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, “New Kid” by Jerry Craft became the first graphic novel in history to win the prestigious John Newbery Medal at the Youth Media Awards. We also had a conversation with “Archangel 8” creators Michael Moreci and C.P. Smith.
– In his first newsletter of the new year, Jason Aaron revealed that he and artist R.M. Guéra will be returning to the world of “The Goddamned” in May 2020 with volume two, ‘The Virgin Brides.’ A new issue of the series hasn’t been on the shelves since November 2016. Aaron had previously revealed the series’ second volume in January of last year on his website, but this announcement was accompanied by additional artwork from the series and a reveal of the full cover by Guéra and returning collaborators, colorist Giulia Brusco and letterer/designer Jared Fletcher. Aaron stressed that the entire volume will be completed before the first issue ships to avoid any delays.
– The finalists for the DCYou Unscripted fan contest have been announced. Three pilots will be produced based on original pitch ideas that highlight different areas of comic book fandom. The three pitches were culled from an original group of 10 finalists who honed their ideas with industry veterans over the course of two episodes of DC Universe’s DC Daily. The three pilots from finalists Molly Brady, Royce Miller, and Elora Powell, will air on DC Universe in the spring, after which point one will receive a full series order. You can find the full press release, including descriptions of the three shows, over at Newsarama.
– Via Deadline, Sony has reportedly pulled their Masters of the Universe film from their release schedule. No new release date was announced, and it is unknown whether the project has been dropped entirely. The film was set to star Noah Centineo in the role of He-Man. Its former release date of March 5, 2021 has now been taken by the Uncharted film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, which was itself pushed back from its original December 2020 release date.
– Fans of the manga “Berserk” will want to check out this new merchandise: Crunchyroll exclusively revealed a striking set of limited-edition bookends from Dark Horse, based on Guts’s sword Dragon Slayer. The hand-painted displays were sculpted by BigShot Toyworks with prototype paints by Ed Bradley. The bookends are available for preorder now, and fans will want to keep an eye on them–they’re limited to 1,000 units.
– The Animation First Festival is coming to New York in February, and with it comes the US premiere of The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, an adaptation of the Italian children’s book directed by comics artist Lorenzo Mattotti. Mattotti won an Eisner Award in 2003 for Best US Edition of Foreign Material for his graphic novel adaptation of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The Animation First Festival will run from February 7-9, and Mattotti will be on hand to introduce his film’s premiere on opening night. You can find a write-up of the festival at Cartoon Brew, and a full program of the festival is available here.
– Two fan-favorite comics creators revealed an upcoming collaboration via Twitter. “Blackbird” artist Jen Bartel tweeted a character study for an unnamed character and tagged “Miles Morales: Spider-Man” and “Magnificent Ms. Marvel” writer Saladin Ahmed. Ahmed retweeted the photo, offering the news of their upcoming collaboration as a much-needed salve for the current news cycle. No other details were given about the project, but Ahmed told fans to keep their eyes peeled for more info.
– Alongside Jerry Craft’s “New Kid” making history with its Newbery Medal win, several other graphic novels were among the honorees at this year’s Youth Media Awards from the American Library Association. Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell’s “Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me” was named a Printz Honor book. Two graphic novels were honored by the Asian/Pacific American Awards: Jen Wang’s “Stargazing” won for Children’s Literature, and “They Called Us Enemy,” written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott and illustrated by Harmony Becker, won for Young Adult Literature. Both “In Waves” by AJ Dungo and “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe were given Alex Awards, and the memoir “Hey, Kiddo” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka won the Odyssey Award for best audiobook. You can find more on the winners, as well as the press release with the full listing of honorees, at School Library Journal.
– Another revamp of the Transformers franchise is in the works. Via Variety, two separate scripts are in active development, one from James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man, Murder Mystery) and one from Joby Harold (Awake, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword). These would be the first films in the franchise since 2018’s Bumblebee, which despite underperforming expectations for the blockbuster franchise was still a financial success, pulling in $468 million worldwide. Though little details are available about the two projects, Deadline is reporting that Vanderbilt’s script will be an adaptation of the Transformers sub-franchise Beast Wars, while Harold’s script will be set in the Bumblebee universe. No directors or cast members were announced for either project, but both are expected to feature entirely new casts.
