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, underground cartoonist S. Clay Wilson died on Sunday at the age of 79.
– Via Newsarama, DC has provided a first look at the upcoming YA graphic novel “Poison Ivy: Thorns,” from writer Kody Keplinger and artist Sara Kipin. The “gothic LGBTQIA+ romance” finds a teenage Pamela Isley navigating her high school years. A loner who “might be the most passionate caretaker of the campus greenhouse,” Pamela starts to open up when she meets a cute goth girl named Alice Oh. “Poison Ivy has been my favorite comic book character since I was a little girl,” Keplinger told DC. “Getting to write a story about her in one of my favorite genres (gothic romance), brought to life by the amazing art of Sara Kipin, is just a dream come true in so many ways.” “Poison Ivy: Thorns” hits shelves on June 1.
– Eisner-winner Tillie Walden is getting a new collection of her short comics. Via The Beat, “Alone in Space: A Collection” will be published by Avery Hill and feature a number of Walden’s works, including her first published comic “The End of Summer,” and some never-before collected early sketches, prints, and short stories originally published in magazines. “Alone in Space: A Collection” is expected to ship in June, and will be available for pre-order from February 15.
– DC’s super heroine Stargirl is spending her vacation with the Seven Soldiers of Victory in Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck’s newly-announced “Stargirl Spring Break Special.” While Courtney Whitmore’s friends head off to party on the beach, Courtney is joining her stepfather on an adventure with his former team as they reunite to unearth the secret eighth soldier of victory. The one-shot drops on May 4.
– The cast of the upcoming Disney Channel animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has been revealed. Via CBR, actor and singer Diamond White will voice Moon Girl, with an all-star supporting cast that includes Alfre Woodard, Sasheer Zamata, Fred Tatasciore, Laurence Fishburne, Libe Barer, Jermaine Fowler, and Gary Anthony Williams. Based on the comic books of the same name, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur follow the 13-year-old super genius Lunella Lafayette, and her best friend Devil Dinosaur, as they work together to protect New York City’s Lower East Side. The series is set to premiere on Disney Channel in 2022.
– Rebellion Publishing announced three comic book specials coming later this year. The sword-wielding “Scream!” character Black Beth will get the spotlight in “Black Beth and the Devils of Al-Kadesh,” from writer Alec Worley (“Durham Red”) and artist DaNi (“Coffin Bound,” “The Low Low Woods”), which sees Beth and her aide Quido taking on a quest to destroy the evil witch Anis-Amuun; while “The 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special” is returning for a collection of connected original stories set in the Judge Dredd world, featuring a variety of artists and plotted by Mike Carroll (“Judge Dredd”) and Maura McHugh (“Anderson, Psi Division”). Finally, the 1970s all-ages title “Monster Fun” is getting revived with “The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular,” featuring creators including Tom Paterson, Chris Garbutt, and Juni Ba taking on the “creepiest and coolest goblins, ghouls, and vamps” like Frankie Stein, Kid Kong, Draculass, and Teddy Scare. “Black Beth and the Devils of Al-Kadesh,” comes out June 23, “The 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special” releases July 7, and “The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular” hits shelves September 22.
– Via Variety, HBO Max has ordered a number of shows to series as they revealed their slate of upcoming animated programs. The adult animated series Velma will delve into the origin of bespectacled child detective Velma Dinkley (Mindy Kaling) before she joined up with Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang; and Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack are teaming with Rooster Teeth Studios to adapt their Jinxworld conspiracy thriller “Cover” into an animated series, with Bendis scripting the series and Mack on hand as the director. Lastly, creator Obi Arisukwu is adapting his Instagram comic strip for the animated series Obi, about a 30-year-old man-child chasing his dream to become an artist while he navigates adulthood. The new shows join the previously announced third season of Harley Quinn and the reboot of The Boondocks in HBO Max’s animation pipeline.
Continued below– [Trigger warning: abuse] Actress Charisma Carpenter released a powerful statement on Twitter accusing writer and director Joss Whedon of abusive behavior and professional misconduct on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, adding her voice in support of Ray Fisher’s accusations of abusive behavior from Whedon on the set of Justice League in 2017. “For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and even made excuses for certain events that traumatize me to this day,” Carpenter said in her statement, alleging that Whedon’s “casually cruel” behavior included demeaning her physical appearance in front of her colleagues, and demanding that she work long, physically demanding hours while she was pregnant, an action that she characterized as “retaliatory.”
Carpenter stated that she was driven to speak out after the decision by Warner Bros. to fire Fisher from the upcoming Flash film. Buffy main cast member Amber Benson corroborated Carpenter’s statement and called the Buffy set a “toxic environment,” while fellow Buffy alum Michelle Trachtenberg indicated on Instagram that Whedon behaved inappropriately with her when she was a teenager on the show. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar stated on Instagram that she did not wish to be associated with “the name Joss Whedon.”
– [Trigger warning: racism, transphobia, anti-semitism] The Mandalorian star Gina Carano is no longer a member of the cast following an outcry over several offensive posts identified by fans on her social media accounts. The Daily Beast has a full write-up of the firestorm, which was sparked by Carano sharing an anti-Semitic meme on her Instagram account that featured an image of the 1941 Lviv pogrom, and seemed to compare being a conservative with being a victim of the Holocaust. Carano’s social media presence has been a sticking point with fans for months, who have been raising red flags over her seeming embrace of alt-right conspiracy theories, espousing anti-mask beliefs and voicing support for QAnon and Pizzagate.
Carano also received backlash last year for her transphobic behavior on Twitter, and for posts opposing the Black Lives Matter protests. On Wednesday evening, in response to the hashtag campaign #FireGinaCarano, Lucasfilm formally disavowed Carano’s social media posts, calling them “abhorrent and unacceptable,” and stating that “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.” The Daily Beast reported that Carano was dropped by her publicist, while The Hollywood Reporter revealed that she has been dropped as a client by her agency UTA.
