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Comics Relief: The MINIONS Come To Comics, Grant Morrison’s WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE Gets A Release Date, Plus More CONVERGENCE & SECRET WARS News

Welcome to this week’s Comics Relief! Both DC and Marvel’s big 2015 events, Convergence and Secret Wars, are nearly upon us, but we’ve still got bits of news breaking about each of those series, as well news on Dark Horse Comics‘ new creator owned titles coming throughout the rest of the year, and much more.

Universal’s Animated Minions To Get Their Own Comic Series Via Titan Comics

Tying in with the July 10th release of the Minions movie, animators Didier Ah-koon and Renaud Collin will bring those little yellow hench-creatures to comics in a deal with UK publisher Titan that will see the release of four comic book issues, two digest collections, two hardcover editions and a paperback collection. The line will launch on June 17 with the release of the first issue of the Minions comic book digitally and in comic book stores, as well as the first digest collection in bookstores. It’ll be interesting to see how the Minions, characters who mostly work as physical comedy and sound effects, translates to the comics page. Then again Looney Tunes is much the same, and there have been comics about those characters for years, so what do I know. [Hollywood Reporter]

Writer Jeff King Drops Hints About Post-Convergence DC Multiverse

DC Comics’ much hyped Convergence #0 hits today, starting a two month story meant to give “closure” to the pre-Flashpoint continuity replaced by the New 52 back in 2011, not to mention dozens of other timelines which have been long gone well before that. But is Convergence really the end for all these all worlds, or just a new beginning?

A recent interview with series writer Jeff King suggests otherwise, where he states, “Because (Crisis on Infinite Earths) blew everything up, Convergence is bringing everything back together — everything that was continuity or canon will exist again, and it’ll be a resource for every writer who follows us in Convergence to use and go back to if they want to tell those characters’ stories.” This seems to suggest that for old school fans (like yours truly) the old worlds we grew up with might yet have some kind of future in DC. Only time will tell what kind of future that is. [USA Today]

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Despite What You May Have Read, Marvel’s Secret Wars Is NOT A Reboot

Well, it’s not a reboot in the strictest sense anyway. On a panel at this past weekend’s Emerald City Comic Con, Marvel’s CB Cebulski went on the record saying that what Marvel readers are going to be getting post-Secret Wars is “not going to be a reboot, not going to be a revamp, not like everything’s changing” At the same panel, Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick added in her own two cents about Marvel’s continuity and the whole reboot rumor mill, saying “this is the longest running continuing narrative in human history” and it is not to be done away with. So relax all you old timer Marvel fans…none of your old issues are going to be invalidated. Except maybe the one where the Avengers show up on David Letterman, or Spidey fights the Transformers. [Bleeding Cool]

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Dark Horse Set To Publish Planetes Omnibus Edition

Coming this December, Dark Horse will release Makoto Yukimura’s sci-fi manga Planetes, formerly published by Tokyopop, in a new omnibus format. The series centers on the crew of the Toy Box, orbital debris collectors tasked with capturing and then disposing of any space trash, from screws to old satellites, that could possibly damage or destroy space stations and spacecraft. (Think what happened to poor Sandra Bullock in that one scene in Gravity.) According to Dark Horse editor Brendan Wright “I was saddened to think it might fade from American comics shops after Tokyopop’s demise, so it’s a joy and an honor to reintroduce it at Dark Horse in the edition I’d want as a fan, with superior source materials and all the color pages included.” The Planetes omnibus edition is scheduled to arrive Dec. 22 [Comic Book Resources]

DC Schedules Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman: Earth One and Jill Thompson’s New Wonder Woman OGN

It was announced several years ago now, but it looks like Grant Morrison and Yanick Paquette’s Wonder Woman: Earth One OGN has finally been scheduled for November of this year. Originally titled “The Trial of Diana Prince”, Morrison’s new take on the origins of Wonder Woman is looking to go back to the original feminist intent of creator William Marston, so expect a more modern take on Marston’s ideas about Amazonian feminism, and plenty of references to the original creators’ penchant for kink and bondage.

But Morrison isn’t the only high profile creator getting a crack at Wonder Woman; Jill Thompson’s Wonder Woman: The Very Selfish Princess, a storybook style re-imagining of the early years of Princess Diana, as as fully painted graphic novel. When young Diana has the fawning attention of a nation, she soon grows spoiled. But a series of tragic events take their toll, and Diana must learn to grow up, take responsibility, and seize her destiny. Wonder Woman: The Very Selfish Princess is set to debut in September. [Bleeding Cool]

Dark Horse Announces Several New Creator Owned Series At Emerald City Comic Con

This past weekend at Emerald City Comic Con, Dark Horse Comics took the opportunity to announce a ton of new series by several well known and respected creators, including the likes of Mark Millar and Aaron Lopresti.

Zodiac Starforce is a webcomic-turned four-part miniseries, featuring an all-girl super team, brought to you by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau for an all-ages adventure. Issue #1 will be out in August.

The Tomorrows from writer Curt Pires, is a story set in a dystopian future where our openness on social media has been turned against us, the rich have gotten richer and everybody else has gotten poorer, and the political system runs completely through the hands of super-corporations. (By “future” do they mean 2016?) Each issue will have a different artist, starting with Jason Copland, Alexis Ziritt, and Ian McEwan. Issue #1 is scheduled for July.

The Steam Man by Mark Miller and Joe R. Lansdale with art by Piotr Kowalski, is a maniac take on the Wild West about steam-powered robots that fight vampires, martians, evil monkeys and monster hunters, all while wearing a top hot. Issue #1 will be out in October.

Before it was a terrible movie starring Pamela Anderson in the ’90s, Barb Wire was a comic, and now the comic’s original creator, Chris Warner is bringing her back, along with artist Patrick Olliffe.

Power Cubed  comes from writer/artist Aaron Lopresti. The series tells the story of eighteen-year-old Kenny, whose father gives him a device that allows him to reinterpret the Universe around him. Anything and everything can happen whenever Kenny wants, which leads to both good and maybe not-so-good things. This, like Zodiac Force, is an all ages book, and looks to hit in September.

And that was just a sample of what Dark Horse has in store for 2015. Check out our gallery showcasing the covers for the first issues of each of these series below, and to learn more of what else Dark Horse has cooking for the rest of 2015, hit the following link: [Comics Alliance]

The House of M and Siege Latest Events To Return for Secret Wars

In the latest (last?) reveals for Secret Wars Battleworld, Marvel has announced that the 2005 mini-series House of M, which featured a world created by the Scarlet Witch where her father Magneto (well, the man that she thought was her father) ruled the world, with mutants as celebrities and royalty, and humans nothing more than the lowest caste. The new Secret Wars series will pick up that reality as if it had never been disrupted and returned to the normal Marvel U, brought to you by writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Kris Anka.

Not all the stories and older events coming back for Marvel’s Secret Wars are classics, or even that beloved. Case in point, the 2011 event Siege, which is coming back, although it seems greatly altered from its original incarnation. The new series, written by Kieron Gillen, is said by the author to be more inspired by Game of Thrones than by the original series. Siege will be illustrated by Captain Marvel’s Filipe Andrade, as well as “guest artists” including James Stokoe. Marvel has not said the length of the series or when it will debut. [Los Angeles Times / Newsarama]

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Got opinions about the news you’ve read in this week’s Comics Relief? Let us know in the comments below!

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