Welcome to you mid-week/new comics day edition of Comics Relief! To start things off today, we have a bit of news about the Emerald Archer and his big 75th anniversary over at DC Comics. Read on for all the details.

DC Releases New Promo Image for Green Arrow’s 75th Anniversary

Along with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, this year marks 75 years of publication for Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow. To celebrate, DC Comics has revealed a new piece of promotional art featuring characters from Benjamin Percy and Juan Ferreyra’s current Rebirth run on the series. You can see the new 75th anniversary promo image above.

Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, Green Arrow debuted in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. When almost every other superhero went away (with the exception of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) Green Arrow, along with Aquaman, survived the ’50s superhero purge by having adventures in the back of comics like Adventure and the like. Now, he’s become one of DC’s premier heroes and the star of a successful TV series. Not bad for a guy who originally was just “Robin Hood meets Batman” [CBR]

Wonder Woman Writer Greg Rucka Puts The Question of Diana’s Sexual Orientation To Rest

In an interview, current Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka finally laid to rest something that fans have debated about for years: Wonder Woman’s sexual orientation. After all, she’s dated many male characters, Superman and Steve Trevor among them, but also grew up in an island of only women and never saw a man until adulthood. How can she be totally straight? Well, according to Rucka…she’s not.

In a recent interview with the writer, Rucka says, “An Amazon doesn’t look at another Amazon and say, ‘You’re gay.’ They don’t. The concept doesn’t exist. Now, are we saying Diana has been in love and had relationships with other women? As (artist) Nicola Scott and I approach it, the answer is obviously yes. And it needs to be yes for a number of reasons. But perhaps foremost among them is, if no, then she leaves paradise only because of a potential romantic relationship with Steve [Trevor]. And that diminishes her character. It would hurt the character and take away her heroism.”

Rucka adds “When we talk about agency of characters in 2016, Diana deciding to leave her home forever — which is what she believes she’s doing — if she does that because she’s fallen for a guy, I believe that diminishes her heroism. She doesn’t leave because of Steve. She leaves because she wants to see the world and somebody must go and do this thing. And she has resolved it must be her to make this sacrifice.” For more from Rucka on Wonder Woman, click on the following link for the full interview: [Comicosity]

Dark Horse Announces New Angel Series

With Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 announced by Dark Horse Comics, fans have been wondering where that leaves her vampire ex, Angel. Well, wonder no more. Dark Horse Comics has officially announced Angel Season 11 will be coming soon. Corinna Bechko (Lara Croft) will be writing, with Geraldo Borges (Deadpool) and Michelle Madsen on art. Scott Fischer and Jeff Dekal will provide covers.

The description for the series reads, “Angel Season 11 finds Angel being tormented by memories of his past. His visions link his dark past to a Big Bad coming in the future. The goddess Illyria intervenes and assists Angel as he discovers that it might be possible to change the future by traveling back in time to change the past.” Unlike the previous Angel series from Dark Horse, this one won’t co-star the slayer Faith. You can take a look at one of the covers for issue #1 above. [CBR]

Todd McFarlane Does New Venom #1 Cover (Sort Of)

In the last edition of Comics Relief, we mentioned that Marvel’s “1 in 1000 copies” variant cover for the new Venom #1 would have to be a big deal for all the secrecy surrounding it, maybe like having Venom creator Todd McFarlane do it. And we were right! Well, kind of. Turns out, Marvel is using old pencils from McFarlane, pulled from the original debut of Eddie Brock’s Venom back in Amazing Spider-Man #299, then recolored by Richard Isanove.

In an interview about the cover, McFarlane said he doesn’t understand why they are using an old image of his for the cover instead of a new one, but in the same interview says he wouldn’t be able to do it because working for Marvel is competing with his own Image label. Looks like you just gave yourself the answer, Todd. The new Venom #1 hits stores in November. [Comic Book]

Dark Knight III Gets An Extra Issue

Originally solicited at 8 issues, it seems Brian Azzarello and Frank Miller’s epic sequel Dark Knight III: The Master Race has gotten a one issue extension. According to Miller, “Once you dive into the Dark Knight mythology, it’s hard to pull yourself out. Those characters cannot be contained and neither can we.” Azzarello added that “this story turned out to be bigger than the both of us.” The new ninth issue is now scheduled to arrive in Spring 2017. The next issue, Dark Knight III: The Master Race #6, will arrive in stores on October 19. You can check out Jim Lee’s variant cover for the issue above. [IGN]

BOOM! Announces WWE Comic Details

Announced earlier this year, BOOM! Studios has now revealed the release date and further details of their new WWE ongoing title. In November, BOOM! will publish a one-shot titled WWE: Then. Now. Forever, with the ongoing itself debuting in January. Apparently, the title seems to be adapting the fictional storylines from WWE television programming, starting with the dissolution of the group, the Shield, in June 2014. The writer on the book is Dennis Hopeless and Ross Thibodeaux, with art from Eduard Petrovich and Rob Guillory. [Newsarama]

KISS Comes to Dynamite Entertainment with Tons of Variants

They were one of the biggest bands of the ’70s, and still pack stadiums filled with nostalgic baby boomers to this day. They are KISS, and they are coming back to the world of comics via Dynamite Entertainment. The new series is coming from the creative team of Amy Chu and Kewber Baal, and is set to hit in October. You can see the multitude of variant covers for the first issue in our gallery below. [Comics Beat]

Image: DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Dynamite Entertainment / BOOM! Studios / Dark Horse Comics