comics
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Two years ago, Charlamagne Tha God revealed that he would be delving into the world of comic books by collaborating with AWA Studios to develop some new graphic novels. Now, The Breakfast Club co-host will be continuing his work in that field as he will be adding his touch to the upcoming fantasy thriller graphic novel ILLuminati.
Variety is reporting that Tha God will once again be teaming with artists, writers and artisans for their upcoming graphic novel, which will be “playing into the whole Illuminati Secret Society of the of the music industry.” To help fund the project AWA will be utilizing a Kickstarter campaign to get the ball rolling. With the recent Diddy indictment it will be interesting to see if the illuminati angle of the story will help garner that much more interest amongst readers given the rumors that the secret society plays a big part behind the scenes in the Hip-Hop industry.
Variety reports:
Charlamagne helped create “ILLuminati” in collaboration with a group of seasoned comic creatives including Bryan Edward Hill, Denys Cowan, Bill Siekiewicz and Sanford Greene. The plan is for Charlamagne to curate five custom covers for “ILLuminati” that will pay tribute to classic hip hop albums. The Kickstarter campaign launches today and runs through Oct. 22.
He thinks the novel’s twisty story about the death of a young female hip hop star and her psychic twin sister who comes to Los Angeles to find out what happened. It’s billed as following “a dark conspiracy that snakes its way through the pillars of power, fame, and popular culture.”
“Nobody even does satire anymore because there’s nothing satirical about life. Reality is just the most strange thing,” Charlamagne said. “A lot of these stories are just exaggerated things that have already happened, or, you know, our take on things that have already happened. So it’s just interesting to kind of bring that to life in comic books.”
Aside from being a part of the project’s creation, Charlamagne will also be tasked with curating five variant covers for ILLuminati, which will pay homage to some of Hip-Hop’s classic albums. Which albums will be chosen for inspiration remains to be seen, but we can’t wait to see what Tha God has up his sleeve when it’s all said and done.
Will you be picking up ILLuminati when it hits shelves? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Today (June 14) the comic book world mourns as one of its most revered comic book artists/creators/legends has passed away.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, OG Marvel comic book artist and creator, John Romita Sr. has died at the age of 93. With a “heavy heart,” his son, John Romita Jr. took to Twitter to announce the sad news this past Tuesday night (June 13) while giving his father his flowers writing, “He is a legend in the art world and it would be my honor to follow in his footsteps.”
For those who aren’t familiar with John Romita Sr.’s career, the man wasn’t just a talented comic book artist, but also co-created some of your favorite iconic superheroes such as Wolverine, The Punisher, Luke Cage and Spidey’s wifey, Mary Jane Watson.
The Hollywood Reporter reports:
One of five kids, Romita Sr. was born in Brooklyn, the son of a baker. He graduated from the Manhattan School of Industrial Art in 1947, served in the U.S. Army and was working in comics by age 19, getting published in Eastern Color’s Famous Funnies.
For a decade and a half, he split time between the companies that eventually would become Marvel and DC — Timely Comics and National Comics, respectively — working on a number of titles and gaining a reputation for his romance comics.
In 1966, Romita began a five-year run working Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee on The Amazing Spider-Man. He took over for artist Steve Ditko, who had created the famed webslinger with Lee in 1961 before leaving in a spat with the comic book legend.
Luckily for the comic book universe, his son, John Romita Jr. has already been carving out his own niche in the comic book world for a while now and seems to be properly carrying the Romita legacy into the next generation and beyond. His father must be proud.
After news of his passing hit social media, many of his peers and others who’ve worked in the comic book industry took to their pages to pay homage to the comic book legend with kind words and appreciation for his work. Check out some of the tributes below and let us know your feelings in the comments section below.
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For a minute there it seemed like Damon Wayans Jr. was going to be following in his family’s footsteps and become a mainstay in the comedy scene after appearing in films like The Other Guys and Dance Flick, and TV shows like New Girl and Happy Together.
But instead of continuing to just build his acting resume, the Wayans family legacy will be taking a crack at the comic book industry and is teaming up with popular Internet personality, Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor, to create a new graphic novel that’s bound to get the culture’s attention. Variety is reporting that the Let’s Be Cops actor and former Vine superstar will be working on a new comic book dubbed Shogun Run which is set in South Central LA in the 90’s and described as described as Big Trouble in Little China meets Attack the Block. Both of which are classic films though Attack The Block is mainly known on the UK scene as it was set in London and released exclusively in the United Kingdom before making it’s way to the States.
Naturally, Wayans and Bachelor are excited about the project.
Wayans Jr. said: “Creating a graphic novel has been a goal of mine since childhood, and to be able to do it with such an awesome team is definitely a dream come true.”
Bachelor added: “I am thrilled to be partnering with Damon, David and Gary along with the amazing team at First Second to create an action-packed world and story that will entertain people around the world.”
The novel is set to release in 2025 via First Second, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. Helping Wayans and Bachelor with Shogun Run will be producers David Uslan and Gary Glushon who will be serving as creative consultants on the project. As for who will be tapped to illustrate the graphic novel, that’s still to be determined. Still, we’re sure said artist will have some good stuff to work with, at least that’s what Senior VP and Publishing Director at Macmillan, Allison Verost is promising.
Verost said: “‘Shogun Run’ is going to be a game-changer. It’s an immersive, cinematic adventure brought to life by a brilliant creative team. We could not be more delighted to have this book on our list.”
With the deal that Wayans and Bachelor inked with First Second, a series or film adaptation os Shogun Run is said to be down the line and if it really lives up to the Big Trouble In Little China meets Attack The Block in South Central LA during the 1990’s, it’s going to be quite the spectacle and we can’t wait.
Are you looking forward to Shogun Run? Let us know in the comments section below.
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