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.
– Dan Schkade’s relaunch of “Flash Gordon” got underway on Sunday, October 22, marking the first new installment of the comic strip since 2003. The strip, which Schkade describes as being in a new continuity, will continue daily and on Sundays. The reboot comes ahead of the 90th anniversary of Alex Raymond’s creation on January 7, 1934, and Mad Cave’s upcoming comic book series and original graphic novels. (It also marks the first daily “Flash Gordon” strip since those ended ahead of the Sunday edition in 1993.) You can read more about the revival in an interview with Schkade at The Washington Post.
– Titan Comics announced “Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe,” a prequel to Zack Snyder’s upcoming two-part space epic, written by Magdalene Visaggio with art by Clark Bint (“Killtopia”) and colorist Francesco Segala. The four-issue series will tell the story of outlaw revolutionaries Devra and Darrian Bloodaxe (played by Cleopatra Coleman and Ray Fisher) five years before the events of the films. The first issue will be released on January 10, in-between the release of Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire on Netflix on December 22, and Part Two: The Scargiver on April 19, 2024.
– DC released their January 2024 solicitations, which included the reveal of Valentine’s Day special “How to Lose a Guy Gardner in 10 Days.” The 80-page comic will include eight rom-com parodies starring characters like Plastic Man and Red Tornado (as well as presumably Guy Gardner), from creators Marguerite Sauvage, Dennis Hopeless, George Mann, Danny Lore, Ted Brandt & Ro Stein, and many more. It will retail for $9.99 on February 6. We’ll have more on DC’s solicits in our Soliciting Multiversity column later this month.
– Archie revealed January’s “World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest” #136 will see the return of photojournalist Fran Frazer. Fran, who only appeared in the 1940s series “Top-Notch Comics,” will be reintroduced in a story by writer Ian Flynn and artist Holly G!, where she and romantic rival Hal Davis will help Archie and Veronica uncover corruption in Riverdale. G! comments she borrowed inspiration from Molly Ringwald and Brenda Starr for Fran’s new look. The comic will retail for $9.99 on January 10.
– Publishers Weekly reports HarperAlley will publish a graphic novelization of Ann Petry’s biography Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad, scripted by Joseph P. Illidge with art by Marcus Kwame Anderson (“The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History”). It will be released in Winter 2026. The magazine also shares First Second will publish “The Westgrave Files,” a middle-grade graphic novel series by Bowen McCurdy (“Specter Inspectors”), which will follow different children encountering spooky goings on at school. The first book will arrive Spring 2026.
– Finally, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund released a statement responding to Scholastic’s recent decision to let book fair organizers opt out of offering diverse books. Jeff Trexler, Interim Director of the group, said “[Scholastic is] not pulling books or setting books aside because they’re censors, racists, etc. – they feel forced to take actions they wouldn’t otherwise take due to circumstances beyond their control. Librarians don’t want to lose their jobs or jeopardize the library’s funding. Publishers don’t want schools to have to sacrifice all books due to potential legal consequences or public attacks due to certain images or themes. Condemnation won’t address the underlying problem – I’m much more interested in solving it.”
