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, Kevin Smith and Dark Horse announced their new creator-owned comic line, Secret Stash Press.
– Square Enix Manga & Books announced three new manga license deals, including “YoRHa – Pearl Harbor Descent Record – A NieR:Automata Story,” by artist Megumu Soramichi. Supervised by NieR writer Yoko Taro, the book will chronicle the events of the 14th Machine War that features in the NieR game series. The other two manga are “Tokyo Aliens” by NAOH, which will see a high school student and aspiring police officer try to find the ghost of his father, who was himself a police officer; and Koume Fujichika’s “The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses,” which will tell the story of a middle school romance. “Tokyo Aliens” Vol. 1 will be released first on November 8, with the first volumes of “YoRHa” and “The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses” following on December 13. In addition to the three manga volumes, the publisher announced licenses for other publications, such as the Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts novel by Kazushige Nojima; all of the announced licensing deals can be found here.
– Publishers Weekly rounded up a host of graphic novel deals last week, including Abrams/Amulet’s purchase of “The Hollow” by writer Che Grayson and artist Taylor Keith. The YA graphic novel will chronicle the horror that ensues when podcaster Ruby James and three of her best friends travel to Ruby’s ancestral home, the town of Cure, in the Great Smokey Mountains. The town is deserted but for urban legends that have been brought into reality, with “monsters [lurking] around every corner.” “The Hollow” is currently scheduled for a Spring 2025 debut; head over to Publishers Weekly for the full breadth of deals.
– The winners of the Japan International Manga Awards were announced, with Dutch cartoonist Aimée de Jongh’s “Days of Sand” being given the Gold prize, while “Moonchosen” by Natalia Rerekina and Gilbert Brissen, “Always Never” by Jordi Lafebre, and “CliniClowns: last goodbye” by Cory Ko and Feng Shi, were all awarded Silver. The awards were presented during an online ceremony on March 4, though Natalia Rerekina and Gilbert Brissen were both unable to attend. Both creators are Ukrainian and had intended to attend the ceremony after being informed of their win at the end of last year, but the pair had to cancel after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Mainichi reported that they sent a message of thanks for the award instead. You can check out the ten winners of the Bronze award here.
– Europe Comics, the alliance of European comic publishers, whose collective catalog includes titles like “Blacksad” and “Valerian and Laureline,” were nominated for the Literary Translation Initiative Award at the International Excellence Awards 2022. Organized by the London Book Fair, the awards are intended to champion “organisations and individuals from around the world demonstrating passion, creativity, and ingenuity.” There are eight categories in total, each with three shortlisted nominees; the winners will be announced at the Book Fair, which is scheduled for April 5-7. The full list of nominees can be seen over at the event’s Hub.
– The upcoming film, Paris, 13th District, which is based upon multiple short stories by cartoonist Adrian Tomine, received a poster by the cartoonist. Directed by Jacques Audiard, Paris, 13th District tells the stories of the intertwined lives of Émilie, Camille, Nora, and Amber, played by Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba, Noémie Merlant, and Jehnny Beth respectively. The film draws from “Amber Sweet,” “Killing and Dying,” “Summer Blonde,” and “Hawaiian Getaway.” Paris, 13th District is set for a US release on April 15; you can check out Tomine’s poster here in the meantime.
– Disney announced that they will be launching an ad-supported version of Disney+ in the US later this year, with other markets gaining the new version in 2023. Specifics relating to the ad-supported version are scarce at this time, with a subscription price and launch date both yet to be announced. The introduction of the ad-supported version is intended as a “building block” for the company to reach its target of 230-260 million subscribers by the end of its fiscal year in 2024; the last reported subscription figure was from January 1, 2022, which was 129.8 million worldwide.
Continued below– WOW! Unlimited Media optioned “War Bears” by writer Margaret Atwood and artist Ken Steacy for an animated series adaptation. The Dark Horse-published “War Bears” tells the story of fictional comic book creator Al Zurakowski who, during World War II, creates the Nazi-fighting superheroine, Oursonette. The impact that the war and its ending has on Zurakowski, both professionally and personally, is depicted over the course of the comic. Whilst creative involvement on the adaptation has not been fully revealed, Ken Steacy is confirmed to be active in the show’s development. A potential release date has not been announced.
– NBC’s upcoming Quantum Leap reboot pilot found its lead in Raymond Lee (Here and Now). Lee will play Dr. Ben Seong, a physicist who is a part of the team restarting the Quantum Leap project thirty years after Dr. Sam Beckett disappeared. Seong becomes stuck in the 1980s when he uses the Quantum Leap technology, and also develops a case of amnesia. Whilst the series will be set in the same continuity as the original, Scott Bakula, who played Sam Beckett, is not currently set to be involved. A potential air date, should the pilot be successful, is not known.
– Deadline revealed that Alessandro Nivola is set to play the villain of the upcoming Kraven the Hunter film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Specifics about Nivola’s villain have not been disclosed. Rounding out the rest of the known cast members on the project are Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe, and Fred Hechinger. J.C. Chandor is taking the directorial reigns for the film that will be the next in Sony’s series of Marvel antihero explorations, following its two Venom films and the upcoming Morbius. Kraven the Hunter is scheduled for release on January 13, 2023, with Morbius arriving on April 1, 2022.
– Finally, if you haven’t seen The Batman yet, please stop reading, because this section contains spoilers. In an interview, director Matt Reeves confirmed the Unseen Arkham Inmate — played by Eternals‘ Barry Keoghan — who the Riddler befriends at the end of the film is the Joker. Reeves stated Keoghan played the role in a scene that was cut from the first act, where Robert Pattinson’s Batman — who has already encountered him — sneaks into Arkham Asylum, to gain his insight into the Riddler’s motives. For Reeves’s full description of the deleted scene, as well as his current thoughts on whether Keoghan’s proto-Joker will return in the sequel, head to Variety.
