The Pull List: Clayface Opens, Zodiac Finds Writers, Chainkata Tops 250K - October 23, 2026
Stories dated Thursday, October 22, 2026. Clayface previews, a Zodiac writers room, and Chainkata past 250K orders.
This Day in Comic Book History: October 23
1992: The Avengers #357, from Bob Harras and Steve Epting, part of the run the pair started in 1991.
2002: Batman #608, the first chapter of Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee.
2013: Sex Criminals #2 from Image, by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky.
Source: Comic Indexer, On This Day
Clayface Opens: $3.5M in Thursday Previews
Deadline reports an estimated $3.5 million from Thursday previews, with a $20-25 million U.S. weekend forecast. If it holds, the newly combined Paramount and Warner Bros. gets a second straight number one opening after Street Fighter's $31 million.
The comps: Kraven the Hunter took $2 million on preview night and opened to $11 million. Birds of Prey took $4 million and opened to $33 million. Clayface sits closer to Birds of Prey. Net production cost is $44 million before marketing, and Rotten Tomatoes has it at 76%, certified fresh. The one obstacle is the documentary You Can See Everything, expanding to 2,600 theaters Friday.
Source: Deadline
Shop Batman: One Bad Day: Clayface
Marvel's Zodiac Finds Its Writers
Deadline reports Amit Cohen and Ron Leshem will write the live-action spy series for Disney+. Marvel announced Zodiac on October 8. Per Deadline's sources, it follows a pair of spies chasing targets with special abilities. Production is expected to start in 2027, with a 2028 premiere.
Leshem created the original Israeli Euphoria, and the pair also created Trust No One, Bad Boy, Red Skies and Traitor, and made the Hulu drama No Man's Land. Spy-thriller writers for a spy pitch, landing as the live-action Marvel schedule shrinks: Daredevil: Born Again ends with season three next year, and Wonder Man got one season.
Source: Deadline
Stillwater Adds Hollander, King and Young
Tom Hollander, Aja Naomi King and Beau Young join Prime Video's Stillwater as series regulars, alongside Ben Hardy, Lauren Cohan, Mark O'Brien and Mia Tomlinson. Greg Berlanti and Carly Wray lead the eight-episode horror thriller, per Deadline.
It adapts the Skybound comic by Chip Zdarsky and Ramon Perez, first published in September 2020. Hardy plays ex-con Daniel West, who arrives in a town where nothing ages, nothing dies and no one gets out.
Source: Deadline via Bleeding Cool
Michael Gray, TV's Billy Batson, Dies at 75
Michael Gray, who played Billy Batson on the 1970s live-action Shazam series, died Friday, October 16 in Palm Desert of natural causes, a family spokesperson confirmed. ComicBook.com reports, citing The Hollywood Reporter.
Shazam debuted on CBS Saturday mornings in 1974 as Filmation's first live-action series and ran three seasons and 28 episodes. Gray later cameoed in Shazam: Fury of the Gods. Our condolences to his wife, Stacy, and his family.
Source: ComicBook.com
Collector Watch: Chainkata #1 Reportedly Tops 250K
Bleeding Cool reports, citing sources inside Image, that Daniel Warren Johnson's Chainkata #1 cleared 250,000 copies at Final Order Cut Off (FOC), the last day a shop can order before the book prints.
The key number: about 60,000 of that came from more than 100 retailer-exclusive covers. That is 24%. Strip them out and it is still just shy of 200,000. Image's exclusive minimum is 500 copies per shop versus 1,000 to 3,000 at Marvel and DC, and there was no bundle incentive. Orders are what shops bought, not what readers have bought yet. Reported, not confirmed by Image.
Source: Bleeding Cool
DC Power: Black Lightning 50th Anniversary Special
A 48-page one-shot due January 27, 2027. Jenny Isabella and Brandon Thomas write the main story, Fico Ossio draws it, and ComicBook.com says it ties into the All-In Saga.
Thomas on the theme: "The theme is quite simply love, for his family, his history, and his presence within the DCU for fifty long years."
Source: ComicBook.com
B.P.R.D.: Declassified Arrives February 17
Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson write the five-issue Dark Horse series, with Mike Norton on art and Dave Stewart on colors. Agents Susan Xiang and Victor Koestler investigate the disappearance of Henry Rouch from a classified government project, on a top-secret case in Hawaii.
Roberson says it pulls back the curtain on an "occult cold war" running behind recent Hellboy and B.P.R.D. stories. Norton drew the main cover; Gabriel Hardman, Christopher Mitten, Craig Rousseau and Michael Avon Oeming have variants. Five issues is an easy commitment for Hellboy readers.
Source: Bleeding Cool
Dungeon Crawler Carl Gets a Monthly Comic
Vault Comics and author Matt Dinniman announce an ongoing series launching in January, adapting the webtoon, written by Dinniman and Tevagah with art by Laurel Pursuit Studios and Kuzomari. Issue one runs 48 pages and collects the first two chapters.
Nathan Gooden draws the A covers; Ryan Ottley has a variant, with Brett Bean, Frank Cho, Clayton Crain, Yoshi Yoshitani, Riley Rossmo and Doug Mahnke also lined up, per ICv2. ICv2 reports the first graphic novel volume has been at or near the top of the monthly graphic novel charts for months.
Source: ICv2
Shop Dungeon Crawler Carl Vol. 1
ThunderCats '85 #1 Lands January 6
Dynamite's ThunderCats '85 #1 returns to the original 1985 animated series, written and drawn by George Kambadais. It is 32 pages at $4.99, about 15.6 cents a page ($4.99 / 32). The story is Mumm-Ra versus the ThunderCats, with covers by Kambadais, Drew Moss, Craig Rousseau and Federico Mele.
Source: Bleeding Cool
Sales Chart: Marvel Wins Again, Midnight Leads
Marvel took 40.31% of the market, DC 35.00%, Image 11.22%, per Bleeding Cool for October 13-19. The top five: Midnight Spider-Man #1 (100), Midnight X-Men #1 (93.67), Amazing Spider-Man #1001 (89.15), Venom #1 (84.91) and Doom All-On-One #1 (73.24).
How to read it: the numbers are an index, not copies. The top seller is set to 100 and everything else is scored against it, so the X-Men book sold about 94% as many copies as the leader. Data is point-of-sale from 600+ stores via Prana Direct Market Solutions, a slice of the roughly 1,800 to 2,000 direct market shops. DC's best were Teen Titans #2 and Doom Patrol #2, both near 71% of the top seller.
Source: Bleeding Cool
The full ten-minute Pull List podcast is out now, with every story from today.
Today's question: Which new book goes on your pull list first: B.P.R.D. Declassified, ThunderCats '85, or the Dungeon Crawler Carl monthly? Pick one and tell us why.