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.
– The winners of the 2022 Hugo Awards, honoring the best sci-fi and fantasy works of 2021, were announced at the 80th WorldCon on Sunday, September 4. Among the winners, DC’s “Far Sector,” written by N.K. Jemisin with art by Jamal Campbell, won Best Graphic Story or Comic. The win marks Jemisin’s fifth Hugo Award, and Campbell’s first. Dune won Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. You can see a list of all the winners here.
– The 2022 Dragon Awards winners were announced as well. This year, “Immortal X-Men” by Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck won Best Comic, while “Dune: House Atreides” Volume 2 by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson and Dev Pramanik won Best Graphic Novel. Additionally, Jim Starlin won the 2022 Julie Award (named after Julie Schwartz), bestowed for universal achievement spanning multiple genres. You can see all of this year’s winners here.
– Via Anime News Network, Kadokawa have launched gag manga “Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree,” by Nikiichi Tobita. The manga, based on FromSoftware’s action RPG Elden Ring, was released simultaneously on Kadokawa’s free manga website ComicWalker in 12 different languages. The story follows Aseo, “a poor, Tarnished wretch, who finds himself cast out into Limgrave.” He must make his way to the Erdtree and faces much danger ahead. “Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree” is available now in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, French, German and more.
– There were two graphic novel deals in Publishers Weekly‘s children’s book rights report last week. Oni Press bought the rights to LySandra Vuong’s queer YA graphic novel series “Covenant,” in a three-book deal. The series is based on the webcomic of the same name and follows Ezra, a powerful exorcist from an elite organization that faces backlash for their unorthodox practices. Ezra is tasked with protecting a seemingly normal human from supernatural forces. Publication of the first book in the series is expected in Spring 2025. Next, Andrews McMeel have acquired world rights to “Food Fighters,” a middle-grade graphic novel series written by Tyler Whitesides, with art by Rebecca Syracuse. The first book, “Food for Thought,” follows a boy who can control food with his mind, and comes face to face with a criminal known as ‘The Big Cheese.’ “Food For Thought” will be published in Spring 2025.
– Via Anime News Network, Hajime Isayama’s “Attack on Titan” has inspired a stage musical that will run at the Orix Theater in Osaka from January 7 to 9, 2023, and at the Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo from January 14 to 24, 2023. Gō Ueki will direct the play with a script from Masafumi Hata. Hip hop artist KEN THE 390 will act as music director, with lyrics by Kaori Miura. The play will feature traditonal songs and the latest on-stage technology to recreate “Attack on Titan”‘s world. The musical will star Kurumu Okamiya as Eren Jaeger, Sara Takatsuki as Mikasa Ackerman, Eito Konishi as Armin Arlert, and Ryo Matsuda as Levi. An earlier stage adaptation was planned in 2017, but was cancelled due to the death of acrobat Kazutaka Yoshino in an on-stage accident. Check out a trailer here.
