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.
– Despite a click-bait headline that got people talking about the wrong aspects of the book, a very cool BOOM! title was announced yesterday: “The Backstagers” by James Tynion IV and Ryan Sygh. Described by Bleeding Cool as a “male Lumberjanes,” which is dismissive both of “Lumberjanes” and “The Backstagers,” the book focuses on a stage crew at a high school, debuts in August.
– Reports are saying that Margot Robbie will produce and star in a Harley Quinn solo film, that may or may not be an ensemble female cast, perhaps featuring Batgirl and/or the Birds of Prey. This is not exactly surprising news, both because HQ is such a popular character, and also because this allows the DC films to move further from the Zack Snyder-verse without too much fanfare.
– DC has announced a couple of additional “Suicide Squad” books for August, to go along with the film’s release. The first is a one shot called “Suicide Squad: War Crimes,” which returns veteran “Suicide Squad” writer John Ostrander with the characters he made famous; the second is a new six issue miniseries “Suicide Squad’s Most Wanted: El Diablo and,” with a rotating cast of characters filling in the ‘and’ spot – the first two are (Captain) Boomerang, the second two Killer Croc, and the final two Amanda Waller. The ‘El Diablo’ story is written by Jai Nitz, and the subsequent stories by Michael Moreci, Chris Sebela, and Vita Ayala, all three of whom just completed the first DC Writer’s Workshop.
– Could Elizabeth Wood be directing Captain Marvel? The White Bread director would be one of the least accomplished directors Marvel has hired thus far, though that says nothing of her talent. Marvel is supposed to announce the director formally shortly, despite the film not being released for another three years.
– Shane Black, director of Iron Man 3 claims that Killian was written as a woman, but Marvel/Disney said that they had to change it to a man to boost action figure sales. Yuck.
– Speaking of Shane Black, it appears that Duane “The Rock” Johnson might be playing Doc Savage for Black’s upcoming adaptation. While that’s not bad casting, this better not prevent him from being Black Adam!
– This is a bit of an odd story, but apparently Steven Spielberg loves Guardians of the Galaxy.
– Madde Vall, an MMA fighter I wasn’t aware of, apparently plays a role in Wonder Woman, though the studio hasn’t confirmed that. I believe her, but it would be pretty hilarious if people just started claiming roles in upcoming DC films. Totally unrelated, but I recently did some mo-cap for G’Nort in 2020’s Green Lantern Corps. Check me out!
– Bryan Singer wants to see X-23, or some other female Wolverine, be part of the Fox X-Men verse. So would I!
– Don’t worry folks, Chris Hardwick has us covered: he’ll be hosting Talking Preacher after Preacher each night on AMC. Thank goodness.
– And, finally, I would add “dog lying on Ray Finkle’s photo” to this list.
