Josh's Geek News - Barbie Movie, DC Comics, Doctor Who, and More

 Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. For a Sunday anyway. So, I'm going to try an experiment today. I've never done this before because I've never been a news guy when it comes to Geekdom. Mostly because so much of it ends up being rumours or false information. Plus I barely have enough time in my day to read and watch the stuff that I like to read and watch. But, I thought I'd give this a shot and see if this will work for me, and for you, my readers. My buddy Aaron helped me compile these articles for this post, so let's get into it.

The first piece of news that I want to talk about is that Tim Drake is finally getting his own solo title again after 11 years. It's called Tim Drake: Robin, and the first issue is set to come out in September. According to the article on the DC Comics website, it's a spin-off of the Tim Drake Pride Special which came out earlier this month, as well as the Batman: Urban Legends series. Which I think is really cool as, 29 years ago the first Robin solo monthly ongoing series debuted in the wake of Jean Paul Valley taking on the Batman mantle following Bruce Wayne's defeat at the hands of Bane during Knightfall. I don't have much else to say about that since I'm not reading alot of current comics. I still think it's cool though.

So apparently Neil Patrick Harris has joined the cast of Doctor Who for Russell T. Davies's upcoming season of the long running Sci-Fi series. The article Aaron sent me doesn't say much more than that, but I thought I would mention it anyway even though I'm not watching Doctor Who currently. 

I am a fan of Boom! Studios's Power Rangers comics. I started reading Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in 2016 when the single issues were coming out and Kyle Higgins was the writer on the book. I ended up falling off the book after issue #16 (I had all of them in singles up to that point), and have been trying to catch up in trade paperback and the occasional single issue, but it's difficult. Especially with the pandemic and everything going on with that. I mention this because Eleonora Carlini, who was the artist on Go Go Power Rangers for issues 13-20 and the one shot, Go Go Power Rangers: Forever Rangers, is returning for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #100. From what I can tell, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was split up into Mighty Morphin and Power Rangers with Go Go Power Rangers being discontinued in 2020, but now the two books are being melded back into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for issue 100. This is why I don't like trying to collect modern comics. It gets to be too complicated. 

Anyway, Eleonora Carlini is returning for the 100th issue. Now, I haven't seen her work on Go Go Power Rangers because I actually only got the first issue of that series back in 2017 and decided I would try to pick it up in trade, which then ended up not happening and I just never picked that series up again. But I do like it when an artist returns to a particular book. Particularly when it's one they're most known for. It'd be like if Adrian Alphona returned to Runaways at Marvel, if Marvel was still doing an Runaways book still, which they're not. So that's cool.

There's one other piece of comic book news that I want to talk about. With the Sandman TV series dropping on Netflix in August, DC is putting out a free Sandman comic which is basically a guide to the comic book series for anyone who is interested in getting into the book before the TV show starts. Personally, I don't care because I'm not interested in the TV show, or the character of Sandman, but I know alot of people are and I'm sure people will be curious about the Netflix series. The article about it that I read on Bleeding Cool revealed the book's cover, which I included above this section.

So next up is kind of news, but also, kind of not. Aaron sent me an article about the Barbie movie that's coming out next year. Earlier this week it was announced that Ryan Gosling was cast as Ken, opposite Margot Robbie's Barbie. I don't have much interest in it, mainly because I'm not a fan of Barbie. I played with Barbie dolls when I was a kid, because my sister wanted me to play with them with her, but I haven't seen any of the animated movies the character is in and I haven't followed the evolution of the character apart from what I've seen in commercials on TV. This movie isn't being made for me, it's being made for the fans of the character and I'm fine with that.

It is also my sad duty to report the news that Tim Sale, the artist behind Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, Batman: Haunted Knight, and Superman For All Seasons which were all written by Jeph Loeb. According to the news articles I've seen, Sale had been battling an unknown illness at the time of his death. I'm more familiar with Sale's work from images of comic book panels online and in videos on YouTube than I am with the books he's done, but I really like it. Especially in Superman For All Seasons. 

It was also announced this week that HBO has put a sequel series to Game of Thrones which centers on Jon Snow, into development. There aren't any writers or producers attached to the series yet. But it's being reported that Kit Harington will return to the role should the series go forward. I've never watched Game of Thrones, which ran on HBO for 8 seasons from 2011 to 2019. But I have read all five books of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin that the series is based on, so while the sequel series isn't for me, I think it's cool because I've read the books.

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has signed a deal with Marvel Studios and Disney+ to produce a Wonder Man TV series. Andrew Guest, who worked as a consulting producer on Hawkeye, will serve as head writer and executive producer alongside Cretton. I'm not a big Marvel fan, like I love Spider-Man, the original Runaways, some X-Men books and I'm excited to read the Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel runs, but I don't naturally gravitate towards Marvel Comics in general. So I have no idea who Wonder Man is. The article that Aaron sent me, explains who he is, but only up until the '80s. Which makes me think the character has no story to tell after the '80s. 

Finally, Taika Waititi and Kathleen Kennedy told Total Film magazine, as reported on by Variety, that Waititi's upcoming Star Wars movie, which has no release date as of yet, will be about brand new characters. Which is a fine line to walk when it comes to the Star Wars franchise because as we saw with the Sequel Trilogy it can be difficult to create new characters that audiences will embrace  

That my friends is all I wanted to talk about today. Aaron sent me tons of articles, but I will save them for next week's post. Yes, it'll be late, but I'm only doing this once a week, so I have to really pick and choose what I write about. If you like this segment, please let me know and I'll keep doing it. Generally, I'm looking to do these posts on Saturdays but I can also do them on Sundays if Saturdays don't work out. Until then have a wonderful evening, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Take care and I will talk to you all soon.

Tim Sale's Death: https://www.superherohype.com/comics/515715-legendary-comic-book-artist-tim-sale-passes-away-at-66 

Disney+ Wonder Man Series: https://www.superherohype.com/tv/515716-disney-lines-up-a-creative-team-for-marvels-wonder-man-series

Game of Thrones Jon Snow Sequel Series: https://www.superherohype.com/tv/515743-hbo-is-developing-a-jon-snow-game-of-thrones-sequel-series

Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie: https://variety.com/2022/film/news/taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-new-characters-1235294929/?fbclid=IwAR0GGPMRWuya8TYLOpYPqs0dZuAqY9vvIJIqwjgEhy0wUPSDXAXdOSk8eqI

Barbie Movie: https://www.vulture.com/2022/06/barbie-movie-2023-cast-release-date-details.html

Free Sandman Primer Comic: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/free-sandman-special-editions-in-comic-shops-when-netflix-show-drops/

Neil Patrick Harris Cast on Doctor Who: https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/neil-patrick-harris-joins-doctor-who

Eleonora Carlini Returns to Power Rangers Comic: https://comic-watch.com/news/news-watch-acclaimed-artist-eleonora-carlini-returns-to-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-for-milestone-issue

Tim Drake Gets New Solo Comic: https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2022/06/16/tim-drake%E2%80%99s-story-continues-in-new-series-%E2%80%98tim-drake-robin%E2%80%99