The Hollywood Reporter reports that four industry pros will come together to form an as-yet-untitled comics company. Producer Eric Gitter, formerly with Oni Press and the producer of the big -screen adaptations of Atomic Blonde and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is teaming up with former BOOM! Studios president Filip Sablik; Jamie S. Rich, a former editor at IDW, DC and more; and Jeremy Haun, whose work includes The Realm, Red Mother, The Approach and more.
Sablik will serve as publisher of the new venture, with Rich taking on the role of editor-in-chief and Haun as creative director. Per THR, the new company “will eschew superheroes and lean toward horror, science fiction, crime and fantasy,” and hopes to start publishing comics next year.
“I can’t imagine partners that I believe in more,” Haun said in his newsletter. “Each of us bring something special to the table. Moreover— we’re lock step in our vision for what we want this company AND industry to be.”
Legal | A lawsuit initiated by Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, Karla Ortiz and other artists against AI art generators can move forward, according to a ruling by U.S. District Judge William Orrick. The court declined to dismiss copyright infringement claims against the AI companies, but did dismiss claims of breach of contract and unjust enrichment against them.
Censorship | Thanks to a dumb law in Utah, Blankets by Craig Thompson is now banned from school libraries statewide. The graphic novel is one of 13 books that was banned as the result of HB 29, a law that states if a book is banned by at least three school districts within the state, then the ban goes into effect throughout the entire state.
“It is a dark day for the freedom to read in Utah,” said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America. “The state’s No-Read List will impose a dystopian censorship regime across public schools and, in many cases, will directly contravene local preferences. Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is antidemocratic, and we are concerned that implementation of the law will result in less diverse library shelves for all Utahns.”
Distributors | Bleeding Cool reports that Discount Comic Book Service, the online comics retailer owned by Christina and Cameron Merkler, cancelled orders for several DSTLRY titles when the company went exclusive with Diamond Comics Distributors in July. The Merklers also own Lunar Distribution, who also distributed DSTLRY’s titles prior to the exclusive agreement with Diamond.
“Every other shop just switched the order for their customers from Lunar to Diamond. But DCBS… didn’t,” Rich Johnston reports. “They didn’t even tell customers that the books could be reordered, just that they were cancelled, and that this had come from the publisher.”
Many DCBS customers show up in the comments section, with some wondering if this was done out of spite. Johnston updated the piece with a statement from Christine Merkler that said any speculation about what happened behind the scenes was “completely wrong” but offered no reason for the cancellations.
It has been a minute since my college economics class, which focused heavily on the basics — supply and demand, monopolies and a term I had to dig up to remember, vertical integration. That’s when one entity owns two parts of a distribution system, and while it’s not necessarily bad in itself, it can have negative consequences for the market in general and for other companies who rely on those systems.
Publishing | The 13th Dimension reports that the The 1982 DC Comics Style Guide, the high-end reprinting of the famous style guide created by José Luis García-López, has been delayed. Originally slated for shipping at the end of this month, some production upgrades have delayed it, and it’ll now start shipping at the end of September.
Retail | ICv2 is hosting a “horror week” featuring pre-Halloween stories and coverage for retailers, and Brigid Alverson wrote a couple of interesting comic-related pieces for it — this one on the growth of horror comics in the direct market and this one on manga’s dark side.
Interviews | Dave Richards, the longtime interviewer for Comic Book Resources, now has a Patreon where he’s been posting new interviews with comic creators. If you enjoyed the wonderful first issue of Power Fantasy, then you may wnat to check out his recent interview with Kieron Gillen.
Awards | A Call to Cthulhu, a graphic novel by Norm Konyu and published by Titan, has won a 2024 Aurora Award in the “Best Graphic Novel” category. The annual awards recognize literature created by Canadians in the fields of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
Awards| The World Fantasy Awards nominations were announced this month, which focus on fantasy literature. While they do not have a dedicated comics or graphic novel category, they do have a “Special Award” category that has included graphic novels in the past. This year’s nominations in the category include E. M. Carroll for A Guest in the House and Bill Campbell of Rosarium Books, which has been known to publish graphic novels.