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, Astrid Goldsmith’s “A Funeral in Freiburg” won the 2021 Observer/Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize, and a long list of creators including Grant Morrison, Jeff Lemire, Elsa Charretier, and Brian K. Vaughan have announced new projects for Substack. We also interviewed Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, and Tyler Crook about “Manor Black: Fire in the Blood.”
– As part of their Black History Month plans, Marvel has announced an original documentary podcast series digging into the history of their first Black superhero. The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther from Marvel and SiriusXM promises to take fans on “the ultimate historical journey” into the story of T’Challa. The six-episode series will be hosted by New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone, and digs into the character’s comic book origins, the Afro-Futuristic world of Wakanda, and the impact the character has had on the culture at large. The show also features interviews with some of the many notable names to contribute to T’Challa’s stories over the years, including Christopher Priest, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Reginald Hudlin, Brian Stelfreeze, John Romita Jr., Don McGregor, and more. The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther premieres on February 14, with episodes premiering first on the SXM App and Apple Podcasts before expanding to other podcatchers the next week.
– Randall Munroe, author of the popular webcomic “XKCD,” has given Entertainment Weekly the first look at the upcoming sequel to his bestselling book What If?. What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions picks up on the premise of the first book, providing more solid scientific grounding to silly questions like what would happen if you “rode a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth.” Munroe provided answers about his life of writing and reading for Entertainment Weekly’s What’s in a Page series, which you can read to tide you over until What If? 2 releases on September 13.
– The graphic novel “Maus” has jumped to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list following the news that a Tennessee school district banned it from the classroom curriculum. Via Insider, “The Complete Maus” took the number one spot on Amazon’s bestseller list, with the individual volumes one and two of the book also making the top ten. The renewed interest in the novel comes after McMinn County Board of Education removed it from their curriculum, pointing to the depictions of naked bodies and the disturbing violence of the Holocaust imagery.
– Four major Japanese publishers are joining forces to sue a US company over it hosting servers for a site that pirates manga. Via France 24, Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa are accusing the web infrastructure company Cloudflare of copyright infringement for hosting a site that distributes about 4,000 manga titles with an estimated 300 million views a month. The same four publishers had previously reached a settlement with Cloudflare over a different piracy site back in 2019, on the condition that Cloudflare stop providing services for that site. Cloudflare has yet to comment about the new lawsuit.
– Bleeding Cool reports that Comic Book Workers United, the union representing approximately a dozen staffers at Image Comics, is filing a labor dispute against Image claiming the company has engaged in “unfair labor practices.” The dispute alleges that Image retaliated against union bargaining members, as well as “intentionally disseminating misinformation” to interfere with the employees’ exercising their rights. The United States Government National Labor Board is investigating the union’s claims.
– Titans season 4 has cast two new regular cast members, and a recurring character. Via Variety, Joseph Morgan (The Originals) and Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) will respectively play Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood and May Bennett/Mother Mayhem, both of whom are leaders of the nefarious Church of Blood in the comics. Lisa Ambalavanar (The A List), meanwhile, will play Jinx, a criminal who wields dark magic. Titans season 4 will be released on HBO Max sometime in the near future.
Continued below– Jon Favreau will receive a distinguished Artisan Award at the Annual Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards. Via Deadline, Favreau will receive the award “in recognition of his use of the creative talents of make-up artists and hair stylists’ teams to morph his characters is a tribute to his collaborative work as a writer, director, actor, and showrunner in projects like Star Wars, Iron Man, and the Avengers series.” “Jon is the ultimate collaborator who has worked alongside many 706 artists to help create memorable characters of all kinds in a myriad of different roles,” said Julie Socash, President of IATSE Local 706. Favreau will accept the honor virtually at the upcoming Make-Up Artists and Hairstylists Guild Awards on February 19.
– Disney has two new toys based on the Disney+ series Hawkeye. Via ComicBook.com, the Hawkeye Special Collector’s Edition Marvel Select figure and the Kate Bishop Special Edition Doll are modeled after the versions of the characters as seen on the Marvel show. Most importantly, the Diamond Select Hawkeye figure comes with fan-favorite hero Lucky the Pizza Dog.
– Finally, HBO Max and Cartoon Network have picked up the animated series We Baby Bears for a second season. Via Variety, We Baby Bears is a prequel series that provides the origins of Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear of the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears. Both shows are based on the webcomic “The Three Bare Bears” created by animator and cartoonist Daniel Chong. Unlike the main series which Chong created and wrote for, We Baby Bears was developed and created by Manny Hernandez. Calvin Wong (Regular Show, Close Enough) will serve as the showrunner for season two, with Chong and Hernandez staying on as executive producers.
