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, DC announced Ram V and Christian Ward’s Black Label series “Aquaman: Andromeda,” and Dark Horse announced the new miniseries “Avatar: Adapt or Die.” We also had an exclusive preview of “Iron Man” #17.
– DC Comics has announced that the new line of superheroes featuring the characters of Milestone Media will be dubbed Earth-M. Kicking off the new titles is the limited series “Duo” from writer Greg Pak, penciler Khoi Pham and inker Scott Hanna. “Duo” follows Kelly Vu and David Kim, two lovers who are merged into one body through a nanotechnology experiment. “While this has granted them extraordinary powers, it has also erased the boundaries between them,” DC’s announcement reads. “Can a love survive when all things must be shared and independence lost?” Featuring a cover by Dike Ruan with variants by Nimit Malavia and Milestone founder Denys Cowan, “Duo” #1 is due out on May 17.
– BOOM! Studios’s “Something is Killing the Children” spinoff “House of Slaughter” is bringing in a new creative team for its second arc. Via CBR, writer Sam Johns and artist Letizia Cadonici are jumping onto the book starting with its sixth issue, for a story that explores the Scarlet Masks, the secret record keepers of the Order of St. George. The “Something is Killing the Children” team of James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera will continue to co-write and co-illustrate the book, respectively. Johns and Tynion had previously partnered for the Batman spinoff books “Joker” and “Punchline.” The new arc will follow Edwin Slaughter, a Scarlet Mask who finds himself drawn into the field upon the discovery of a legendary monster that had long been thought extinct. “House of Slaughter” #6 features variant covers by Kyle Hotz, Jorge Corona and Andrea Sorrentino, and cuts its way to the shelves this May.
– IDW has announced the new miniseries “Transformers: Last Bot Standing” from writer Nick Roche, artist E.J. Su and colorist Rebecca Nalty. Via ComicBook.com, the series promises the story of the final Cybertronian at the end of the universe, who must step up to save the world one last time. “Like ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin,’ ‘Last Bot Standing’ is one of those great stories where defining creators come together to tell one incredible version of an ending, a hypothetical last story for our beloved heroes and villains,” editor David Mariotte said. “Transformers: Last Bot Standing” launches in May.
– The new Infinity Comic series “Marvel Fairy Tales” offers a Marvel twist on some classic fairy tales. Writer Ryan North will be joined by the art team of Jay Fosgitt, Dax Gordine, and Gustavo Duarte for the four-part story of ‘Peter Parker and the Beanstalk.’ When a beanstalk grows outside of the Daily Bugle, Peter and J. Jonah Jameson ascend to find out what awaits in the clouds. Featuring a special guest appearance from Sersi of the Eternals, “Marvel Fairy Tales Infinity Comic” #1 is now available on Marvel Unlimited, with new chapters releasing every Thursday.
– John Williams is set to return to the Star Wars universe for the upcoming series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Via Variety, Williams recorded the theme for the series last week ahead of its scheduled premiere in May. Williams has previously only written a handful of scores for television, with his last weekly dramatic series credit being the theme for Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories back in 1985. Williams will next reunite with Spielberg for his upcoming drama The Fabermans later this year, before returning to one of his other longstanding franchises with next year’s fifth Indiana Jones film. Obi-Wan Kenobi stars a returning Ewan McGregor in the title role alongside returning performers Hayden Christensen, Joel Edgerton, and Bonnie Piesse, and newcomers Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Benny Safdie. The series premieres on May 25.
– Image Comics and Skybound have announced that “F*ck This Place,” the upcoming supernatural horror series from Kyle Starks, Artyom Topilin and Lee Loughridge, will be getting released with both clean and explicit cover options. The dual release strategy stems from requests for an alternative option from some retailers. Image and Skybound will have open-to-order covers featuring both that title and the alternative new title “I Hate This Place.” The series follows Trudy and Gabby, two characters who “have inherited a farmhouse and are ready to start the next chapter of their lives together.. .except it’s already home to a mysterious force that’s attracted ghosts, aliens, and all kinds of supernatural beings for decades.” Both the clean and explicit versions of “I Hate This Place” will be available on May 18.
Continued below– Marvel and Disney+ have signed on a new pair of directors for the second season of Loki. Via Deadline, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead will direct the majority of the episodes for the new season, which will be written by Eric Martin, and feature returning star Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston is currently the only cast member confirmed to return. The news comes shortly after the duo premiered their new film Something in the Dirt at the Sundance Film Festival to a positive critical response. Benson and Moorhead previously directed two episodes of next month’s Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac.
– The Forrest Gump team of Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis and Eric Roth are reteaming for an adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel “Here.” Via Deadline, Richard McGuire’s “Here” focuses on the events that occur in a single room over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. McGuire originally published the unique story as a six-page comic in RAW magazine back in 1989, expanding it to book length in 2014. Studios are currently bidding on the package, with no word yet on the team’s approach to the material or an intended release date.
– Stranger Things is set for an oversized, two volume return this summer. Netflix shared the news that Stranger Things 4 will have a runtime that’s nearly twice the length of any previous season, leading them to split its release into two halves that will release five weeks apart. Along with the release date reveal, Netflix has renewed the show for a fifth and final season. “Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things,” the series’ creators the Duffer Brothers said in a letter posted on Netflix’s news page. “At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but – as you’ll soon see for yourselves – we are now hurtling toward our finale.” Stranger Things 4 premieres with Volume One on May 27, and Volume Two on July 1.
– Finally, Kickstarter is delaying its planned transition to blockchain technology after receiving a negative response from creators and backers. Via Polygon, the company issued a new statement yesterday that promised they would continue to experiment with the new technology without forcing it untested on the Kickstarter community. “We’ll make sure there’s a proof of concept with the creators who want to use it,” the statement said. “We’ll look to integrate the pieces that offer value to the larger community down the line, but not without your input shaping the direction.” The statement laid out four steps to the process, including testing the blockchain protocol, establishing an advisory council of backers and creators to guide its implementation, building the protocol through an independent public benefit corporation, and reviewing the environmental impact of the project. No timetable was announced for the company’s new plans.
