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.
– Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, new comic charities have started up to support kids and their literature in the country. Adopt a Ukraine Publisher is a new initiative to support Ukrainian children’s publisher IRBIS Comics in donating graphic novels to children displaced by violence. The concept is similar to KidLit for Ukraine.
Other publishers are showing solidarity too, with Humanoids announcing a portion of the proceeds from the upcoming OGN “Makhno: Ukrainian Freedom Fighter” will go towards Razom, a charity supporting fighters in Ukraine. The biographical comic by Philippe Thirault and Roberto Zaghi tells the story of revolutionary Nestor Makhno, whose Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine fought for independence in the 1920 Russian Civil War, an act that would build the first legitimate claim to Ukrainian sovereignty. The comic releases today.
– The 2022 Angoulême International Comics Festival awarded its Best Graphic Album prize (the Fauve d’Or) to Brazilian cartoonist Marcello Quintanilha, for his book “Listen, Pretty Marcia.” The drama comic follows a mother raising her daughter in a favela outside Rio de Janeiro, as she tries to keep her away from the gang violence all around them. Quintanilha previously won the 2016 Best Thriller prize for his graphic album “Tungsten.” Quintanilha is joined by this year’s Grand Prix winner, Julie Doucet.
– IDW have announced a release date for the long-awaited “TMNT: The Last Ronin” finale. Issue #5 is set to conclude the dystopian revenge story on April 27, 18 months after issue #1 came out in October 2020. The story follows Michelangelo after the death of his brothers, as he takes up their weapons, and looks to tear apart the Foot Clan once and for all alongside April O’Neill. “TMNT: The Last Ronin” #1 was IDW’s highest selling comic ever, and is the product of original creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird alongside writer Tom Waltz, and artists Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza and Ben Bishop.
– A copy of the historic “Marvel Comics” #1 has sold at auction for US$2.4 million. Making the high-quality copy even more rare is the fact that the comic is annotated by the publisher, recording all the payments owed to artists in the book. This pay copy was the property of Lloyd Jacquet, the CEO of Funnies Inc, a company that sold talent and stories to comic publishers, before he passed away in 1970. It is now owned by a collector in his forties living outside the US. The comic was sold through online comic auction house ComicCollect, with the seller apparently using the money to buy a new house. The biggest comic auction still belongs to a rejected cover illustration for Herge’s “Tintin: The Blue Lotus,” which sold for €3.2 million in January of last year.
– This year’s Writers Guild of America Awards were announced, with cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt winning the Best Adapted Shortform New Media — Animation prize for writing the Tuca & Bertie episode “Planteau.” Hanawalt is best known for being the production designer and a producer on BoJack Horseman, which led her to create Tuca & Bertie. The evening’s winners also included Don’t Look Up for Best Original Screenplay, CODA for Best Adapted Screenplay, Succession for Best Drama Series, and Hacks for Best Comedy Series. While the nominated Marvel shows like WandaVision and Loki didn’t win any prizes, Loki head writer Michael Waldron did release their planned acceptance speech, in which Miss Minutes threatens to prune the creators and their entire universe for creating the heretical piece of media that is the TV show.
– Tim Burton’s upcoming Netflix series Wednesday has enlisted a familiar face for a mystery role, Christina Ricci, the original Wednesday Addams from the 1991 Addams Family movie. Ricci will star in the eight-part college mystery/drama series alongside the new Wednesday, Jenna Ortega. The pair appear alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman. Ricci appeared in both The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values, and recently earned acclaim for her role in Yellowjackets.
– Finally, the online comic subscription platform Zestworld is officially entering its Beta, with Phil Jimenez, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Segura and more involved. The platform has raised US$9.4 million in funding and is advertising itself as the platform to break down the Marvel/DC domination of the market, namely through its willingness to let creators retain the rights to their characters and stories. It has also announced it will utilize NFTs, the environmentally destructive and financially unstable digital commodity popular among art thieves.
Alongside the previously announced series “The Awakened” by Alex Segura, Michael Moreci and Dean Kotz, “BOOM POW!” by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, and “Found” by Jimmy Palmiotti, Juan Santacruz and Alex Sinclair, the publisher has announced “Arc Athena” by Eric Canete, “Blood Tree” by Peter J. Tomasi, Maxim Šimić, John Kalisz, Rob Leigh, and “Otherworlds” by Phil Jimenez. “Arc Athena” #1 is available now, but no release date was given for the other titles. Details on them can be found on the site, with the exception of “Otherworlds,” although it was described in a press release as a reimagining of Jimenez’s 2005 Vertigo series “Otherworld.”
