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, Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino outlined the projects that ‘The Bone Orchard Mythos’ will initially be comprised of.
– Image Comics revealed they will be publishing a new one-shot called “Rockstar and Softboy” by Sina Grace. The one-shot will see Rockstar setting out to lift Softboy’s spirits with a huge house party, only for Party Animal to arrive and put the pair’s friendship under pressure by bringing up their long-held secrets. In the announcement, Grace described the one-shot as “pure, frenzied, loving, ratchet friendship in a comic book.” “Rockstar and Softboy” is scheduled for release in comic book shops on February 23, with a bookshop release following on March 1.
– In more Sina Grace-related news, Publishers Weekly reported on five graphic novel deals last week, including Random House Graphics’ acquisition of Grace’s autobiographical middle-grade graphic novel, “The Big Deal.” The book will see protagonist Sasan Rad explore his Persian heritage, and combine it with his identity as an American. “The Big Deal,” which is the first in a trilogy, is scheduled for 2024.
Also reported was First Second’s preemptive acquisition of “Anamnesis” by JCJB, which was pitched as “Studio Ghibli meets Yoruban folklore;” and Holiday House’s purchase of worldwide rights to Vikram Madan’s “The Adventures of Zooni” series, which features short and mini stories about a dog who can’t stop encountering trouble, but always manages to help his fellow animal friends. “Anamnesis” is set for Winter 2026, and the two planned “The Adventures of Zooni” entries are set for Fall 2023 and Summer 2024. You can check out the full list of deals here.
– Mad Cave Studios announced a new series called “Speed Republic” by writer Ryan K. Lindsay, artist Emanuele Parascandolo, colorist Michele Monte, and letterer Joamette Gil. The series will be set in Europe in the not-so-distant future, where “food is scarce, the water is polluted, and health is a luxury for the 1%.” It will chronicle the commencing of the annual ‘Grand Race,’ a rally across the continent that people take part in, potentially to the death, in order to escape the poverty that plagues most of the population. “Speed Republic” #1 is scheduled for February 2022; as part of the announcement Mad Cave released a trailer for the series.
– CBS spotlighted Bloomsbury’s upcoming “When I Grow Up” by cartoonist Ken Krimstein. The graphic novel adapts six recently discovered essays by Jewish teenagers that were written in the 1930s for a competition that aimed to capture and preserve Jewish life at the time. The stories in “When I Grow Up” include that of a 19-year-old girl who questioned her understanding of God after she was forbidden to pray for her father after his death, and a 20-year-old man who had been trying to acquire a visa to work in America. While the entries to the competition were intended to be anonymous, one story in “When I Grow Up” has been identified as belonging to a mother, Bebba Epstein, who survived three different concentration camps, due to her inclusion of a photograph with her entry. The winner of the essay-writing competition was never announced due to Hitler’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the date the winner’s reveal had been scheduled for. “When I Grow Up” is scheduled for release on November 16, and you can see previews from the book as part of CBS’s coverage here.
– Following a collection of Image Comics workers forming the Comic Book Workers United (CBWU) union, the organization declared in a statement that the publisher “failed to formally acknowledge [the union’s] request for voluntary recognition.” As a result, workers will now have to petition for an election to be held by the National Labor Relations Board; this is a formal process that will require the support of “30% of employees” before an election can be arranged by the NLRB with Image and the CBWU. If an agreement fails to be reached, the NLRB would be able to intervene and move the process forward. If the union were to achieve the majority of votes in the resulting election, then the CBWU would become the “employees’ bargaining representative;” if Image were to not recognize the union at that stage, it would be deemed “an unfair labor practice.”
Continued below– Producer Prentice Penny (Insecure) and the founder of Stranger Comics, Sebastian A. Jones, launched a yet-to-be-named comic book company that aims to get BIPOC creators’ work published and potentially adapted, as well as offering mentoring programs. The company currently has plans to adapt David Crownson and Courtland Ellis’s “Harriet Tubman: Demon Slayer,” and Uraeus and Mshindo Kuumba’s “Jaycen Wise” into TV series. “Harriet Tubman: Demon Slayer” reimagines the American abolitionist in a story where her escape from slavery is thwarted by vampires, demons, and more, whilst “Jaycen Wise” features an immortal warrior who ensures knowledge and truth are maintained; to do so he takes artifacts from museums and private collections and returns them to their true homes and owners. Schedules relating to the adaptations have not been announced.
– Netflix released a trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things. Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven narrates the trailer in the form of a letter to Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), detailing that she has adapted to her new life in California, but is really excited to have “the best spring break ever” with him. The trailer also gives us glimpses at the returning Byers family: Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Joyce (Winona Ryder). The streaming company also released a teaser featuring all of the season’s episode titles and concludes with the message that “The Adventure continues… Summer 2022.” You can check out the trailer here, and the title tease here.
– Deadline reported on The CW’s midseason premiere and return dates: the second season of Superman & Lois will kick off the network’s superhero stories for 2022 on January 11 at 8p.m, with Naomi‘s premiere following it at 9p.m.; DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman will continue their seventh and third seasons, respectively, in a two-hour slot between 8 and 10p.m. on January 12; and the eighth season of The Flash will resume on March 9, while The CW’s other comic book series, Riverdale, is set to return on March 6. You can check out the rest of The CW’s schedule here.
– Finally, camera operator and director-of-photography Stephen F. Campbell died on November 4, at the age of 65. Campbell worked on multiple seasons of The Walking Dead from 2013 up to what was the finale of Season 10 prior to its extension, “A Certain Doom.” It was his work on the AMC series that earned him a nomination for the Camera Operator of the Year Award by the Society of Camera Operators in 2015. Campbell’s other work included another comic book adaptation, 2004’s The Punisher, and another zombie-focused production, Zombieland, among many other projects. Campbell is survived by his wife, Pamela; five children; and three grandchildren.
