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 over the weekend, Stjepan Šejić is writing and drawing a new DC Black Label title about the origins of Harley Quinn, September 7, 2019 has been dubbed the “Day of Dredd,” by 2000 AD, and “The Cardboard Kingdom” won the 2019 Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids’ Comics. We also have an interview about the upcoming Image Comic “Reaver,”as well as one with the creative team behind the Image series “Thumbs.” We also ran previews for “War of the Realms: War Scrolls” #3 and “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra” #33.
– Kicking off, Marvel announced that Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz would be returning to the New Mutants in a one-shot set for September called “New Mutants: War Children” #1. The issue brings back together the classic team of Magik, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Cypher, Mirage, Karma, and Sunspot on a mission to save their friend Warlock.
– DC and Brian Michael Bendis are giving us a few more details of the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes in September, namely that we’ll be seeing them a month earlier than we thought! Newsarama is reporting that the Legion will actually appear in August’s “Superman” #14, and will be featured prominently in September’s “Superman” #15, as evidenced by their appearance on the cover art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. It was reported earlier in the week that Bendis and artist Ryan Sook would be reviving the Legion, plans of which begin in September.
– Writer Scott Snyder let slip on Twitter that his and Rafael Albuquerque’s Vertigo Comics series “American Vampire” would be returning in 2020 under the DC/Black Label imprint, rather than at Vertigo. When asked if this confirm the rumors that DC is closing Vertigo for good, Snyder backtracked and said he wasn’t sure if the book would debut under Black Label or Vertigo, as he’s been on paternity leave recently and hasn’t heard the most recent update.
– Marvel showcased a few cryptic teasers over the weekend. The first would end up being tied to a previously announced one-shot for July, “Wolverine + Captain America: Weapon Plus” #1 written by Ethan Sacks with art by Diogenes Neves, Federico Blee, and Adriano Di Benedetto. The issue was previewed saying “The conspiracy begins here,” and features Cap and Wolverine learning more about the Weapons program that created both of them. Marvel also put out a teaser of a spider-web in the shape of the number 4 on Sunday afternoon with the hashtag #MarvelComics.
– Australian comics and cover artist Conny Valentina experienced a tragedy earlier this week as her house in Adelaide Hills caught fire, killing both of her cats and destroying almost half a million dollars worth of artwork. You can read more about Conny’s story here, but the comics community is rallying to help in any way they can. You can donate to a GoFundMe page set up to help here, and participate in an Art Auction Fundraiser here. If you’re unable to help financially, please share the story on social media.
– “Crowded” artist Ted Brandt shared on Twitter, “Hey chums, real talk time: making comics ain’t the most well-paying gig. Especially not on an indie book, even one with an Eisner nomination. We’re broke, so until June 21 there’s a 15% sale on our original art with the coupon code SUPPORTCROWDED.” He later corrected the discount to 25%. You can find original art from “Crowded” here.
– This week marks the 10th anniversary of the debut of John Layman and Rob Guillory’s long-running Image Comic “Chew.” With that, Layman tweeted out that he had four (yes that’s correct) follow-ups to “Chew” in the works. These are projects ranging from spin-offs set in the same world to a “Chew2” starring Olive Chu. Layman stated only one of the books is in the works to be published at the moment, and much of the writing is just for him. Guillory is current writing and drawing the Image book “Farmhand.”
Continued below– The Titans season 2 cast is growing with the casting of an Aqualad. The DC Universe show is adding actor Drew Van Acker (Pretty Little Liars) as Garth for the new season. Acker joins new cast mates Esai Morales (Deathstroke/Slade Wilson), Chella Man (Jericho), Chelsea T. Zhang (Ravager), Joshua Orpin (Connor Kent) and Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne. Season 2 is set to debut in the fall.
– The next DC animated film from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has had its physical release date moved up one week. Batman: Hush will come to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DC Universe on August 6, 2019, and will be released on digital on July 20, 2019.
– DC Comics debuted its September 2019 solicits last Friday with a number of reveals which we will cover in our Soliciting Multiversity column at the end of the month. Two notable reveals though were that “Teen Titans Go!” and “Scooby Doo Team-Up” are releasing their final issues in the month of September. DC is also set to bring back their Dollar Comics line for the first time in 36 years.
– Finally, we asked Friday in our Reader Poll, “Which Classic DC Character Should Be Revived Next?” since the JSA and the Legion of Super-Heroes are coming back in the fall. The results are in, and by a margin of one vote with 32% of the vote you all have revealed that you want Ralph and Sue Dibny to make their comeback next! In a close second, with 31% of the vote were Static Shock and the other Milestone characters.
