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.
– Via their homepage, Alien Books revealed some of the titles we can expect from their partnership with Valiant, which will include the release of the previously pulled “X-O Manowar Unconquered” #6 and “Ninjak Superkillers” #1 in December. February will see a “Very Valiantine’s Day Special,” while March will bring new volumes of “Britannia” and “Livewire,” and “The Valiants” (presumably a team-up title in the vein of 2015’s crossover “The Valiant.”) Further details and titles will be revealed at a later date, with Alien also announcing they will have a booth at New York Comic Con “dedicated to all things Valiant” from October 12-15.
– At Dragon Con, “Dune: House Harkonnen,” the currently running BOOM! Studios maxiseries by Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson, and Michael Shelfer, won the Dragon Award for Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel. The Sandman also won Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet, while the Julie Award (the lifetime achievement honor named after Julius Schwartz) was given to Canadian TV creator Marty Krofft, 86. You can check out the full list of winners here.
– Humanoids announced “Total Suplex of the Heart,” a wrestling graphic novel by writer Joanne Starer, artist Ornella Greco, and letterer Nathan Kempf. The book follows Georgie, a young journalist who goes undercover in the ring, where she discovers love and friendship, but also starts to become overwhelmed by the toxic side of the industry. It was inspired by Starer’s time operating a women’s wrestling promotion in 2002, and marks her second book in the genre, following the more fantasy-oriented AHOY series she created with Elena Gogou, “The Gimmick.” It will be released in March 2024.
– With Disney failing to help resolve the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Marvel have reportedly delayed several Disney+ series. Per THR, Echo will be released in January instead of November 29, while Agatha Harkness’s series (now titled Agatha: Darkhold Diaries) has been delayed until Fall 2024. Ironheart, Daredevil: Born Again, and Wonder Man have been delayed indefinitely, possibly into 2025. In the meantime, What If…? season two is set to begin in December, while X-Men ’97 will premiere early next year. Marvel allegedly hopes these delays will work to their advantage, as it would help make each show feel more like an event.
– Speaking of labor rights, United Workers of Seven Seas have voted to ratify their contract with manga publisher Seven Seas Entertainment. The union was founded in May 2022 to secure benefits, paid time off, reasonable workloads, and more from their employers. Seven Seas initially responded by hiring the law firm Ogletree Deakins to break the union, only to voluntarily recognize them a month later. Seven Seas now joins Image as the only unionized comic book publishers in the United States.
– San Fransokyo Square, an area based on Big Hero 6, opened at Disney California Adventure Park last week. The square, located between Avengers Campus and Pixar Pier, is a rethemed version of Pacific Wharf, an outdoor food court originally intended as a tribute to Monterey, California’s fishing industry (something Disney incorporated into the backstory for the revamp.) Visitors can meet Baymax and Hiro Hamada, buy merchandise, and walk across a small recreation of Torii Gate Bridge. You can find out more about the area on its official page.
– G.I. Joe will star in a retro, side-scrolling beat ’em up, titled G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra. Developed by Maple Powered Games (Monster Harvest) and published by Freedom Games (Airborne Kingdom), the co-op game will allow four players to battle Cobra as pixel versions of the cartoon’s classic heroes. Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, it will feature a score by composer Tee Lopes. It will debut on Switch, Windows, macOS and Linux early next year, and you can watch the animated announcement trailer here.
– Finally, incoming Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa came out in an interview with ELLE magazine’s UK edition, describing himself as queer during an anecdote, while adding he prefers not to label himself. This means Gatwa will not only be the first Black man to portray the Doctor, but the first openly LGBTQ+ actor to play them on the show. (The late Geoffrey Bayldon voiced an alternate version in audio dramas, while Mark Gatiss played them in an official parody in 1999.) Gatwa will debut as the Fifteenth Doctor during the show’s 60th anniversary specials — starring a returning David Tennant as the Fourteenth — in November, before his first series (season 14) begins with a holiday special, and in full in 2024.
