Shows Renewed – After weeks of speculation and a lot of uncertainty surrounding many of the comic world’s most popular shows, we now know who’s getting another year. “iZombie” benefited from the cancellations of many Freshmen series, and was renewed for a season five. It garnered around the same ratings as last season, and the network felt they were in a good enough position with those numbers to move ahead. Following suit, “Gotham” survived the axe that struck down “Lucifer” and was given a green light for a fifth and final season. Unlike previous years though, “Gotham” is only getting a half season order at 13 episodes, in order to sell it off into syndication. The movie isn’t too surprising, as Warner Bros. may of cancelled it regardless once the sale of Fox to Disney goes through.
Update on Supernatural Spinoff – Despite pushing 300 episodes, 14 seasons and tons and tons of secondary characters, “Supernatural” just can’t get the spin-off formula right. It was announced over the weekend that Supernatural’s second attempt at launching another show has been ended with the announcement that Wayward Sisters would not be getting a season order at CW. The series was to feature series favorite Kim Rhodes, reprising her character of Sheriff Jody Mills. Staff writer Bobo Berens announced the news on Twitter.
‘Lucifer’ Second Life? – With “Lucifer” ending on Fox, there is talk now of it getting a second life on the upcoming DC Universe streaming service. Most networks have already passed on the property, and stations picking up others cancelled properties is rare. In say the last ten years, maybe twelve major shows have been saved by another network? And I can only think of Brooklyn 99, Community, Psych, Longmire, and the Killing. Hell, Warner Bros. (the parent of DC Comics) co-owns the CW and still opted to let “Constantine” die back in 2011. So while nothing is official, it would make sense for the fledgling service to ponder reviving the show for the service. It’d be a surefire way to intrigue around two million new prospected customers to buying the service.
Comic Cancelled Over Drama? – So let me unpack this here and tell you right off the bat; this is the abridged version. There’s a writer name Richard C. Meyer, he’s known for abrasive and distasteful views. Though, to our knowledge, he’s never committed a crime. He’s simply a very unpopular guy, who’s said things that rub people the wrong way. He’s trying to launch a book called “Jawbreakers-Lost Souls” through IndieGogo, with the idea of getting it on a publishers radar. They did, via Antarctic Press. However, when word got out that this was happening, Marvel Comics writer Mark Waid called the publisher, posted some stuff on social media and seemingly spearheaded a crusade to kill the comic before Antarctic Press could even get started. It worked, and Antarctic Press killed the book.
That’s the news. That’s all that’s been confirmed. We don’t know if Waid had any hand in getting the book cancelled, what Meyer may or may not have done to provoke the ill-will or what have you. Meyer is currently planning on filing a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission due in part to several major retailers deciding against carrying his book and the whole fallout against him. We’ll talk more on this come Thursday on ComicCorp’s podcast when I’ve had a chance to actually read up on the topic.
DC Universes Launches New Series – “Titans” hasn’t even launched yet, and it’s already spawning a spin-off. “Doom Patrol”, which will have a backdoor pilot around episode three, has been ordered for the new streaming service. It’ll have a 13 episode first season and surprise-surprise, it’ll be developed by Greg Berlanti. It’s expected that Bruno Bichir (The Chief), Jake Michaels (Robotman) and April Bowlby (Elasti-Girl) will reprise their roles. This might explain why Gerard Way’s Young Animal imprint was shuttered for the time being. DC has a history of adjusting things when new properties emerge, like when DC strips Arrowverse shows of characters in order to give their movie versions a chance to shine. But that’s merely speculation.
Apparently the series will include Cyborg, and according to Warner Bros. TV the series will deal with the group being;
…a re-imagining of one of DC’s most beloved group of outcast Super Heroes: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl and Crazy Jane, led by modern-day mad scientist Dr. Niles Caulder (The Chief). The Doom Patrol‘s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find. Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of super-powered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Picking up after the events of Titans, Doom Patrol will find these reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by none other than Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with a warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.
Quick Hits – There’s a rumor going around that suggest that DC Comics is preparing for a new Crisis event, dubbed simply ‘Crisis’. ‘Young Justice’ revealed 
that Metamorpho and Katana will be apart of season three as members of what appears to be a new subset of the group, possibly a take on Batman’s Outsider lineup. Steven Amell is teasing a major announcement at the CW’s Upfront presentation next week. He also revealed that Prometheus was his favorite villain. CW’s “Charmed” reboot is getting a full season order for season one. The Hashtag Show is reporting that Jamie Foxx is in talks to play “Spawn” in the upcoming reboot of the iconic indy comic character. The new Mega Man cartoon is called “Mega Man: Fully Charged” and is expected to debut on Cartoon Network in the fall. Sean William Scott has been tapped to replace Clayne Crawford in “Lethal Weapon”. “Agents of S.HI.I.E.L.D.” will return for a 13 episode sixth season. As of right now, there are no plans to do a 12th season of Fox’s “X-Files”. Fox will air “The Gifted” at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday’s going forward, while revived sitcom, “Last Man Standing” will return at 8 p.m. EST on Friday.