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.
– Massive Publishing will publish “Eye Lie Popeye” as a five-issue series this summer. The manga-inspired comic by Marcus Williams, which was originally released as a digital exclusive on ComicBook.com, reveals how E.C. Segar’s iconic Sailor Man lost his right eye. The 40-page first issue will be released on August 7, coinciding with the 95th anniversary of the character’s first appearance in “Thimble Theatre” in 1929, and shortly before he enters the public domain next year.
– Official Magic: The Gathering manga “Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated.” will receive an English release courtesy of Viz Media in October. Created by writer Katsura Ise and artist Takuma Yakota in 2018, the series follows two rival Magic players in high school in the late 1990s, who slowly fall in love. It was originally published by Kadokawa, and has spawned 15 volumes so far. The first volume’s release will come with an exclusive Magic card, the details for which will be revealed closer to the time of its publication.
– Via The Bookseller, British comedian and children’s book author David Baddiel will make his comics debut with the middle-grade graphic novel “Flying South.” Created with “2000 AD” veteran Luke Horsman, the book will (in Baddiel’s words) tell the story of “a plucky sparrow, who decides to lead a ragtag team of similar low-level birds into the skies for the journey they aren’t supposed to make.” It will be released by HarperCollins Children’s Books at some point in the UK in 2025.
– In trailer news, Prime Video released a full-length trailer for The Boys season four, revealing Gen V‘s Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips) and Sam Riordan (Asa Germann) will be joining forces to wreak havoc with Antony Starr’s Homelander. The show returns with a three-part premiere on Thursday, June 13. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm marked Star Wars Day by releasing the second trailer and key art for The Acolyte. The series will premiere on Disney+ with two episodes on Tuesday, June 4.
– In other Boys news, the producers of Gen V announced they will not be recasting the role of Andre Anderson after actor Chance Perdomo’s death on March 30. “We won’t be recasting the role, because no one can replace Chance. Instead, we have been taking the time and space to recraft our Season 2 storylines as we begin production in May,” they said. “We will honor Chance and his legacy this season.” Perdomo died following a motorcycle accident while traveling through upstate New York to Toronto for filming on the second season (which was subsequently delayed), aged just 27.
– The Fall Guy director David Leitch and 87North Productions co-founder Kelly McCormick are developing a TV series based on John Wagner and Arthur Ranson’s “2000 AD” strip “Button Man.” Created in 1992, the comic follows Harry Exton, an ex-soldier who becomes a champion in an underground blood sport held by wealthy “Voices.” When he decides to quit, Exton kills his sponsor to cover his tracks, only to find himself being hunted down by other “Button Men.” The comic was previously in-development as a film at Netflix with writer Brian Helgeland, and before that at DreamWorks with director Nicolas Winding Refn.
– The original Crow movie is making a return to theaters ahead of the remake’s release to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The film will be rereleased in Cinemark Theatres on May 29 as part of Paramount (which gained the rights to the film from original distributor Miramax) and Fangoria magazine’s Scream Greats Series. It will be accompanied at screenings by a retrospective interview with production designer Alex McDowell. The Crow, directed by Alex Proyas and starring the late Brandon Lee, was originally released on May 13, 1994, while the remake, helmed by Rupert Sanders with Bill Skarsgård in the lead role, is currently set to bow on August 23.
– Meanwhile, Shout! Studios have announced they have acquired the streaming rights to the original Speed Racer cartoon, as well as its Japanese predecessor, Mach GoGoGo, and that it will be available to buy and rent from various services on June 1. This will mark the first time both versions of the anime have been made available on streaming services at the same time. It was also announced reruns of the iconic ’60s cartoon will air on the MeTV Toons Channel, launching this summer, further introducing it to a whole new generation. “Speed Racer” was created by Tatsuo Yoshida in 1966, and the TV version quickly became one of the most popular anime of all time when it premiered in both Japan and the States the following year.
– Finally, 30 years after his passing, Jack Kirby has received an action figure — sort of. NECA have unveiled a toy of Kirby, the cartoonist from the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series based on the King of Comics. The figure will come packaged with a Black Horde creature (complete with its own weapon), Kirby’s sketch of Donatello, and the Gravitic Equalizer from the issue Kirby appeared in, plus a pencil, and several poseable hands. Kirby is available now from all good toy stores.
