With the recent success of partnerships with Yungblud, Poppy and Skillet, Z2 Comics has solidified their place as the premier creator of music-affiliated graphic novels. In 2019, the publisher entered into their largest partnership to date chronicling the history of the iconic Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead Origins takes an in depth and personal look at the formation of one of the most important American rock bands of all time, exploring the early days of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Pigpen, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The story of the band’s transformation from a bar band performing as the Warlocks to becoming the creators of their own sound and forefathers for the jamband culture is depicted in the original story written by Chris Miskiewicz and illustrated by Noah Van Sciver.

Grateful Dead Origins will be available in a strictly limited collectors deluxe edition to be released on June 19, with a standard edition coming the following week on June 23. The standard softcover edition that will feature an exclusive download of rare selections from the early years of the band. The limited run collector’s deluxe edition will come in a hardcover, oversized, individually-numbered coffee table edition featuring exclusive prints and autographed by the comic creators, along with an exclusive vinyl LP of an unreleased recording from an August 1968 performance at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. The deluxe edition is available for pre-order at www.z2comics.com/shop/grateful-dead. Pre-orders are now available for all configurations of Grateful Dead Origins to arrive in mid-June.



This previously unreleased show includes the first known West Coast live rendition of “St. Stephen,” and the first known performance of its “William Tell Bridge,” which would join “St. Stephen” to “The Eleven.” The show was recorded to 8-track analog tape, and was mastered by Grammy-winning engineer David Glasser at Airshow Mastering in Boulder, CO.

“We can’t wait for everyone to see and hear the amazing Origins package and we hope it will provide some comfort to music and graphic novel fans alike during these challenging times,” says Z2 publisher Josh Frankel. “Our plan was always to time the release to the week of Record Store Day, giving comic shops and booksellers the ultimate music book for their customers. We will still do that, it will just happen in June now. I assure you, as this project has come together, it has turned into something even more special than we could have ever expected and we know comics readers, music archivists, and Dead Heads everywhere will agree that it was worth the wait.”

“We've seen so many photos and videos of the Grateful Dead in the 1980s and beyond, and even quite a bit from the 1970s. The 1960s, though, largely remain a visual mystery in terms of the band, especially the earliest days, 1965 and 1966, but also through to 1969” Grateful Dead audiovisual archivist and legacy manager David Lemieux. “Grateful Dead Origins brings the band's beginnings to life, artistically, verbally, and musically. We've all seen some photos of the band onstage in those early days, and heard plenty of music from 1966 through 1969, but everything else, how they became the Grateful Dead, has been obscured from the history books only through lack of documentation. While Origins isn't a discovery of primary archival documents from this era, it visually, creatively, and tastefully fills in the gaps that the historical record's archive might have missed. We're thrilled to have worked with such a talented team to write and illustrate this early part of the Dead's story.”

“Jerry Garcia was an avid comic book enthusiast so it is incredibly fitting to have the Grateful Dead’s origin story told in graphic novel form,” says Mark Pinkus, President of Rhino Entertainment. “Z2’s passion for the band’s music and mythology make them the perfect partner to bring the story to life. It has been inspiring to watch the novel’s artwork evolve over the last year and I’m excited that Dead Heads now get to have a preview. Just wait until you see the finished product!”

While most of the focus over at Marvel Studios is currently on the pair of upcoming Avengers films, Ryan Coogler is ready to return to Wakanda for a third Black Panther film. We’d heard of the possibility of the film originally from Denzel Washington who, while speaking of his potential retirement, mentioned the film as one of his future projects and then when Nate Moore left Marvel last year, he said he would be back producing the third Black Panther film. Now, Coogler himself said while on stage talking about his film Sinners, that Black Panther 3 would be his next movie. The series kicked off with Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, king of the African Nation of Wakanda and while he reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, he sadly passed away shortly after. The sequel dealt with the characters death and passed the mantle on to his sister Shuri played by Letitia Wright who is expected to reprise the role in the upcoming Avenger films, but with talks of a potential soft reboot of the MCU, it’s unclear who will be wearing the mask for the third film.   

