The Pull List: Batman II, Ritchson Talks, Ghost Rider - October 27, 2026
Stories dated Monday, October 26. Pattinson backs Soderbergh on The Batman Part II, DC boss Peter Safran confirms Alan Ritchson talks, and Marvel's February solicits land.
This Day in Comic Book History: October 27
1959: The Brave and the Bold #27 (DC)
Robert Kanigher writes, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito draw "The Creature of Ghost Lake!" It is the Silver Age Suicide Squad's third issue, after #25 and #26, with Rick Flag Jr. leading the team. Comic Indexer lists the release as October 27, 1959. Cover date: December 1959 to January 1960.
1981: Daredevil #179 (Marvel)
Frank Miller writes and draws, and his cover features Elektra. In the story, Elektra kills a witness in front of reporter Ben Urich and warns him to stay out of Cherryh's election. Cover dated February 1982. Comic Indexer lists it on October 27, 1981.
Shop Daredevil #189 (1982) Newsstand
1999: Wonder Woman #151 (DC)
Eric Luke writes and Adam Hughes does the cover. It carries the first appearance of the second Dr. Poison and opens an arc where Devastation and Dr. Poison build the Pandora virus.
Sources: Comic Indexer, DCU Guide, Wikipedia, KeyCollector, KeyCollector, Fraser Sherman.
Pattinson on Soderbergh Finishing The Batman Part II
Robert Pattinson told GamesRadar he is "so happy" Steven Soderbergh came on to help Matt Reeves. He called the move "incredibly generous" and "completely selfless." Reeves stepped away from the set on October 5 for a family matter, and Soderbergh is finishing principal photography. Bleeding Cool reports he joined on October 15.
Pattinson said Reeves put a lot of work into the script, that the movie is nearly done, and that he is back on set in a couple of days. Reeves said on social media he is not leaving the film, and ComicBookMovie.com says he is believed to have shot about two thirds of it. Filming started in July and paused in October.
The release date moved from October 1, 2027 to February 18, 2028, about four and a half months. The lead actor praising the handoff in public is the best sign a fan could ask for. Nobody is walking away from this movie.
Source: ComicBookMovie.com and Bleeding Cool, Oct 26, 2026
Safran Confirms DCU Talks With Alan Ritchson
DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran told Collider that he and James Gunn have talked with Alan Ritchson about a DCU role. Safran said they talked about a couple of things but nothing has come to fruition, and added: "I also think there's a lot more depth to him than you might have seen."
Ritchson said in an earlier interview that he met with DC Studios, but not about playing Batman: "I really respect James. I would like to do something with James."
Now the reports. Jeff Sneider said on The Hot Mic that Ritchson discussed Deathstroke and the talks never moved forward, with Bane possible. A separate rumor tied Ritchson to Bane and Josh Brolin to Slade Wilson in a movie called Savage Hunters, and ComicBookMovie.com says that rumor appears to have mixed up Ritchson's character. The meeting is confirmed. Everything else is a report.
A studio boss does not talk up an actor's depth unless he wants him in the building.
Source: ComicBookMovie.com and SuperHeroHype, Oct 26, 2026
Sacha Baron Cohen on a Mephisto Return in Ghost Rider
Asked whether he will play Mephisto again in the new Ghost Rider movie, Sacha Baron Cohen said he has "no idea." SuperHeroHype ran the comments with an October 26 dateline. Cohen first played Mephisto in the Ironheart finale in June 2025.
The reboot has Ryan Gosling as its only officially announced cast member. Shawn Levy directs, Jonathan Tropper wrote the script, and the release date is July 28, 2028. Cameras have not started rolling.
Insiders have reported that Cohen will return but that the demon will not be the main villain. That is an insider report. Mephisto has been on screen in Ghost Rider movies before, with Peter Fonda in 2007 and Ciarán Hinds in 2012, so Cohen would be the third actor in the part.
Source: SuperHeroHype, Oct 26, 2026
Shop The Golden Age Ghost Rider Omnibus Vol. 1
Report: Glen Powell Tied to Marvel's Nova
ComicBook.com reports on October 26 that Glen Powell is the rumored star for Richard Rider, the human member of the Nova Corps. The site calls it "educated speculation."
Michael Waldron, the rumored director of the Nova project, gave an evasive answer when asked about Powell that did not rule him out. Powell played astronaut John Glenn in Hidden Figures (2016), and the piece says he reportedly got sick after seeing a rough cut with unfinished effects and felt he had let down the women the film celebrates.
This is a rumor. If it lands, a guy who already fits a flight suit is a natural for the kid who finds a helmet and a ride across the galaxy.
Source: ComicBook.com, Oct 26, 2026
Marvel's February 2027 Solicits: Magneto, Regulators, Noir
Marvel's February 2027 solicitations are out: 15 titles, every one 32 pages at $4.99. Buy all 15 and it comes to $74.85 (15 times $4.99).
New launches: Magneto: End of Days #1 from Brian Michael Bendis and Andrea Sorrentino, colors by Dave Stewart, February 3. X-Men: Regulators #1 from Mikki Kendall and Georges Jeanty, February 3. Hulk War: Infernal Rage #1 from Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein, February 3. Spider-Man: Noir #1 from Alex Segura and Farid Karami, February 10.
