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, DC has announced their latest company-wide event ‘Future State,’ and Image revealed W. Maxwell Prince’s new anthology ”Haha,” debuting this January. We also had an exclusive preview of next week’s “Fantastic Four” #25.
– Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Ridley is making his Marvel Comics debut with January’s “Wolverine: Black, White & Blood.” #3. Ridley’s issue of the anthology series will feature art from Jorge Fornés, and tell the story of Wolverine battling the Silver Samurai in Japan. Ridley won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2014 for his work on 12 Years a Slave; he is also penning DC’s upcoming “The Other History of the DC Universe,” and “Future State: The Next Batman.”
– Oni Press has announced a new four-issue Rick and Morty miniseries hitting shelves in February 2021. ”Rick and Morty: Worlds Apart” will draw influence from the Adult Swim series’s fourth season, featuring fan favorite characters such as Balthromar, from the episode “Claw and Hoarder.” The creative team includes Josh Trujillo, Tony Fleecs, Jarrett Williams, Leonardo Ito, and Christopher Crank.
– A US district judge has thrown out a £1 billion lawsuit accusing writer and producer Mark Millar of plagiarism”. The lawsuit was filed by writer Michael Bennett, claiming several scenes in the films Kick-Ass and The Avengers were copied from his self-published superhero novel Owl. Bennett claims Millar read a manuscript of Owl sent to Marvel in 2008, and lifted several and motifs from it for the film adaptations. A judge ruled that these cited examples were too broad of concepts to constitute copyright infringement, and that many of Bennett’s other accusations (such as claims that Millar hacked Bennett’s phone) were baseless.
– Singapore-based tech company INKR Global has released INKR Comics. The new comics app will feature an international variety of publishers, pay by chapter options, and AI-assisted translation software INKR Localize. INKR promises that Localize “will effectively end issues with the practice of unpaid, unauthorized scanned translations.”
– Cartoonist and art educator Cara Bean has teamed with the Center of Cartoon Studies to produce ”Let’s Talk About It,” a 24-page comic addressing multiple topics relating to mental health. “Let’s Talk About It” covers issues ranging from coping with stress to addiction. The comic will be handed out to all students in Stark County, Ohio free of charge, and can be downloaded here.
– Superman & Lois has cast Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy Beppo, a Smallville Gazette journalist described by the CW as “a go-getter with dreams of bigger and better things.” A series spinning out of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, Superman & Lois sees Tyler Hoechlin’s Clark Kent’s and Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane relocate to Clark’s childhood home of Smallville, Kansas, with their children Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin).
– Toei Animation has released the first trailer for Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal, the two-part animated feature spinning off from Sailor Moon Crystal, adapting the fourth arc of the manga (‘Dream’). Part One is schedule for a January 8, 2021 release in Japan, with Part Two releasing on February 11. No American release has been announced.
– Finally, io9 spoke with 12 writers and artists about their experience with Terrific Productions. Calling itself “America’s fastest growing comic publisher” at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, creators associated with Terrific level accusations against the company, calling founder Andrew Rev a “crook” and “scam artist.”