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, Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans are reteaming on the graphic novel “We Called Them Giants.”
– Via Forbes, IDW announced “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration,” a 72-page one-shot releasing July 10. Creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird reunited to provide the main cover for the book, which will also feature a new story by Eastman, plus additional comics and pin-up art by Jim Lawson, Ciro Nieli, Tristan Jones, Paul Harmon, Andy Suriano, Ronda Pattison, Pablo Tunica, Sophie Campbell, Tom Waltz, Michael Dialynas, Lloyd Goldfine, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Dan Duncan, Erik Burnham, Sarah Myer, Luis Antonio Delgado, Chris Allan, Steve Lavigne, Freddie E. Williams II, and more. It will retail for $11.99.
– Marvel revealed Peter Parker will become the “Spider-Goblin” in Ed McGuiness’s cover art for July’s “Amazing Spider-Man” #53. The transformation was set up in last summer’s issue #32, but put off thanks to Norman Osborn, Kraven, and Ashley Kafka/Queen Goblin’s efforts a few issues later. Now, Peter will become fully consumed by “the weight of Norman Osborn’s sins” in Zeb Wells, McGuinness and Todd Nauck’s ‘Easy Being Green’ arc, kicking off in “Amazing Spider-Man” #50 on May 22. Solicits for the previous issues had promised Norman lapsing back into his Green Goblin ways, but also said it wouldn’t be as simple as it seemed, and redacted parts of the cover art.
– Pantheon will publish “Rescue Party: A Graphic Anthology of COVID Lockdown,” a 192-page hardcover collection of single-page comics drawn at the start of the pandemic. The book was conceived by Gabe Fowler, owner of the Brooklyn comics shop Desert Island, who put out a call for “something positive to think about” in April 2020. It will feature a total of 140 submissions from professional and amateur cartoonists alike, as well as an introduction by comics scholar Hillary Chute, and retail for $25 on July 23.
– Via Publishers Weekly, Abrams will publish “The Gravestone Sessions,” a supernatural young adult graphic novel by writer Jeremy Holt and artist Dave Cole. Due out in 2027, the book follows Ezra, a high school student and sculptor who (like Holt) is non-binary, and “struggling with their senior art thesis of identity. When they find a way to communicate with the dead, they become obsessed with exploring their lineage to try to lend context to their present in order to graduate.”
In further YA graphic novel news from PW, Casey Gilly (“Funeral in Foam”) and Morgan Beem (“Swamp Thing: Twin Branches”) will team up on “Quiet Appetites,” the story of a family who discover their new home in the English countryside is haunted. It will be published by First Second in 2026. Meanwhile, Oni Press will publish “The Autism Journals,” a coming-of-age story by autistic novelist/professor Daniel Bowman Jr., and artist Rinnah Shaw. A release window was not given for the book, which will follow an autistic teenager during his senior year of high school.
– Paramount have renewed Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for a fourth season, while announcing the next season of Lower Decks will be its last. The fifth and final season of Lower Decks will premiere on Paramount+ this fall, while the third season of Strange New Worlds is currently in production for a release next year. In a statement, franchise executive producer Alex Kurtzman and LD creator Mike McMahan expressed hope the show’s characters would reappear in future projects someday; with SNW, the Starfleet Academy series, and a potential continuation of Picard among the many canon shows lined up for the streamer, the possibilities are (to borrow from Spock) endless.
– Buried in a Hollywood Reporter article about Justin Lin tackling a spec script for Amazon MGM comes an unlikely update about another one of the director’s projects. Per the trade, Dan Harmon and Heather Anne Campbell are currently rewriting the script for the One-Punch Man movie that Lin is helming for Sony. Lin became attached to the project in 2022, which was being written at the time by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner. Created by the pseudonymous mangaka One in 2009, “One-Punch Man” follows Saitama, a superhero who’s become bored by how invincible he is. Campbell has written several projects with Harmon, including Rick and Morty, and described the One-Punch Man anime as one of her favorite cartoons when it began airing.
Continued below– In awards news, Netflix’s One Piece won the WGA Award for Best Children’s Episodic, Long Form and Specials for its first episode, “Romance Dawn,” while The Last of Us and The Simpsons also picked up an award each; Stranger Things: The First Shadow won two Laurence Olivier Awards, namely for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play, and Best Set Design; and Nadji Jeter won the BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Miles Morales in Spider-Man 2. It marked his second nomination and first win for the award, following his nomination for Miles’s eponymous game in 2021.
– Speaking of Spidey voice actors, “Spectacular Spider-Men” writer Greg Weisman has been promoting the series with motion comics featuring the voice of Spectacular Spider-Man star Josh Keaton. The first issue received a clip featuring Andrew Kishino reprising his role from the show as Kenny Kong, while the second issue‘s promotional clip co-stars Zeno Robinson (who worked with Weisman as Cyborg on Young Justice) as Miles Morales. “Spectacular Spider-Men” #2, featuring art by Humberto Ramos, will be released on Wednesday, April 17.
– Finally, the BBC have confirmed Varada Sethu (Andor) is joining the cast of Ncuti Gatwa’s second season of Doctor Who. Contrary to media reports stating Millie Gibson would bow out as Ruby Sunday after Gatwa’s first season, the two actresses appear alongside Gatwa in the announcement, with showrunner Russell T Davies saying, “We’ve got Ncuti, Millie and Varada fighting side by side – we need all three, because the stakes are higher than ever!” Sethu previously worked with Davies on his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, playing the fairy Peaseblossom. Gatwa and Gibson’s first season premieres on Disney+ and BBC iPlayer on May 10, at 7pm Eastern Time.
