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, BOOM! announced Sweeney Boo and Lylian’s “Eat and Love Yourself,” and Canadian graphic novel “Surviving the City” won an Indigenous Voices Award. We also announced our first Summer Comics Binge, and published our review of X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
– Deadline reported that DC Universe’s Swamp Thing has been canceled. The series, which premiered on May 31, was initially thought to have been canceled as part of a reevaluation of DC Universe as a whole, following AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner as WarnerMedia, but Movies.com writer John Gholson cited a tax rebate as the source of the series’ cancellation. Gholson said that Warner Bros. had been promised almost $40m in tax rebates by North Carolina which, as a result of a paperwork error, they were unable to fulfil – instead, North Carolina gave Warner Bros. a $14m tax rebate. With the series estimated to have had a budget of $80m, the significant decrease in value of the tax rebate proved too damaging and would have resulted in a second season that was too expensive to produce at the current level of quality. Season one of Swamp Thing will continue to be released each Friday on DC Universe.
– In further WarnerMedia related news, Variety reported that the unnamed WarnerMedia streaming service is likely to have a monthly fee of $16-17 and bundle HBO and Cinemax alongside Warner Bros.’s TV shows and movies. However, after an initial beta-launch in the U.S later this year, and a full launch in early 2020, there is a possibility that a cheaper ad-supported version of the service will be launched. Previously, the plan for the streaming service was for it to consist of three tiers: movies, original TV series and movies, and the previous tiers along with a library of WarnerMedia and licensed content. HBO’s Watchmen is scheduled to premiere later this year.
– Independent publisher Devil’s Due hit back at DC Comics with a new cover for their one-shot, “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force,” which depicts congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a superhero outfit very similar to Supergirl’s. Last month, DC Comics issued a Cease and Desist order for the limited edition comic, claiming it infringed upon their Wonder Woman copyright. This new edition directly responds to this order with the variant being called the Cease & DCist Edition, and the other people on the cover, Senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Ilhan Omar, dressed in costumes that resemble Green Lantern and Batman respectively. 500 copies of the variant cover of the comic are being published, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to immigrant legal services provider Raices Texas.
– In more DC news, “Mister Miracle” artist Mitch Gerads tweeted he is “doing a short Batman thing” before resuming work with Tom King on a new project. He shared a work-in-progress rendering of the Joker, but shared no other details on his Batman story.
– Marvel Comics released more teaser images promising “No Compromise, No Mercy.” So far, the lineup consists of Blade, Spectrum, Wiccan, Angela, Hellstrom and The Winter Soldier. The full details as to what these teasers are connected to will be revealed as part of Marvel’s Pull List on June 11. In the meantime, you can check out the teaser images here.
– Steve Foxe, the Comics Editor at Paste, revealed that the comics section of the website will be shutting down at the end of this month. In a Twitter thread, Foxe cited the difficulty in generating revenue from the comics section of the site (a result of the smaller audience for comics journalism) as the reason for its termination. In addition, Foxe detailed his love for Paste and his boss, his gratitude for his team of writers and his respect for his fellow editor, Sean Edgar, for giving him the opportunity to write for the site.
– Kieron Gillen (“The Wicked + The Divine”) is set to be awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University next month. The award, formally known as the Award of Honorary Doctor of Arts, is being given to Gillen for his “outstanding achievements and acclaim” in the comic book industry as well as his role in “addressing issues of importance to students and young people.” Gillen will receive the award as part of a student graduation ceremony on July 10.
Continued below– Netflix has renewed Lucifer for a fifth and final season. The first three seasons of Lucifer originally aired on Fox, while the fourth season was produced and released by Netflix last month. “We are so incredibly thankful to Netflix for resurrecting our show last season, and now letting us finish the story of Lucifer on our terms,” showrunners Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich declared in a statement. “Most importantly, we want to thank the fans for their incredible passion and support. The best is yet to come!!”
– Netflix also released a trailer for the upcoming third and final season of Jessica Jones. The trailer revealed that the season’s villain will be the psychopathic Gregory Salinger (Jeremy Bobb), who is set on destroying Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) after she has escaped punishment for too many mistakes. Salinger (who goes by Foolkiller in the comics), taunts Jessica throughout the trailer, questioning her position as a hero and sending her money with ‘fraud’ and ‘hero?’ written on the bills in blood. Jessica Jones season three is set to premiere on Netflix on June 14.
– Finally, Decider revealed the third Riverdale novel by Micol Ostow, titled The Maple Murders. Unlike the previous two books, which explored events that took place offscreen, The Maple Murders will weave a new mystery that sees Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica investigating the mysterious Maple Man, following a revival of the Riverdale Revels, a skeleton being found in a 75-year old time capsule, and a series of accidents happening to contestants in the Royal Maple Pageant. You can check out the cover for the book here. The Maple Murders is set for release on October 15.
