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.
– Jack Davis, the cartoonist and illustrator, has passed away. Davis’s career ranged from magazine covers to movie posters to album artwork to comics, most notably shorts for “MAD” magazine and numerous EC horror titles. In fact, Davis was the last surviving artist from the EC horror days. Born in Georgia, Davis had been inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2003. He received the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 and the National Cartoonists Society’s Rueben Award in 2000. He was 91.
Robots from Tomorrow recorded a panel with Davis in 2011 at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, and we present it here in memorium.
– Illustrator and cartoonist Richard Thompson has passed away. Best known as the creator of the syndicated newspaper strip, “Cul de Sac”, a comic about the daily life of four-year-old Alice, he also completed numerous illustrations for outlets like The New Yorker, The Smithsonian magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and National Geographic. He retired “Cul de Sac” in 2012 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Throughout his career he received the National Cartoonists Society’s Magazine and Book Illustration Award and their Newspaper Illustration Award in 1995, won the Gold and Silver Funny Bone Award in 1989. Thompson was 58.
– Hans Rollman at Popmatters has an interesting look at “Chainmail Bikini,” the comic anthology for women gamers. The article touches on the history of the book, its funding, and the various comic artists and cartoonists who have contributed to it.
– Over at NPR, Etelka Elhoczky has rounded up a neat little batch of minicomics.
– Geoff Johns has been promoted to President and Chief Creative Officer at DC Entertainment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johns only has to now answer to Diane Nelson. So if you like your superhero stories to never change, stretch out as long as a piece of saltwater taffy, have a crazy homoerotic but no homo vibe, well, here’s your man. Johns has already also made some changes with DC’s top brass.
– There’s going to be a Marvel ride at DisneyLand I guess.
