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.
– Cullen Bunn and Mirko Colak are launching a new fantasy horror comic from AfterShock Comics based on Arthurian Legend. “Cursed Grail” is the well trod tale of King Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Round Table filtered through a dark twisted mirror. Bunn plans to look at Arthur’s “bloody rise to power and unholy reign,” calling the stories we know well now lies told in place of the more sullied less glamorous truth.
– Mariah McCourt, writer and ex-Vertigo and IDW editor, will be the new head editor on Papercutz’s new OGN line of books under the Charmz imprint. In the interview with Newsarama, she talks about the imprint’s mission to create smart, engaging, relationship-driven stories for tween and teen girl readers. McCourt is committed to delivering stories written and edited by women of various backgrounds, and to tell stories that will appeal to the audience that DC attempted to reach a decade ago with the Minx line. Her book “Stitched,” about a Frankenstein-like teen girl dealing coping with a new life and fitting in or not, is joined by “Chloe,” a crush/family drama, and “Sweeties” which adapts the Chocolate Box Girl novels of Cathy Cassidy.
– A further followup on the Ardian Syaf saga: Marvel’s altered panels include changing the ‘212’ graffiti to a grocery store awning.
– “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” Archie’s horror companion piece to “Afterlife with Archie,” last saw an issue released in August 2016. Now after nearly a year-long wait, writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, artist Robert Hack, and letterer Jack Morelli return with more 60’s witch-y stories. The 40-plus page issue #7, a pitch-black origin story for Sabrina’s father Edward Spellman, is scheduled to be on the shelves this July.
– “All-Star Comics: Bullwhip” #1 came out April 12th, adding another story to the growing ‘All-Star Comics’ superhero universe from Fantagraphics. As a companion piece to this release, co-creator of the comics line Josh Bayer put together a Spotify playlist that Bayer breaks down over at Nerdist. The series, created by Josh and Samuel Bayer, harkens back to an earlier time in the superhero genre, taking on the look and feel of pre-digitally colored comics.
– Newsarama interviewed a few comics retailers on their feelings about multiple artists on large superhero events like the recent “Justice League vs Suicide Squad” and the upcoming “Secret Empire.” Opinions varied across the booksellers interviewed, from those who liked the sales they got on the weekly shipped multi-artist books, and others said their customer base would rather wait for select artists on these projects. One said it best: it’s all “personal taste.”
– Marvel posted a tantalizing teaser via Twitter that hints at an expected mini-series starring a couple of Spider-Men. It is a bit ominous.