The Midnight line keeps going. Midnight Spider-Man #5 (February 3) has four covers, including a 1:25 incentive variant by Benjamin Su, which means a store has to order 25 copies of the regular issue to get one. Midnight Fantastic Four #5 (February 10) has a Kev Walker cover. Midnight X-Men #5 from Jonathan Hickman and Matteo Buffagni lands February 17. The Amazing Spider-Man #1009 from Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness is February 3.
Bendis and Sorrentino on a Magneto first issue is the one to lock in first.
Source: Bleeding Cool, Oct 26, 2026
Mad Cave Lands Marvel License for The X-Men Art of Andy Kubert
Mad Cave Studios has the Marvel license for The X-Men Art of Andy Kubert. It began as a Kickstarter hardcover from Essential Sequential and moves to paperback with Mad Cave: an oversized softcover in a deluxe 9 x 13.5 format, more than 200 pages, $39.99, on sale January 20, 2027.
Inside: full color and black and white art from Kubert's 1990s X-Men work, high resolution scans of original art, preliminary sketches, and behind the scenes process material from Kubert's own archives.
The math: $39.99 over 200 pages is under 20 cents a page. Mad Cave has done this before with The Marvel Art of Iban Coello, Taurin Clarke, JG Jones and David Finch. Kubert's X-Men run is a nineties staple, and a paperback at this price is the easy way in for anyone who missed the Kickstarter.
Source: Bleeding Cool, Oct 26, 2026 (Rich Johnston)
Collectibles: The Top 10 Hottest Comics This Week
Bleeding Cool's list for the week ending October 26 comes from CovrPrice aftermarket sales data. "High sale" is the most a graded 9.8 copy sold for recently. "Raw" is CovrPrice's fair market value for an ungraded Near Mint copy.
#1 Stillwater #1, 2nd print (Image, Sept 2020): $42 high sale, $39 raw. A Prime Video series order is driving it. #3 Stillwater #1, regular (Ramon K. Perez): $70 high, $68 raw, with Ben Hardy cast as the lead. The second print's high sale is $28 under the first print's $70, which is 40 percent less (28 divided by 70).
#4 D'Orc #1 (Brett Bean, Image, Feb 2026): $225 high, $209 raw, after Sony Pictures optioned it for a live action film. #7 Chainkata Ashcan (Daniel Warren Johnson, Image): $223 high, $126 raw, with Chainkata #1 arriving next month and preorders reportedly over 200,000. #8 Mister Miracle #1 (Jack Kirby, DC, 1971): $75 high, $67 raw, tied to the James Gunn animated series. #9 The X-Files Ashcan (Dynamite): $25 high, $14 raw. #10 West Coast Avengers Vol 2 #45 (June 1989): $40 high, $27 raw, the debut of White Vision ahead of the Disney+ VisionQuest series.
Source: Bleeding Cool (CovrPrice data), Oct 26, 2026
Sales Chart: Absolute Green Arrow #6 Leads the Week
How to read this chart: the numbers are an index, not a count of copies. The top selling book is set to 100 and every other book is scored against it. Take that book's sales, divide by the top seller's sales, multiply by 100. If the number two book shows 58.1, it sold about 58 percent as many copies as number one. This is store sales, not publisher orders. It is Bleeding Cool's Wednesday to weekend chart, published October 25, built from actual ComicHub sales at 120 to 150 comic shops, counting Wednesday through Friday.
1. Absolute Green Arrow #6 (DC): 100. 2. Avengers Armageddon #5 (Marvel): 58.1, about 58 percent of the top seller, so Green Arrow sold about 72 percent more copies (100 divided by 58.1). 3. Absolute Flash #20 (DC): 48.1, about 48 percent of the top seller, so Green Arrow sold a little more than double. 4. Detective Comics #1114: 45.3. 5. Amazing Spider-Man Halloween Special #1: 42.3. 6. Nightwing #143: 37.4. 7. Uncanny X-Men #37: 36.5. 8. Batwoman #8: 34.2. 9. Doomquest #5: 32.9. 10. Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3: 30.5.
DC and Marvel split the ten evenly, five each. Everything is $4.99 except Batwoman at $3.99.
Source: Bleeding Cool (ComicHub data), Oct 25, 2026
Shop Absolute Flash Vol. 2: Still Point
Dynamite's January 2027 Solicits: X-Files #2, ThunderCats '85
X-Files (2026) #2 leads the list: Joe Harris and R.D. Brown, covers by Clayton Crain, Ivan Tao, Charlie Adlard and others, $4.99, January 13, 2027. The X-Files Ashcan is already on this week's hottest list, which makes #2 worth a spot on your pull list.
ThunderCats '85 #1, written and drawn by George Kambadais, is January 6 at $4.99. Red Sonja 80 Page Giant #1 and Vampirella 80 Page Giant #1 land January 13 at $9.99 each. That is about 12.5 cents a page ($9.99 divided by 80). Terminator Valentine's Day Special 2027 #1 from Dan Watters and Pasquale Qualano is $5.99 on January 27, and Army of Darkness: The Board Game from Lynnvander Studios is $49.99 the same day.
Source: Bleeding Cool, Oct 25, 2026 (updated Oct 26)