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, Image Comics announced ““All Against All” by Alex Paknadel, Caspar Wijngaard, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou; the “Dead Boy Detectives” are set to star in a new miniseries by Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Stokely; Paul Levitz and Alan Davis are set to celebrate the Avengers’ 60th anniversary with “Avengers: War Across Time;” and the winners of the 2022 Ignatz Awards were announced.
– Dark Horse Comics revealed that Matt Wagner is expanding Hunter Rose’s origin story in a new graphic novel called “Grendel: Devil by the Deed — Master’s Edition,” with colorist Brennan Wagner. Matt Wagner described how the idea of retelling the character’s origins came about when working on “Grendel”‘s 40th publication anniversary plans, with Wagner realizing that despite ‘Devil by the Deed’ only being 37 pages long, it became the source of “what eventually became an epic saga that spans many centuries of story time.” ‘Devil by the Deed’ was first published as a back-up story in “Mage” between 1984 and 1986, and has since gone on to be republished in several editions. “Grendel: Devil by the Deed — Master’s Edition” is set to consist of 120 pages, and be released in the Summer of 2023. You can check out the cover for the graphic novel as well as the layers of process behind the finished artwork here.
– Tom King, Jorge Fornés, and Dave Stewart’s DC Black Label series, “Danger Street,” has been resolicited, and is now scheduled to begin its 12-issue run in December. The series follows its three protagonists, Mikaal Tomas Starman, Metamorpho, and Warlord, trying to join the Justice League, with their determination proving to be so strong and potentially blinding that they are willing to summon Darkseid to Earth to do so; as a result, the world is sent into chaos, with the trio trying to fix their mistake. It is inspired by the mid-70s comic, “DC 1st Issue Special,” which allowed DC to debut new characters and see who proved to be popular. “Danger Street Book One” is specifically scheduled for release on December 13.
– In further DC news, the anthology series “Batman: Urban Legends” is set to conclude with the release of issue #23 in January, the publisher announced. With the decision having been made in advance, the creators involved with the final issue, such as Jamal Campbell, Dennis Culver, Vasco Georgiev, Simone Di Meo, and more, will ensure that the ongoing stories in the series will be rounded off appropriately. The ending of the series will occur with the issue’s release on January 10; this is shortly after the conclusion of “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths,” which is set to establish a new editorial direction for the publisher. You can check out Nikola Čižmešija’s cover featuring a host of Batman characters here.
– Two graphic novels were named in the National Book Awards 2022’s Young People’s Literature longlist: “Swim Team” by Johnnie Christmas, and “Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice” by Dawud Anyabwile, Derrick Barnes, and Tommie Smith. “Swim Team” follows a middle-schooler, Enith Brigitha, who has to face her fears of swimming with the help of her elderly apartment neighbor, Etta, and then manage the pressure and expectations of being the school’s greatest hope of winning the state championship. “Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist For Justice” is the memoir of Tommie Smith, the 200-meter sprint Olympic gold medalist who made the Black power salute during the Mexico City Olympics medal ceremony alongside bronze medalist, John Carlos. The finalists in the category are set to be revealed on October 4, with the winner to be announced on November 16. The full list of nominees can be found here.
– Deadline broke the news that Keanu Reeves will be returning for Warner Bros.’s Constantine 2, as will the director of the 2005 original, Francis Lawrence. Specific details about the film’s plot have not been revealed; Akiva Goldsman is set to write the screenplay and serve as a producer on the sequel, representing Weed Road Pictures, with J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella also serving as producers on the film, representing Bad Robot. Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Erwin Stoff are set to be executive producers. With this news came reports that the HBO Max series starring Constantine has been halted, along with the Angela Robinson-produced Madame X HBO Max series, although it is hoped both projects can be revived elsewhere. A release date for the unofficially titled Constantine 2 is not yet known.
Continued below– There was more film news in the form of three of Sony’s upcoming comic book film adaptations being delayed: the upcoming Spider-Man villain film, Kraven the Hunter, moved from January 13, 2023 to October 6, 2023; this then moved another of Sony’s Marvel films, Madame Web, to February 16, 2024, having previously occupied Kraven‘s new release date; and similarly, Garfield was shuffled to May 24, 2024 to accommodate Madame Web‘s occupation of its old release date. An unrevealed Sony Marvel adaptation is scheduled to follow on July 21, 2024. You can read a round-up of all of the new and updated release dates from Sony over at Variety.
– THR reported that Charlie Barnett is set to be joining the upcoming Star Wars Disney+ series, The Acolyte. Barnett’s character in the series is unknown, but the role is believed to be a supporting one. The series itself is shrouded in secrecy too, known only to be set in the final days of the High Republic. Barnett will be reunited with Russian Doll co-creator, Leslye Headland, the showrunner, writer, and director of The Acolyte, and joins the previously reported cast of Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Manny Jacinto. It is unknown when The Acolyte is aiming to debut on Disney+.
– Crystal Dynamics revealed that there will be a new Elite Villain Sector called ‘No Rest for the Wicked’ coming to Marvel’s Avengers in its latest update, 2.6. The level will see players fighting against Monica Rappaccini, with the full description for the level reading “SHIELD has detected a great power source coming from an AIM lab in the Utah Badlands, and it looks like Monica is running the operation herself.” The update is scheduled to go live tomorrow on September 20. You can read the full Weekly Update for the game here.
– Finally, actor Henry Silva died of natural causes at the age of 95 on Wednesday, September 14. Whilst most widely known for his role as Chunjin in The Manchurian Candidate, to comic book readers he is best known as the voice of Bane in DC’s Animated Universe entries such as Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, and for his portrayal of Influence in the 1990 film adaptation, Dick Tracy. Silva is survived by his two sons, Scott and Michael Silva.
