Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the weekend. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
– As it turned out, the DC Rebirth announcements weren’t the worst. Greg Rucka is returning to “Wonder Woman” with Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp; Hope Larson will be working on Batgirl; Gene Luen Yang gets to have his own Superman thing going; and while Scott Snyder’s off “Batman”, he’s teaming with John Romita, Jr. for something new. Granted, a lot of the stuff after “Wonder Woman”‘s announcement was bland, but there’s still some stuff forthcoming. One of the things held back at the ceremony was the creative team behind “Super Sons.” Perpetually proud of their leakage, Bleeding Cool speculates the team behind that book will be Christopher Burns, Dennis Culver, and Jorge Jimenez. “Super Sons” is a monthly series set to begin in September.
– This fall, Marvel will release something called “Death of X”. A teaser for the upcoming event (or series or story or who-knows-what) sprouted online on Friday, but no other information was offered. Judging by how well Marvel handles their events, we’ll probably know the exact same thing by the time this story is over.
– The classic anime, FLCL, will be getting two more seasons on Toonami. Production IG and Cartoon Network are teaming up for a sequel, which centers on a “young teenaged girl who believes there is nothing amazing to expect from her average life” until mechanical monsters are “attacking her town” and she “discovers a secret within her that could save everyone.” So, some standard fantasy bildungsroman stuff, but if it has the same energy and style as the original, it could still be lots of fun.
– All right, get ready, because even in addition to their Rebirth stuff, DC had a big WonderCon weekend:
- Jason Fabok and Geoff Johns plan on revealing the Joker’s identity in “Justice League” #50. Johns continues his heavy-handed and missing-the-point style of storytelling for some time longer. Our own Alice Castle speculates: “The Joker’s real name is Dan Didio.”
- Dan Didio has provided some more teasers and previews for the upcoming Hanna-Barbara comics line. I can’t decide if “Wacky Race Land” is going to be weird and over-the-top in an entertaining way or weird and over-the-top in a mind boggling I-don’t-understand-why-this-is-happening way.
- DC are also accepting submissions to write or draw for them. Kind of. Applicants are expected to take these courses before DC will look at their stuff, but it’s still kind of cool they’re opening up for more creators.
– Surprising no one, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was the number one movie for the Easter weekend. The film, starring a murderous, gun-toting Batman; a Superman who belongs in the First Order; and directed by a man planning to adapt The Fountainhead opened to $424.1 million in global box office. The film has also been savagely taken apart by critics (and rightfully so), and currently sits at a 29% rating, but, to some, the gross seems to put critics in their place.
Except that, this is another entry in an established and world-famous franchise that’s been going on for like 80 years. So no, critics didn’t “get owned,” people who go in with low expectations and the baseline mentality of being amused showed up, which means that Warner Bros. won’t feel the need to actually try anymore. It was going to make a lot of money regardless. Watching fanboys trying to justify and validate this over the weekend has proven more entertaining than the actual movie.
– Speaking of Murderous Batman v. First Order Superman: Dawn of Fascism, on Friday we asked you what you thought of the movie and the results are in:
At the time of this writing, 39% of you called in a “cinematic dumpster fire.” Reader MaZZM said, “I’m so profoundly disappointed at the lack of craftsmanship (dramatically and technically) on top of an utter disregard of these characters were shown. Snyder’s DCEU is no place for heroes.” Masked Man Issue 1 commented:
Continued below“The only two good things to come of it:
a) #sadbenaffleck
b) That Mel Gibson must be sooooooo pissed off that Snyder beat him on a modern retelling of the Passion, out, not coincidentally, on Easter weekend.”
28% of you loved it, despite Batman killing people and using guns. 18% of you thought it was good, but not great; while 10% considered it mediocre.
Make sure to check back Friday for our next Weekly Readers’ Poll!
