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RVA Mag Comics X-Change: Issue 2

Ash Griffith | September 10, 2018

Topics: comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel, Stranger Things, Velocity Comics

Welcome back, comics fans! We just introduced you to our new comics column a few weeks ago. If you missed it, you can check it out here. The next two weeks in comics are a bit of a doozy with plenty of new (and old) things to check out from the indie racks to the DC side of the stage as well, with even a surprise guest appearance from my forever favorite, “Stranger Things.” Luckily, we have Patrick Godfrey of long-standing favorite, Velocity Comics on West Broad Street to help guide us through the “Legends of the Hidden Temple” ropes course of new comics for you to devour. 

“Border Town #1” by Eric M. Esquivel

“You’ve got a lot of monsters and creatures from Mexican lore that are breaking into our reality on the border between Texas and Mexico, and basically all hell breaks loose,” said Godfrey.

“Thanos Legacy #1 (One Shot)” by Donny Cates

Image result for Thanos Legacy #1 (One Shot)

“Basically threading Thanos’ life between his solo and the ‘Infinity Wars’ series to get us how he got from Point A to Point B,” said Godfrey.

“Bully Wars #1” by Skottie Young

“It’s about a bully at school who has to befriend the nerds he beat up to take down a larger threat,” said Godfrey.

Image result for Bully Wars #1

“Cosmic Ghost Rider #3” by Donny Cates

“It’s a big-time travel gonzo, really explosively funny mini-series from Marvel. This issue focuses on a team of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in the far future where Howard the Duck has the power of the Juggernaut,” said Godfrey.

“Berlin (Complete Edition)” by Jason Lutes

Image result for Berlin (Complete Edition) comic

“It tells the story of people who were living in Berlin between World War I and World War II. It’s a big sweeping epic,” said Godfrey.

“Heroes in Crisis #1” by Tom King (September 26 Release)

“Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman have created a trauma center where superheroes can go deal with traumatic events in their lives,” said Godfrey.

From me, I have three recommendations I have been antsy to share with you. An old favorite, “The Backstagers” by James Tynion IV, is finished with its eight-issue run, but is still worthy of a mention. After joining an all-boys school, Jory joins the stage crew only to discover that door backstage leads to different worlds (and all of the stagehands knew about it, naturally). Anyone who was involved in theater in high school, this is entirely your bag.

From old to brand new, the series “Crowded” by Christoper Sebela just released its first issue recently with a trade expected in March. Imagine a world where someone can request to have you killed through an app as easily as you can preorder your Starbucks latte from the bathroom. This already has the smell of classic all over it, with an art style that reads like a cyberpunk “Sailor Moon.”

“Stranger Things” fans, regardless of how much or how little they care about our beloved Barb, can all agree on one question that has to be asked. What exactly did Will do in the Upside Down while waiting on his search party? Dark Horse Comics heard our prayers, and oh we will receive, on Sept. 26 when issue #1 of a four-part run is released.

That about wraps it up for this week for Comics X-Change. What titles are you excited for?

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. 

Top image by: Lindsay Eastham

Avengers: Infinity War, A Modern Reflection of Our Current Political State

Ash Griffith | May 17, 2018

Topics: Avengers, comics, film, Infinity War, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe

It’s been about two weeks since I saw Avengers: Infinity War. I saw it twice over the course of 48 hours, on the night it premiered and then again on the next night. Over 10 years of storytelling and 19 films have led up to the ultimate big bad of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the most pearl-clutching post-credits sequence in Marvel history, and it in no facet failed.

I could talk about the rainbow lens flares and how cool the Hulkbuster looked, and how Danai Gurira needs to be in literally everything forever, but who cares, honestly. Comic books and its culture have always been inherently political and reflected what was going on socially, and Infinity War did exactly that. As our favorite heroes have evolved over the course of the last 10 years, so has American politics, and in turn, the Avengers have evolved to reflect the current state of our country.

