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, Kevin Conroy, the longtime voice of Batman, died at the age of 66.
– Dark Horse Comics announced a new four-part miniseries called “Space Job,” by the creative team of writer David A. Goodman, artist Álvaro Sarraseca, colorist Jordi Escuin Llorach, and letterer Mauro Mantella. Goodman, no stranger to sci-fi spaceship adventures, having written for The Orville and Star Trek: Enterprise, will be in familiar territory: “Space Job” is set to explore the adventures of the unprofessional and disinterested crew of S.S. Bush, who are taking on a simple cargo delivery job, which, in spite of most of the crew’s lack of interest in it, should be successful due to the Operations Officer’s commitment to his job — except that is under threat, because he is ensuring his resumé is up-to-date. When speaking about the series, Goodman said, “Most of the people in the world work in jobs they hate, and I don’t think that will be any different in the future,” adding that our enjoyment of the crew’s adventures can be found because “because it’s not happening to us.” “Space Job” #1 is scheduled for release on February 8, 2023.
– The burgeoning story of David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor’s will continue in the Doctor Who Magazine‘s comic strip, with writer Alan Barnes and artist Lee Sullivan taking the reins, it was revealed. The story will take place immediately after the closing scene of the recent “Power of the Doctor,” which saw Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor regenerate into Tennant’s Fourteenth. Incoming and returning showrunner, Russell T Davies, stated the comic strip gives the opportunity for fans to be convinced that Tennant’s return to the role isn’t “a trick, an illusion, [or] a flashback.” The comic strip’s publication is also a landmark moment for the magazine, with editor Marcus Hearn stating that “for the first time in [the magazine’s] 43-year history, the strip is now in lockstep with the television series’ continuity.” Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor is set to return onscreen in Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary specials next year. Doctor Who Magazine issue #584 is on sale now; you can check out a preview image of the strip and see a summary of the issue’s other content here.
– The upcoming comiXology Originals and Dark Horse series, “Duck and Cover” by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque, was given a release date of March 6, 2023. Details about the series, which was announced as part of Snyder’s initial deal with the two publishers, by way of his Best Jackett Press imprint, back in 2021, still remain largely under wraps, with it still only described by the publishers as “a manga-influenced teen adventure set in the strange post-apocalyptic America… of 1955.” Snyder teased that the series will contain “heart, action, thrills, and a healthy dose of twisted Americana…” alongside its release date announcement and a preview for the first issue, which you can check out here.
– To mark the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Disney gave a total of $1 million in grants to non-profit organizations that support young people in the education of the arts, as well as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects. The non-profit organizations receiving the grants include the US-based Girls Who Code, the Argentina-based Chicas en Tecnología, and the Asia Pacific-based Destination Imagination. The grant scheme follows Disney’s previous collaboration with non-profit organizations before the film’s release, which enabled over 25,000 young people to see the film in advance screenings. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now and you can read our review of the film here. To find out further details about Disney’s community efforts relating to the film, head over to Marvel’s website.
– THR reported that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Black Adam were both unlikely to be shown in China, due to access to the market seemingly unlikely to be granted by the country’s regulators. The official reasons behind the likely dismissal of the two films are not known and are unlikely to be disclosed, although some believe the Black Panther sequel was denied under a blanket post-Avengers: Endgame Marvel film ban, whilst others believe it could be due to the film’s brief depiction of an LGBTQ+ relationship. Black Adam‘s censorship failure is theorized to be because of Pierce Brosnan (who plays Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate)’s celebratory post for the Dalai Lama’s birthday in 2020.
THR also reported that Kuwait is the only Gulf country to be screening an edited version of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with a total of one minute’s worth of footage being removed from the film; the cuts include the LGBTQ+ depiction suggested to be a cause for China’s reported dismissal of the film. The film is screening otherwise unedited in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar.
– Finally, Disney+ released Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a short film by Studio Ghibli in collaboration with Lucasfilm. The hand-drawn animation depicts Grogu, the so-called ‘Baby Yoda’ from The Mandalorian, being disturbed by a group of Dust Bunnies from Spirited Away. The release of the short film was to mark the third anniversary of Disney+’s launch and the debut of The Mandalorian. The short film was directed by Katsuya Kondō (Kiki’s Delivery Service), and scored by The Mandalorian composer Ludwig Göransson. Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies is available to watch on Disney+ now.
