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, Behemoth Comics are publishing the miniseries, “Watch Dogs: Legion.” We also spoke to “Green Lantern” writer, Geoffrey Thorne, to unpack the latest issue, and more.
– Rewriting Extinction have released their latest comic, “The Selfless Giant,” to catalogue the personal impact of the rapid melting of glaciers due to global warming. The comic strip is written by actor/director Andy Serkis, with co-writer Paul Goodenough, artist Danijel Zezelj and letterer Bernardo Brice. Arctic ice is currently receding at a rate of 1.3% annually and is likely to be completed depleted by 2040 at current rates of carbon emission. “Of all the comics I worked on, and heard, none of them grabbed me as immediately and utterly as this,” said Goodenough. “As soon as I heard Andy talking about his experiences with climbing and glaciers, the story just jumped into my head.” You can donate to Rewriting Extinction’s campaigning efforts, or petition with them here.
– As part of a larger HarperCollins/Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast collaboration, it has been announced that writer Molly Knox Ostertag and artist Xanthe Bouma will be creating a trilogy of Dungeons & Dragons OGNs set to release in Fall of 2022, 2023 and 2024. This was revealed alongside a wider slate of middle-grade content, including the novel Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed!, and Dungeons & Dragons: HarperChapters.
– Oni Press has acquired the rights to “Agent Cupcake,” a middle-grade OGN by writers Mel Hilario and Lauren Davis, and artist Katie Longua, the creative team behind “Debian Perl, Digital Detective!.” “Agent Cupcake” follows Miguel Mangayayam, whose discovery of magical creatures allows him entrance into the Mystical Beast Bureau as the first ever human agent. Alongside unicorn spy Agent Cupcake, he uncovers a community of unicorns losing their magical powers. Oni Press is set to publish the OGN in Fall 2024.
– “Super ‘Suckers,” the “sitcomic” from writer Darin Henry and artists Jeff Shultz and Glenn Whitmore, will soon be distributed by Diamond, with the first issue going on sale this September. The series, published through Binge Comics, is the second comic from the publisher to receive widespread print distribution after “The Heroes Union.” “Super ‘Suckers” advertises itself as “TV you read,” even including ‘sit-commercials’ by artists Jason Yungbluth, Renee Reeser Zelnick, and Lonnie Millsap. The comic follows a group of friends after their recent transformation into vampires, as they try to continue their regular lives and avoid detection from a vampire hunter. The 68-page issue “Super ‘Suckers” #1 releases September 29 for US$4.99.
– Kaneda’s jacket from the “Akira” manga will be the top prize in a New York City scavenger hunt on July 10. The event, organized by Funimation, will be held at Kung Fu Tea by Madison Square Garden, on 115 East 23rd Street from 10:00am to 12:00pm. This will be fans’ first chance to obtain the replica jacket, with a limited stock of 300 going on sale July 13 for US$450 each. The jacket is designed by designers Carlo Levy, Alessandro Trombetta and Stefan Henzgen, and is based on the manga rather than anime, so it does not feature the iconic pill insignia from the film on its back.
– Actress Robin Givens (Riverdale, Head of the Class) will be joining Batwoman as a series regular in its upcoming third season. She will be playing Jada Jet, CEO of Jet Industries, who was forced years ago to give up her firstborn son, and is now overly protective of her remaining son. Batwoman season 2 ended on June 27, and season 3 is set to debut on October 13.
– As a part of Studiocanal’s slate of upcoming films and series, the studio will be adapting Hugo Pratt’s popular graphic novel series “Corto Maltese” for TV. Andrew Knight, the writer behind Hacksaw Ridge and Jack Irish, will oversee the series’ scripts. “Corto Maltese” is an Italian nautical adventure comic, following the titular Maltese sea captain as he interacts with historical figures from the early 20th century. The series spanned 12 novels published between 1967 and 1989.
Continued below– The Witcher: Blood Origin has added Michelle Yeoh (Star Trek: Discovery, Crazy Rich Asians) to its cast as the elvish swordfighter Scían. She’s the last of her tribe, and on a quest to reclaim an ancestral blade, a journey which will shift the geopolitical structure of the Continent. The six-episode prequel series tells the story of the first ever Witcher and the “conjunction of the spheres,” where the three separate worlds of monsters, elves and men collided and overlapped into one. The series is currently in pre-production, and will also feature Laurence O’Fuarain and Jon Prophet.
– With the end of his “Captain America” run out today, Ta-Nehisi Coates will be joining the teaching faculty of Howard University alongside fellow MacArthur writer Nikole Hannah-Jones to co-found the Center for Journalism and Democracy. Coates will reside in the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest and oldest faculty at Howard University. “I heard a wise man once say, ‘A man who hates home will never be happy.’ And it is in the pursuit of wisdom and happiness that I return to join the esteemed faculty of Howard University,” said Coates. “This is the faculty that molded me. This is the faculty that strengthened me. Personally, I know of no higher personal honor than this.”
The Center for Journalism and Democracy is supported by US$20 million in grants from MacArthur, the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and an anonymous donor. It aims to teach and analyze transparent, reputable journalism while encouraging the growth of career pathways for Black journalists. “As our news and information rapidly change, the media must do more to diversify the ranks of newsroom decision makers who determine the stories that are told,” said Darren Walker, of the Ford Foundation. “We believe the establishment of this center at Howard University will play a critical role in helping to advance this important public interest objective.”
