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.
– “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” writer Tom King, artist Bilquis Evely, colorist Matheus Lopes, and letterer Clayton Cowles are reteaming at Dark Horse Comics for fantasy series “Helen of Wyndhorn.” Described as a gothic tale inspired by Conan the Barbarian and The Wizard of Oz, the six-issue series follows Helen Cole, the daughter of a popular pulp writer, who inherits his estate Wyndhorn House after he passes away. Soon, she begins to uncover that his adventures may not have been just fiction. The first issue will be released on March 13, 2024.
– Via Popverse, the Suicide Squad comic book will return in March 2024 as “Suicide Squad: Dream Team.” No details were given on the premise or creative team, but Nicole Maines’s Dreamer will play a major role in Amanda Waller’s plans to form a new Task Force X, intended “to help eradicate metahumans – be they good, evil, animal or human.” It will be set up in “Titans: Beast World Tour Metropolis” #1, and “Action Comics” #1060, both releasing on December 21: the former will feature a new story penned by Maines, where Nia and Supergirl take on Flamebird, while “Action” #1060 will have a back-up by her, Steve Orlando and Fico Ossio, called ‘Squad Dreams.’
– Marvel announced a new five-part “What If?” series, “What If?… Venom.” Written by Jeremy Holt with art by Jesús Hervás, each issue will respectively imagine what would’ve happened if the symbiote had bonded with She-Hulk, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Loki, and Moon Knight instead of Eddie Brock. The first issue will be released on February 28.
– Archie will publish “The Jaguar,” a one-shot starring the Mighty Crusader of the same name, written by Keryl Brown Ahmed (“Big Ethel Energy”), with art by Tango, coloring by Ellie Wright, and lettering by Jack Morelli. The 32-page book follows Ivette “Ivy” Velez, the protégé of original Jaguar Ralph Hardy, as she heads to Northern Peru to hunt an unidentified bird of prey killing the local wild cats. It will be released on February 21.
– SAG-AFTRA have reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP to end the actors’ strike. The guild states, “We have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope that includes ‘above-pattern’ minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus.” The strike began on July 14, and lasted 118 days. The news comes over a month after the end of the WGA strike, which lasted for nearly five months.
Sony have responded by rescheduling Venom 3 for November 8, 2024; the movie is among several projects expected to resume filming immediately after the strike officially ends. The movie’s new date means it will arrive less than three months after Kraven the Hunter (currently releasing August 30.) And in further Sony news yesterday, the studio released the first trailer for the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The film, directed by Afterlife co-writer Gil Kenan, sees an icy evil descend on New York City in the middle of summer, and will be released on March 29, 2024 (when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was originally set to arrive.)
– The Washington Post have deleted a cartoon by Michael Ramirez about the Israel–Hamas war that readers widely derided as racist. The cartoon, called “Human Shields,” depicted a Hamas spokesman with a woman and four children bound to him, snarling “How dare Israel attack civilians…” David Shipley, the paper’s editorial page editor, apologized, saying the response made him realize he had “missed something profound, and divisive.” Ramirez, who has been contributing to the Post since May, is a conservative cartoonist primarily employed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and has equated grief and anger over Palestinians killed in the conflict to support for terrorism in the pages of that paper.
– Finally, Peter David’s GoFundMe has been updated. Kathleen David, Peter’s wife, states she is in the process of having their roof replaced to get their home insured, but banks would not lend the loan required. She has a week to raise $20,000 so Peter can return to living at home. The GoFundMe, which was established last year, has so far raised $223,275 of a current $250,000 target to help cover the ongoing costs of David’s healthcare after suffering kidney failure, a series of strokes, and a mild heart attack, which have left him unable to walk, and placed him on leave from writing for Marvel Comics.
