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, AfterShock Comics have announced Jon Tsuei, Steve Orlando and Rubine’s Hong Kong action movie-inspired “Search for Hu.”
– Via CBR, after the announcement that Bad Idea was planning to cease operations by the end of the year, the company has revealed how it plans to release its final wave of titles. On June 16, 2021, Bad Idea will host the Final Five Pre-Order Day event, which gives readers the chance to preemptively secure Bad Idea’s final five. The Final Five is made up of five titles (15 issues) on-sale between August and December. Fans can go to any Bad Idea destination store to blindly pre-order all five titles. No titles, story details, or creative teams will be announced at the time, with only the cover price and number of issues being released on June 16th. Additionally, if you are one of the first 10 people at your store to pre-order all five titles, you will receive a Final Five redemption sticker that can be used to redeem one copy of the first book in the Final Five line-up. The final five titles will then be revealed on June 17, 2021.
– Publishers Weekly reports two graphic novel deals. First up, Scholastic/Graphix has bought the world rights to “Mixed Up, Mixed Bag,” and “Mixed & Matched,” a middle-grade graphic novel series by Sara Amini, illustrated by Shadia Amin. Set in the 9/11 era, the semi-autobiographical stories follow Amini’s middle school years in Alief, a Houston suburb. The first book is tentatively slated for fall 2024.
Next, HarperCollins has acquired, in a preempt, the early reader graphic novel series “Super Serious Mysteries” by Josh Crute, illustrated by James Rey Sanchez, in a two-book deal. In the first book, “The Untimely Passing of Nicholas Fart: A Who-Dealt-It Mystery,” detective-in-training Penelope Whiff must catch the culprit of a very mysterious and stinky crime. The first book is set for summer 2023, and the second for summer 2024.
– Via ComicBook.com, a new Superman manga is launching in Japan’s Evening magazine on June 22. “Superman vs Meshi,” written by Miyagawa Satoshi and drawn by Kitago Kai, will follows the Man of Steel as he visits the country’s restaurants and explores Japanese cuisine. It is unknown if or when the Kodansha/DC collaboration will be published in English.
– Marvel have announced Grammy Award-nominated musician Patrick Stump, lead singer of the rock band Fall Out Boy, performed the theme song for Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Stump also serves as songwriter and composer for the series, which is the first full-length Marvel series for preschoolers. The theme song, which was also written and produced by Stump, is available on the Disney Junior Hits Playlist, and the digital soundtrack, Disney Junior Music: Spidey and His Amazing Friends, is set for release Friday, September 17. Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends is expected to premiere later this year on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.
– Via The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna and Keanu Reeves have joined Dwayne Johnson to lend their voices to DC League of Super-Pets. Johnson voices Superman’s dog Krypto, while Hart will voice Ace the Bat-Hound. DC League of Super-Pets is due out May 20, 2022. Check out the teaser trailer here. In other DC movie news, the Los Angeles Times reported Angel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle movie is, like Batgirl, being intended as a HBO Max exclusive.
– Via Deadline, Taraji P. Henson is set to play the villainous Miss Hannigan in Annie Live!, NBC’s broadcast of the Tony-winning musical in December. It’s the first casting for the production, as NBC continues its search for the musical’s young star. Based on the classic comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” the show features music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, winning seven Tony Awards. The musical has been adapted for film several times, including in 1982, 1999 and 2014.
Continued below– Also via Deadline, Jim Mickle, co-creator of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, is partnering with Legendary and AfterShock Media to helm the film adaptation of Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw’s series “God Country,” published by Image in 2017. Cates adapted the screenplay from his own comic, which told the story of an elderly widower who gains possession of a magic sword, which he uses to defend his hometown from the otherworldly creatures drawn to the weapon. Lee Kramer and Jon Kramer from AfterShock Media will produce along with Jim Mickle and Linda Moran.
– Via CBR, the CW has released a first look at Camrus Johnson’s Luke Fox suited up as Batwing in Batwoman. Johnson has appeared as Luke Fox on the Arrowverse series since its debut episode. In Season one, he helped Kate Kane become Batwoman after she discovered the Batcave, and served a similar role for Ryan Wilder in season two. Now Luke will suit up “as Batwoman’s crime-fighting counterpart as they work to clean up the mess created in the season two finale.” New episodes of Batwoman air weekly on the CW on Sundays.
– Finally, as part of their Geeked Week, Netflix announced a slew of tidbits for upcoming projects, including that the live-action Cowboy Bebop will be arriving this fall, and that Yoko Kanno, the composer behind the original anime, will be creating the soundtrack as well. They also revealed season 2 of Locke and Key will release in October; the episode titles for The Umbrella Academy season 3; a behind-the-scenes video for The Sandman with Neil Gaiman; and a blooper reel for Sweet Tooth.
