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, we have an exclusive preview of next week’s “Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi” #5.
– Writer Frank Tieri and artist Inaki Miranda will return to the worlds of 16th century piracy and kaiju with “Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons II – Sons of Giants.” The five-issue miniseries picks up where last year’s IDW series, which saw Sir Francis Drake encounter cinema’s King of the Monsters, left off. “’Here There be Dragons’ opened a very interesting secret door that we are now ready to explore full steam,” Miranda said of the sequel. “Frank came up with this really interesting concept of a secret society of Godzilla worshipers, a mystery [that] is screaming to be unfolded.” Issue #1 hits shelves June 26.
– Dark Horse announced “Spinal Cord,” a heavy metal graphic novel, written by David Braña with art from Pahito. The new book sees a heavy metal band join a prestige tour, only for horrors to haunt them along the way. “We have paid a well-deserved tribute to the music and we have let ourselves be carried away on an adventure with different styles of horror,” Braña says of the book, “with characters who feel and suffer and who try to achieve their dreams.” It’s set to hit bookstores on September 10, 2024, and comics shops September 11, 2024.
– We got out first look at two new installments of the Megamind franchise, with sneak peaks going up on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. The first was a new animated film, Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate (which you can watch the trailer for here), which sees the reformed villain attempt to stop his old teammates. The second was an eight-episode miniseries titled Megamind Rules!, following his transition from villain to hero, while his trusty brainbots broadcast everything to the internet. Both will star Keith Ferguson in the title role (taking over from the original film’s Will Ferrell), and premiere on the streamer March 1.
– Kodansha Comics, the publisher behind titles such as “Attack on Titan,” “Akira,” and “Fairy Tail,” will sponsor the 2024 Script2Comic Contest. Winners of the contest will not only have their work published in the USA and Japan (by AMP Comics and Kodansha respectively), but produced as an animated series by Premiere Sponsor Kodansha. The contest is open now, and information can be found on its website. “Submit your screenplay, teleplay, short script, comic script or short story for a chance to have it brought to life as a comic book series or graphic novel and published by one of the top indie publishers in comics,” the website reads. Submissions will remain open until the end of June.
– According to Publishers Weekly children’s books rights report, writer Crystal Frasier and artist Val Wise’s “Whippoorwills” was picked up by First Second, for a planned 2028 release. “This Southern Gothic YA graphic novel follows three young trans women who must band together to survive at a mysterious and magical all-girls boarding school,” reads the report. Philomel also picked up the rights to You’re the Boss and two as-of-yet unnamed graphic novels by Startup Squad founder Brian Weisfeld.and co-writer Bonnie Bader. You’re the Boss is a nonfiction guide on starting your own business aimed at middle-grade audiences, set to release this fall. The two graphic novels are set for a 2026 and 2027 release, and will feature art from Nadia Hsieh. While fiction, they will follow young protagonists who have started their own businesses.
– Finally, Worldcon Intellectual Properties director Dave McCarty and board chair Kevin Standlee have resigned their positions, following allegations of censorship during the voting process of the 2023 Hugo Awards, which were held in Chengdu, China. These came after the nomination data was released, revealing the number of works deemed “not eligible” for the award for ill-defined reasons, including R.F. Kuang’s Babel (set in Opium War era China, with a protagonist inspired by Mao Zedong), and Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow.
“The Sound of Her Wings,” the sixth episode of Netflix’s Sandman series, was among the works deemed ineligible. Co-creator Neil Gaiman took the WIP to task, asking, “Is it the black actor playing Death? The reference to Judaism? The life after Death?” He added, “Stating that it was ineligible for reasons that you cannot tell us simply adds a level of mystery to the process that makes the entire Hugo voting process appear illegitimate, and does the winners no favours either.” In the meantime, Don Eastlake has taken over as WIP board chair, with Glasgow Worldcon plans underway.
