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.
– Power Pack creators Louise Simonson and June Brigman are reuniting for a 40th anniversary series next year, titled “Power Pack: Into the Storm.” The five-part comic will take readers back to the time of the original run, and see Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power team up with the X-Men, after their friend Franklin Richards receives a premonition of a threat from the Snark, the Brood, and more. Simonson teases the introduction of “a couple of Snark princesses — good and tragic — and delving a bit deeper into Snark culture,” plus a prominent role for the X-Men’s Storm. Issue #1 will be released January 24.
– Dark Horse will publish “Medea,” a French graphic novel inspired by the Greek mythological figure of the same name. Created by Blandine Le Callet and Nancy Peña, and translated by Montana Kane with lettering by Frank Cvetkovic, the book retells the story of Jason’s wife, depicting her as “a caring mother and a passionate lover thwarted by her desires; an independent woman vilified for refusing the tyranny of men; a barbarian who sowed confusion in the regimented world of the Greeks; a formidable witch, [and] mistress of occult forces.” It will be released on May 7, 2024.
– Dark Horse also announced “Hellboy Artists Collection: Richard Corben,” an oversized 300+ page hardcover reprinting the late artist’s Hellboy stories. These include “Hellboy: Being Human,” “Hellboy in Mexico,” “The Bride of Hell,” “Double Feature of Evil,” “The Mirror,” “Makoma,” “House of the Living Dead,” and “The Crooked Man.” It will also be released on May 7, and ought to coincide with the (currently unscheduled) release of the film version of The Crooked Man, which Ketchup Entertainment acquired the distribution rights to this week.
– Marvel Studios’ in-house visual effects team have unanimously voted to unionize with IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.) It marks the first time any VFX group has joined the organization. Thomas Barnard, VFX coordinator at Marvel, said, “This is historic and I’m glad to be part of it. Not only will this radically change the game by increasing the quality of storytelling through our work, it’s also a huge step forward for taking care of the unsung individuals who helped to build the industry.” The decision was made after Marvel came under increasing scrutiny over VFX artists being overworked on their projects; Walt Disney Pictures’ VFX staff also moved to unionize last month.
– Papercutz revealed the upcoming “Smurf Tales #9: The Hero Smurf and Other Stories,” will include a story previously unpublished in the US, co-starring another character from their creator Peyo: Benny Breakiron (or Benoît Brisefer in French.) A soft-spoken boy with superhuman strength, Benny first appeared in 1960, two years after the Smurfs, and has so far received four English reprints of his comics from Papercutz. The crossover goes on sale with the new collection on March 19, 2024.
– The “Drops of God” manga is receiving a new sequel from creators Tadashi Agi and Shū Okimoto, titled “Drops of God deuxième,” starting in Kodansha’s Morning magazine on September 21. The series, which is the third in the overall saga, sees Shizuku move to Paris, and meet a girl with a good nose for wine. The second manga, “Drops of God: Mariage,” wrapped up in Japan in 2020, and will receive a digital English release, starting later this month on September 26. The news coincides with the arrival of the Apple TV+ series in Japan, which starts airing there this week.
– In more manga-related news, GKIDS will screen the anime film version of Shinichi Ishizuka’s “Blue Giant” in select theaters on October 8-9; Sega will release a “Demon Slayer” video game, Sweep the Board!, on the Nintendo Switch next year; and “Fist of the North Star” is getting a reboot, titled Fist of the North Star: Hokuto no Ken. The new anime was announced to mark the 40th anniversary of the manga, created by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara in 1983, and will mark four decades of the original cartoon itself when it arrives.
– Finally, NBC ran an exposé on Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, alleging the writer and actor used his fame to prey on fans, some of whom were underage. 11 women and non-binary people spoke with the outlet about Roiland’s behavior, which also reportedly included sexual assault. NBC broke the story that Roiland, 43, had been arrested and charged with felony domestic battery and false imprisonment in 2020, leading to his dismissal from the shows he worked on earlier this year. While the case was dropped because of a lack of evidence, allegations of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior quickly emerged, including screenshots of explicit messages Roiland sent to two people NBC spoke to. Andrew Brettler, Roiland’s attorney, responded the allegations are “false and defamatory.”
