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, we ran an exclusive excerpt from “By Water: The Felix Manz Story,” and spoke to Curt Pires and Michelle Lam about their new projects.
– IDW will publish “Brynmore,” a gothic horror series reteaming “The October Faction” creators Steve Niles and Damien Worm. The comic follows Mark Turner, a recovering alcoholic who returns to his hometown, Turner Island, hoping to reconcile with his daughter Sophie. “Planning to renovate the town’s dilapidated church into a home for himself, Mark’s dreams of a second chance soon begin to crumble as he encounters hostility from the locals, and finds himself enmeshed in a dark and sinister legacy of intrigue dating back to when the island was first named after his ancestors.” Issue #1 (of 5) will be released in June 2023.
– Kelly Thompson’s “Captain Marvel” run will conclude with a double-sized issue #50 — drawn by Javier Pina and David Lopez — on June 7. Thompson’s volume began shortly before the release of the Captain Marvel movie in January 2019, and will tie with Brian Reed’s “Ms. Marvel” run for Carol Danvers’s longest series; it will also become the longest “Captain Marvel” comic since Mar-Vell’s 1968-1979 run, which lasted 62 issues. She stated, “While it hasn’t always been easy, I’m so proud of the stories we’ve told with Carol, but none of it would have been possible without the fans. Captain Marvel fans are some of the best comic fans — and humans — I’ve ever experienced, truly. So thank you for this run. We made it, but you all made it so loved, and so long. Thank you.”
– Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint announced “Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis,” an adaptation of the German opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Scripted by journalist and educator Dave Maass, with art by Patrick Lay, character designs by Ezra Rose, and lettering by Richard Bruning, “Death Strikes” imagines Death literally going on strike after Atlantis — before its fall — declares war on the rest of the world, leading to a neverending conflict where people keep fighting, but are unable to die. The book will also include essays on Peter Kien and Viktor Ullmann, who wrote and composed the opera a year before they died at Auschwitz in 1944. It will be released in bookstores on November 7, and comics stores the following day.
– In more German history-related news, Oni Press will publish “Parallel,” a graphic biography by Matthias Lehmann, in English on June 13. The 458-page graphic novel chronicles the life of one of Lehmann’s relatives, Karl Kling, who was a closeted family man, from the end of World War II until the 1980s. The book was originally released to much acclaim in Germany in 2021, where it was nominated for the German Inclusive Independent Comic Award (GINCO) for Best Print Work.
– Dark Horse also announced “Lunar Lodge,” a four-part werewolf series by writer Tyler Marceca, artist Mirko Colak, colorist Bryan Valenza, and letterer Frank Cvetkovic, starting June 21. Described as a horror, drama, comedy, action, romance, and mystery comic, “Lunar Lodge” follows Rob Moreland, a man who gets more than he bargained for when he follows his estranged wife, Fiona, to the titular hotel. It marks the first comic from Marceca, who sold the spec script Stay Frosty to Warner Bros. for $1 million in 2021.
– Via ComicBook.com, AHOY revealed a second volume of Eric Palicki and Wendell Cavalcanti’s 2021 horror series “Black’s Myth,” “Black’s Myth: The Key To His Heart.” The comic will continue the adventures of werewolf P.I. Janie Jones “Strummer” Mercado and her djinn assistant Ben Si’lat in Los Angeles, as they fight to “prevent a young girl from becoming a monster,” and uncover why “an old enemy” is “sending mysterious packages to her house.” It will begin on June 21.
– Netflix released the teaser trailer for Sweet Tooth season two. Set to “This Little Light of Mine,” it sees Gus meet Dr. Singh and General Abbot, who see him as bringing hope to the future, albeit in respectively sincere and sinister ways, as well as Jepperd and Eden teaming up to save the hybrid children. It concludes with Gus declaring he’s done hiding, and turning the tables on his captors. The season drops Thursday, April 27.
Continued below– Kodansha will launch K Manga, a manga reading app, in the United States on Wednesday, May 10. The app will offer 400 titles at launch, including the latest chapters of 70 current comics, available in English before any competing service; these are expected to include “Zeros Eden,” “Attack on Titan,” “The Seven Deadly Sins” and its sequel “Four Knights of the Apocalypse,” “Fire Force,” “Fairy Tail,” “Tokyo Revengers,” and “Ghost in the Shell.” Pricing plans weren’t announced, but select chapters of certain series will be available to read for free. You can check out a teaser for the service at the official website here.
– Meanwhile in Japan, it was announced an anime film based on “Dragon Ball” creator Akira Toriyama’s 2000 manga “Sand Land” will be released there on August 18. A post-apocalyptic comic, “Sand Land” is set in a world where the only known water supply is hoarded by a greedy king. It follows Sheriff Rao, who asks the king of the demons for help finding an alternative. Together with the king’s son, Beelzebub, and his assistant, Thief, he sets off to search for a long-lost lake, battling dragons, bandits, and the army of the human king. Head to the link to check out the film’s character designs.
– Finally, the fallout from Shazam! Fury of the Gods‘s lackluster opening weekend continued to spiral, with actor Zachary Levi appearing to corroborate a report from The Wrap that Black Adam star and producer Dwayne Johnson blocked a cameo from the Justice Society in the film, as well as a Levi cameo in his movie. Shazam! director David F. Sandberg himself confirmed the Justice Society were supposed to cameo, before being replaced by Emilia Harcourt and John Economos. Sandberg, for his part, tweeted this week, “I don’t regret even for a second making the Shazam movies. I’ve learned so much and gotten to work with some truly amazing people. Will forever be grateful that I got to direct two of these! They’ve been very challenging but valuable experiences.”
