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.
In case you missed it over the weekend, the second Avengers: Infinity War trailer debuted, Marvel announced three “Wakanda Forever” one-shots starring the Dora Milaje and other Marvel heroes, DC announced five “Batman: Prelude to the Wedding” specials to be written by Tim Seeley with a slew of other artists in June leading up to July’s “Batman” #50 Cat/Bat wedding, and we learned that Bryan Hill will be replacing James Tynion IV on “Detective Comics” with Miguel Mendonça for a five-issue arc featuring Black Lightning.
– Kicking off, DC Comics and the United States Library of Congress are set to celebrate “Action Comics” #1000 and the 80th anniversary of Superman. On March 29th, right before Awesome Con, Paul Levitz and Dan Jurgens will be interviewed by Michael Cavna, of the Eisner-nominated “Comic Riffs” column, for The Washington Post in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington D.C. Tickets can be purchased here, and the event will also be live streamed on the Library’s YouTube channel.
– Current Marvel artist Chris Bachelo (“Doctor Strange,” “Shade, The Changing Man”) revealed on Twitter over the weekend that his wife, Helen, passed away from colon cancer at the end of February. We wish to offer our sincerest condolences to Bachelo and his family. A GoFundMe memorial fund has been set up in her name, with the money being donated to charity. The link can be found here.
– Tickets for Avengers: Infinity War also went on sale on Friday and the movie broke Fandango’s 24 hour preorder record in only six hours, beating the two previous record holders, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Black Panther. Infinity War hits theaters April 27th.
– In more MCU news, following the departure of DeWanda Wise, Lashana Lynch (Still Star-Crossed) is in final talks to replace her in Captain Marvel. Wise was rumored to be playing Monica Rambeau. Captain Marvel hits theaters March 8th, 2019.
– In other casting news, Jonny Coyne (Turn, Alcatraz) has signed on in a recurring role in AMC’s Preacher to play Allfather D’Aronique. In the comics, D’Aronique is a large, overweight slob who is the current leader of the Grail. Season three premieres fall 2018.
– Robert Venditti revealed over the weekend that “Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps” #50 in August would be his last issue on the title and his last in the Green Lantern universe. Since taking over “Green Lantern” from Geoff Johns in the middle of The New 52. Venditti has written 85 issues with the GL characters, counting annuals. Venditti and Bryan Hitch were recently announced to be collaborating on a new “Hawkman” ongoing starting in June.
– “America” writer Gabby Rivera recently tweeted a picture of a letter from US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor congratulating Rivera on her work on the title at Marvel. America Chavez is one of Marvel’s most high-profile Latina and LGBTQ characters, and “America” was her first solo title written by Rivera who is also queer and Latina. Justice Sotomayor has the distinction of being the first person of Hispanic descent and Latina to serve on the Supreme Court.
– Star Wars: The Last Jedi cleaned house at the Rakuten TV Empire Awards, taking home awards for Best Film, Best Director (Rian Johnson), and Best Actress (Daisy Ridley). The film also won awards in the Visual Effects and Costumes categories. Hugh Jackman took home to award for Best Actor for Logan, and Wonder Woman, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, The Death of Stalin, and Star Trek: Discovery also took home awards.
– The education non-profit organization behind Denver Comic Con, Pop Culture Classroom, announced the finalists for its inaugural Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards, created to grow awareness and bring respect to graphic novels as a format. The full list of nominees can be found here. The awards will be presented at Denver Comic Con in June.
– The Albuquerque Journal announced that it will no longer publish cartoons by Sean Delonas. Delonas published a racist cartoon in early February depicting derogatory remarks against those protected under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), otherwise known as Dreamers. You can read more about the story here.
