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, we have an exclusive preview of next week’s “Star Wars: Darth Vader” #36.
– Per ICv2, Bloomsbury will publish a new graphic novel by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Titled “I Must Be Dreaming,” the book sees Chast explore her dreams, taking readers through her “Dream-Theory Land,” while sharing insights from poets, philosophers, and psychoanalysts (including Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung) about why humans dream. It will be released on October 24.
– ICv2 also shares Pantheon will release a graphic novelization of the film Where Is Anne Frank? Written by director Ari Folman, with art by the film’s character/environment designer Lena Guberman, the book retells the film’s story, in which Anne Frank’s imaginary friend Kitty comes to life in modern day Amsterdam. It will be released in hardcover on September 5. The movie, which Folman directed after adapting Anne’s diary into a graphic novel with David Polonsky, first premiered in France in 2021, but has not been released stateside.
– “American Vampire” creators Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque’s comiXology series “Duck and Cover” will begin on Tuesday, July 11. Snyder tells io9 “‘Duck and Cover’ is a character driven thrill-ride that blends elements of manga, 1950s Americana, and post-apocalyptic lore to create something truly unique.” Issue #1 will be available digitally from Amazon’s comiXology Originals, along with with Best Jackett Press and Stout Club Entertainment.
– Marvel revealed Humberto Ramos’s design for Mary Jane Watson as “Jackpot.” The costume is set to make its comic debut in a backstory from writer Celeste Bronfman and artist Alba Glez in Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr.’s oversized “Amazing Spider-Man” #31. Mary Jane’s new jackpot powers were first seen in Jed MacKay and Vincenzo Carratu’s “Mary Jane & Black Cat” series. “Amazing Spider-Man” #31 goes on sale August 9.
– Dark Horse announced “The Witcher: Wild Animals,” a four-issue miniseries that will see Geralt of Rivia get pulled into a conflict between hunters and a mysterious clan that hunts humans. The adaptation is the latest in the publisher’s collaboration with CD Projekt Red, and the latest written by Bartosz Sztybor. Ukraine’s Nataliia Rerekina provides art. Patricio Delpeche is on colors, with letters from Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Issue #1 (of 4) hits shelves on September 20.
– Oni Press unveiled a fantasy graphic novel about a stoner bear resisting a wealthy cult. “Soggy Landing” features art from Ian Densford, and was written by Alec and Andrew McGovern, who state “‘Soggy Landing’ isn’t for kids, it’s for cool kids and [we] hope tons of kids read this book and have to hide it from their stupid parents.” Densford adds, “We wanted to create a story of resistance in a fantasy setting where we could lampoon these contemporary robber barons, stick a finger in the eye of the powerful and selfish, and try to kill them.” It’s due in bookstores August 1, and comic shops August 2.
– The animated adaptation of “Strange Planet” is set to debut Wednesday, August 9 on Apple TV+. Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon developed and executive produced the series alongside Nathan W. Pyle, who created the original comic. Apple’s official synopsis of the series describes it as “a hilarious and perceptive look at a distant world not unlike our own. Set in a whimsical world of cotton candy pinks and purples, relatable blue beings explore the absurdity of everyday human traditions.” It features the voices of Tunde Adebimpe, Demi Adejuyigbe, Lori Tan Chinn, Danny Pudi, and Hannah Einbinder.
– The trade paperback for music video director Jay Martin’s debut comic “Lost Boy” will feature a foreword from musician Shawn Mendes. Martin directed the music video for Mendes’s “Stiches,” providing the art for the animation himself. “I told Jay that he should make a graphic novel many times,” Mendes says in his foreword, “that an audience needed to see the amazing work he was doing at the time. And finally, he did, and sent me ‘Lost Boy’ during the pandemic. I immediately read it and was enamored by the story.” The collected “Lost Boy” is due out from Dark Horse August 23.
– Finally, “Susie Q. Smith” creator Linda Walter has finally been laid to rest. The comic strip co-creator passed away in 2009, at the age of 91, but her cremated remains were left unclaimed. A volunteer discovered them at Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery, and she received a proper burial and memorial service at Woodstock Artists Cemetery on Thursday, July 6, in a plot that had been previously reserved for her. Walter created the “Susie Q. Smith” strip, which revolved around the misadventures of a teenage student, with her husband Jerry in 1945, and it ran until 1959.
