News Roundup – August 25, 2012

DC Comics announced that events in Justice League will find Superman and Wonder Woman taking solace in one another, and soon they will become a couple in the new DC52. There were rumors about this when the initial relaunch was announced and it took them about a year to get it going. I wonder how this will affect their regular books?

There are some Marvel Now! rumors that spouted up at Bleeding Cool the last week. Rich Johnson thinks Daniel Way and Ale Garza are relaunching X-Force. Secret Avengers may be relaunching with Kev Walker on the art and either Nick Spencer or Dennis Hopeless writing. And Brian Michael Bendis is expected to realunch Guardians of the Galaxy with Salvador Larocca.

Ivan Reis is expected to leave Aquaman after issue #16 and is rumored to be taking over Justice League once Jim Lee is finished his second six-issue stint. Rumors persist that Geoff Johns would also be leaving the title with Reis and that means Aquaman would be getting a new creative team. I am torn on this one. I like the book, but the plot moves so slow I might not mind some fresh blood on it. Not to mention there is rumored to be another Wave of new DC books in January and lots of creative shifts.

Ed Brubaker is leaving Marvel completely. We knew the creator was leaving all of his books except Winter Soldier, but now issue fourteen will be his last with Bucky and writer Jason Latour will take over the series at that point. He did not rule out returning to Marvel one day, but I would not look for it anytime in the near future. It will be hard to replace him on any of his Marvel books, and I do not envy the creators that will attempt to do so. No word on what Brubaker’s next project will be.

Rob Liefeld has quit DC Comics and the zero issues of his various books will be his last. He made a statement saying he tried quitting multiple times before this, but this is the first time he stuck with it. Liefeld is being inspired by the wave of creators going back to creator-owned works and he wants to do the same. He also was vocal about his problems with his Editor. Though I am sure this is the case as other creators have complained about the same thing, Liefeld further went on some mean-spirited rants and even agreed with a fan that one of his artists (Scott Clark) was a crap artist. Not as professional as Brubaker’s leave of Marvel that’s for sure.

DC has announced yet another Before Watchmen mini-series! (Because you can never milk a profitable thing enough!) The new mini-series is only two-issues long, but it is Before Watchmen: Moloch written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Eduardo Risso. 

Writer Andy Diggle is rumored to be taking over Action Comics following Grant Morrison’s departure in early 2013. He is a genuinely interesting choice for the Man of Steel. I am still waiting for the announcement.

Judd Winick announced he would be leaving Batwing for other projects. Unlike some recent exiting DC talent he was thankful to his artists on the book. DC has not announced who will be taking over the reigns of the book and I am wondering if this means Batwing might be on the chopping block. I guess we will see.

The Green Arrow TV show entitiled Arrow is getting more and more interesting. I reported last week about some villains and one female superhero that will appear on the show. Well this past week it was noted that the Helena Bertinelli version of The Huntress would also be showing up on the show as a potential love interest for Oliver Queen. Jessica De Gouw has gotten the part.

Disney is giving some serious consideration to rebooting The Rocketeer! I think this is awesome because the original Rocketeer is a favorite of mine. Let’s hope there are some announcements soon.

Kat Dennings will be returning as Darcy in Thor: The Dark World. Also, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will be playing the villains Algrim the Strong and Kurse for the sequel.

-SJD