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, Dark Horse have announced the sequel miniseries, “No One Left to Fight II.”
– Blade is joining the ‘Darkhold’ saga this October with “The Darkhold: Blade” #1, a one-shot written by Daniel Kibblesmith, with no artist attached as of yet. In the one-shot, Blade is transported to a world in which vampires rule and he has submitted to his darkest desires, becoming their king. The struggle comes from a small group of surviving heroes who threaten to depose him. “Anyone who knows me (or follows me online) probably knows I’ve been writing this comic since the theater lights came back up in August of 1998,” said Kibblesmith. There isn’t a single character more important to me as a Marvel fan and now creator, and it’s a dream come true to put him through his own worst nightmare. When the Darkhold unleashes the greatest horrors the Marvel Universe has ever seen, we get to push Blade farther into the darkness than he’s ever gone before and learn what makes a hero in a world that’s already lost.” The comic is part of Steve Orlando and Cian Tormey’s ‘Darkhold’ event, which will pit Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom head-to-head in a battle over the Darkhold, a grimoire of the Dark God Chthon. It comes after the announcement that Ryan North and Guillermo Sanna would be collaborating on “Darkhold: Iron Man” #1. Both one-shots will release this October.
– Vintage has announced the second installment of the “Sapiens” graphic novel series, “Sapiens: The Pillars of Civilisation.” The five-volume series began in Fall 2020 with “Sapiens: The Birth of Humanity,” and looks to give an illustrated, anthropological history of the different eras of humanity. The series adapts the 2015 book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. “Pillars of Civilisation” is set to focus on the agricultural revolution, bringing on the neolithic era and, as Harrari argues, the beginning of inequality, mass conflict and social class. The graphic novel illustrates this in a semi-anthological structure, with various stories from different time periods looking at the implications of a historical moment. “Sapiens: The Pillars of Civilisation” releases October 14.
– Prolific children’s author Stuart Gibbs has announced that his book Spy School will be receiving a graphic novel adaptation on February 1, 2022. “Spy School: The Graphic Novel” will be adapted and illustrated by Anjan Sarkar (Agent Asha, Rum Pum Pum). The original Spy School series currently span 9 titles and has sold 3 million copies since its launch in 2012. “As a former screenwriter, he understands the way that panels, action, and dialogue work in a graphic novel,” said senior editor Krista Vitola. “Working with him and Anjan, who did an amazing job of capturing the novel’s sequence of events, was such a fun experience.” The second novel Spy Camp is also planned to receive a comic adaptation, however there is no confirmation of Sarkar’s involvement as of yet. “Spy School: The Graphic Novel” will retail for US$21.99 from Simon & Schuster, releasing just one month behind Gibbs and Stacy Curtis’s Once Upon a Tim.
– Magnetic Press, the Eisner-nominated studio behind “Irena” and “The Ghost of Gaudi,” have announced their new Tabletop RPG imprint, and its debut title Carbon Grey: The Roleplaying game. “Carbon Grey” is an Image Comics title from cartoonist Hoang Nguyen, with co-creators Khari Evans and Mike Kennedy, set in a steampunk world deeply rooted in the cultural aesthetic of the First World War. Kennedy, who also serves as the founder and publisher of Magnetic Press Play, will be working alongside designer Andrew E.C.Gaska on the title. Carbon Grey: The Roleplaying game will release late 2021, with more games to come from the publisher.
– Weekly Shonen Jump are releasing one-shots from the creative teams of “The Promised Neverland” and “My Hero Academia” in its next issue on August 2. Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu, the creative duo behind “The Promised Neverland,” will be releasing the sc-fi action one-shot “DC3,” which will total 49 pages with one center color page. In addition, Yōkō Akiyama, one of the assistants of “My Hero Academia” creator Kōhei Horikoshi, will be crafting a one-shot spin-off from the series following Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki as they go head-to-head with Endeavor. “Boku no Hero Academia Tokubetsu Spinoff: Endeavor’s Mission” will clock in at 17 pages.
– The Show, Alan Moore’s screenwriting debut, has gotten a new trailer and a one-night theatrical release period. The eclectic mystery film follows a mysterious investigator looking to extract an artifact from a small British town that is overrun by dreams. The film looks to interrogate themes of British values, surrealism, cultural shifts and more. It also pulls together threads that have been prolific in Moore’s work like conspiracies, the reliability of perception, masks to obscure identity, and ceremonial magic. The Show is directed by Mitch Jenkins, and stars Tom Burke, Siobhan Hewlett, Alan Moore and more. It is set to release theatrically in the United States on August 26, 2021 for one night only.
– Finally, Marvel Studios have allegedly found their director for Blade, with Deadline reporting that Bassam Tariq will direct the feature film. Tariq is best known for his film Mogul Mowgli, a music drama film starring Riz Ahmed as an up-and-coming rapper who is suddenly forced to reconcile with a degenerative autoimmune disease. Tariq will be adapting a script from Stacy Osei-Kuffour, with Mahershala Ali starring as the titular hero. Marvel were originally searching for a writer/director on the project, but instead settled on Osei-Kuffour to develop the script while a swathe directors presented their ideas on the project to Marvel. The film has no set release date as of yet.
