Meet The Matriarch in Wonder Woman #25. Predator: Badlands gets a prequel comic. The Diamond bankruptcy hearing has been delayed again.
SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON BLUESKY, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
Powered by RedCircle
Episode Transcript:
Wonder Woman introduces The Matriarch.
Predator: Badlands gets a prequel comic.
Diamond bankruptcy hearing delayed.
This is the 500th episode of Comic Book Club News, for August 22, 2025.
Wonder Woman #25 Introduces New Villain The Matriarch:
You’ve already met The Sovereign in the pages of Tom King and Daniel Sampere’s Wonder Woman. Now, get ready for The Matriarch, as the brand-new villain debuts in Wonder Woman #25.
While more details haven’t been released about the character, here’s what DC Comics has to say about the issue, per PR provided to Comic Book Club:
After days of searching through a mouse-infested world, Wonder Woman finally locates the lost Etta Candy and fugitive Amazon Emilie. Little does she know, they are hiding a tiny harbinger of death who will change Diana’s fate forever!
So while not explicitly stated, reading between the lines, the baby born to Emilie, which kicked off the action in Wonder Woman #1, is likely going to grow up to be The Matriarch. And given Trinity is getting the whole story of what went down in the future from The Sovereign, who is rotting in prison, it’s entirely possible that Trinity is questioning the baddie because she needs to stop The Matriarch from whatever she’s planning on doing.
That’s all speculation, though. You can check out the first appearance of The Matriarch in Wonder Woman #25, which hits stores on September 17. The oversize anniversary issue will “set the stage for all Wonder Woman stories to come.”
Predator: Badlands Gets Prequel Comic From Marvel:
Similar to the Alien: Romulus one-shot prequel Marvel released two months after the movie hit theaters, the publisher will also be releasing a prequel tie-in to Predator: Badlands. Don’t worry, though, it’s only coming out the week after the movie’s release, so not quite as long a gap.
Written by Ethan Sacks with art by Elvin Ching, the one-shot is being produced, per PR from Marvel, “in close collaboration with director Dan Trachtenberg, who will also write a foreword for the issue.” Trachtenberg is the current steward for the franchise, directing Badlands as well as the critically-acclaimed Prey and excellent animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers.
Said Trachtenberg, “Badlands is the first Predator movie to draw inspiration so heavily from the comic books. So it’s with great delight that you and I now get to look at splash pages, from the minds of Ethan and Elvin, of a formative adventure for our characters that serves as a perfect companion to the film.”
In the movie, the Predator named Dek is the hero of the film — versus previous entries. Played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, he’ll be joined in the film by Elle Fanning as a Weyland-Yutani synth missing her bottom half after a spaceship crash.
Predator: Badlands #1 hits stores on November 12, while the movie hits a few days earlier on November 7.
Diamond Bankruptcy Hearing Delayed Again:
After two days where it seemed the Diamond bankruptcy hearings were making progress, the issue of whether Diamond will be giving the stock of comics they’re holding back to the respective publishers, or selling them to pay off debts to Chase Bank, has been delayed — again. This time, the hearing will continue a month from now, on September 30.
While this is slightly on the side of positive for the publishers involved, as the New York judge hearing the case did not rule in favor of Diamond, this is still worrying news. First, those publishers don’t have their own stock to sell, and they have not been compensated for, in some cases, millions of dollars in back-pay from Diamond.
Worse still, Diamond still needs to pay back Chase Bank… By this Saturday. As Graphic Policy details, Diamond did get $2.1 million from the sale of Diamond UK, which was approved this past Monday. But beyond whatever debt they have with Chase, they also have lawyers’ fees and operating fees for any remaining employees, as well as other costs, which all need to be paid for.
And even worse, there’s the matter of Ad Populum, the company that bought Diamond, which has reportedly been quietly selling consignment stock on their own. While no suit has been filed yet, a lawsuit from either the publishers or even what remains of the Old Diamond seems possible… Though on the latter, that’s only if they’re still around by then.
We’ll have more on this as it develops.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And thank you for 500 episodes! Only 500 more, and I can trade it in for a free podcast.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comicbookclublive.com.
Listen early and ad-free on Patreon.com/comicbookclub.
Discover more from Comic Book Club
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.