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, the nominees for the 2023 Eisner Awards were announced, while Marvel unveiled Al Ewing and Martín Cóccolo’s “Immortal Thor.”
– Titan revealed “Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze,” a sci-fi graphic novel made in cooperation with the Hendrix Estate. Written by Mellow Brown (“Blade Runner: Origins”) and DJ Benhameen, with art by Tom Mandrake, the book imagines the late rocker as “embark[ing] on a perilous quest to the very center of the universe, in search of a magical talisman powerful enough to unlock the incredible latent power of his trademark sound, so that he can free a diverse population starved of rock ‘n’ roll by a tyrannical intergalactic force.” It will retail in hardcover at 128 pages for $29.99 sometime this November.
– AWA unveiled “The Madness,” a six-part thriller by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist ACO (“Amazing Spider-Man”). The book follows Sarah Ross, a superpowered thief, whose family is killed after the government orders some supposedly good superheroes to assassinate her; she vows revenge, “at any cost.” Unlike some of the titles Straczynski has written at AWA, this is a standalone take on the genre, separate from ‘The Resistance’ universe he launched with Mike Deodato Jr. The first issue releases August 9.
– Per Publishers Weekly, Public Enemy rapper and artist Chuck D is launching Enemy Books, an imprint at Brooklyn-based independent publisher Akashic Books. It will launch with “Stewdio: The Naphic Grovel Artrilogy of Chuck D,” collecting three graphic memoirs (or “naphic grovels” as he calls them) exploring his life, as well as events in the country from 2020 to 2022. It will be released on June 6, and will be followed by “Summer of Hamn,” a book about gun violence, in October.
– BOOM! Studios revealed a 12-part “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” storyline, titled ‘Darkest Hour.’ The new saga, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the series, sees Mistress Vile gain control of the Morphin Grid, and “Dark Specter’s infections [spread] through the universe! As if an epic battle between Vile and the Vessel [the corrupted version of Zordon] wasn’t enough, the separated and stranded Rangers receive help from the last team they’d expect, but it may not be the help they were hoping for…” It will kick off in August’s issue #111, written by Melissa Flores with art by Simona Di Gianfelice.
– BOOM! also announced a Magic: The Gathering one-shot, “Magic Planeswalkers: Notorious,” written by Cullen Bunn and Rich Douek, with art by French Carlomagno and Carlos Pedro. The 40-page comic will see vampire Sorin Markov and necromancer Liliana Vess team up to prevent “a diabolical figure from unleashing hell across the multiverse. Meanwhile, two of the most mysterious of the Planeswalkers, Oko and Calix, cross paths elsewhere on another plane.” It will be released on August 23, 2023.
– Per Popverse, “Batman/Superman: World’s Finest” #18 will offer a new take on the first meeting between the two heroes, revealing “the stunning, secret loss that nearly destroyed their partnership before it even began!” It will be the first retelling of the story (first depicted in 1952’s “Superman” #76, by Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan) since Greg Pak, Jae Lee, and Ben Oliver’s “Batman/Superman” #1 in 2013. The issue, by series writer Mark Waid and guest artist Travis Moore, will be released on August 15.
– Via ICv2, Rowan, Rook, and Decard are releasing DIE: The Roleplaying Game, a board game based on the comic by by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, next month. The game comes with a 408-page rulebook, an introductory comic, over 60 new illustrations by Hans, and contributions from other writers and artists including Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tini Howard, Tula Lotay, Marguerite Sauvage, Elsa Charretier, and Gene Ha. It will retail in a standard edition for $60, and a deluxe edition with cover art by Rian Hughes, that will retail for $95.
– Warner Bros. Discovery revealed Aquaman star Jason Momoa will host the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week this year. Commenting on his character and his Native Hawaiian/Polynesian heritage, Momoa said, “It’s a chance for me to learn and share my connection to these amazing creatures. My love of sharks came long before my time as Aquaman – it began several generations before me.” Shark Week, an annual block of programming originally created to promote shark conservation, will mark its 35th year sometime this July. It will be followed by Momoa’s second solo Aquaman film, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, on December 20.
– Finally, an On This Day clip of Grant Morrison’s father went viral after being posted by the BBC Archive. The clip, featuring a news report of Walter Morrison from 1972, shows him protesting being laid off from his job as a screen printer. Morrison themself shared the clip, commenting “Death to tyrants! #walterpresents #heartbelongstodaddy #classwar.” You can learn more about Walter Morrison, an activist and military veteran who died in 2004, at the age of 79, from an obituary here.
