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, Japan is getting its own Spider-Man manga, Lion Forge announced a new series from Leah Williams and Lenka Simeckova called “r(ender);,” and Archie Comics announced two new series for their Archie Horror line. We also got a chance to catch up with Bryan Edward Hill to talk about “Kiss: Blood and Stardust,” and got an exclusive look at Scout Comics’ “The Electric Black.” You can keep up with our coverage of NYCC ‘18 here.
– Dark Horse Comics has announced a new young readers-oriented graphic novel starring Ariel from The Little Mermaid. “Disney Princess: Ariel and the Sea Wolf” will be written by Liz Marsham and illustrated by Tara Nichole Whitaker, and is only the latest in a line of books from Dark Horse based on Disney properties. It will be available for purchase April 10, 2019.
– Gizmodo revealed an exclusive look at Valiant’s “The Life and Death of Toyo Harada.” The six-part miniseries will explore the origin of Toyo Harada, a significant figure in the Valiant Universe, and will serve as an entry point for readers looking to start reading Valiant books, according to Joshua Dysart (“Harbinger”), the writer of the series. “The Life and Death of Toyo Harada” will have art by CAFU (“Rapture”), with flashback sequences illustrated by Mico Suayan (“Bloodshot Reborn”), Lewis LaRosa (“Bloodshot Salvation”), Adam Polina (“X-Force”), and more. It is set to release March of 2019.
– In other Valiant related news, Valiant Entertainment has promoted Karl Bollers to the role of senior editor, effective immediately. Bollers has been involved in the comics industry for over 20 years, having served as a former associate and assistant editor for Marvel Comics, as well as writing several series, including 2014’s “Watson and Holmes.”
– Jon Favreau has revealed the title and details of his highly anticipated TV series set in the Star Wars universe via his Instagram account. The show will be titled The Mandalorian, and will follow a lone gunfighter on the outer reaches of the galaxy between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. See his original post here.
– DC Universe unveiled a teaser video for an exclusive animated series called Harley Quinn and announced that Kaley Cuoco will be voicing the titular character. Cuoco is most well known for her role as Penny in the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The cast will also include Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk, Ron Funches, JB Smoove, Jason Alexander, Wanda Sykes, Giancarlo Esposito, Natalie Morales, Jim Rash, Tony Hale, and Christopher Meloni, with Diedrich Bader (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) reprising his role as Batman.
– Matt Bomer (Superman: Unbound, The Nice Guys) has joined the cast of DC Universe’s Doom Patrol, it was announced last night at New York Comic Con. Bomer will voice Larry Trainor, aka Negative Man, and also play the character in flashbacks. Matthew Zuk played the character on-set for present day scenes. It was also announced the show’s sister series, Titans, has been renewed for a second season ahead of its October 12 debut.
– According to The Hollywood Reporter, Syfy has officially cast Emmett J. Scanlan as Lobo for season 2 of Krypton. Scanlan is an Irish actor whose credits include Guardians of the Galaxy, Safe, and Constantine. A release date for season two of Krypton has not yet been announced.
– The Wrap reports Rosie Perez (Do the Right Thing, White Men Can’t Jump) has been cast as Renee Montoya in the Birds of Prey movie. Montoya is a detective in the Gotham City Police Department, who is best known in the comics for becoming the second Question. She joins Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary, and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in the Cathy Yan-directed movie, which will be released February 7, 2020.
– Musician/actor will.i.am has signed a multi-year production deal with Entertainment One that includes both film and television programming. The first announced project associated with the deal will be a television adaptation of Marvel Comics’ graphic novel “Masters of the Sun – The Zombie Chronicles.” The “Masters of the Sun” graphic novel was conceived by will.i.am’s musical group, The Black Eyed Peas, and followed a hip-hop group from East L.A. as they battled an ancient alien god.
– Finally, the new opening title sequence for The Walking Dead been revealed, and showrunner Angela Kang had this to say about it: “The opening credit sequence is indicative of the new look and feel to the world this season and we wanted to give a nod to the show’s graphic novel origins.” You can watch the new opener here.
