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 you, Oni Press unveiled four new series for 2024. We also have an exclusive preview of next week’s “The Case of the Bleeding Wall” #2, courtesy of Dead Sky Publishing.
– Venom star Tom Hardy is teaming up with writer Scott Snyder for a new 12-issue series titled “Arcbound.” Written with Frank Tieri, and featuring art by Ryan Smallman, the series is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where the corporate empire Zynitec harvests the energy of Kronium for its own, diabolical needs. Hardy will serve as “creative collaborator,” overseeing the creative direction of the wider “Arcbound” universe, which does not have a distributor at the time of writing. An ashcan edition will be available at New York Comic Con this weekend, where Hardy and the creative team will appear for a signing at their booth (#3063) from 4:45pm to 5:30pm. They will also be hosting a panel (without Hardy) that day in room #409 from 3pm to 4pm. Ryan Ottley, Clay Mann, Tyler Kirkham and Dan Panosian all provide variant covers. Check out the official “Arcbound” website here.
– Dark Horse unveiled a new three-issue miniseries that aims to change the face of the sci-fi war genre. “If You Find This, I’m Already Dead,” from Matt Kindt and Dan McDaid, follows a reporter embedded with a unit of Marines deployed into an extra-dimensional pocket universe. When those Marines are wiped out, she finds herself stranded and forced to find her way out on her own. Kindt refers to the book as “If Moebius, Richard Corben, and Jack Kirby had a baby,” before adding “Well… they actually did. And it’s us.” Issue #1 (of 3) will be available February 14, 2024. Each issue will be printed in 8” by 10.875” “magazine sized” format.
– Marvel is retooling its upcoming live-action Daredevil series before it premieres on Disney+, letting go of head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman as well as the directors. According to reports, Daredevil: Born Again, starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, was “a legal procedural that did not resemble the Netflix version, known for its action and violence. Cox didn’t even show up in costume until the fourth episode.” By the time the SAG-AFTRA strike broke out, half of the series’ 18 episodes had been filmed. The Hollywood Reporter also sheds light on the studio’s approach to series before the WGA strike and how they will change, with Marvel now planning to employ showrunners, production bibles and pilots, and to prioritize multi-season shows instead of event series.
– Merry Little Batman, the animated holiday special from DC and Amazon Prime Video, now has a release date. The all-ages special, which sees young Damian Wayne take the mantle of the Dark Knight during the holidays, will be available on the streamer starting December 8. Directed by Mike Roth, the special stars Yonas Kibreab, Luke Wilson, James Cromwell, and David Hornsby, and will lead into the upcoming spin-off show Bat-Family.
– Star Trek: Prodigy is coming to Netflix. The first season of the animated series will go up on the streamer before the end of the year, with season two premiering in 2024. Prodigy was unique in the Star Trek canon in that it was the first series in the franchise explicitly aimed at younger viewers, and that it followed a group of outcasts who commandeered a starship before learning about Starfleet. The first season premiered on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon before the series was canceled, although enough of season two had been completed to allow it to be shopped to another platform.
– Indie publisher A Wave Blue World revealed the cover for “Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans.” The new anthology is edited by Sammy Lisel and Hazel Newlevant, and features nine stories of trans individuals. The book features the talents of trans creators such as Lilah Sturges, Cynthia Yuan Cheng, Kameron White, Sunmi, Ravi Teixeira, and more. The book will be available on May 28, 2024.
– Finally, Viz Media has announced the creation of a one-shot portal aimed at discovering American talent. Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Hisashi Sasaki has been brought onboard to help guide and curate selected winners, who will have the opportunity to see their work in Viz’s digital manga service. “In Japan, a yomikiri or one-shot story has a proven track record for producing hit manga,” Sasaki said of Viz’s efforts. “And I’m thrilled to implement this method at Viz for local writers in the U.S.” Prospective creators can submit their one-shots here.
