Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
– Actor Ed Skrein has decided to step down from his recently announced role as Major Ben Daimio in the Hellboy reboot. The casting announcement sparked intense backlash for the whitewashing of an Asian character, the latest in a series of high profile offenses like Scarlett Johanson in Ghost in the Shell. Skrein released a statement on Twitter explaining his decision to step down saying, “It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the Arts. I feel it is important to honour and respect that.” Good on him.
– Marvel’s Legacy publishing initiative is already getting scrutinized by fans, but it looks like retailers are getting increasingly skeptical as well. It’s being reported that many are skipping the highly desirable lenticular variant covers for first issues. For those not familiar, the lenticular covers have a kind of hologram effect. DC has used them with great success during ‘Villains Month,’ ‘Future’s End,’ and most recently in ‘The Button’ crossover. The backlash against the Marvel covers stem from them being incentive based, and the thresholds are pretty unrealistic for most retailers. This almost guarantees that retailers will have lots of leftover stock (DC let retailers order theirs freely, without meeting quotas).
– “Secret Empire” is set to conclude this week with issue #10, and in what looks like an attempt to appease critics of the event, Marvel has gone and spoiled part of the big confrontation in a New York Times feature. The piece itself is just more defensiveness from the publisher about the event and its backlash, but it contains some preview artwork from Steve McNiven that gives away a couple significant reveals.
– Oni Press has announced five new graphic novels for release in Spring of 2018, featuring work from YA novelists, Disney illustrators, webcartoonists, and librarians. The titles are: “The Altered History of Willow Sparks” by Tara O’Connor, releasing on January 17; “Archival Quality” by Ivy Noelle Weir and Steenz, releasing on March 7; “Sci-Fu” by Yehudi Mercado, releasing on March 14; “My Boyfriend is a Bear” by Pamela Ribon and Cat Farris, releasing on April 11, and “Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom” by Terry Blas, Molly Muldoon and Matthew Seely, releasing on April 25.
– In honor of Jack Kirby’s 100th birthday, Evangeline Lilly gave us our first look at what the Wasp will look like in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, in a set photo where she’s wearing the body suit in a children’s classroom. No wings yet though. The film will be released next Summer on July 6, 2018.
– The CW (and all of its DC shows) will soon be available to watch on the new Hulu with Live TV service. In addition, all the episodes will be added as regular on-demand titles as well. Currently, CW is not offering any new episodes on the service, instead directing viewers to their own streaming app.
– Variety has an extensive piece about the music in various Marvel TV shows, like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Netflix series, and the upcoming Runaways on Hulu. They interview the composers and discuss the different treatments given to TV, as opposed to film, and the motivation behind the style choices.
– And in some other Marvel TV news, Netflix and Marvel have revealed all 13 episode titles for The Punisher, along with a new promo that gives a first look at the main cast. It also may feature the opening title sequence. The series arrives sometime this Fall.
