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, prolific inker Juan Vlasco has died following complications from appendicitis surgery. We also received Jim Lee’s latest charity sketch: Composite Superman.
– Marvel confirmed they will resume releasing new comics on Wednesday, May 27, a week after the Diamond shutdown is expected to end. You can read the list of books planned until July 8 here — these include the new “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra” #1, which is being released digitally today before its May 27 print release to mark Star Wars Day.
The release schedule will initially alternate each week between single issues and collections: in a letter to retailers, Marvel explained, “This balanced short-term schedule will allow everyone – industry partners, comic shops, Marvel, and our fans – to work through an incredible amount of change at every level while providing new product to purchase and giving retailers a clear plan to adjust their weekly [Final Order Cut-Off] orders.”
– In other Disney news, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame won Favorite Movie at the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards 2020, while Tom Holland was voted Favorite Superhero for his portrayal of Spider-Man. Meanwhile, StarWars.com has a rundown of deals and offers for Star Wars Day, including the option to get a free eBook of E.K. Johnston’s novel Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow (via Disney Books) until May 8.
– According to ICv2, Bob Wayne and Jen King have joined the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Board of Directors. Wayne was formerly the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at DC Comics until 2014, and a member of the organization’s advisory board, while King is the owner of Houston comic book store Space Cadets, and co-owner of the Comic Book Shopping Network.
– Publishers Weekly reported on three upcoming children’s graphic novel projects:
– Paramount Pictures and Hasbro are in negotiations with writers Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse (Seberg) to pen a follow-up to the upcoming movie Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (due out October 23, 2020). Their movie is intended as a full-on G.I. Joe reboot that will build on the new iteration of the silent ninja. Paramount also announced a June 24, 2022 release date for one of the new live-action Transformers movies in development.
– Colorist Lovern Kindzierski has set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for new equipment, equipment he needs to maintain a living. At the time of writing, he has received $1,354 of his $3,500 target.
– The Barzinji Prize Foundation announced the Hamzanama Superhero Comic Contest. The foundation, which aims to raise awareness and interest in Islamic art, is taking submissions for short comics based on the Mughal epic the Hamzanama. You can read more details on the project — which ends on September 30 — here.
– Finally, art director Matteo De Cosmo, who worked on several ABC Studios-produced shows including The Punisher and Luke Cage, died of complications from coronavirus on April 21. He was 52. ABC Studios declared in a statement, “We were heartbroken to learn that Matteo DeCosmo, a talented art director with whom we’d worked on many productions including a recent pilot, has passed away. He was a true talent, incredibly creative, and beloved by everyone with whom he worked. We will miss him deeply and our hearts go out to his family and friends.” De Cosmo is survived by his wife Aris and his son Marcello.
