Welcome 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 we received an exclusive preview of “Lex Luthor/Porky Pig Special” #1.
– Following his tweet denouncing the comicsgate movement, Jeff Lemire took to his blog to call on his fellow creators to follow in his foot steps in standing up for creators facing online abuse and harassment. Lemire said “So, don’t just like tweets. Say something. Let marginalized creators and voices know that we are with them. Comics are for everybody. Let the world know that.” You can read Jeff Lemire’s full statement here.
– Bleeding Cool reports that John Barrowman (Arrow)’s planned web comic has changed names from “Cursed” to “Acursian.” Barrowman will be joined by his sister Carole Barrowman, Erika Lewis, Beni Lobel and Tommy Lee Edwards as co-creators and the web comic will be published by Legendary Comics and LINE WebToon. According to the synopsis, “‘Acursian’ (an Old English word defined as one consigned to destruction, misery, or evil by a curse) stars John Barrowman as Charlie Stewart who, on the eve of an important birthday, falls victim to an ancient Celtic curse.” “Acursian” will launch at midnight on Thursday, September 13th on the Webtoon app from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Barrowman has written issues of “Torchwood” and “Doctor Who” in the past, as well as an Arrow tie-in comic about his character, Malcolm Merlyn.
– Earlier this year Brian Michael Bendis announced that “Powers” and other Jinxworld continuations would be released in OGN format, similar to how Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson will release new “Astro City” stories. Now Bendis has told Newsarama why. He said “we’re doing it because our fans waited a long time for this and we thought they would appreciate the direct download of the story I supposed to the installments this time.” While reportedly already drawn, the first “Powers” OGN has yet to be solicited.
– UK distributor SC Films have bought the international rights to animated Holocaust film My Father’s Secrets, based on the graphic novel “Second Generation: What I Did Not Tell My Father” by Israeli cartoonist Michel Kichka. The English and French-language film tells the story of Kichka’s father during and after the Holocaust, as he and his son make an emotional visit to Auschwitz. The film, adapted by Kichka himself and and directed by Véra Belmont (Red Kiss) and Xavier Picard (Moomins On The Riviera), will be released during the second quarter of 2020.
– Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) will join the cast of Star Wars: Episode IX, reports Variety. It is unknown who or what Smith will be playing, or where his allegiances lie. Smith will join Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Kelly Marie Tran and Adam Driver, along with fresh faces Keri Russell, Richard E. Grant, Dominic Monaghan, and Naomi Ackie. Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels will all reprise their original roles and Carrie Fisher will posthumously reprise her role as Leia Organa: Discussing Film also reports Greg Grunberg will return as Resistance pilot Snap Wexley. Star Wars: Episode IX is currently in production in the UK and is slated to be released in December 2019.
– PlayStation announced new DLC ahead of the September 7th release date of Marvel’s Spider-Man. The new content will be called Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps, and will be released in three chapters, the first of which will be released on October 23 and entitled Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Heist, followed by Marvel’s Spider-Man: Turf Wars in November, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Silver Lining in December. Fans can now buy all three installments of Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps for a bundle price of $24.99, or $9.99 each. Fans can also purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition which gives you the full game AND all three installments of Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps for $79.99. Head over to PlayStation’s blog for more info.
– Finally, according to Collider, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam is still in development. Originally Johnson was to appear in the Shazam! film due out next year. However, it was decided that the two should have their own separate movies before facing off against each other. Hiram Garcia, president of productions at Seven Bucks Productions, explains “Black Adam is definitely happening. We’re actually very deep into a script on it right now, which is coming along really well. I’m really excited with the story we’ve crafted.” In the mean time Shazam! will hit theaters April 5, 2019.
