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 yesterday, AHOY Comics announced a sequel to 2019’s “Second Coming” titled “Second Coming: Only Begotten Son,” NBCUniversal is launching the new comics publishing venture UCP Graphic, IDW announced “Scarenthood,” Genius Brands announced plans for a new Stan Lee Universe, and Tom King and Jorge Fornes are staring deep into some ink blots with the Black Label maxiseries “Rorschach.”
We also spoke with writer Sara Kenny and producer Dr. Bella Starling on their contributions to the new sci-fi Webtoon “PLANET DIVOC-91,” as well as with “Engineward” creators George Mann and Joe Eisma.
– The previously announced BOOM! Studios graphic novel “Origins” is being converted into a limited series. The Beat has the exclusive news that the sci-fi book from creators Arash Amel, Joseph Oxford and Lee Toland Krieger will move from its October date. Written by Clay McLeod Chapman, with art by Jakub Rebelka, colors by Patricio Delpeche, and letters by Jim Campbell, “Origins” finds the genius David Adams, whose inventions caused the destruction of the human race, resurrected into a future one thousand years after the extinction of humanity. The book’s format conversion follows a similar move last month by the BOOM! Studios book “Wynd” from James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas, and Aditya Bidikar. “Origins” #1 is now set for release in November.
– Image Comics and writer Donny Cates have teased a cryptic new “Anti-Event for the ages.” Via GamesRadar, both Cates and the publisher revealed a teaser for the upcoming series “Crossover,” which will serve as a reunion between Cates and his “God Country” collaborators, artist Geoff Shaw and letterer John J. Hill. The trio will be joined on the book by colorist Dee Cunniffe. “Superheroes aren’t myths…. they’re viruses… and they’re spreading…” Cates teased on Twitter. “Crossover” #1, whatever it might be, will hit shelves in November.
– Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day offering “X-Men” #1 revealed a new series from writer Tom Taylor, artist Iban Coello, colorist Brian Reber, and letterer Joe Sabino. Via ComicBook.com, the announcement for the new series “Dark Ages” featured the tagline “Where were you when the lights went out? A saga of the Marvel Universe.” The FCBD issue offered a first look at the series, showing Iron Man, Pepper Potts, and Captain America, as a wave of green energy floats over New York City, disabling all electrical elements in the vicinity — including Iron Man’s suit. Further details on the series have yet to be revealed, but the book is set for release in Fall 2020.
– Collider has the trailer for the upcoming documentary Feels Good Man. The film, which received positive reviews and a Special Jury Award during its premiere earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, follows underground cartoonist Matt Furie, who battled to regain control of his creation Pepe the Frog after it was coopted to become an unlikely symbol of white supremacists. The trailer traces the larger arc of the film, following Pepe’s journey as one of the Internet’s earliest memes to one of its most notorious racist images, and Furie’s attempts to fight back and change the narrative. Feels Good Man premieres on August 14 on Apple TV+.
– The Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo has announced that artist Nate Powell (“March”) will serve as Special Guest Judge for the MICE Mini-Grant Awards this year. MICE will award 30 small grants of $100 each to the creators of previously unpublished print mini-comics, and Powell will select one winner from among the grantees to receive the $500 grand prize. Applications for the Mini-Grant Awards are open through August 1, and you can find more information at the MICE website.
– The cast of Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World reunited for a 10th anniversary table read this summer, and Entertainment Weekly is set to premiere the video of the event next week on Monday, July 20 at EW.com. The table read, which included stars Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Alison Pill, Satya Bhabha, Mae Whitman, Brandon Routh, and Jason Schwartzman, is a benefit for the charity Water for People and a part of Entertainment Weekly’s Fandom Week.
– The upcoming video game Marvel’s Avengers has set the dates for its beta release. Via ComicBook.com, the beta will feature three phases beginning in August. On August 7, players who pre-ordered the title for PS4 will receive access to the beta, followed by Xbox One and PC on August 14, and the open beta release on August 21. The full release of Marvel’s Avengers is scheduled for September 4.
– Via TV Wise, Jetpack Distribution has acquired the global distribution rights for the sci-fi animated series NEW-GEN, adapted from the Marvel comic of the same name. The series is set to star Stranger Things’s Finn Wolfhard, and his real life brother Nick Wolfhard, as twins who pull double duty as ordinary teenagers and nanotech enhanced superheroes in a futuristic utopia. Anya Chalotra also stars in the series, which is currently in pre-production.
