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.
– Powerless has indeed been shown to be powerless. The NBC show, after having been pulled from the schedule, has been officially cancelled. The half hour comedy debuted to low ratings this past fall and has never been able to recover even though it has a cast including the likes of Alan Tudyk and Danny Pudi. Luckily there are a million other superhero shows on television for us to get our fix! Could this be the beginning of the fabled “superhero fatigue?”
– In happier superhero TV news, Marvel’s first MCU foray into the small screen world, Agents of SHIELD, has been renewed for its fifth season. The show which moved to the Tuesday 10 PM slot. This means that once again ABC will have two MCU shows in the fall with SHIELD and The Inhumans.
– In more fun TV news, the recently concluded Riverdale (also picked up for a second season) has found its new Reggie Mantle. Relative newcomer Charles Melton (Glee, American Horror Story) will play Archie’s rival and supposedly have a big arc in the second season. Original actor Ross Butler will not return to the Archie Comics inspired show due to commitments on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why in which he is main cast member. Perhaps this means the second season will follow a more “traditional” structure and less of a CW-esque one.
– On Saturday, Annie Koyama of Koyama Press made two important announcements as a part of their TCAF 10-year anniversary appearance. Koyama announced the publisher’s fall 2017 titles and also revealed the publisher’s intentions to take a trip to Japan this fall to revisit the site of the company’s first book release. You can check out the fall 2017 lineup of titles and creators here.
– Fast and Furious and XXX franchise writer/director Rob Cohen is set to bring the popular 90s comic “Razor” to the big screen. The series debuted in 1992 from writer Everette Hartsoe at independent company London Night Studios and was a popular “goth” comic, following the story of Nicole Mitchell trying to get revenge on the crime lord who killed her cop father while also unaware of her sister being trained as an assassin for said crime lords. Jeff Most who produced The Crow in 1993, a movie based on a comic similar to “Razor” featuring a violent, female antihero, has signed on to produce Razor and is also producing a reboot of The Crow. The film will be shopped around at this years Cannes Film Festival.
– Following the casting news of Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy as Wolfsbane and Magik for Fox’s New Mutants this last week, it has been revealed that James McAvoy’s Professor X will not have a role in the film. Likewise, Nat Wolff will not be playing the mutant Cannonball as rumored. The film is set to star the three aforementioned mutants alongside Danielle Moonstar, Warlock and Sunspot. The film is being directed by Josh Boone and is shooting for an April 13, 2018 release date.
– In comic news, DC is collecting some big books in trade in 2018 including for the first time ever Rachel Pollack and Richard Case’s “Doom Patrol.” Pollack followed Grant Morrison on “Doom Patrol” at Vertigo, and at the time this title was the most prominent comics work written by a trans woman. DC is also collecting Keith Giffen and Alan Grant’s “Lobo” and putting out a new collection of “Teen Titans: The Judas Contract.”
– Switching to Marvel comic news, Ta-Nehisi Coates recently revealed that the “Black Panther” spinoff, “Black Panther and the Crew,” has been cancelled with issue #6 in September. Also, Thony Silas is replacing Jonboy Meyers on art for “Royals” #4 and it is unclear if this change is permanent or not. Meyers will still provide covers, but if this is true this is the second Big 2 title Meyers has walked from following his abrupt “Teen Titans” departure at the beginning of Rebirth.
– Father John Misty was at it again this last week on Twitter asking Marvel for $60 million to make a movie out of the much reviled “X-Cutioner’s Song” saga from the 90s that introduced the villain Stryfe. FJM cast himself in the movie as Gambit before seceding the role to actor John Lurie. He also cast Forrest Whitaker as Wolverine and made a number of other fun casting choices. Check out the entire tweet montage here.
– Finally, the results of our Reader Poll from the weekend are in! Since DC debuted their newest crossover, “The Lazarus Contract,” this last week as a spiritual successor to the acclaimed “Teen Titans” story ‘The Judas Contract,’ we asked “Which ‘Teen Titans’ iteration is your favorite?”
In first place are the New Teen Titans from the Marv Wolfman/George Perez era, followed closely by the Geoff Johns-era, then in third are the “Young Justice” team. tied for fourth are the original squad and the current Rebirth lineup, and in dead last the much reviled Scott Lobdell New 52 team. Thanks for playing, and continue to check back for Multiversity’s exclusive “The Lazarus Contract” material, including previews of the issues and exclusive interviews the first of which with “Titans” writer Dan Abnett.
