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.
– March 8 would have been the 100th birthday of mangaka Shigeru Mizuki, best known for his yokai and folkloric series “Kitaro” and “Tono Monogatari,” as well as a range of autobiographcal works. To celebrate, Drawn & Quarterly have announced new editions of “Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths” and “Showa: A History of Japan,” collected in full. The two series will be translated by Jocelyne Allen and Zack Davisson, respectively. The two series encapsulate the brutality of war, drawing on Mizuki’s own experience in World War II, with “Showa” presenting a history of the full reign of Emperor Hirohito from 1926 to 1989. The life and works of Shigeru Mizuki will also be on display at “Tales of a Fantastic Life,” a gallery exhibit of his work at this year’s Festival Angoulême.
– Archie Comics has announced it will cease distributing comics and merchandise to Russia in solidarity with the invaded state of Ukraine. “In light of the devestating events in Ukraine, Archie Comics will be pausing all direct to consumer sales of books and merchandise ordered from Russia through the company website,” the publisher said in a statement. “The Archie Comics team is standing in solidarity with Ukraine.” The company is joining a growing portion of private companies withholding their services in Russia, matching the principles of the wider sanctions against the state.
– Warner Bros. has reshuffled its full slate of DC films, with major delays for many projects. DC League of Super-Pets has been pushed to July 29th, while Black Adam will release October 21st. Shazam: Fury of the Gods was actually brought forward to December 16, 2022, while Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom moved to March 17, 2023. The Flash was delayed to June 23, 2023. An official statement by Warner Bros. expanded on this, explaining the backlog of work for VFX studios necessitated a delay for the features. Other VFX heavy features like Wonka and Meg 2: The Trench were also affected.
– The Batman action/adventure game Gotham Knights from WB Games Montreal has an official release date of October 25, 2022. After its announcement in August 2020, the game was slated for a 2021 release, which was progressively pushed back due to COVID-19 and production delays. The game, set in the aftermath of Bruce Wayne’s death, allows players to take up the mantle of Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing or Robin as they clash with the Court of Owls. WB Games Montreal previously produced Batman: Akrham Origins. Gotham Knights will be released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
– Meanwhile, the main cast of the CW’s Gotham Knights pilot were reportedly revealed, with Oscar Morgan, Olivia Rose Keegan and Navia Robinson joining Fallon Smythe and Tyler DiChiara as Turner Hayes, Duela, and Carrie Kelly respectively. Turner Hayes appears to be a new character for the series, described as a soulful self-appointed prodigy of Bruce Wayne. Keegan appears to be playing a version of Duela Dent, the Joker’s Daughter, a child born in Arkham whose identity and history shifts with her obsessions. Finally, Robinson’s Carrie Kelly appears to be a clear adaptation of the iconic Robin from Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns.” Gotham Knights is written by Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams, the writers behind Batwoman, and follows an alliance between the children of Batman and his rogues as they solve the murder of Bruce Wayne. It has no set release as of yet.
– The long-gestating HBO Max Penguin series has officially been greenlit, with Colin Farrell starring and executive producing. The series will embellish the story of Oswald Cobblepot hinted at in Matt Reeves’s The Batman across a limited series. “I couldn’t be more excited about continuing this exploration of Oz as he rises through the darkened ranks to become the Penguin,” said Farrell. The series has enlisted Lauren LeFranc as its showrunner; she has previously produced Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove and Impulse. LeFrance and Farrell will executive produce alongside Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan. The Penguin is one of two confirmed spin-off series, with the other being an Arkham Asylum story that adapts elements from the shelved GCPD prequel series.
Continued below– Sky will officially be the exclusive UK distributor of Peacemaker in the UK as a part of its Sky/HBO deal. All eight episodes will begin to air on Sky Max, and be available for streaming through Now TV on March 22. The series, which has a second season on the way, is written and directed by James Gunn, and follows John Cena’s character from The Suicide Squad.
– Christopher Abbott has joined the cast of Kraven the Hunter, Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, as the Foreigner. Abbott will be the main antagonist for the feature, with Alessandro Nivola also set to play a mystery villain. The Foreigner is an assassin who, like Kraven, has no powers, and was created by Peter David and Mark Beachum in 1986. Abbott will star alongside Johnson, Nivola, Russell Crowe, Ariana DeBose and Fred Hechinger in the film directed by J.C. Chandor, with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing. Kraven the Hunter will release January 13.
– Disney/Lucasfilm has released the first trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new Disney+ limited series starring Ewan McGregor as Luke’s Jedi mentor. The trailer gives a first look at a young Luke Skywalker, Joel Edgerton returning as Owen Lars, and Rupert Friend making his debut as the Grand Inquisitor, a character originally from the animated series Star Wars: Rebels. The meditative teaser for the series, directed by Deborah Chow, shows off Kenobi’s exile on Tatooine, as well as the Fortress Inquisitorius, and the new industrial planet of Daiyu. Joining Friend are Moses Ingram and Sung Kang as the Third Sister and Fifth Brother, respectively, two more Inquisitors on the tail of Kenobi and the remaining Jedi. Finally, while he isn’t seen in the trailer, it ends with the familiar breathing of Darth Vader, teasing the return of Hayden Christiansen in the role. Obi-Wan Kenobi begins May 25.
– After an extended period of neutrality, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has expressed regret over the company’s involvement in the arguably unconstitutional Parental Rights in Education bill, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Chapek denounced the bill at a shareholder event, pledging US$5M to LGBTQIA+ charities, and to meet Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with some of the company’s queer employees. Chapek alleges that Disney cooperated in the bill in the hopes that “longstanding relationships with those lawmakers would enable [Disney] to achieve a better outcome.”
This comes after reports by the Orlando Sentinel proved that Disney had funded every single sponsor and co-sponsor of the bill. To the chagrin of many, Disney said they would keep donating to Republicans as well as Democrats, while promising to continue a trend of cosmetic activism. Chapek went on to say, “I understand our original approach, no matter how well intentioned, didn’t quite get the job done,” a sentiment that must ring true to the queer community in Florida, who would be legally forbidden from educating children on the existence of non-heterosexual orientations or gender identities outside of the binary. Many see the bill as a platform with which DeSantis will make a bid for the 2024 presidency.
