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, the first trailer for the Blue Beetle movie was released. “Hawk and Dove” co-creator Steve Skeates also passed away last week, aged 80.
– Per Polygon, Webtoon and Riot Games launched a League of Legends webcomic last week, titled “Katarina.” Written by Scott Hawkes with art by Rebekah Isaacs, the comic follows the assassin Katarina Du Couteau, as she embarks on a mission in the wartorn kingdom of Demacia. “However, when she is forced to choose between the mission and her own instincts, will she have to betray Noxus’s Master of Assassins?” It is a prequel to the new game The Mageseeker – A League of Legends Story, which will be released on all platforms on April 18.
– Marvel Comics teased “Fallen Friend” #1, a secret one-shot for July, which will be revealed in full on May 31. Beyond that, no information was disclosed, but the date coincides with the solicited release of “Amazing Spider-Man” #26, which Marvel claims will be the series’ most shocking issue in 50 years (ie. since the death of Gwen Stacy), strongly implying the one-shot will follow up on the death of a character in that comic.
– Via The Mary Sue, Holiday House unveiled “Stories of the Islands,” a graphic novel reimagining three Indonesian folk tales, by writer/artist Clar Angkasa. Per the synopsis, Angkasa “gives them back to the girl characters, following their hopes, dreams, and journeys for freedom from natural and unnatural forces. Why should women in folk tales be sidelined or reduced to tropes? What if we tell their stories, instead?” The book will be released in paperback and hardback on October 31.
– Sony released the third trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, giving us our first look at Jason Schwartzman as the Spot, Peter Parker’s baby daughter Mayday, and (very briefly) the voices of Daniel Kaluuya and Karan Soni as Spider-Punk and Spider-Man India. There’s also a shout out to Spider-Man: No Way Home; a ’90s-style Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider; the multiverse’s largest recreation of the Spider-Man pointing meme (including variants of Spider-Man Unlimited and the Insomniac games’ Peter); Spider-Horse; and (a) Spider-Man finally going to therapy. Across the Spider-Verse releases in theaters June 2.
– Speaking of Across the Spider-Verse, the film’s character designer, Kris Anka, shared some promotional images he created depicting the Spidersonas (or Spider-Personas) of various celebrities. They include Spider-Man film alumni Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jamie Foxx, as well as Beyonce, Rihanna, Nick Jonas & Priyanka Chopra, Guillermo del Toro, Kumail Nanjiani, Pedro Pascal, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Serena Williams, and Naomi Osaka. Bad Bunny, who’s currently developing an El Muerto film at Sony, is among more of those reimagined, as are Chrissy Teigen & John Legend, who appeared in Phil Lord & Chris Miller’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
– Netflix released the first trailer for Extraction 2, due out June 16. The sequel to the 2020 film adaptation of “Ciudad” sees Chris Hemsworth return as mercenary Tyler Rake, who this time round must infiltrate a prison to rescue the family of a Georgian gangster. The trailer largely consists of a single shot of Rake performing the titular extraction of Tinatin Dalakishvili’s character, when a riot breaks out in the prison.
– To mark tickets going on sale for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Marvel Studios announced an IMAX marathon of the trilogy, which will allow fans to see the third installment on Wednesday, May 3 (two days before its general release.) They also released the soundtrack for the movie, while making the vinyl and CD versions available to pre-order; hit the link if you want to know which songs will be used before seeing the film.
– Finally, Sony Pictures Television are developing a TV show based on the Black Mask Studios series “Destiny, NY,” executive produced by Tegan and Sara Quin, Black Mask, and co-creator Pat Shand. The comic, written by Shand with art by Manuel Preitano and Rosi Kämpe, revolves around a boarding school for children who were the subject of magical prophecies, and in particular, Logan, an aimless, 20-something who fulfilled the prophecy she would save the world when she was 12. When she falls in love with Lilith, the estranged daughter of a mystical crime family, her decision threatens to jeopardize the entire school. The project will mark Tegan and Sara’s second TV project, following the autobiographical Amazon Freevee series High School.
