It’s that time — time for your weekend dose of Comics Relief. In today’s column, we have more a lot of new teases from some big event books from some of the major publishers, including one that’s a major throwback to the metallic/die-cut/glow-in-the-dark covers days of the early ’90s. Read on for more infoâ¦
Does a new Deathmate series mean another Valiant/Image Crossover?
Are Valiant Comics and Image Comics doing some kind of crossover event?? Strange as it may sound, Valiant has teased out the coming of something called Deathmate, which — if you’re a ’90s kid — you might remember as being the crossover miniseries that took place between Valiant and Image Comics in 1993 and ’94. The six-issue series saw characters from the Valiant Universe fight and then team-up with those from Image’s shared superhero universe, including Gen13, Cyberforce, and Youngblood.
A crossover between Valiant and Image would look very different in 2016 than in 1994, with Image no longer superhero centric, or really having any kind of unified universe to speak of. Maybe Valiant is just using the title for something entirely different? All we have right now is this image, which you can see below. Hopefully more will be revealed soon. [Comic Book Resources]
Will Justice League #50 be the book’s last issue of the New 52 incarnation? Issues 51, 52 looking doubtful
DC’s big upcoming Rebirth event is being set up to be the start of a new era for the company, with each of the surviving original New 52 comics coming to an end with issue 52. But it appears as DC’s flagship New 52 title, Justice League, might not even make it to 52 issues before the relaunch.
Justice League #50 was originally solicited to come out April 20, but according to DCâs website it is now scheduled for May 25 – which is the exact same day as the big Rebirth 80-page one shot that kicks off the whole event. Justice League #51 was originally solicited for May 18 is now listed as coming out June 8, but now the issue has been removed from the Diamond Comic Retailer’s consumer system, though DC does not appear to have announced its cancellation to retailers (you can see the cover below). Could DC just change their tune and end Justice League with issue #50 now instead? [Bleeding Cool]
Karl Kerschl previews cover for Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy crossover
This week, BOOM! Studios and DC Comics announced the crossover event that no one saw coming, but that everyone welcomed the minute they heard about it: Lumberjanes and Gotham Academy. All We know so far about the crossover is the creative team for the book, which will be Chyna Clugston-Flores and Rosemary Valero-OâConnell and artist Karl Kerschl, and that there will be teenage supernatural antics galore.
Now series artist Karl Kerschl has released his first cover image for the series, which is set to debut sometime in June. You can see the cover for the first issue below. Before the series hits shelves, thereâs also going to be a five-page preview in the first issue of Boom Boxâs new series Goldie Vance, scheduled for release on April 13. [Comics Alliance]
Celebrate the women of DC Comics with comiXology sale
This past week we celebrated International Women’s Day, and as part of that celebration, DC Comics has joined with comiXology for their “Women of DC Comics” sale. From now until Monday, March 14, you can participate in the sale which consists of 50% off digital comics, including beloved female led titles like Batgirl, Harley Quinn,Vixen, and Catwoman. The best part is you can get the first 25 issues of George Perez’ groundbreaking late-’80’s reboot of Wonder Woman for only $0.99. You can learn more by clicking on this link. [Bleeding Cool]
Latest Civil War II image teases a Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel feud
For the past couple of weeks, Marvel has been releasing teaser images for their upcoming Civil War II crossover event, showing which characters will feature prominently in the series, and hinting at which side of the conflict they might fall on. There have already been over half a dozen of these teasers released  so far.
Up until now, these teasers haven’t told too us much, but the teaser released for the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, shows her ripping a picture of her idol Captain Marvel in half. Captain Marvel, a.k.a Carol Danvers, gave Kamala her blessing in using her old name, so you know this means it’s gonna get ugly. You can see the teaser image — featuring art by Phil Noto — below. [Newsarama]
John Cassaday provides variant cover for Star Wars: Poe Dameron #1
John Cassaday’s art was one of the highlights of Marvel’s Star Wars revival this past year, and now he’s returning to the Galaxy far, far away for a special variant cover for Charles Soule’s and Phil Noto’s new series starring X-wing pilot Poe Dameron. Poe’s series will be the first solo series for a character from The Force Awakens, so it’s no wonder that Marvel brought Cassaday back to launch their first post Episode VII title. You can see Cassaday’s cover for Star Wars: Poe Dameron #1 below: [Comic Book]
Dark Horse Comics releases Plants vs Zombies mini-comics
Plants vs Zombies isn’t just a game anymore; recently, Dark Horse Comics has released a series of mini-comics — which have been spotted in various retail locations — packaged together with mini-posters, stickers, tattoos and trading cards, along with codes for digital comics. Has Dark Horse found a new way to get comics to the masses? Here’s a pic of one of the Plants vs Zombies mini-comics’ covers. Could this be the start of a new mini-comics craze? Pogs, 2.0?? [Bleeding Cool]
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Images: Valiant Comics / Â DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Dark Horse Comics / BOOM! Studios