The Rundown: “Guardians of the Galaxy” Crushes at the Box Office, Bill Mantlo Sees “Guardians” Thanks to Marvel, and more

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 either david@multiversitycomics.com or brian@multiversitycomics.com.

– You know that movie “Guardians of the Galaxy”? Turns out it did really, really well, as Forbes covered, and I thought Scott Mendelson’s perspective that Marvel is the new Pixar (in terms of being a brand name that sells in the box office) was really fascinating. Actually, the whole piece is, as he uses “Guardians” as a prism to look at Marvel and the down year in the box office in general. Also, my two cents on the movie: it freaking ruled. I thought it was completely and utterly fun from beginning to end, and I genuinely cannot wait to see it again.

– Speaking of Guardians, a thousand and one compliments to Marvel for setting up a private screening of the film for Bill Mantlo. Michael Mantlo wrote about it on Facebook, and good lord…I gotta go. I’ve got something in my eye.

– In less happy Marvel news, Tom Brevoort pretty much straight up admits that Marvel is deemphasizing the X-Men (and in tandem through logic, the Fantastic Four) due to them not owning their movie rights. That’s great. Really excited that because of Marvel’s gross mismanagement in the 90’s they had to sell off the movie rights to the X-Men, leading to the comics going downhill. Excellent work guys.

– In news that would certainly headline usually but isn’t specifically comic related, Studio Ghibli will be closing down their animation division. This is really, really sad news, but news that makes sense given Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement. As someone who loves Studio Ghibli’s films and visited the Ghibli Museum with awe and a smile on my face, this is a very sad day, but it makes sense. UPDATE: Apparently this was a mistranslation, and they’re just paring things back for now according to Kotaku.

– In case you were wondering about the origins of the name of Peter Quill’s ship, James Gunn has an answer for you.

– Apparently today is all Guardians, all the time. Nerdist reveals who voiced the special cameo at the very end of the movie. It’s as underwhelming as the cameo!

– Juliet Kahn talks with Becky Cloonan and the ascendant Brenden Fletcher about the upcoming “Gotham Academy”, which really sounds great, you guys.

– Hope Nicholson is running a Kickstarter collecting Jon Stables’ “Brok Windsor” comics, and it looks like a truly incredible endeavor. I’d never seen Stables’ art before, but it is really special, and the book looks like a whole lot of fun with some awesome rewards. I highly recommend checking it out!