Comics Lowdown | ‘The Other History of the DC Universe’ gets a release date

Plus: News on Fantagraphics’ new logo, the CBLDF, Ignatz Awards and more.

Publishing: DC Comics’ long-delayed The Other History of the DC Universe finally has a release date: the first issue by 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley and artists Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi and José Villarrubia will arrive in November. That issue will focus on Black Lightning, and Ridley spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his history with the character:

When Black Lightning came out, I remember, as a younger person, how that felt to have a series that was led by a man of color, who in his regular identity was a teacher. Like I said, my mom was a teacher. It was a comic book that really, for me, for the first time, I felt like, “Oh, okay, this is for us as much as anybody else. The book, the universe, all of those things, you know, this is for us.” If I ever had at an age felt like, “Oh, I want to be a writer, I want to be a creator, I want to be a storyteller, I want to deal in the fantastic,” certainly when Black Lightning came out, it was a moment that galvanized that feeling.

The Other History of the DC Universe was first announced in 2018, shortly after DC unveiled their Black Label imprint. Each issue of the five-part series will focus on different characters of color, including Black Lightning, Renee Montoya, Mal and Karen Duncan, Katana and Anissa Pierce, Black Lightning’s daughter.

Organizations: Prior to the announcement of the CBLDF’s new interim director, The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Comic Book Legal Defense Fund President Christina Merkler about the dismissal of Charles Brownstein as executive director as details of his alleged assault of creator Taki Soma in 2005 re-surfaced.

“The current board was not aware of the details of Taki Soma’s allegations, nor the recent accusations by previous employees,” Merkler told THR. “It’s sometimes easy to overestimate how a volunteer board like the CBLDF operates. We meet a handful of times a year to discuss projects, assign subcommittees, oversee fundraising and provide advice and consent on budgets. The 2005 incident was investigated and handled as a human resources issue [in 2016]. Does that mean that in the 14 years since, the nature of our board’s operations created some gaps in oversight? I think that’s obvious and it’s at the heart of what we’re addressing now.”

Passings: Manga artist Jiro Kuwata, who drew Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga and 8 Man, passed away in July. He was 85.

Publishers: Heidi MacDonald at The Beat rounds up more news and rumors coming out of the layoffs that occurred at DC earlier this week. As of right now, DC has not yet released a statement on the changes.

Publishers: Fantagraphics has a brand new logo, and Print talks to designer Jacob Covey about the change.

“Fantagraphics has always prided itself on an unbranded fluidity where the only voice that matters is that of our artists, but that also creates an invisibility in the contemporary brand-driven landscape. After four decades of elevating the artform, we’ve earned the gravitas to put our seal of approval on every book we publish by way of this new logomark.”

Publishers: VIZ Media LLC has canceled the Act-Age manga series because the writer, Matsuki Tatsuya, was arrested on suspicion of committing an indecent act with a female middle school student.

Interviews: Abhay Khosla interviews former DC editor and comics journalist Janelle Asselin about all the sexual misconduct allegations that have surfaced within the comics industry over the last few months. Asselin was one of the DC editors who complained about Eddie Berganza’s behavior and also broke the story about Scott Allie’s misconduct at Comic-Con a few years back.

Awards: The finalists for the 2020 Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards have been announced, which have four different categories based on age group. Several graphic novels were nominated alongside other books, including Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez; Guts by Raina Telgemeier; Pandora’s Legacy by Bones Leopard and Kelly and Nichole Matthews; Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen; and Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden.

Awards: Voting for the annual Ignatz Awards is usually limited to the attendees of the Small Press Expo, but with no physical event being held this year, they are opening it up to everyone. You can register to vote here. The awards presentation will be livestreamed Sept. 12.

One thought on “Comics Lowdown | ‘The Other History of the DC Universe’ gets a release date”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.