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 the ‘Dawn of X’ era’s relaunch of “X-Factor,” BOOM! announced “Forever Home,” and Image announced “Norroway, Book Two: The Queen on the High Mountain.” We also have exclusive previews of tomorrow’s “Justice League Odyssey” #17, next week’s “American Gods: Moment of the Storm” #9, and next month’s “Ghosted In L.A.” #8.
Cover A by Frank Fosco
– IDW Publishing announced “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends,” their reprint of the unfinished Image run from the ’90s, will conclude with three brand new issues over the summer. Writer Gary Carlson and artist Frank Fosco will return for issues #24 to #26, which “unmasks the mysterious and deadly Lady Shredder, leading to a senses-shattering showdown that TMNT fans have waited two decades to see!” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Urban Legends” #24 goes on sale this April.
– The Canadian Scotiabank Giller Prize jury have announced they will be accepting graphic novel submissions for the first time this year. The Giller Prize annually awards $100,000 to the year’s best work of fiction, and this year’s winner will be announced in November.
– Sony released the teaser trailer for Morbius, starring Jared Leto as the titular sickly scientist-turned-vampire. The trailer reveals Michael Keaton’s presence in the film, apparently reprising his role as Adrian Toomes from Spider-Man: Homecoming, and blurring the line between Sony’s Marvel Universe and that of Disney. The movie will be released July 31.
– The nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced, and Joker led the pack with 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were nominated for Best Visual Effects, and the latter was also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing. The winners will be announced on February 9.
– Netflix tweeted they will release the first season of the anime Beastars on March 13. Based on the manga by Paru Itagaki, the cartoon takes place in an anthropomorphic world, and follows Legosi, a timid large gray wolf, who investigates the murder of a fellow student, Tem the alpaca.
– The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund reports the Florida Citizens Alliance are attempting to have books like Raina Telgemeier’s “Drama” labelled as pornography for having LGBT content, and banned from public schools. The CBLDF notes, “as outrageous as all this sounds, it’s not. If the FCA gets their way, they will scare teachers and administrators into not including diverse literature for fear of reprisals. It’s critical to speak out against this now and loudly.”
– Finally, Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza sold his first prose novel to publisher Putnam. Titled Suburban Dicks, the book is set in New Jersey and follows a former FBI profiler who is now pregnant, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist working at a local paper, who team up to investigate a murder. It will be published in 2021. Nicieza has also sold a second book to Putnam.
