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.
– Marvel announced a new ongoing “Alien” series by Declan Shalvey and Andrea Broccardo. Set on an icy moon in a “forgotten corner of the galaxy,” “Alien” will have a cast of scientists “conducting research on water conservation” being hunted by a Xenomorph; scientist Batya Zahn and her family will be its protagonists. In the announcement, Shalvey stated his intentions for the series are “to channel the mood and atmosphere of those films while doing something new,” noting that “Andrea has done an incredible job of putting the reader in that recognizable world.” Shalvey and Broccardo’s “Alien” #1 will be available in comic shops and on digital platforms on Alien Day, April 26, with variant covers by Shalvey and Gabriele Dell’Otto, which you can see here.
– Marvel also revealed a new Infinity Comic series, “Devil Dinosaur,” by writer Stephen Byrne, artist Arianna Florean, and colorist Pete Pantazis. The series will follow the adventures of the titular red beast, with its debut issue seeing Devil Dinosaur face off against Demolisher, after it interrupts Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur’s celebration of their friendaversary. “Devil Dinosaur Infinity Comic” is set to release weekly on Fridays on Marvel Unlimited, with the first issue available now. Marvel.com are host to preview pages for the first issue. The comic coincides with Disney Channel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, set to premiere February 10.
– Dark Horse Comics revealed that their Silver issue for Free Comic Book Day 2023 will be “Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures/Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The ‘Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures’ part of the issue, by writer Daniel José Older, artist Harvey Tolibao, colorist Michelle Madsen, and letterers Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt of Comicraft, will be a “lost tale set during the fall of Starlight,” following “a shuttle full of younglings” who are caught up in the battle between the Jedi Order and the Nihil. Meanwhile, the ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ half of the issue by writer Amy Chu, artists Kelly and Nichole Matthews, letterers Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, will see a survivor of a village attacked by the Fire Nation choosing to open up solely to Toph. May 6 will mark Free Comic Book Day 2023.
– Via SLJ, Papercutz announced “YAHGZ: The Craynobi Tales” by Art Baltazar. The graphic novel will be set “in a land of mystical wonder, magic, and mystery,” and follow protagonists, Craybi and Crayski Craynobi; they are a father and son pair of Crays, a “heroic and adventurous” group of people. The Craynobis will fight against “a giant green gorilla” in aid of the land of Yahgz, which is inhabited by a “very vulnerable and fragile species” called the Yahgeez. As part of the announcement, Baltazar revealed that the story is 30 years in the making, with him originally writing the story of “YAHGZ” in 1992, with the time now being right “to bring their epic story to the mainstream masses.” “YAHGZ: The Craynobi Tales” has a publication date of August 1, 2023. You can check out the cover artwork and preview pages here.
– Publishers Weekly reported on four graphic novel deals, including the acquisition of two books in the new series, “Pretty Evil,” by writers Rebekah McKendry and David Ian McKendry, and artist Tim Seely. “Pretty Evil” will follow as teenage platinum-selling singer, Mallori, who discovers her missing mom was not only her manager, but a demon slayer too, with Mallori having to follow in her footsteps to save her. McElderry Books, who specifically bought the world English rights to the first two entries in the series, have scheduled the first “Pretty Evil” graphic novel for release in the Fall of 2024. You can read about the three remaining graphic novel deals here.
– Ayo Edbiri (The Bear) has joined the cast of the upcoming Marvel Studios film, Thunderbolts, in an unspecified role. Edbiri joins an already announced cast of returning MCU actors such as Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and Wyatt Russell, with the film following Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) as she brings together a government sanctioned team of anti-heroes and villains known as the Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts is scheduled for release on July 26, 2024.
– Above The Line reports Spotlight director and co-writer Tom McCarthy is set to write a film adaptation of “Pulp” by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips. Brubaker is set to write the film adaptation with McCarthy, with further individuals involved not yet known, although McCarthy may choose to direct the adaptation as well. “Pulp” is set in the 1930s and sees a pulp fiction writer called Max Winters become embroiled in his own real-life pulp story, involving “bank robbers, Nazi spies, and enemies from his past.” Projected time frames for the adaptation’s production and eventual release date are not yet known.
– Finally, following AfterShock Comics’ filing for bankruptcy in December, Variety revealed that Peacock will not be making the series adaptation of “Dead Day.” The show had a straight-to-series order in January 2022. Dead Day was set to be helmed by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries) with them both serving as writers, executive producers, and co-showrunners, but it appears that neither will be involved should the series be successfully shopped to another network. Based on Ryan Parrott, Evgeniy Bornyakov, JUANCHO!, and Charles Pritchett’s comic series, Dead Day would have followed “an ensemble of characters as they navigate the annual ‘dead day,’ when for one night the dead come back to complete unfinished business.”
