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.
Adventures' #1
– Per The Hollywood Reporter, IDW Publishing have renewed the license for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” comics from Paramount. The announcement comes ahead of the turtles’ 40th anniversary this year. IDW have been the home of the TMNT comics since 2011, and their main series is the longest-running comic in the franchise’s history, with the 150th issue set to arrive in April. Lourdes Arocho, SVP of licensing & publishing for consumer products at Paramount, said, “After 40 years, there are still so many more stories to be told, and we can’t wait for everyone to see what’s next.”
– Cartoonist Jim Rugg has created a tie-in comic for wrestling biopic The Iron Claw, published in production company A24’s The Von Erichs Zine. Like the movie, which tells the story of WCWA world champion Kevin Von Erich, the comic portrays the 1982 Christmas cage match between Von Erich’s brother Kerry, and Ric Flair. The zine is available to buy now from A24’s online store, while The Iron Claw is currently in theaters.
– Amazon have ordered a show based on Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s “Criminal” to series. Brubaker will serve as showrunner on the project with Jordan Harper (The Mentalist, Gotham), while Phillips will be one of the executive producers. Created in 2006, “Criminal” follows the various denizens of Center City, with each arc forming a self-contained story. It will mark Brubaker’s third series at Amazon, following Too Old to Die Young, and the upcoming Batman: Caped Crusader.
– At the third annual Astra TV Awards (formerly the Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards), The Boys won Best Streaming Drama Series, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Drama Series (respectively for Anthony Starr and Jensen Ackles), Best Directing in a Streaming Drama Series (for “Herogasm” helmer Nelson Cragg), Best Stunts, and Best Casting in a Drama Series. Terry Matalas won Best Writing in a Streaming Drama Series for Star Trek: Picard‘s finale, while Jeri Ryan tied with The Crown‘s Elizabeth Debicki for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Drama Series. Attack on Titan was also named Best Streaming Animated Series or TV Movie.
– The Marvels will be released digitally next Tuesday, January 16, and on 4K and Blu-ray on February 13. The movie will come with a director’s commentary and more, including five deleted scenes, one of which you can watch at the link provided. The film became the lowest grossing MCU entry to date when released in November, making a mere $199.8 million ($84.5 mil domestic) against a $274 million budget, thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike, mixed reviews, and superhero fatigue.
– In comparison, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom only grossed $100 million domestically over the holidays, but has made an additional $236.4 mil overseas (no pun intended), bringing its total so far to $336.4 million. Despite receiving more negative reviews than its predecessor (35 vs 65 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), which became the highest-grossing DCEU film after making over a $1 billion worldwide, the film benefited from releasing after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, and its yuletide release date. It is now the highest-grossing DC movie of 2023.
– Finally, via Newsarama, Stephanie Tyler Jones, the model for Mary Jane in Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, shared in an Instagram story that some fans have been stalking and harassing her. Jones, a former actress now working as a skincare physician, said one fan even left multiple voicemails demanding she speak to him at her workplace. She says, “I came into work this morning and immediately felt unsafe and uncomfortable hearing those voicemails. Please respect that I am a human being trying to make a living just like you, and I kindly ask for boundaries to not be crossed.” We wish Jones all the best, and implore any fans behaving this way who are reading this to, please, get the psychological help you need.
