This article has been updated since its publication.
Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
At the start of the holidays, DC announced ‘Infinite Frontier,’ comiXology released issue #0 of Jeff Lemire and Jock’s “Snow Angels,” and Marvel unveiled ‘Curse of the Man-Thing,’ ‘Demon Days,’ and more ahead of their March 2021 solicitations. Check out our previews and Year in Review column for anything else you may have missed over the holidays!
– BOOM! Studios announced “Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse,” a comic set 20 years after the original series. Written by Josh Lee Gordon (“Firefly: Bad Company”) with art by Fabiana Mascolo (“Yasmeen”), the comic will follow the new crew of the Serenity, led by Emma Washburne, the daughter of Zoe and Hoban, as she seeks to proves herself to her mother. The first issue will be released on March 10, 2021.
– Dark Horse announced a new three-part Dragon Age series, “Dragon Age: Dark Fortress.” The comic, by the returning creative team of Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Fernando Heinz Furukawa, and Michael Atiyeh, will conclude the story arc begun in “Dragon Age: Deception” and “Dragon Age: Blue Wraith.” Issue #1 will be released March 31.
– Following the release of Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Bros. have fast-tracked a third solo film with Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins. A New York Times interview with DC Films president Walter Hamada subsequently revealed that, from 2022, the company plans to release up to four theatrical films a year, as well as an additional two on HBO Max, and a spin-off series tying into each franchise on the streaming service.
– Ray Fisher (Justice League‘s Cyborg) responded by tweeting he will not reprise the role in any production with Hamada’s involvement, calling him “the most dangerous kind of enabler.” Fisher previously stated Hamada “attempted to throw Joss Whedon and Jon Berg under the bus” for their conduct on the set of Justice League, “in hopes that I would relent on Geoff Johns.”
– In anime news, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train surpassed Spirited Away to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history, earning 32.47 billion yen (roughly $314.5 million) after three months on release. The film, based on chapters #53-69 of the manga, does not currently have a US release date. It was also announced season 5 of My Hero Academia will premiere in Japan on March 27.
– On the Netflix front, the streaming service renewed Locke & Key for a third season; ordered a second season of live-action manga adaptation Alice in Borderland; and announced Strappare Lungo i Bordi (“Tear along the edges”), an animated series from Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare (Michele Rech). Details were not given on the plot of the latter, although the trailer features Rech’s alter-ego and Amico Armadillo, the protagonists of nearly all of Zerocalcare’s comics.
– The Mandalorian executive producer Jon Favreau confirmed The Book of Boba Fett will be a separate spin-off series premiering on Disney+ this December, prior to the third season of The Mandalorian.
– The Wall Street Journal reported on all the authors seeking royalty checks from Disney after the franchises they wrote for were acquired by the company, including Alan Dean Foster, who penned the novelizations for Star Wars and Aliens.
– Colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick (“Archie,” “Batman ’66”) started a GoFundMe to pay off her medical debts: at the time of writing, she has raised $8,168 of her $13,000 target.
– “Act-Age” creator Tatsuya Matsumoto was given a suspended 18-month prison sentence for groping a 14-year old in June. The 29-year old manga writer, whose comic was canceled and removed from all official platforms after his arrest, will only serve his sentence if he breaks the law again during the next three years.
– Lastly, animator Doug Crane, who worked on the ’60s Spider-Man, Challenge of the Superfriends, Smurfs, and more, died on December 17, 2020, aged 85; visual effects producer/supervisor Edward Irastorza, whose credits included Hellboy, Blade 2, Pan’s Labyrinth and Sin City, died after a long illness on December 21, aged only 52; and actress Tanya Roberts, who starred in 1984’s Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, as well A View to a Kill, Charlie’s Angels and That ’70s Show, collapsed on Christmas Eve (though contrary to early reports, she is still alive).
