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.
In case you missed it, Marvel announced a “Han Solo & Chewbacca” series, and released the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer; Dark Horse announced “The Legend of Korra: Patterns in Time,” plus several other licensed comics; Vault announced the vampire western “West of Sundown;” and sadly, artist Ryan Bodenheim passed away shortly before Christmas, aged just 44. Please check out our previews and Year in Review column for anything else you may have missed over the holidays.
– Jeff Lemire signed an exclusive deal with Image Comics to publish all of his upcoming projects, barring the comics he releases digitally on Substack, or the remaining “Black Hammer” series coming to Dark Horse Comics. Lemire’s upcoming Image titles in 2022 will include “Little Monsters” (pictured above) with Dustin Nguyen, and ‘The Bone Orchard Mythos‘ of horror titles with Andrea Sorrentino.
In more Image news, the company’s staff voted to formally unionize with the Communications Workers of America. Image’s management, which previously refused to voluntarily recognize the new union (called Comic Book Workers United), responded “We look forward to continuing to work together on this.” They are now the first unionized comic book publisher in the United States.
Image’s other announcements during the break included “Radiant Red,” a third “Radiant Black” spin-off by writer Cherish Chen with artists David Lafuente and Miquel Muerto; “Loaded Bible: Blood of My Blood,” a new installment of Tim Seeley’s cult series, co-written by Steve Orlando with art by Giuseppe Cafaro; and that the ‘Astro City’ revival will kick off in March with “Astro City: That Was Then,” a one-shot by Kurt Busiek with artists Alex Ross, Brent Anderson, and Alex Sinclair.
– AfterShock Comics announced “Midnight Rose,” a horror one-shot written by Jim Starlin with art by Nikkol Jelenic, which explores the life of the “singular, frightening and very human creature” of the title. Jelenic expounded that the comic is about “a homicidal flower enthusiast searching for a purpose when being born into and constantly thrown into a half full glass.” The 64-page book will retail for $8.99 on April 13.
– For March, Marvel Comics announced an oversized 13-issue “Punisher” maxiseries from writer Jason Aaron, and artists Jesús Saiz and Paul Azaceta, which will see Frank Castle become the new leader of the Hand (and sport a demonic new logo in the process.) They also revealed “Wolverine: Patch,” a five-part series by writer Larry Hama and artist Andrea Di Vito that will revisit Logan’s time in Madripoor; the end of “Amazing Spider-Man”‘s ‘Beyond’ era; and that they will begin releasing the Infinity Comics titles in print, beginning with a one-shot collection of Jonathan Hickman and Declan Shalvey’s “X-Men Unlimited: Latitude.”
For April, the publisher revealed details on the month’s new ‘Destiny of X‘ titles, “X-Men Red” and “Legacy of X,” as well as “Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird,” and a six-month “Thor/Hulk” crossover, ‘Banner of War,’ that marks both characters’ 60th anniversaries. They also teased a “Gambit” series by Chris Claremont and artist Sid Kotian, and announced the “Marvel: June 1962 Omnibus,” as well as a “Miracleman Omnibus,” which will mark 40 years of Alan Moore’s run on the title in September, and coincide with the character’s return (as teased in “Timeless.”)
– Dark Horse Comics and their sister companies reached a deal to be acquired sometime early this year by Embracer Group, a Swedish video game holding company that also owns THQ Nordic, Gearbox Software, and many more. The publisher also announced they will release “Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter,” a four-part sequel to David Dastmalchian and Lukas Ketner’s 2019 series, which will continue the tale of ’80s TV horror host-turned-monster slayer Jerri Bartman from March 23.
In addition, Dark Horse announced three original graphic novels: the award-winning Swedish young adult horror-mystery “The Crows,” by Anders Fager and Peter Bergting; “Beastlands: Keepers of the Kingdom,” a fantasy adventure by Curtis Clow and Jo mi-Gyeong; and “Black Solstice,” a superhero heist book by Oscar-winning filmmakers Travon Free & Martin Desmond Roe, and artist Aremo Massa, based on the Black Twitter winter solstice meme. These will be respectively released in April, June and December 2022.
Continued below– BOOM! Studios announced “Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Shapeshifters,” a new four-part installment of the folklore-inspired anthology series, and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer 25th Anniversary Special,” a one-shot featuring stories from various creators to commemorate the 1997 premiere of the TV show; while IDW Publishing announced “Star Trek: Discovery – Adventures in the 32nd Century,” a four-issue series of character spotlights from writers Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, and artist Angel Hernandez; and “The Kill Lock: Artisan Wraith,” Livio Ramondelli’s seven-part follow-up to his 2019-20 sci-fi series.
– Humanoids shed more light on their Free Comic Book Day special, revealing it is called “The Incal Universe,” and that it will preview three new titles from the world of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Mœbius’s landmark sci-fi series: “Psychoverse” by Mark Russell and Yanick Paquette, “Dying Star” by Dan Watters and Jon Davis-Hunt, and “Kill Wolfhead” by Brandon Thomas and Pete Woods. Free Comic Book Day will be held on May 7, 2022.
– Valiant announced “Armorclads,” a sci-fi series written by newcomer JJ O’Connor with Brian Buccallato, featuring art by Manuel Garcia, colors by Rex Lokus, and letters by Dave Sharpe. The book, debuting March 3, introduces a solar system where genetically engineered workers use the titular construction mechs to mine a valuable mineral called the Pure. “When one of their own is killed and their world is thrown into chaos, the workers defy their oppressors.”
– Tapas will publish “Brush Stroke,” a semi-autobiographical comic by Emma Kubert. It tells the story of Mei Parker, a college art student who is forced to move in with her mother after her father falls into debt, and take up a job at a small boutique art store. The webcomic will start sometime this month.
– Following the COVID-19 Omicron variant surge, this year’s Angoulême International Comics Festival was postponed from January 27, to sometime in spring, while the Morbius movie was delayed again from this month until April 1. WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar also confirmed this year’s Warner Bros. releases will be added to HBO Max after a 45-day theatrical exclusivity window eg. The Batman will be on the app after April 19.
In other Batman movie news, Deadline revealed Michael Keaton will reprise the role of Bruce Wayne in the Batgirl movie, coming soon to HBO Max. Keaton will enter the DCEU later this year in The Flash movie (out November 4), which Collider reports will also see the return of Man of Steel‘s Michael Shannon and Antje Traue as Zod and Faora.
– In TV news, Amazon announced The Boys season 3 will premiere with three episodes on Friday, June 3; AMC+ will premiere the Spanish miniseries La Fortuna (the Stanley Tucci project based on “El tesoro del Cisne Negro”) on January 20; and season 2 of Netflix’s Ultraman anime will arrive on April 14.
Speaking of Netflix, it was reported “Scott Pilgrim” creator Bryan Lee O’Malley is developing an anime version of the series for the streaming service, with producer BenDavid Grabinski and UCP; while over at HBO Max, Ed Brubaker will be head writer on the forthcoming animated series Batman: Caped Crusader. Outgoing “Justice League” writer Brian Michael Bendis also announced he is working on an adult-aimed Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon for the service.
– Finally, a few notices: T. Mark Taylor, the artist who designed many of the original Masters of the Universe characters in 1981, passed away from heart failure on December 23, aged 80. Derrick J. Wyatt, the character designer on the original Teen Titans animated series, Transformers Animated, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and Ben 10: Omniverse, died from unknown causes sometime in December, aged only 49; and Robert Bruce, a consulting producer and recurring cast member on Comic Book Men, was reported dead on December 31, aged just 62.
