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 ran exclusive previews of next week’s “Iron Man” #22, and next month’s “I Hate This Place” #4.
– Promising a story that’s “Sin City” meets Final Fantasy, Dark Horse has announced the graphic novel “Elixir,” from writers Frank J. Barbiere and Ricky Mammone, with art from Victor Santos. Blending sci-fi and fantasy, the OGN is set in a future where self-proclaimed “Druids” seek to restore magic through the use of the title artifact. It will be available in comic shops and bookstores on March 29, 2023.
– Sina Grace will return to Hollyweird, California with “Rockstar and Softboy: Go to Space,” due out January 2023 from Image. The new one-shot will see the “dirtiest, flirtiest bff of comics” set out for the stars after their previous adventures involving non-binary sorcerers, witches, social vampires, and demonic party animals. The duo first appeared in this year’s earlier one-shot, simply named “Rockstar and Softboy.” Before the new book drops, the pair will reappear in September’s “Image!” #6.
– SelfMadeHero have announced their Autumn 2022 releases. The announcement unveils four new titles in total: Eisner winner Sophie and Scarlett Rickard’s adaptation of Constance Maud’s No Surrender, a story about the women’s suffrage movement in 1911 England; Barbara Stok’s “The Philosopher, the Dog and the Wedding,” which details the life of Hipparchia, one of the earliest known female philosophers, and challenger of Ancient Greek hierarchies; “Sophie’s World: A Graphic Novel About the History of Philosophy” from Vincent Zabus and Nicoby, an adaptation of Jostein Gaarder’s novel about the search for fundamental meaning; and finally, Oscar Zarate’s “Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter,” about the relatively unknown watercolor painter who passed away in 1802.
– Zestworld unveiled “Grrl Scouts: Deluxe” from Jim Mahfood, available now on the digital platform. “Deluxe” features a number of short stories set in the ‘Grrl Scouts’ universe, offering a jumping in point for new readers. These stories are presented in self-contained 14-panel Sunday comic strip format.
– Sylvester Stallone plays an aging superhero posing as a garbage man in the trailer for Samaritan, set to release on Prime Video on August 26. The film, directed by Julius Avery (Overlord), was written by Bragi Schut, originally as a spec script in 2012, that Schut turned into a series of original graphic novels published through Mythos Comics. The film was originally acquired by MGM, although COVID-19 caused delays for a theatrical release. Samaritan will instead be released on Prime Video because of Amazon’s acquisition of MGM.
– Marvel Studios discussed how the upcoming Spider-Man: Freshman Year fits into the MCU. The company’s Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum, still claims the upcoming Disney+ animated series will take place before Captain America: Civil War, though with multiversal What If…? elements: for example, instead of Tony Stark arriving at Peter and May’s apartment, it will be Norman Osborn. Nico Minuro, Lonnie Lincoln, and Amadeus Cho are also set to make appearances in the series, set to premiere in 2024.
– Within 24 hours of Square Enix launching its Manga Up! app, users already began complaining about micro-transactions and censorship bars. Square Enix claims that censoring certain works was out of necessity, although many point out that only sexual (occasionally fully clothed) images are censored, as opposed to brutal violence. The app has also come under fire for an in-app currency that can be used to purchase “advance chapters.”
– Two weeks after the movie was “indefinitely postponed,” Malaysian-based theater operator Golden Screen Cinemas released a statement saying Thor: Love and Thunder will not receive a theatrical release in the country. Thor is the second Disney film in the last two months to not receive certification from the country, the second being Lightyear after Disney refused to edit out the same-sex kiss. GSC ended their statement with a tongue-in-cheek “Please buy our merchandise, OK.”
– Finally, Ben Affleck’s Batman is set to return alongside Jason Momoa’s Aquaman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Momoa posted photos from the set on his Instagram, adding “love u and miss u Ben.” Lost Kingdom is set to hit theaters March 17, and will mark Affleck’s penultimate appearance as Bruce Wayne, before his departure in the Ezra Miller-led Flash movie, which he filmed beforehand.
