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, Shinji Mizushima, the creator of the long-running baseball manga “Dokaben,” passed away from pneumonia last week on January 10, 2022. In other news, Dark Horse Comics have revealed the next mini-series to expand the “Hellboy” universe will be the four-part “The British Paranormal Society: Time Out of Mind.”
– Via press release, Black Josei Press have announced “Arrive in My Hands,” a 120-page collection of queer erotica comics by Trinidad Escobar. The book features 22 color erotic comics, poem-comics, and illustrations from the award-winning artist. The comic is said to be Escobar’s rebellion and response to violent images of hypersexualized and submissive Asian woman. The press release reads, “with this unapologetic book, Trinidad Escobar hopes to add to the growing conversations on Queerness, gender, liberation; and, she invites others to ‘Arrive’ at liberation within themselves.” “Arrive in My Hands” will be available immediately after purchase, digitally, starting on February 14, 2022. From February 14 through March 18, 2022, a special pre-order bundle will be available where customers can receive a free risograph art print by Trinidad Escobar when they pre-order the print book. The orders will be fulfilled in June 2022.
– In children’s comics news, Publishers Weekly reports Harper Alley has bought Maria Capelle Frantz’s new middle-grade graphic novel, “Megrez of the Great Above,” as well as an untitled work. Described as “The Witch Boy” meets Stardust, with a touch of environmentalism, “Megrez of the Great Above” tells the story of a young star spirit who falls to earth, “only to discover that the isolated village she lands in is fraught with fear of all things unfamiliar. She learns to hide her differences and make friends, until the town finds itself on the brink of collapse. To survive, she’ll have to learn how to be herself again.” The book will be released in Winter 2025.
Publishers Weekly also reports Quill Tree has bought “The Lady’s Favor” by illustrator Ethan Aldridge. “In this middle-grade fantasy graphic novel, a girl growing up in a quiet valley town who longs to become a great astronomer attracts the attention of a strange and mysterious being who lives in the surrounding hills, known only as the Lady. She is soon drawn into the Lady’s world of magic and danger, but when she meets a new girl who shares her academic ambitions, the Lady’s magic turns terrifying.” Publication is set for Summer 2024.
– Via Radio Times, Titan Comics have announced the Free Comic Book Day “Doctor Who” #1, written by Jody Houser with art by Roberta Ingranata. The comic will follow Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor from Doctor Who‘s 13th season. The synopsis reads, “An epic adventure with the traveling Time Lord, this issue serves as a lead-in to the explosive new story arc that reveals the very early years of the Doctor. Past, present, and future all collide in a Doctor Who tale that’s out of this universe!” The FCBD “Doctor Who” #1 will be available on Free Comic Book Day, May 7, 2022.
– Disney+ has released the first full trailer for Moon Knight. The trailer shows Oscar Issac’s mild-mannered British gift-shop employee, Steven Grant, who discovers he has dissociative identity disorder, and that he is also the mercenary Marc Spector. The trailer also offers the first real look at Ethan Hawke’s cult leader Arthur Harrow, and later depicts Grant/Spector suiting up as Moon Knight. Moon Knight will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning March 30, 2022. You can view the trailer here.
– Finally, filmmaker Joss Whedon has broken his silence on the multiple allegations of misconduct against him from productions he oversaw, including the 2017 film Justice League, and the hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In an interview with New York Magazine, Whedon denied Gal Gadot’s allegation that he “threatened” her career while working on Justice League, claiming it was a misunderstanding caused by a language barrier (a claim Gadot counters in the article.)
Whedon also dismissed the allegations brought forth by Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in Justice League, calling him a “bad actor in both senses,” as well as those from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel cast members Charisma Carpenter and Michelle Trachtenberg. The New York story also contains several new allegations of workplace misconduct by Whedon, with Buffy costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom claiming that on one occasion, Whedon grabbed her arm “and dug in his fingers until his fingernails imprinted the skin.” Fisher responded to the story (published on Martin Luther King Day), by saying he would prefer to celebrate the work of Dr. King, “than address all of the lies and buffoonery.”
