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, Image Comics announced that they will be bringing “Sins of the Black Flamingo,” as well as the Substack series “The Closet” and “Public Domain,” to print; and Paul Dano will be teaming up with artist Stevan Subic for a “Riddler: Year One” miniseries.
– Mad Cave Studios announced a new series called “Potions Inc.” by writer Erik Burnham, artist Stelladia, and letterer Micah Myers. The series is set in the magical world of Primaterra, and will follow Randelgast “Ran” Jones, the latest member of the Jones family to run the family’s potion-selling shop, as he ventures into our world, specifically to Seattle, after “an important artifact” is stolen from him. The preview pages for the first issue, which are available on CBR, introduce the reader to the world of Primaterra through a father telling his daughter a bedtime story about the realm, blurring the lines between fiction and reality for the series. “Potions Inc.” #1 is scheduled for release on June 8.
– CBR revealed that Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips’s Image Comics series, “That Texas Blood,” will be returning for its third arc in June. The new arc, called ‘The Snow Falls Endlessly in Wonderland,’ will be set in the winter of 1992, and see a serial killer at large in Ambrose County. “That Texas Blood” #14 will start the new arc on June 8. Head over to CBR to check out Matt Taylor and Greg Smallwood’s variant covers for the issue.
– A third volume of “Steeple” by John Allison and Sammy Borras is set for release in August, Dark Horse Comics announced. “Steeple” Volume 3 will see a “cozy TV detective drama” come to shoot in Tredregyn after the failure of a Satanic ritual, which causes significantly darker events to unfold than the usual “casual jobs and showbiz glitz.” The volume will also feature a back-up story supporting it, the title of which has yet to be revealed. In the back-up story, a teenage detective sets to unravel the mystery surrounding “the disappearance of a glamorous author.” “Steeple” Volume 3 is scheduled for release in comic book shops on August 10, and book shops on August 23.
– There were eight graphic novel deals included in Publishers Weekly‘s children’s book deal roundup, such as Trung Le Nguyen’s YA-aimed “Angelica and the Bear Prince.” The graphic novel was acquired by Random House Graphic, and will follow a 17-year-old called Angelica, who has overachieved in high school and just recovered from burnout; she tries to pursue her passion for theater by taking on an internship, but quickly becomes embroiled in a cycle that could see her burn out once again as she navigates the internship, her friendships, and the crush she has on a boy who wears a bear costume.
Also included in the roundup was an acquisition for Vault’s Wonderbound imprint in the form of Melissa Pagluica’s “Above the Clouds.” Previously self-published, “Above the Clouds” is described by Pagluica as a “half-silent” comic that follows two heroes in interlinked stories; one half of the graphic novel follows a hero who “must save a dying world,” whilst the other follows a “young girl who must convince an author to finish what he has started.” “Above the Clouds” is scheduled to be released in 2023, and “Angelica and the Bear Prince” will follow two years later in 2025. You can check out the full roundup here.
– Fantagraphics and artist Jim Rugg decided against publishing the latter’s upcoming variant for “Red Room Trigger Warnings” #3, which parodied the Holocaust-themed graphic novel “Maus,” by Art Spiegelman. This was the latest parody variant cover that Rugg was set to provide for the series, however, as part of his apology in the publisher’s official statement, Rugg said “I realize (now) that the morally charged subject matter of ‘Maus’ made it an inappropriate subject for the necessarily over-the-top ‘Red Room’ treatment and I apologize for my misjudgment.” Fantagraphics stated that they supported Rugg’s decision and “regret that we did not bring this issue up during the editorial process,” and intend to “be more cognizant of our comic covers” in the future.
Continued below– Cian Tormey, the artist for “Superman: Son of Kal-El,” announced that he has signed an exclusivity contract with the series’s publisher, DC Comics. As part of the tweet announcing the news, Tormey gave “a massive thank you to the editors and collaborators who have made this the best job in the world already.” Tormey has previously featured on other DC comics titles in recent years, including “Batgirl” and “Catwoman,” and also worked for Marvel, with their “Darkhold Alpha” and “Darkhold Omega” issues being the most recent additions to his portfolio. The length of the contract has not been revealed, but Tormey said he is “excited to see where the next few years go.”
– There were a host of casting updates: firstly, Deadline revealed that What We Do In The Shadows‘s Harvey Guillén will be joining the third season of Harley Quinn as the voice of Nightwing. Secondly, the upcoming Blue Beetle film adaptation, which will feature Guillén too, expanded its cast to include George Lopez, Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo and Damián Alcázar as members of the hero Jaime Reyes’s (Xolo Maridueña) family. Lopez will portray Uncle Rudy and Barraza will play Nana, while Carrillo will portray Rocio, and Alcázar is set to play Alberto. Thirdly, The Mandalorian season three gained Back to the Future star Christopher Lloyd in a yet-to-be-detailed, guest starring role. Of the three productions, only Blue Beetle has a release date; it is scheduled to debut in theaters on August 18, 2023.
– Writer/artist Kate Beaton revealed that an animated adaptation of her children’s book, The Princess and the Pony, called Pinecone & Pony, is set to debut on Apple TV+ on April 8. Developed by DreamWorks, the series will see the titular Princess Pinecone and her equine best friend, Pony, as they set out on an adventure, and learn what it takes to be warriors, encountering trolls, rock monsters, and more. You can watch the trailer for yourself here.
– Finally, the BBC Maestro program unveiled an upcoming online course for storytelling by writer Alan Moore. The course, which will be comprised of 33 lessons totaling six hours, is designed to allow people to “learn to create mesmerising fiction by mastering inventive language, characterisation, world-building and more.” Each lesson explores a different element of fiction writing, such as genre, structure, and misdirection. The course is available to pre-order now, for £80 (US$105.42), before launching on Thursday, March 24.
