Bigger Than Capes

Welcome to our first weekly news round-up!

Second Round Of The Sandman Casting!

Following on from the first casting announcement…some time ago…it’s looking a lot like the Netflix adaptation of The Sandman will be taking elements from the first two volumes, Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House. Which feels like quite a lot of ground to cover, but definitely shows some confidence in the series to do more than just tell us the story of Dream’s scavenger hunt from the first book. I can’t help but think it’s a positive sign that we might be getting more than just a direct adaptation of the events from the comics, and that some variation will provide for a fresher take on the well celebrated series.

The Doll’s House is among my favourite story arcs from Sandman and needless to say I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s brought to life on the small screen. While I think there’s no shortage of interesting stories to be told from the Sandman universe, I feel like the real draw here is just the idea of such iconic characters being adapted for the first time..

When it comes to the casting I must admit there’s plenty of names I’m not familiar with, but I’m very invested in seeing how this all comes together. I’m also curious to see which other characters will be added to the cast in the coming months, though I do hope there’s some surprises. There’s certainly been a tendency with DC Comics adaptations to give too much away in regards to who cast members will be appearing as.

So below are the twelve new cast members and who they’re playing. They’ll be joining Tom Sturridge (he/him) as Dream of the Endless, Gwendolyn Christie (she/her) as Lucifer, Sanjeev Bhaskar (he/him) and Asim Chaudhry (he/him) as Cain and Abel respectively, Charles Dance (he/him) as Roderick Burgess, Vivienne Acheampong (she/her) as Lucienne, and Boyd Holbrook (he/him) as The Corinthian.

Double Dose of Kyle Stark’s at Image this Summer!

Last week Image announced that Kyle Stark’s will be teaming up with Chris Schweizer for a new series in June: The Six Sidekicks Of Trigger Keaton. Here’s the blurb straight from Image’s press release (let’s be honest, they tell it better than I can)

“The world’s most unlikable action star has been found dead, and his previous TV sidekicks take it upon themselves to find out who killed him. But how can you catch a murderer when almost everyone hated the victim? Time for the sidekicks to become the stars of this show…that is, if any can survive the STUNTMAN WAR!”

I think it goes without saying that the whole premise sounds extremely Kyle Starks. It’s fair to say that the entirety of Bigger Than Capes are looking forward to this one, and it will definitely be appearing on a podcast episode towards the end of June, watch this space.

But that’s not all!

Image have also announced that Kyle’s most recent Kickstarter project Old Head will be released as a graphic novel this August. It might be Kyle Starks at his most ludicrous, but it’s a really fun read. If you haven’t checked this one out yet Matt and myself would both recommend picking it up as soon as it hits shelves. Here’s what Image had to say about it:

“Perhaps best described as Space Jam meets Fright Night, this hilarious new story follows a former basketball star when he returns home for his mother’s funeral. What he doesn’t expect is to learn of her mysterious past, his destiny, and to find himself embroiled in a decades-long blood feud with Dracula himself.”

A New Superhero Universe from Variant Comics & ComiXology Originals

Variant Comics are teaming up with ComiXology Originals for Astonishing Times. Judging by Arris Quinones’ comments in the video below we can expect a ‘love letter to the superhero genre’ citing The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, All-Star Superman and The Death Of Gwen Stacy as influences, but looking to do something different with the genre, and looking into what superheroes represent – hope.

Following the story of Noah Sands, a young reporter, as he investigates a murder. A murder which will bring him face to face with the heroes of his world, heroes who have fallen out of favour after ‘The Cataclysm’.

He goes on to describe the series as ‘reverse Watchmen‘, so I’m expecting an optimistic story showcasing the hopeful side of what superheroes represent, as opposed to the years of bleak stories which came of the back of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s seminal graphic novel. The character designs that are shown off in the trailer below definitely seem like an interesting take on some classic superhero styling.

The creative team joining Variant Comics Arris Quinones are Frank Barbiere as Co-Writer, Ruairí Coleman on art duties, Colours by Lauren Affe, Dylan Todd as Cover Artist and Bigger Than Capes favourite Taylor Esposito on lettering.

Beginning in July, Astonishing Times is a five issue miniseries which can be preordered from ComiXology now. There’s also the promise of a printed version from Dark Horse when all five issues are out.

The Silver Coin extended to be an Ongoing Series

The Silver Coin featured on our April round-up podcast, and, as a horror anthology drawn by Michael Walsh with a rotation of awesome writers it was definitely a series I was going to enjoy. Luckily enough, it looks like I wasn’t the only one.

While the first four issues are written by Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson, Ed Brisson and Jeff Lemire, we now know the next four issues will be from: Joshua Williamson, Ram V, Matthew Rosenberg and Vita Ayala. There’s not much argument that it’s a great line up of writers, and I can’t wait to see where they’ll take their issues.