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, DC announced a new “Batman and Robin” series by Joshua Williamson and Simone Di Meo.
by Joshua Cassara
– At MegaCon, Marvel unveiled the names of several upcoming ‘Fall of X’ titles via a teaser image by Bryan Hitch (above), which includes “Astonishing Iceman,” “Children of the Vault,” “Dark X-Men,” “Realm of X,” an “Alpha Flight” relaunch, and “Uncanny Spider-Man.” It was also revealed Kate Pryde will return to the “X-Men” roster with issue #25 in August, using the slightly altered codename Shadowkat, and a new costume reflecting the character’s ninja training (as seen in 1984’s “Kitty Pryde and Wolverine”), designed by Peach Momoko. ‘Fall of X’ kicks off with “X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023” #1 on July 26.
– Over at C2E2, Marvel held a panel for ‘Summer of Symbiotes,’ announcing “Web of Carnage,” a new series by Ram V, Francesco Manna, and more, starting July 12; “Death of the Venomverse,” a five-part series by Cullen Bunn and Gerardo Sandoval kicking off on August 2; and “Edge of Venomverse Unlimited,” an Infinity Comic written by Clay McLeod Chapman with art on different stories by Phillip Sevy, Gustavo Duarte, Dax Gordine, and Nathan Stockman, which will begin on Marvel Unlimited on June 13. They also revealed Torunn Grønbekk and Ken Lashley will be the creative team on July’s “Venom” #22, which will reintroduce Carnage’s spawn Toxin.
– Meanwhile, Marvel revealed Spider-Boy, a character being introduced in this week’s “Spider-Man” #7, which marks the conclusion of Dan Slott and Mark Bagley’s ‘End of the Spider-Verse.’ Unlike the other characters introduced in the event, Spider-Boy (aka Bailey) is not from another world, but has apparently been present in the 616 universe for all of Spider-Man’s greatest adventures… “Hasn’t he?” Spider-Boy’s debut will go on sale with a previously top secret variant cover by Humberto Ramos showcasing the character, and he will also appear in June’s “Edge of Spider-Verse” #3, which will reveal his origin story.
– The second trailer for Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion was released, revealing the six-part series will premiere on Disney+ on June 21. The show sees Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury return to Earth, to help Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos battle an extremist Skrull faction, led by Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik (who appears to have Super-Skrull abilities.) Vanity Fair also published a first look at the series, revealing Emilia Clarke is playing Talos’s estranged daughter G’iah, and some insight into Fury’s mindset after Avengers: Endgame, as well as how his relationships with the Skrulls and Maria Hill have deteriorated since the events of that film and Captain Marvel.
– Per The Hollywood Reporter, Josh Friedman will take over as writer on Marvel’s new Fantastic Four movie, due out February 14, 2025. The movie, directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, previously had comedy writers Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer attached to the project. Friedman and Shakman previously worked together on Star Trek 4, when the director was still attached to the project. His other credits include showrunning Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, co-writing the story of Terminator: Dark Fate and the Avatar sequels (including the screenplay for Avatar 4 itself), and co-developing Snowpiercer and Foundation.
– In non-Marvel news, the podcast Panel Borders released a recording of Alison Bechdel’s talk at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival last fall, where she revealed she is working on a sequel to her 1983-2008 comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For.” Bechdel described the original graphic novel as “a funny mix of fiction and memoir,” mixing her characters at their present ages “with my current real-life friends.” You can read a transcript of an excerpt from the recording at Bleeding Cool. And in further comics development news, BOOM! Studios confirmed the untitled “Power Rangers” series written by Amy Jo Johnson and Matt Hotson, which she first revealed in 2021, will be released next year.
– Hawaii News Now reports R. Kikuo Johnson has become the first cartoonist to win a Whiting Award. The prizes, awarded annually by the Whiting Foundation, honors ten emerging writers in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. The selection committee said Johnson’s 2021 book “No One Else” “stitches a gentle seam along the frayed edges of three generations of a family in Hawaii. The art in rendering grief lies in capturing its awkwardness, how it has to fit into the momentum of our days. Johnson renders family wounds and complicated affection with subtle nudges of halting language that punch through the wide-lens illustrations, and his poignant wit and generosity allow us to read between and far beyond the panels.” Hit the link for the full list of this year’s winners.
– Finally, to mark April Fools’ Day, Marvel Unlimited released “Spider-Man & Hulk: Toilet Paper Infinity Comic,” a digital edition of Jim Salicrup and Michael Higgins’s 1979 strip, which was originally published as a novelty toilet paper roll. In an interview, Tim Smith 3, Senior Manager of Digital Comics Production, stated “Marvel has [had] its nose in all kinds of businesses! So yeah, I have known about this for a long time. The idea is a no-brainer, really. I can now sit at the best seat in the house with Spider-Man at my side. Cheering me on with tales of adventure. Good times, good times.”
