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
Via ICv2, Jeff Smith will release his prehistoric adventure series “Tuki” in print, after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The first trade paperback, “Tuki: Fight for Fire,” will be available to retailers in late November. The second volume, “Tuki: Fight for Family,” will be available in July 2022. The series will ultimately be six volumes, with four more to come. “Tuki” began as a webcomic in 2013. Smith released four issues in print in 2014, but put the project on pause. Both volumes will be released as 144-page paperbacks with color covers, and black and white interiors.
– Via 13th Dimension, Gemstone Publishing announced The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide to Lost Universes, by Robert M. Overstreet, J.C. Vaughn and Scott Braden. The official description reads, “The highly collectible world of lost universes gets a brand-new specially focused, full-color edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide that also serves as a Photo-Journal of all the comics featured. From in-depth looks at the original Milestone and Valiant to Tower’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Charlton’s superheroes, and from Topps’ Kirbyverse and the MLJ/Archie heroes to Malibu’s Ultraverse and Marvel’s New Universe, this full-color book dives deep into Atlas-Seaboard, Comics Greatest World, Continuity, Defiant, Future Comics, Triumphant and more.” The book will feature four different covers, by artists Jerry Ordway, Lee Weeks, J.G. Jones, and Alex Saviuk and Tom Palmer, as well as different price schemes. The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide to Lost Universes will release on November 10, 2021.
– Via Anime News Network, the Japan Cartoonists Association (JCA) announced the winners of the 50th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards on Monday. Koyoharu Gotouge’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” manga won the grand prize in the Comic division, while Joruju Piroshiki’s self-published work “New Normal!” won the grand prize in the Cartoon division. In addition to that, Keito Koume’s manga adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich’s non-fiction World War II book about women soldiers in the Red Army, “War’s Unwomanly Face,” received the Manga Kingdom Tottori award. Sōtensha’s “Eyemask” one-panel manga won the Manga Kingdom Tosa Award, while Kenzo Takada’s Okiagari Koboshi project won the MEXT Award. An awards ceremony will be held at Imperial Hotel Tokyo on October 1, 2021.
– Publishers Weekly announced two graphic novel deals this week. First up, Viking has acquired “Punk Rock Karaoke,” a YA graphic novel by cartoonist Bianca Xunise, which follows Ariel and her bandmates Michele and Gael as they try to get famous and escape a cycle of poverty that plagues them all. Publication is set for summer 2023. Next up, First Second has acquired “Squire & Knight” and its sequel, by Scott Chantler, a middle-grade graphic novel about a brainy young squire who solves mysteries involving monsters and magic, and the overbearing knight who takes the credit. Publication is set for 2023.
– ShortBox publisher Zainab Akhtar released a statement via Twitter announcing she would withdraw from Leeds’s Thought Bubble Festival in November. Akhtar cited Frank Miller as her reason behind the withdrawal, explaining “as a proud Muslim woman, I cannot in good conscious attend a festival that deems it appropriate to invite and platform Frank Miller, a person who is responsible for the propgation of abhorrent anti-Muslim hate, particlarly via his work.” Thought Bubble subsequently apologized and announced Miller will not be attending the festival. Akhtar, who pointed out she had raised her concerns with Thought Bubble eight weeks before, responded by asking, “why couldn’t this decision have been made without me doing the work they should have done, putting myself on the line, and them reacting once they see which way the wind has blown?”
– Via CBR, AfterShock announced a new streaming show that focuses on interviewing comic book creators. The AfterShock Happy Hour is a new hour-long, bi-weekly streaming series airing every other Thursday at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on the publisher’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitch channels. RuthAnn Thompson, AfterShock’s Senior Retail Relations Manager, will host the show, and interview some of the top creators in comics about their current and future AfterShock titles, independent comics and more. Upcoming interviews include Steve Orlando and Steve Foxe, as well as Battlestar Galactica alum Aaron Douglas (“10 Years to Death“). AfterShock also has two new additions to its membership team: Kelly Diodati joins as Ambassador Outreach Program Manager, and Teddy Leo, formerly an editorial assistant at AfterShock, has been promoted to Associate Editor.
Continued below– Also via CBR, Warner Bros. announced that in honor of Smallville‘s 20th anniversary, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is bringing all 218 episodes to Blu-ray on October 19, 2021. The set is packed with nearly 30 hours of extras. Smallville: The Complete Series 20th Anniversary Edition will be available for $179.99.
– Via The Hollywood Reporter, Winston Duke will star in Batman Unburied, the upcoming Spotify podcast from The Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer. Duke will star as Bruce Wayne, with Jason Isaacs as Alfred. While no other casting announcements have been made, the podcast is described as psychological thriller that dives into the mind of Bruce Wayne, and features dark twists and classic Batman villains. Batman Unburied is the first podcast stemming from an expansive 2020 pact between DC and Spotify. No release date has been announced.
– Finally, The Hollywood Reporter outlines Robert Kirkman’s new legal claims against AMC over The Walking Dead. AMC recently paid $200 million in a settlement with Frank Darabont and the Creative Artists Agency. Now Kirkman and Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara challenged the revenue that AMC received from licensing The Walking Dead to its affiliate cable network. You can read the full ruling here.
