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 Nib is closing after its next issue this summer.
– ICv2 shares Abrams ComicArts’ Fall 2023 catalog will include “Fall Through,” a new graphic novel by Nate Powell. Described as a cross between “Love and Rockets” and Russian Doll, the fantasy tale follows Diamond Mine, a punk band from Arkansas in 1979, “who become unwilling interdimensional travelers, propelled from one alternate world to the next by a spell woven into one of their songs.” The book was inspired by Powell’s own experience as a hardcore punk musician in Arkansas during the 1990s. It will retail in hardcover for $24.99 on February 6, 2024.
Other scheduled releases include “Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben,” by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings, out August; Hugo Canuto’s Afro-Brazilian mythology-inspired superhero graphic novel “Tales of the Orishas,” coming this September; and Josh Tuininga’s “We Are Not Strangers,” a Sephardic Jewish perspective on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, also out in September. You can check these all out, and more previously announced titles, at ICv2.
– Z2 Comics announced “Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound,” a biography of the legendary jazz musician by Dave Chisholm (“Enter the Blue,” “Chasin’ the Bird”). Created in collaboration with Davis’s family, the 150-page book will chronicle Davis’s life, from his youth in the 1940s, to his rise to the fame, and his later, experimental, Afrofuturistic-inspired work in the 1970s. The framing device will depict Davis looking back on his life while recovering from the stroke he suffered in 1982. It will be released on September 26, 2023.
– Image unveiled “Local Man: Gold,” a one-shot continuation of Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs’s superhero series. The comic will see Jack/Local Man encounter his younger, radical self (Crossjack) after a time travel incident in the past, forcing him to find a way to send him back, and to defeat the vengeful hero pursuing them. It will also feature characters from other Image titles like “Cyberforce,” “Street Angel,” “Love Everlasting,” and 1994’s “Boof And The Bruise Crew.” The book will be released on August 30, a couple of months after the fifth and final issue of “Local Man” on June 28.
– Warner Bros. released the third and final trailer for The Flash movie, revealing the return of Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, and the first footage of Kiersey Clemons as Iris West. It also shows the Back to the Future-esque set-up for the two Barry Allens, and much more of Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne. The Flash resets the DC film/TV universe on June 16.
– io9 shared a preview of “Brooms,” a teen fantasy OGN by writer Jasmine Walls and artist Teo DuVall. Set in 1930s Mississippi, the 248-page book follows six young witches, who start participating in illegal broom races. Wells describes the premise as “our way of exploring what a world with magic might be like in the context of history, especially in the American South. What would be different, what would stay the same, and who gets to enjoy the benefits? These six young witches aren’t about to let anyone tell them what they can or can’t do.” It will be released by Levine Querido on October 10.
– A day after announcing his departure, Bryce Gold, the former Head of Content at comiXology Originals, revealed he has been appointed the new head of comics at Kickstarter. “My experience in both the mainstream and indie comics spaces have given me a unique understanding of the needs and challenges faced by comics creators from all creative backgrounds,” he said. He succeeds Oriana Leckert, who was recently promoted to become Kickstarter’s overall director of publishing.
– Finally, Bleeding Cool shares longtime DC Comics editor Mike Carlin announced (via Facebook) that he retired from the company last week. Carlin, 64, began working for DC in 1986, and was group editor of the Superman titles during ‘The Death of Superman’ era. He had spent the past 12 years as Creative Director of Animation at DC Entertainment. Over the past decade, he was accused respectively of sexual harassment and racism by former editors Valerie D’Orazio and Lateef Ade “L.A.” Williams; the latter stated in a 2020 Business Insider article that he had filed a complaint with HR as a result, only to be reprimanded by Paul Levitz. Both Carlin and DC declined comment at the time.
