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.
– November solicits are starting to come in, and with them, lots of new series announcements. First off, Kurt Busiek is making a return to DC proper with a “spiritual companion” to the classic, “Superman: Secret Identity.” Like Busiek’s Superman story, “Batman: Creature of the Night” will follow a young Batman fan in the real world, as events in his life start to reflect that of Batman’s. John Paul Leon will draw the four-issue, prestige format limited series, which will debut on November 29.
– Image had a couple of new series announcements of its own. Sean Lewis and Caitlin Yarsky will be releasing “Coyotes,” a “mythical take on Jaurez, Mexico.” The story follows Red, “a little girl with a secret — and a sword,” as she hunts down a pack of wolves after women in her village start disappearing. Next up is “Dark Fang,” an “ecological action series” about an underwater dwelling vampire, that takes on the fossil fuel industry. Miles Gunter will be writing and Kelsey Shannon drawing.
– Mike Mignola had quite a day of announcements as well. The Mignolaverse’s Rasputin will finally be given a backstory in a new series from Dark Horse called, “Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon.” Mignola will be co-writing the book with Chris Roberson, and Christopher Mitten will be drawing. The series will explore the Russian mystic’s rise to power within the Nazi ranks, leading up to his role in bringing Hellboy to Earth. It was also announced that Mignola is re-releasing one of his earliest works, “Jenny Finn,” which he wrote and Troy Nixey drew. The new edition will have color for the first time, provided by Dave Stewart. And lastly, the Hellboy reboot has added American Honey star Sasha Lane as Alice Monaghan, Hellboy’s love interest in the comics.
– Tim Seeley has also been busy. In addition to Monday’s “Imaginary Friends” announcement from vertigo, AfterShock Comics will release a new series from Seeley and artist Priscilla Petraites, called “Brilliant Trash.” The book is described as a “sci-fi super-human epic,” taking place in a dystopia where click-bait articles dominate, and news is delivered to match everyone’s specific viewpoint. I wonder what that’s like.
– Of course, Samuel L. Jackson’s role as Nick Fury gets brought up while doing the proportional rounds for his new film, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and it appears that he’s a little annoyed at not being included in some of the upcoming MCU films. He mentions Avengers 3 and 4, but seems most perturbed by the exclusion from Black Panther saying, “They wouldn’t let me go to Black Panther-ville, so it’s kinda like how you gonna make a black Marvel movie and not let Nick Fury show up in it?!”
– Marvel has enlisted Geneva Robertson-Dworet to take over screenwriting duties for the upcoming Captain Marvel film. Meg LeFauve & Nicole Perlman were originally working on the screenplay, but LeFauve left to direct Gigantic for Disney. Robertson-Dworet doesn’t have any released film credits in her resume yet, but she has quite a few upcoming projects, including the Tombraider reboot, Gotham City Sirens, and Sherlock Holmes 3.
– Former Doctor Doom actor Julian McMahon has joined Marvel Television’s Runaways. He will be playing Jonah, “a pivotal player in the Runaways’ rebellion against their parents.” Jonah wasn’t in the original comics, so it looks like the showrunners won’t be strictly adhering to the original story.
– And in some other casting news, Kirk Acevedo, known for his roles in Fringe, Oz, and Kingdom, has been cast as Ricardo Diaz (a.k.a. Richard Dragon) in The CW’s Arrow. The character’s role in the show had been announced at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, but the actor was kept under wraps until now.
