Welcome to the weekend edition of Comics Relief, where we take the biggest comic book related news items of the week that was and collect it all for your reading convenience. In today’s edition, we have news on a long gone favorite returning to the DC Universe, we get a first look at Jem’s rival band the Misfits in their new comic book incarnation, and news of wrestler CM Punk continuing his comics writing career. First however, we’ve got news on a Marvel icon getting her first new costume in some thirty-seven years…

Marvel Debuts New Costume For Spider-Woman

Although the character of Spider-Woman has been around now since 1977, Marvel has never designed a different costume for her, until now (although there have been different characters named “Spider-Woman” over the years with different outfits, the Jessica Drew version has always sported the same look.) Now, with a new ongoing series and a higher profile in the Marvel Universe, Spider-Woman is finally getting some new threads.

Designed by artist Kris Anka, The costume will make it’s debut first as a playable character in the mobile game Spider-Man Unlimited, then in comics with March’s Spider-Woman #5 – which will feature a “design variant” cover by Anka. No real reason was given for the change; after all, the classic costume is pretty much, well...classic. But what isn’t is very movie friendly…if Jess is ever going to make the transition to the big (or small) screen, this new look is much more live-action friendly. [USA Today]

Black Vortex Variant Covers Give Marvel Heroes A Cosmic Makeover In February

It’s not just Spider-Woman who is getting a makeover at Marvel next year; in February, Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex begins, the epic crossover taking place in the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy, All-New X-Men, Legendary Star-Lord, Cyclops, Captain Marvel, Nova and Guardians Team-Up. The variant covers for these issues, from artist Andrea Sorrentino, give various members of both teams “cosmic makeovers” like the X-Men’s Angel, which you can see below. The Black Vortex will be released February of 2015.

Jem’s Rival Band The Misfits Debut Their New Look For All-New IDW Series

It was just a few weeks ago that we got our first look at the all-new Jem and the Holograms, as they’ll appear in the new upcoming comics series by Kelley Thompson and artist Ross Campbell from IDW. Now we are getting our first glimpse of the new designs for the Hologram’s rival band The Misfits, courtesy of artist Ross Campbell. Roxy, Pizzazz, Stormer, and Jetta have more drastic redesigns than their nicer counterparts in the Holograms, but at least they kept some of the neon green zebra print, so it’s all good. The new Jem and the Holograms series from IDW debuts in March 2015. [io9]

DC Comics Announces Wrestler CM Punk’s Second Comic Book Writing Job

It was only recently that Marvel announced former WWE Superstar CM Punk would contribute a story to the upcoming Thor Annual. Now DC has announced that a new book from their Vertigo label will debut in early 2015 that is also going to feature a story from CM Punk. The new series is Strange Sports Stories, based on an old DC book from the seventies. CM Punk is going to be joining a rather prestigious list of creators people like as Paul Pope, Gilbert Hernandez, Darick Robertson, and Brian Azzarello, to name but a few. Recently CM Punk announced a transition to the UFC, but if that doesn’t work out, well…now it seems he has a new career to fall back on. Strange Sports Stories #1 is set to hit stores on March 18, 2015. [Comics Beat]

BOOM! Studios Announces Tenth Anniversary Variant Cover Series

2015 marks the 10th Anniversary of BOOM! Studios, and to mark the occasion, the publisher will be offering a series of special tenth anniversary variant covers for their various titles. In a statement, BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon said “with 2015 marking 10 years of publishing comics, we wanted to share our excitement with retailers and fans by creating these special covers; we’ve enlisted some of the best cover artists in comics to help convey what a special milestone this is for us.” In January, new launching titles to receive the 10 Years cover treatment include: Burning Fields #1, Adventure Time: Marceline Gone Adrift #1, Feathers #1, and Munchkin #1. [Newsarama]

A Fan Favorite Character Finally Returns To The DC Universe. Sort Of. (SPOILERS)

One of the biggest fan favorite characters of the DC Universe who has been MIA since the whole “New 52” began is Donna Troy, the former Wonder Girl. Fans have been clamoring for her return, and as of Wonder Woman #37, which debuted this week, it seems fans finally got their wish. But, as they say, be careful what you wish for.

In the comics, Donna has had several complicated origins, but the one known best (and the simplest) is she is the adopted sister of Wonder Woman, rescued from a house fire as a baby and taken to live with the Amazons. As a teen, she returns home to America and founds the Teen Titans. Basically, she’s a more all-American and perky version of Wonder Woman. Well, now Meredith and David Finch have brought her back, as some kind of golem like creature, summoned fully grown as an adult from some magic cauldron for nefarious purposes. I’m not sure how DC thought this is in any way what fans wanted, but at least we know the classic version of Donna Troy is still appearing in the upcoming Convergence series. [Newsarama]

Batgirl Creative Team Apologizes For Perceived Transphobia

The Batgirl title at DC has maybe never been better, under the creative team of Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr.  That creative team however have issued a formal apology on Twitter for this week’s Batgirl #37, and how they handled the story’s bad guy, who happened to be a cross-dressing character. In the issue, Batgirl fights an imposter dressing as a gold and glittery, sequinned-version of herself. Concerns of transphobia were raised over how the villain was revealed as a mentally unbalanced cross-dresser, as well as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon’s shocked reaction to the character’s actual sex. (which is odd for Barbara Gordon, who has had a trans roomate for a while now.) In a tweet, Stewart wrote: “We made mistakes. We’re deeply sorry. We will do better” and included an apology signed by the three creators that acknowledged the story’s problems and apologized for offending readers. [Comic Book Resources]

Longtime Batman Artist Norm Breyfogle Hospitalized

If you grew up reading any Batman comics from the late eighties till about the mid-nineties, then you are more than familiar with the art of Norm Breyfogle, who often illustrated Batman stories with writer Alan Grant as his partner. Still working today, he recently did an issue of Trinity of Sin for DC. Sadly, Breyfogle has ended up in the hospital as a result of a stroke, according to a Facebook post by his former partner Barbara De La Rue. Although she says he is expected to make a full recovery, she has asked that people keep him in their thoughts and prayers. We here at the Nerdist send nothing but the very best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery to this legendary artist. [Comics Alliance]

ICYMI: Original Marvel Star Wars Adaptations Getting The Special Edition Treatment

Now that Star Wars is back at Marvel, what better way to celebrate than by releasing remastered and recolored versions of the original film adaptations that helped put Star Wars in the public consciousness, even before the actual film came out? Marvel has announced plans to release the original comics versions of all the original trilogy of movies once more, in a new, upgraded graphic novel. Will they add CGI dewbacks that weren’t there before? I know I’d get a laugh if they did. Read more about Marvel’s plans right here.

__

So which of these news stories has got you the most pumped? Let us know in the comments below!