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 have an exclusive preview of “Savage Hearts” #3, and an interview with Tony Akins on his work for the New 52’s “Wonder Woman.” Additionally, Dark Horse announced “Sir Edward Grey: Acheron,” a Mignolaverse one-shot fully illustrated by Mike Mignola himself, that follows on from the ending of “B.P.R.D: The Devil You Know.”
– Marvel have announced that Fabian Nicieza and Dan Jurgens will be collaborating on the next arc of “X-Men Legends,” with the retrospective conspiracy story ‘The Eighth Circle.’ The story features Mr. Sinister assembling a coalition of mutantdom’s brighest minds, including Professor X, Magneto, Moira MacTaggert, Beast and Amanda Mueller (a character introduced in Nicieza’s “Gambit” series), as they discuss the genetic future of mutantkind. “It’s always fun to write Mr. Sinister,” said Nicieza. “The opportunity to broaden a storyline that never got full traction back in the day was cool, but the real treat was teaming with Dan Jurgens for the first time, after all this time! Another notch in my belt for great artists I’ve been privileged to work with!” The story will be Jurgens’s first X-Men comic, and promises candlelit intrigue, murder mysteries and an evolutionary conspiracy that is set to reveal “mutantkind’s own illuminati.” “X-Men Legends” #10 releases December 29.
– Hunter Gorinson has been appointed the Vice President of Business Development at BOOM! Studios, coming off his time as publisher at Bad Idea. The role is newly formed within the company and will allow Gorinson to extend the media reach of the company’s IP, as well as to help develop new material for their publishing line. Gorinson is known in comics for his work at Valiant in 2011, kickstaring their publishing line, as well as the new publishing company Bad Idea, known for its guerilla marketing and all-star creator line-up. Meanwhile in TV and film, he has worked for the production company Hivemind, where he helped develop The Witcher, The Expanse and the upcoming Gideon Falls TV series, and at his production company Allnighter, which is currently adapting “Weird Fantasy” and “The Strange Talent of Luther Strode.” Gorinson has not announced yet whether he will be departing Bad Idea for his work at BOOM!.
– Marvel Studios have released the first trailer for Hawkeye, a buddy comedy Disney+ series inspired by the “Hawkeye” comic from Matt Fraction, David Aja and Annie Wu, following Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld making her debut as the character), and their collective found family. The trailer introduces viewers to a festive New York City as Clint Barton reunites with his biological family for their first Christmas since the Blip. When he catches Kate Bishop impersonating his old identity, Ronin, he’s drawn into a web of conflict with local mobsters, including cult favorites the Tracksuit Draculas.
Other highlights from the trailer included glimpses at Rogers: The Musical, archery on the Rockefeller Ice Rink, and the long awaited debut of Lucky the Pizza Dog. We also see Renner’s Barton with a hearing aid, which is an aspect of the character that hadn’t been recognized in screen adaptations up until now. While we had no sign of her in this trailer, Florence Pugh is set to reprise her role as Yelena Belova in the series, while Alaqua Cox will debut as Maya Lopez aka Echo. Hawkeye will be a six-part series releasing weekly on Disney+, debuting on November 24.
– Variety are reporting that The Batman has another HBO Max spin-off series in development, this time focusing on the Penguin, as played by Colin Farrell. The series is currently being written by Lauren LeFranc (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Hemlock Grove) and features The Batman‘s director and producer, Matt Reeves and Dylan Clark, as executive producers. The series will be produced by Warner Bros., and is reportedly a prequel series documenting the villain’s rise to power in Gotham City. This will be the second spin-off series announced, following Joe Barton’s “Gotham Central”-inspired GCPD series starring Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon. The Batman releases March 2022, while this Penguin series is in very early development.
Continued below– The Batman: Year One animated film is getting a 4K remaster for its 10th anniversary. The Batman: Year One Commemorative Edition will also include the new bonus feature ‘Reinventing Gordon.’ The animated film features Bryan Cranston as Jim Gordon and Ben McKenzie as Bruce Wayne, who ironically also played Jim Gordon in the prequel series Gotham. Batman: Year One Commemorative Edition will be available for both DVD and streaming on November 9.
– In our last piece of Batman news, DC have announced the preschool animated series Batwheels will feature Ethan Hawke as the Dark Knight himself. The series is mainly interested in the batmobiles of the assorted cast, with each member of the Bat-Family sporting an anthropomorphized vehicle. In the cast of human characters are Hawke as Bruce Wayne/Batman, A.J. Hudson as Duke Thomas/Robin, and Leah Lewis as Cassandra Cain/Batgirl, while Jacob Bertrand will portray Bam, the Batmobile and leader of the Batwheels, alongside Jordan Reed’s Redbird, Madigan Kacmar’s Bibi the Batcycle, Noah Bentley’s Buff the monster truck, and Lilimar’s Batwing the jet. Kimberly D. Brooks will also play the Batcomputer, while Mick Wingert will voice Moe, a robot repairman. The animated series will be aired on HBO Max and Cartoon Network.
– She-Ra might be making her live-action debut in the near future, as Variety revealed that Amazon is in the early stages of developing a She-Ra TV series. The series will be in a separate continuity from Noelle Stevenson’s critically acclaimed animated series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, although Dreamworks Animation will continue to executive produce. No plot details, attached creators or cast members have been announced as of yet.
– Finally, veteran voice actor Tom Kane is reportedly entering early retirement after the continued struggle he has had with a stroke that wrought extreme damage to the vocal areas of his brain. His son Sam Kane made the announcement on Tom Kane’s Facebook page this weekend. “He has what’s called Apraxia which means he has difficulty moving smoothly from one sound, syllable or word to another,” said Kane. “Essentially he knows exactly what he wants to say, he knows exactly what’s going on, but the words are trapped in his head, and when they do come out, it’s usually too slurred to understand.”
Kane is most renowned for his work as the narrator and Yoda on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and as Ultron and Jarvis in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. “He relies on all forms of non verbal communication now. Thank god he’s an actor and great at charades,” continued Sam Kane. “I have SO much more to say about this like how many people miss having conversations with him, especially his children and wife. How fucked up it is that in a split second one of the most talented voice actors ever lost his voice and career.” His final voice acting role will be in the video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, releasing next year.
