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, Tommie Smith is co-writing his graphic autobiography “Victory. Stand!,” and AMC is getting into comic publishing with “Miss Fisher’s First Mysteries,” “Oubliette,” and “Nights of Lono.”
– Dark Horse have announced the new cyberpunk OGN “Wiper” from writer John Harris Dunning, artist Ricardo Cabral, colorist Brad Simpson, and letterer Jim Campbell. The series takes heavy influence from Blade Runner, and follows the ‘Wiper’ Lula Nomi, a private detective who guarantees discretion by taking a memory wipe after the completion of every job. The story features her working a case for the robot Klute, tracking down journalist Orson Glark and unraveling her own spotted past in the process. The graphic novel releases September 14 for US$19.99.
– Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, the creators of Blood of Zeus, have announced their new graphic novel “Gladiatrix,” created with co-writer Dan Gordon, and artist John Stanisci. The comic, which follows a 1st century female gladiator, is being serialized on Stanisci’s Substack newsletter ‘Origin Story.’ The protagonist, called Judith, was raised to be an assassin, and is on a mission to avenge her people, who were slaughtered by the Romans. The series is also already in development as a TV series from the Parlapanides and Asia Minor Pictures.
– 2000 AD are collecting the adventures of one of their classic characters in “The Best of Cat Girl,” which will reprint her adventures by Giorgio Giorgetti from 1960s girls’ magazine Sally, as well as her recent adventures in ‘Cat Girl Returns’ from “Tammy & Jinty.” Cathy Carter, aka Cat Girl, is a teenager empowered by a magical suit that amplifies her abilities, allowing her to take on criminals and villains as a superhero, all while living around her restrictive detective father. “The Best of Cat Girl” releases August 3 with a cover by Elkys Nova. A special hardcover also features the art of Giorgio Giorgetti with new design work by Gemma Sheldrake.
– Dark Horse Comics are celebrating the career of Dave Gibbons, one of the most prolific comic artists alive, with the release of his autobiography Confabulation, a life story presented in alphabetical order, featuring a mix of prose accounts and unpublished artwork. The book promises to dip into some of Gibbons’s unseen pitches, the end of his creative collaboration with Alan Moore, and his rise from the UK comics underground to his work at DC. The 325-page hardcover Confabulation: An Anecdotal Autobiography releases October 25.
– Marvel Comics are also looking back on their history with the non-fiction prose book My Super Hero is Black by John Jennings, produced in collaboration with the Gallery Books Group. The historical account follows the most prolific Black characters and creators fundamental in the growth of Marvel Comics. The book promises to cover a creative history spanning decades, from foundational creators like Billy Graham, to modern writers like Christopher Priest and Ta-Nehisi Coates. My Super Hero is Black releases October 11 with a cover by Natacha Bustos.
– “King Conan” creators Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar are facing controversy over new character Princess Matoaka, who shares the real name of Pocahontas. Her femme fatale persona has been criticized as engaging with many of the exoticized, colonialist tropes that media has saddled the real-life historical figure with. Many historical accounts suggest Matoaka could have been no older than 12 or 13, making her a victim of sexual assault, and the overtly sexualized depiction in “King Conan” deepens the likely inaccurate consensual and romantic depiction perpetuated in media. Neither Marvel spokespeople, Aaron or Asrar have offered any comment at this time. Aaron has previously featured Indigenous American characters and stories in his series “Scalped,” which has been criticized by some for its voyeuristic qualities in depicting poverty and violence against Native communities.
– The Los Angeles comic shop Golden Apple Comics, and its owners in the Liebowitz Family, have announced their new charity the Golden Apple Comic & Art Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to the preservation of archival and iconic comic art with a board consisting of Kevin Smith, Heidi MacDonald, Marc Andreyko, Mike Malve, Gary Prebula, and Ryan, Kendra & Sharon Liebowitz. The foundation will have its first charity event on March 25, with a first screening of the documentary Frank Miller: American Genius at Atomic Comics in Arizona. The Golden Apple Comic & Art Foundation will be led by President Ryan Liebowitz.
Continued below– Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s Fantasy/Western comic series “The Sixth Gun” is being adapted for TV, with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds acting as showrunner. The Sixth Gun will be the first project in his new collaboration with UCP, with Hinds producing the show under his company Mad Massive Entertainment. The comic, set during the Civil War, tells the story of six dark magic pistols, the sixth of which is both unspeakably evil and endlessly mysterious. It follows gunslingers Becky Montcrief and Drake Sinclair across dimensions as they cross paths with fantastical evils. Hinds has previously written for The Twilight Zone and Washington Black, and is also involved in the comic adaptations Prince of Cats, Arkham and Strange Adventures.
– Sony Pictures International is releasing an adaptation of cartoonist Chris Grine’s “Chickenhare,” the Belgian animated feature Chickenhare And The Hamster of Darkness, with a first trailer already available. The film is directed by Ben Stassen and Benjamin Mousquet, with a script by David Collard based on an archival Sony Animation project from 2011. The film follows a half-chicken/half-rabbit and his best friend Abe, a turtle, as they adventure across a fantasy kingdom to stop Chickenhare’s uncle from overthrowing the King. It is set to release across Europe this year.
– Farrah Forke, the actress behind attorney Mayson Drake on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman has died from a prolonged battle with cancer aged 54. Forke was best known for her role as pilot Alex Lambert on Wings, as well as for lending her voice to DC’s animated TV slate as Big Barda in both Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited. She stepped away from acting shortly after to raise her twin sons. She is survived by her children Chuck and Wit, her mother Beverly, her stepfather Chuck, her sisters Paige, Jennifer and Maggie, and her best friend Mike Peterson.
– Alan Ladd Jr., the producer who helped champion the original Star Wars, has died aged 84. The Fox/MGM producer won an Oscar for Best Picture winner Braveheart in 1995, and also produced genre defining pictures like Alien, Blade Runner and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. His full filmography garnered 50 Academy Awards and 150 nominations. Born in 1937, Ladd began a successful career producing in the 1970s, releasing American Graffiti and fostering the career of its then-unknown director George Lucas. He is survived by his wife, Cindra Pincock, his children Amanda, Kelliann and Tracy Ladd, his half-brother and sister David and Alana Ladd, along with his step-sister Carol Lee Stuart-Ladd. He was immortalized in the 2017 documentary Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies by his daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones.
