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, artist M.D. Bright, the co-creator of Milestone’s Rocket, Quantum & Woody, and more, has passed away, aged 68.
– Writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist Rick Leonardi will explore what would’ve happened if Jason Todd had survived his deadly encounter with the Joker in “From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives!” A four-issue series starting Wednesday, July 10, “Robin Lives!” sees Jason carry out his revenge after surviving the explosion that killed him in 1988’s “Batman” #428 (written by Jim Starlin with art by Jim Aparo.) The project’s announcement comes in the wake of last year’s facsimile of the original issue, featuring the art Aparo drew for the ending in case readers voted to save Jason. The first issue will have a main cover by Leonardi, and a variant by Mike Mignola, who provided the original cover art for the ‘Death in the Family’ arc.
– In assorted Image news, ComicBook.com co-founder Jim Viscardi has left the website to become the publisher’s VP of Business Development. The publisher also announced “Misery,” a four-part Spawn spin-off by Todd McFarlane and Szymon Kudrański beginning June 5, and “The Department of Truth: Wild Fictions,” a standalone reprint of the series’ case file reports, and more, releasing in hardcover in comic book stores on September 25, and bookstores on October 8. The latter features art by James Stokoe, Bill Sienkiewicz, Yuko Shimuzu, Erica Henderson, and series co-creator Martin Simmonds, among others.
– Dark Horse announced “Blacksad: They All Fall Down – Part Two” will be released in hardcover in bookstores on November 5, and comic book stores the following day. The latest installment of Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guardino’s animal detective series finds John Blacksad in a race against time to prevent his best friend from being sent to the electric chair. They also revealed a Deluxe Library Edition of “Star Wars: Vader’s Castle,” collecting all of the Halloween-themed series and specials originally written by Cavan Scott for IDW. The 424-page hardcover goes on sale for $49.99 on September 24/25.
– Award-winning actress Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna) has been cast as a female version of the Silver Surfer in The Fantastic Four. Garner’s version will reportedly not be a female Norrin Radd, but a variant of his traditional love interest Shalla-Bal, ala the version from “Earth X.” The film will be released on July 25, 2025, 18 years after Norrin’s live-action debut in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne.) The news broke just hours after Disney shareholders resoundingly rejected the bid by Nelson Peltz (a proxy of ex-Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter) to join the board of directors. Perlmutter, who reputedly rejected female MCU leads because he believed their action figures wouldn’t sell, had no comment.
– Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) is in talks to helm Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow for DC Studios. The movie, starring Milly Alcock and written by Ana Nogueira, is based on the maxiseries of the same name by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, and will see a 21-year old Kara Zor-El venture into space to help a young girl get revenge on the man who murdered her father. Filming will begin in the fourth quarter of 2024, once shooting on James Gunn’s Superman (which will likely introduce Alcock as Kara) concludes.
– Cédric Nicolas-Troyan (The Huntsman: Winter’s War, Kate) will direct a live-action, English-language film version of “The Yellow M,” the sixth volume of Edgar P. Jacobs’s Franco-Belgian series “Blake and Mortimer.” The comic, serialized in “Tintin” magazine from 1953 to 1954, saw British scientist Philip Mortimer and MI5 agent Francis Blake contend with a string of high-profile robberies, committed by a villain who’d leave behind a yellow “M” at the scene of his crimes. The movie will mark Blake and Mortimer’s film debut, and their first live-action appearance.
– In Netflix news, the streamer released a second trailer for Dead Boy Detectives, the series dropping April 25, revealing a Sandman cast member reprising her role for the show. It was also reported Sharlto Copley, James Purefoy, and Danny Woodburn have joined the cast of The Witcher season four. Copley will play ruthless bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, while Purefoy will play Skellen, a spy and advisor to Ciri’s father Emhyr var Emreis, and Woodburn (Seinfeld, Zack Snyder’s Watchmen) will play the good-natured dwarf Zoltan. Filming on the season, in which Liam Hemsworth takes over the role of Geralt of Rivia from Henry Cavill, begins this spring.
– Finally, Drew Goddard will write and direct a fifth Matrix film for Warner Bros., executive produced by Lana Wachowski. Plot details on the project, which Goddard pitched to the studio, are being kept secret. It will mark the first feature film in the series to not be directed by either of the Wachowski sisters. The news comes as something of a surprise after the fourth Matrix film, The Matrix Resurrections, disappointed at the box office, but Warner Bros. likely feels that was because it was released day-and-date on HBO Max during Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s run. Before Resurrections was greenlit, they were in the process of developing a prequel with writer Zak Penn, which was penned with Michael B. Jordan in mind for the lead role.
