Afternoon, comic fans! Welcome on back to issue #3 of RVA Magzine’s Comic X-Change. We are your biweekly comics information hub on what is new, and you need to keep your lazer focused eye on in the world of comics and nerd culture.
This week I had the joy of talking to Kevin Smith from Third Eye Comics in Mechanicsville about what the hottest titles are for this week and upcoming. We even took the time to talk about the recently released Captain Marvel teaser trailer as well. Kevin kept it short and sweet for us this week with his top four picks.
“Heroes in Crisis #1” by Tom King and Clay Mann
Cover by Clay Mann & Tomeu Morey
“What about supeheroes who have PTSD? I find out there is this ultra hush hush place called Sanctuary where they can get help.” said Smith. “It’s up to DC’s trinity to find out what has happened to this place.”
“Stranger Things #1” by Jody Houser, Stefano Martino, & Keith Champagne
Cover by Aleksi Briclot
“Back during season one Will was trapped in the alternate dimension, so now we’re seeing what happened to him. This is what he saw when his mom was trying to contact him,” said Smith.
“The Return of Wolverine #1” by Charles Soule & Steve McNiven
Cover by Steve McNiven
“He has returned, and we’re trying to figure out how he returned and what is going on since he died,” said Smith.
“Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #0” by Richard Dinnick & Various Artists
Cover by Claudia Ianniciello
Of this 64-page special, subtitled “The Many Lives Of Doctor Who,” Smith said, “These are little mini vignette stories that are leading up to the new thirteenth doctor, and how they tie up to the Thirteenth Doctor’s adventures.”
This week I don’t have any specific comics to recommend, as the biggest one I was looking forward to is the Stranger Things release. However, I do have a trailer to recommend for you. One of the most anticipated trailers of the year, Captain Marvel, released both a teaser trailer and a poster this past week, and there are so may questions.
While naturally we won’t have any definitive answers to anything until the March 2019 release, both Smith and myself had plenty of questions and debate ourselves. The Nerdist also released a discussion video on their channel after the trailer dropped, and brought up an important question to fans of the Captain Marvel franchise.
Is the unnamed character Jude Law is playing the actual Captain Mar-Vell, the alien hero who originally carried the Captain Marvel title? Or is he Yon-Rogg, Captain Marvel’s nemesis (who was responsible for giving Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers her powers so she’d become Captain Marvel)? Disney has been pretty quiet about this since his casting.
“It’s been talked about that Mar-Vell is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man, so yeah: Jude Law [is not that]. But not that the MCU always sticks tried and true to the comics, ” said Smith. “Even in that one clip in the trailer, he looks surprised, he has that ‘Oh crap’ face. That’s when Carol takes over, is when [Mar-Vell] dies.”
My personal favorite takeaways from the trailer, aside from finally seeing Carol Danvers in movement, are all of the 90s references. So many high school flashbacks smacked me in the face when I saw the Blockbuster building intact. Sigh.
What are your thoughts on comics this week? Have you watched the Captain Marvel trailer yet? What are your thoughts on it so far?
RVA Mag Comics X-Change is a bi-weekly comic column which dives into the latest and upcoming releases, along with insider info from local and regional comic book shop owners.
