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.
– Abrams ComicArts have canceled Jack Gantos and Dave McKean’s book “A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library.” Intended for release in May 2019, the book was about a child suicide bomber who begins to have second thoughts while undertaking a mission in a library. Abrams stated, “While the intention of the book was to help broaden a discussion about the power of literature to change lives for the better, we recognize the harm and offense felt by many at a time when stereotypes breed division, rather than discourse. Therefore, together with the book’s creators, we have chosen to withdraw its release.” The announcement over the book’s cancellation has drawn further criticism for describing it as an “adult graphic novel,” as it was solicited as a children’s book.
– “2000 AD” publisher Rebellion have set up a film studio in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. Both the company’s planned Judge Dredd TV series, Judge Dredd: Mega-City One, and Duncan Jones’s Rogue Trooper movie, will shoot at the new facility, which was originally a printing press owned by the Daily Mail. Rebellion also plan on hiring out its new studio to third-party productions.
– In further Rebellion news, the publisher has donated 10,000 copies of this year’s revived “Roy of the Rovers” series to the British National Literacy Trust. Jim Sells, the trust’s Sport and Literacy Programme Manager, said “We’ve seen first-hand how bringing football into the classroom can level the playing field for children who have fallen behind in their reading, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, where we focus our work. We would like to thank Rebellion for their generous support and for enabling us to get 10,000 exciting new books into the hands of the children who need them the most in our National Literacy Trust Hubs.”
– Canadian author David Robertson has criticized the Alberta Education ministry for adding his graphic novel “Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story” to its “not recommended” list. The 2015 graphic novel explored the life of Helen Betty Osborne, a 19-year old Cree woman who was abducted and murdered in 1971. Robertson stated the ministry’s decision undermined reconciliation efforts between First Nations people and Euro-Canadians. This is not the first time Robertson’s books were flagged as inappropriate this year: in September, his comic book series, “7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga,” was placed on the Edmonton Public School Board’s list of “Books to Weed Out.”
– In lighter news, Marvel Comics supervillain Thanos has had a dinosaur named after him: Thanos simonattoi, a large carnivorous dinosaur that lived in Brazil during the Cretaceous. The specimen was discovered by Sérgio Luis Simonatto’s team in 2014, and was cataloged and named by Rafael Delcourt and Fabiano Vidoi Iori this year after both the character (as opposed to the Greek name itself, which is derived from thanatos or “death”), and Simonatto.
– After months of beta-testing, publisher tinyBuild Games will release Rapture Rejects – a video game based on the webcomic “Cyanide & Happiness” – on Steam on November 29. The isometric game will pit players against each other as, well, those who did not ascend during the rapture, with the aim of killing as many other players as possible in an attempt to impress the Almighty.
– Entertainment Weekly has learned Julie Andrews has a role in Aquaman: she voices Karathen, an undersea creature that holds the key to Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa)’s quest to unite the Atlantean and surface worlds. Aquaman is released on December 21, two days after Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, in which Emily Blunt takes over the titular role from Andrews. Aquaman producer Peter Safran joked, “Who knew that Aquaman would have the real Mary Poppins this Christmas?”
– Director Macoto Tezuka is set to adapt his father (“Astro Boy” creator Osamu Tezuka)’s erotic 1973 manga “Barbara” into a live-action film. Tezuka’s Barbara, as the film will be called, will star Goro Inagaki (13 Assassins) as the repressed author Yosuke Mikura, and Fumi Nikaido (Himizu) as the titular hippy he becomes infatuated with. Japanese production company Thefool will partner with Germany’s Rapid Eye Movies and the UK’s Third Window Films on the film, which is being produced to mark what would’ve been Osamu Tezuka’s 90th birthday, though it will be released sometime next year.
– Finally, in more manga news, Kōhei Horikoshi’s “My Hero Academia” is becoming a stage play next year. The play, titled My Hero Academia: The “Ultra” Stage, will open in Tokyo and Osaka in spring 2019. The title is a reference to the U.A. High School’s Latin motto Plus ultra (“further beyond”).
