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.
– BOOM! Studios will publish a collection of early “Giant Days” stories written and drawn by creator John Allison titled “Giant Days: Early Registration” by the end of the year. The book collects the three originally self-published comics that tell the origin of Esther, Daisy and Susan’s friendship, their early college adventures, and set the stage for where the series has gone since its inception at BOOM!
– BOOM! Studios are also planning to bring Rod Serling’s original screenplay for Planet of the Apes to life as a graphic novel. The Simpsons writer Dana Gould and “Avengers: Origins” artist Chad Lewis are adapting Serling’s script, which shall be published under BOOM!’s Visionaries Imprint, delivering the familiar to fans of the original with the added social commentary, vision and twists Rod Serling brought to his personal projects like The Twilight Zone. “Planet of the Apes: Visionaries” comes out this August.
– Oni Press posted a set of four special Valentine’s Day cards illustrated by “Kim Reaper” artist Sarah Graley for sale for $1.00 in their Shopify shop. All proceeds from the sale of these sets will go to Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Charity that works to end homelessness among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth through systemic change.
– In a follow-up to the free “Marvel Rising” comic coming in April starring Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Patriot, America and Inferno, Marvel will publish another issue in June, timed to hit stores as part of a special Father’s Day event.
– Sony and Amblin Entertainment look to have settled on F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton The Fate of the Furious) to direct next year’s reboot of the Men In Black movie franchise. Sony Pictures has greenlit a script for the project by Iron Man writers Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, and will likely cast fresh faces as Agents Smith and Jones are apparently not returning.
– Later this year Nickelodeon will be airing a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which features reimagined versions of the classic characters. We may want to brace for fanboy backlash as the reimagined series features each of the iconic turtle ninjas as different turtle species, and introduces an African-American April O’Neil (who was apparently originally envisioned by Kevin Eastman as African-American).
– “One Punch Man” artist Yusuke Murata announced that he’s working on a new “BTTF (Back to the Future)” manga project at the Ready Player One film celebration event in Tokyo, Japan. Bob Gale, who co-wrote the original film, is overseeing the comic which contains scenes not shown in the movie. The Kono Manga Ga Sugoi! site will serialize the manga, and the first compiled book will be published on April 20th.
– Maze Runner actor Ki Hong Lee is working on a time travel romance comic titled “Love in Time.” Tapas Media has ordered two 24-chapter seasons of the K-Drama co-created and written with Chris Dinh and James Chen; no artist is attached yet.
– Dark Horse Comics and Blizzard Entertainment announced a new four-issue mini-series set in the StarCraft universe titled “StarCraft: Scavengers.” The book by “Mother Panic” and “Faith” writer Jody Houser, and “Star Wars” artist Gabriel Guzmán, follows the adventures of a team of terran (human) scavengers pillaging a derelict protoss vessel for its priceless tech. The first issue goes on sale July 25.
– The very prolific Jim Zub is returning to his IDW Dungeons and Dragons title for another campaign with “The Evil at Baldur’s Gate.” This time each issue will focus on a different one of his continuing heroes as part of an overall story. Each issue will be illustrated by a different artist, namely Dean Kotz (“Charmed: Season 9”), Steven Cummings (“Wayward”), Harvey Tolibao (“Green Arrow”), Ramon Bachs (“X-Men”), and Francesco Mortarino (“Jupiter’s Circle”).
