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, DC Comics have announced a new digital comic, “The Death of Superman,” based on the animated film, starting today.
– Matt Ryan’s John Constantine will soon be joining the Legends of Tomorrow team for their fourth season, but before that, you can bring DC’s British occultist, demonologist and master of the mystic arts home with Constantine: City of Demons. The feature-length movie, directed by Doug Murphy (Scooby-Doo and the Gourmet Ghost), written by J.M. DeMatteis (Batman: Bad Blood) and executive producers David S. Goyer and Greg Berlanti, is based on the CW Seed animated series of the same name. The first five episodes of City of Demons were previously released on the CW Seed earlier this year, and will make up the first third of the movie, after this however comes a full hour of original material, which will bring the story to its frightening conclusion. The home release comes with a few ‘bonus features’ such as, a recording of the WonderCon 2018 panel and an explainer of John Constantine’s abilities. Constantine: City of Demons will be released October, 2018. Check out the trailer here.
– Archie Comics have teamed up with Spotify to adapt the publisher’s bestselling, critically acclaimed comics into a video series, streaming live on the music platform. Archie’s continued effort to bring new audiences to their characters will a six-part motion comic called “Spotlight Archie — The New Riverdale,” created by Madefire and based off of “Archie” by Mark Waid and artists Fiona Staples, Annie Wu and Veronica Fish, which debuted in 2015. Archie’s CEO Jon Goldwater said in a press release, “Archie has always been about trying to find new ways to get comics to fans and readers, and when the opportunity to work with Spotify arose, it was a perfect match. Being able to reposition these modern classics for new readers in this unique, motion comic format makes perfect sense and we can’t wait for fans to experience these beloved Archie stories in a new way.”
– Scholastic Graphix have announced that they have increased printing of “Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas” to a massive 3 million copies, from the previous 1 million. “Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas” is the fifth book in the series by Dav Pilkey (“Captain Underpants”). The graphic novel will be published simultaneously in the US, Canada, UK, New Zealand, and Australia on August 28, 2018. The next installment, “Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild” will follow later this year on a strict sale date of December 24, 2018. Scholastic have also announced Dav Pilkey will also embark on a multi-city “Howl with Laughter” book tour across the USA and Canada this fall.
– “Immortal Men” will be ending with issue #6 in September, according to series writer James Tynion IV. Tynion, who co-created the series with artist Jim Lee, announced the news on Twitter just after San Diego Comic-Con. This is the first of DC’s “New Age of DC Heroes” to be canceled.
– Variety exclusively revealed that Glow comedian and actor, Marc Maron, is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips’s Joker origin movie. This adds to the already growing cast list of Robert De Niro and Frances Conroy. The Joker origin movie will have no connection to the Jared Leto’s joker in Suicide Squad, with Leto set to come back to the role and star in his own standalone movie.
– Image Comics’s in-house magazine Image+ is coming to an end with this week’s issue #12. Image confirmed that this is the final issue of the “current incarnation” of the magazine. Image+ was first published in 1993 and was brought back in 2016. Series editor/Image Brand manager David Brothers left in December 2017 and was replaced with Sean Edgar. The final issue’s cover story is Sam Humphries and Jen Bartel’s upcoming series “Blackbird.”
– “Vampironica” artist Greg Smallwood tweeted that issue #3 will be his last as artist, however he will however continue to co-write with sister, Meg Smallwood. Smallwood also stated that Greg Scott will be taking over artist duties for the series.
Continued below– The second trailer for Sony’s Venom has been released, it features a more in-depth look at Eddie Brock’s (Tom Hardy) struggle living with the symbiote, Venom, plus an appearance from the film’s monstrous antagonist Riot (Riz Ahmed). Watch it here.
– Legendary Pictures have acquired the film rights to Ronald Wimberly’s graphic novel “Prince of Cats,” intending on making it a starring vehicle for Lakeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Sorry To Bother You). The comic, originally published by Vertigo, and then Image, is an ’80s-inspired retelling of Romeo and Juliet, told from “Tybalt’s perspective as he and his Capulet crew navigate a violent Brooklyn where underground sword dueling with the Montagues blossoms alongside a vibrant music scene.”
– Finally, Collider claims Jared Stern (The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie), has been hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct Super Pets. The movie will be animated and be about DC’s superhero pets, similar to the TV series Krypto the Superdog.
