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, “Lumberjanes” will be ending this December, and we had an interview with Magdalene Visaggio.
– IDW have announced the newest ‘Transformers’ miniseries, “Transformers: Escape.” The five-issue series by writer Brian Ruckley and artist Bethany McGuire-Smith looks at the escape of Transformer refugees during the War for Cybertron, as well as scientists and soldiers on both sides of the war. “‘Escape’s’ a cocktail of what I love most about ‘Transformers,’ with some of my favorite characters and a few surprise guest stars caught up in a pretty epic escalation,” said Ruckley. “I’ve always thought it would be a pretty terrifying, bewildering experience for aliens — non-Cybertronians — to be caught between warring factions of big transforming robots. We’re exploring the question: who are the most dangerous Cybertronians of all?” The series begins this December with covers by Bethany McGuire-Smith with Winston Chan, and variants by both Sara Pitre-Durocher and Alex Milne.
– The new charity initiative Give Comics Hope will be working to help the industry in the next couple months with its first two waves of charity auctions set to raise money for retailers in need. The first auction period runs from October 28 to November 11, with sales of original art by Bill Sienkiewicz, P. Craig Russell and Rob Liefeld, as well as original “Walking Dead” cover art. The second wave of auctions will run for the month after from November 11 to December 11. Retailers will receive funds from the auctions in early 2021, with the charity partnering with BINC to streamline this process. Give Comics Hope was founded by ex-Diamond Distributors’ VP of purchasing, Bill Schanes, and is supported by Colleen Doran, Paul Levitz and Filip Sablik.
– This December, look out for the “Chris Claremont Anniversary Special,” as the influential writer of “Uncanny X-Men,” “New Mutants,” “Wolverine,” “Ms. Marvel” and more returns for a story celebrating 50 years of his Marvel career. “In this special, Chris masterfully weaves an all-new story that takes us down memory lane and revisits many of the fan-favorite characters he’s helped create over the years,” said EiC C.B. Cebulski. “Re-teaming him with some of the classic artists he’s collaborated with. With a few surprises along the way!” The one-shot features a cover by Salvador Larroca, and will see Claremont reunite with artists like Brett Booth, Bill Sienkiewicz, and more.
– Leinel Francis Yu announced that “X-Men” #12 would be his last issue on the title. He has served as the main series artist for Jonathan Hickman’s line-leading “X-Men” since its debut after “House of X” and “Powers of X,” pencilling 9 of the 12 issues since then. His final issue, “X-Men” #12, serves as a prelude to the line-wide X-Men crossover, ‘X of Swords,’ which begins this month. Mahmud Asrar will be serving as the artist for the “X-Men” tie-in issues to the event. Other guest artists during Yu’s tenure include Matteo Buffagni, R.B. Silva and Asrar. It hasn’t been announced who will continue as the main series artist going forward, but it seems like a major X-Men shakeup is on the way after ‘X of Swords’ with Vita Ayala taking over “New Mutants,” and “Wolverine” celebrating its 350th issue that same month. Yu will continue as the cover artist on “X-Men” going forward, regardless.
– Beginning next week, Marvel will be adding tribute banners to honor Chadwick Boseman on their new release comics. Boseman passed away late last month from colon cancer after fighting it for the last four years. The tribute reads “Rest In Power Chadwick Boseman: 1976 – 2020,” and will appear on comics like “Immortal She-Hulk” #1, “Juggernaut” #1 and “Daredevil” #22. These are similar to the tributes run for Stan Lee when he passed in late 2018.
– At yesterday’s PS5 showcase, we got our first announcement of the console’s differing price point. The digital edition PS5 will retail for US$399, and the full version for US$499. Both versions will be available in the USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and New Zealand on November 12. It will release for the rest of the world on November 19. Both versions will support 4K graphics and ray-tracing, utilizing the same processor and SSD model. The presentation also revealed new titles for the console including God of War: Ragnarök, Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy XVI, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach, and Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition.
Continued below– We also got our first gameplay demo for Marvel Games and Insomniac’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which will release at launch on PS5 and PS4. The game, set one year after PS4’s Spider-Man, follows the new Spider-Man Miles Morales, as he looks to prevent a war in Harlem between the Roxxon Corporation and The Underground, led by a female Tinkerer. In Miles’s corner however are his best friend Ganke Lee, and his mom (and electoral candidate) Rio Morales. The gameplay demo highlights the new additions to the combat system, and a cinematic action sequence on the Braithwaite Bridge. The standard edition of the game will retail for US$49.99, or players can pick up the ultimate edition for US$69.99, which features a remastered edition of the original Spider-Man on PS4 that includes all the original DLC.
– Despite COVID-19 induced delays, it seems that some of Disney+ original Marvel content is back on schedule. Disney confirmed today that Wandavision is still on track for a 2020 release date. Similarly, Marvel 616, a documentary that will focus on different pioneering figures within the culture in and around Marvel Entertainment, is now set to release on November 20. Falcon and the Winter Soldier remains noticeably absent, likely pushing it back to 2021 alongside other Marvel TV series like Loki and What if…?.
– Finally, despite previously being renewed by ABC, it seems that Stumptown has been cancelled. The series, featuring Cobie Smulders and Jake Johnson, had previously been confirmed to return despite COVID-19, even getting a new showrunner in the form of Monica Owusu-Breen. But now the adaptation of Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth’s comic will be leaving its plot threads hanging, with all future seasons of the show being cancelled in perpetuity.
