Welcome 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, Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá are reuniting for “The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion,” Skottie Young has a new project at Image, Vertigo announced a non-fiction WWII graphic novel, a magical limited series was announced by BOOM!, Adam Glass’ “The Lollipop Kids” was revealed and finally, Robert Kirkman revealed he has a new comic dropping today. We also talked to talked to Joe Casey and Ian Macewan about “MCMLXXV.”
– Since its announcement back in February, details about the prequel comic to V.E. Schwab’s “Shades of Magic” novel series have been pretty scarce, but now a selection of preview pages have been released. In addition, it was revealed that a special preview issue will be available at San Diego Comic-Con next week. Written by Schwab, with artwork by Andrea Olimpieri, “Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince” is due to launch in October.
– In a press release, Lion Forge announced they will be publishing “Curtain Call,” the celebrated crime thriller from Wilfrid Lupano. “Curtain Call” tells the story of lead character Vincent, who’s life is at rock bottom. He sets out to commit a bank truck heist with his drinking buddy, Gaby Rocket, although Rocket doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Vincent on his plan to do something noble during the crime in a desperate attempt to give his life purpose. This news comes ahead of the release of “A Sea of Love,” an award-winning story, also written by Lupano but this time illustrated by Gregory Pannacione (Martin Mystery), that is without words and even sound effects. “A Sea of Love” will be released on July 18, with “Curtain Call” due in stores September 26.
– According to Kyle Baker, artist for the upcoming “Static Shock” series, set to launch in October, the series launch will also be the relaunching of DC’s Milestone imprint. Baker revealed the news when he responded to a fan question on social media. He added that the “Static Shock” series will be bi-monthly in order maintain the “high quality” that would be expected from DC Comics. The reboot of the imprint has been plagued by delays its announcement in 2015, with it most recently being scheduled for launch earlier this year.
– Fans of the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” series by Hirohiko Araki will be pleased to hear that the live action film adaptation, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable will be coming to North America after Viz Media acquired the rights to the film, although there have been no details as to how the English-language version of the film will be released. A release date for the film also remains unannounced. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable was released in Japan last August by Toho and Warner Bros.
– Marvel Studios has released a trailer for the upcoming release of Avengers: Infinity War on Blu-ray. Alongside it were details about the different bonus features for different releases: the digital version will include a 30-minute roundtable with different MCU directors discussing their movies and the interaction they have with the larger MCU narrative. The 4K Blu-ray edition will have bonus behind-the-scenes material that explores the reasoning for different character on-screen pairings, a Super Hero gag reel and featurettes exploring Thanos and his attempts to acquire the Infinity Stones. There will also be deleted scenes and filmmaker commentary. Avengers Infinity War is due for release digitally on July 31 with a Blu-ray release on August 14.
– A trailer has been released for the Brian Michael Bendis’ era of Superman ahead of his writing debuted for “Superman” #1 and “Action Comics” #1001. The trailer itself, which can be viewed here, promises “Power,” “Hope,” and “Action” from the series. “Superman” #1 is due in comic shops today, with “Action Comics” #1001 on sale on July 25.
– Djimon Hounsou has been cast in DC’s Shazam!. The news broke, via EW, that Hounsou had been secretly cast during filming, which has since finished. Hounsou will be playing the Wizard who gives Billy Batson his super abilities. Interestingly, Hounsou will now be a current cast member of both a DC and a Marvel project, with him having previously portrayed the role of Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy, a role he will reprise for next year’s Captain Marvel. Shazam! is currently set for release in cinemas on April 5, 2019.
Continued below– Continuing on the silver screen, Borys Kit reported that there’s been an update to a some Disney release dates. Maleficent 2 has been scheduled for on May 29, 2020 whilst an unnamed Marvel movie has moved up from July 30, 2021, to February 12, 2021. Many fans are speculating that this could be the sequel to this year’s Black Panther.
– The Joaquin Phoenix led standalone Joker film is set to be going ahead, according to reports. The film appears to be entirely separate from the rest of the movies already released as part of DC’s movie schedule to allow filmmakers more creative freedom, not too dissimilar to something like DC’s Black Label imprint. Anyway, the film, described as a “not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale,” is set to be directed by Todd Phillips (War Dogs, The Hangover Trilogy) and is reported to start filming in September. The project doesn’t currently have a release date.
– To finish of today’s rundown, we’ll move to the smaller screen where TBS have a live-action adaptation of the Valiant Comics’ series “Quantum and Woody” in early development. While no schedule has been announced for the series, some of the creative team have been revealed. The screenwriters of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, will be tasked with writing the pilot, while the directors of Avengers: Infinity War, Anthony and Joe Russo, will be executive producers of the series.
