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, AfterShock’s “Dead Day” has gotten a full series order at Peacock. We also had an exclusive preview of “Fantastic Four: Life Story” #6.
– The Tennessee school board that has received international criticism for its decision to ban Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” has released a statement attempting to explain their decision. Via The Tennessean, the McMinn County School Board, who voted unanimously to ban the book in a January 10 meeting, released a statement pointing to the “unnecessary use of profanity and nudity,” as well as the “depiction of violence and suicide” in a book about the Holocaust. Originally serialized from 1980 to 1991, “Maus” tells the story of Spiegelman’s father – a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor – while depicting all the characters as animals, including the Jews as mice, and the Nazis as cats. Instructional supervisor Melasawn Knight of the Tennessee Department of Education pointed to several books that are part of the curriculum that feature vulgar language and violence, including Bridge to Terabithia, The Whipping Boy, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The McMinn County Board of Education’s conclusion that “Maus” is too “adult-oriented” has led them to request that their administrators find works to demonstrate the Holocaust’s atrocities in a more “age appropriate” manner.
– The latest comiXology title to get a print release courtesy of Dark Horse will be the sci-fi western “Edgeworld.” Via Screen Rant, “Edgeworld,” which came from Chuck Austen, Patrick Olliffe, Lee Loughridge, and Jodi Wynne, follows Killian Jess, a magistrate on the frontier-style planet Pala. The series originally ran from late 2020 to February 2021, and is also in development at Amazon Studios as an animated series. The print edition of “Edgeworld” is due to take off on August 23.
– DC’s planned Milestone Black History Month special will be arriving late. Via Newsarama, DC has informed comic shops that “Milestones in History,” originally set for a February 15 sale date, has been postponed six months. The comic was announced during the 2021 DC FanDome, and will feature heroes from Milestone Media – including Rocket, Icon, Static and Hardware – teaming up with real-life Black historical icons like Hannibal, the Queen of Sheba, and Alexandre Dumas in a 96-page graphic novel anthology. The book will feature work from Reginald Hudlin, Alice Randall, Touré, and Michael Harriott, as well as several as yet unannounced writers and artists. “Milestones in History” #1 is now due out on June 14.
– The American Library Association’s Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table (GNCRT) has announced their picks for their 2021 Best Graphic Novels Reading Lists. Separated as an Adults Reading List and a Children Reading List, both lists include an unranked top ten list as well as a longer list of selections. The adults list includes such acclaimed titles as “Department of Truth,” “Far Sector,” “The Good Asian,” and “My Alcoholic Escape from Reality,” while the children’s list includes recommendations for “The Magic Fish,” “Salt Magic,” “Twins,” and the first two books in the series “The Witches of Brooklyn.”
– The Brussels Times reports that Belgium is releasing a new passport design that features illustrations of Belgian comic book characters. Foreign Affairs Minister Sophie Wilmès said during a press conference that the passport is “an opportunity to highlight the 9th art, the comic strip, which is a central element of our culture and our influence abroad.” The illustrations will feature Tintin’s rocket, the Smurfs, Lucky Luke, Bob & Bobette and Marsupilami, among other characters. The new passport will be available starting February 7.
– Following the recent success of The Suicide Squad spinoff Peacemaker on HBO Max, James Gunn has hinted to Deadline that he has more Suicide Squad projects in the works. “We’re working on something else now, another TV show that’s connected to that universe,” Gunn said to the Deadline podcast Hero Nation, “I can’t quite say.” Gunn also hinted that Peacemaker, which dropped its fifth episode yesterday, has “a really good chance” of a renewal for a second season.
Continued below– YouTube has updated it copyright rules, apparently as the result of a string of takedown requests from Toei Animation. Via CBR, YouTuber Totally Not Mark (aka Mark Fitzpatrick) addressed the dispute in a new video, explaining that, in December, Toei Animation attempted to remove over 150 of his reviews and tutorial videos on the grounds of violations of Japanese copyright laws. YouTube’s new policy allows videos to be removed from viewing in some territories while allowing them to remain in others; in this case, Fitzpatrick’s videos were removed in Japan. Toei Animation, the studio behind Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and many others, has yet to comment.
– TKO Studios has signed a book distribution deal with Simon & Schuster. Via ICv2, the new book deal is effective February 1, and sees Simon & Schuster handling all book trade sales and retail distribution for the studio worldwide. TKO was founded in 2018, and grew steadily as they released acclaimed titles like Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta’s “Sentient,” Roxane Gay and Ming Doyle’s “The Banks,” and Juni Ba’s “Djeliya.” Simon & Schuster has been picking up book trade distribution agreements with several small publishers recently, including Heavy Metal and AHOY.
– Finally, “Nightwing” and “Superman: Son of Kal-El” writer Tom Taylor had a bit of fun with some of his trolls on Twitter. Taylor has been receiving hate tweets mocking the poor sales for “Superman: Son of Kal-El” #6, the follow-up to the issue featuring Jon Kent coming out as bisexual. “Superman: Son of Kal-El” has continued to be among DC’s best-selling titles, leading Taylor on an investigation to discover the source of the misinformation. After #5 topped the November charts and #6 continued to sell well, why were some pushing the idea that #6 was absent from the charts in December? Taylor came up with a pretty strong answer.
