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.
– Tille Walden will be touring the East and West coasts to promote “Clementine Book One.” The graphic novel from Skybound Comet, the YA/middle-grade imprint of Skybound and Image, follows the young survivor (first introduced in Telltale’s Walking Dead video game) as she meets an Amish teenager, and attempts to find safety in a Vermont ski lodge. An Eisner and Ignatz winner, Walden writes and draws the OGN, which will be the first volume in a trilogy. The East coast leg of the tour will be throughout the last week of June, then it hits the West through the end of July. The book itself will be available digitally and in comics shops on June 22 before releasing in bookstores June 28.
– In other “Walking Dead” spin-off news, Friday Night Lights star Gaius Charles has joined the cast of AMC’s Isle of the Dead. Charles will play Izaak, and co-star alongside original series mainstays Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The character is described as “confident, ruthless, and unyielding in the pursuit of what he believes is justice, with the force of his will and his menace,” with the series exploring his family and the loss that haunts him.
– The joint task force #DisneyMustPay (with member representatives Neil Gaiman, Tess Gerritsen. Lee Goldberg, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Chuck Wendig) have released an open letter to Disney regarding owed back pay to creators. ”You’ve paid some authors what you owed them,” the letter states. “But there are other creators that you don’t want to talk about. And, because you did not take our advice, new creators are coming forward who are owed money, too.” The letter cites Authors Guild and Society of Authors surveys showing that 71.4% writers have seen a drop in income since COVID, with the percentage being 57% in the UK.
– ‘Shadow Galactica,’ the final arc of Naoko Takeuchi’s original “Sailor Moon” manga, will be adapted into a two-part anime film that will open in Japan Summer 2023. Sailor Moon Cosmos, as the movies will be known, will be produced by Toei Animation with Tomoya Takahashi (Den-noh Coil, Gatchaman Crowds) directing. You can visit the films’ website here, and watch the official trailer on YouTube. The arc was previously adapted as Sailor Moon Stars, the fifth and final season of the original Sailor Moon anime.
– Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs has joined the cast of Disney+’s upcoming Echo series. The announcement was made by way of Instagram story, with series star Alaqua Cox posting a photo of a floral arrangement, writing “@kdeveryjacobs decided to surprise me with these beautiful flowers before the first day of filming tomorrow.” There’s no official word on who Jacobs will portray in the series, although Deadline claims she will play one of the lead characters, named Julie.
– Disney+ has enlisted fashion designers Prabal Gurung and Phillip Lim for their adaption of Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese.” The pair will work alongside series designer Joy Cretton to produce culturally significant costumes for the Chinese folklore and literature characters set to appear in the show, such as Michelle Yeoh’s Guanyin and Daniel Wu’s Sun Wukong. The series will follow high school student Jin Wang (Ben Wang) as he’s pulled into a battle between ancient Chinese deities.
– Alice Oseman’s “Heartstopper” entered USA Today’s Best-Selling Books list at number 49, thanks to the success of Netflix’s live-action adaptation. The original YA graphic novel, following the grammar school romance between British students Nick and Charlie, began life as a webcomic on Tumblr and Tapas. As of this writing, there are currently four collected graphic novels and two novellas.
– The Women of Marvel podcast has returned with a new eight-episode season. The theme of the current spring season will be “Our Characters: Then and Now,” tracking and exploring the progress of heroic Marvel women across all related media, and featuring interviews with creators and experts. The first episode will focus on Captain Carter, seen recently in Disney+’s What If…? series. Ellie Pyle, Angélique Roché, and Judy Stephens host with new episodes dropping weekly.
– Finally, DC has collected the first two issues of “Batman: Beyond the White Knight” into a special prestige format “Showcase Edition.” This follows both issues receiving two printings each, and both printings selling out. The series, written and drawn by Sean Murphy, picks up ten years after his previous “White Knight” runs. Bruce Wayne is in prison (and married to Harley Quinn), as Derek Powers takes control of his company and Terry McGinnis patrols the streets of Neo-Gotham. “Batman: Beyond the White Knight Showcase Edition” will be available on May 31, shortly after issue #3 hits shelves on the 24th.
