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, we have an exclusive look at Jeff Smith’s (“Bone”) variant cover for “Fire Power” #19.
– Celebrating the 60th anniversary of Spider-Man, Marvel has announced June’s “Amazing Spider-Man” #6 will also mark the 900th issue of the flagship series. Zeb Wells will write the story featuring the Sinister Adaptoid, a new threat will all the powers and abiities of the Sinister Six. Ed McGuiness will provide interior art, his first for the series. Spidey’s 60th anniversary will also see Abrams Books publish Spider-Man: Panel by Panel. The book, from award-winning graphic designer Chip Kidd and photographer Geoff Spear, will feature reimaginings of the wall crawler’s first two adventures (“Amazing Fantasy” #15 and “Amazing Spider-Man” #1), exploring them panel by panel. The book will be available October 18, but can be preordered now.
– Concept artist and set designer Dawn Brown, graphic novelist and comics scholar John Jennings, science fiction and fantasy writers Jaymee Goh and K. Tempest Bradford, and Star Wars cosplay group the 501st Legion will be honored as part of Eagle-Con 2022. The virtual sci-fi and fantasy conference is hosted by Cal State LA and the Art Directors Guild (IATSE Local 800). It will run from March 10-12. More information and full event schedules are available on the Cal State LA website.
– Harvey Guillén, best known as Guillermo in FX’s What We Do in the Shadows series, is in talks for an as-of-yet unannounced role in DC/Warner Bros’s Blue Beetle movie. Also reportedly joining the movie are Bruna Marquezine and Belissa Escobedo, who will respectively star as love interest Penny, and Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes’s sister Milagros. Xolo Maridueña is set to star as the title hero. The film will be directed by Angel Manuel Soto. While originally planned for HBO Max, Blue Beetle will receive a theatrical release on August 18, 2023.
– Marvel is teaming up with London-based immersive film and TV company Secret Cinema to present a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2-inspired experience. Attendees will be able to pick a Ravager clan and explore the galaxy, all the while avoiding the Nova Corps. Officially titled Secret Cinema presents Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy — The Live Immersive Experience, the event will run from August to December 2022 at a secret location somewhere in London. Tickets will go on sale March 14 at 10am (GMT), but you can get on the waiting list at Secret Cinema’s website.
– “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola announced on Twitter last weekend that he will auction off original artwork in support of Ukrainian refugees. 100% of the proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen, feeding those escaping the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The first piece, a black-and-white image of Batman and the Joker, has already earned $10,000 on eBay.
– 2010 University of Mary Washington grad Marguerite Bennett will return to her alma mater tonight as the keynote speaker for Women’s History Month. The speech will be at 7pm in the University Center’s Chandler Ballroom, and will touch on Bennett’s rise from the school’s writing program, to her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College (where she studied under New 52 “Batman” scribe Scott Snyder), eventually leading to her breakthrough gig writing for “Batman Annual” #2 in 2013.
– Ernie Hudson has joined the cast of NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot pilot. Set three decades after the disappearance of Scott Bakula’s Dr. Sam Beckett, the new series will follow Dr. Ben Seong’s (Raymond Lee) attempts to understand the technology, with the pilot seeing him land in the 1980s. Hudson will portray Vietnam vet and project head Herbert “Magic” Williams.
– The Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson romantic comedy Marry Me will be available on Blu-ray and digital on March 29. The release will include behind-the-scenes featurettes, commentary from director Kat Coiro and producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thoma, and the music video for the song “On My Way.” The film is based on the Bobby Crosby and Remy “Eisu” Mokhtar comic of the same name.
– Netflix’s live-action adaptation of “One Piece” has added six new cast members. These actors are: Morgan Davies (The End, The Evil Dead: Rise), Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (The Sex Lives of College Girls, Me Time), Aidan Scott (Action Point, Between the Devil), Jeff Ward (Brand New Cherry Flavor, Hack), McKinley Belcher III (Ozark, The Good Lord Bird), and Vincent Regan (300, Troy). They join a cast that includes Iñaki Godoy as series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, and will portray the following characters: Koby (Davies), Alvida (Paulino), Helmeppo (Scott), Buggy (Ward), Arlong (Belcher), and Garp (Regan.)
– Finally, “United States of Captain America” writer Christopher Cantwell tweeted that he would donate everything he was paid for the first issue to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. The “Halt and Catch Fire” co-creator and showrunner noted that every legislator behind Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill (a.k.a. the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) received financial support from Disney. “United States of Captain America” introduced Aaron Fisher, the first LGBTQ+ person to hold the title. “I am honored to be a part of this character’s creation,” Cantwell adds. “And will always be.” Joining Cantwell in this effort is Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. co-creator Jordan Blum, who will be doing the same with his “Spider-Bot” pay.
