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.
– The Star Wars Universe used to be this super-complicated mythology and chronology encompassing several thousand years worth of stories in the galaxy far, far away. When Disney took over, LucasFilm wisely decided to reset everything and start fresh. The Original Trilogy is still canon — and unfortunately so are the prequels. With the onslaught of Star Wars media coming at us, io9 decided to try to figure out where everything’s taking place, for those fans who are continuity-driven and need to have some sense of place. The comics are factoring in in a huge way, and that’s pretty cool because they’ve mostly been legit so far.
– Even though certain sites like Bleeding Cool and The Beat have been reporting some major shakeups at DC following some disappointing sales numbers in July, Dan Didio and Jim Lee have come out saying that they’re still supporting the DC You line, and that these titles need a chance to grow. There’s a lot of problems I have with those July numbers Rich Johnson and company are citing as their evidence for a dismal month (Jessica Plummer at Panels.net has a pretty good editorial about it, too). First, Diamond is the stupidest, most jacked up system of numbers reporting in pretty much any entertainment industry. They trace the numbers based on what comic stores buy rather than what readers are buying, and comic book stores keep buying Marvel books that sit on the shelf and don’t go anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if some shops reported they only buy these DC books, or from alternative publishers, for subscribers only or never stock as many of those books for whatever reason. Second, these also don’t reflect digital sales numbers, or how well a book does in trade, or in real numbers reporting (go look at the paperback or hardcover NY Times list for a better indication of how the industry is doing). The DC You initiative has produced some crazy interesting books — especially for corporately-owned superhero comics. We need an overhaul of the monthly comics distribution system, but I also just wanna see “Prez” continue.
– Michael Bay has finally turned his eye on producing comic books. His 451 Media Group has apparently started developing a new, interactive method of graphic storytelling. I’m trying to keep my explosion jokes contained over here, but, if anything, Bay has proven adept at incorporating digital technology in his frame, so it might technically be cool.
– Shea Hennum talks with Liz Suburbia over at Paste about the upcoming print edition of “Sacred Hearts” and what it means to be a punk comic. “Sacred Hearts,” originally a webcomic, is about a small town populated only by children. I liked Suburbia’s description of it being like high school where “you don’t know everyone, but you know of everyone.”
– This snuck up on all of us, but we’ve entered a golden era of food-related comics.
– Michael B. Jordan, who’s the best Human Torch but stuck in the worst Fantastic Four, has reportedly started negotiations to star in Blood Brothers, based off a Dark Horse comic by Mike Gagerman and Andrew Waller.
– Finally, in Webcomics Worth Clicking: Let’s talk about HamletMachine’s “Starfighter.” A manga-inspired space opera, with breakneck pacing, sexually charged action (I’m not kidding, it’s a NSFW comic, peeps), all the best kind of melodrama, dynamic art, and a gradually developing mythology, it’s been consistently entertaining and exciting since it started. I think I literally read the whole thing in one afternoon, thinking that as soon as I finished a chapter I would find something else to do.
