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, Sony released the Madame Web trailer. We also spoke to Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann about their new book, “Look on the Bright Side.”
– BOOM! Studios announced “The Displaced,” a sci-fi mystery series by Ed Brisson, Luca Casalanguida, and Dee Cunniffe. Set in Brisson’s native Oshiwa, Ontario, the book imagines the city vanishing along with its 170,000 inhabitants. “No one remembers it even existed. As the survivors of the incident start to become forgotten as well, they must seek each other out if they hope to have any chance of surviving in a world where no one believes they ever existed at all.” Brisson states, “It’s a story about the churn of media, and the victims who quite literally become forgotten as the world moves to the next big story.” The first issue will be released on February 14, 2024.
– Artist Simon Gane (“Sunburn,” “Paris”) will collaborate with writer Joe Casey on a three-part “Dutch” miniseries at Image Comics. Picking up from Casey and Nathan Fox’s “Image!” anthology story (which was republished this week as “Dutch” #0), the comic sees the ’90s Youngblood member come out of retirement to confront an old enemy, “but will his former teammates welcome him back? Or will a cybernetic kill team get to him first?” It will begin on February 14, 2024.
– Titan Comics revealed their second Conan the Barbarian series, “The Savage Sword of Conan,” will launch on February 28, 2024. The first issue of the black-and-white anthology will include a new Conan story by John Arcudi and Max Von Fafner, a Solomon Kane segment by writer/artist Patch Zircher, and a prose story by main Conan comic writer Jim Zub. It will retail at 80 pages for $6.99.
– Lilah Sturges’s long-delayed graphic novel “The Science of Ghosts” has been rescheduled for next year, with El Garing replacing Alitha Martinez as artist. The book, published by Legendary Comics, follows a transgender parapsychologist as she deals with her “first post-transition relationship, a hostile ex-wife, and clues to [a] murder long forgotten.” It will be released in paperback on May 7, 2024.
– Marvel Studios released the first trailer for What If…? season two, revealing all nine episodes will be released daily, beginning December 22. Stories unveiled include T’Chaka hunting a young Peter Quill with other contemporaneous heroes; Tony Stark going to Sakaar instead of Bruce Banner; Hela allying with Wenwu against Odin; a “1602”-inspired episode; a Die Hard-esque Christmas adventure for Happy Hogan; the introduction of pre-colonial heroine Kahhori; and the return of Strange Supreme and Captain Carter, the latter now shown alongside the Watcher during the title card.
– Meanwhile, Destin Daniel Cretton has stepped down as director of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. The departure was amicable, with Cretton currently helping oversee Marvel’s Disney+ series Wonder Man (which will resume filming after Thanksgiving), and still planning to direct the sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Cretton took on the project shortly after it was announced last year, when it was intended for a 2025 release, and worked with Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness on the script. The fifth Avengers movie remains set for release on May 1, 2026.
– Furthermore, Pedro Pascal is in talks to play Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four reboot. While not a done deal, it appears the only real issue for now is Pascal’s schedule, which currently consists of season two of The Last of Us, Gladiator 2, and Zach Cregger’s Weapons. The film is expected to begin shooting next year for a May 2, 2025 release. If cast, Pascal will be the first Hispanic actor to play Reed in any medium.
– Venezuelan actress María Gabriela de Faría (Animal Control, Deadly Class) has joined the cast of Superman: Legacy as Angela Spica, aka the Engineer, a member of the Authority. Created in 1999, the Engineer is a founding member of the group, who possesses shapeshifting powers derived from nanobot blood. De Faría will presumably reprise the role in the Authority’s own film, which director James Gunn announced as being part of DC Studios’ first chapter earlier this year. Superman: Legacy remains on course to arrive in theaters on July 11, 2025.
– Drawn & Quarterly’s employees have unionized. Per the press release, workers at the Canadian publisher and its bookstores filed to unionize earlier this fall, and have now been certified by the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT) of Quebec. The union states “they look forward to crafting with their employers a collective agreement that reflects the scope of their responsibilities.”
– Finally, Roger Kastel, the artist behind the posters for Jaws and The Empire Strikes Back, passed away on Wednesday, November 8, 2023. He was 92 years old. In addition to those two pieces of art, Kastel created the poster for the 1975 film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, and was a prolific book cover artist. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Grace, as well as their two children, four grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to the Artists’ Fellowship, Inc.
