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, we have a preview of DC’s “Collapser” #2, out tomorrow, and the results of this weekend’s reader poll determining the biggest retcon in comics.
– Writer/artist Emma Vieceli reports her and Malin Ryden’s queer romantic webcomic “Breaks” has been hidden from the iOS version of the Tapas app after Apple deemed it “overtly sexual.” As a result, the Tapas version is only accessible on Apple via a direct link (like here). “I am furious at Apple,” Vieceli tweeted. “We are very consciously a non-explicit comic. There’s far more to this comic than sex. Overt? Just no.” She added, “We are already hidden on Smackjeeves and even my bloody Patreon account is non-searchable because it’s deemed ‘adult’. We are being slowly muted online by misplaced censorship. While comics expand & get braver, web comics get silenced because of app-gatekeepers.”
– Publishers Weekly‘s rights report brings word of an adaptation of Jennifer L. Holm’s Newbery Honor-winning novel Turtle in Paradise by artist Savanna Ganucheau; author Mo O’Hara and illustrator Jess Bradley’s children’s graphic novel series Agent Moose; and “Ghost Notes,” a YA graphic novel by Antoine Revoy acquired by First Second for 2021. You can learn more about these books, and others, at the link.
– Amulet Books announced Once Upon an Eid, an anthology book featuring stories from 13 Muslim women writers. One of the stories will be a comic written by G. Willow Wilson with art by Sara Alfageeh, titled “The City of Boundless Light,” about a young boy named Siraj and his donkey Pickles, who set out to find the Moon. (Alfageeh will also illustrate the other stories in the book.) Once Upon an Eid is due out May 5, 2020.
– Brian Hurtt, Marie Enger, and Matt Kindt launched the Kickstarter for “The HEK Treasury,” a deluxe hardcover anthology featuring fantasy/sci-fi stories created and curated by the three creators. The fundraiser, which has already almost met its target, will continue for the next 29 days, and you can watch a trailer for the book here. We’ll have more at Multiversity from the creators on the book, so stay tuned to our interviews page.
– Scout Comics series “Solar Flare” has been optioned for television by producer John Baldecchi (Happy Death Day). The post-apocalyptic comic, created by writer James Haick III and artist Branko Jovanic, follows a group of survivors searching for their families after a solar flare wipes out most of the world’s technology. “James has created a very exciting and emotional series that the Scout team loves presenting to our fans issue after issue,” said Scout CEO Brendan Deneen. “We look forward to working with Digital Riot Media to develop ‘Solar Flare’ for the small screen.”
– In a wide-ranging interview with Deadline, Marvel TV’s Executive Vice President Jeph Loeb revealed the division has some shows in the works for the Disney+ streaming service, launching November 12. These will join the previously announced MCU miniseries from Marvel Studios, and the nonfiction documentaries coming from Marvel Comics. Loeb also gave an update on the previously announced animated Hulu series, revealing that showrunners Patton Oswalt and Chelsea Handler will respectively voice M.O.D.O.K. and Tigra on their shows.
– In a press release, the Kubert School announced writer Amy Chu will be joining its faculty for the coming school year, teaching third year students “basic business survival skills every creator needs.” Also, Bram Stoker Award-nominated writer Taylor Grant has been promoted to Senior Vice President, IP Development, at digital comics portal Webtoon.
– Jewish cartoonist Eli Valley has been suspended from Twitter after Neo-Nazis and other opponents reported his tweets en masse. The suspension came after Valley was arrested on Monday while participating in the Jews Against ICE protests at Amazon Books in New York. On his new account, Valley stated he had been further targeted for showing the tweets, criticizing pro-Trump Jews, that led to him being locked from his main account. Several artists, including Molly Crabapple, Tom Tomorrow, and Matt Bors, have shown support for Valley, while highlighting Twitter’s hypocritical attitude towards genuine anti-Semites on their platform.
– Meanwhile, Canadian newspaper Edmonton Journal has apologized over an anti-Semitic cartoon by artist Malcolm Mayes. The cartoon depicted the hacker behind the Capital One data breach, and the paper admitted the caricature “[bore] resemblance to anti-Semitic tropes prevalent in some anti-Jewish propaganda. This resemblance was entirely unintentional, but given that association, the Edmonton Journal apologizes for the publication of the cartoon. We are re-examining the procedures we have in place to vet editorial content to avoid future such occurrences.”
– Finally, DC and Warner Bros. Animation confirmed the new animated film Wonder Woman: Bloodlines will be released digitally on October 5, and then physically on October 22.
