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, artist and “Valérian” co-creator Jean-Claude Mézières has passed away aged 83, and Vault Comics announced “Quests Aside.”
– DC Comics are re-releasing “Dark Knights of Steel” #1-3 in the bound issue “Dark Knights of Steel: Gathering Storm,” with a new cover and back cover by series artist Yasmine Putri. “I couldn’t be happier to hear ‘Dark Knights of Steel’ is going back to print and so many people are embracing our new DC Universe,” said series writer Tom Taylor. “There are so many twists and turns to come for the El Kingdom, the Bat Prince, the Kingdom of Storms, Supergirl and the Amazons in our epic. The prophecy will come to pass.” The news comes amidst global shipping delays and printer shortages that have made second printings of comics incredibly hard for publishers to manage. “Dark Knights of Steel: Gathering Storm” releases March 1.
– IDW have announced two of their new Star Trek comics releasing this April: “Star Trek: Ferengi,” the second in its Alien Spotlight Revival, and “Star Trek: Discovery: Adventures in the 32nd Century” #2, which features an Adira origin story. “Star Trek: Ferengi” by Christina Rice and Andy Price follows the Ferengi family Quark, Rom, and Ishka from Deep Space Nine, as they fight for women’s rights in their patriarchal society. The one-shot follows on from “Star Trek: Klingons” in February. “Star Trek: Discovery: Adventures in the 32nd Century” #2 shows how the relationship between Adira and Gray formed before they joined the crew of the Discovery, and is written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, with art by Angel Hernandez. “Discovery‘s arrival in the 32nd century opens up a whole new universe of adventure for the crew,” said Johnson. “From the feline to the Saurian. It’s a blast telling stories eight hundred years in the future of Star Trek, where we really have never been before, exploring different facets of their lives.” The four-issue miniseries will focus on Lieutenant Keyla Detmer and Science Officer Linus next.
– Marvel has announced the contents and creative line-up for “Free Comic Book Day 2022: Marvel’s Voices” #1. The issue will feature a brand new Moon Girl story by Nadia Shammas and Luciano Vecchio, and reprint six previous stories from the various anthologies of the series, including John Ridley and Olivier Coipel’s Spider-Man story from “Marvel Voices: Legacy,” Evan Narcisse and Jahnoy Lindsay’s Brother Voodoo story from “Marvel Voices,” Leo Romero’s Shark Girl story from “Marvel Voices: Comunidades,” Luciano Vecchio’s history of LGBTQIA+ superheroes from “Marvel Voices: Pride,” Jeffrey Veregge’s exploration of indigenous American heroes from “Marvel’s Indigenous Voices,” and the Wave/Bishop team-up story by Alyssa Wong and Whilce Portacio in “Marvel Voices: Identity.” The free comic will release May 7 with a cover by Carlos Gomez, and a 1:1000 variant cover by Peach Momoko.
– Board game producers Portal Games have secured the license from Warner Bros. to use Batman and his swathe of supporting characters and settings in their games, most prominently their popular Detective series. “While many games fight like Batman, our games will challenge you to think like Batman,” said Ignacy Trzewiczek, CEO and lead writer/designer of Detective. “Every fan has dreamed of what it’d be like to stalk the Gotham City streets and solve crimes alongside the world’s greatest detective, so working with WBCP and DC on our own line of Detective cases in this iconic universe has been a dream come true for everyone involved.” The first game to release through this partnership is Batman: Everybody Lies, where up to four players take on the roles of Warren Spacey, Vicki Vale, Harvey Bullock, or Catwoman, and work to thwart the villains of Gotham City alongside Batman. It’s expected to release this summer for US$50.
– The Small Press Expo will return to Bethesda, Maryland this year following COVID restrictions, with an array of comic publishers, creators and galleries from September 17-18. The convention has mandatory vaccination requirements, unconditional mask use, social distancing restrictions and time-sensitive tickets to avoid crowding. “Over the next few months, we will explore whether we should require a negative COVID test within 48 hours of SPX as a condition of attending the show,” said SPX in a statement. “We know that [tests] are costly and hard to come by in many locations. We will assess the additional margin of safety these measures could provide against the practicality and feasibility of their use.” Securing tables at the convention is expected to be highly competitive for publishers and showcasers.
– A bronze statue of Pirate-Hunter Zoro, one of the major straw-hat pirates from “One Piece,” has been erected in Ozu Park in the Kumamoto Prefecture of Japan, the home of “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda. The statue is part of a series of “One Piece” sculptures meant to promote tourism in the prefecture, with Zoro being the ninth in the planned series of ten (which is set to conclude with a monument to helmsman Jinbe.) The area suffered a destructive earthquake in 2016, and Oda’s collaboration with local government on the bronze statue project was meant to revitalise the local economy. You can watch the live unveiling of the statue here.
– Finally, Ivory Aquino has joined the cast of Batgirl as Alysia Yeoh, a bartender and the best friend of Leslie Grace’s Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. The casting is historic, as Aquino will be playing the first transgender character to ever appear in a live-action DC film. Aquino has previously appeared in Tales of the City, High Maintenance and Lapsis. She will star alongside Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons, Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser and more in the HBO Max film, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.
