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, Z2 announced a Charlie Parker graphic novel called “Chasin’ the Bird,” while IDW Publishing announced a new miniseries, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.”
– Plans to republish and translate a lost “Asterix” comic, “Asterix and the Golden Menhir,” were revealed. Written by Rene Goscinny with artwork by Albert Uderzo, the book was originally published in 1967, but has since been out of print and was never translated. The story sees the bard Cacofonix go to the Carnutes forest, with Asterix and Obelix serving as bodyguards, to compete against other bards for the Golden Menhir award. The restoration of his interior work and the recreation of the cover art was the last work Uderzo was involved in prior to his death last month. “Asterix and the Golden Menhir” will be released on October 21.
– Fantoons unveiled “Ninja Sex Party: The Graphic Novel, Part I: Origins,” a biographical graphic novel detailing the lives of comedy band Ninja Sex Party’s two members, Dan Avidan (Danny Sexbang) and Brian Wecht (Ninja Brian). The graphic novel is based on a series of personal interviews conducted with the duo. Each half of the book is dedicated to each member and is printed upside down to the other, requiring the reader to physically flip the book over to read the other half. For those unfamiliar with the band, they formed in 2009 to perform humorous songs about sex, education and fantasy, and have gone on to gather 1.31m subscribers on YouTube and become the #1 Billboard comedy band. “Ninja Sex Party: The Graphic Novel, Part I: Origins” will be released on May 5th.
– BBC Studios announced ‘Time Lord Victorious,’ a multi-platform Doctor Who story, with Titan Comics, Big Finish Productions, Penguin Random House, and more all set to be involved. ‘Time Lord Victorious’ will be set in the Dark Times of the universe, when the Eternals were still young, and see multiple Doctors defending their home planet from a “terrible race.” It has already been revealed that the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors will all be featuring, along with companion Rose Tyler, and species like the Daleks and the Ood. More characters will be revealed in the coming months. There aren’t details or release dates for the individual projects at this time, although BBC Studios specified that all of the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ story will be released across a twelve week period.
– A Facebook page was launched for Comic Conline, a stay-at-home convention taking place between 3pm and 10pm UTC, every day from May 1-3. The organizers of the event, The Creator’s Corner, aim to give the same experience as a real life convention, with fans able to attend panels via live streams, order commissions from artists, and purchase con-exclusive items. There are a host of creators scheduled to attend the event so far, including John Romita Jr., Sean Gordon Murphy, Leinil Francis Yu, and Patrick Gleason, with the full guest list here.
– The New York Times spoke with cartoonists, Mark Tatulli, Ray Billingsley, Bill Hinds, Tony Carrillo, Lalo Alcaraz, and Stephan Pastis, about how the pandemic has influenced their cartoons. Hinds in particular pointed out how, given the two weeks it takes for a finished strip to reach print, one of his strips became heavily dated because of the quickly changing social distancing practices. You can read more at the Times.
– Board game developer, The Op, revealed the latest in their Rising series will be The Batman Who Laughs Rising, based on Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s “Dark Nights: Metal.” In the card and dice game, players will have to work together as Batman, Wonder Woman and more, to defeat those from the Dark Multiverse, such as the Batman Who Laughs and his evil Robins. The game will be suitable for 1-4 players aged 15 and up.
– Disney announced that the final episode of the Skywalker Saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, will be launching worldwide on Disney+ on Star Wars Day aka May the 4th. This is not the only Star Wars content launching on Disney+ for Star Wars Day this year though, with the premiere of the eight-part documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, and the finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars already announced. With the addition of Episode 9, it will be the first time that the entire saga will be available on a single streaming service.
– The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments as to whether David Gerrold and Ty Templeton’s Star Trek-themed book, Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go! is a market substitute for Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go!?. The Dr. Seuss Enterprise sued ComixMix in 2016 for copyright infringement, but in March 2019, a federal judge ruled that the Star Trek book made fair use of copyrighted material. The issues that lie in the case revolve around distinguishing whether the book is strictly a mashup or a parody, that is to say the latter criticizes its source material, while the former does not and only inherits some of its features to a positive effect. The other important decision in the case to be made is regarding the place in the market; whether or not Boldly is infringing on the same market (the graduation gift market), and whether or not it is a direct substitute.
