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, Jeph Loeb and a host of artists will honor Tim Sale’s memory with “Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween,” while IDW and Dark Horse announced “Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull.”
– Dark Horse also announced “Survival Street: The Radical Left,” a four-issue follow-up to the 2022 satire, reuniting writers James Asmus and Jim Festante, artist Abylay Kussainov, colorist Ellie Wright, and letterer Taylor Esposito. The series will see cracks begin to form among the former children’s entertainers A-B-C-Team, as they find themselves struggling to host all the kids they’ve rescued from the company towns that have taken over America. Along the way, they will battle AI, “soulless kids’ entertainment, American colonialism, and much more!” The first issue will be released on September 25, with variant cover art by Benjamin Dewey, Juan Doe, Marie Enger, Artyom Trakhanov, and Colleen Coover.
– Meanwhile, Cuphead is getting a new graphic novel from Dark Horse, “Cuphead Volume 3: Colorful Crack-Ups & Chaos.” Writer Zack Keller and artist Shawn Dickinson, who created the first two volumes, will reunite for the new collection of Golden Age cartoon-inspired adventures, which will be released in bookstores on August 20, and comic book shops the following day. The publisher also announced two artbooks, respectively for the Netflix series based on the game, and the game’s 2022 DLC: The Art of The Cuphead Show, releasing September 3/4, and The Art of Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, due out October 8/9, 2024.
– IDW will mark the Year of the Dragon with “Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Manda,” a one-shot by Australian cartoonist Jake Lawrence, releasing July 31. The comic will follow a small fishing crew who get caught up in a battle between the King of the Monsters, and the sea dragon who was introduced in the 1963 film Atragon. Meanwhile, Josh Trujillo and Josh Cornillon, creators of the upcoming “Godzilla Rivals: Mothra Vs. Hedorah,” announced they will celebrate Pride Month by hosting a screening of the original Mothra movie on June 8. You can book tickets for the event, which will include a signing and be held at the Redstone Theater in Queens, here. “Mothra Vs. Hedorah” will drop on Wednesday, May 29.
– AWA Studios have teamed up with Kaleidoscope, iHeart, and more for Afghan Star, a new podcast hosted by John Legend, telling the story of a talent show that aired in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2021. Each episode will receive artwork from creatives recruited by AWA, namely Rahzzah, Alison Sampson, C.P. Smith, Laci, Sanya Anwar, Keron Grant, Dani & Brad Simpson, Dalibor Talajic & Ive Svorcina, and Mike Deodato, Jr. & Jao Canola. Said artwork will be auctioned off to benefit the Noor Initiative, a charity whose aims include helping, educating and empowering Afghan women and girls in the wake of the Taliban’s return to power.
– James Gunn announced Tom King, Damon Lindelof, and Chris Mundy (Ozark) have written the pilot and series bible for Lanterns, the upcoming Green Lantern show on Max. While fans should be well acquainted with King and Lindelof, Mundy is a DC newcomer, although his credits include the fourth season of True Detective, which has been named as an influence on the upcoming show. No ETA has been given for Lanterns, which will follow Hal Jordan and John Stewart as they uncover an ancient evil on Earth. It will mark King’s second Green Lantern project after the “Justice League: Darkseid War” tie-in, and Lindelof’s second DC show after Watchmen.
– Science Saru (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) are developing a new “Ghost in the Shell” anime, simply titled The Ghost in the Shell. Little was said about the TV show, although the title and teaser indicates it will be a reboot of the franchise, offering a more faithful adaptation of the original 1989 manga by Masamune Shirow than the seminal 1995 film; Saru’s presence also suggests a return to hand-drawn animation for the series. Longtime Ghost in the Shell producers Bandai Namco, Kodansha, and Production I.G will also oversee the series, which will premiere sometime in 2026.
Continued below– In less pleasant news from Japan, veteran voice actor Tōru Furuya (Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Saint Seiya) has publicly admitted to a four-year affair with a fan. Furuya, 70, said he had been in a relationship with a younger woman until September 2023, while confessing that the affair had been physically abusive, and ultimately resulted in an abortion. He apologized to the woman in question and his fans, and said he is prepared to accept any punishment that will follow. The actor, who has been married since 1985, currently still provides the Japanese voice of Yamcha in all Dragon Ball media, Rei Furuya in Detective Conan, and Amuro Ray in Gundam (all roles he originated), among other parts.
– Legendary Disney composer Richard M. Sherman died on Saturday, May 25, aged 95. Along with his brother Robert B. Sherman (who passed away in 2012), Sherman worked as an in-house composer for the Mouse, composing songs for films like Mary Poppins, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, as well as the titular song from the attraction It’s a Small World. His work on these led to him being hired to compose the Stark Expo track “Make Way For Tomorrow Today” in Iron Man 2. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Elizabeth Gluck, and their two children, as well as a daughter from a previous marriage, and his nephew, composer Robert J. Sherman.
– Finally, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock also passed away on Thursday, May 23, following complications from cancer. He was 53. Spurlock was best known for the Academy Award-nominated 2004 film Super Size Me, which chronicled his decision to only eat McDonald’s for a month; the film spawned a companion graphic novel from Dark Horse in 2011, “Supersized: Strange Tales from a Fast-Food Culture,” and a sequel, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!
His other credits included 30 Days, Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, One Direction: This Is Us, and the 2016 charity anthology “Love is Love.” A year after the release of “Love is Love,” during the height of the #MeToo movement, Spurlock publicly disclosed he had a history of sexual misconduct, and resigned from his production company, ending his career. He is survived by two children, his parents, two brothers, several nieces and nephews, and three ex-wives.
