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, BOOM! Box are releasing Sas Milledge’s “Mamo,” and Image/Top Cow have announced “Syphon.”
– Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez are giving readers a sneak peek of their new series with “Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone” #0. The series, set to begin with issue #1 tomorrow, follows Mary Locke on her mission to save her brother from Hell by outsmarting Roderick Burgess, the most evil man in England, who imprisoned Morpheus in 1916. The free digital sampler features 20 pages of original art and story, followed by a recap on where each of the known keys is, as well as a preview of the first pages of “The Sandman” from 1989.
– Marvel have announced “Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #2 from writer Karla Pacheco (“Spider-Woman”) and artist Eleonora Carlini (“Green Arrow”) as a part of their ‘Infinite Destinies’ event. The issue will pit Peter Parker’s Spider-Man against Ripley Ryan a.k.a Star, the new Captain Marvel anti-villain. The two will come to blows over the Reality Stone, which is currently in Star’s possession and the source of her powers. The one-shot, releasing in July, will also feature another chapter of the ‘Infinite Fury’ back-up story. After being delayed by COVID, ‘Infinite Destinies’ finally kicks off with “Iron Man Annual” in June.
– Lucy Liu is joining Helen Mirren in Shazam! Fury of the Gods as Kalypso, the sister of the villainous Hespera. The Kill Bill star will be joined by returning stars Zachary Levi and Asher Angel as alter-egos Shazam and Billy Batson. The film features the return of director David F. Sandberg with a June 2, 2023 release date. Like Hespera, Kalypso is likely based on one of the daughters of Atlas from Greek mythology (who in turn provides one of the letters in Shazam).
– Attack the Block creator Joe Cornish will write and direct a film adaptation of Mark Millar and Goran Parlov’s “Starlight” for 20th Century Studios. “Starlight” follows a Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers-style space explorer who is met with skepticism upon his return to Earth. After decades of reintegration, he must reclaim his past and go on one last adventure. Attached to the project are producers Simon Kinberg, Audrey Chon and Nira Park.
– Legendary Pictures have announced a live-action Gundam movie from Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. “Gundam” arguably spawned the japanese mecha genre that went on to define franchises like Power Rangers, Voltron and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The film, releasing through Netflix, is being written by Brian K. Vaughan (“Saga,” “We Stand on Guard”). This will be the first live-action Gundam movie since 1999’s G-Saviour. Jordan Vogt-Roberts is also in the process of developing a live-action Metal Gear Solid movie starring Oscar Isaac.
– The animated series The Freak Brothers will now receive the financial support of Lionsgate. The series, based on Gilbert Shelton’s “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers,” was produced by Starburns Industries and Pure Imagination Studios. The cast has also grown with the addition of Andrea Savage and La La Anthony as Harper and Gretchen, respectively.
– UK anime distributor Manga Entertainment, a subsidiary of Funimation, will officially rebrand to Funimation in the UK and Ireland. This will be paired with a gradual merging of the two services in terms of social media, streaming platforms and anime availability. The company aims to be fully integrated by May 2021. This comes in tandem with the announcement that 15 new films and series from Viz Media will be available on Funimation in the US and Canada on April 15. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Bleach, Naruto Shippūden, Vampire Knight and more will all be available through the partnership.
– Gloomy the Naughty Grizzly will now be releasing weekly on Crunchyroll every Monday. The anime features a giant pink teddy bear whose soft, cuddly exterior hides an appetite for blood and violence. Crunchyroll will also be offering dubs of Tokyo Revengers, To Your Eternity, I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level and So I’m a Spider, So What? Part 2 in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German.
– Finally, Italian noir hero Diabolik has his own board game set to release in the US this August. Diabolik: Heists and Investigations from Pendragon Game Studio pits one team of players (Diabolik and Eva) against another (detectives Morrigan and Ginko) in a mission to pull off or prevent a string of heists from the criminal masterminds. Ares Games will release the game for western consumers, while a Diabolik film is set to release in Italy some time this year.