The most recent news on the DCU has to do with Jimmy Olsen. Variety is reporting that Skyler Gisondo will reprise his role from Superman in a true-crime docuseries style show that focuses on villains in the universe starting with the Flash rogue, Gorilla Grodd. Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault are set to write and showrun with James Gunn and Peter Safran joining them as executive producers. The show is planned for HBO Max and will be a mockumentary style similar to Yacenda and Perrault’s previous series like American Vandal and Players. In the original report, Variety claimed the series would be called DC Crime, something Gunn took to social media to debunk, saying there had never been any project in production called DC Crime, he then added that his saying that doesn’t mean that the rest of the report is false. This sounds like a pretty good confirmation to me. 

A new Star Trek film is in the works and Paramount is tapping the team of Jonathan Goldstein and John Frances Daley to write, produce and direct. This news comes shortly after David Ellison, founder of Skydance who recently purchased the studio, told investors that the next Star Trek film would not be a sequel to the Chris Pine/Zachary Quinto lead series of films. While this hasn’t been 100% confirmed, word is that the new film will be focused on new characters and not directly tied to any previous film or television series. Goldstein and Daley have a good track record when it comes to revitalizing franchises having written Spider-Man: Homecoming for Marvel Studios and wrote and directed Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves which was very well received by fans and critics.   

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps having moved to Disney+, the Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby lead team is now first in fans minds. But one person still thinks about the First Family of Marvel presented a decade ago and what went wrong. Miles Teller, who played Reed Richards in Josh Trank’s 2015 version of the property, still thinks about the project and how he believes the problems all came down to one person. Teller was on Sirius XM’s Radio Andy show said, “You saw the movie, right? Your eyes were working during that time? I think it’s unfortunate because so many people worked so hard on that movie. And, honestly, maybe there was one really important person who kind of f***ed it all up.” While Teller didn’t say who that was, he was referring to the person who made the final cut on the film, which was not director Trank. Teller said that he wanted a superhero film on his resume to help show him as a serious leading man, but after seeing the final cut recalled, “I remember talking to one of the studio heads, and I was like, ‘I think we’re in trouble.'” The 2015 version made $167 million worldwide compared to this year’s version which made $521 million. He stopped short of calling for a director’s cut of the film. 

The Creeper is a unique character from DC Comics, first introduced in "Showcase #73" in 1968. Created by Steve Ditko, The Creeper’s real name is Jack Ryder, a former television talk show host and investigative journalist in Gotham City. After being attacked during an undercover operation at a costume party, Ryder is injected with a serum by Dr. Yatz and gains superhuman abilities, including enhanced strength, agility, rapid healing, and a pain tolerance bordering on the supernatural. The serum, combined with a bizarre costume, transforms him into The Creeper, a vigilante known for his wild laughter, erratic behavior, and flamboyant appearance—a shock of green hair, yellow skin, and a red mane-like cape. The Creeper remains largely untouched by mainstream media, providing an opportunity to introduce audiences to a fresh face and break away from more established archetypes. His blend of horror, humor, and psychological complexity could create a film that stands out from traditional superhero fare. The Creeper’s unsettling persona and visual style lend themselves well to a film that could blend genres—horror, black comedy, and superhero action. His maniacal laugh and unpredictable methods could inject dark humor and psychological thrills, appealing to fans of films like "Joker" and "Deadpool" while carving out a distinctive identity in the DCU. Jack Ryder’s journey from cynical journalist to bizarre vigilante offers rich storytelling potential. Exploring themes of identity, sanity, and the nature of heroism, a Creeper film could delve into Ryder’s internal struggles and the impact of his dual life, making for a character-driven narrative that resonates with audiences seeking depth and complexity. And with being set in Gotham City, The Creeper’s adventures naturally intersect with the city’s gritty underworld, providing opportunities for noir-style detective storytelling. His background in journalism and investigation can be leveraged to create suspenseful plots involving corruption, criminal conspiracies, and moral ambiguity—making him an ideal protagonist for a film that explores the darker aspects of the DC Universe. The Creeper stands as one of DC Comics’ most unconventional and intriguing characters. His untapped potential, distinctive personality, and ability to straddle multiple genres make him a perfect candidate to lead a film in the new DCU. 

Predator: Badlands is doing very well, thanks for asking. The latest film in the long-running franchise set a few high franchise marks including domestic opening with $40M, best worldwide opening with $80M and best Cinemascore with an A-. The film also sits a the top of this week’s box office beating out the 2nd place film, Regretting You, by $32.9M… though that film is in its 3rd week. Other new films opening this week, Sarah’s Oil and Nuremberg, opened in 4th and 5th with just over $4M each. Badlands is the third Predator project for director Dan Trachtenberg, the first Prey showed how he could handle the franchise but then he wanted to follow it up with an animated film, Killer of Killers and then for the first time Badlands make the Predator the protagonist. 

