
Marvel Set To “Cancel” 33 Ongoing Titles In June
Speaking of Secret Wars, with Marvel’s June 2015 solicitations released, Marvel confirmed that going into the big event, some 33 regular ongoing titles are going to be cancelled. According to Marvel’s David Gabriel, “There will be a number of titles reaching, what we’re calling, a ‘616 finale,’ ending those stories and characters as you knew them – for now. Now in a perfect world, we’d have stopped every book with its April issue, putting out a nice clean May Previews catalog. Everyone would have seen upfront all those titles that had their finale, and all those titles that were starting fresh. But things don’t always go so easily. Instead we gave our creators the option to end their stories the way they wanted to; we let them tell Last Days stories if they wanted to; we let them tell Secret Wars stories if they wanted to. So in the end Secret Wars truly has been a creative driven process.”
Here’s the full list of titles Marvel is ending, although it’s almost certain that when Secret Wars is over and done with, many, if not not most, of these books will be making a comeback.
All-New Captain America /Â All-New Ghost Rider /Â All-New X-Men /Â Amazing Spider-Man /Â Amazing X-Men
Angela: Asgard’s Assassin / Avengers / Avengers World / Captain Marvel / Cyclops / Deadpool /Elektra
Fantastic Four /Â Guardians 3000 /Â Guardians of the Galaxy /Hulk /Â Inhuman /Â Iron Fist: The Living Weapon
Legendary Star-Lord /Â Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man /Â New Avengers /Â Nightcrawler/Â Nova /Â Rocket Raccoon
Secret Avengers /Â Spider-Man & The X-Men /Â Spider-Man 2099 /Â Storm /Â Superior Iron Man/Â Thor
Uncanny X-Men /Wolverines /Â X-Men [Comic Book.com]
Have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Just Lost A Member Of The Family? SPOILERS
Well, if this is true, then this should come as a shock to the generation who grew up with the benign TMNT cartoon series, as in IDW’s  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #44, which came out this past week, it appears that Donatello meets his maker. Donatello is seemingly killed in a battle with Bebop and Rocksteady, while the other turtles are fighting the bad guys. In brutal scene, one of the baddie’s henchmen smash Donatello, leaving our poor Turtle dying on the floor.  The current ongoing series is building up to what IDW is calling the “final storyline” in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #50 later this year, so maybe he’s really dead? Yeah, I don’t buy it either. All this means is that one of the Turtles have entered the realm of other legendary comics heroes who have died and come back. Welcome to the club, Donatello. [Newsarama]
A Fan Favorite Character Looks To Be Suiting Up Soon As Batman Beyond SPOILERS
It appears that the death in TMNT wasn’t the only major character death in comics this week, as Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future, died in the pages of New 52: Future’s End #46. But the Batman titles and suit is going to get passed down to someone else, someone very familiar to Bat-fans, when Batman Beyond gets his first ongoing series in June, from writer Dan Jurgens and artist Bernard Chang. Who’s be in the suit? If hints that DC has dropped are meant to be taken literally, it looks like former Robin/Red Robin Tim Drake will be the newest Batman of the future. Does this mean that Red Robin will no longer be in Teen Titans? I imagine these question will be answered when Batman Beyond #1 hits in June. [Newsarama]
’90s  Alt-Comics Favorite Tank Girl Returns
Publisher Titan has announced that they are serializing the Kickstarter-funded 21st Century Tank Girl, which saw artist and Co-creators Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin bringing back their beloved creation that was so popular during the ’90s, after some 20 years. It was just last year that the Tank Girl Kickstarter campaign smashed it’s intended goal of $94, 839, raising nearly $300k to fund Hewlett and Martin’s return to the franchise.  Titan will now publish 21st Century Tank Girl, which will be a 3 issue mini-series written by Martin and illustrated by artists like Philip Bond (Kill Your Boyfriend), Jim Mahfood (Miami Vice), Brett Parson, Jonathan Edwards, Warwick Johnson Cadwell, Craig Knowles and more. 21st Century Tank Girl hits this June. [Comics Beat]
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Sad about that TMNT death, or have any other thoughts on any of the comics news items this week? Let us know in the comments below!
So is Marvel going to relaunch Capt. Marvel with a new costume that makes her look like she’s wearing a blood-soaked diaper?
That ties in with the latest issue of ‘New 52 – Future’s End’ in which Terry McGinness is killed and Tim Drake is there to witness. The series already established that Drake was believed dead in the Batman Beyond era but then he was already believed dead in the ‘five years from now’ setting of Future’s End. So if he took over as the new Batman via the same time travel device that brought McGinness to the past…
Oh yeah, spoilers.