Welcome 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, the 2018 Ringo Awards were held at Baltimore Comic-Con; Dark Horse announced “Aliens: Resistance;” Fantagraphics will publish “BTTM FDRS;” BOOM! Studios unveiled “The Avant-Guards;” and comiXology Originals will release “Fair Trade.”
– “2000 AD” publisher Rebellion have acquired the comic book archive of TI Media, gaining the rights to long-lost, early work by creators like Jerry Siegel, Alex Toth, and Hugo Pratt. Among the 400 titles they now have the rights to is Comic Cuts, a weekly magazine that ran from 1890 to 1953, which is sometimes considered the origin of the term “comic book.” The purchase also reunites the library of the Fleetway/IPC Youth Group, which was divided between Fleetway and TI Media in the late ’80s: Rebellion acquired the Fleetway library in 2016.
– British artist Glenn Fabry announced on Facebook that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer, and will begin treatment for it today. Fabry is best known for his covers on “Hellblazer” and “Preacher,” and has also done interior art for Garth Ennis’s “Thor: Vikings,” and Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman: Endless Nights.” Multiversity Comics wishes Fabry all the best.
– 20th Century Fox have rescheduled most of their upcoming comic book movies: Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel will come out February 14, 2019, followed by Dark Phoenix on June 7, and Gambit on March 13, 2020. The studio has also announced a PG-13 version of Deadpool 2 will be released in theaters on December 21, which will see Fred Savage reprise the role of the grandson from The Princess Bride (here’s the story on that).
– Netflix have announced two comic book TV series. First up is October Faction, based on Steve Niles and Damien Worm’s IDW Publishing series about a family of monster hunters. The first ten-part season is being overseen by Krypton showrunner Damian Kindler. Then we have Warrior Nun, adapted from Ben Dunn’s creator-owned series “Warrior Nun Areala,” which stars a demon-slaying nun. Simon Barry (Ghost Wars, Continuum) will be the showrunner for that series, which will also start with a ten-part season. Neither show has a release date yet.
– DC Comics informed retailers they will not be reprinting “Batman: Damned” #1 “at this time.” This is despite an earlier announcement that future copies of the issue, which depicted full-frontal nudity from Bruce Wayne, would be censored. The company has also delayed the second issue to December 5, and announced that the third and final issue will come out on March 13.
– Actress Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, Taken) has joined the cast of DC Universe’s Swamp Thing as Sheriff Lucilia Cable. And in more unexpected casting news, Riley Keough (Logan Lucky) will guest star in Riverdale season 3 as Laurie Lake, an “all-American farm girl.”
– The Rwandan government has criminalized drawing cartoons or producing writing that “humiliates” government officials, reports the AP. Cartoonists now face two years in prison and a fine of up to $1,145 if found breaking the law. Gonza Muganwa, the Rwanda Journalists Association’s executive secretary, said they would seek legal advice and inform members accordingly. “In the trade of journalism, cartoons are by nature humorous and therefore easy for leaders to perceive them negatively or as humiliating even when it’s not,” Muganwa told the AP. It is unclear if the law will affect those who share cartoons on social media.
– A French film adaptation of the manga “City Hunter,” titled Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon (“Nicky Larson and Cupid’s Perfume”), will be released in the country next year on February 6, 2019. The racy action comedy, starring Philippe Lacheau and Élodie Fontan, is the second film adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo’s comic, following the 1993 Hong Kong version starring Jackie Chan. The trailer can be watched here.
– Finally, “Exiles” creative team Saladin Ahmed and Javier Rodriguez revealed that, before Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, they intended to represent Asgard on the group with Thunderstorm, the daughter of Thor and Storm from the X-Men. “There was a X-plotline where Storm briefly ruled Asgard,” Ahmed said, “and this imagined her staying on & eventually taking Thor as her consort… then they have a rowdy daughter.” The next issue of “Exiles,” sans Thunderstorm, is out October 10.
