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, Magdalene Visaggio and Claudia Aguirre’s five-part miniseries “Lost on Planet Earth,” begins tomorrow on comiXology, and Vault Comics announced a new post-apocalyptic series titled, “Giga,” written by Alex Paknadel with art by John Lê, set for release from July.
– Comic publisher A Wave Blue World, home of titles like, “Mezo,” “Dead Beats,” and “Dead Legends,” is pausing all publishing for a few months as well as making some other changes due to the ongoing pandemic. They announced that they will resume publishing in June, while pushing select titles to the fall, and that creators will keep working in the meantime. The publisher also stated they are sending half the cost of its online orders to comic shops, and that they will not be appearing at any conventions this year. Their next release, “Jack the Radio: Creatures,” a 48-page anthology written by George Hage, is set to release June 24.
– Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, ICV2 reports the graphic novel business still functions at a high level as five of the seven graphic novel publishers in comic stores (Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, and BOOM!) are continuing to release some new graphic novel titles. The graphic novels that are still being released are being sold at essential stores like Walmart and Target, as well as some online retailers. Graphic novel shipments on Amazon, however, have been delayed due to the priority of essential items. Barnes & Noble’s website, as well as Walmart and Target’s, are offering a wider variety of graphic novels than in their stores, all with normal fulfillment times.
– However, Diamond Comic Distributors have begun furloughing employees. A statement said, “This was not a decision we made lightly, and we only do so to protect our company’s financial future and preserve jobs. We have taken several steps already to mitigate our financial exposure including delaying payment to publishers, extending vendor payment terms and significantly reducing executive compensation. It is our goal that, on the other side of this crisis, our furloughed employees will return to their roles.” They added they will still cover the health costs of those workers during the lockdown.
– King Features Syndicate has announced that Popeye is teaming up with The SeaCleaners, the French environmental preservation organization, to emphasize the importance of clean oceans and environments. The SeaCleaners is an organization that develops solutions to free the oceans of plastics and pollution, raising awareness for conservation. King Features’s French agent, M.J.A Licensing, will work to secure co-branded deals for Popeye x The SeaCleaners apparel, accessories, home goods, and more. A portion of the proceeds will go to The SeaCleaners organization to help their efforts.
– Netflix has negotiated a first-look deal with BOOM! Studios, joining Dark Horse and the Netflix-owned Millarworld. Under the terms of the contract, BOOM! Studios will produce live-action and animated series based on their library of titles, including award-winning “Once & Future” and “Something is Killing the Children.” BOOM!’s founder and CEO, Ross Richie, and development president, Stephen Christy, will be overseeing all of the programming developed under the contract.
– Finally, Netflix also announced plans for a new Korean zombie genre series titled, All of Us Are Dead, based on the popular 2009 webtoon, “Now At Our School,” written and illustrated by Joo Donggeun. All of Us Are Dead revolves around a group of high school students who become trapped in their school during a zombie virus outbreak. The series is written by Chung Sung-il and will be directed by Lee JQ and Kim Nam-su. A release date for the series has not yet been announced.
