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.
– Richard Donner’s career was celebrated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences on Wednesday. Among the actors and filmmakers attending was a sort of DC/Marvel movie crossover. D.C. Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige were both there to celebrate and honor Donner. Both of these fixtures of the modern super-hero movie franchise were once mentored by Mr Donner, one of the driving forces behind the first major superhero film, Superman: The Motion Picture, its sequel, Superman II, as well as the Goonies and the Lethal Weapon series. WJLA in D.C. had this article that expands more on the event.
– The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that DC films are looking to move up production on two new projects to follow on the heels of Justice League and Aquaman. Batgirl and Justice League Dark will be the next two films in the D.C. Cinematic universe, preceding several previously announced projects. Joss Whedon, who is already working away on completing Justice League in place of Zacl Snyder, will be writing and directing Batgirl. After Doug Liman’s recent departure, there is no director attached to Justice League Dark, but Andrés Muschietti, of the upcoming It, is in the running.
– Shannon Wheeler of “Too Much Coffee Man” fame is planning to do a live drawing of anything tweeted by Donald Trump today during former F.B.I. Director James Comey publicly testimony to congress. Wheeler has been doing a series of these cartoons from the Presidents tweets over the last few months titled “Sh*t My President Says” which will eventually be published in a collection from IDW.
– Valiant Comics adds another twist to the advance pre-order packages with “Bloodshot Salvation” by Jeff Lemire, Mico Suayan and Lewis LaRosa. Like the recent “X-O Manowar” and “Secret Weapons” pre-order offers, people who pre-order the package will get extra long issues with 8 pages additional back up content. This time, it is for the whole first years run. Issue one will be packaged with a copy of the exclusive “Bloodshot Salvation Rampage Redux” #1 a black & white version of the issue with multiple additional features. Pre-orders for this package end on July 27th and will arrive in September.
– It could be a gag, but Chadwick Boseman revealed on Twitter today that he might be in Atlanta, GA for more than just the Andy Warhol art exhibit he attended earlier this week. From a video he tweeted today we can probably infer that he will be a part of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War.
– With a nod to nineties nostalgia, Marvel has in the works 29 Jim Lee trading card variant covers planned for month of July. These throwback covers will feature Jim Lee’s artwork remastered and recolored from the original trading cards from the classic Children of the Atom series.
– Image continues to celebrate its 25th anniversary with more alternate covers in July. The theme they are going with is the idea of ‘possible spoilers’ that take place 25 years in the future.
– Canada plans to introduce legislation next week to abolish several defunct or outdated laws still on the books including one affecting comics. For decades, the country has had a law that prohibited the publishing, distribution, or even possession of crime comics. The Fulton Bill dates back to the late 1940s, and written to stop the consumption of crime stories in comics that was thought to contribute to juvenile delinquency. This ‘offense tending to corrupt morals’ carried with it a possible two-year jail sentence. It was last cited in 1987 against a Calgary Alberta comic shop.
