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 that writer Kurt Busiek is returning to the publisher to work on new and existing series; the 2021 Harvey Award winners were announced; and “Saga” was confirmed to be returning in January.
– Jim Valentino, the creator of ShadowHawk, revealed that he is working on the “ShadowHawk 30th Anniversary Special” for Image Comics, a book that is set to be released next year. As part of the reveal, Valentino shared the pencils for the cover of the issue which pays homage to the publisher’s first release, “Youngblood” #1. Further details about the book were kept under wraps. ShadowHawk is an anti-hero who first debuted in 1992, the year of Image Comics’ formation, in issue #2 of “Youngblood.” Through his armour, ShadowHawk has increased strength and agility and is also bulletproof.
– Writer Steven DeKnight (Daredevil) announced that he will no longer be writing for Marvel Comics after learning about Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski’s work under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida. In a series of tweets, DeKnight said that whilst working for Marvel Comics has been a “childhood dream come true,” continuing to work for the publisher as they “allow a man who climbed to the top through cultural identity theft to remain in that position is unconscionable.” He will not be accepting “any additional work until this is resolved,” and will also “be contacting my editor… to loudly protest this miscreant’s continued employment.” The next comics by DeKnight, namely “Wastelanders: Wolverine” #1 and “Wastelanders: Black Widow” #1, are set for release in December.
– At New York Comic Con, AfterShock Comics revealed there will be a second volume of Stephanie Phillips and Tony Shasteen’s alternate history series “Nuclear Family” in 2022. Published in the first half of 2021, “Nuclear Family” takes place in 1957, and follows the McClean family’s struggle to survive after the Cold War escalates into a full-blown nuclear conflict. The AfterShock panel also disclosed 2022 will see new projects from Garth Ennis, as well as Mark Sable, and the debut of the Miranda brothers’ “We Live: Era of the Palladions.”
– Colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr. (“High Level”) launched a GoFundMe page to pay for his hospitalized mother Terisita’s ongoing medical bills. Terisita, along with Fajardo’s father, were hospitalized with COVID-19 in July, with Fajardo’s father suffering severe pneumonia, which he has since recovered from. Teresita continued her hospital treatment following the discovery of pleural effusion (liquid in the lungs). Once this had been treated, a further examination of her lungs was conducted, which led to her being diagnosed with Stage 3 thymoma cancer. Fajardo Jr. and his siblings have been able to cover the medical costs to treat the pleural effusion, but her cancer treatment has put further strain onto the “almost completely drained” financial resources at their disposal. You can support Fajardo’s fundraiser here.
– Variety reported that AWA have signed writer Aaron Rabin to serve as the screenwriter for the film adaptation of “Old Haunts.” This will be the first film adaptation AWA Studios will be financing internally, with Zach Studin, the President of AWA, set to produce the film. The five-part series “Old Haunts,” by writers Ollie Masters and Rob Williams, artist Laurence Campbell, and colorist Lee Loughridge, follows three members of the Mafia seeking to retire, only to be “confronted by decades of buried secrets,” and forced to “unearth the deepest, darkest sin from their past.” A schedule relating to the film’s production and release has not been revealed.
– AMC announced that the second part of The Walking Dead‘s eleventh and final season will begin on February 20, 2022, and released a teaser trailer alongside it. The show’s final season will have an extended run, comprised of 24 episodes split into three groups of eight. The third and final run of episodes is set for later in 2022. It was not specified if the return date refers to the series’ AMC+ debut or the AMC cable debut, which occurs a week after the former. The teaser trailer is available here.
Continued below– As part of the show’s NYCC panel, CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon revealed new additions to the voice cast of the upcoming animated kids’ series, Star Trek: Prodigy. Robert Beltran will be returning as his character from Star Trek: Voyager, with an added promotion, as Captain Chakotay; Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer) will portray the Andorian, Commander Tysess; The Good Place‘s Jameela Jamil will voice a Trill called Ensign Asencia; and Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) will be the voice behind Doctor Noum, a Tellarite. The panel followed a screening of the first episode, “Lost and Found,” from which a clip focusing on ‘Hologram Janeway,’ voiced by the franchise-returning Kate Mulgrew, has been released. Star Trek: Prodigy is scheduled to debut on Paramount+ on October 28. Check out the clip, as well as a description of the first episode, here. Paramount+ also unveiled a trailer for the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery, which will premiere on the streaming service on November 18.
– The BBC released a teaser trailer and poster for the upcoming series of Doctor Who which was revealed to have the subtitle, Flux; additionally, they announced that the new season will be premiering on October 31. The teaser takes the form of a warning message sent by the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) from the Tardis; in it, she warns that something called the Flux is on its way and that it will bring “Sontarans, Weeping Angels, creatures known as the Ravagers, and enemies from across the universe” with it. The teaser closes with newcomer John Bishop, in the role of Dan Lewis, calling for the Doctor’s help, and the returning Mandip Gill as Yaz struggling to keep control of the Tardis. You can check out the teaser here, and see the poster here.
– Finally, following the conclusion of What If…? season one, head writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews revealed that a spin-off featuring Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa/Star Lord was being developed prior to Boseman’s passing. Andrews stated that Boseman’s character would have gotten “his own show with that universe and crew,” which they were all “very excited” about, though he clarified that he didn’t know if Boseman was aware of their plans. The project is now on hold.
The pair also shed light on the show’s second season, telling us to expect an episode featuring the story behind the Tony Stark and Gamora partnership that we got a glimpse of in season one’s finale. Bradley explained that the pair had an episode set for season one, but because of “the COVID pandemic, one of our animation houses was hit incredibly hard, and the episode needed to be pushed into Season 2, because it would not be finished in time.” A release date for the second season of What If…? has not currently been announced. You can read the full interview with Bradley and Andrews at Variety.
