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.
– There was a big reason that Marvel didn’t announce an artist alongside Charles Soule relaunching “Astonishing X-Men.” It turns out that there’s going to be a rotation of big names on the title. The initial roster is Jim Cheung, Ron Garney, ACO, Phil Noto, Greg Land, and Ramon Rosanas, with Cheung drawing #1 and more artists to be announced later. Alongside the artist announcement, Marvel also released an interview with Soule talking about the legacy of “Astonishing X-Men” and his plans for the title, “I mostly want it to feel epic. I’m trying to go as big as I can both for character moments and “page-feel,” if that’s a term I can coin… I’d say it’s something like [Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s “Widescreen” comics approach], but within every massive beat there’s a character moment (or ten) to back it up.”
– Comments from former Sony movie executive Amy Pascal seem to imply that the deal between Marvel and Sony that allows Spider-Man to be shared between the studios will be ending after the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel. It’s not out of the question that he will make further appearances, but another collaborative deal would have to be made between the studios. The news that the Venom film will not be part of the MCU makes a lot more sense after this revelation.
– In related news, Damage Control will be making an appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Originally created by Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colón, “Damage Control” followed the company that cleaned up after big super-hero battles in the marvel universe. They will be used in the film to provide motivation for Adrian Toomes’ conversion to The Vulture.
– Aaron Sorkin will be meeting with both Marvel and DC to see if there are any projects that he would be a good fit for. Sorkin is mainly known for dramas set firmly in reality, but I would definitely be first in line to see him take on a snarky Tony Stark or redeem Lex Luthor’s current film portrayal.
– Brian Michael Bendis is pulling out all the stops for his last issue of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Marvel revealed that in addition to solicited artist Valerio Schiti, the issue will feature pages by Phil Noto, Andrea Sorrentino, Ed McGuinness, Art Adams, Kevin Maguire, Mark Bagley, Sara Pichelli and Felipe Andrade. Bendis has been on the title since 2013 and now has the longest run of the series. #19 comes out on April 12.
– Warner Brothers and IMAX are teaming up to create Justice League and Aquaman VR experiences, along with a third property yet to be announced. “Pods” with the VR experience will be set up in theaters to coincide with the film releases before being distributed to other platforms. We’ll see how well Zack Snyder’s “Grey on grey on grey on grey colour palette” translates to VR.
– IGN has the Jim Lee cover for “Injustice 2” #1, depicting members of the Justice League plus Supergirl facing off with Braniac. “Injustice 2” is a digital first series that will bridge the gap between Injustice: Gods Among Us and the upcoming Injustice 2 video game. Tom Taylor will be returning to the Injustice universe on writing duties with Bruno Redondo handling the art.
– Dynamite has announced that they will begin to adapt A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series with creators Landry Q. Walker and Mel Rubi. “A Game of Thrones” #1 was released back in 2011, but even at this pace the adaptation will still probably overtake the books.
– Oni Press will release a free digital prequel comic to the upcoming film Sleight, written by Ryan Parrott and drawn by Chew artist and co-creator Rob Guillory. The film follows a young street magician as he gets in over his head trying to care for his little sister and the comic will follow him on his journey to becoming a magician. Sleight will be released on April 28 and “Sleight” #1 will be released for a limited time on March 30.
– The new Mighty Mouse series from Dynamite just added Alex Ross and Neal Adams as cover artists. They will join writer Sholly Fisch and interior artist Igor Lima.
