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, Mark Millar announced his next comic will be the teenage vampire superhero comic “Night Club,” and Image is releasing “Iphigenia in Aulis: The Age of Bronze Edition,” based on the Ancient Greek play. Plus, we have an exclusive cover reveal for “Swamp Dogs: House of Crows” #1, and an interview with Jeff Lemire on his New 52 “Animal Man” run.
– Marvel are parterning with Scholastic for the 2022 OGN “Captain America: The Ghost Army,” from NYT Best Selling author Alan Gratz (Prisoner B-3087, Refugee), and artist Brent Schoonover (“The Astonishing Ant-Man,” “Devil’s Highway”). The comic is set during WWII and features Captain America and Bucky as a teenage duo fighting against Nazi soldiers, an undead ghost army, and Doctor Strange’s nemesis Baron Mordo in Transylvania. “As a life-long comics reader, I’m incredibly excited to be writing for Marvel, and for Captain America specifically,” said Gratz. “Ed Brubaker’s work on ‘Captain America’ is one of my all-time favorite books, particularly his now-iconic Winter Soldier storyline. One of the things I most loved about that run was the flashbacks he gave us of Cap and Bucky fighting alongside each other in World War II, and it’s that youthful spirit of camaraderie and heroism I’m trying to recapture in ‘Captain America: The Ghost Army.'” The book will also feature ancestors of the Maximoff twins. Head over to CBR for a look at all of Schoonover’s early character designs.
– Evan Dahm has revealed the cover for “Island Book: The Rising Tide,” the final entry in his “Island Book” trilogy at First Second. The third volume is set to release July 6 next year. “Island Book” is a fantasy series following the outcast Sola, who travels the sea, encountering monsters and mysterious islands. “The Rising Tide” features a war on the Infinite Land, while Sola’s friend look for her, after previously assuming she was dead. The 288-page OGN will retail for US$24.99.
– Rebellion imprint Treasury of British Comics announced the ongoing kids anthology comic “Monster Fun,” which will begin with a holiday special this October before starting regular serialization in April. This will be Rebellion’s first new series since acquiring “2000 AD” in 2000, and the first UK humor comic since the 1990s. The anthology will release bi-monthly and features archival stories alongside new creations from cartoonists like Juni Ba, Robin Etherington, Matt Baxte and Tom Paterson. “Monster Fun” originally released in the UK between 1975 and 1976; the new Halloween special will release October 6 and will feature 48 pages of stories.
– Hong Kong cartoonist Justin Wong Ciu-tat has given an official apology to the Hong Kong police after publishing a cartoon on the Junior Police Call’s involvement in Hong Kong’s press. Wong has stated that this is the first time in his 14-year career of political cartooning that he had received objection from the police. The news comes shortly after the shuttering of Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s opposition paper, by the police in late June, as well as the recent plans for a “fake news” law meant to give the government greater control over the publishing of Hong Kong’s independent news media. Junior Police Call is a youth program meant to promote loyalty to the law, with the Hong Kong Journalists Association reportedly allowing in members of the Junior Police Call despite their lack of qualification, tarnishing its reputation and distance from the state. Since the end of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong extradition protests, an increasing number of journalists have been detained and censored, including Apple Daily‘s founder Jimmy Lai.
– The latest Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel, “Suki, Alone” is going to be getting a live reading from Suki’s voice actor Jennie Kwan, alongside a host of special guests. Book creators Faith Erin Hicks and Peter Wartman will appear alongside voice actors Deedee Magno Hall, Justine Huxley and Catero Alain Colbert for the livestreamed reading on Dark Horse Comics’ Twitch and Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel tomorrow at 1:00pm PST. The reading will also feature a Q&A, a trivia event, and a giveaway of copies of “Suki, Alone,” “Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy,” and “Katara and the Pirate’s Silver.”
Continued below– Dreamscape Immersive, the VR company, have announced their latest attraction, Men in Black: First Assignment at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles. The VR experience will accomodate up to six people and is set in the same world as the films by Amblin Entertainment and Sony Pictures. The game opens October 1 and allows players to tour MIB Headquarters, fight aliens and save the universe. The Men in Black first appeared in the 1990 comic “The Men in Black” by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers.
– Hulu has released the trailer for its Marvel animated series, Hit-Monkey, giving us our first glimpse at the show, its cast and its release date. The teaser presents the series as an origin story for the titular Monkey (played by Fred Tatasciore), a Japanese snow monkey, who has his world ripped out from under him when his whole tribe is wiped out. He sets himself on the path for revenge when he becomes tied to the spirit of Bryce (Jason Sudeikis), a gifted former assassin who dies in the Alps alongside Monkey’s tribe. Bryce’s spirit teaches him the ways of assassination, while acting as his conscience, despite his own pessimism.
The animated comedy will also feature George Takei as Shinji, a politician set to become Prime Minister of Japan, and Olivia Munn as Akiko, Shinji’s niece who harbors an unseen dark side. Nobi Nakanishi and Ally Maki will play the cop duo Ito and Haruka: Ito is an often-mocked police officer who is the rare supporter of Hit-Monkey, while Haruka is the serious and committed new recruit who has to come to terms with the warped morality of the Tokyo Police Force. “Hit-Monkey” was created by writer Daniel Way and artist Dalibor Talajić in 2010, and the teaser also features Immortal Weapon Fat Cobra (created by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja), and Daredevil villain Lady Bullseye (created by Brubaker, Marko Djurdjevic and Clay Mann). The 10-episode series releases all at once on Hulu this November 17.
