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 preview of “Avengers” #44, the “fiery finale” of Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón’s ‘Enter the Phoenix’ storyline.
– Publishers Weekly detailed a number of graphic novel deals in the book market this week. First, Atheneum bought the middle grade graphic novel “Home for Horrors” by Kay Davault. Following a monster girl named Iris as she tries to make a home for herself and her housemates in a human town. Next, Dark Horse has picked up “Basil and Oregano” from creator Melissa Capriglione. Pitched as The Great British Bake Off at a magical boarding school, the book follows magiculinary student Basil, who finds herself torn between her feelings for the new girl at school and her goal of winning the school’s end-of-year competition.
In further news from Publishers Weekly, Dial has purchased Mercedes Acosta’s debut graphic novel “Cabaret Macabre.” Set in a magical realist New Orleans, the supernatural family drama follows 13-year-old Kara as she “discovers that a troupe of performers aren’t what they seem — and neither is she.” Finally, Random House Graphic has picked up “Yummy: A History of Tasty Experiments” by Victoria Grace Elliott, a nonfiction middle-grade graphic novel that follows food sprite Peri, as they explore the origins of various tasty foods. “Basil and Oregano” is scheduled for summer 2022, while “Home for Horrors,” “Cabaret Macabre” and “Yummy: A History of Tasty Experiments” are all scheduled for publication in 2023.
– Via CBR, New York Comic Con organizer ReedPop has said that the show will return with both in-person and virtual elements this October. After going fully virtual in 2020 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a ReedPop spokesperson confirmed plans for hybrid in-person/virtual show to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will be held at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the usual home for the convention. Details for this year’s convention have yet to be made clear, but it is currently scheduled to occur on October 7-10, 2021.
– James Gunn has shared the green band trailer for his upcoming DC film The Suicide Squad on Twitter. The trailer apparently premiered exclusively in theaters with Godzilla vs. Kong, but Gunn has brought the trailer online for fans to watch and rewatch at their leisure. He also participated in an impromptu Q&A in the Twitter thread, sharing that rats named Jaws and Crisp Ratt acted in the film, and that the design of the character Weasel drew inspiration from the “Bloom County” character Bill the Cat.
– Following news last week that the Transformers film franchise at Paramount was picking back up with director Angel Manuel Soto, In the Heights and A Star is Born star Anthony Ramos is signing on to star in a different film in the blockbuster franchise. Via Deadline, Ramos is in final negotiations to star in a Transformers movie from director Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II). Paramount commissioned two simultaneous scripts early last year that heralded a new direction for the franchise: one from James Vanderbilt, and another by Joby Harold. Caple is attached to Harold’s script, suggesting that film will be the first to go into production. Ramos is expected to do screen and chemistry tests in the search for a female co-star; finalists for the role reportedly include Kiki Layne (The Old Guard) and Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah).
– Fresh off the debut of the long expected Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max, Warner Bros. and DC Films have axed two upcoming films from their development slate. Via The Hollywood Reporter, Ava DuVernay’s New Gods and James Wan’s Aquaman spinoff The Trench have both been cancelled. Both films have been in development since 2018. DuVernay’s film focusing on the cosmic Jack Kirby creations was in development with current “Strange Adventures” writer Tom King, while Wan’s film featuring the titular amphibious creatures was announced shortly after the blockbuster success of Aquaman. Both directors remain attached to other projects with DC, with DuVernay producing the DC series Naomi for the CW, and Wan currently in preparations to shoot Aquaman 2 this year.
– Chris Ayres, voice actor and writer best known as the English-language voice of Frieza in the Dragon Ball series, is running a GoFundMe to cover his medical bills from a number of surgeries and ongoing medical treatments. Ayres has hosted crowdfunding efforts in the past to deal with the effects of COPD and emphysema, and he was able to receive a lung transplant at the end of last year with support from the anime community. Due to complications from the surgery that has led to additional procedures and a prolonged recovery period, Ayres has started a new campaign to deal with the mounting costs while he is unable to work. In addition to being the voice of Frieza for the Funimation Dragon Ball English dubs since 2010, Ayres has voiced characters for a number of anime including Fairy Tail, Clannad After Story, and Gantz.
– Finally, a Japanese court has ruled that posting dialogue from a manga without authorization is considered copyright infringement. Via AnimeNewsNetwork, the Tokyo District Court issued the ruling last week in a case brought against a spoiler site by the “Kengan Omega” publisher Shogakukan, whose MangaONE app serializes the story. Shogakukan requested the information of a user who posted “nearly the entire dialogue text” of “Kengan Omega” from January 2019 to May 2020, claiming that the postings constituted infringement. The judge agreed and ordered the user’s information be disclosed to the company. The case is a new development in an ongoing battle between publishers and content pirates, which has seen publishers going after both individual users and the piracy and spoiler sites that host the content.
