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.
– BOOM! Studios teased the return of Mark Waid and co.’s “Irredeemable,” with a teaser image stating “Mark Waid is STILL evil.” The 2009-2012 series, which followed the descent into madness of the world’s greatest superhero, the Plutonian, was originally promoted with the tagline, “Mark Waid is Evil! Mark Waid is ‘Irredeemable!'” The teaser follows this year’s news that Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall) and Kemp Powers (Soul) will adapt the comic, and its sister series “Incorruptible,” into a film for Netflix.
– Marvel and clothing store chain Kith launched an exclusive 60th anniversary Spider-Man comic, available at all twelve Kith locations across the globe. The comic, simply called “Marvel | Kith Spider-Man Comic Book,” was written by Anthony Piper with art by Julian Shaw, and features Spidey battling Doc Ock and his army of robots, as well as appearances from Iron Man, the Tinkerer, and Kith founder Ronnie Fieg. The comic’s release will be followed on Friday, July 15, with a collection of Kith exclusive Spider-Man clothes and items, and the opening of a pop-up store in Peter Parker’s native Queens; for more details on those, head to Marvel.com.
– HBO Max and Cartoon Network announced a series based on Nigerian publisher YouNeek Studios’ comic book “Iyanu: Child of Wonder.” The comic, created by writer Roye Okupe and artist Godwin Akpan, and co-published by Dark Horse Comics, follows Iyanu, an orphan from Yorubaland, who discovers she has superpowers. Together with two friends, she sets off to “uncover the truth about her past, her parents, and her ultimate destiny to save the world.” Okupe will write and direct several episodes of the series, will be produced at Lion Forge Animation, with a writers’ room headed by Brandon Easton.
– Martin Freeman confirmed to Radio Times that he will be reprising his MCU role as Everett K. Ross in the Disney+ series Secret Invasion. Samuel L. Jackson had disclosed he and Don Cheadle would appear in the show, leading him to joke, “Yeah – I think that’s kosher information, isn’t it? In order not to embarrass Samuel, I will say… I’m not gonna say he’s got that totally wrong and he’s thinking of Sam Rockwell. So yes, I may very well be [appearing].” Secret Invasion, starring Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, and Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman, and Emilia Clarke in undisclosed roles, will premiere sometime within the next year.
– Meanwhile, Marvel Studios have come under fire over allegations that they do not allocate enough time to visual effects artists. Den of Geek has more on the story, which began with comments from VFX veterans on Reddit describing Marvel as a bad client. While overworked and underpaid visual effects artists are not a new issue in the film industry (having led to protests during the release of Life of Pi in 2012), the topic became particularly painful this weekend, when a clip of Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi being tongue-in-cheek about the film’s effects work was met with backlash online.
– Finally, via Anime News Network, pathologists have concluded “Yu-Gi-Oh!” creator Kazuki Takahashi died from drowning, ruling out any possible foul play in his unexpected death last week. The body of Takahashi, 60, was found with snorkeling gear 300 meters off the coast of Nago, Okinawa, on the morning of July 6. Japanese authorities are still uncovering the events leading up to his death.
