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 yesterday, we ran a preview of the “Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Special” #1 which you can find here.
– Kicking off, Marvel announced today that the original “X-Statix” creative team of Peter Milligan, Mike Allred, and Laura Allred are returning to the series for a one-shot releasing in July called “Giant Sized X-Statix” #1. The one-shot will feature the fan-favorite team that Milligan and the Allreds created in “X-Force” that spun into “X-Statix” in the early 2000s. Newsarama ran an interview with Mike Allred, and promised one with Milligan later in the week, which you can find here.
– Continuing with Marvel announcements, the company also teased something called ‘Acts of Evil,‘ which will also debut in the month of July. Many Marvel editors and a number of writers shared the teaser on Twitter, including writer Dana Schwartz and Mags Visaggio. The event or crossover looks to be a callback to the Marvel crossover ‘Acts of Vengance’ from 1990, which saw Marvel villains picking fights with heroes they usually don’t engage with.
– Marvel also announced three interconnected one-shots called ‘The Prodigal Sun.’ The first issue in this crossover kicks off with “Fantastic Four: The Prodigal Sun” #1, from writer Peter David and artist Francesco Manna (“Cloak and Dagger”), which sees a being named Prodigal crash in the Savage Land and begin to be worshipped as a god. The series will continue in “Guardians of the Galaxy: Prodigal Sun” #1 and “Silver Surfer: Prodigal Sun” #1.
– Switching to DC, the company announced new details on its upcoming ‘Year of the Villains’ storyline, and showcased a line of villain portrait variant covers for the month of July. The event kicks off in a few weeks with “DC’s Year of the Villain” #1 ahead of Free Comic Book Day, and then will spiral out into the entirety of DC’s comic line. Another prelude story for Year of the Villain will appear in “Justice League” #25 from Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Javi Fernandez. Starting in July, DC books will get Year of the Villain banners, first with ‘Year of the Villain: The Offer,’ then in August ‘Year of the Villain: Dark Gifts,’ September ‘Year of the Villain: Evil Unleashed,’ and October ‘Year of the Villain: Doom Rising.’ You can find all the covers, the banner artwork, and other details here.
– Dark Horse Comics announced a new one-shot called “The Quiet Kind” from writer Chuck Brown (“Bitter Root”) and artists Jeremy Treece (“Angel: Season Six”) and Kelly Williams (“Creepy Comics”). The 64-page one-shot is set to “explore what it means for young, marginalized children to suddenly find themselves in possession of a great, cosmic power.” The book will go on sale July 17, 2019, and will feature a cover by Michael Cho.
– Pivoting to the entertainment world, Disney executives rolled out a look at its upcoming streaming service Disney+ and announced a few new details on shows, movies, original content, and what will be available at launch. The company announced the price point, $6.99 a month or $69.99 for one year, and that the platform will launch November 12th in North America. Other details included: logos for The Mandalorian and Falcon & Winter Soldier, the Vision/Scarlet Witch show is titled WandaVision, the first storyline for the animated What If? show, and that all 30 seasons of The Simpsons are coming to the service. You can find more details from the live stream here and here.
– In casting news, season two of Titans has recruited Game of Thrones actor Iain Glen to portray Bruce Wayne. Glen will play an older Bruce Wayne who tries to make up with Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) in order to “help his former sidekick and the Titans achieve success.” Season 2 of Titans premieres on the DC Universe streaming service this fall.
– The new Hellboy film (which currently has a 12 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) hits theaters today, but a number of articles have surfaced recently detailing controversy that took place during the filming of the reboot. TheWrap has detailed a number of these issues between director Neil Marshall, producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin, and Hellboy actor David Harbour. You can read more about the conflicts here, and see the R-rated film in theaters now.
– A “Dennis the Menace” musical was announced yesterday, and is set to make it to the stage next year in 2020. The show will be written by BAFTA-winning writer/producer/director Will Brenton, and produced by Beano Studios in partnership with production company Selladoor (Avenue Q). This comes on the heels of the success of the animated show Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! in the UK. “Dennis the Menace” was created by George Moonie, Davey Law, and Ian Chisholm in 1951 for “The Beano,” the UK’s longest running children’s comic magazine. There are two “Dennis the Menace” comics, one in the U.S. (created by Hank Ketcham) and one in the UK.
– Finally, comic book artist Joyce Chin has launched a GoFundMe to help cover medical costs after being hospitalized in Chicago right before attending C2E2 last month. Chin suffered a stroke when her and husband Arthur Adams landed in the airport in Chicago on the way to the convention. You can participate in the campaign here.
