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.
– Starting at issue #14 in January, “Gotham Academy” will launch into its next arc, ‘Yearbook.’ This story will feature shorts focused on some of the minor and background characters who attend the prestigious university, Brenden Fletcher announced at a New York Comic Con Young Gotham spotlight panel. The cool thing about this is that each issue will be drawn by a different artist (similar to what’s going on with “The Wicked and the Divine” right now), including “Mouse Guard”‘s David Peterson; Dustin Nguyen, currently working on “Descender”; and Hope Larson, who recently did the “Wrinkle in Time” comic adaptation. “There’s a lot more names to come,” Fletcher said. Series artist Karl Kerschl said they haven’t even finished recruiting people to contribute.
– Marvel had some huge announcements at their Women in Comics panel at NYCC. 2016 will bring a Squirrel Girl/Howard the Duck crossover from series regulars Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Chip Zdarsky, and Joe Quinones. Spider-Gwen, Spider-Woman, and Silk will also find their worlds mingling in the event series, “Spider-Women.” All the books’ creative teams will remain intact. And though they pushed the Captain Marvel movie back in favor of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Joe Quesada revealed that Shannon and Dean Hale are writing a YA-targeted Captain Marvel novel. Also, apparently the upcoming “Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat” title will be the first Marvel book to be created exclusively by women. Not just Kate Leth and Brittney Williams, but the colorist, editor, and letterer are all female. Which is cool, though it seems 76 years is a long time for this to be the first all-female team.
– In a panel interview with Vanity Fair, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens director noted that he has the final cut of the film in the can. He seems to have had a pleasant experience working on upcoming movie. “They let us make the movie we wanted to make,” he said, praising Dinsey CEO Bob Iger and LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy for their collaborative process. To hold you over, Disney announced there will be 15 new Star Wars books coming out this fall, including a new series from Marvel about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Let’s hope this exuberance and love for making this movie translates into the actual movie.
– Anne Szabla will be bringing her super dope webcomic, “Bird Boy” to print with Dark Horse. Check out the comic here, which will undoubtedly be even more beautiful when it’s on paper next year.
– Not only will Mark Hamill be returning to play one of the most beloved characters in moviedom, but he’s also coming back as The Trickster in season two of The Flash. He also plans to reprise his role as The Joker in the upcoming, apparently R-rated Killing Joke adaptation.
– Check out this super rad interview Kelly Sue DeConnick gave with NPR for the release of the first Bitch Planet trade. “I have pretty thick skin, and I can shrug most of this stuff off,” DeConnick said when talking about the types of fanboys who use”feminist agenda” as a derogatory term. “But there was some kernel of: ‘This is not angry feminist. You want to see angry feminist?'”
– Finally, in Webcomics Worth Clicking: last week, I spoke about Peter Wartman’s “Over the Wall,” a really well executed fantasy adventure. It’s only apt, to put in the follow-up. “Stonebreaker” expands on the world and the characters. It’s bigger and longer, but no less enchanting.
