Hello comics fans, and welcome to your mid-week volume of Comics Relief! To start things off today, we have some incredibly cool news about a new benefit book for the Orlando Pulse victims on the way from two of comics’ biggest publishers. Read on for all the details.
DC And IDW Team Up for Love Is Love Benefit Comic for Orlando Pulse Victims
The folks at DC Comics and IDW Publishing have announced they are working together on a new anthology one-shot titled Love Is Love, with proceeds to benefit Equality Florida’s fund for the victims and family members of the Orlando nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016. This one shot project, brought to us by by writer Marc Andreyko, will feature Batwoman, one of DC Comics’ most famous openly LGBT superheroes—and a character he has written in the past—on the cover.
Said Andreyko: “I’m a child of the 80s; I grew up with We Are the World and Live Aid. Events like this shouldn’t be compartmentalized. They should hurt and we should want to change for the better.” Marc Andreyko has brought in over 100 big name writers and artists from both within the comic book industry and also from the overall entertainment business, including Phil Jimenez, Olivier Coipel, Damon Lindelof, and Patton Oswalt. The one-shot is scheduled to be released in December via IDW Publishing, and will retail for $9.99. [The New York Times]
Former She-Hulk is Now Just Hulk in Brand New Series
The Hulk is dead. Long Live the Hulk?? While Bruce Banner was recently killed off (for now) in the pages of Marvel’s Civil War II event (with an arrow in the head from Hawkeye), that doesn’t mean Marvel is going to be without a Hulk…and I’m not just talking about Amadeus Cho as the Totally Awesome Hulk either. Nope, as a result of his death, Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters is pretty angry—even by her standards. And she’s taking up the mantle of the Hulk, with no more “She” in front of her name.
Marvel also announced that writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Nico Leon will be the creative team on Hulk, which will explore Jennifer’s life after Civil War II. As one can see from artist Jeff Dekal’s cover for Hulk #1, Jennifer is not only looking more angry that usual—can you blame her?—but she’s also gray. For more on this, read our full story on the subject. [Nerdist]
Marvel Announces New “Classified” Star Wars Series
More Star Wars comics are on the way from Marvel, as the publisher has just announced a new ongoing series called Star Wars: Classified. With Kieron Gillen‘s well-received Darth Vader comic book coming to an end soon after twenty-five issues, it is assumed that this new book (also being brought to us by Gillen, along with artist Kev Walker), will feature characters who were prominent in Vader’s title, like Doctor Aphra and her evil droids, BT-1 and 0-0-0.
With a name like Star Wars: Classified though (if that is indeed its name, and not a placeholder title), could we see stories that are set in different time periods across the Star Wars timeline? With so much of the era between the end of Return of the Jedi and the beginning of The Force Awakens, that seems like an ideal period of time to tell stories. For more on this new book, be sure to click on our full story here: [Nerdist]
Simon Bisley Returns to Lobo
Back in the ’90s, DC Comics’ Lobo was one of their hottest characters, even rivaling Wolverine at Marvel for a hot minute. Most of this was due to the art of British illustrator Simon Bisley, who brought a wild sensibility to the biker inspired alien. Now, it looks like Bisely is getting set to draw “the Main Man” one more time.
Jimmy Palmiotti told the crowd at Long Beach Comic Con this past weekend that Lobo will be teaming up with one Harley Quinn for the upcoming sixth issue of Harley Quinn’s Little Black Book, which will be written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with Bisley on art and a variant cover. You can see Amanda Conner’s version of the cover above. [Bleeding Cool]
Texas Whataburger Chain Has a Beef with Wonder Woman’s Newest Logo
And in your most bizarre comics-related story of the day, Texas-based hamburger chain Whataburger have revealed that they are in a “friendly trademark discussion” with DC Comics over the resemblance between the recent Wonder Woman film logo, and the fast food chain’s long-standing “flying W” logo.
In a statement, Whataburger said that “contrary to some suggestions, Whataburger is not at war with Wonder Woman over her newly redesigned logo. In fact, Whataburger supports superheroes like Wonder Woman and her friends in the Justice League. Truth be told, Whataburger’s own superhero – Whataguy – would love to team up with Wonder Woman and her friends sometime to battle evil together.” Whataburger’s “W” logo originated in 1972, and in the current “Double W” Wonder Woman logo first appeared in DC Comics in 1982, replacing the eagle emblem. The new movie logo in fact looks less like the Whataburger logo than the comics one, which is why this whole story is so very odd. [Newsarama]
Kate Bishop Hawkeye Gets Her Own Ongoing Series
It’s been announced that the female Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, is getting her own solo ongoing series over at Marvel at long last. The Young Avenger’s new book will be written by Kelly Thompson (A-Force, Jem and the Holograms) and will feature art by Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.
The book will center on Kate away from the big Civil War II drama between Captain Marvel and Iron Man, and also away from the Clint Barton Hawkeye too. Apparently, Kate is coming to L.A. not really as a traditional superhero, but instead she finds herself on a case with personal stakes, and then enteres the world of being a P.I. Hawkeye #1 hits comic book store shelves this December. [io9]
Archie’s #1 Rival Reggie Mantle To Receive His Own Series
Archie antagonist Reggie Mantle is getting his own series, as Reggie & Me is joining Archie, Jughead, and Josie & The Pussycats as part of Archie’s “New Riverdale” line-up of comics. The book’s writer is longtime Marvel scribe Tom DeFalco, with art by Sandy Jarrell. In a press release provided by Archie, DeFalco said “Reggie Mantle has been called a self-aggrandizing egotist, a sinister super-villain, a merciless monster and worse, but his dog loves him. Sandy and I intend to show all the doubters and haters exactly why Reggie should be named the true master of this universe… or else!” You can see all of issue #1’s variant covers (so far)  in our gallery below. [Comics Alliance]
What do you think of this week’s comics news? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: DC Comics / IDW Publishing / Marvel Comics / Archie Comics / Whataburger
