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, cartoonist and historian Trina Robbins has died, aged 85, while Marvel revealed Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Francesco Mortarino will helm the new “NYX” series. We also have an exclusive preview of the new “Giant-Size Hulk” special, due out next week.
– Marvel will celebrate 90 years of Donald Duck and the 50th anniversary of Wolverine with the new one-shot “What If…? Donald Duck Became Wolverine.” Written and drawn by Disney Comics veterans Luca Barbieri and Giada Perissinotto, the comic will parody ‘Old Man Logan,’ with Old Donald Duck being pulled out of retirement by Mickey-Hawkeye and Goofy-Hulk to battle Pete-Skull. It will be released on July 31, and mark the second classic Disney character comic from Marvel, after June’s special “Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime.” Head to the link to check out the variant covers revealed at the time of writing, although they sadly don’t reveal Donald with Logan’s hairstyle and sideburns. For the record, Donald first appeared in the short film The Wise Little Hen, released June 9, 1934, while Logan debuted in “The Incredible Hulk” #181 on July 30, 1974.
– Fantagraphics announced the posthumous release of Joe Matt’s “Peepshow” #15. The book, which was completed by Chester Brown, will be released on July 17, nearly a year after Matt’s death, aged just 60, on September 18, 2023. Matt had been working on the latest installment of his autobiographical series since 2006; it chronicles his relocation from Toronto to Los Angeles “in 2003, and his subsequent struggles, portrayed with his characteristic blend of self-deprecation and introspection. It’s utterly shameless, completely self-absorbed, crafted with an exhibitionist’s enthusiasm for his favorite subject: himself.”
– Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” will receive an audiobook release on May 7. The audio version, read by Kobabe, will also feature the voices of Maia’s sibling (and colorist) Phoebe Kobabe, plus André Santana, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, Stephen Graybill, and Trini Alvarado (1994’s Little Women); it will also contain new spoken material. Published by Oni Press in 2019, Kobabe’s story of self-discovery remains one of the most challenged books in the US; partly as a result, Kobabe is working on a more kid-friendly book on the subject, “Saachi’s Stories.”
– In release news, Zack Kaplan stated his and Fico Ossio’s Dark Horse series “Kill All Immortals” will now begin on July 10. The first issue of the supernatural action comic, originally set for February, has been expanded to contain 28 pages of story. Meanwhile, Isadora Zeferino revealed the cover for her debut graphic novel, “Mismatched.” The book, written by Anne Camlin, is a modern, gay male take on Jane Austen’s Emma (aka Clueless), that will be published by Little, Brown on September 3.
– Author John Jackson Miller is writing a prose novel continuation of Batman (1989), titled Batman: Resurrection. Due out from Penguin Random House on October 15, the book will pick up immediately after the film, with Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne beginning to suspect the Joker has survived his fatal fall. Miller states Resurrection is set earlier than the “Batman ’89” comics (which take place after both Tim Burton films) because it means “characters ranging from Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox to Max Shreck and Selina Kyle from Batman Returns can appear in the book.” You can read the book’s full synopsis at Penguin’s website.
– An R-rated, live-action film version of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” is in the works at Paramount, with Walter Hamada set to produce, and Tyler Burton Smith (Boy Kills World, the Child’s Play remake) attached to write. It marks the second adaptation of the dystopian 2020 comic in the works, following a video game in development from Embracer Group, and the third planned TMNT movie, following the Mutant Mayhem sequel (due out in 2026), and Colin and Casey Jost’s kid-friendly live-action reboot, as well as the first R-rated TMNT project. In the meantime, the second issue of the sequel, “The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution,” will be published on June 12.
Continued below– Paramount also revealed the voice casts for their upcoming animated Avatar: The Last Airbender and Smurfs movies. Aang: The Last Airbender (working title) will feature singer Eric Nam as an adult Aang, plus Dave Bautista as the villain, Jessica Matten (Dark Winds) as Katara, Román Zaragoza (Ghosts) as Sokka, and veteran Nickelodeon voice actress Dionne Quan as Toph. All of the voice actors replace the original series’ cast members, with a decidedly conscious effort to have them match their characters’ ethnicities and disabilities (eg. like Toph, Quan is blind.)
Meanwhile, Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Levy, Amy Sedaris, Nick Kroll, James Corden, Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Sandra Oh, Alex Winter, Billie Lourd, Xolo Maridueña, Kurt Russell, John Goodman, and JP Karliak (X-Men ’97‘s Morph) will all be appearing in the new Smurfs Movie. They join the previously announced Rihanna, who will be headlining as Smurfette. The Smurfs Movie, directed by Chris Miller (Puss in Boots), will be released in theaters on February 14, while Aang will arrive on October 10, 2025.
– In further news from CinemaCon, Paramount announced the Star Trek prequel film in development from J.J. Abrams, director Toby Haynes, and writer Seth Grahame-Smith, will be released sometime in 2025. Meanwhile, at Disney’s presentation, Kevin Feige confirmed the Thunderbolts movie (out May 5, 2025) will have an asterisk in its title, for reasons that’ll apparently be explained by the movie itself. Footage was also shown from Deadpool & Wolverine and Captain America: Brave New World; you can check out descriptions of those, as well as new photos from the latter, at the links.
– Finally, Game Informer has revealed Lady Qi’ra will appear in Ubisoft’s video game Star Wars: Outlaws, which will use Emilia Clarke’s likeness, although someone else is playing the part. The leader of the crime group Crimson Dawn, whom Clarke played in Solo: A Star Wars Story, had previously reappeared in the Marvel Comics series set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, when Outlaws also takes place; incidentally, those comic books were used to establish the main antagonists of the game, Zerek Besh. Outlaws will be released on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on August 30.
