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, Vault have announced a new horror series called “I Walk With Monsters,” from Paul Cornell and Sally Cantirino.
– ComiXology Original series will be getting print editions for the first time, through a collaboration with Dark Horse Comics. The Amazon-owned digital comics company will release monthly print titles from February 2021, starting with “Afterlift,” the Eisner Award-winning comedy series from Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo. Other early titles confirmed to be getting the print treatment include “Breaklands,” “Youth,” and “The Black Ghost.” Check out the full list of comiXology Originals here.
– Total Film reported that Barry Keoghan, best known for appearing in 2017’s Dunkirk, will be playing GCPD Officer Stanley Merkel in Matt Reeves’s upcoming The Batman. Merkel was Jim Gordon’s first partner in Gotham, appearing in ‘Batman: Year One,’ suggesting Keoghan may also appear in HBO Max’s upcoming Gotham PD spin-off show, as Reeves has confirmed the series will focus on Batman’s first year in Gotham.
– The live-action adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s manga “Barbara” will be releasing in Japan on November 20, according to Anime News Network. The film initially premiered at the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival last year. The original manga was first released between 1973 and 1974, with a Kickstarter campaign allowing for an English-language release in 2012, which garnered an Eisner nomination in 2013. Tezuka’s Barbara stars Fumi Nikaido as Barbara, Goro Inigaki, Shizuka Ishibashi and Kiyohiko Shibukawa, and is directed by the creator’s son, Makoto Tezuka.
– Two new teaser images were released for DC’s ‘Endless Winter’ event, appearing in this week’s “DC Connect” #4. The pictures show Batman and Wonder Woman in cold-weather gear, with a caption above each character which suggests a villain or character thought dead will be returning from the past. The inclusion of the two characters also confirms suspicion that the event, coming in December 2020, will focus on the Justice League.
– IGN revealed an exclusive look at Mike Mignola’s forthcoming sketchbook, to be released in hardcover, with the proceeds going towards chef José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen. The collection will be titled Mike Mignola: The Quarantine Sketchbook, and bring together sketches that Mignola started drawing to take his mind off the pandemic, that he eventually decided to use to raise money for charity. The book will include Mignola’s unique versions of Batman, Masters of the Universe, cereal mascots, and of course, characters from the Hellboy universe. More information on the World Central Kitchen can be found here, and Mike Mignola: The Quarantine Sketchbook will be available from March 3, 2021 in comic shops, and March 16 in bookstores.
– Image Comics announced that Dirk Wood and Alex Cox, both previous employees of IDW, have joined their Sales Department. From September, Wood will take the role of Director of International Sales & Licensing, while Cox will become Image’s Director of Direct Market & Speciality Sales. This comes amid other news of Image reorganizing their Sales Department, including promoting Jeff Boison to Director of Sales & Publishing Planning, and new titles for Chloe Ramos-Peterson and Emilio Bautista. Wood & Cox’s move away from IDW is the latest recent departure from the company: publisher Jud Meyers was fired two weeks ago after being put on administrative leave mere days after his promotion.
– A live-action Powerpuff Girls TV series is reportedly in development at the CW. The project originated with Heather Regnier, and Diablo Cody, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno, and will be produced by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television. The adaptation of the Cartoon Network animated series will age the characters of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup into their twenties, now jaded and resentful of having given up their childhood to fight crime, with a new threat requiring them to team up once again. The original show, created by Craig McCracken, ran for 78 episodes from 1998, and spawned a 2002 movie, and a reboot in 2016.
– Finally, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace spoke about how the show will handle the firing of Hartley Sawyer, who portrayed Ralph Dibney a.k.a. Elongated Man. In a conversation with EW, Wallace revealed plans to recast the character, but only for a proper send off at the beginning of season 7, while not ruling out the possibility of bringing Elongated Man back at some point in the future.
Wallace also spoke about plans to wrap up the storyline involving Sue Dearbon, Dibney’s love interest on the show, while assuring fans that Natalie Dreyfuss, who plays Dearbon, will return a number of times in the coming season. Sawyer was fired from the show in June 2020, after several past tweets resurfaced with racist and misogynist subject matter. The Flash season 7 will premiere in January 2021.
