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, Aftershock has announced “The Kaiju Score” from writer James Patrick and artist Rem Broo; we sat down to chat with comic shop owner and webcomic series “Collectors” writer, Eddie deAngelini; and Diamond Comic Distributors plan to resume operations and have new products in comic book stores on May 20.
– Comic book creators Kelly Sue DeConnick, Lilah Sturges, Trina Robbins, and Vita Ayala are teaming up to help launch and support newly created initiative, Insider Art, a female comic book retailer fund. Insider Art aims to provide financial assistance for female comic book retailers who have been affected by COVID-19 closures and delays. The initiative plans to raise money with auctions, exclusive fabrics, and a digital comics and crafts anthology with over 100 female contributors, set to roll out across the next couple of months. The initiative is administered by Jen King, owner of Texas retailer Space Cadets, and a member of the board of directors of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
– Actor Dylan Sprouse will be making his comic book debut with an untitled Norse mythology series that will be published by Heavy Metal. Sprouse states that the comic takes inspiration from the stories and sagas that his Scandanavian-American grandparents would read to him and his brother as kids; he also teased that the comic will take place in Norway in the 800s and is more along the lines of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. The series will focus on a mortal protagonist and antagonist, rather than the gods and goddesses of Norse mythology themselves. Additional information on Sprouse’s series is yet to come.
– The language learning app, LingoZING!, which uses comics as a teaching tool, is offering its service for free to healthcare workers on the frontline and families affected by the coronavirus pandemic. LingoZING! is available for both Android and iOS and uses comics such as “Garfield,” “Smurfs,” “Witchblade,” and “Planet of the Apes” to teach English, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and soon Italian, scheduled to be added by the end of May.
– Author Sam Maggs has announced via Twitter that her novel The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope has been pushed back to a July 14 release date.
– Japanese manga giant Shueisha will begin to move popular titles behind paywalls starting next month. Shueisha has asked its Chinese partners, including Tencent, Bilibili, and iQiyi, to move popular franchises like “One Piece” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!” behind paywalls, signaling the end of free content for Chinese anime and manga fans.
– Titan Comics have revealed the official “Snowpiercer” timeline, ahead of the premiere of the television version of the story next month. Titan Comics have created an infographic showing how the film, TV series, and comic all tie together, which you can see here. To go along with the show, Titan is republishing the graphic novels with new covers this June and July. Snowpiercer debuts May 17 on TNT, and on Netflix in the rest of the world on May 25.
– The Inbetweeners‘s Simon Bird is making his directorial debut with British dramedy, Days of the Bagnold Summer, an adaptation of Joff Winterheart’s acclaimed graphic novel. The story follows a single mother and her 15-year-old metalhead son, who spend an entire summer vacation together when his trip to America with his dad is canceled. Days of the Bagnold Summer will be available to stream on VOD in the UK starting June 8.
– Finally, io9 has revealed that DreamWorks’s Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts will be coming back to Netflix for a second, 10-episode season on June 12. The series follows a young woman named Kipo, who grew up in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Mutes, which are anthropomorphized animals, as she fights for what’s left of humanity. The series stars Karen Fukuhara, Sydney Mikayla, Coy Stewart, and Deon Cole. You can check out the first look at season 2 here.
