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 interviewed Faith Erin Hicks about her new book, “Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy.”
– Via Forbes magazine, Vault Comics announced a partnership with Aethon Books: Vault will publish comics based on Aethon’s titles, while Aethon will turn Vault’s library into ebooks and audiobooks, and publish tie-ins. The first releases from both companies are expected to arrive early in 2024. Vault Comics founder/CEO Damian Wassel adds, “We are also in a position to offer [Aethon] premium print services for everything in their catalog, so in addition to graphic novels, we’ll be doing things like illustrated deluxe editions and special covers of best-selling titles from their catalog.”
– Investment firm KKR have completed their acquisition of Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global. Like other companies it has acquired, KKR will offer all of the publsiher’s employees an equity stake in the company, making it technically (and uniquely among the big five U.S. publishers) an independent company. In addition to publishing its own graphic novels under various imprints, Simon & Schuster distributes titles from Vault, Image Comics, Viz Media, BOOM! Studios, Oni Press, AWA, Humanoids, AHOY Comics, Mad Cave, and many more.
– As part of Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary, the BBC have launched a six-part spin-off series, Tales of the TARDIS. Each episode reunites various cast members, as they reflect on their adventures in-character, including Katy Manning and Daniel Anthony as Jo Grant and Clyde Langer; Peter Davison and Janet Fielding as the Fifth Doctor and Tegan; Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and Peri; and Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It was released today in the UK on iPlayer, with details on an international release undisclosed at the time of writing.
– Netflix released the opening credits for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the upcoming anime version of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s comic. The sequence is set to “Bloom,” a track by Japanese rock band Necry Talkie. The show, which sees Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Satya Bhabha et al. reprise their roles from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, releases on the streamer Friday, November 17.
– Speaking of anime, a new official website for “Ghost in the Shell” has launched ahead of the manga’s 35th anniversary next year. The site, available in English and Japanese, offers a new, three-part interview with creator Shirow Masamune, which marks the first time he has ever gone in-depth about the creation of the comic itself. The site also teases a new media project called Ghost in the Shell MMA – Messed Mesh Ambitions, which will explore the themes of the cyberpunk series, and how they pertain to modern society.
– Finally, one of the last surviving actors on the George Reeves series Adventures of Superman has passed away. Actress Judy Nugent, who played the blind girl Ann Carson in the 1954 episode “Around the World with Superman,” died from cancer at her home in Montana on October 26. She was 83 years old. Besides Adventures of Superman, Nugent starred in The Ruggles, Lassie, The Mickey Mouse Club, and The Tall Man. She retired shortly after marrying Buck Taylor in 1961; the couple had four children, before divorcing in 1983. She is survived by Taylor, three of their children, her daughter-in-law Anne Lockhart, and two grandchildren.
