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.
– This year’s New York Comic Con will pay tribute to the late “Preacher” artist, Steve Dillon, by debuting the “Steve Dillon Memorial Charity Sketchbook.” The 32-page book features an intro by Garth Ennis, a cover by Bill Sienkiewicz, and new artwork from Glenn Fabry, Duncan Fegredo, John Higgins, and many more. In addition, buyers at NYCC will get a John Constantine print by Sean Phillips and Jeff Lemire, and a Dogwelder print by Russ Braun. All proceeds of the limited release will be donated to the Hero Initiative, which was Dillon’s favorite charity. Steve Dillon passed away last October at the age of 54.
– A performance troupe in Columbus, Ohio has turned “Circle of Blood,” the first graphic novel in David Mack’s “Kabuki” series into a live show. The two-act show is two hours long, and will feature a score by the company’s concept band, as well as video excerpts from the comic’s illustrations. The troupe calls the show, a “‘meta-media’ fusion of live and digital performances.” Mack said of the production, “They are a very inspired art movement. It is fascinating to see how they interpret things and present them in a multimedia way; it’s experiential.” The show runs from September 29 through November 5.
– Guardian Comics in Toronto was the victim of a series of thefts resulting in losses of about $300,000. Thieves broke into both the shop owner’s home and their warehouse, and made off with several valuable comics, including “Amazing Fantasy” #15 (Spider-Man’s first appearance) and “Giant Size X-Men” #1. Luckily, many were CGC graded and can be tracked. The police only identified the thieves as “two men with their faces covered with masks and scarves, both of whom were wearing gloves.”
– Colleen Doran will be the seventh honoree in the Wizard World Hall of Legends, “an initiative to celebrate the artists, writers and insiders who built the industry and continued the traditions.” Doran is known for being one of the first women to have steady work at Marvel, along with doing the Neil Gaiman graphic novel “Troll Bridge,” and the Stan Lee autobiographical graphic novel, “Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir.” She will be presented with the award on October 27.
– DC will be doing Justice League themed variant covers in November, in honor of the film’s release. Each cover will see the movie’s version of the characters depicted. The covers for “Wonder Woman” by Terry Dodson, and “The Flash” by Mike McKone have been revealed so far. “Justice League,” “Aquaman,” “Batman,” “Cyborg,” “Detective Comics,” “Superman,” and “Trinity” will also get variants that month.
– In other Justice League news, Danny Elfman has given an intriguing interview about his plans for the music in the upcoming film. Fans of Tim Burton’s Batman will be happy, because he’s using the “same thematic material” as he did for Burton. More intriguing though, is that he’s bringing back John Williams’ iconic Superman: The Movie theme, but twisting it for “a moment where we’re really not sure whose side [Superman]’s on.”
– Alan Tudyk will be bringing K-2SO, the reprogrammed Imperial droid he brought to life in Rogue One, to comics in an upcoming issue of “Star Wars Adventures.” Tudyk will be co-writing a backup in issue #3 titled, ‘Adventures in Wookie-Sitting,’ which has K-2SO and Cassian Andor corralling some adorable baby wookies. The issue hits stands on October 11.
– Playboy founder Hugh Hefner passed away on Wednesday. Entertainment Weekly has an interesting article on the controversial figure, focusing on the cartooning aspect of the magazine, and Hefner’s involvement. Playboy published cartoons by Harvey Kurtzman (Mad Magazine), Jack Cole (Plastic Man creator), and many others. They were also one of the first major publications to feature cartoons by black artists, something borderline illegal in the 1960s.
– And in a last bit of exciting news, “Lazarus” is coming to TV courtesy of Amazon. Little is known about the series at this time, except that creators Greg Rucka and Michael Lark will be executive producing, along with Angela Cheng Caplan. Amazon also announced that it is producing series for Larry Niven’s Ringworld, and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash.
