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 have an exclusive preview of next week’s “Star Wars: Mace Windu” #4.
– Leah Williams is sending the Gotham City Sirens on a western adventure by Gotham’s county line. Simply called “Gotham City Sirens,” making it the first book with that title since 2011, the miniseries will see Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn take on a “cowboy-henchmen sensation soon to be sweeping the nation” called the Nasty Boys. Williams herself refers to them as “ominously horny half-naked cowboys with automatic assault weapons.” Matteo Lolli and Daniel Hillyard will rotate art duties. Brandt & Stein will join Hillyard for issue #4, which will be the 40-page finale. The series will be released weekly starting August 7, with the ongoing “Catwoman,” “Harley Quinn,” and “Poison Ivy” comics set to be paused during that month.
– ComiXology has announced “Raise Hell!,” a new six-issue miniseries following three teens in the mid-2000s, who spend their summer vacation blood-bonding with demonic entities. It was written by Jordan Alsaqa, with art from GLAAD Award-nominated cartoonist Ray Nadine (“Light Carries On”). Alsaqa calls the series a “love letter to our own teen years,” saying that when he and Nadine met, they bonded their “mutual love of Ska, horror, and the anime of the mid-2000s. It’s a time period we’re nostalgic for, so many of our story ideas come from recalling our favorite childhood memories and injecting the supernatural and demonic into them.” Issue #1 (of 6) goes on sale May 14.
– The Center for Cartoon Studies and The Beat have revealed the winners of the 2024 Cartoonist Studio Prize in both the Long-Form and Short-Form categories. Of the thirteen nominees for each, Léa Murawiec’s “The Great Beyond” took the Long-Form prize, with “10-10 to the Wind” from Cole Degenstein taking Short-Form. “Great Beyond,” published by Drawn & Quarterly and translated by Aleshia Jensen, follows popstar namesake Manel Naher, who seeks out a new life outside the city following a sudden heart attack. “10-10 to the Wind,” released by Fieldmouse Press, follows a trucker and his search human connection via CB radio. Both creators will be rewarded $1,000.
– Prime Video revealed that the new animated Batman series, Batman: Caped Crusader, will premiere this summer. The series, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, Bad Robot, and Matt Reeves’s 6th & Idaho, takes inspiration from the 1940s Golden Age era comics for its aesthetic and character designs. The depiction of the Dark Knight himself also veers closer to the original, pulpier depictions, with the official press release referring to him as “a cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man.” Villains Clayface and Catwoman will be present in the series, along with a reimagined, Asian American Harley Quinn, who takes the role of Bruce Wayne’s psychiatrist. Prime Video will release all ten episodes on Thursday, August 1.
– Two new casting announcements regarding the upcoming MCU Fantastic Four film: Oscar nominee John Malkovich has been tapped for the FF’s entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though his role has yet to be revealed. We do however know what role Game of Thrones and Green Knight actor Ralph Ineson will play in the feature: the former Dagmer Cleftjaw will play Galactus, according to trade papers. These reports follows the announcement of Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer. Coincidentally, Ineson previously played a Ravager pilot in Guardians of the Galaxy.
– In more Marvel casting news, Breaking Bad and Mandalorian actor Giancarlo Esposito has been cast in an unknown MCU role, although the actor was quick to point out it’s not as Professor Charles Xavier. Esposito has often been fan cast as the leader of the X-Men online, particularly with Deadpool & Wolverine on the horizon. However, he remained deliberately vague on his actual role, simply stating his debut in the MCU will be “sooner rather than later,” and “better than you can imagine.”
– Syfy has picked up Revival, a TV series based on the comic by writer Tim Seely and artist Mike Norton. Set in a Wisconsin town, the series follows a detective investigating a murder after the dead rise from their graves. It was slated for a 2025 debut, with the announcement coming ahead of Monday’s NBCU upfront presentation. The news comes amid reports Syfy’s other comic adaptation, Resident Alien, is potentially moving from the cable network to the USA Network, its NBCU sister station.
– Finally, Kartoon Studios, alongside London-based GFM Animation are developing animated features based on characters from the Stan Lee Universe. The studios are gathering a team of LA-based writers (with experience working on Marvel projects), and planning to produce three treatments for distributors at the Cannes Film Festival next week. Kartoon Studios currently owns not only the Stan Lee Universe characters, but also Lee’s name and likeness. Kartoon (previously known as Genius Brands International) acquired them with the purchase of POW! Entertainment in 2020.
