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.
– Chip Zdarksy (“Sex Criminals,” “Star-Lord”) and Joe Quinones (“America,” “Captain Marvel”) are once again teaming up to bring us a new time-traveling Spider-Man story in the pages of “Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man.” Zdarsky and Quinones, the writer and artist respectively of “Howard the Duck,” will be reuniting to tell a Spidey tale sending Peter, his might-be-sister Teresa, and J. Jonah Jameson back in time to various points in Peter’s history as Spider-Man in a 3 issue arc titled ‘Amazing Fantasy.’ Issue #301 of “Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man” kicks of the reunion in March 2018.
– Continuing the series of casting announcements for Warner Brothers Shazam!, Ian Chen (Fresh Off the Boat, Grey’s Anatomy) and Jovan Armand (The Middle, Bella and the Bulldog) have both been cast in the 2019 superhero flick. It will star Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled) as the titular superhero. Chen and Armand will be playing Eugene and Pedro, respectively, two friends of Asher Angel (Andi Mack, Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn)‘s Bill Batson, who with one word becomes Earth’s Mightiest Mortal: Shazam!
– Colton Haynes (Teen Wolf, San Andres) will be reprising his role as Roy Harper, aka Arsenal, on Arrow during the second half of this season. Arsenal has not been seen in Star City since a brief one episode guest spot during season 4. Haynes return will be a part of a “short story arc” on the show beginning with episode 15 when Roy is called back to Star City to help Stephen Amell (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Heartland)’s Arrow to resolve an “urgent matter.” Arrow returns to the CW on January 18.
– “Cable” #155 will be reuniting the titular mutant with Hope Summers, his adopted daughter, and the mutant messiah. The issue will also bring a new creative team to the book with co-writers Zac Thompson (“The Dregs,” “Shutter”) and Lonnie Nadler (“The Dregs,” “Shutter”) with artist Germán Peralta (“Man-Thing,” “Thanos”) crafting a story which will be moving in reverse, in which we’ll be starting with the end of the story and moving backwards through Cable’s own timestream where he is being hunted by some sort of Techno-Organic Creature, not unlike the virus which infected him all those years ago. “Cable” #155 will be out in comic shops in March 2018.
– Venom has reportedly cast Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, Cheers) in an unnamed role. Details are notably limited on the role Harrelson will be playing, the only information given was that he will be playing a “henchman of sorts.” The Tom Hardy (Dunkirk, Mad Max: Fury Road) led film is slated for release October 5, 2018.
– Patreon, the popular creator-driven subscription service, has issued a public apology for the highly unpopular update to their platform. The update, which would have increased the fees associated with supporting a creator, resulted in many patrons canceling their subscriptions to many comic book creators. With the announcement they would not be going ahead with the update here’s to hoping that the increased visibility on the topic will lead to even more people subscribing to their favorite creators on Patreon.
-Youtube Minecraft channel, PopularMMOs, has signed a deal with publisher HarperCollins for a new graphic novel titled “A Hole New World” set in a pseudo-Minecraft world. The book, which will be written by PopularMMOS creators Pat and Jen, will follow two heroes named Pat and Jen as they battle their way through a kid-friendly adventure alongside one magical unicorn, one talking cloud, an enormous golem, an oblivious cat and several other whimsical and wacky characters.
– A series of tweets by Colleen Doran (“A Distant Soil,” “Mangaman”) outline a history of abuse on behalf of an unnamed man while she was starting her career in comics. The tweets do not name a specific person as Doran was forced to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement, the same legally binding documents used by Harvey Weinstien throughout his career. Doran was among several female creators who a few years back outed DC editor Julius “Uncle Jullie” Schwartz for sexual conduct. The sad truth of the matter is that this abuse is still tolerated and many of the perpetrators of these heinous acts still hold power at major publishers and will continue to do so unless more brave creators and fans can speak up, name names and work diligently to create a more inclusive and understanding comics industry we will be facing this same problem 5, 10, 15 years down the line.
