Welcome to this week’s edition of Comics Relief, all you fanboys and fangirls out there! This week, we’ve got news on the biggest selling comic book of not only the 21st Century, but also the last twenty years. Also, a couple of long out-of-print classic comics are making their welcome return to print, and rumors continue to circulate about a possible Marvel reboot next year. But first, the ever-controversial Rob Liefeld reveals plans for taking on parts of the Bible as the subject of his next series. Yeah, that Bible. No pressure?

Rob Liefeld Reveals Plans For Biblical Comic Covenant

Say what you want about Rob Liefeld…he’s certainly known how to keep his name in the spotlight for over two decades now, and in the comics industry, that’s no easy task. His latest reveal is about his new religious-themed series named Covenant, which is based on none other than the Old Testament lore of the Ark of the Covenant. Joining him on the book is  newcomer Matt Horak on pencils (based on some of the preview art, Liefeld must at least be providing covers.)

About the new series, Liefeld says “I have a number of exciting new comic book projects launching in 2015. One that I am most excited about is a ‘Sword and Sandals’ series with a Biblical twist that chronicles a daring raid to retrieve The Ark of the Covenant. Long before it was ‘Raided’ and ‘Lost’ with Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant was originally stolen from the Israelites by The Philistines; The Ark of the Covenant was the nuclear bomb of its age, when activated it was devastating. Enemies of Israel feared the sight of The Ark and here we find a bold General and a superstitious High Priest of Dagon who decide to take the Ark and utilize it for their own purposes. The Covenant tells the story of the youngest Judge of Israel, Samuel, as he dares to steal into the Capitol City of The Philistines and retrieve it.” [LiefeldCreations.com]

Marvel’s Upcoming Star Wars #1 The Biggest Selling Comic Book…Of The Entire 21st Century??

Way back in the late seventies, the original Star Wars comics helped save Marvel Comics. Now, Marvel and Star Wars seem to be making history all over again; it appears than January’s upcoming first issue of the new ongoing Star Wars series by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is set to sell over a million copies, easily making it the biggest selling comic of the entire 21st century, and the first comics to sell a million copies since Batman #500 back in 1993. Dark Horse has been publishing Star Wars comics for over two decades now, and in fact launched a similar series to what Marvel is doing (an ongoing titles set between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) with writer Brian Wood, and that “only” launched at a few thousand copies. The excitement over the return of Star Wars to theaters next year, coupled with the return “home” to Marvel must have made this release seem extra special to retailers. Star Wars #1 hits comic shops on January 14th. [Comic Book.com]

The Heroes Of The Marvel Universe Line Up For The Force Awakens

Speaking of Marvel and Star Wars, in January Marvel is debuting a series of interlocking variant covers from artist Salvador Larrocca, called the “Welcome Home” series. The covers feature all the main players of the Marvel Universe (minus the Fantastic Four it seems-make of that what you will) all lined up to see The Force Awakens in the the theater. OK, Marvel is actually being coy about just what movie they are all in line for, so it’s not totally confirmed, but it seems fairly obvious that The “Welcome Home” part refers to the return of the Star Wars license to Marvel from Dark Horse. You can see a full pic of all the covers together right here. [Newsarama]

Writer Justin Jordan Leaves Green Lantern: New Guardians

Writer Justin Jordan, who has been writing Green Lantern: New Guardians (which features Green Lantern Kyle Rayner)  since issue 21, took to Facebook this past week with the announcement that he is leaving the title after next year’s issue 40. In his Facebook post, he said he was “tired of waiting for someone to make the announcement for [him],” and further explained that the choice to leave the book was his, there wasn’t any bad blood or drama between himself and DC, and the decision was one he has known about since April of this year. “It’s not because I don’t like writing the book (I do) or because I’ve had any kind of DC falling out (I haven’t) – basically, I’ve written about four hundred pages of New Guardians, and I’ve told the story I wanted to tell, so I figured it’d be a good time to wrap up this stage of Kyle’s story and for me to do something else.” [Comic Book Resources]

The Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck gets Artist’s Edition from IDW

IDW Publishing announced today that Don Rosa’s epic  The Life And Times of Scrooge McDuck, will be receiving the royal Artist’s Edition treatment. Originally released between 1994 and 1996, the Eisner-winning story tells the origin story of  one Scrooge McDuck, as well as his enormous fortune, covering Scrooge’s life from his birth until his first appearance in Carl Bark’s classic “Christmas on Bear Mountain.” The whole story will be reprinted in a series of three oversized hardcovers. Don Rosa, an enormous fan of the work of Scrooge’s creator Carl Barks, formed  a biography for Scrooge from offhand remarks in 20 years of stories, then wrote an giant biography uniting them all into one single history. IDW’s version will be printed from high resolution scans of the original artwork at the original size of 14″ x 20″, presenting the work exactly as it looked on the artist’s drawing table. The book is scheduled to hit in April of 2015. [Comics Alliance]

 Walter Simonson’s Star Slammers Coming Back Into Print In 2015

Decades ago, Marvel published many creator owned graphic novels and limited series, mostly under the now-extinct label of Epic Comics. many of which have long since gone out of print. One of these was Walter Simonson’s epic science fiction series Star Slammers. Star Slammers originally published by Marvel in 1983, right during the peak of Simonson’s epic and defining run on Thor, first as a graphic novel then a five issue mini series. Star Slammers: The Complete Collection  is now finally going to be released, and will also include Simonson’s original notes for the series and more than 60 pages of never-before-seen work; the collection is set to be released by IDW in 2015. [Comics Beat]

Marvel Set To Reboot Their Line In September 2015??

Marvel has always prided themselves on never having to hit the giant reset button on their continuity, even after fifty years. DC, in that same time, has rebooted their universe nearly three times. But rumors swirl that Marvel is planning something like that in September of next year, with retailers already being alerted that September 2015 is the beginning of something called “All-New Marvel.” Of course, we might be looking at just another batch of #1 issue relaunches with no continuity reset whatsoever…but the possibility remains intriguing. [Bleeding Cool]

Ron Lim’s Silver Surfer Comes To Life

Although usually something like this would fall under Cosplay Friday, this is a step beyond cosplay in my opinion, as it so accurately recreates actual comic book art. Cris Alex, a make up artist residing in Los Angeles, decided to make a recreation of  comic book artist Ron Lim’s depiction of the Silver Surfer, using body paint and little else, from issue #20 of Marvel’s Silver Surfer title from the late eighties. Her creation  is so comics accurate, that it actually looks like a panel of Lim’s art from the comic book. Believe it or not…that’s not a drawing folks, that’s a real person. Best comic book inspired cosplay ever?? It’s got my vote. You can see more of Cris Alex’ work at this link: [CrisAlexMUA.Com]

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Which of these comics stories has got you jazzed the most? Let us know in the comments below!