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, San Diego Comic-Con announced plans for an in-person convention on the Thanksgiving weekend, and the first trailer for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad was released.
– Scholastic has ended the publication of cartoonist Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” spin-off, “The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future,” due to it containing “passive racism.” The 2010 book features two children from 500,001 BC travelling to the future and learning kung fu, before heading back to their own time to free the cave people who have been enslaved by an industrial enterprise from the future. Scholastic detailed that they, with the full support of Pilkey, have chosen to stop selling the book and are seeking the return of other sellers’ stock, as well as to inform schools and libraries of their reasoning for the removal of the book.
Pilkey apologized for the book, stating he intended to showcase diversity, but now realizes that it contains “harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery.” He continued, stating it is “wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people,” adding that him and his wife are donating all of his advance and royalties from the book to multiple organizations supplying creative outlets for underserved communities, supporting diversity and inclusion in publishing, and tackling violence and hatred against Asians.
– Following the airing of the ‘finale’ of Attack on Titan‘s fourth season, MAPPA, the animation studio behind it, announced that the fourth season will be getting a second part in Winter 2022, meaning that it will likely begin airing next January and conclude next March. Prior to this announcement, due to the manga not being fully adapted yet, people had speculated that a movie would conclude the story. The manga is set to end after a 12-year run in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine next month.
– A teaser trailer for the third My Hero Academia anime film revealed that it is called My Hero Academia THE MOVIE: World Heroes’ Mission, and is set to release in Japan on August 6. The teaser, which was released with the first episode of the anime series’ fifth season, reveals that Deku is wanted for mass murder, and shows the trio of Deku, Bakugō, and Todoroki jumping from a plane and into action in black stealth suits with neon details. The manga creator, Kōhei Horikoshi, is serving as chief supervisor and original character designer once again, for a film that is an original idea. The anime series and previous two films’ director, Kenji Nagasaki, is also returning. A release date for the US has not been specified.
– The upcoming DC film, Black Adam, is scheduled for release on July 29, 2022, the film’s star, Dwayne Johnson, revealed. As part of the video reveal, Johnson teased that “the hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change.” The film will follow the anti-hero, Black Adam, and feature the Justice Society of America, including Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate; Aldis Hodge as Hawkman; Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher; and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.
– Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) was revealed as the director of a new film in the live-action Transformers franchise, with Marco Ramirez (The Defenders) writing the script after Paramount Pictures gave a blind script commitment. The details about the film are under wraps at this time, though the film is reported as being separate from the other films in the franchise. Steven Caple Jr’s Bumblebee sequel, and Josh Cooley’s prequel about Optimus Prime and Megatron, are still in development. Schedules for the development and eventual release of Soto’s film are not known.
– Katia Winter (Blood & Treasure) joined the third season of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys, reportedly in the role of the Russian mob boss Little Nina. There is no indication of how frequently Winter will feature in the series. The Boys is an adaptation of the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic by the same name, and follows the ongoing feud between the Seven, the celebrity superhero team managed by the conglomerate Vought International, and The Boys, a team of vigilantes intended to expose their corruption. A spin-off series is also in development. A release date for The Boys season three has not yet been announced.
Continued below– The Static Shock feature film adaptation has found its writer in Randy McKinnon (Safety). The Warner Bros. and DC film will adapt the Milestone Comics series, “Static,” which follows teenager Virgil Hawkins after he gains electromagnetic powers, and takes on the persona of Static. Actor Michael B. Jordan and director Reginald Hudlin will be producing the film, the latter of whom has been heavily involved in the relaunch of the character’s comic book publisher-turned-imprint. Static has previously featured in an animated series adaptation. Static Shock does not have currently have a release date.
– Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum, the creators of the upcoming animated Hulu series Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., announced that Jon Hamm, Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Fillion, and Bill Hader are all voicing characters on the series. The reveal was part of the show’s virtual panel at WonderCon. Jon Hamm will be voicing Tony Stark/Iron Man; Whoopi Goldberg will be supervillain Poundcakes; Nathan Fillion will be Wonder Man; and Bill Hader will voice both Angar the Screamer and The Leader. They join the previously announced cast which includes Oswalt as M.O.D.O.K., Melissa Fumero as Melissa Tarleton, and Jon Daly as Super Adaptoid. Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is scheduled to debut on May 21.
– Finally, the band, Gorillaz, which consists of musician Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, were criticized for including the release of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in their plans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album. The creation of the virtual collectibles currently require a huge amount of electricity, and are therefore known to have a huge impact on the environment. In 2010 they released their third album, Plastic Beach, which focused on environmentalist ideas, and fans were particularly concerned with the hypocritical nature of their involvement with the NFT industry. A petition against the release of the NFTs has started, with 694 signatures at the time of writing.
