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, we spoke to Cullen Bunn about his new series, “The Last Book You’ll Ever Read.”
– Marvel Comics announced Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s upcoming crossover event ‘Devil’s Reign’ will begin on December 1, and that the main series will consist of six issues. Initially revealed along with several other new series last week, ‘Devil’s Reign’ will see Mayor Wilson Fisk outlawing all of the superheroes in New York City, and sending the Thunderbolts to apprehend them. Details on tie-ins will be disclosed at a later time.
Marvel also announced Jonathan Hickman isn’t taking a break from the X-Men just yet, with a new project by the ‘Dawn of X’ architect set to be unveiled tomorrow. The comic, which will be created in collaboration with artist Declan Shalvey, will be exclusive to the Marvel Unlimited app. Hickman’s otherwise final X-Men story, “Inferno,” begins online and in comic book stores on September 29.
– Via io9, Mike Mignola and Dave Stewart will be illustrating a new edition of Carlo Collodi’s classic novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. The “Illuminated Edition” will be crowdfunded through Kickstarter, and released by Beehive Books sometime next year. Mignola, who described Pinocchio as one of his favorite books in the press release, previously illustrated Pinocchio’s Forgotten Land, a 2013 sequel by his brother Scott Mignola.
– Disney+ released the trailer for the Halloween special LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales, featuring three spooky stories narrated by Tony Hale as Darth Vader’s butler Vaneé. These include the animated debut of Ren, the leader of the eponymous knights Ben Solo falls in with, as well as new adventures for Poe Dameron, Darth Maul, and Luke Skywalker. The special will be released on the streaming service on October 1.
– Award-winning Norwegian film Ninjababy will be released in the UK at art house theater chain Curzon Cinemas — and on Curzon Home Cinema — this Friday. Based on Inga H. Sætre’s graphic novel “Fallteknikk (Fall Technique),” Ninjababy is a comedy-drama about Rakel (Kristine Kujath Thorp), an aspiring artist who discovers she is six months pregnant. The film, which premiered in the US at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March, has not been picked up by an American distributor.
– In further Curzon news, the distributor will premiere Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District at the 65th BFI London Film Festival. The film, which is based on three stories by Adrian Tomine, will be screened at the Southbank Centre on Thursday and Friday, October 14 and 15, and other venues across the UK. Tickets go on sale Monday, September 20. You can read more about the programming at this year’s festival, which runs from Wednesday, October 6, until Sunday, October 17, here.
– Veteran Japanese voice actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi is retiring from the role of Daisuke Jigen in the anime Lupin the Third. Kobayashi has voiced the character since the anime began in 1971, and is the surviving member of the original cast. He will bow out with the first episode of the new series, Lupin the Third: Part Six, on October 6, with Akio Ohtsuka taking over the role for subsequent episodes. Lupin the Third: Part Six will air in Japan on NTV, and has been licensed for an international release by Sentai Filmworks.
– Finally, Warner Bros. released the first footage from The Matrix Resurrections on the official website, which allows users to choose between the red pill and the blue pill, and subsequently watch a combination of different footage, respectively narrated over by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Neil Patrick Harris, that also mentions your exact local time. According to WB, there are 180,000 different versions of the first look. A full trailer will be released tomorrow at 9 a.m. EST, and the film will be released in theaters (and on HBO Max) on December 22.
