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.
In case you missed it, DC Comics announced they have teamed with Epic Games for “Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point,” while Dark Horse Comics revealed a series of “Avatar: The Last Airbender — Chibi” OGNs.
Shalvey
– Marvel announced “Deadpool: Black, White & Blood,” the first series to be announced as part of the character’s 30th anniversary celebrations. The creative talent involved was not revealed; Declan Shalvey drew the series’ announcement art, but has not been confirmed for any larger involvement at this time. Speaking at the Deadpool Nerdy Thirty virtual event, Marvel’s EIC, C.B. Cebulski, stated that the series will be “packed with Deadpool’s wildest stories to date,” with an “all-star lineup of creators teaming up to honor the character’s incredible legacy with the kind of chaos and violence that Wade Wilson loves!” The first of Deadpool’s 30th anniversary publications will be “Deadpool Nerdy 30” #1, a one-shot scheduled for March 3. “Deadpool: Black, White & Blood” is set to debut in August.
– The creative teams for the first wave of titles in Milestone Comics’s relaunch were announced via the digital edition of “Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition” #0:
In addition, it was revealed that the digital-first series will be debuting on DC Universe Infinite on the same day as their release. The first wave is set to begin with “Static” #1 on April 12, with “Icon & Rocket” launching on June 21, and “Hardware” on August 23. The print edition of “Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition” #0 is scheduled for May 25. You can see the covers for each of the three series’ debuts over at The Beat.
– The VP of Publishing at Dark Horse Comics, Randy Stradley, retired after working for the publisher for 35 years. Stradley became Dark Horse’s first editor-in-chief after his friend, the founder of the publisher, Mike Richardson, approached him about starting the company from Richardson’s comic shop. While in the role, Stradley oversaw the early issues of “Dark Horse Presents,” and was the editor of some of the publisher’s formative series, such as Paul Chadwick’s “Concrete,” Frank Miller and Geof Darrow’s “Hard Boiled,” and Miller’s “Sin City.” He wrote the original “Aliens vs. Predator” comic book, and was hugely influential in the publisher’s wider licensed comic output too.
– Shadow And Act reported that Ta-Nehisi Coates (“Black Panther”) is writing a Superman film. The film is in very early development, with plot details not yet revealed and casting not started either. What is known though, is that J.J. Abrams will be producing the film under his Bad Robot banner alongside Hannah Minghella. Coates described working on the film as an “honor,” stating, “I look forward to meaningfully adding to the legacy of America’s most iconic mythic hero.” Abrams said, “There is a new, powerful and moving Superman story yet to be told,” sentiments that Toby Emmerich, the Chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group echoed: “We’re confident that [Coates’s] take on Superman will give fans a new and exciting way to see the Man of Steel.”
THR reported the project intends to cast a Black Superman. Cyborg actor Ray Fisher responded to this, tweeting, “Do ya’ll remember that time Walter Hamada and @wbpictures tried to destroy a Black man’s credibility, and publicly delegitimize a very serious investigation, with lies in the press? But hey, Black Superman….” Hamada is the current President of DC Films, who Fisher recently described as “the most dangerous kind of enabler,” vowing not to “participate in any production associated with him.”
WarnerMedia released a statement shortly after denouncing the “false statements being made about our executives and our company surrounding the recent Justice League investigation,” which concluded in December, explicitly stating “Our executives, including Walter Hamada, fully cooperated, no evidence was found of any interference whatsoever, and Warner Bros. did not lie in the press.” Fisher responded, clarifying that he only said Hamada “ATTEMPTED to interfere” but was unsuccessful in doing so. At the time of writing, WarnerMedia has not responded a second time.
– Finally, Millennium’s Red Sonja adaptation found a new writer in Tasha Huo, the showrunner and executive producer of the upcoming animated Tomb Raider series. The film has been in development for a number of years but seems to finally be pressing ahead, with Joey Soloway directing and casting for the adaptation scheduled to begin imminently. Millennium plan to pre-sell the film at the European Film Market taking place from March 1-5. The female superheroine was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith at Marvel Comics in 1973, and her stories are currently published by Dynamite Entertainment. The character was first portrayed in live-action by Angelica Bridges in the Conan the Adventurer TV series, and then by Brigitte Nielsen in 1985’s Red Sonja. The Huo-written Red Sonja does not currently have a release date.
