Last week, GREEN LANTERN fans got their first sneak peek at the upcoming all-new villain, Relic.

Today, MTV GEEK exclusively announced that Relic’s origin story will begin to be told in the form of a series of black & white variant covers across all of the “Green Lantern” family of titles from June through August. Drawn by Rags Morales (ACTION COMICS), these variant covers will all give clues to how Relic came to be, and will be collected – fully lettered, in color, and with additional new pages – in the series’ September issue.

“When you very first encounter him, he will be a fully formed menace, but you will get the backstory of how he got to be that way,” GREEN LANTERN writer Robert Venditti revealed to MTV GEEK about Relic. “He’s a completely new character not based on any pre-existing character.”

As for the impact Relic will have on the Green Lantern universe? According to Venditti, he will “tie together every Lantern of every color that has ever appeared in any comic book ever.” Talk about a big bad!

For more from Venditti about Relic, check out MTV GEEK’s full interview with the writer. And while you’re over there, don’t forget to check out their debut of Morales’ variant cover for GREEN LANTERN #21!

John Constantine has been a constant presence in the pages of DC Comics, having first appeared in SWAMP THING in the 1980s and up through his current adventures in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, ANIMAL MAN and SWORD OF SORCERY.
 
Now, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS announced this morning that the chain-smoking British occult detective will headline his own ongoing comic book series as part of DC Comics-The New 52.
 
Launching in March 2013, CONSTANTINE will be written by upcoming DEMON KNIGHTS writer and New York Times bestselling author of The Homeland Directive and the sci-fi graphic novel series The Surrogates, Robert Venditti, with incredible art by Renato Guedes (SUPERMAN).
 
"Few characters in comics are as complex and entertaining as John Constantine, and I'm finding him to be every bit as enjoyable to write as he is to read," says Venditti. "It's my goal to have the new CONSTANTINE series be equal parts familiarity and surprise.  This will be the Constantine we all know and love, but facing new and unexpected challenges from both inside and out."
 
HELLBLAZER, Vertigo's longest-running series which currently headlines John Constantine, will end with issue #300 in February. John Constantine has escaped, cheated, narrowly avoided and even reversed death on multiple occasions. Now, in the conclusion of “Death and Cigarettes,” longtime writer Peter Milligan and artists Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini will test whether he’s got one more second chance in him, giving him the bloody best sendoff he deserves.