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.
– The world of Black Mask Studios’ “Black” is set to expand later this month. Co-creators Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith III will publish two new titles set in the same universe, where only black people have superpowers. “Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart” is an OGN that introduces America’s first superhero, and will be released on January 31. Osajyefo is writing with art by Jennifer Johnson. Then in April, Osajyefo and Smith III will reunite for a four-issue mini-series, “Black [AF]: Widows & Orphans.” That series will focus on Anansi, a character introduced previously in “Black.” Smith III will provide interiors, after doing the character designs for the first series.
– A few release dates were announced yesterday. Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay, the next DC Universe animated film will be available digitally on March 27, before the physical release on April 10. Previous “Gotham Academy” creators Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl’s “Isola” now has a release date of April 4th. The Image Comics series was previously announced at Image Expo 2016. And Freeform and Marvel’s new Cloak & Dagger series will premiere during a two-night event starting on June 7, and concluding the following night.
– Y: The Last Man is still getting made. Really. Ex-American Gods executive producer and Logan scribe Michael Green has joined the FX project as showrunner. FX CEO John Landgraf is “pretty optimistic” about the show, which started development back in 2015. Hopefully it gets further than the other iterations of the property.
– Phillip Kennedy Johnson (“Aquaman Annual”, “Warlords of Appalachia”) and Scott Van Domelen’s “Smoketown” is being adapted into a feature film by Terminal writer/director Vaughn Stein. The story centers around an American soldier in the days leading up to his murder, and is described as “Tarantino-esque.”
– Robert Kirkman has released the variant cover art for the final issue of “Invincible,” drawn by co-creator and original artist Cory Walker. The cover depicts main character Mark Grayson’s daughter Terra, shown in costume for the first time. The double-sized “Invincible” #144 hits stands on February 14.
– DC Collectibles is releasing a line of nine-inch PVC statues for budget-minded collectors. The first set will contain Joker, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl. All the “DC Core” statues are sculpted by David Pereira and will be priced at $50.
– Writer Christos Gage and artist Juan José Ryp will be bringing in more Valiant characters to the world of “Ninja-K” to form a superteam, in response to some of Valiant’s villains forming a team of their own. Livewire, Punk Mambo, Dr. Mirage, and GIN-GR will join up for an arc called ‘The Coalition,’ which starts with April’s “Ninja-K” #6.
– Promethea co-creator J.H. Williams III has confirmed he was not consulted by DC after it was revealed the character will be appearing in “Justice League of America,” stating “I can’t in good conscience condone this happening in any form at all,” though he added, “Regardless of the creative team’s intentions, DC has again, acted with impunity. And I doubt the team is aware of this. So they shouldn’t get dinged for it.”
– Telltale Games has released a new trailer for episode four of Batman: The Enemy Within. Players can expect “new questions,” and another showdown with the “clown prince of crime.” The penultimate episode, “What Ails You,” will be released on January 23.
– The nominations for the Empire Awards, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Thor: Ragnarok leading the pack. You can vote for which films you’d like to win at the ceremony on March 18 here.
– And in some possible casting news, This Is Us actor Ron Cephas is in talks to join DC and New Line’s Shazam! as the Wizard, and the upcoming DC streaming show Titans has added Castle star Seamus Driver to its cast in an unspecified, recurring role.
