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, we interviewed Kenny Cruse, the comic book expert at digital library service Libby.
– Image announced writer Rick Remender and his imprint Giant Generator have signed an exclusive three-year deal with the publisher, giving him “carte blanche on his upcoming titles.” The company stated new titles will be announced at New York Comic Con’s (deep breath) Generating Creator-Owned Comics with Image Comics’ Giant Generator panel on Saturday, October 14. In the meantime, the third issue of Remender, Max Fiumara, and Dave McCaig’s new series, “The Sacrificers,” will drop on October 4, while his next one, “The Holy Roller” (created with Andy Samberg, Joe Trohman, and Roland Boschi), will begin on November 22.
– Image also announced “Our Bones Dust,” a four-part series by writer/artist Ben Stenbeck (“Baltimore,” “Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1953,” “Koshchei,” and more.) A post-apocalyptic comic, the book follows “a feral child, equal parts predator and prey,” as he “navigates a nightmare landscape of brutality and blood inhabited by scattered cannibal tribes. An interesting place to poke around for a curious artificial intelligence.” Issue #1 will be released on December 6, with a main cover by Stenbeck, and a variant by Mike Mignola.
– Marvel teased a few titles being revealed during their Next Big Thing panel at New York Comic Con on October 14. These consist of “Avengers: Twilight,” Chip Zdarsky and Daniel Acuña’s tale of “the final days of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”; “Resurrection of Magneto” by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio; and ‘Fall of the House of X’ & ‘Rise of the Powers of X,’ which will see Gerry Duggan, Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, and R.B. Silva kick off “the final battle of the X-Men’s Krakoan age.” All of these series will begin in January.
– BOOM! Studios announced “Orcs! The Gift,” the third and final volume of Christine Larsen’s young adult fantasy series. The new installment will pick up with the party of Orcs, Crows, and Elves planning to steal a dragon’s treasure, only to find the Wolf King’s grudge against them might lead to a second War of the Beasts. The first issue releases December 6, with a main cover by Larsen, and variants by Erica Henderson. It was not said how long it will run for, although the first two “Orcs!” titles respectively consisted of six and four issues.
– Mad Cave unveiled a “King Arthur and the Knights of Justice” graphic novel, based on the animated ’90s series of the same name. Written by Joe Corallo with art by Gaia Cardinali, the book follows quarterback Arthur King and his football team after they’re transported back in time to Camelot. There, they must rescue the original King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table from Morgana. It will be released under the YA imprint Maverick on March 12, 2024. Mad Cave acquired the rights to the cartoon earlier this year, and the book is expected to be the first in a series.
– In TV news, Entertainment Weekly revealed the fourth and final season of Doom Patrol will finally return for its second half in October. Meanwhile, NBC released the trailer for season two of the Quantum Leap revival, which sees Raymond Lee’s Dr. Ben Song reveal his secret to Hannah Carson (new series regular Eliza Taylor.) The trailer also introduces Peter Gadiot as US Army Officer Tom Westfall, and settings like Area 51, the 1992 LA Riots, Egypt, and Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. The second season begins Wednesday, October 4.
– An original My Hero Academia special will premiere at New York Comic Con on October 13. Set during season five, the OVA is titled U.A. Heroes Battle, and will see Mirio introduce a card game to the dormitory students during their winter break. It marks the series’ ninth OVA, and will be added to Crunchyroll at some point in the near future. The sixth season of the anime wrapped up earlier this year, with a seventh (and a fourth film) in the works; a live-action film from Legendary and Netflix is also in development.
– Microids announced the new Tintin game, Tintin Reporter – Cigars of the Pharaoh, will be released on the PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on November 7, 2023. A Nintendo Switch version will follow in 2024. Based on the fourth volume of Hergé’s series, the adventure game will follow the boy reporter and his dog Snowy across Egypt, Arabia, and India, as they investigate a mystery in a pharaoh’s tomb. For more details, including the contents of the Limited and Collector’s Editions, head to the press release.
– Finally, Houston Chronicle reports an eighth grade teacher from Jefferson County, East Texas, was fired earlier this month for reading from “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation.” The firing was reportedly over a portion where Frank discusses sex and sexuality. Although school district officials claim the book was not approved, it was included on a reading list sent out at the start of the academic year. Ari Folman and David Polonsky’s adaptation previously fell afoul of conservative parents earlier this year in Florida, over similar complaints that it preserves previously censored parts of the diary. On a related note, yesterday saw MoveOn launch the Artists Against Book Bans campaign; signatories include Maia Kobabe, Margaret Atwood, Mark Ruffalo, and many more.
