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, Archie announced Aubrey Sitterson and Megan Hutchison’s horror series “Judgment Day,” which will mark their first ‘Premium Event’ comic, and their first miniseries since 2021.
– DC and Marvel announced they will reprint the various out-of-print crossovers they’ve published over the years in two omnibuses, both releasing August 6. The first, “DC Versus Marvel Omnibus,” will collect various crossovers from 1976 to 2000, including “Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man,” while the second, “DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus,” will reprint the Amalgam Universe titles from 1996 to 1997, as well as the “DC Versus Marvel” miniseries that tied into the event, and its sequels “All Access” & “Unlimited Access.”
The announcement comes two years after the companies reunited for a charity edition of 2004’s “JLA/Avengers” (their last crossover), in honor of the late artist George Pérez. It suggests a new willingness on Marvel’s part to publish intercompany crossovers; their last one was an eight-page “Attack on Titan/Avengers” comic, released all the way back in 2014. (In contrast, DC’s most recent foray into the genre, “Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong,” will end in April.) Details for the omnibuses like page counts, trim sizes, cover art, and recommended retail prices were not given at the time of writing.
– Marvel also announced two more ‘Blood Hunt’ tie-in miniseries: “Dracula: Blood Hunt,” a three-parter by Danny Lore and Vincenzo Carratù co-starring Bloodline, daughter of Blade; and “Blood Hunters,” a four-issue anthology. The first issue of the latter in particular will star Hawkeye, Man-Wolf & J. Jonah Jameson, and Dagger (sans Cloak) in stories respectively by Mark Russell & Bob Quinn, Christos Gage & Javier Garròn, and Erica Schultz & Bernard Chang. Both series will begin on May 8.
– Mad Cave have become the latest Disney licensee, with children’s imprint Papercutz set to release several graphic novels based on Disney and Pixar projects like Turning Red, Phineas and Ferb, and Encanto between May and August. No details were given on the creative teams in the press release. The collaboration will kick off with the Free Comic Book Day (May 4) issue “Encanto & Turning Red: The New Adventures,” featuring a sneak peek of both films’ upcoming books. In contrast, the publisher also announced “Mugshots,” a British crime series by Jordan Thomas and Chris Matthews, starting May 8.
– Derek Charm will write and illustrate “Toxic Summer,” a horror comedy starting at Oni Press on May 1. The three-part, bi-monthly series (consisting of 48-page issues) follows two friends spending their summer after high school graduation as lifeguards on the beach, when a “toxic spill of unknown properties” causes monsters to begin kidnapping tourists. Senior editor Bess Pallares adds the series is set in the early 2000s, “before cell phones ruined all the mystery” of the book’s genre. It marks Charm’s first writing project since IDW’s “Powerpuff Girls” comics in 2015.
– Speaking of horror comedy, Titan announced “I Can Count To Ten,” a new book by “Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl” creator Roman Dirge. The 64-page hardcover book is presented as a children’s introduction to maths, that descends into the gory tale of a government conspiracy and alien invasion. It will be released on September 3, 2024. The publisher also announced “Gun Honey: Collision Course,” the third volume of Charles Ardai and Ang Hor Kheng’s sexy crime series starring weapons dealer Joanna Tan; it will begin on May 15, 2024.
– Travis Knight, the director of Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings (as well as the CEO of Studio Laika), is in talks to direct Amazon MGM’s live-action Masters of the Universe movie. Studio Laika veteran Chris Butler will rewrite the script David Callaham and Aaron & Adam Nee originally developed at Netflix. According to Deadline’s report, the film will follow a version of Prince Adam who has been living on Earth for two decades after crashlanding here as a nine-year old. After recovering his magic sword, Adam is finally returned to Eternia, where he will discover his destiny to defeat Skeletor and become He-Man.
Continued below– An anime film version of Tatsuki Fujimoto (“Chainsaw Man”)’s one-shot manga “Look Back” will be released in Japan on June 28. The acclaimed comic, published in 2021, tells the poignant story of Fujino and Kyomoto, two girls who bond over their love of drawing manga, as well as Fujino’s older self, after she receives some tragic news about Kyomoto. The film was written and directed by former Ghibli animator Kiyotaka Oshiyama, and produced by Studio Durian (who provided assistance on The Boy and the Heron.) It will be distributed in Japan by Apex Pictures.
– An animated series based on Judd Winick’s children’s graphic novel series “Hilo” is in the works at Sinking Ship Entertainment (Dino Dan, the Ghostwriter reboot.) Begun in 2015, “Hilo” revolves around an alien boy who crashlands on Earth, befriends other kids his age, and becomes a superhero. Sinking Ship are still in the process of finding financial partners, as well as a platform for the show: in the meantime, “Hilo Book 10: Rise of the Cat” will be released by Random House Graphic on Tuesday, February 27.
– Finally, Skybound revealed the contents of Free Comic Book Day (May 4)’s “Energon Universe Special 2024,” disclosing it will contain three stories, each from the worlds of “Void Rivals,” the Transformers, and G.I. Joe. The creative teams of Robert Kirkman & Lorenzo De Felici, Daniel Warren Johnson & Ryan Ottley, and Joshua Williamson & Jason Howard will handle each respective segment. They also announced a retail edition dropping on May 8, that will reprint the three stories, while offering variant covers from “the likes of Lorenzo De Felici, Tom Reilly, Stephen Green, and Khary Randolph.” You can check out Ottley’s take on Megatron at the link.
