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, J. Michael Straczynski and Jesús Saiz are relaunching “Captain America” this fall.
– Marvel also revealed Dan Slott will be writing a new “Superior Spider-Man” series. Slott created the merged incarnation of Spidey and Doctor Octopus with artist Richard Elson in 2012, and wrote his first series from 2013 to 2014. A second volume, by writer Christos Gage and artist Mike Hawthorne, ran in 2019, and concluded with Otto Octavius returning to his former life as a supervillain, with no memories of being Peter Parker or his true identity. More details on the new run will be announced at a later date.
– Furthermore, Marvel will publish “Star Wars: Dark Droids: D-Squad,” a miniseries tying into this summer’s ‘Dark Droids’ crossover, written by Marc Guggenheim with art by Salva Espín. The book will see R2-D2 revive his Clone Wars era squad, recruiting IG-88, 4-LOM, WAC-47, BT-1, and 000 to help combat the virus infecting droids and cyborgs across the galaxy. The first issue will pick up from “Dark Droids” #2 this August, and include a ten-page story spotlighting main antagonist and droid insurgent Ajax Sigma, titled ‘The Book of Ajax,’ with art by David Messina.
– 2000 AD announced the winner of this year’s Art Stars competition, which saw over 300 cartoonists send in submissions for a one-page Judge Dredd story. Alan Kerr created the winning entry, ‘The Telltale Incin Bin,’ which sees a man try to burn some incriminating evidence right under Dredd’s nose. Kerr will have his comic included in a future issue of the magazine, and be paid for the honor. You can check out the strip, as well as those by runner-ups Brett Burbridge and Michael Price, at the link.
– Disney revealed Edward James Olmos will voice Molecule Man in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur season two. Olmos will debut as the Beyonder’s nemesis in the season premiere (the date for which has not been announced), where he will be portrayed as the creator of an “incredible world of natural wonder,” and “a popular destination for aliens and beings across the multiverse.” And in more Moon Girl news, the series’ first Chibi Tiny Tales short was released. The one-minute film series stars tiny versions of characters from every animated Disney show, and this installment features Devil Dinosaur chasing an ice cream truck.
– Mad Cave Studios have formed a partnership with Amit Tishler (Rainbow Brite, Mr. Pickles), to publish new series and graphic novels from the Israeli animator and TV writer. Genres will include history, folklore, and dark fantasy, with Tishler saying “We need more stories that challenge us to take a beat and question our reaction to what’s happening around us. I’m excited and proud about my partnership with Mad Cave Studios, because their team has been incredibly open-minded and enthusiastic about my vision, the kinds of stories I want to tell and how I want to tell them.”
– Mad Cave’s kids imprint Papercutz also announced “Digital Lizards of Doom,” a sci-fi/fantasy YA series by writer Gabriel Valentin and artist Ernie Najera. Originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter, the comic takes place in a universe trapped inside a video game world, where “a young warrior named Dizzy Doom must search for answers to unravel the mystery. But as villains from another galaxy come to attack his kingdom, Dizzy is forced to make an unlikely alliance with a mysterious ninja and cyborg cat pirate.” Vol. 1, “Dizzy Doom,” will be released on December 5, and you can learn more about the books in the meantime at the official website.
– In an appearance on the Cerebro podcast, Jonathan Hickman disclosed he had been in talks to write the Legion of Super-Heroes and the New Gods for DC, before deciding to relaunch the X-Men with “House of X/Powers of X” in 2019. Hickman was on sabbatical from Marvel at the time, following the conclusion of “Secret Wars” in 2016, although the final issues of “S.H.I.E.L.D.” were published in 2018. Brian Michael Bendis ultimately wrote the last “Legion of Super-Heroes” revival in 2020, while the most recent New Gods-centric comic remains Tom King and Mitch Gerads’s 2017-2019 “Mister Miracle” series.
– Finally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opened in North America with a box office haul of approximately $120.5 million, marking the second biggest opening weekend of the year (after The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed $146.4 million), and the third biggest for a Spider-Man film (after No Way Home and Spider-Man 3, which respectively opened with $260.1 million, and $151.1 million.) By contrast, Into the Spider-Verse opened to a much more modest $35.5 million in December 2018, before eventually grossing $384.3 million worldwide. The third installment, Beyond the Spider-Verse, will follow on March 29, 2024.
