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, we looked back on the first arc of “Petrol Head” with creators Rob Williams and Pye Parr; Titan announced “Blade Runner: Tokyo Nexus”; and we have an exclusive preview of next week’s “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Special.”
– BOOM! Studios has tapped Garth Ennis, James Tynion IV, Becky Cloonan, R.L. Stine, and others for a new horror anthology series, “Hello Darkness.” The first six issues with feature a brand new ”Something is Killing the Children” story from Tynion and Werther Dell’Edera, while Ennis and Cloonan will create a back-up that will span across the first seven. Creators have spoken about the freedom BOOM! has given them with the series, with Marguerite Bennett saying “‘Hello Darkness’ has been an exquisite opportunity to tell the kind of story that every other publisher turned away for being too upsetting, too sexual, too angry.” Steve Orlando claims he “self-defenestrated” at the chance, creating “a strange short that’s part-John Waters and part-Nikolai Gogol, something never before put to the comics pages!” Issue #1 is due out July 24. Paolo Rivera will provide cover art, with variants from Jenny Frison and a second artist varying from month-to-month. The first issue will also feature additional cover art from Peach Momoko.
– Steve Orlando’s “Scarlet Witch” run is set to relaunch on June 12, and in issue #3, we will see the return of Lore, Wanda’s dark counterpart from the 1994 series. Russell Dauterman redesigned Lore, and will join artist Jacopo Camagni for the book’s interiors. “Redesigning Lore was a huge treat!” he said. “Lore is an evil Wanda variant, so I wanted to contrast the design I did for our Scarlet Witch, which was meant to be magical, vibrant, and super-heroic, by going dark and sinister, with a goth, undead vibe. I’m [incredibly] excited to also be drawing some interiors in the issue where these two Wandas face off!” Prior to this, Lore had only reappeared in the Infinity Comic “Avengers Unlimited” early on in 2023. Issue #3 will be available on August 21. Dauterman will supply cover art, with Joelle Jones providing a variant.
– Vault Comics announced “Barbaric vs. Deathstalker,” a one-shot bringing two of the publisher’s biggest franchises together. “When an evil wizard summons the two most reluctant heroes of all time, they’ll have to square off,” reads the official synopsis. “But a clash of steel alone may not decide the final victor.” Michael Moreci & Tim Seeley wrote the script together, with Nathan Gooden on art, while Fabi Marques colors and Jim Campbell letters. Moreci commented on working with Slash, who helped create Vault’s “Deathstalker” series, based on the 1983 movie of the same name, saying “As a kid who grew up on Guns N’ Roses and considered Slash to be pretty much one of the coolest people on the planet, having a chance to collaborate with him is more than I could have ever hoped for. Couple that with Deathstalker, one of the coolest so-bad-its-good sword and sorcery movies ever (and as most know, I love sword and sorcery), this is a dream pairing.” The oversized special will be out on July 24.
– Several categories of nominees for the 84th annual Peabody Awards were announced, with Disney Channel series Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur among the Children’s/Youth noms. The Last of Us, Poker Face, Bluey, The Bear and Jury Duty all picked up nominations across the Entertainment, Arts, Children’s/Youth, and Interactive & Immersive categories, with PBS leading the pack with 11 nominations, followed by HBO Max’s eight and Netflix’s four. The winners will be announced May 9, with the ceremony taking place at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Sunday, June 9.
– Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken, along with executive producers Sam Raimi and Zainab Azizi, have been tapped to develop “I’m the Grim Reaper” into a TV series. “I’m the Grim Reaper” is an ongoing Webtoon series created by Grave Weaver, who will also executive produce alongside Raimi and Azizi. The series follows a girl named Scarlet, who serves as a reaper for Satan after cutting a deal when she wakes up in the ninth circle of Hell. The series is being developed by Wattpad Webtoon Studios, created specifically to develop IPs from either platform.
– Jonathan Bailey, Hayley Atwell, and Eddie Marsan will join the cast of Heartstopper in the Netflix original’s third and current season. According to Alice Oseman, creator of the comic, “Hayley Atwell joins the Nelson family as Nick’s Aunt Diane, who takes Nick on a summer holiday to Menorca and has some tough advice to impart about his relationship. Eddie Marsan will be portraying a beloved character from the graphic novels: Geoff, Charlie’s wise and straight-talking therapist. And lastly, Jonathan Bailey will be making a cameo appearance as Jack Maddox, an Instagram-famous classicist and celebrity crush of Charlie.” Season three will see the summer holiday end, with Charlie wanting to tell Nick he loves him, and Nick wanting to tell Charlie something just as important. The eight-episode season streams this October.
– Finally, fans of Netflix’s Wednesday can now enjoy a Wednesday-themed edition of the board game Clue, available now from The Op. This new edition of the tabletop classic replaces Mr. Body’s mansion with Nevermore Academy, and the familiar cast with students from the Addams Family spin-off. The iconic weapons have also been replaced with ones thematic to the series (Beehive, Bow, Chains, Fencing Foil, Crackstone’s Sword, and Poison Syringe). As opposed to determining which of the players is the killer, the object of this edition is to capture Hyde, determining who his next victim will be, where he will attack, and what weapon is the key to bringing him down. It is available now for $45.
