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, Marvel announced a “Kang the Conqueror” miniseries, and we revealed an exclusive preview of next month’s 80th anniversary special “Everything’s Archie” #1, as well as our Summer Comics and TV Binge lineups.
– Z2 Comics announced they will be publishing a graphic novel called “Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – 40×40: Bad Reputation/I Love Rock ‘N Roll.” Featuring writers Amanda Deibert, Jazzlyn Stone, and Cat Mihos, artists Cat Staggs and Liana Kangas, and writers/artists Evgenia Vereli, Jamaica Dyer, Wiktoria Radkiewicz, and Annie Zaleskito, the book will adapt twenty songs from the two albums, Bad Reputation and I Love Rock ‘N Roll, into full stories to mark the 40th anniversary of their releases. The graphic novel will feature two different covers, one for each album on either side of the book, with the Bad Reputation cover being by Clara Tessier and the I Love Rock ‘N Roll cover by Tara McPherson. The graphic novel will be released in multiple different editions via Z2, some of which include a special edition vinyl LP and a guitar strap. “Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – 40×40: Bad Reputation/I Love Rock ‘N Roll” is scheduled for release in November.
– A new “Ant” series will begin in August, with writer/artist Erik Larsen at the helm, Image Comics announced. While details surrounding the new ongoing for the character were kept to a minimum, Larsen described it as “a clean slate,” that “makes sense” of the character’s original series, with the first issue set to revisit her origins and then “follow her adventures from that point on.” The character has endured a sporadic publishing history, with three different series at as many different publishers, with Larsen buying the rights to the character from creator Mario Gully in 2012. Larsen will conclude the iteration of the series that started publishing at Image Comics in 2005 with “Ant” #12 in June, and it was during his work on that issue that the ideas for a new series “just kept expanding and expanding.” “Ant” #1 is set to be released in comic shops and on digital platforms in August, with a host of variant covers which you can see here.
– Skybound will launch “Trover Saves the Universe” by writer/artist Tess Stone, a five-part miniseries based on the video game of the same name in August, IGN reported. The series will follow two members of the ICJ (Important Cosmic Jobs), a company that sees its worst performing employees get killed at the end of the month, as they are hunted by Space Cops who believe them to be responsible for the murder of the ICJ’s top monster. The video game was created by Squanch Games, which was founded by Justin Roiland (Rick & Morty), and released in 2019. “Trover Saves the Universe” #1 is set for release on August 4.
– Via AIPT, Marvel Comics revealed “Cable: Reloaded” #1, a one-shot by writer Al Ewing and artist Bob Quinn that will tie in to the upcoming ‘The Last Annihilation’ event. The one-shot will feature an older version of Cable than the one who has starred in the recent “Cable” series, with Ewing teasing that the one-shot will pit him and his team against “some long-unseen X-foes,” and the solicit stating that it will take place on the “deadliest planet in X-history.” ‘The Last Annihilation’ will begin in “Guardians of the Galaxy” #16 in July, with “Cable: Reloaded” #1 set for release in August.
– The 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards were held last night, with WandaVision winning Best Show, Best Performance in a Show for Elizabeth Olsen, Best Villain for Kathryn Hahn, and Best Fight for Wanda Maximoff vs. Agatha Harkness. Anthony Mackie was also voted Best Hero for Sam Wilson in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Best Duo with Bucky Barnes actor Sebastian Stan, while Scarlett Johansson received a Generation Award. (Chadwick Boseman also won posthumously for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.) You can watch the whole ceremony (or parts of it) here.
Continued below– Deadline reports that Boyd Holbrook (Logan) and Shaunette Renée Wilson (Black Panther) have joined the cast of the upcoming Indiana Jones 5. Details about their roles are being kept under wraps. The film will be directed by Logan director James Mangold, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen already confirmed for the film alongside the returning Harrison Ford. Steven Spielberg is onboard the film as a producer alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Simon Emanuel. Production is scheduled to start this summer, with the film set to debut on July 29, 2022.
– The directors for the upcoming Marvel Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, will include Thomas Bezucha (Let Him Go) and Ali Selim (Condor), THR revealed. The series’ details have not been revealed at this time, though Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) will both be featured. Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, and Kingsley Ben-Adir are all set to portray unspecified roles. Kyle Bradstreet (Mr. Robot) will write and executive produce. A release date has not been set at this time.
– Lupin III: The First‘s UK release date of June 2 was confirmed after Showcase Cinema unveiled their listings for the film. The film, which is based on the late Monkey Punch’s manga series “Lupin the Third,” sees the titular thief on the trail of the Bresson Diary, a treasure that evaded his grandfather Arsène Lupin. Lupin III: The First was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, and is the first 3D CGI-animated film in the Lupin franchise. It was first released in Japan on December 6, 2019.
– Cineworld agreed a deal with Disney to screen their films in Regal Cinemas in the US, and their eponymous theater chain in the UK. With this deal being concluded, it means that Black Widow, and other upcoming Disney releases, will be shown in Cineworld’s chains on their release date, despite them being released on Disney+ Premier Access on the same day. Regal Cinemas started to reopen in April, with Cineworld cinemas across the UK allowed to reopen from May 17. Black Widow is set for release on July 9 in the US and the UK.
– Finally, The New York Times published Sergio García Sánchez’s illustrated edition of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Sánchez’s interpretation of the poem includes a manifestation of the poem’s contextual background, in the form of World War I and wartime graves, and a dedication to Frost’s friend and fellow writer, Edward Thomas. Frost met Thomas during his three years living in England, and wrote the poem with Thomas in mind, which may have turned out to be the final push for Thomas to enlist and involve himself in World War I. Thomas died in the Battle of Aras. You can see the illustration here.
