Hello comic book fangirls and fanboys, and welcome to your mid-week/new comic book day edition of Comics Relief! We’ve got plenty of big announcements to talk about this week, starting with DC releasing their plans for their first Holiday special in the new Rebirth era. Read on for all the details.

DC Comics Announces Rebirth Holiday Special

It’s barely fall, but the major comic book publishers are releasing their December plans, including all their Holiday specials which are going to be on the way. First out of the gate is The DC Rebirth Holiday Special, a 96-page prestige format one-shot which is set to star DC icons like Wonder Woman, the Flash, John Constantine, Batwoman, Harley Quinn, and more. Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini is writing her story, and also contributing to the one-shot are Steve Orlando, James Tynion IV, Cullen Bunn, Tim Seeley, Dustin Nguyen and more to be announced.

Here is the official description from DC Comics: “Don’t miss a Chanukah crisis for Batwoman, a Flash family Christmas, Wonder Woman crashing John Constantine’s hellblazing pagan party and more – and in a must read story, the simian sleuth Detective Chimp spreads his own unique brand of holiday cheer! In addition, New York Times bestselling writer Paul Dini crafts a Harley Quinn holiday tale featuring DCU guests that weaves together all of these stories in the weirdest way possible.” The DC Rebirth Holiday Special is scheduled to be released December 14. [Newsarama]

Artist Yanick Paquette’s Missing Convention Art Recovered

It was just last week that we told you about how Wonder Woman: Earth One artist Yanick Paquette’s artwork, which he did for a fan at Baltimore Comic-Con, was apparently stolen. Paquette got onto social media and alerted his fans to the stolen piece in the hopes that it would be recovered…and for once, there is good news. It was! It apparently wasn’t stolen, but fell out of the owner’s bag, and now a good Samaritan has returned it to him. You can see the lovely commission of Wonder Woman above. [Bleeding Cool]

Final Issue of Marvel’s Civil War II Delayed Again

Marvel’s Civil War II event series from Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez has suffered yet another delay, with the publisher announcing that the final issue is now coming out in December, right before the New Year. The final issue has now been pushed back to December 28.

The original schedule for the last issue of Civil War II was for the seventh issue to go on sale October 19, but last month, Marvel announced an extra eighth issue, which would be released on November 2. Here is what the Civil War II release schedule looks like now, but don’t hold your breath this won’t change again.

Civil War II #5 – September 21st / Civil War II #6 – October 26th
Civil War II #7 – November 20th / Civil War II #8 – December 28th  [Comics Alliance]

DC Signs Detective Comics Writer James Tynion IV To An Exclusive Contract

This week’s issue of Detective Comics, issue #940, is going to cause quite a ripple in the DC Universe (just read it and you’ll see why). Hot on the heels of this issue arriving, writer James Tynion IV has signed an exclusive deal with DC Entertainment, the publisher announced. The Bat-family writer said in a statement “DC is home to my favorite characters in the comics industry, and now I’m getting the chance to write a lot of those characters twice a month in Detective Comics, the comic book that gives our great company its name.”  DC Comics EIC Bob Harras added “fans are going to be on the edge of their seats when they see what James has got coming up!” Judging by the end of this week’s issue of Detective, I can believe that statement. [CBR]

Wonder Woman #8 Undergoes Last Minute Story Switch

Speaking of changes made to issues coming up very soon, DC has announced that they have changed their plans for October’s Wonder Woman #8, replacing the previously-solicited story by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott, which is now being removed in favor of a “one-shot interlude” by Rucka and artist Bilquis Evely. According to the author, the change “arose very organically,” despite the fact that it replaced the originally-intended story for that issue late in the game.

Accoring to Greg Rucka, “The ‘interlude’ issue arose very organically out of the stories we’ve been telling in both ‘Year One’ with Nicola Scott, and ‘The Lies,’ with Liam Sharp. The opportunity to focus on Cheetah, on the origins of Barbara Ann Minerva, is one of those decisions that I think is going to add even more to what we’re doing.” Regardless of the new story, Wonder Woman #8 is still scheduled for its original release date of October 12. You can see the new cover image featuring a pre- Cheetah Dr. Minerva above. [Newsarama]

Viz Media Collects Super Mario Adventures In A New Remastered Collection

Attention, ’90s kids: The Super Mario Adventures comics from Kentaro Takekuma and Charlie Nozawa, which famously ran in the pages of Nintendo Power from 1992 to 1993, are coming back into print next month. Manga publisher Viz Media is releasing a collection of Super Mario Adventures, similar to their release of Nintendo Power‘s Legend of Zelda comics, from legendary manga creator Shotaro Ishonomori. This new reprint collects the full series into a single-volume edition that will receive a remastered full-color print release. The new edition is due to hit on October 11th. [Comics Alliance]

Is Marvel Teasing an LGBT Mutant/Inhumans Romeo & Juliet Story?

Marvel has been touting for the upcoming Inhumans vs X-Men event for the past couple of months now, and the story has been brewing since it was revealed that the two superpowered races have become mortal enemies, due to the Terrigen Mists which give Inhumans their powers becoming lethal to mutants. But among all the chaos and bad blood, could Marvel be setting up a Romeo & Juliet story, and an LGBT one at that?

In this week’s issue of All New X-Men, the young Iceman (not the older one, the teenage one from the past. I know, Marvel is confusing sometimes) meets a nice young man at a gay club, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. And it turns out that the nice young man is actually an Inhuman…. named Romeo (Subtle). Hopefully, this ends better for Romeo and Bobby than it did for the OG Romeo and Juliet. [Bleeding Cool]

Images: DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Viz Media