January 9, 2023 – Multiversity Comics

Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown of comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email our team at [email protected]

In case you missed it over the holidays, “Adora and the Distance” won 2022’s Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity, Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta are reteaming for “Phantom Road,” and AfterShock Comics filed for bankruptcy protection. You can also check out the interviews and Year in Review items we published over the break.

– For April, Marvel Comics announced a “Guardians of the Galaxy” relaunch, written by Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly with art by Kev Walker; “Warlock: Rebirth,” by Ron Marz and Ron Lim; the end of Jason Aaron’s “Avengers” and Ryan Ottley’s “Hulk” runs; and the 175th issue of “She-Hulk.”

For March, they revealed relaunches of “Doctor Strange” and “Predator;” plus Charlie Jane Anders and Enid Balám’s miniseries “New Mutants: Lethal Legion;” Peter Milligan, Mike Allred, and Laura Allred’s continuation “The X-Cellent;” David Michelinie and Farid Karami’s “Venom: Lethal Protector II;” and “Avengers Beyond” by Derek Landy and Greg Land. They also announced Rob Liefeld’s “Deadpool: Badder Blood” will begin in June.

– For March, DC Comics announced “Superman: Lost,” a ten-part maxiseries reteaming “Deathstroke” writer Christopher Priest and artist Carlo Pagulayan; and “Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods,” a four-issue, biweekly Shazam/Wonder Woman mini by G. Willow Wilson and Cian Tormey, that will pick up where the titular event storyline left off (it will also tie into March and April’s “Wonder Woman” #797-798.)

– Image Comics revealed several series debuting in March: “The Ambassadors,” a superhero mini by Mark Millar, Frank Quitely, Olivier Coipel, and more, which’ll lead into a summer crossover between Millar’s properties called ‘Big Game;’ Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann, and Mike Henderson’s pulp sci-fi saga “Forged;” Curt Pires, Alex Diotto, Dee Cunniffe, and Rockwell White’s sci-fi mystery “Indigo Children;” Emma Kubert’s fantasy barbarian saga “Stoneheart;” Fred Kennedy and Nick Marinkovich’s historical actioner “Dead Romans;” and “No/One,” a new, true crime-styled entry in the Massive-Verse by Kyle Higgins and Geraldo Borges. The last comic will receive a monthly tie-in podcast, titled Who is No/One, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Patton Oswalt.

– Dark Horse’s new titles for March will consist of a print edition of Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul’s comiXology series “Clear;” Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, and Hilary Jenkins’s cat-themed horror series “Hairball;” and Jim Starlin and Rags Morales’s sci-fi epic “Order and Outrage.” Further announcements included a partnership with Yoe Books, beginning with a reissue of the award-winning anthology “BLAB!” Volume 1 in Spring 2023; a rerelease of Brian Michael Bendis’s “Fortune and Glory” in April; Jake Smith and Hiram Corbett’s cyberpunk OGN “Blood Force Trauma” in August; and Stefano Ascari and Simone D’Armini’s Shakespeare retelling “Macbeth: A Tale of Horror” in October.

– IDW Publishing announced (for March) a new TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo crossover by Stan Sakai, titled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen,” and (for April) “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — The Dog of War, ” a commemorative 30th anniversary series by novelist Mike Chen (in his comics debut) and artist Angel Hernandez. The company also partnered with producer Todd Lieberman (The Divergent Series) and screenwriter Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies) to develop Nick Tapalansky and Kate Glasheen’s 2020 sci-fi OGN “A Radical Shift of Gravity” into a film.

– In more publishing news, BOOM! Studios will launch “The Neighbors,” a horror mini by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici, and release the “BRZRKR” finale in March; Cullen Bunn launched the series “Retroverse” with John Bivens on comiXology, and will begin a spy thriller called “Red Zone” at AWA with Mike Deodato Jr. in March; Oni Press will publish Dina Norfund’s OGN “The Snowcat Prince;” Steve Orlando and Sebastián Píriz’s “Exorcists Never Die” will start at Mad Cave in April; “Second Coming: Trinity” will check in on Jesus and Sunstar’s friendship during Easter; and Garth Ennis and Patrick Goddard will revive Rogue Trooper for a 13-part story, kicking off in April 5’s “2000 AD” Prog 2326.

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– At the Game Awards, Dark Horse and Dutch publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment unveiled Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, a cel-shaded PC/console game starring Lance Reddick as Hellboy. Created in collaboration with Mike Mignola by British developer Upstream Arcade, the game features an original story, in which Hellboy goes searching for a missing BPRD agent in a mansion in 1962. Furthermore, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was announced as releasing on March 17, while Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was confirmed for May 26; it was also revealed that Kevin Conroy will appear posthumously in the latter as Batman.

– Newly appointed DC Studios co-CEOs and chairmen James Gunn and Peter Safran began to lift the lid on their plans for the movie universe, with Gunn and Henry Cavill confirming his version of Superman will not return, in favor of a film set during Clark Kent’s younger days, which Gunn will write. Dwayne Johnson also announced he will not return as Black Adam for the foreseeable future, while Patty Jenkins confirmed Wonder Woman 3 has been scrapped (although it remains unknown if Gal Gadot will be similarly replaced.)

– Over at the CW, the network announced the ninth and final season of The Flash will begin on Wednesday, February 8, while Superman & Lois season three and the first episode of Gotham Knights will both premiere on Tuesday, March 14. A number of past Arrowverse actors were also announced as guest stars for The Flash‘s final season, namely Nicole Maines (Dreamer), David Ramsey (John Diggle), Keiynan Lonsdale (Wally West), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Bloodwork), and Stephen Amell himself as Green Arrow.

– On the MCU front, Marvel announced Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be added to Disney+ on February 1. In casting news, Debra Jo Rupp and Patti LuPone were added to Agatha: Coven of Chaos (the former reprising her WandaVision role), while Margarita Levieva (Revenge) and Sandrine Holt (Better Call Saul) reportedly joined Daredevil: Born Again; Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones) was also reported as appearing in Loki season two. (Footage from the latter was premiered alongside the first shots from Star Wars: Ahsokaand more, in a Disney+ promo for 2023.)

– Netflix announced Wednesday season two has been greenlit, and acquired the upcoming film versions of “My Hero Academia” and “City Hunter” (the former is a Legendary Pictures production in development with director Shinsuke Sato, while the latter is a Japanese project in pre-production with actor Ryohei Suzuki, and director Yuichi Sato.) The streaming service also canceled Warrior Nunthe fantasy series based on the comic by Ben Dunn, which ran for two seasons from 2020 to 2022.

– Sony released the second trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (out June 2), and put into development (checks notes) a Hypno-Hustler movie produced by and starring Donald Glover. It was also reported that Gil Kenan will take over as director on the studio’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife A sequel, currently scheduled for December 20, 2023. Kenan, whose directorial credits include Monster House and the Poltergeist remake, co-wrote and produced the previous film with Jason Reitman.

– Finally, Mike Hodges, the director of Flash Gordon, Get Carterand The Terminal Man, died on December 17, aged 90; and actor Earl Boen, who played Dr. Silberman in The Terminator movies, and LeChuck in the Monkey Island games, passed away from lung cancer on January 5, aged 81. Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner, 52, was also hospitalized after a severe snowplow accident on New Year’s Day; he is expected to make a recovery, following two surgeries for blunt chest trauma and musculoskeletal injuries.