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, Random House Children’s Books is launching a graphic novel imprint, AfterShock Comics is releasing “Hot Lunch Special” from Eliot Rahal and Jorge Fornes, and Brenna Thummler is publishing her first OGN, “Sheets,” with Lion Forge.
– Lucasfilm Publishing announced a new initiative called “Flight of the Falcon.” The series of middle-grade-targeted stories will follow the Millennium Falcon across multiple eras of Star Wars. Annie Wu (“Black Canary”, “Hawkeye”) will be doing some illustrations for a novel by Justina Ireland called Star Wars: Lando’s Luck. She’ll also be providing art for a Lou Anders penned choose-your-own-adventure called Star Wars: Pirate’s Price, which features fan-favorite smuggler Hondo Ohnaka. Writer Cavan Scott and artist Elsa Charretier will also do a choose-your-own-adventure story called A Luke and Leia Adventure.
– A new award and a pair of scholarships have been created in Joe Kubert’s name. The Joe Kubert Distinguished Storyteller Award will be awarded during Ontario’s Comic Con Revolution to recognize “comic book creators who not only produce high-quality work, but also display a commitment to helping nurture and grow the comic book community as a whole.” Comic Con Revolution’s management, Atom Crush Events, will be sponsoring the two scholarships with the Kubert School. The Joe Kubert Future Storyteller Scholarship is a one-time scholarship available to first- and second-year students at the school, and the Joe Kubert Jumpstart Project will be awarded to one graduating student, giving them a free table at the con’s artist alley for a year, as well as printing credit for a table banner and limited-run series or art book, and portfolio consultations.
– There is now a third publisher with plans for new adaptations of Conan stories. Marvel just signed a big deal to get the license back from Dark Horse in the United States. In Europe, where Conan is public domain, French publisher Glenat announced adaptations of the 12 original stories. Now Italian publisher Leviathan Labs has also announced a line of graphic novels, starting with a sequel to original creator Robert E. Howard’s “The Tower of the Elephant.”
– In further Italian comics news, publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore is planning a “Deadwood Dick” series. Deadwood Dick was the protagonist of a series of dime novels written by Edward Lytton Wheeler in the 19th century, and whose name was adopted by several individuals in the Wild West, including African-American cowboy Nat Love. The comic will use as its basis the Love-inspired take on the character featured in a pair of novels by Joe Lansdale.
– Five of the original Avengers actors got tattooed to commemorate Avengers: Infinity War. Scarlett Johansson convinced Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Hemsworth to all get inked with a stylized Avengers logo. Mark Ruffalo was the only one who opted-out. However, the important part of the news is that this has to mean that Hawkeye will be back for Avengers 4, right?
– Amazon has a listing for “Venom: First Host,” a five-issue series from the ongoing’s previous creative team of Mike Costa and Mark Bagley, due to be collected in December. The series will see Venom’s long lost original host come to Earth, seeking Eddie Brock and the symbiote’s help.
– There’s another of P. Craig Russell’s adaptations of Neil Gaiman short stories for Dark Horse Comics coming. “The Problem of Susan and Other Stories” will be released in February of next year. In addition to the titular “The Problem of Susan,” “October in the Chair,” “Locks,” and “The Day the Saucers Came” will also be adapted. Joining Russell on the collection will be Scott Hampton (“American Gods”), and Paul Chadwick (“Concrete”).
– Ryan Reynolds revealed that in a very early version of the Deadpool 2 script, Deadpool was going to be a dad. That idea was scrapped pretty early, however, after him and co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick decided it was “untenable” to keep that status quo for the whole film. For the record, Deadpool’s daughter in the comics is named Ellie.
– Nintendo and Dark Horse Comics’s upcoming adaptation of the video game Arms is being delayed until January 2019. The title actually debuted as part of this year’s Free Comic Book Day, and was originally scheduled to begin the main series in the Fall.
– Season two of The Tick just started filming, and The Tick is getting a new costume (Arthur’s looks the same). The new season will premiere sometime in 2019.
