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 [email protected]
In case you missed it, DC have unveiled the new line-up for “Birds of Prey” by Kelly Thompson, Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire.
Cover by Daniel Acuña
– Marvel announced “Avengers Inc.” by Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk. The story will see Janet Van Dyne/the Wasp uncover a mysterious conspiracy involved in the Avengers’ roots. And she won’t be solving it alone, as she’s joined by villain and former Vision alias, Victor Shade, who’s supposed to be dead. When discussing the series, Ewing said “It’s kind of a classic ‘will-they-won’t-they’ crime-solving partnership — or it would be if the ‘will-they’ in question was ‘save the world from…’ Well, that’d be telling.” Sporting a cover from Daniel Acuña, “Avengers Inc.” #1 will debut September 13, 2023.
– Via ICv2, Mad Cave Studios have partnered with animation studio, Zag, to begin publishing graphic novels based on the animated series Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir. The cartoon follows Marinette and Adrien, who transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir. Previously in 2016, Action Lab launched its own comics and graphic novels based on Miraculous and even put out a collectible card game. Kodansha has licensed the manga adaptation of the series. The animated series will get a feature film treatment when it premeires on Netflix on June 28, 2023. The first of Mad Cave’s graphic novels is set to debut under the Papercutz middle-grade and Maverick YA imprints in 2024.
– Via the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a new comics convention is coming to New York this fall. The first-ever Jewish Comics Experience, or “JewCE,” will take place at the Center for Jewish History on November 11-12, 2023. The event was created by Fabrice Sapolsky, a comic book creator and publisher, and Dr. Miriam Eve Mora, the director of academic and public programs at the Center for Jewish History, and is “really looking at diverse Jewish representation in comics and graphic novels through Jewish characters, narratives, themes and ideas.” The convention will have panel discussions, meet-and-greets, exhibits and vendors, as well as what is believed to be the first ever first-ever awards ceremony held in celebration of Jewish comics and graphic novels, dubbed “The Jewcie Awards.” Look out for more information as the convention date approaches.
– Via The New York Times, 14-year old Preston Mutanga was hired by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Christina Steinberg to animate the LEGO sequence in Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse. After recreating the trailer for Across the Spider-Verse shot for shot as LEGO on his dad’s computer, Mutanga caught the producers’ eyes, and was hired. He worked on the sequence over his spring break and then afterwards when he was finished with his schoolwork. Of the experince, Mutanga said “I adored the first movie and was so hyped for the second one, so getting to work with the people who actually made this masterpiece was honestly like a dream.”
– Microsoft and Ubisoft revealed a trailer for Star Wars: Outlaws, an open-world game set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Gamers will play as Kay Vess (performed and voiced by Ginny & Georgia‘s Humberly González), as she makes her way though the galaxy’s underworld and gets ahead of all the other gangsters. The game is due out in 2024.
– Via Twitter, Michael Kronenberg shared that Barry Windsor Smith suffered an ischemic stroke five days before his 73rd birthday on May 20, 2023. The illustrator spent eight days in the ICU, and has since been released to his New York home, where he is currently recovering.
– ABC News reported that Iranian painter, cartoonist and former political prisoner Atena Farghadani was summoned to the Evin courthouse in Tehran and arrested on Friday. No reason for the arrest has been given. Farghadani previously spent 18 months in jail in 2016 for depicting lawmakers as animals, while criticizing laws restricting contraceptives and outlawing voluntary sterilization. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for Farghadani’s immediate release and to stop the efforts of silencing political commentators.
– Finally, via the Los Angeles Times, Tenoch Huerta, who portrayed Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, has been accused of sexual assault by activist María Elena Ríos. Ríos is a musician who survived a disfiguring attack with acid by three men hired by her prominent politician ex-boyfriend. In a tweet, Ríos claimed Huerta was a “violent and sexual predator.” She doubled down in a follow-up tweet, calling him a narcissist, and claiming he has assaulted several more women. Huerta has not publicly responded to the claims of abuse.