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Tonight, JJ Abrams wants to go to the into the Dark Justice League business. Sam Raimi goes into the strange business. And Doc McFarlane gives his plans for the comics business. All that more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight. And uh I'm your host, Thomas Townley, of course. Not a ton of news to report. Um, if you're looking for a short episode, this might be it. Um this ac this actually scratched that. Uh the comic book edition might have more news than the sci-fi edition. Sci-fi edition only had like, you know, twenty minutes of news. Uh this actually I've been ab able to add a few stories here and there, so you know we'll give it a give it a shot. You know, we have a big con cancellation in the news today, and I'd like to share a small con cancellation that's very near and dear to me. And has also been cancelled this year. The Smallville Con in Hutchinson, Kansas. Yep, uh, they've decided the risk wasn't worth it this year, and I hate to agree. You know, I'll you know, I was going to have a table there next uh this year, but uh I'll just move that to next year. So I'll already one step ahead. Hey, you know, look at that. Yeah I'm already one step ahead uh for next year. That's good news for me. Um now again, if if you're if you don't have to be out and about, don't be out and about. Yeah. I'm an essential worker, I have to work in retail to make my money. If you don't have to be there, don't be there. But while we're you know, let's uh forget about that for a while and start with some comic book news. Let's start with some DC news. How about that? Now, we'll start with some breaking news. The Batman has been moved back from uh its spot on the June 2021 calendar to October 1st, 2021. Now, this isn't the only DC movie that has been moved back. The Flash movie and the Shambh excuse me. Hard to say new teeth. Shazam 2 have been moved from their original release dates as well. The Flash will now open one month later, moving from June 3rd, 2022 to July 4th, 2022. And Shazam 2 gets a big push from April 1st, 2022 to November 4th, 2022. Now, anyone want to share a guess on if if uh this crisis keeps going that they'll just bypass theaters altogether and send these both to HBO Max instead? Yeah. I'll take the I'll take the bet. Actually, I'm I'm sure uh theaters will be open by then. Surely they'll have a handle on on this COVID crisis by then. We hope. Anyway, JJ Abrams, who some see as a villain. Me personally, I'm ambivalent, you know. He's done good stuff, he's done really stupid stuff. It's all, you know, half d half a dozen of one, half a dozen of the other, has been confirmed to be getting a crack uh at a chance c of the crack into the DC universe as one of his first projects with Warner Brothers. It's said that he's going to be making a Justice League Dark series for their new streaming service, HBO Max. This is in addition to his shining spin-off, Overlook, and his original series called Duster. In a statement, HBO Max Chief Content Officer Officer Kevin Riley said, quote, what an amazing start to our association with the wildly imaginative bad robot team under JJ and Katie. What could be better than an original JJ idea and then Warner Brothers laying them loose on iconic IP from Stephen King and the DC Universe, and to provide more must-have programming on HBO Max. Now, it should be noted that Abrams isn't the first to uh take a crack at Justice League Dark. Uh he follows in the footsteps of Guillermo del Turo. That vers that uh version, which was going to be a movie, ceased to be after the poor performance of all the other DCEU movies. I don't know why they just couldn't try it anyway. Yeah. Who knows? Guillermo del Toro's could have been very interesting. Or it could have been very bad. Yeah. Again, he's kind of he's kind of 50-50 too, isn't he? Uh more delay news. Yeah, we're getting a lot of delay news now nowadays. Black Adam Star Duane the Rock Johnson confirmed in an Instagram video that filming is delayed due to the coronavirus shutdown. It was originally scheduled to start filming this uh summer, in early summer, but now we'll have to start in August or September. Duane said, quote, we still plan on shooting probably at the end of summer now. Probably pushed into the end of August or September. That is a project I hold near and and dear to my heart, and so I can't wait to get started. Unquote. Are are you uh are you at home waiting on this movie? You know, I'm I'm waiting to see what he looks like in the costume. I'm waiting to see a trailer before I really get excited for this. You know, I'm hopeful that's about it. Now, some good news, though. Something other than, you know, coronavirus ate my movie. James Gunn's, the Suicide Squad, is ahead of schedule, according to the director, and should not have to delay its release date. Taking to Twitter, Mr. Gunn assured everyone that, quote, right now there's no reason for the who's the Suicide Squad release date to move. We are on or ahead of schedule. We were extremely fortunate to wrap shooting and set up editing from our houses from our homes, due to a post-production team and studio with foresight before quarantine. Unquote. The Suicide Squad is doing theaters on August 6th, 2021. So uh let's go over that. August 6, 2021, Suicide Squad. So before that, or yeah. So after that is the Batman. So I got the Suicide Squad, then the Batman. That could be interesting, you know, the the compare and contrast, I guess. Now, have you gone to it, you know, when you've gone to a store, have you seen the tie-in products for films that uh now aren't coming to theaters right away, or you know, have you ever been pushed way back? Maybe they maybe they've gone ahead and released them, you know, digitally, stuff like that. Myself I've seen I've seen the action figures for the Black Widow movie already, and uh Doritos Bags advertising Wonder Woman 84. Apparently, another tie-in for that movie will be a new sweet tart candy based on Wonder Woman's Golden Lasso. Tropical punch flavored