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 posted Multiversity Turns 10, our tenth anniversary video playlist featuring reflections from our staff. Also, Adam Warren’s “Empowered” is set to return this Fall, Vault Comics announced a sequel to “Songs for the Dead,” and IDW announced “Magic: The Gathering – Chandra: Trials of Alara.”
– Marvel Comics have announced a new five-part miniseries, “Gwenpool Strikes Back,” which will be written by Leah Williams (“Giant-Man”) and illustrated by David Baldeon (“Domino”). Terry Dodson (“Harley Quinn”) will be providing the cover art for the first issue. The series will follow Gwenpool as she tries to stay out of “comic book limbo” by making herself known in the Marvel Universe. The first issue will see her targeting Spider-Man to unmask him and reveal his true identity. “Gwenpool Strikes Back” #1 will be released on August 7.
– Marvel Comics also announced, via CBR, that Esad Ribic (“Loki”) will be writing and illustrating “Conan the Barbarian: Exodus.” The new comic will detail Conan’s journey as a fifteen-year old surviving the frozen hills of Cimmeria. “Conan the Barbarian: Exodus” #1 will be released in August.
– Drawn and Quarterly revealed their lineup of graphic novels and manga set for Winter 2020, which includes stories from postwar Japan like Yoshiharu Tsuge’s “The Swamp,” and “The Trial of Kitaro,” the seventh and final entry of Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro series. “Sweet Time” by Weng Pixin will tell autobiographical experiences of love with a surreal twist, while “Familiar Face” by Michael DeForge will explore a world where it is not just software, but everything that is constantly being updated.
“Department of Mind-Blowing Theories” by Tom Gauld and “Umma’s Table” by Yeon-Sik Hong round out the rest of the lineup. Gauld’s book will collect his deadpan depictions of science first published in New Scientist, while Hong’s book will tell the story of Madang, a new father, trying to balance his responsibilities between his wife and child, caring for his ill mother and dealing with a complicated relationship with his father. The first book that will be released is “The Swamp,” which is scheduled for January 2020. For the full release schedule as well as the covers for all of the books, head over to ICv2.
– NBM Publishing also announced a new lineup of books which are scheduled for release from this September until February 2020. The first title planned is “The Forbidden Harbor” by Teresa Radice and Stefano Turconi, which will tell the story of a 19th century seafarer who cannot remember his identity, and it will be followed by Marion Achard and Yan Degruel’s “Tamba, Child Soldier,” which is based on the experiences of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Congo.
Next, readers will be tasked with the role of detective on 45 different crime scenes in the South Park-inspired “Who Killed Kenny?” by Alessandro “Pera” Perugini. Then, “Bob Marley in Comics” by Gaet’s and Sophie Blitman follows in the footsteps of NBM’s previous comic biographies of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to tell the life story of Jamaican singer/songwriter, Bob Marley.
Also, Arthur de Pins’s comic about a horror-based theme park, “Zombillenium” is set for release in a new four-part omnibus collected edition. The final two books in the lineup are “Lincoln Highway 750” by Bernard Chambaz and Barroux, and “Rodin: Fugit Amor, An Intimate Portrait” by Eddy Simon and Joel Alessandra. “Lincoln Highyway 750” tells the story of a man who impulsively buys an old motorcycle and sets off for San Francisco from New York after his girlfriend breaks up with him, while “Rodin: Fugit Amor, An Intimate Portrait” narrates the life of sculptor Auguste Rodin. You can find out more details about the release schedule of the books, as well as their full synopses and cover art, here.
– DC Comics have revealed a new logo for the Justice League which is set to debut on next month’s “Justice League” #25. The new logo comes ahead of the team’s 60th anniversary of their first appearance in “The Brave and the Bold” #28 on December 29, 1959. “Justice League” #25 will be released on June 5.
– A host of details and images from the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were revealed by Vanity Fair, including the first official look at two new characters, specifically Keri Russell (Waitress)’s character, Zorri Bliss, and Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) as First Order Allegiant General Pryde. There was also an image of the returning Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is scheduled for release on December 20.
– Lastly, the directorial debut of Italian comic book artist Lorenzo Mattotti (“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Graphic Novel”), The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is an animated adaptation of the 1945 novel of the same name by Dino Buzzati, which told the story of bears from the mountains to the north of Sicily that are forced to travel south after their food sources are depleted. The film is currently set for wider release in France on October 9, with a US release date not yet announced.
