DC Comics pulls Neil Gaiman’s title and Amazon Prime series moves ahead | Book

DC Comics has pulled out the Neil Gaiman title, scheduled to be released later this year.

Death: The DC Compact Comics Edition was scheduled to be announced on September 2nd, but the list is being scrubbed from online bookstores and Amazon, Bleeding Cool reported.

DC Comics has not confirmed that a decision has been made in recent months due to allegations of sexual assault against the author.

The Sandman spin-off was one of 15 compact edition graphic novels scheduled for publication in 2025. Unlike Death, a list of the other 14 titles can be found on sites such as Amazon, Waterstones and Ok Comics, which are Leeds comic book shops.

Currently, nine women are accusing Gaiman of sexual misconduct. On Monday, one of the women, Scarlett Pavlovich, filed a civil suit against Gaiman and his estranged wife, Amanda Palmer. The lawsuit accused Gaiman of rape, sexual assault, coercion, human trafficking and “procurement and presentation” to Gaiman “for such abuse.”

In mid-January, Gaiman issued a statement on his website saying he “had never engaged in sexual activities that he disagreed with anyone.” Gaiman’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment regarding the DC Comics decision.

In addition to the eliciting of death, orders for the DC comic fax version of Sandman #8, scheduled to be released on February 26th, have been cancelled. Retailers were told that the edition would be “re-liquidated at a later date,” but the same phrase is used for other titles that were ultimately not published, according to Bleeding Cool. Again, DC Comics did not confirm that a decision was made due to the allegations.

This follows last month’s decision by US publisher Dark Horse Comics to cancel plans by Gaiman to publish future works. In a statement on X, the company wrote that “we are not publishing his work because we take allegations against Neil Gaiman seriously.”

Last week, the Kickstarter campaign, which raised over £2 million to adapt to graphic novels in Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 novel Good O’Men, issued a statement saying “Neil Gaiman will not receive revenue.” . Now, it has become an entity run solely by Terry Pratchett’s property and is financially linked. ”

Multiple adaptations of Gaiman’s work have been cancelled, reconstructed or suspended in recent months, but Amazon Prime’s Gaiman’s Anansi Boys adaptation is still scheduled to be streamed later this year.

Another major adaptation, Good Omens, ends with a 90-minute episode rather than a third season. Amazon did not confirm whether the decision was made for the claim. According to deadlines, Gaiman offered to step back from the show’s final season.

The stage music adaptation of Coraline, scheduled for Leeds Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Birmingham officials and Home Manchester, has been cancelled. “After careful consideration, we feel that it is impossible to continue in the context of the allegations against the original author,” the venue said in a joint statement.

A Disney film adaptation for Gaiman’s 2008 young adult novel The Graveyard Book has been developed. Gaiman himself was not involved in the project.

Harpercollins, which publishes many Gaiman titles in the US, including Coraline and American Gods, told Publishers Weekly that no new books by Gaiman are scheduled. WW Norton & Company, the US publisher of Gaiman’s book Norse Mythology, said that projects with the authors will not occur any further, but did not say whether this is related to the allegations.

Other publishers of Gaiman’s work, including Bloomsbury, Penguin, Hachett and Titan, have not yet been published on whether the author will continue to be published, and did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.