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 news that isn’t technically comic book news, but is exceedingly cool to me, Gwendoline Christie’s role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been revealed. Christie will be playing Captain Phasma, the chrome-armour stormtrooper glimpsed in the trailer released at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, and looks incredibly badass. I am loving the fact that all of the new Star Wars material has been pushing diversity in the galaxy far, far away. I can’t wait.
– Speaking of Star Wars, over at CBR it was revealed exclusively that Marvel will be partnering with IDW to publish Star Wars Artist Editions. That’s super cool and hopefully one day I will be able to afford one.
– In news not related to Star Wars, but is still incredibly cool, “Enormous” #1 is FREE on Comixology. Yes, that’s right, free. You get to read a great comic without having to pay a thing. That’s, like, the best deal possible. Snap it up.
– In news that should be initially exciting, but just gets worse and worse as you read, DC is teaming with Machinima to produce adaptations of their properties as web content. The first is titled #4Hero in which “Dial H For Hero” is updated so that a woman called Nellie Tribble (yes, really) finds a smartphone app that allows her to transform into a random superhero… based on whatever’s trending on social media at the time. Also there’s going to be a reality TV-style contest called DC’s Hero Project in which filmmakers compete to produce a “Starman” short, so be on the look out for Multiversity editor Brian Salvatore’s major directorial debut on that show.
– In news of what could have been, originally Age Of Ultron was going to feature Grey Hulk. No spoilers here, so don’t worry, but apparently the Hulkbuster fight scene was going to feature a grey Hulk to show that he was being affected by Scarlet Witch’s powers. Now, I can see why they changed this as, while it’s a nice nod to the comics, anyone not familiar with the grey Hulk stuff will likely wonder what the hell was going on. Still, it could have been a fun thing.
– I was a little… let’s say sceptical when it was announced that Batman: Arkham Knight would have a $40 season pass, especially after how underwhelming the additional content was for Arkham Origins at half that price. Thankfully, we have some details as to what the season pass’ll get you: an additional campaign that takes place before the main story in which you will play as Batgirl; additional story missions which will feature new villains invading Gotham and new story arcs; extra missions that will let you plays as Batman’s allies (I’m presuming that means Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin) that will extend their storylines before and after the main story; and challenge maps and extra skins for the Batmobile and playable characters. That’s quite a lot of content, let’s just hope it’s worth the price tag.
– Finally, going back to the Star Wars news, apparently the second stand-alone Anthology film will focus on Boba Fett. Now, I was under the impression that we already covered Boba’s origins, so unless we’re sacrificing Attack Of The Clones into the void from whence it came, I’m taking this to mean the film explore the transition from the boy trying to get revenge on Mace Windu for father’s death as we saw in The Clone Wars to the fearsome bounty hunter we meet in The Empire Strikes Back. Throw in that EU rivalry between Boba and IG-88 and you have yourself a move.
