Welcome to Comics Relief, kids, where today we have more Marvel Comics news than you can shake a stick at, as well as some info on creator Judd Winick’s latest project, and more. But first, Marvel celebrates 600 issues of the Uncanny X-Men with a pair of variant covers from two superstar artits. Read on for more info….

Uncanny X-Men #600 Gets A Pair Of Iconic Variant Covers Celebrating the team’s legacy

Uncanny X-Men #600 was delayed some five months from its original release date, and Brian Bendis’ final issue of the series is now set to come out in October. For fans who endured the long wait however, there’s going to be a treat, as Marvel has released two variant covers which showcase a specific and popular era of the team. First there’s Adam Hughes’ cover, which features the John Byrne era line-up, which was the version of the team that became a huge hit (from around 1975-83) and made the team Marvel’s biggest seller.

The second features the Marc Silvestri era, when the X-Men were living in the Australian Outback, and the world at large believed them to be dead. Other Uncanny #600 covers are likely forthcoming, as I can’t imagine Marvel would pass up an opportunity to pay homage to the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby team, or the ’90s Jim Lee/animated series era version of the group. You can check out the two variant cover images below: [CBR]

Latest Dark Horse Series Swipes From JG Jones’ Wonder Woman OGN

One of the greatest Wonder Woman stories that you have probably never read is the 2003 original graphic novel Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia, by writer Greg Rucka and artist J.G. Jones. The cover of the OGN, which featured Wonder Woman’s boot stepping on Batman’s head wasn’t exactly indicative of what the book was about, but it was a great image all the same.

Now the cover to The Paybacks, a new Dark Horse series by writers Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal and artist Geoff Shaw looks, shall we say, very similar to JG Jones’ covers for Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia. Of course, comic artists do homage covers to other comics artists all the time, but usually there is something on the cover indicating it’s an homage, like the words “Shaw, after Jones” or something, but no such deal here. Oops. You can see both covers below. [Comics Beat]

Hercules The Latest Victim of Bi-erasure in comics

In one of the more recent editions of Comics Relief, we mentioned that Marvel was relaunching a new ongoing series for Hercules, leading many to hope that in the spirit of diversity that the company seems to be embracing for their All-New, All -Different Marvel initiative, Marvel would finally fully embrace Herc as a bisexual character, as has been hinted at for years.

Marvel’s EIC Axel Alonso shot those hopes down, telling fans that despite evidence to the contrary, Herc was exclusively hetero. To add insult to injury, he all but mocked fans who wanted it to come to pass, by posting a parody of the company’s own issue of X-Men where Jean Grey outs Iceman as gay. Although he took the tweet down, (you can see the image below) it was seen by enough people to rub them the wrong way. Considering how badly LGBT readers would love to see a gay or bi hero headline his own book, if you’re not going to do it…you don’t need to gloat about it.

Was Northstar Going to Get His Own Series At Marvel?

Ok, In realize I just lambasted Marvel for the Hercules debacle, but there is a sign that the company was at least looking to bring one gay character to his own series sometime soon, and if you guessed  that character was Northstar, you guessed right. Marvel recently tried to register the title Northstar with the trademark office for magazine titles, but were denied, possibly based on a recent trademark made for a new YA series. Man, it’s not a good time to be an LGBT Marvel fan. [Bleeding Cool]

Get ready for Judd Winick’s Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed To Earth

Creator Judd Winick is known to a lot of fans as the writer of such comics as Green Lantern, Batman, Outsiders and several other superhero books at DC, but before that, he was a cartoonist, who made a name for himself with his book The Adventures of Barry Ween: Boy Genius. Three years ago he stopped doing mainstream superhero work and vowed to return to creator-owned work, and now that creator-owned work is finally here, in the form of his new announced book Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth.

The new series is described as a story about a mysterious boy named Hilo who crashes to earth, and he becomes friends with a pair of normal Earth kids. But as the story continues, readers begin to wonder — was Hilo the only thing that crashed to Earth? And can the three kids unlock the secrets of Hilo’s past and save the world? Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth, which will be released by Random House in September, the first of six books in an ongoing adventure story for all ages readers. [Newsarama]

All of Marvel’s Civil War series To Get Re-released in time for the movie

With fans waiting with bated breath for next year’s Captain America: Civil War to hit theaters, Marvel is pulling out all the stops to remind readers just where the story being used in the film came from, They are releasing some eleven Civil War trade paperbacks, as well as re-releasing the original Mark Millar/Steve McNiven mini-series in a new hardcover edition.

On top of that, all of these books will be released as one package, that will only cost you some $500 dollars. Among the books being re-released are Civil War: Fantastic Four, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways, Civil War: Punisher War Journal, Civil War: Wolverine, Civil War: X-Men, Civil War: Captain America/Iron Man, Civil War: Black Panther, Civil War: Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Civil War: Marvel Universe, Civil War: Front Line, and Civil War: Heroes For Hire/Thunderbolts. All are scheduled to hit before the movie hits theaters next May. [Bleeding Cool]

Bryan Hitch Shows Us His Version of Big Screen Doctor Doom

While the new Fantastic Four movie isn’t getting the greatest buzz at the moment, one thing Fox is doing to help give the movie a certain amount of fanboy legitimacy is releasing a poster from acclaimed comics artist Bryan Hitch, who once drew the Ultimates, of the new movie version of Doctor Doom, as played by actor Toby Kebbel. Love or hate the new interpretation, Bryan Hitch can make anything look pretty. Check out the image below:

#Doom re-imagined. Check out an exclusive new poster by legendary comic book artist @TheBryanHitch! #FantasticFour pic.twitter.com/1DAeKhPwy8

— Fantastic Four (@FantasticFour) August 5, 2015