golden ropes. The soft and chewy sweetheart rope sweetheart ropes will be out in stores next month. Yep. Candy. Sweet tart ropes. Uh that's just not very interesting to me, but you know, I could see it. I guess if you if I guess they're you know, if you tied them, they would they would actually be lassos. Otherwise they're just ropes. A rope is a rope until you tie it. Anyway. As I said, you know, I I I have to search where I where I have to for for anything that counts as news. Let's go on to the Marvel news. Sam Raimi will be taking on another Marvel superhero. The director has confirmed that he will be replacing Scott Derrickson as the director of Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. Speaking the journalists on the conference call, Remy said, quote, I love Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me. He was probably at number five for me on great comic book characters. He was so original, but when he had that moment in Spider-Man 2, I had no idea that he would ever be making a Doctor Strange movie. So it was really funny to me that coincidentally that line was in the movie. I gotta say, I wish we had that the foresight to know that I was going to be involved in the project. Now, that delay has moved it back from May 2021 to November of 2021. Now, the production halt at Marvel has been so bad that Marvel Entertainment has started furloughing some of its staff starting on eight this uh week on April 26th. And how long or how many has yet to be revealed? You know, my my thoughts are are with all those who have been furloughed, you know. Consider this a vacation. You know, try not try not to consider this as something bad, consider this as something good. You can go home, you can work on stuff. You know, finish your honeydew lists. Yeah. Don't watch the news. Don't watch the news. Or at least watch very little. However, it's not all bad news for Marvel fans. The final season of Marvel's Agents of Shield is right around the corner. The American Broadcasting Company has announced that season seven will begin airing on Wednesday, May 27th. The seventh season sees Colson and the agents stranded in 1931 New York City. And hilarity ensues? I don't know. Anyway, uh that's it for Marvel News. Let's go over to the Geek News. Diamond Comic Distributors is hoping to restart its distribution sometime around the middle to the late part of May. In a letter to retailers, publishers, and others, they said, quote, while there are so there are many steps and conversations that need to happen between today and resuming distribution of new weekly product, we are currently targeting mid to late May with the hope that as an industry we can all work together to we can all work toward that time frame. Of course, as we have all seen, target dates sometimes need to be adjusted in this ever-changing new normal, but we cannot wait for firm dates. We have started the planning process and are having these important conversations with publishers and retailers so that once we have more clarity, we are in a position to restart and scale operations over time. Now, apparently DC Comics has their own plans to get back in the publishing game, having uh revealed in a press release that they will resume publishing monthly issues to be out on April 28th. So I guess Diamond and DC have some talking to. And uh according you know, the the latest reports from that are they will be using uh DCBS and uh Midtown Comics as their uh distributors. So, but nothing has been has been completely set in stone. Again, I'm sure Diamond DC are going to have to hash this out. Meanwhile, comic bookshops all over are hurting, and comic creators are reaching out to give a helping hand. Way novelist Gwenda Bond, Teen Titans Raven author Cammy Garcia, Superman and Action Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, Harley Quinn writer Sam Humphries, and writer artist Phil Jimenez are working with other creators for a Twitter auction. Creators run their own auctions by tweeting under the hashtag creators4 comics. You bid on each auction in the thread for the item, and the winning bidder donates directly to the book industry charitable fund. Now just go over to creators the letter4 comics.com for all the details, and we'll have that link in our show notes. So uh just go over there, click on the link, and check out uh who's who's uh g who's uh up for auction. Now also Jim Starlin is making a return to comics three years after he retired his pencils due to health issues. Mr. Starlin is already working on Dreadstar Returns, a graphic novel revival of a character that he wrote and drew back in the 80s for various publishers. This time it will be from Ominous Press, and he's launched a crowdfunding campaign to ensure its completion. In an email to the Hollywood Reporter, he told them, quote, Three years back, I suffered some pretty serious damage to my right hand and left eye in a compressed air explosion. After I healed, I found the eye worked well enough, but again, the hand would cramp up terribly after only about 15 minutes, drying with it. After three years of squeezing a rubber ball and other rehabilitate rehabilitation exercises, I'm not good for a couple of hours without taking a break. So I decided it was time to go back and visit with my old pal Dredstar. Now the Kickstarter has already been successfully funded, and as of the recording of this episode, has about 20 days to go. We'll have a link to it in our show notes. Also, Todd McFarlane has a plan to help the comics industry through the COVID-19 crisis. The legendary Spawn creator has talked to Forbes saying, quote, I think the industry needs a consistent message. Whatever that message is, right or wrong, we need to be consistent, even if we have to adjust it. But we really need to speak with one voice, not four or five different publishers running four or five different programs and methodologies. Unquote. Now he went on to say that if he was in charge, he would have the industry's biggest companies, Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse, stand as a united