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, DC announced three YA OGNs for Spring 2023, namely “Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story,” “The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley,” and “Static: Up All Night.”
Covers by Jonathan Bartlett
– AWA Studios released more details on Ian Grody, Justin Fair and Yishan Li’s new, Brooklyn-set modern fantasy anthology “Lesser Evils,” revealing the next arcs in the webcomic will be the genie-centric ‘Ginn,’ the boutique store story ‘Thriftr,’ and the mermaid tale ‘Tails.’ The series launched last week for free on GlobalComix with the golem-themed ‘Emmett,’ and the plan is for three chapters to debut every week until July 22, before the print release of “Emmett” #1 on August 24. The publisher also disclosed Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire) will voice Emmett in a short film directed by Fair to promote the comic.
– Publishers Weekly reports Levine Querido will publish “Armaveni,” a semi-autobiographical YA graphic novel by Nadine Takvorian exploring the generational trauma of the Armenian genocide. The book will have two interlinked narratives, the first following Armaveni, a girl struggling to survive during the genocide, while the second will follow Nadine, “a contemporary first-gen teen in a far-flung diaspora,” as she “searches for her true identity and home.” The book will be released in Spring 2025, and you can check out eleven pages from the project at Takvorian’s personal website.
– Via Bleeding Cool, BOOM! Studios informed retailers that former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” comic writer Jeremy Lambert has replaced Max Bemis on the upcoming one-shot “Buffy ’97.” It was not explained why Lambert replaced Bemis on the comic. “Buffy ’97,” featuring art by Marianna Ignazzidue, will mark the show’s 25th anniversary with a meta crossover that sees the Scooby Gang encounter the actors who played them on TV. It will be released on June 29.
– Marvel also informed retailers 42 titles solicited for August have been delayed to September and beyond, presumably thanks to the ongoing global paper shortage. It continues a rocky run for current Marvel distributor Penguin Random House, which began with reports of missing or damaged shipments when they took over from Diamond last year. You can check out the full list of delayed titles, which include the upcoming “Alien” relaunch, at Bleeding Cool.
– Image Comics will publish Jonathan Luna’s one-shot “20XX: Transport” this August. The comic, which previously debuted online on Luna’s social media pages, is a tie-in into Luna and Lauren Keely’s 2020 series “20XX,” and tells the story of “a teenage boy with illegal telekinetic abilities who tries to save his classmates on a school bus from a group of hijackers.” It will be released on August 3.
– The Associated Press reported on several new museum exhibits marking the centenary of the birth of “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz. One is currently being held at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, in Ohio, until November, while another is exploring the cartoonists that inspired Schulz at his eponymous Museum and Research Center in California until September 18. Another exhibit, highlighting the cartoonists Schulz influenced, will then be held at his museum from September 25, until March 12, 2023.
– The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) caused controversy after announcing an NFT “artist” would be a featured guest at this year’s show. Comics creators who condemned the decision included Zack Davisson, Ian Boothby, Caitlyn Rose Boyle, Trung Lê Capecchi-Nguyễn, and Michael Kupperman, who pointed out some of the guest’s past disrespectful comments as well as the general problems with NFTs. TCAF 2022 will be held the weekend of Friday, June 17.
– Finally, Drawn & Quarterly shared a fundraiser for the family of cartoonist Travis Dandro (“King of King Court,” “Hummingbird Heart”). The Fundly page states Travis’s wife, Amanda, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer two years ago, and is currently beginning her transition into hospice care. You can donate via the link here, which at the time of writing has raised $2,360 of its $25,000 target. Our thoughts and sympathies also go out to the Dandro family at this difficult time.
