Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown of comic news stories we missed from the weekend. Have a link to share? Email our team at rundown@multiversitycomics.com.
In case you missed it, HMH Books for Young Readers have announced that they will publish a comic book by P. Craig Russell based on Lois Lowry’s young adult sci-fi novel The Giver in Spring 2019. Lucasfilm have also revealed the cast of Star Wars: Episode IX, including the late Carrie Fisher, using unseen footage from The Force Awakens. It was also confirmed that Billy Dee Williams will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian.
'When You Dish Upon A Star'
– On Friday, it was announced that shareholders of 21st Century Fox and Disney approved Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition for a large portion of Fox’s assets, including 20th Century Fox’s movie and TV studio. Gerson Zweifach, general counsel of 21st Century Fox said that the deal is “a transformative transaction that will enable us to unlock significant value for our stockholders.” The implication that comic book fans will see the Fantastic Four and the X-Men under the same banner as the Avengers could be huge for the MCU.Variety reports that the merger will be complete by mid 2019.
– CBR reported that The Hulu original series Marvel’s Runaways will air on the Disney-owned Freeform network on August 2 after the season finale of Cloak and Dagger. Marvel’s Runaways is based on the comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. As of now, only the first episode is set to air on Freeform. The move comes after the Disney-Fox merger mentioned above, as Fox has a 30% stake in Hulu.
– The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Edgar Ramirez (American Crime Story) is in negotiations to star in Netflix’s adaptation of Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini’s comic book, “The Last Days of American Crime.” Olivier Megaton (Taken 2) will direct the feature with a screenplay written by Karl Gajdusek (Oblivion). The story is set in a near dystopian future, in which the United States government plans to make it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit a crime. Ramirez will star as Graham Bricke, a career criminal who gets caught up in a deadly scheme with a femme fatale and her boyfriend. Remender will serve as an executive producer.
– The Hollywood Reporter also announced that Frank Miller has regained the rights to “Sin City” film and television adaptations. This move comes after a new settlement over The Weinstein Co.’s sale to Lantern Capital Partners. Miller objected that “Sin City” be a part of the sale, so he and Lantern agreed that TV rights, as well as those for the first Sin City film, directed by Robert Rodriguez, will not be part of the sale. Interestingly, the sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is not part of the new settlement.
– The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports that during a secret trial, Chinese freelance political cartoonist Jiang Yefei was sentenced to prison for six years and six months. He’s charged with inciting subversion of state power,” and “illegally crossing a national border.” CPJ condemned the conviction and sentencing, with Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney saying, “The Chinese government’s fear of a cartoonist’s pen does not justify depriving a man of six and half years of his liberty.” According to the CPJ’s prison census, China was the second largest jailer of journalists, convicting 41 journalists in 2017.
– Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) has been tapped for a recurring role on the CW’s series Supergirl as Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor’s longtime bodyguard. The CW has also cast Robert Baker (Riverdale) as Mercy’s brother Otis Graves, who does not appear in the comics, but Richard Donner’s Superman. According to Deadline, with both Lex and Lillian in prison, Mercy is stepping out of the Luthor shadow and running her own show with Otis serving as her right-hand man.
– In a tweet, Dark Horse Comics announced that Rich Tommaso will join Jeff Lemire and provide art duties on “Black Hammer: Age of Doom” #6-7. “Black Hammer: Age of Doom” #6 will feature a variant cover by Farel Dalrymple that can be seen on CBR. “Black Hammer:Age of Doom” #6 will hit comic book stores on October 17, 2018.
Continued below– Marvel released a new trailer for the second season of Iron Fist via Twitter, which features Danny Rand (Finn Jones) immersed in a “bad memory,” fighting in the classic Iron Fist mask, while walking next to Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick). Iron Fist season 2 will premiere exclusively on Netflix on September 7, 2018.
– Archie Comics also took to Twitter to reveal that The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will premiere on Netflix on October 26, 2018.
– Finally, we asked our readers what the biggest news of SDCC was. The results are in and Grant Morrison and Liam Sharpe’s Green Lantern relaunch is this week’s winner, followed by G. Willow Wilson and Cary Nord taking over “Wonder Woman,” and the relaunch of Marvel Knights. Be sure to participate in next week’s poll.
