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, we have an exclusive preview of Z2 Comics’ “Inked in Blood.”
– In celebration of “Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular” #1, DC has released a six-page tribute story to Denny O’Neil from the issue for free. ‘Tap, Tap, Tap,’ one of twelve stories in the oversized issue, is a silent, wordless story from Denny’s son Larry O’Neil, with art from Jorge Fornes, and Dave Stewart. “Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular” #1 has an all-star line up of creators including Mariko Tamaki, Javier Rodriguez, Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott, Stephanie Phillips, Chris Mooneyham, Mike Grell, Ram V, Brandon Thomas, Jorge Corona, Devin Grayson, Max Fiumara, Phil Hester, Vita Ayala, Laura Braga, Ben Percy, Otto Schmidt, Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, and Jordie Bellaire. DC is also letting fans read the first issue of Denny O’Neil’s and Neal Adams’s legendary run that saw the team-up of Green Lantern and Green Arrow in “Green Lantern” #76-#87, for free on DC Universe Infinite, with registration. “Green Arrow 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular” #1 is available today for $9.99.
– Via KCRW, the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles will reimagine Macbeth as a virtual live-action graphic novel. Ben Donenberg, Executive Artistic Director of Shakespeare Center LA said, “it just kind of dawned on me as I was in the middle of a Zoom meeting that all of these squares looked a lot like a graphic novel.” Donenberg explained they had “wonderful illustrators, two young people named Michael Hurt Hall and Sophia Mata. They storyboarded the entire play. We have 200 illustrations, pen and ink and then color.” Performers include three-time Emmy Award-winning actor Keith David in the title role, and “a company of highly skilled Shakespearean actors.” You can stream the performance on-demand until July 30.
– Via Deadline, Zack Stentz’s newly launched Electric Brain Entertainment has secured rights to Korean webcomic “Deep” for a TV adaptation. “Deep” originally debuted on platform Webtoon, and “follows the families of humans who went missing and suddenly begin to reappear from the ocean as living corpses, unaged and unchanged in the years and even decades since their disappearances.” The Korean original was created by Tae Heon Kim, and developed and produced by Ko Dae-Jung, who partnered with Hugh Cha, director of the Asia Division at Bohemia Group and CEO of Stage Bridge, to propose global versions of the IP to Stentz.
– Via CBR, the series finale of WandaVision on Disney+ has been retroactively edited. The finale’s visual effects were adjusted for the final scene to include more trees in the mountains where Wanda retreats after releasing the citizens/prisoners of Westview. There’s also what appears to be a shadow or opaque silhouette of a figure floating toward the cabin, and the credits now include a mention of Michael Giacchino’s Doctor Strange theme. While it was reported that WandaVision would have had an appearance by Strange, Kevin Feige said, “We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie.” Elizabeth Olsen is set to reprise her role as Wanda Maximoff/The Scarlet Witch in next year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Wandavision is now streaming on Disney+.
– Via The Daily Dot, Disney will rename Boba Fett’s ship, or simply phase the name Slave I out. According to an interview with Lego’s Star Wars designers, the name is being phased out across franchise merchandising. While the Star Wars franchise includes plenty of depictions of slavery, the name Slave I doesn’t have any particular significance to Boba Fett and “sounds kind of jarring in context,” says The Daily Dot. From now on, the ship will be referred to as “Boba Fett’s ship.” There was inevitable backlash, with some fans arguing that Disney is changing established canon to be politically correct, even though there is nothing to suggest the name is being changed in-universe.
– Via Collider, Ron Perlman has been tapped to voice Optimus Primal in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Peter Cullen will return to voice Optimus Prime, the character’s Generation 1 namesake, and the movie’s plot will reveal why the Cybertronian has a connection to Earth and humanity. The new movie will add the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons to the existing battle on Earth between Autobots and Decepticons in 1994. Rise of the Beasts will also star Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, with Steven Caple Jr. directing, and will be released June 24, 2022. Perlman previously voiced Primal in the webseries Transformers: Power of the Primes.
– Finally, via Today, Harry Connick Jr. has been cast as Daddy Warbucks in NBC’s upcoming holiday production of Annie Live! Connick Jr. will follow in the footsteps of Albert Finney, who played Daddy Warbucks, the wealthy businessman who adopts the title character, on the big screen in 1982’s Annie. Connick Jr. joins Taraji P. Henson, who will play Miss Hannigan, the villainous head of Annie’s orphanage, in the special airing December 2, 2021.
