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, Image announced “Gideon Falls” will conclude in December. We also have an exclusive first look at this week’s “Lost on Planet Earth” #5, the final issue of the comiXology series.
Cover by Robson Rocha
– DC revealed in their November 2020 solicitations that “Teen Titans,” “Young Justice,” “Suicide Squad,” “Hawkman,” and “John Constantine: Hellblazer” will all be ending that month. It was also revealed that that month’s “Aquaman” #65 will be the final issue of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run, which began with issue #43 in 2018. “I am leaving the book a few issues past when I’d planned to leave,” she tweeted. “I stayed on longer than I’d intended because the pandemic school closures caused me to fall behind and I needed extra time to wrap up storylines.” We’ll have more on DC’s November releases in next week’s Soliciting Multiversity column.
– Meanwhile, DC publisher Jim Lee discussed the future’s company in a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Dispelling the rumors after last week’s layoffs “that AT&T hates comics and wants to get out of the comic business,” Lee stated “the size and strength of the business [has been] same level or higher than pre-COVID” with their new distributors UCS and Lunar. He also revealed DC will bringing in a new general manager in September; that John Ridley will be writing a Batman miniseries; and that DC Universe’s original content will be migrating to HBO Max.
– In further DC news, the company announced the new animated film Superman: Man of Tomorrow will be streamed for free during Saturday’s DC Fandome event. The film, which is a new take on Clark Kent’s early years with the voices of Darren Criss, Alexandra Daddario, and Zachary Quinto, will premiere at 7:15 p.m. ET on the website‘s WatchVerse channel, and be repeated at 3:00 a.m. ET. Click here for the full schedule of August 22’s events.
– Deadline reported BOOM! Studios appointed former Marvel Television executive Mark Ambrose as Senior Vice President, and Head of Television. In this role, Ambrose will oversee all aspects of TV series based on BOOM! Studios, including those subject to the company’s forthcoming first-look deal at Netflix, and any being developed as films under their current deal with 20th Century Studios. He will report to BOOM! President of Development Stephen Christy.
– A trailer for The Owners, a new horror film starring Maisie Williams and Sylvester McCoy, was released. The film, directed by Julius Berg (The Forest), is based on the French graphic novel “Une nuit de pleine lune” by Hermann and Yves H., and follows a group of young burglars who find the tables turned on them, when the elderly owners return home early. The film will be released in theaters, on demand, and digitally on September 4, 2020.
– Finally, The Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman has responded to accusations that the show is anti-Semitic, following criticism of the villainous Handler (Kate Walsh) speaking Yiddish. “The accusation of anti-Semitism in ‘The Umbrella Academy‘ is hurtful and, more importantly, factually incorrect,” Blackman said. “I wrote these episodes, created the character, and am myself Jewish. While I understand audiences sometimes receive things in a different way than creators intend, the Handler was not created as an anti-Semitic character. The Handler speaks every language, including Swedish, Mandarin, Yiddish, and English.” The Umbrella Academy season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
