We’ve got more news from last week’s Comic-Con plus a ton more in today’s Comics Relief, starting with when we can find out just what Dr. Manhattan has been up to in the DCU. So let’s get going, shall we?

When will we learn the truth behind the Watchmen/DC Rebirth connection?

By now, you’ve probably heard about the big reveal from DC Rebirth, which involves characters from Alan Moore’s Watchmen in the mainstream DC universe. Specifically, the implication that Dr. Manhattan messed with the DC timeline that resulted in the New 52 universe. Since that one-shot came out two months ago, there have been only the tiniest of follow-ups to the Watchmen connection in the Rebirth titles. So when can we expect this all to come to a head?

Well, don’t hold your breath — DC co-publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee told Comic Book Resources in an interview that the whole Watchmen connection to the DCU is a storyline that will play out slowly…over the next two years. “When we went out and we set up Rebirth, we set up a two-year story. A lot of the questions that are out there will be answered during that two-year plan. The goal is not to answer every question in the beginning, but to roll things out and continue to excite people all the way through. You’ll see a lot of twists and turns coming out over the next year or so that will get you to, hopefully, where you want to be.” So basically, everyone just chill on waiting for an answer as to why the Comedian’s button is in Bruce Wayne’s Batcave. [CBR]

DC’s Geoff Johns gets a big promotion

Speaking of Rebirth, the writer of the one-shot in question, Geoff Johns, who happens to be one of the most talented and well-liked individuals in the comics business, just got a big promotiony. The writer and DC Comics CCO now holds the title of President and Chief Creative Officer at the Warner Bros. His 80 page DC Universe: Rebirth will be his last DC title for awhile, as Johns will be focusing on DC films, and righting that ship.

There is almost no one one, outside of maybe Grant Morrison, who knows and loves the DC Universe more than Geoff Johns. The man has written several definitive runs on titles starting with Superman in Action Comics, the Flash, Green Lantern, Justice Society of America, Batman: Earth One, and most recently, fifty issues of Justice League. Congrats from all of us at Nerdist to Mr. Johns on the big promotion. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Artist Bill Sienkiewicz is not happy about SDCC Dazzler promo

If you were at Comic-Con in San Diego this past weekend, than you might have seen Fox’s giveaway of the album cover of Dazzler’s LP The Sound of Light and Fury that was cut from the final film. If you pre-ordered a copy of X-Men: Apocalypse at the Fox booth,  you received a limited edition recreation of the Dazzler album seen in one of the movie’s cut scenes, which is actually a reproduction of the cover of 1983’s Dazzler #29, a comic cover illustrated by artist Bill Sienkiewicz. And considering he received no compensation or eve credit for it, Mr. Sienkiewicz is not a happy camper right now.

The artist didn’t even know the album cover giveaway was a thing until fans started bringing it to his booth at SDCC to have him sign it. On his Facebook page, he said, “This practice is hardly unusual standard operating procedure for corporations. Even so, it still rankles. I’m one guy. I’ve been doing this comic book thing for years. I’m aware most everything is Work-Made-for-Hire. Still, I received no prior notification (a common courtesy), no thank you (ditto), no written credit in any form whatsoever either on the piece or in connection with the premium, absolutely no compensation and no comp copies of the album.” You can read Sienkiewicz’s entire post on the matter by clicking on this link to his Facebook post. [Newsarama]

Joe Quesada draws variant cover for the final issue of Darth Vader

Marvel’s excellent Darth Vader solo series is sadly coming to an end with issue #25, which hits comic shops this coming August 31. This issue will be a 40-page finale, written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Salvador Larroca. The book has dealt with Vader “getting his groove back”, so to speak, after the destruction of the the Death Star in A New Hope, and discovering just who the pilot who destroyed it was. For the big finale, Marvel CCO Joe Quesada has drawn a very cool variant cover featuring everyone’s favorite Dark Lord of the Sith. You can check out the cover above. Hopefully Lord Vader won’t be gone from the comics pages for too long, and will receive a new solo series again soon. [Comic Book]

Rumor: Are the Valiant heroes coming to Riverdale?

Chalk this one up to complete rumor mill for now, but stranger things have happened in the comics wold lately, so you just never know. Bleeding Cool is reporting that their little birds, to use a Game of Thrones term, have told them that Valiant and Archie comics are looking to do some kind of crossover in the near future. Both are among the lastof the major publishers left in New York City proper, so it seems like a no-brainer if indeed. Besides, at this point is seems Archie has met everyone but the Valiant characters, including the Ramones and the Predator. Why not X-O: Manowar? [Bleeding Cool]

The new Hulkbuster is even more badass than the first

Revealed in this week’s issue of The Totally Awesome Hulk (the one featuring Amadeus Cho, not Bruce Bunner, who is currently quite dead thanks to the events of Civil War II) we have ourselves a new Iron Man Hulkbuster armor, similar to the one made famous in Avengers: Age of Ultron. But it’s not Tony Stark at the controls this time. Nope, this Hulkbuster armor is of Wakandan design, and the pilot is none other than the his royal majesty, the Black Panther. We have a feeling Hulk 2.0 and T’Challa are going to be coming to blows here very soon. You can see what the Wakandan Hulkbuster armor looks like in the image above. [Comic Book]

Images: DC Comics / Marvel Comics / Archie Comics /