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, Mignolaversity continued its look at “Hellboy: The Bones of Giants” with the creative team of the series.
– DC Comics released a preview of next month’s “Flashpoint Beyond” #0, which will appear in all DC titles releasing on March 29, and April 5. The five-page preview reveals the book will be a follow-up to Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s “Doomsday Clock,” featuring the return of Mime and Marionette, and the Flashpoint Batman discovering a watch that belonged to Jon Osterman’s girlfriend Janey Slater. “Flashpoint Beyond” #0, written by Johns with art by Eduardo Risso, will be released on April 5, before the main series by Johns, Jeremy Adams, Tim Sheridan, and artist Xermánico begins on April 19.
– AfterShock Comics announced they will partner with social action organization Women of Color Unite (WOCU), and Star Trek: Discovery producer Aron Eli Coleite, on “Animus,” the first graphic novel created entirely by women of color. The sci-fi book (which is named after Carl Jung’s term for the unconscious masculine side of a woman), takes place on a parallel world where some women possess psychic abilities, and will include stories by L.C. Cruell, Manon de Reeper, Natasha M. Hall, Stephanie Johnson, Diandra Pendleton-Thompson, Joël René Scoville, and Michelle Wilens. It was not stated when it will be published.
– Titan Comics revealed a second volume of Charles Ardai and Ang Hor Kheng’s “Gun Honey” will arrive sometime later this year. The follow-up, titled “Gun Honey: Blood For Blood,” will see weapons expert Joanna Tan, aka Gun Honey, living off the grid, when a vengeful rival frames her for murder. “On the run from Malaysia to Milan, from Montana to Monaco, can Joanna catch up to her ruthless enemy… or will she catch a bullet first?” It was not specified when the first issue will be released. “Gun Honey” Vol. 1 concludes in the meantime with issue #4 on April 5.
– HBO Max released the first trailer for the miniseries DMZ, which reveals the show is premiering Thursday, March 17. Based on the Vertigo comic by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, DMZ stars Rosario Dawson as Alma Ortega, a medic trying to survive in Manhattan after it has become a demilitarized zone in the wake of a second American Civil War. The show was developed by Roberto Patino with executive producer Ava DuVernay, who also directed the first of its four episodes.
– AMC announced a Walking Dead spin-off series, Isle of the Dead, which will see Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprise their roles as Maggie and Negan. The first season will consist of six episodes, and see the characters travel to a post-apocalyptic Manhattan. It will premiere on AMC and AMC+ sometime next year. Showrunner Eli Jorné will executive produce the series with Cohan and Morgan. It is the third Walking Dead spin-off in development, following Tales of the Walking Dead, and an untitled Daryl & Carol series, which will respectively follow the end of the original series this year and in 2023.
– Variety reports Fallon Smythe and Tyler DiChiara have been respectively cast in the CW’s Gotham Knights pilot as siblings Harper and Cullen Row. Smythe has appeared in shows like I Didn’t Do It, Lost in the West, and Grown-ish, while DiChiara is a transgender actor who performed in the films Relish and The Virgin of Highland Park; the show’s version of Cullen will also be depicted as a trans man. Gotham Knights will see Batman’s adoptive son teaming up with the children of his enemies after they are all framed for the Dark Knight’s murder. Harper Row, aka Bluebird, was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, and first appeared in 2011’s “Batman” #1; Cullen debuted in issue #12, and was created by Snyder with Becky Cloonan.
– In more Batman news, Warner Bros. released another trailer for DC League of Super-Pets, revealing Keanu Reeves is voicing the Caped Crusader in the animated project. DC League of Super-Pets, which also stars Dwayne Johnson as Krypto the Superdog, Kevin Hart as Ace the Bat-Hound, and John Krasinski as Superman, will be released in theaters on May 20.
Continued below– Per The Hollywood Reporter, Starz has commissioned its first German language original, a six-part series series called Night in Paradise, based on Frank Schmolke’s graphic novel of the same name. The dark, edgy show will star Jürgen Vogel (The Wave) as Vincent, a taxi driver, and Lea Drinda (We Children from Bahnhof Zoo) as Anna, his estranged daughter, who reunite when the apokalypse unfolds during Oktoberfest. It will premiere on Starz’s international streaming service, Starzplay.
– Hyperallergic shared a comic strip by Ukrainian artists Anya Ivanenko and Jenya Polosina, recounting their experiences sheltering at the start of the Russian invasion. You can learn more about the pair at their (bilingual) official site here. The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, which began nearly two weeks ago on February 24, is so far believed to have claimed the lives of “considerably higher” than 406 civilians, and displaced nearly two million refugees.
– Finally, various Disney employees have spoken out following reports that the company donated to sponsors of House Bill 1557 (aka the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) in Florida. According to Florida Politics, HB 1557 is intended to ban any discussion of “sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3 and only allow it when ‘developmentally’ or ‘age-appropriate’ in other contexts. The measure allows parents to sue school districts that violate the rule, and critics also worry the bill may force teachers or school staff to out LGBTQ kids to parents.” A memo from CEO Bob Chapek confirmed “we have contributed to both Republican and Democrat legislators who have subsequently taken positions on both sides of the legislation,” a supposedly neutral practice you can read more about from Abigail Disney here.
