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. Usually we don’t post Rundowns on Saturdays, but it’s SDCC weekend and there’s too much news to be left until Monday.
So in case you missed it, James Gunn was fired from directing the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Meanwhile, Marvel unveiled five titles spinning out of “Spider-Geddon,” and a ‘Marvel Knights’ revival, and DC announced a “Batman Who Laughs” miniseries and that Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke will take over “Detective Comics” in December. Titan Comics also announced the creative team and storyline for their “Life is Strange” series.
– IDW announced a five-issue “Go-Bots” series by writer and artist Tom Scioli (“Transformers vs. G.I. Joe”). The series, created to mark the 35th anniversary of the toy line, explores how the Go-Bots’ presence has altered life on Earth: “They chauffeur us around. They protect us from harm. They do the jobs that are too boring or dangerous for us. They fight our wars for us. They are friends for the lonely. The only thing they don’t do is dream for us… but that could change any day now. For a generation, Leader-1 and the Guardians have said that they were here to help us… but as they become more integrated into our society, the question must be asked: Are they here to replace us?”
– Top Shelf Productions announced a sequel to Kim Dwinell’s middle-grade graphic novel “Surfside Girls,” “Surfside Girls (Book Two): The Mystery at the Old Rancho.” The first “Surfside Girls” book, “The Secret of Danger Point,” introduced Sam and Jade, two girls whose adventures involved everything from ghosts to baby dinosaurs. The sequel will see the duo trying to solve a 200-year old mystery takes the girls, all while the town’s Annual Surf Competition is going on. “Add to the mix a cute surfer boy, a mysterious mustached man with a guitar, and a very jealous Sam — can the surfing sleuths save the day again?” The book is due for release June 2019.
– Marvel announced that Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham have resumed work on a new “Miracleman” series, now that the last lingering legal issues surrounding the character have been cleared up. Gaiman and Buckingham’s series, which intends to pick up where they left the character in 1994 – when the character’s original publisher, Eclipse Comics, went bankrupt – was meant to be released in 2017, but is now slated to begin next year.
– Drawn & Quarterly revealed several titles for Spring and Fall 2019. These include “King of King Court” by Travis Dandro; “The Follies of Richard Wadsworth” by Nick Maandag; “Grass” by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (translated by Janet Hong); “Making Comics” by Lynda Barry; a series of reprints of Yoshiharu Tsuge‘s work; “Tomorrow” by Eleanor Davis; “Is There A Rational Adult Anywhere?” by Vanessa Davis; “The Year of the Rabbit” by Tian; and “Ganges” by Kevin Huizenga.
– Dark Horse revealed Joss Whedon will write a new Dr. Horrible one-shot, “Dr. Horrible: Best Friends Forever,” to mark a decade of the character. Illustrated by José Maria Beroy (“Versus”), Sara Soler (“Red & Blue”), and colorist Dan Jackson (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), the comic sees Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer reluctantly team up after the clairvoyant Hourglass asks for their help. It will be out November 14, 2018.
– Speaking of Whedon, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is in the works at Fox 21 Television Studios. Writer Monica Breen (Alias, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) is the showrunner, and Whedon is among the executive producers on the project. Fox 21 will invite streaming and cable outlets to bid on picking up the reboot later this summer. The intention is to cast a black actress in the title role, originally played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (and Kristy Swanson in the 1992 film): Whedon is currently wrapping up the story of Gellar’s incarnation with Dark Horse in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning.”
Continued below– A trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season 2 was released, giving us our first look at Anson Mount as Captain Pike in action. At the show’s SDCC panel, showrunner Alex Kurtzman announced the show’s return will be preceded by four short films (titled Short Treks) in December: these will provide 10-15 minute insights into the lives of characters like Tilly, Saru and Harry Mudd. It was also revealed Rebecca Romijn (X-Men) will play “Number One,” a character portrayed by Majel Roddenberry in the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All Access in January.
– English actress Samantha Morton (Minority Report) has joined the cast of The Walking Dead season 9 as Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers, a new antagonistic group that wears zombie skins to blend in among the dead. Also joining the series are Dan Fogler (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Luke, and Eleanor Matsuura (Into the Badlands) as Yumiko, who are both members of another survivor group. The show returns returns to AMC on October 7.
– Warner Bros. Animation announced 2019’s DC Universe Animated Original Movies will consist of Reign of the Supermen, Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, Batman: Hush and Wonder Woman: Bloodlines. The first footage from Young Justice: Outsiders was released.
– Finally, Cloak and Dagger was renewed for a second season; Nicolas Cage, Kimiko Glenn, and John Mulaney have been respectively cast as Spider-Man Noir, Penny Parker, and Spider-Ham in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; “Thanos survivor” Don Cheadle is providing the normal voice of Donald Duck on DuckTales; and Riz Ahmed’s character in Venom was revealed to be Riot.
