The Rundown: James Spader Shares Why He’s Playing Ultron, Tom Brevoort Brings the Real Talk, and more

Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email me at david@multiversitycomics.com.

– James Spader talks about why exactly he took the role of Ultron in the Avengers sequel, and the reasons were pretty damn cool. He said he expected it to be fun, but he also had a nostalgic connection to it, as he used to go over to a friend’s house to read his collection of comics like old Avengers joints. He also said two of his sons are interested in comics, so it works out for that reason. It’s not quite always dreaming of being Spider-Man, but it’s pretty damn cool in my book.

– I love what Tom Brevoort had to say in response when asked about whether or not DC’s recent failures and controversies have changed Marvel’s perspective about how they themselves are performing. His sentiments are that DC’s sales are even no matter what they do, so obviously what they’re doing isn’t really affecting them in any negative sense, no matter how loud online sentiment gets. He’s exactly right, and if people really wanted DC to know that they don’t like how DC is handling themselves, they should stop buying their books and/or remove them from their pulls. That’s the only way to make them realize you don’t appreciate what they’re doing.

– Over at Bleeding Cool, they have the story of Steve Bissette and the other creators of John Constantine not getting any money for the just announced TV show. Now, I don’t know how everything works on the Hollywood end (and Bissette’s explanation doesn’t help a ton, for me at least), but I’m pretty sure they’ve already been paid for the option, and they’ll be paid again if/when it gets turned into a TV show and they start making money off of it. To me, it seems like a non-issue as of yet, but we’ll continue updating as it develops.

– At Hero Complex, they talk to the incredibly awesome Craig Thompson about his story in the upcoming “Fairy Tale Comics” from First Second Books. First Second has been on fire this year, and this book of fairy tales features the work of incredible cartoonists like Gilbert Hernandez, Jillian Tamaki, David Mazzucchelli, Emily Carroll and more, and based off what they shared of Thompson’s story, it should be pretty damn amazing.

– Tom Scioli interviews Ed Piskor, and it’s as cool as that sounds.

– Oh, and have we mentioned recently that you should be coming to our party at New York Comic Con? You should be.