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, AfterShock announced Juan Doe’s sci-fi horror anthology “Spectro.”
– Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment announced “F*ck This Place,” a horror series by writer Kyle Starks (“Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton”), artist Artyom Topilin (“Ice Cream Man Presents Quarantine Comix Special”), and colorist Lee Loughridge (“The Good Asian”). The book follows Trudy and Gabby, a couple who inherit a farmhouse, only to discover it’s “home to a mysterious force that’s attracted ghosts, aliens, and all kinds of supernatural beings for decades. Now, Gabby and Trudy must play by the ‘house rules’ in order to survive the most frightening place on Earth.” The first issue will be released on May 18.
– TKO Studios announced two new graphic novels: the first, “The Forgotten Blade,” is an action fantasy by writer/TKO co-founder Tze Chun, artist Toni Fejzula (“Lobster Johnson: The Glass Mantis”) and letterer Jeff Powell, set in a world where the Church of the Citadel jealously guards the magical waters that grant people magical powers. When an enchantress’s children is cursed by the inquisition, she hires a mercenary who once worked for the Church to “infiltrate the Citadel, discover the source of the Five Rivers, and there vanquish the most powerful adversary of all: the malevolent God who created this world in the first place.”
The second title, “Black Mass Rising” by Theo Prasidis (“Swamp Dogs”), Jodie Muir (“Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren”), and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, is a sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which tells the story of Aurelia, a peasant girl living in Transylvania a year after the Count’s death. The people feel free once more, “but when a mysterious Healer drifts into town, seeking to cure land and people alike, a terrifying new evil stirs in the blasted lands, and it seems that the lord of the undead is not through yet… or could it be an even greater evil?” Both books will be released in paperback as well as six-issue series on March 15.
– Via Shelf Awareness, Andrews McMeel will publish print editions of several webcomics on Tapas Media, namely the witch’s tale “Unfamiliar,” by Haley Newsome, esports comic “DPS Only!” by Xiao Tong Kong (Vel), and coming-of-age fantasy epic “The Witch’s Throne,” by Cedric Caballes (WhatAHero.) These three titles are expected to debut in full color paperback and as ebooks this fall.
– Publishers Weekly reports NBA star Stephen Curry’s production company Unanimous Media is teaming up with Penguin Young Readers to form Unanimous Publishing, which will release children’s picture books and graphic novels “featuring diverse voices and focusing on family, sports, and faith-based subjects.” The graphic novels are planned for readers aged 7–10, and “will spotlight luminaries in the sports world.” Unanimous Publishing will make its debut this fall with Steph Curry and artist Geneva Bowers’s picture book I Have a Superpower, due out September 6.
– Via ICv2, the head of security at Florida State University’s Strozier Library has been charged with the theft of almost 5000 comics and pulp magazines. The Tallahassee Democrat reported Todd Peak was arrested last week on charges of grand theft, dealing in stolen property, and the sale of stolen property on the Internet. (He has since been released on bail.) 4,996 periodicals dating from 1920 to 1978 went missing from the Robert M. Ervin Jr. collection between March 2020 and February 2021: so far, police have only recovered 2,843 items.
– Marvel announced May’s “Shang-Chi” #12 will see the title hero wield the Ten Rings from his Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart’s movie. “Earth is under attack from Shang-Chi’s grandfather and the forces of Ta Lo!,” reads the synopsis. “To save his world, Shang-Chi must succumb to his late father’s wishes and inherit the deadly Ten Rings. But will he be able to wield its power, or will its temptations be too much?” It is unknown if these Ten Rings will have anything to do with the Mandarin, who formed the basis of Shang-Chi’s father in the MCU, or the terrorist organization named after them, which was ported over to the comics after their introduction in Iron Man. “Shang-Chi” #12, written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Marcus To, goes on sale May 4.
Continued below– Marvel also unveiled another Free Comic Book Day offering, “Spidey and his Amazing Friends,” a tie-in to the Disney Junior show by writer Steven Behling, with artists Giovanni Rigano and Antonello Dalena. The book will be released on May 4, a few days before the day’s editions of the older-skewing “Avengers/X-Men,” “Amazing Spider-Man/Venom,” and “Marvel Voices” are released on May 7.
– Speaking of Spidey and Shang-Chi, the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards were announced, and Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings were both nominated for Best Visual Effects, alongside Dune, No Time to Die, and Free Guy. Acclaimed Norwegian comedy-drama The Worst Person in the World, which features a cartoonist as one of its main characters, was also nominated for Best International Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay. You can read the full list of nominees ahead of the ceremony on March 27 here.
– Finally, The Batman has become the first live-action Batman film to be rated 15 in the UK. Per a listing posted by the British Board of Film Classification on Monday, fans under the age of 15 will not be allowed to see the film in theaters (even if accompanied by an adult), because of “strong threat, violence,” including the “occasional sight of blood and injury detail.” Several animated Batman films and Zack Snyder’s Justice League have been rated 15 in the UK, while Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns were originally rated 15 on home video releases, because the 12 rating was not instated on VHS until 1994. (Burton’s Batman was itself responsible for the creation of the 12 rating, as the BBFC did not feel it merited a PG or a 15.)