Recent reports about problems on the set of Stranger Things may not have been what they seemed. There were stories being published that Millie Bobby Brown had filed a report against co-star David Habour, accusing the older actor of bullying. But the validity of those reports are now in question as both Brown and Harbour joined their Stranger Things cast members at the red=carpet premiere of the show’s fifth and final season. Brown and Harbour were seen joking together and even hugging. Brown has also spoke of Habour to Extra, saying: “It’s been amazing. We’re so lucky to have each other. The show means so much to the both of us, and to everyone here. This has been the last 10 years of our lives.” Brown stars as the psych-powered Eleven and Harbour plays Sherriff Jim Hopper who ends up adopting her. The fifth and final season will release on Netflix in three sets with Volume 1 on November 26 (four episodes), Volume 2 on Christmas (three episodes), and The Finale on New Year’s Eve. 

There is a major movie franchise out there that is not going by its original name and it’s thanks to the star. When screenwriter Derek Kolstad finished what would become is most popular film, he was inspired by revenge-thrillers with one-word titles like Payback and Shooter. He dubbed his film, Scorn. The problem came when the star of the film went out and talked about it, he always referred to it by the lead character’s name rather than the title. After a while, the studio realized that their star, Keanu Reeves, had done millions of dollars worth of brand recognition for the name John Wick… they decided to go with it and renamed the film. Why Reeves did this is unknown, but Kolstad has since admitted that John Wick is a better franchise name, saying, “I can’t imagine it being Scorn now.” Was this an intentional thing on Reeves’ part or just a happy coincidence? We may never know. 

If you check the major Hollywood sites like Deadline and Variety, they’ll tell you that October 2025 has been the lowest box office take in almost 30 years. It sits currently at $440 million with a few days left to add. In 1998 the box office did $455 million, which this month should just creep past. By comparison October 2018 did $832 million with just three films: Venom, A Star is Born and Halloween, taking in $481 million. But last year, October only took in $478 million showing the decreasing trend. Adding to the decline is the fact that no major releases were scheduled for this weekend because of the Halloween holiday. And what was put into theaters the whole month really didn’t get people’s attention. Tron: Ares was the highest profile film and that hasn’t even broken $70 million in its four weeks in theaters.   When you look at numbers like that, it’s hard not to think about what might have been. There was a big budget film slated for release this month, a film that got delayed and delayed and hasn’t even started filming. A film that finally has a finished script and is set to release in October of 2027… that of course is Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2. One of the most anticipated films currently in production, the sequel to the 2022 hit, bolstered also by the fan favorite HBO series The Penguin, would easily match and likely succeed the success of the first film. The Batman opened on March 4, 2022 and ended that month with $338 million domestically.  It was originally scheduled to be released October 3rd, looking at that release date, this year there really wasn’t any big film put in its place. The film would’ve done better than the first and that amount would’ve driven 2025 towards the top of the list, maybe even surpassing 2018. Ah, what could’ve been. 

DC Studios has potentially taken a significant step by filing for a trademark for a film titled "Salvation Run." A move that isn’t too surprising since the Salvation planet and the idea of using it as a prison for meta humans was introduced in the season finale of Peacemaker season 2. But the filing does indicate just how big this idea could be for the DCU. "Salvation Run" is a storyline from DC Comics that originally ran in the late 2000s. The story centers on the mass exile of some of DC's most notorious villains to a hostile alien world, forcing them to band together for survival. It was a concept originally pitched to DC by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin. The trademark filing by DC Studios suggests that the company is considering developing "Salvation Run" into a feature film. While trademark filings do not guarantee that a film will be produced, they often indicate serious intent or early-stage development. The filing protects the title and concept, ensuring that DC Studios retains exclusive rights as plans evolve. Should "Salvation Run" move forward, it could introduce a fresh dynamic to DC's film slate. Instead of focusing on heroes, this story would shine a spotlight on villains, possibly expanding character development and offering audiences new perspectives on well-known antagonists. It also opens opportunities for ensemble casting, complex storytelling, and connections to other DC properties.