Fighting to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus is impacting every aspect of our lives. Many of the geeky escapes we love are on hold or delayed for now. Cinemas are shut down, major public events must cancel or postpone and even the flow of comic books has come a crashing halt.
Our 2020 Geek Guide has drastically changed since it was first published at the start of the year. Here’s what we now know about our picks:
Events:
New Comic Book Day is always the first Saturday of May when the industry says thank you to fans with free comic books available at participating comic books shops. No word on when the big event may be rescheduled but our local shops will definitely need you to visit as soon as the crisis is under control and the lockdown is lifted. The major comic book distributor has halted shipments so there may be a while before we even have a new comic book day again.
The Washington State Summer Con is still scheduled for June 20-21 at the Washington State Convention Center in Puyallup featuring celebrity guests from The Walking Dead, The Office, The Karate Kid/Kobra Kai, the Harry Potter films. WSSC is bringing some incredible comic book creators. If you loved Marvel’s The Avengers movies and the Crisis event on The CW’s Arrowverse then you should check out the writers who co-created the comic book epics that partly inspired them.
Emerald City Comic Con is the epic 4 event every March but it’s now rescheduled for August 21-23 at the Washington State Convention Center. Ticket holders are having the opportunity to transfer their tickets then tickets will go on sale. Cast members from The Boys and a growing list of top comic book creators are on the way. This is a great chance to meet what could be a genre MVP – the always entertaining Karl Urban has starred in The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek franchises along with roles in Thor: Ragnarok, as Judge Dredd in Dredd and now on The Boys.
Rose City Comic Con is Portland’s ultimate pop culture event scheduled for September 11-13 at the Oregon Convention Center. Star Trek legend George Takei, Lord of the Rings lead Elijah Wood are among the early celebrity guests. Writer Brian Michael Bendis (Jessica Jones, Miles Morales co-creator and current Superman writer among multiple books) is the first of soon to be many comic creators announced. RCCC is currently calling all cosplayers and crafters to use their skills to make Masks for Heroes on the frontline of the fight against the virus.
Movies:
Wonder Woman 1984 – the super sequel featuring the return of Gal Gadot as the Amazon Princess has jumped from June to August 14. The DC Comics icon goes up against Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Dr. Minerva aka Cheetah (Kristen Wiig) and somehow reunites with Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) in a new adventure set in the golden 80’s era.
New Mutants is on the move again. The X-Men spinoff was to be the final Fox X-movie as the franchise transferred to Disney. The original release was April two years ago then this April. Now the film is in limbo again. Fans of mutant heroes Magik, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot and Mirage will have to practice patience a little longer.
Black Widow is swinging into action November 6 now. Scarlett Johannsson returns as the super spy turned Avenger headlines her own Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Set after the events of Captain America: Civil War and The Avengers: Infinity War – this reunites Natasha with her family of fellow agents against the forces of the Red Room and one of my favorite villains – The Taskmaster.
The movie shift is actually the first drop of MCU movies. Black Widow is taking the slot originally held by The Eternals which is moving to February 12, 2021, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings moves to May 7, 2021 and Doctor Strange and the Madness of the Multiverse is conjuring up a new release date of November 11, 2021.
Morbius originally scheduled for July will sink it’s teeth into March of 2021. Jared Leto plays the scientist turned Living Vampire turned anti-hero in this spinoff of Sony’s Spider-Man franchise.
That’s what we know for now fellow genre fans. The industry must react to the crisis and follow the shutdown rules for everyone’s safety. We must do our part to follow the guidelines and stay safe. New movies will screen again, new comics will arrive and we’ll be able to celebrate at cons again. Just think of the great scripts, stories and cosplay we can enjoy with all this time off.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stay patient.
By Editor