front with free digital downloads in order to hook new readers, as well as keep the old readers engaged with the industry. He would then have several big events to give people a reason to come back to stores, with each company getting a turn in the spotlight. So DC running one for for a little bit, Marvel running the next one, Dark Horse running the next one, image running the next one, so forth, so on. So you you know get all these companies back back working. I think Todd might be on to something here. Now, too bad you won't get these companies to want to work together, you know. They're the the corporate powers to be don't mesh. They're they're oil and water. But perhaps if uh we all work on getting their attention, they might, might want to work together. So come on, people. Come on, people. Just just tweet at them. Find you know, everyone get together, find uh find one hashtag, tweet at tweet at DC, tweet at Marvel, tweet at Image and Dark Horse, and try to get all these companies on the same page. In the meantime, Mr. McFarlane's spawn action figure Kickstarter has hit and surpassed a million dollars. As of the writing, it's reached $1.6 million. Now pledging $40 will get you a 7-inch action figure of spawn with classic costume and mask, folding cape, weapons, base, and over 20 moving parts. Plus new original comic art by the creator himself, Todd McFarlane. A resealable clamshell, and the collector box and slip cover for protection and display. Now Todd has also added four stretch goals, and they've all been hit. So look for a uh link to our show link to it in our show notes, or just go on Kickstarter Kickstarter and look for a spawn masterworks. It looks good. If if I was still an action figure collect collecting, you know, I'd be interested, but uh I have too many action figures sitting in a box in the back in the back of the uh house. Acting, yeah. Maybe I should maybe I should auction those off at some point. Maybe. I'll think about. Adult Swim has released its 2020 premiere slate. And uh starting first, on May 3rd, Rick and Morty. On May 10th, the Shivering Truth. On also on May 10th, JJ Villiards Fairy Tales. In summer 2020, we'll bring YOLO, Crystal Fantasy, Dreamcore LLC, a new season of Robot Chicken, 12 Ans Mouse, and Tender Touches, and in fall 2020, look for Jim Jim Musetto's Macho Picchu, Gendy Tartakoski's Primal, Tigtone, and Laser Wolf. That's good. We need content. Need input. Need input. Now, you you've seen how serious things are, you know. The the comic book that the comic book convention I hold near and dear has been cancelled, and here's a con that a lot of people hold near and dear. It's uh the largest comic book con in America. Well, that might be argued, but anyway, the San Diego Comic-Con for the year 2020 has been canceled. And also its sister con, WonderCon Anaheim, has also been canceled. San Diego has rescheduled for July 22nd to the 25th, 2021, and WonderCon 2021 will be March 26th through the 28th, 2021. Now, this is the first time in 50 years that the San Diego Comic-Con has been canceled. Now, people who have already purchased their badges for this year will have the option of either a refund or they can transfer it to the 2021 con. And if you want to be in the Hall H panel, uh lines open right now. Get on it. Yeah. You will never probably cat ever catch me at the San Diego Comic Con. That's that's uh you know, if if you have anxiety being around being around thousands of people like that, you don't want to go to anything like that. I would I would pay for for a digital you know, a digital viewing, you know, be able to just download and watch panels as they air, but I don't want to actually go there. And uh we end with a little bit of sad news. Voice actor Danny Goldman has passed away at the age of eighty. Now Danny was a longtime character and voice actor. He was in young Frankenstein as the questioning middle s medical student who uh questioned him about his uh grandfather's work. That's Frankenstein. And uh he was also in the Smurfs as Brainy Smurf and King Smurf, as well as having appearances in Batman the Animate series, Mighty Max, Get Smart Again, Crystal Mines, Robot Chicken, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Chips, and much, much more. He passed away in Los Angeles on April 12th. And that will bring us to the end of the comic book news. Uh now please be sure to check us out on social media. We're at Twitter at multiverse tom. We're also on Facebook and Instagram as well. And uh if you'd like to donate to our uh coffee or Patreon or even our glow.fm links, uh, just go over to Multiverse Tonight and hit the support me link at the top of the page. And be sure to visit multiverse tonight.com to check out the affiliate marketplace links, the link to the Tea Public store, the show notes, an occasional column, which I really should sit down and write a brand new column. You know, it's it's time.

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But I never I never have ideas when I sit down, they always vanish. Now, if you're a subscriber, please be sure to share it with your friends. And if your brand new to the show, please be sure to subscribe and leave us with some feedback. You know, let us let me know how we're how how I'm doing. Let me know how you're doing. You know. I I you know I want to care. Yeah, I want you to to consider this kind of a little community. You know, if if we get enough people to come together, we you have a community. And you know, I would love to talk talk uh sci-fi comic books with you and you know maybe you know play a little Animal Crossing if you're into that. But anyway. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for our intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Now uh thanks for watching the comic book edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with a brand new sci-fi edition followed by another comic book edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse tonight is a production of Half Baked Jana Productions Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.