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, DC unveiled “Batman Beyond: Neo-Year,” a miniseries by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly and Max Dunbar, while AfterShock Comics announced “Tales of Mother F. Goose,” a prestige format one-shot from Frank Tieri and Joe Eisma. We also have an exclusive preview of next month’s “Trover Saves the Universe” #3.
– Readers will have a chance to return to the post-apocalyptic Wastelands this December in “Wastelanders,” a series of five one-shots set in the world of Marvel’s ‘Old Man Logan.’ Writer Steven S. DeKnight and artist Ibrahim Moustafa will get things rolling with “Wastelanders: Wolverine.” Set in the aftermath of the original ‘Old Man Logan,’ this tale will see the titular hero trying to save the victims of the Red Skull and Bruce Banner. Then, writer Ethan Sacks returns to the Wastelands alongside artist Ibraim Roberson for “Wastelanders: Hawkeye,” which explores Hawkeye’s training at the hands of Stick.
Next, writer Torunn Gronbekk and artist Julius Ohta present “Wastelanders: Doom,” which shows Doom grappling with his destiny in the wake of the Day the Villains Won. Afterwards, Rich Douek makes his Marvel debut on “Wastelanders: Star-Lord,” alongside artist Brent Peeples. With the Guardians of the Galaxy disbanded, Peter Quill is in dire straights when he is confronted by a mysterious force at the site of his lost love’s death. And finally, DeKnight and artist Well-Bee will introduce Natasta Romanoff to the dystopian landscape in “Wastelanders: Black Widow.” The story follows Black Widow as she takes on a mission against the Lizard King that only she can handle. DeKnight hyped up the series, saying “Old friends, new foes, and quite a few surprises await. You don’t want to miss this one!”
– Marvel will also be ending “Hellions” this December upon the release of issue #18. The series is written by Zeb Wells with art by Stephen Segovia, and follows a misfit band of dangerous mutants as they take on Krakoa’s most thankless missions. In the title’s final issue, the team will be confronted with the return of the Goblin Queen, leading them to their final judgement. Zeb Wells promises “‘Hellions’ may be coming to an end, but our team of outcasts are gonna leave their mark on the way out the door.” “Hellions” #18 will feature a main cover from Segovia, as well as variant covers by Philip Tan and Peach Momoko.
– Writer/artist Joe Benitez will present the next chapter of his signature Lady Mechanika saga with the release of “Lady Mechanika: The Monster of the Ministry of Hell.” The four-issue mini-series is being published by Image Comics, begins in December, and will have a special edition available through Kickstarter with 20 pages of bonus content. This will be the first new Lady Mechanika series produced by Benitez since bringing the property to Image Comics. In “Lady Mechanika: The Monster of the Ministry of Hell,” the titular adventurer finds a young woman who has had her arms and legs replaced with mechanical limbs. Now, Lady Mechanika has taken it upon herself to find answers, which will lead her to examine her own tumultuous origins. This new series is a homecoming for Benitez, who began his career at Image. He said, “We’re crafting a bunch of fun, exciting, and cool new stories and adventures for our heroine and can’t wait to get them out there for you!”
– The trailer for the second season of Netflix’s Locke & Key has been released, providing fans with their first look at the next chapter in the lives of the Keepers of the Keys. The trailer shows the return of Laysla De Oliveira as Dodge, who is determined to harness the power of the keys hidden in the Locke estate. In his way however, is the united front of the Locke siblings, played by Emilia Jones, Conor Jessup, and Jackson Robert Scott. The series is based on the IDW Publishing series of the same name, created by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. The new season will be available on Netflix starting October 22, 2021.
Continued below– In more Netflix news, the streaming juggernaut has given an eight-episode order to Grendel, based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name. The comic is the signature work of creator Matt Wagner, and follows the titular anti-hero as he seeks to avenge the death of a loved one. Actor Abubakr Ali will star as Hunter Rose aka Grendel, alongside Jaime Ray Newman, Julian Black Antelope, Madeline Zima, and Kevin Corrigan. Ali’s casting makes him the first Arab Muslim man to lead a comic book adaptation. Also attached is Supernatural alum Andrew Dabb as writer and executive producer. After the announcement, Wagner said, “I couldn’t be more thrilled about the ‘Grendel’ saga, one of the longest-running independent comics series, finally being translated into live-action for the screen.” Originally published by Comico Comics before moving over to Dark Horse in the ’90s, “Grendel” has remained a popular title across five decades and has spawned countless series, including a crossover with Batman in 1993.
– Writer Gerry Brown is teaming up with “100 Bullets” artist Eduardo Risso for Hole, a new crime novella being published digitally by NeoText. The book will be available on September 28 and focuses on a corrupt prison where gang violence has run amuck, leaving the inmates brutalized. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the prison security tapes are used as blackmail against the inmates’ loved ones in a brutal cycle of violence. Now, one of the inmates’ brothers has had enough, and looks to have his revenge against the prison. “Hole‘s a hard story about hard people in hard times” says Brown, who based the book off of his own frustrations with the criminal justice system. For his part, Risso said “Hole meant a new challenge and I love challenges, especially when working with total freedom.”
– Lastly, artist Celine Loup has come forward with her original art for the First Second graphic novel “Shadow Life.” In a series of tweets, Loup discussed her time attached to the book early in its development, and her subsequent “ghosting” by First Second’s art director over nine months, after an email exchange that heavily critiqued her art without any clear direction for how to proceed. When this happened, Loup held off on continuing the book, but continued to produce thumbnails for additional pages while she waited for a reply. Eventually, she got into contact with writer Hiromi Goto, which led to renewed conversations on how to proceed. However, when Loup asked for a nine-month extension to balance the lapse in communication, the art director offered her three months and then proceeded to fire Loup from the project entirely. Ultimately, the book was released in early 2021 with art from Ann Xu. Loup praised the work of both Goto and Xu and holds no ill will against them, but decided that she felt the need to voice her outrage towards the treatment that she received at the hands of First Second’s art director. First Second have not responded to Loup at the time of writing.
