Last week ended up being insane, and so our Pages and Panels got shelved a bit. This week’s edition has a double dose of information as I catch y’all up on what we missed last week, what happened this week, and what’s ahead.
DC
DC has big plans for tomorrow’s (September 18th) Batman Day. DC Ultimate subscribers can read Batman: The World on the app, but no subscription is needed to read The Long Halloween, Three Jokers, Joker War, and Court of Owls. In my personal opinion, Court of Owls and Long Halloween are top tier must read stories for any fan of Batman, with Long Halloween being my all-time favorite Batman story. If you’ve never taken a dive into the world of comics but looking for an opening to get into some Batman reading, take advantage of having these stories available this weekend.
If you’re looking for a little more lighthearted free Batman reading, DC and Webtoons started the first of their collaboration with Batman: Wayne Family Adventures on the Webtoons app. While I’ve got a long list of stories I read on Webtoons, this “slice of life” series about the shenanigans of the Batfamily is like reading the most heart warming fan fictions come to life. Rather than focusing on the fighting and grittiness we’ve come to associate with the Dark Knight, Wayne Family Adventures is finally delivering the storylines I’ve always wanted more of. Let’s be honest, the Waynes are basically a Brady Bunch of Vigilantes and seeing them squabble like a real family is highly entertaining.
If reading isn’t your cup of tea, DC and HBOMax is letting Jeffery Wright continue his domination of the comic adaptations. In Batman: The Audio Adventures, we hear Wright giving us a real-life What If… as he takes on the role of the caped crusader instead of his role as Commissioner Gordon in the upcoming The Batman. These scripted podcasts also feature Roasirio Dawson, Kenan Thompson, John Leguizamo, and Alan Tudyk among others. The Audio Adventures will be streaming on HBOMax along with many of the DC Animated features focusing on the Batfamily and Titans.
Last week’s episode of Titans made me tweet “Do I have feelings about Blackfire and Connor? What Earth am I on?” And apparently I was supposed to be having those feelings, as these two ended up wining my “ships I didn’t see coming 2021” bingo. Damaris Lewis has been a huge shock for me this season. I was fully prepared for a season of Blackfire as a villain, but the character development and chemistry she has with the whole cast- especially Anna Diop (Starfire) and Joshua Orpin (Connor/Superboy) – has really served to highlight the story threads of forgiveness, redemption, and making hard choices that have tied together her story and Curran Walters’s (Jason Todd/Red Hood). I never expected to like her as much as I do and I’m so glad they’ve gone this path because I’m either going to be heartbroken but thrilled if she goes bad or thrilled if she joins the team. This week’s Titans also introduced Jay Lycurgo (Tim Drake) to the team this week in my favorite fanboy story. Just like his comic counterpart, Tim figured out the identity of Batman and Robin by recognizing acrobatic moves he saw Dick Grayson perform at the circus the night his parents died. It’s such a great way to link the characters without random secret half-siblings (Sorry Tom Taylor.)
Last week’s DC News also included the drop of the final season of Lucifer on Netflix, the first look of Aquaman’s new costumes on Jason Momoa’s instagram, and the first Injustice trailer, adapting the comic book adaptations of the video game to film.
Marvel
Marvel’s What If… was about zombies last week and once again, the lines scripted for Chadwick Boseman made me cry. Between Spider-Man explaining that he had to keep smiling for the people they’d lost and T’Challa explaining how the dead never really leave us, it was a very emotional episode. It’s interesting how the first two episodes were very much about swapping characters and their realities and the later episodes have been about the impossibilities of saving the particular realities being shown.
This week reverted back to swapping the characters into other places in their stories. While I liked getting to see Killmonger again, this story didn’t feel like much of anything to me. However, it was very interesting to note that Uatu the Watcher is very visible in this episode, rather than appearing as aspect of the landscape in previous episodes. As the series has progressed, he’s gotten more and more tangible in his appearances. We know that the series connects to other MCU entries (as these universes have spun out of the events of the timeline fracturing in the last episode of Loki) but it’s possible that the Watcher may do less watching in a way that connects into the greater arc of storytelling.
Marvel also released the creative teams for two of the tentpole titles they announced two weeks ago. First up is Timeless, the Kang centered story, I posted I’m most looking forward to. With writing led by Jed McKay and art from Kev Walker, Greg Land, and Mark Bagley, the one-shot special issue is going to tie together stories from Marvel’s past and present and future.
Then, it’s Devil’s Reign, the continuation of Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto’s Eisner nominated run on Daredevil. Even though the official announcement of the title let us know who would be who the creative team would be (the joys of a title continuing off a previous run), this week we got a more fleshed out look into the six-part story. Kingpin is now mayor of New York and is targeting New York-based heroes, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Spider-man and more with his new control over the city.
This week, they also released images of variant covers for Devil’s Reign with iconic Marvel heroes as iconic Marvel villains. My favorite is the Hulk/Kingpin crossover, because who doesn’t love the Hulk in a suit?
In other Daredevil-related news, the Imax trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home has different proportions cut and so it confirms that the arms in the trailer are not Charlie Cox. (Unless it’s deep faked so it’s not spoiled that he’s in it which is also possible.) Sony also tried to distract Spider-Man fans by surprising everyone by pushing up the previously delayed Venom: Let There Be Carnage by two weeks. It’s very possible Sony made this decision after Shang-Chi’s box office opened at #1 with a four day gross of 93 Million domestically for Labor Day Weekend. We’ll see if people will be as willing to brave the theater for Eddie Brock and his bagel-loving symbiote parasite. The post-credits scene had a leak this week, but I’ve intentionally avoided reading about it as I want to be surprised. I loved Venom, so I’m very much looking forward to the sequel.
Venom also made a second appearance last week, as Marvel and Insomniac games announced a Spider-Man 2 game to follow up on the success of the Playstation game released in 2018, and the Miles Morales centered spin-off in 2020. Also announced was the development of a Wolverine game from Insomniac.
Finally, Marvel also gave us our first look at the Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld-led Hawkeye series. The series doesn’t drop on Disney+ until November, but Marvel released a trailer and poster for the series. Most exciting for me? It looks like Clint has hearing aids on during several scenes in the trailer. Clint’s deafness is a huge part of his comics character. The addition of Echo, a deaf assassin in the series, made me hopeful, but this is a huge step in my excitement scale. Plus, there’s scenes of Rogers: The Musical. And I didn’t know that a musical about Captain America was something that I wanted until I saw that trailer. Here’s hoping we get at least one song- I mean, both Renner and Steinfeld can sing, and Brain D’arcy James is in the cast too, so my Broadway heart is skipping a beat.
I’m sorry if I left out anything major over the past two weeks, but I had a lot of ground to cover in one supersized edition this week. Hope you enjoy your Batman day tomorrow! I’m taking a trip to a comic shop I haven’t been to yet and I’m very much looking forward to it! Let me know if you participate!
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