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, Marvel revealed a new “Dazzler” series by Jason Loo and Rafael Loureiro. Furthermore, Don Perlin, co-creator of Moon Knight and Bloodshot, passed away, aged 94; we’ll have a full obituary up later.
– Oni Press have acquired the Sesame Street license, and will launch a four-issue series on August 28. Each issue will have a different creative team, with the first, titled “Sesame Street: Grover Lends A Hand,” set to be written by Joey Esposito (“Batman: Urban Legends”) and drawn by Austin Baechle (Rick and Morty: The Coloring Book). It will follow (surprise!) Grover, as he spends the day helping all his friends solve their problems. Subsequent issues will feature stories by Stephanie Williams, Mary Kenney, Beth Hughes, Michela Cacciatore, Sean Dove, and Alison Acton. It will mark the third major English-language “Sesame Street” comic, after the 1971-75 newspaper strip, and the 2013-16 Ape Entertainment series.
– Dark Horse revealed a new Minecraft graphic novel series, “Minecraft: Heart of Cobblestone,” by writer Andrew Clemson (“Damsel from D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S.”) and cartoonist Jeremy Lawson (“Teen Titans Go!”) The book follows a farmer who grows frustrated with life on the surface of the game’s world, and builds a sky island to live on instead. However, “he learns that his neighbors in the sky might be even more disruptive than those on the ground. As tensions rise sky high, he is reminded that he didn’t just have neighbors down below, but caring friends. Friends he may need to protect.” The first volume will be released in bookstores on October 15, and comics shops the subsequent day.
– Marvel will celebrate 50 years of Iron Fist with the “Iron Fist 50th Anniversary Special,” releasing August 14. The comic will feature a new, early years Danny Rand story by longtime “Iron Fist” writer Chris Claremont with artist Lan Medina, co-starring Wolverine; a new outing for Lin Lie by Alyssa Wong and Ron Randall; a segment co-starring Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, the Daughters of the Dragon, by Justina Ireland and Elena Casagrande; a Heroes for Hire reunion by Frank Tieri and Ty Templeton; and an insight into Danny’s possible future by Jason Loo and Whilce Portacio. Iron Fist was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, and first appeared in February 1974’s “Marvel Premiere” #15 (cover date May 1974.)
– Marvel also revealed two tie-in series for ‘Venom War,’ kicking off in August: “Venom War: Spider-Man,” by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Greg Land, and “Venom War: Venomous” by Erica Schultz and Luciano Vecchio. “Spider-Man” will see Peter Parker reunite with the symbiote amidst Eddie and Dylan Brock’s squabble to become the one, true Venom, while “Venomous” will have Black Widow and Agent Anti-Venom team up to investigate Alchemax’s symbiote program. “Spider-Man” #1 (of 4) will be released on August 14, while “Venomous” #1 (of 3) will follow on August 21. They will be preceded by Schultz and Vecchio’s one-shot “Black Widow: Venomous” on July 31, and issue #1 of Al Ewing and Iban Coello’s “Venom War” on August 7.
– In release date news, IDW announced Juni Ba and Fero Pe’s “TMNT: Nightwatcher” will debut on August 14. The ongoing series was one of several announced to mark the turtles’ 40th anniversary this year. Meanwhile, Vault have scheduled Son M. and Cas “MadCursed” Peirano’s horror series “Something Crawled Out” for a July 31 debut, and added the first issue to their Free-to-Retailers Program. Announced at San Diego Comic-Con, the series follows a young woman who teams up with a friend to search for her missing sister – even though she suspects he is a demon.
– Natasha Lyonne has joined the cast of The Fantastic Four reboot in an unnamed role. The 45-year old, who’s no stranger to Marvel, having played Sommerfield in Blade: Trinity, joins a cast that now includes Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn & Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the title four, Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer, and John Malkovich & Paul Walter Hauser in other unnamed roles. She is the third Jewish actor to join the cast, after Moss-Bachrach and Garner. The Fantastic Four is set to begin filming this summer for a release on July 25, 2025.
– Finally, DC have honored the late Ramona Fradon with a new two-page comic, ‘Ramona & Me,’ written by senior DC editor Brittany Holzherr, with art by June Brigman and Roy Richardson. Released in print in all of this week’s DC single-issues and online, the comic features Holzherr reflecting on her friendship with Fradon, who passed away earlier this year, aged 97. Fradon herself is depicted drawing her co-creation Metamorpho, whom Holzherr reveals Fradon had been looking forward to see make his movie debut in next year’s Superman. The online page for the comic also features remembrances from Brigman, Jim Lee, Marie Javins, Terry Austin, Walt & Louise Simonson, and more, including Ramona’s daughter Amy Fradon.
