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, Canadian underground cartoonist Julie Doucet is returning with the autobiographical comic “Time Zone J.”
– A new ‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ miniseries has been announced, with writer Daniel José Older and artist David Wachter presenting a strange mystery with ties to the Jedi Order. “Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows” finds the Jedi calling on one of their own, Emerick Caphtor, to investigate the mystery while Chancellor Lina Soh calls on the high-end private detective Lina Soh. “Trail of Shadows” is the second Marvel series set in the High Republic era (including the currently ongoing “Star Wars: The High Republic” series). The story will connect directly with the upcoming Cavan Scott novel The Rising Storm, due out this summer. Giada Marchisio will handle colors, with David López on covers. “Star Wars: The High Republic: Trail of Shadows” #1 hits shelves in October.
– First Second has acquired a new graphic novel from the Eisner and Hugo Award-winning team of Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford. Via Publishers Weekly, the middle-grade graphic novel “Space Cat” is the story of Periwinkle the cat and his life after his family moves to a town in Nigeria. Periwinkle quickly discovers that the strange blue orange flowers scattered around the town aren’t flowers at all; they’re aliens who are planning to destroy the town. Periwinkle dons his super persona as Space Cat and assembles his friends to take on the invaders. Okorafor and Ford previously teamed on the Marvel comic “Black Panther: Long Live the King” as well as “LaGuardia,” which won them the Eisner for Best Graphic Album (Reprint) and the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Novel. “Space Cat” is due out in 2024.
– The creative team behind the middle-grade graphic novel “Green Lantern: Legacy” are reuniting for a sequel that again features the new Green Lantern Tai Pham. Writer Minh Lê and artist Andie Tong are returning for “Green Lantern: Alliance,” which sees Tai teaming up with a new Kid Flash to face off once again with his nemesis Xander Griffin. The sequel comes from DC’s Books for Young Readers line, and will be available digitally and at participating bookstores on April 5, 2022.
– The Vault Comics imprint Wonderbound has revealed its full lineup of titles for 2022. Via The Beat, the list of middle grade and young adult titles includes volumes 2 and 3 of Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, and Galaad’s “Wrassle Castle,” a second volume of Sam Beck’s YA fantasy “Verse,” and a number of new titles. The line covers a variety of genres and styles, including the middle-grade ghost story “Ghoster Heights” (billed as the intersection between Judy Bloom and “I Kill Giants”), to the high concept middle-grade comic “Lunch,” about a young girl who can read her classmates’ thoughts by eating the same food as them, and “The Brothers Flick,” a YA Edwardian-era supernatural sleuthing story about a family of kid detectives. You can find the full line-up of titles at The Beat, which kicks off with “Wrassle Castle,” vol. 2 in February 2022.
– DC has announced three new graphic novel box sets. Via ICv2, the sets feature the complete run of Alan Moore’s “Saga of the Swamp Thing,” the titles from the Joe Hill’s horror comics imprint Hill House, and four graphic novels featuring female DC superheroes. The Hill House Box Set includes the five titles from the line – “Basketfull of Heads,” “The Low Low Woods,” “The Dollhouse Family,” “Daphne Byrne,” and “Plunge” – as well as a collection of “Sea Dogs!” the werewolf naval story that ran as a backup in each of the Hill House titles. The “Sea Dogs!” trade will feature 14 pages of additional story. All three sets are due out in October, with the ‘Girls Unite! Box Set’ releasing October 5, followed by the ‘Saga of the Swamp Thing Box Set’ on October 12, and the ‘Hill House Box Set’ on October 26.
Continued below– The HBO Max Green Lantern series has set two more of its corps figures: via Deadline, Jeremy Irvine (Treadstone, War Horse) has officially joined the cast in one of the lead roles as the closeted 1941 Green Lantern Alan Scott. The series plans to span “decades and galaxies,” featuring Scott in 1941 as well as Guy Gardner (Finn Wittrock) and half-alien Bree Jarta in 1984. Another key figure on the series, via The Hollywood Reporter will be Lee Toland Krieger, who has signed on to direct and executive produce the first two episodes. Krieger recently directed the pilot of the CW’s Superman and Lois, and had previously directed the pilots for Riverdale and Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Green Lantern will be written by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Seth Grahame-Smith.
– The Teen Titans Go! franchise is planning a meta crossover in the vein of their previous feature film, this time timed with the release of this summer’s Space Jam sequel. Via ComicBook.com, the animated TV movie Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam will air on Cartoon Network in advance of the July premiere of the Lebron James-led Space Jam: A New Legacy, and will receive a digital release from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as well. The animated film will see the Teen Titans being visited by the Nerdlucks, the villainous aliens who harassed Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons in the original film. When Cyborg realizes his teammates have never seen Space Jam, he organizes a watch party. Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam premieres on June 20 on Cartoon Network with a digital release on July 26, and Space Jam: A New Legacy hits theaters and HBO Max on July 16.
– A new trailer has given us a better look at Old, the new film from M. Night Shyamalan. Via Collider, the film is inspired by the French graphic novel “Sandcastle” by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, and draws its horror from the fear of aging. The trailer offers a look at a happy family who visits a secluded, seemingly idyllic beach, only to find that the beach seems to age people rapidly and without warning. The cast includes Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Alex Wolf, Thomasin McKenzie, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abbey Lee, and Eliza Scanlen, and is scheduled for theatrical release on July 23.
– Lastly, ComicBook.com reports that Danai Gurira has signed on to reprise her role as the Dora Milaje leader Okoye in a Black Panther “origin spinoff series.” The news comes from an odd place, as Gurira’s lawyer was named among The Hollywood Reporter’s list of Hollywood’s Most Powerful Lawyers, and Gurira’s deal was listed among his biggest accomplishments for the past year. The listing doesn’t specifically name the series, but Disney and Marvel Studios announced a spinoff series named Black Panther: Kingdom of Wakanda earlier this year, and have thus far kept details about the series under wraps. Disney and Marvel Studios have not yet confirmed Gurira’s involvement in either the series or the upcoming film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is currently set for release on July 8, 2022.
