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, Bad Idea revealed their One Billion Clicks marketing campaign.
– Ben Passmore (“Your Black Friend,” “Sports is Hell”) has landed a book deal with publisher Pantheon for his new graphic novel on the history of black activism in the US. His upcoming book, titled “These Black Arms to Hold You Up,” was part of an auction valued in the hundreds of thousands, with ten different publishers vying for publishing rights. The novel follows six different activists through their individual struggles against institutionalized racism and the police state, giving it a similar story structure to the disparate narratives of “Sports is Hell.” The novel has no set price, page count or release date as of yet.
– Tom King publicly apologized in response to Jae Lee’s frustrations at being falsely accused by King of affiliating with online hate movement Comicsgate. “As I have done privately, I’d like to publicly apologize to Jae Lee for my actions a few days ago,” said King. “I should’ve talked with Jae before I sent a tweet about him that put his career at risk. I made a critical mistake, and I am profoundly sorry. I will do what I can to repair this with Jae, and I will do better in the future. I’m not going to offer explanations because they sound like excuses, and I’m not asking for forgiveness or understanding. I’m just saying I see what I did, and I’m going to try to make up for it. Thank you.” The controversy began after the announcement that Jae Lee would be providing a variant cover for Tom King and Jorge Fornes’s upcoming “Rorschach” comic, which is still set to be released this October.
– Victoria Ying’s (“Diana Princess of the Amazons”) newest graphic novel “City of Secrets” received an animated trailer from artist Toniko Pantoja. The trailer was made by Pantoja’s studio Brushtale Works Animation Services, in collaboration with publishers Penguin Random House and Viking Books. “City of Secrets” is a 256-page graphic novel following Ever Barnes, an orphan protecting a secret in a mysterious clockwork city. The novel released yesterday, July 28th.
– Tom Muller has just been shortlisted for CreativeBloq and Computer Arts magazine’s Brand Impact Awards, based on his design work for the newest ‘Dawn of X’ comics relaunch. Tom Muller collaborated with “House of X” and “Powers of X” writer Jonathan Hickman in creating a shared and distinctive style for the titles, including logos, fonts, diagrams, and the now famous data-pages across both titles, as well as the ensuing plethora of titles spinning-off from the series. He’s currently working on designs for the new crossover ‘X of Swords.’ Muller has also worked as a designer on a swathe of creator-owned titles, including “The Weatherman,” “Drifter” and the majority of Ales Kot’s bibliography. Tom Muller’s work is one of forty brands shortlisted for the awards.
– After five days as publisher of IDW Publishing, Jud Meyers has been sent on adminstrative leave with rumours of a lawsuit from prior business partner Carr D’Angelo circulating. Meyers is facing accusations of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty and conversion. Meyers was serving as successor to Chris Ryall, and president Jerry Bennington will now fill in for him as publisher at IDW. Prior to Meyers’s time at IDW, he worked in comics retail, where he is said to have secretly sold stocks from his and Angelo’s LA store Earth-2 to the competing business Lone Star Comics. Alongside this, he was said to have been verbally abusive to employees, withheld inventory and taken Earth-2’s customer list in his transition to a new store. Damages are estimated to exceed US$120,000.
– Ahead of the release of The Umbrella Academy‘s second season, Dark Horse Comics and Studio71Games are partnering on a new card game adaption of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba’s “Umbrella Academy” comic series. Each player picks one of the seven Hargreeves siblings to play as, facing familiar villains from the series in card form. The project is in a similar vein to the recent Hellboy Board Game. “We are thrilled with the continued fan response and reception to ‘The Umbrella Academy,'” said Ba and Way. “Our love for these stories and characters is what makes us excited for you all to get to experience them first hand with the Studio71 Umbrella Academy Card Game.” The game has no set release date yet, but pre-orders are available on Kickstarter. The new season of The Umbrella Academy releases July 31 on Netflix.
– DC Entertainment unveiled DC Showcase – Batman: Death in the Family, a new animated film that will feature interactive story choices, a new addition to the classic animated features the company is known for. The film will adapt the 1988 comic of the same name by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, which infamously featured a call-in vote where fans could decide whether Jason Todd, the Robin of the time, would be killed or spared by the Joker. While fans in 1988 ultimately decided to kill Robin, this time viewers will have their own choice in a branching story that also seems to adapt elements of ‘Batman: Hush’ and ‘Under the Red Hood,’ the earliest appearance of the Red Hood, Jason Todd’s reincarnated alter-ego. The film features Bruce Greenwood as Batman, Vincent Martella as Jason Todd, John DiMaggio as the Joker, Zehra Fazal as Talia al Ghul, and Gary Cole as Two-Face and Commissioner Gordon. The film will come packaged with four shorter animated films starring Sgt. Rock, Death, Adam Strange, and The Phantom Stranger.
– This year’s Emmy Award nominees were announced, with HBO’s Watchmen scoring an impressive 26 nominations, the most of any series for the year. Disney+’s The Mandalorian was not far behind, with 15 nominations. Netflix was the most recognised provider, with a total 160 nominations, followed by HBO with 107 and NBC with 47. Watchmen’s nominations included Best Limited Series, Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Regina King, Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Jeremy Irons, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jovan Adepo and Louis Gossett Jr. all nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series. The Mandalorian was nominated for Best Drama Series, Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy costumes, Best Original Dramatic Score and more.
