Loki, the villainous mastermind who could never be trusted because he was always scheming up a long term con, got a fresh start after his death at the end of Siege and his reincarnation as a child. The story of Young Loki is now being told by writer Kieron Gillen, penciller Doug Braithwaite and colorist Ulises Arreola in the pages of Journey Into Mystery, a fantastic adventure tale about a trickster given a second chance, perhaps to be a hero, or perhaps to concoct one of the most ambitious and devious schemes of his immortal existence. Journey Into Mystery #624 is out today, and we've got a five-page preview below.

In case you hadn't heard the latest news to make you doubt the fundamental humanity of the people around you, several years ago a 16-year-old cheerleader from Silsbee High School in Texas was assaulted at a party by Rakheem Bolton, a basketball player and football star whom she says held her down and raped her. Bolton pleaded to a charge of misdemeanor assault, but here's the part that's going to make you want to set things on fire: Not only did the school allow him back on the basketball team, they told the girl it was her responsibility to lay low, stay away from the lunchroom and not go to Homecoming. And when the girl refused to cheer specifically for her attacker at games -- while still cheering for the team at large -- Silsbee High School officials did something so fundamentally awful that they might as well be twisting their mustaches: They threw her off the cheerleading squad.

She challenged the school in court and recently lost, so now in addition to suffering a horrendous assault, predictably being branded a "slut" in her community, and getting thrown off the cheerleading team for refusing to shout "put it in" at her attacker (seriously), her family has been ordered has to pay $45,000 in legal fees to the school.

Jason Ho, an illustrator and Assistant Editor at Bongo Comics wants to help, so he is drawing custom sketches at $20 a pop and donating the proceeds to the girl's legal costs. They are both very attractive sketches and a small way to help someone who has been failed disgracefully over and over by the indecency and institutional cowardice of seemingly everyone around her.

After freeing himself of the Hollywood distribution system with his latest film and creating a Batman comic that was critically... uh, discussed, "writer," "director" and jorts aficionado Kevin Smith has finally turned his sights on that most creative endeavor: Reality Television.

According to a casting call spotted on Facebook, the Jersey Girl auteur is recruiting people who "live and breath [sic] the comic book lifestyle" for a show centered on his comic book store, Red Bank, New Jersey's Secret Stash. And what's more, according to Smith's Twitter feed, the AMC network -- home of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead -- is interested in the result.

As fans who picked up Green Lantern: Emerald Knights may have already scoped out, Warner Bros. Animation has unveiled a pretty beefy sneak peek at its upcoming direct-to-video adaptation of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One. Featuring the vocal stylings of Ben McKenzie (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Bryan Cranston (Jim Gordon), Eliza Dushku (Catwoman), Katee Sackhoff (Sarah Essen) and Alex Rocco (Carmine Falcone), Year One takes a PG-13 approach to translating the suitably intense nature of Batman's earliest months operating in Gotham City. Judging from the more than 10 minutes of sneak peak footage juxtaposing Mazzucchelli's original art with storyboards and images from the film, plus dialogue ripped straight from Miller's script, fans can likely look forward to the feature's September release. See what you think after the jump.

First off, the good news is that if you loved that Tyler Stout Akira poster from a few days ago, he's got an arsenal of other eyeball-tickling works to get you gaping. Stout's deep catalog of posters covers films such Inglourious Basterds and Monster Squad, as well as a prominent musical acts, including Phish and the Decemberists.

The news that DC Comics is returning wheelchair-bound heroine Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Oracle to her original role as the decidedly mobile Batgirl has hit an uncommonly sensitive nerve with comic book fans. As demonstrated by the more than one-hundred (and counting) reader comments to our editorial on the subject, readers are widely divided but extremely passionate about the decision to effectively remove mainstream comics' most recognizable representation of the disabled or otherwise mobility impaired people of the world, but no segment of that readership is more vocal than those who wholly oppose the move.

In response to the Batgirl news, a group of Oracle fans collaborated on Oracle-Create-a-Thon, a new Tumblr blog dedicated to fan art, fanfiction and activism to maintain awareness of the physically challenged and to make the feelings of Oracle fans known to DC Comics.

Thanks to the live action Thor movie, Marvel's thunder god has had a pretty robust summer of Minimates from Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum. Fans heading to San Diego Comic-Con International next month are in for an even bigger does of miniature Asgardian action as the very appropriately named "Stormbreaker" box set comes to the Action Figure Xpress both #3345 with new versions of Thor, Sif, Loki and, of course, the first ever Beta Ray Bill Minimate.

Since the announcement of DC's line-wide relaunch hit last week, readers have been wondering what exactly all of this means for the publisher and their comics. Titles, creators and even distribution methods are all up in the air in what's turning out to be a pretty huge shake-up. But for the stories, this is nothing new: DC's been retconning, revising and rebooting their universe for over 70 years. So today, as we all get ready for yet another all-new DCU, we're taking a look back at all the times nothing was ever the same again, from parallel worlds to punching continuity!

E3's provided us with a look at plenty of comic book videogames this week, but considering all the buzz around X-Men: First Class, it's a little surprising it took until yesterday to see fresh game footage of Marvel's merry mutants. The newest trailer for Activision and Silicon Knights' upcoming X-Men: Destiny gives players their first full look at all three playable characters. Most importantly, the third and final playable character has been revealed -- and his sick tribal tats are gone! Huzzah!

With just less than a week before Green Lantern opens in cinemas, Warner Bros. has released a plethora of scenes from the new film based on the popular DC Comics superhero. After the jump you will find eight clips in all, many of which feature key moments of the film and should be considered spoilers.

After unjustly languishing in cinematic obscurity since the 2003 release of the critically-panned Daredevil film starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, The Man Without Fear could finally be getting his movie due. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fringe writer/co-producer Brad Caleb Kane will be writing a proper Daredevil relaunch. What's more, Kane's reportedly being asked to adapt Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's "Born Again" storyline. 30 Days of Night (and Eclipse) director David Slade is attached to direct, while Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) are attached to produce.

Tim Drake fans can rest easy as DC just announced the covers and creative teams for their September-shipping 'teen' titles, with extra interview information courtesy of io9. Today, we've got Teen Titans, Hawk & Dove, Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion Lost, and the long-awaited new Static Shock series.

Check out all the info below, and vote on which series you're most looking forward to!