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, controversial Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard passed away, aged 86. AfterShock also announced the Jack the Ripper-inspired western “Cross to Bear,” while Vault announced their own horror frontier saga, “The Rush.” Lastly, we spoke with Cullen Bunn about all his new projects at Dark Horse.
– Marvel announced “Marvel’s Voices: Comunidades,” the latest one-shot in the ‘Marvel Voices’ anthologies inspired by the podcast of the same name. “Comunidades” (“Communities” in English) will spotlight the Latinx characters of the Marvel Universe, including Miles Morales, Robbie Reyes, and America Chavez. Writers and stories will include a “Reptil” tie-in by writer Terry Blas, that will introduce a brand new character; a Hector Ayala White Tiger story with Daniel José Older; an Ava Ayala segment from author Amparo Ortiz; and more, such as Juan Ponce, Karla Pacheco, Alex Segura, Leo Romero, Edgar Delgado, and Nico Leon. The comic will be released on October 20.
– Legendary Comics announced “Pacific Rim: Blackout,” a new graphic novel by writer Cavan Scott and artist Nelson Dániel that acts as a prequel to the anime series Pacific Rim: The Black. The comic will follow Herc Hansen — Max Martini’s Jaegar pilot from the first film — as he battles the kaiju invasion of Australia. The book was revealed as part of a Kickstarter drive for a deluxe collection of Legendary’s previous Pacific Rim comics, which stated the books should be released for mass retail in January 2022.
– Per Comic Watch, Cullen Bunn and artist Shannon Potratz will be reviving the pulp horror/martial arts comic “Dragonring” at Missouri-based publisher Outland Entertainment. Created by Barry Blair and Guan Yap in 1986, “Dragonring” combined “globe-hopping adventure, martial arts, and cosmic horror.” According to Bunn, “in the original series, the Dragonring was known to be a powerful artifact, but its origins and potential were never truly realized. We will be building a wild new mythology for the ring. At the same time, we will be tying it to a vast multiverse that encompasses many heroes, horrors, and hair-raising adventures.” A 10-page prelude will be released at the Planet Comicon convention in Kansas City, Missouri, which will be attended by Bunn and Potratz during the weekend of August 20–22, 2021.
– Speaking of cult comics, ICv2 reports Moonstone Books will revive Xal-Kor, the Human Cat, the shapeshifting alien hero created by African-American artist Richard “Grass” Green in 1964. The 40-page one-shot “Xal-Kor: The Return” will be written by Gary Phillips (“The Vigilante: Southland”), with art by Jason Schaufele (“Golden Amazon”) and James Burns (“A Life Half-Forgotten”), and feature a mix of black-and-white comics and prose with a cover by Shaufele. It will be released in November, and retail for $4.50.
– Valiant Entertainment announced Top Cow veteran Rob Levin has joined the company as their new Executive Editor, replacing the outgoing David Wohl as the architect of the Valiant Universe’s direction. The press release also revealed next year will see the company’s first crossover event since 2018’s “Harbinger Wars 2” (published shortly after they were bought out by production company DMG Entertainment, and the departure of many of the creatives who revived Valiant in 2012.) Levin said, “Publishing comics in 2020 was extremely difficult for numerous reasons, and Valiant took that opportunity to really evaluate the line and the overall creative direction at the start of the year. We have a fantastic team in place and a shared goal: deliver stories that will engage and enthrall everyone from our diehard fans to first-time readers.”
– Publishers Weekly‘s children’s book rights report states Random House Graphic have acquired Australian cartoonist Georgina Chadderton’s autobiographical middle-grade book “Oh Brother,” which explores her relationship with her autistic brother. It will be published in 2024. Secondly, Oni Press will publish Amanda Weidman’s debut graphic novel, the fantasy tale “Mari and the Cloud Princess” — that will be released in 2023. Finally, “They Called Us Enemy” co-writer Justin Eisinger will collaborate with artist Cryssy Cheung on two non-fiction books at Chronicle called “We Built It!,” which will use comics to explain the history of structures like bridges — the first entry, “We Built It! Rollercoasters” will arrive in 2024.
Continued below– Deadline reports Victoria Cartagena has joined the cast of Batwoman season 3 as Renee Montoya. The character will be portrayed as the head of the “freaks division” of the Gotham City Police Department, who has vowed to rid the city of corruption by any means necessary. Cartagena played a different version of Montoya on Fox’s Gotham, and described returning to the role as “unfinished business.” Batwoman season 3 will premiere on The CW on October 13, 2021.
– Via CBR, “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda’s standalone 1994 manga “Monsters” is being turned into a “voiced comic” on Weekly Shonen Jump‘s official YouTube channel. “Monsters” (which did eventually become part of the “One Piece” lore), tells the story of the samurai Ryuma, and the theft of a dragon’s horn. The voiced version will be released over two parts over September 6, and September 7, 2021 — it is unknown if there will be an English language edition as well.
– Finally, have you ever seen the meme of Wolverine from X-Men: The Animated Series holding a framed photo of Cyclops and Jean? IGN revealed you will be able to recreate that moment with a new $200, 1/6 scale action figure of the ’90s Logan by Mondo. It will be sold through MondoShop.com on Friday, July 23, during San Diego Comic-Con@Home. As well as the framed photo, the Limited Edition’s accessories include different expressions for Wolverine, an unmasked Logan head, Morph’s head, a Thanksgiving turkey leg, and a recreation of the electrical lines generated by the X-Man’s claws in the show’s opening credits.
