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, Image Comics announced superpowered immigrant story “Home,” and a horror anthology by Michael Walsh and a host of writers, called “The Silver Coin;” BOOM! Studios announced “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr” by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; and Fantagraphics announced Ed Piskor’s horror anthology, “Red Room.” We also revealed the winner of this year’s 2000 AD ‘Art Stars’ competition, and have exclusive previews of this week’s “40 Seconds” #4, and next month’s “Sabrina: Something Wicked” #5.
– Black Mask Studios announced “Alice in Leatherland,” a comedic five-part series by the comic-making couple, Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli. The series follows Alice, a children’s storybook writer who finds out her girlfriend has been cheating on her, and starts a new life in San Francisco. Once in the city, Alice’s perception of magical love will be altered as she deals with the sexual desires of others, and more significantly, her own. “Alice in Leatherland” #1 is set for release on April 7.
– J. Michael Straczynski will be launching a six-part spin-off from “The Resistance” at AWA called “Moths,” with artist Mike Choi, in June. In the world of “The Resistance,” a virus left millions dead and lots of survivors with superpowers, known as Reborns. “Moths” will focus on Emily Kai, one of many Reborns whose powers are latent and unknown to them, have only having six months to live after the activation of their abilities. The first issue will feature a main cover by Choi and a variant by Kaare Andrews. A selection of preview pages are viewable at THR.
– DC Comics announced that their diversity-focused digital anthology, “Represent!,” will be returning in February for Black History Month. The anthology aims to give the spotlight to personal stories from underrepresented voices and debuted last September with the first chapter, the Christian Cooper-written ‘It’s a Bird.’ “Represent!” #2’s story, ‘Heritage,’ will be by C-SPAN host Jesse J. Holland and artist Doug Braithwaite, and be based on Holland’s farm in Mississippi, which has been owned by his family since their first ancestor was freed from slavery. The third issue will be written by Regine Sawyer and have art by Eric Battle; writer Nadira Jamerson and artist Brittney Williams will collaborate for the fourth issue; writer Tara Robert and artist Yancey Labat will be the team behind the fifth; and writer/artist Dominike “Domo” Stanton will be contributing the sixth. “Represent!” #2 will be released on February 1, and continue weekly every Monday until March 1. For the blurbs for each story and a look at four of Braithwaite’s pencilled pages, head over to Newsarama.
– Marvel followed up their first teaser for the upcoming ‘Heroes Reborn’ project with a series of images of combined characters by artist Carlos Pacheco. The eight images depict a Doctor Doom resembling Juggernaut on a throne, seemingly wearing the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak; Scarlet Witch with the color scheme of Enchantress; Thanos wielding five of the Mandarin’s ten rings of power; and more. With it being the 25th anniversary of the original ‘Heroes Reborn’ story, it still remains unclear exactly what the project is and how the two events will be connected, though with these teaser images it seems characters previously not involved, such as Thanos and Juggernaut, will be this time round. You can check out all eight teasers and try to work out the possible amalgamations for yourself here.
– The Beat announced that they have partnered with the Center for Cartoon Studies for their annual Cartoonist Studio Prize. There are print and digital categories for the prize, with the shortlist being decided by CSS’s faculty and students, The Beat’s Avery Kaplan, and guest judge, Argentinian cartoonist Liniers (“Macanudo”). The winners of each category will receive a $1000 cash prize along with a Wacom One Creative Pen Display. A shortlist will be revealed on March 15, followed by the winners on April 15. The deadline for submissions is February 15, with all of the details about how to enter available here.
Continued below– Plantu, the cartoonist who has worked for the daily French newspaper, Le Monde, for fifty years, announced he will be retiring on March 31. Plantu, whose real name is Jean Plantureux, stated that the decision to retire comes because of him turning 70 in March, and is not connected to the ongoing debate over freedom of speech in the country, which saw cartoonist Xavier Gorce sever ties with the newspaper following a censorship dispute just last week. Plantu’s career has seen him create 14,000 cartoons, the majority of which were for Le Monde. His cartoons will be replaced by work from the organization that he co-founded, Cartooning for Peace, which highlights work from cartoonists around the world.
– LevelK concluded distribution deals for the upcoming biopic, Tove, about the Moomins’ creator Tove Jansson, for the US, the UK, and more. The film, which has been submitted to the Oscars for Best International Film by Finland, was acquired by Juno Films in the US and Blue Finch Film Releasing in the UK and Ireland. Directed by Zaida Bergroth, Tove stars Alma Pöysti as the titular artist, and chronicles her life from the mid-1940s through to the mid-1950s, the period in her life which saw her have an affair with a married politician, and a relationship with a female theater director. Tove is scheduled to release in June in the US, for Pride Month, with a UK date not yet announced.
– Disney announced that the Kingsman: The Secret Service prequel film, The King’s Man has been delayed again, moving from March 12 to August 20. This was one of several films moved by Disney, following Sony’s delays of films like Morbius, and MGM’s shifting of No Time To Die. The Matthew Vaughn-directed The King’s Man will chronicle the formation of the Kingsman organisation and star Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode, and Gemma Arterton.
– As part of the celebrations for the anniversary of “Invincible”‘s debut issue being released, Amazon Studios announced that their animated series adaptation will debut on March 26, alongside a first-look clip. As with their other recent series releases, such as The Boys season 2, Invincible will launch with three episodes and continue with a single episode weekly until April 30. The comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, follows Mark Grayson, the 17-year-old son of the powerful superhero Omni-Man, as he starts to develop his own powers and learns about his father’s legacy. Grayson will be voiced by Steven Yeun and J.K. Simmons will be Omni-Man, with a plethora of other stars featuring in the adaptation, such as Sandra Oh, Zazie Beetz, and Mark Hamill. You can watch the clip here.
– Finally, actress Mira Furlan died at the age of 65. The news was announced by her frequent collaborator J. Michael Straczynski on social media. Furlan was best known for her roles as Minbari Ambassador Delenn in Babylon 5 and Danielle Rousseau in Lost, as well as for voicing Silver Sable in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Her final appearance will be in the film Burning at Both Ends, which does not yet have a release date.
