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.
– Disney announced its Disney Legends Award Class of 2024, honoring “animators, Imagineers, songwriters, actors, business leaders, and more” who have made significant contributions to the entertainment giant’s century-long history. Among this year’s honorees are Spider-Man and Doctor Strange co-creator Steve Ditko. The D23 website lists the late artist’s accomplishments, stating he not only created iconic characters, but “redesigned Iron Man’s armor into the popular red-and-gold design, and [how] in the Hulk comics, he codified Bruce Banner’s transformations to be a function of his anger.” It goes on to mention his role in creating Speedball and Squirrel Girl in the ’90s. Other honorees include Frank Oz, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Miley Cyrus, Harrison Ford, James Cameron, and John Williams. The awards will be presented at the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event on Sunday, August 11, 5pm at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. Ryan Seacrest is set to host.
– Marvel is set to kick off ‘Infinty Watch,’ a summer event running across nine annuals, starting with “Thanos Annual” #1 (due out June 26). Writer Derek Landry will be at the forefront of the event, writing key chapters, and back-ups with art from Sara Pichelli. The story will see the return of the Infinity Stone bearers, as Thanos sets out to gather the stones for himself, even though they have been incorporated into living people. “Thanos Annual” will feature art from Pichelli and Salvador Larroca. Part Two will hit shelves on July 3 in “Amazing Spider-Man Annual” #1, written by Landry, with art from Pichelli and Ron Lim. For Part 3, Al Ewing will handle writing duties on “Immortal Thor Annual” #1 on July 17. Pichelli will return on art, working alongside David Baldeon.
– Image will be releasing 6×9 trim editions of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’s award-winning series “Saga.” The series, which follows young alien parents Marlo and Alana raising their child in the midst of an interplanetary war, has sold ten million copies, and has been translated into 20 languages. It has won Eisner, Harvey, Inkwell, and Hugo Awards (among others). The series will still be available in standard trade paperback and deluxe hardcover formats. Volume one will be available in comic shops September 11, and all other markets on September 24.
– Following Monday’s surprise poster reveal, Lucasfilm released the trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte. The Star Wars spin-off, set 100 years before The Phantom Menace, stars Lee Jung-jae as Sol, a Jedi Master investigating a crime spree, and Amandla Stenberg as Mae, a dangerous and mysterious warrior intent on stopping him. Both characters, and seven others (including Carrie-Anne Moss’s Master Indara) have been added to the official Star Wars Databank ahead of the series’s June 4, two-part premiere. You can watch the trailer here.
– Chernin Entertainment and King Features are developing a live-action feature film based on “Popeye.” The announcement comes just after the 95th anniversary of the character, who debuted in the 1929 comic “Thimble Theater,” created by E.C. Segar. Sopranos and Sexy Beast screenwriter Michael Caleo is attached to script the project. This would be the first live-action Popeye project since Robert Altman’s 1980 adaptation, starring Robin Williams as the title Sailor Man, and only the second feature film, following the cancellation of Genndy Tartakovsky’s take at Sony Pictures Animation.
– Big Love and Big Little Lies actor Douglas Smith will join the cast of Superman & Lois as Jimmy Olsen in series’s fourth and final season. This interpretation of Jimmy Olsen is said to be the “life of the party,” and according to the official character description, “despite being work colleagues with Clark, he’s been unable to get him out of his ‘awkward’ shell.” While this is the first time Jimmy Olsen has appeared in the series, he was played by Mehcad Brooks in the CW Arrowverse series Supergirl. Season four of Superman & Lois is expected to premiere this fall.
– Finally, former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat will return to write an episode of the latest series starring Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor. Moffat had written for the show since its 2005 revival, taking over as lead writer and producer during the Matt Smith era, and bowing out with Peter Capaldi at the end of his run. Julie-Anne Robinson will direct the episode, one of the two she will direct in the new series. The new series kicks off on BBC iPlayer on May 11 and Disney+ on May 10.
