Welcome 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 yesterday, Titan announced “The Road to the Thirteenth Doctor” and “Breakneck,” while Dynamite revealed a reboot of “Project Superpowers.”
– FX has ordered a TV pilot adapted from writer Brian K. Vaughn (“Saga,” “Runaways”) and artist Pia Guerra (“Doctor Who: The Forgotten,” The New Yorker)’s Vertigo comic “Y: The Last Man.” The show will follow Yorick Brown and his pet capuchin monkey Ampersand as they go on a journey to track down Yorick’s girlfriend in a world devoid of any other men. A film based on the comic series had been in production at New Line cinema for several years in some form or another but after consistent delays and disagreements with the studio from 2007 all the way to 2014, the film rights reverted back to Vaughn and Guerra. Michael Green (American Gods, Blade Runner 2049) has been tapped to write the pilot screenplay and will serve as the showrunner with Aida Mashaka Croal (Luke Cage, Jessica Jones) and the first episode will be directed by Melina Matsoukas (Insecure, Beyoncé’s “Formation”).
– Diamond (you know, the monopoly that has thus far maintained an iron grip on the direct market distribution for the past 21 years) has responded to the online website League of Comic Geeks, who promised a new competing online pull list service for retailers with a free and $30/month tier being offered by the website. Diamond announced that they would be offering their online pull list service (Pullbox) for free for over a year to any retailer interested, and after a year the service would be priced at a modest $25/month or $250/year (oh price gauging, what fickle mistress you are). Diamond also stated that they would be offering a similar trial period for their Comic Suite service free of charge, and an additional discount on Pullbox for any store using Comic Suite. Either way you slice it, the consolidation of the pull list to Diamond is a scary prospect, as if they know what consumers are already ordering on a monthly basis.
– During Marvel’s retailers-only panel at C2E2 yesterday they revealed that the prehistoric Ghost Rider would be receiving an origin issue and that Spider-Man would be donning the black suit once again. The Ghost Rider issue will be a part of a series of standalone issues highlighting members of the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC in the pages of the new ongoing “Avengers” title by Jason Aaron (“Mighty Thor,” “The Goddamned”). The Ghost Rider issue, “Avengers” #7 which will be drawn by Sara Pichelli (“Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”). Meanwhile over in “Amazing Spider-Man” #800, the web-head will be back in black once more, this time as part of the finale to writer Dan Slott (“Silver Surfer,” “She-Hulk”) and artist Stuart Immonen (“Nextwave,” “Empress”)’s ‘Go Down Swinging’ arc. The costume change will also reportedly run through to the Fresh Start initiative when artist Ryan Ottley (“Invincible,” “Grizzlyshark”) and writer Nick Spencer (“The Fix,” “Captain America: Steve Rogers”) will be taking over ASM.
– Speaking of retailer-only panels, DC had one too and they revealed a whole bunch of new info on everything from Jim Cheung only doing one issue of “Justice League;” to “Action Comics” #1000 selling over half a million copies; “Titans” and “Teen Titans” will resume Rebirth numbering after two special one-shots setting the stage for things to come in both books; and that the first DC Ink/Zoom titles have been delayed to early next year. The panel also clued in retailers to the fact that the previously announced Black Label books would not be solicited until they can guarantee they will ship, so no delays there, just a nice long wait, and that “DC Nation” #1 would be completely free if retailers order at 125% of their main “Batman” title, the #0 issue of which has sold over a million copies already with the caveat of it being only 25¢. These were just a few of the announcements made at the retailer’s panel a full transcript of the panel can be found here.
Continued below– There was a lot more from the C2E2 Diamond summit, so to make things quick we’ll link you to Bleeding Cool’s coverage of the presentations from Image, Action Lab, Quirk Books, and Lion Forge. Valiant also announced a third “Britannia” comic; Titan Comics decided that they will continue “Bloodborne” as an ongoing following issue #5; and Dark Horse announced Ann Nocenti and David Aja’s Berger Books series The Seeds” will finally begin in August.
– Dynamite announced plans for a new series of comic books and graphic novels featuring horror and pop culture icon Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The first of which will be written by David Avallone (“Bettie Page,” “Twilight Zone”) and drawn by Dave Acosta (“Chastity,” “Doc Savage: The Ring of Fire”) and will be hitting shelves this July. The character of Elvira is/was played and written by Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) and has remained the Queen of Halloween for 35 years spawning countless books, movies, specials, licensing deals and now a new comic coming in July.
– Karl Urban (Dredd, Star Trek Beyond) has been cast in Amazon’s upcoming superhero series The Boys as the leader of the titular Boys, Billy Butcher. For those unfamiliar with the Garth Ennis (“Punisher,” “Preacher”) and Darick Robertson (“Happy!,” “Transmetropolitan”) comic series of the same name, the series revolves around a world populated by corrupt superheroes abusing their fame and power for their own selfish, often violent or/and sexual amusement, and where a group informally known as the Boys attempt to rein in some of the worst offenders. The pilot episode of the show will be directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (Preacher), with the episode being written by Eric Kripke (Supernatural, Timeless), who also will also serve as the showrunner for the first season.
– Black Panther, which recently became the highest grossing solo Marvel movie in history ($1.28 billion and counting), will be the first foreign film screened in Saudi Arabia in nearly 35 years. The news comes as the country is experiencing new progressive reforms under Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, including the addition of 40 new AMC theaters in the country in the next 5 years. Saudi Arabia banned movie theaters in the 1980s, and while many Saudi citizens still watched films in the comfort of their home, this is big business for Hollywood, with some experts estimating that the country could potentially produce domestic box offices in the billion dollar range. Films will still have to face rigorous scrutiny by Saudi officials before being cleared for screening in the country.
– Kalimat Group, a United Arab Emirates publishing house dedicated to publishing Arabic children’s books has announced plans for their first Arabic graphic novel. The book will be titled “Antara” and will be released at the Middle East Film and Comic Con which is running in Dubai until Saturday. The book will be released alongside several translations of other popular graphic novels, including “Anya’s Ghost,” “Pyongyang,” and “The Little Prince” (respectively by Vera Brosgol, Guy Delisle, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry).
– The Cartoon Art Museum is asking for our help to raise money needed for finishing renovations to their new space in San Francisco. The campaign, called “Creating a Fantastic Future,” hopes to raise the remaining $200,000 of the $1.2 million dollars needed for the spaces renovations. Among those who have already pledged their support are the George Lucas Family Foundation, Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation, Walt & Lilly Disney Foundation, and many, many others who have worked together to already raise over a million dollars to update the new facility. Those wishing to donate can do so here.
– Finally some sad news, as we are heartbroken to report that animation director Isao Takahata (Pom Poko, The Tale of Princess Kaguya) has passed away at the age of 82. Takahata was one of the founding members of Studio Ghibli alongside fellow legend Hayao Miyazaki (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso) and worked with Miyazaki on films like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky while also writing and directing films of his own, including the incredibly moving war film Grave of the Fireflies. Takahata got his start in 1963 at Toei Animation where he worked until 1971 when he left alongside Miyazaki to attempt to produce a Pippi Longstocking film when that fell through the pair began working on the Lupin III anime together. Takahata’s work is remembered fondly by any who have seen it, and he will be sorely missed in the world of animation.
