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 interviewed Jade Armstrong about their debut graphic novel “Scout is Not a Band Kid.” We also had previews of “Eternals” #12 and “The Fox: Family Values” #1.
– James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas’s dark YA fantasy series “Wynd” is returning for its third volume. The Beat has a first look at BOOM! Studios’s upcoming “Wynd: The Throne in the Sky,” a five-issue miniseries that picks up following the dramatic ending to the previous series. AndWorld Design will return to letter the book, which returns to the land of Esseriel and sees the titular young winged hero, Wynd, continuing his journey to understand his destiny, while the tensions between the lands continue to march towards all-out war. Dialynas will provide the main covers for the series, but the first issue will feature a run of variants from Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion & Dave McCaig, Christian Ward, Mike Del Mundo, and Dimitris K. Pantazis, and some others that have yet to be announced. “Wynd: The Throne in the Sky” #1 takes flight in August.
– Romance-star-turned-superhero Patsy Walker is returning to her roots courtesy of writer Trina Robbins, artist Derek Charm, and colorist Rico Renzi for Marvel Unlimited. “Patsy Walker Infinity Comic” is a ’50s throwback comic that revives the plucky teen star in her classic form, with her frenemy Hedy Wolfe and their shared crush Buzz Baxter joining them for the ride. The story finds Patsy and Hedy entering “a fierce competition to win a meet-and-greet with their favorite singer, the charming Chad Collins!” The first installment of the four-part series is available now on Marvel Unlimited, with new issues dropping every Thursday.
– The comiXology Originals series “The All-Nighter” from writer Chip Zdarsky, artist Jason Loo, colorist Paris Alleyne and letterer Aditya Bidikar will return for its second season this month. Via CBR, “The All-Nighter” #6 continues the story of a vampire diner and a group that begins moonlighting (so to speak) as superheroes. The issue rejoins the heroes as one of their number is missing, people around the city are disappearing, and a new group of superheroes comes to town. “The All-Nighter” #6 opens for business on May 17 on comiXology.
– Humanoids is launching a sister company named Sparkling that will focus on developing European dramas, including both original projects and adaptations from the Humanoids catalogue. Via Deadline, the Paris-based producer Patrick Nebout will head the company, which already has a few projects in development. Those include the drama Cannes Confidential (which is already in production via the subsidiary company Skyverse), the cold war dramedy Whiskey on the Rocks (based on a story by Swedish author Jonas Jonasson), and an adaptation of the Humanoids series “The Zombies That Ate the World” called We Are Zombies.
– The Cannes Film Festival is set to begin next week, and right on schedule the international buyers’ market is picking up steam. The first bit of news ahead of the festival, via Deadline, is that Sony Pictures has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the upcoming Miramax adaptation of Richard McGuire’s graphic novel “Here.” That news comes with the announcement that actress Robin Wright has joined the cast of the picture, adding to the Forrest Gump reunion that was already set to include star Tom Hanks, screenwriter Eric Roth and director Robert Zemeckis. McGuire’s critically-acclaimed graphic novel centers on a single location, telling the story of the comings and goings, buildings and destructions that occur there over the course of a millennia. The film will begin production in September ahead of a planned 2023 awards-friendly release.
– In the second bit of news out of Cannes, Mads Mikkelsen and director Jonas Akerlund will be taking a second swing at an adaptation of the Dark Horse comic book “Polar.” Via The Hollywood Reporter, The Black Kaiser is described as “not a sequel or a prequel” to the 2019 Netflix action comedy Polar, which featured Mikkelsen in the lead role as hitman Duncan Vizla (aka the Black Kaiser) and Akerlund in the director’s chair. The Black Kaiser will instead be a new take on the property, despite its similar premise and a near-identical creative team; Mikkelsen will pen the script alongside Polar writer Jayson Rothwell.
Continued below– The CW continues to take an axe to its scripted programming, adding seven titles to a growing cancellation list. Via The Hollywood Reporter, The CW has opted not to renew Charmed, Dynasty, Roswell, New Mexico, The 4400, Legacies, In the Dark, and Naomi. Those titles join the recently cancelled Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow, with Stargirl and the Nancy Drew spinoff Tom Swift awaiting an announcement of their fate. The cancellations come as co-owners Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios aims to divest from The CW, putting the network up for sale. The end of Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow and Naomi marks a change of the tides for the once DC-heavy network, leaving only the recently renewed The Flash and Superman and Lois – as well as a new third show, but more on that below – still standing. In another notable loss, the cancellation of The Vampire Diaries’s spinoff Legacies puts an end to that franchise, which began on The CW way back in 2009.
– Despite the cancellation bloodbath, The CW has order three of its pilots to series. Via Deadline, all three pilots are based on underlying IP connected to the network, including the Supernatural prequel series The Winchesters, the Walker origin story Walker: Independence, and the DC Comics series Gotham Knights. Batwoman writers Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux and Natalie Abrams jumped over to the new series, which features a similar premise to the upcoming video game of the same name. After the murder of Bruce Wayne, his adopted son teams up with the children of Batman’s enemies to protect Gotham after they are all framed for the Caped Crusader’s murder. As with most of The CW’s DC properties, Gotham Knights is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
– The upcoming illustrated prose tale from “Batman: Damned” artist Lee Bermejo unlocks a secret story told through Bermejo’s past work. Via IGN, “Batman: Dear Detective” is a 56-page graphic novella that arranges Bermejo’s past Batman covers into a new noir story. The story is formed through letters that are written to the Dark Knight, with most of the illustrations coming from Bermejo’s variant covers for “Detective Comics.” “As soon as the variant cover editor at the time offered me the ‘Detective Comics’ gig, I knew it was an opportunity to do something different with a cover run,” Bermejo told IGN. “I wanted to push something with the covers that wouldn’t necessarily be sequential but that readers could interact with and follow as some sort of narrative.” “Batman: Dear Detective” will hit comic shops and bookstores on September 6.
– Finally, The Guardian has an emotional profile of costume designer and artist Glyn Dillon, the brother of legendary “Preacher” artist Steve Dillon, who turned to oil painting to process his emotions following Steve’s death. “At first I thought about doing a comic [about Steve’s death], but the feelings felt too big for that medium,” Glyn told The Guardian. “I needed to do something different, more physical, standing up, climbing a ladder.”