As far back as Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man when the beloved arachnid was owned by Sony the film became a reflection of post 9/11 America. As a random New Yorker proclaims from the bridge as Spider-Man tries desperately to hold a subway car together, “You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”

The ball for this officially hit the ground harder and with a louder thud with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. As Civil War drew the lines in the sand of a more clear-cut “us or them” philosophy (Hilary or Trump in 2016, anyone?), Ragnarok showed the Hunger Games-esque results on the world of a man in power who neither knew what he was doing nor cared. The only positive that came out of this was Jeff Goldblum doing what he does best and playing Jeff Goldblum.

With the climactic release of the most anticipated film of the year, Avengers: Infinity War is, of course, the best MCU film up to this point (Sorry, Ant-Man), and also brings some darkening parallels of the current state of American politics to the screen.

As our beloved Avengers have returned and seemingly let bygones be and partisan lines fade, we have finally met the ultimate Big-Bad that we have been built up for the last 10 years. Thanos is here, and he also brings in a dangerous question comic fans rarely want to entertain. Who really is the villain of this story?

Is Thanos the real villain of Infinity War? Or is it our beloved band of misfit toys? It admittedly feels weird and uncomfortable to utter the phrase, “Captain America is the Villain,” but it might not be too far off, especially as he is a war criminal. More on that in a moment.

Thanos opens the film for once, as opposed to popping up conveniently in a post-credits sequence to keep the suspense going. Thanos is ultimately wrecking everything in his path because he is on a journey to collect the six Infinity Stones so that he can control the Infinity Gauntlet and thus, snap his ginormous purple fingers and wipe out half of the universe. He has planned this because he sees the world as being overpopulated and not able to create enough resources per individuals.

While it is easy to write him off as the villain, plain and simple, when we write out and unpack his plan, he is actually weirdly relatable. His plan is very reminiscent of English Scholar Thomas Malthus, who proposed a similar plan in the late 18th century, although he didn’t have nearly as stylish of a glove. His plan, known as Malthusianism, involved equally morally questionable suggestions such as delayed marriage and abstinence.

You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow, that is really creepy and terrible,” and I totally agree with you. It is completely weird and terrible, however, if we moved the voice to someone else, say Sen. Marco Rubio or White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee, it sounds like something they said. As we head further and hear more and more about rollbacks and fights for various social justice issues, it suddenly isn’t that implausible to hear from a politician in the current arena.

As the film reintroduces all of our favorites back onto the screen such as Scarlet Witch (magically without her thick, Russian accent), Iron Man, Black Panther, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, one introduction, in particular, is interesting. As Scarlet Witch and Vision are fighting off Thanos’ children who are trying to steal the mind stone from Vision (which in and of itself turns everything else into a hot mess for our heroes), the cavalry makes their grand entrance.  

I think there is still a ringing in my ears from the sheer volume of screaming that erupted from the theater when Captain America stepped out from the shadows; with Black Widow and Falcon in tow. While Captain America doesn’t have nearly as much screen time as the rest of the titular team, what screen time he does have is used to his advantage.

As Captain America, he has always represented the core of American values, which is made more interesting when you take a minute to step back and remember that he is a war criminal now thanks to the Sokovia Accords that were signed in Civil War. The physical embodiment of America is a fugitive.

So what does this mean exactly? This can be unpacked in a myriad of different ways which we don’t have time for, but I chose to look at it as where we are now. Every day, we wake up to different news that is pretty dark whether it be the fifth school shooting of the week, or another attempt to roll back rights on the LGBTQ community. Take your pick. And Captain America has always been a believer in the underdog, and a fighter of the people.

While everyone’s thoughts on protests are various levels of complication, one thing that can’t be ignored is the will of the American people to want to do what is right, to want to eradicate whatever evil is around us, hurting if not us our neighbors, our friends, or our family. We want to protect our communities with every breath we take, and that is something that has only grown stronger in the era of Cult 45. As Peter Parker said to Tony Stark, “I can’t be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man without a neighborhood.”

Despite being in some form of exile, Steve Rogers never stopped wanting to help and protect the people. He specifically found Wanda (Scarlet Witch) and Vision so that he could help them. He never ever gave up on Bucky despite the damage he induced while being brainwashed. He specifically reached out to T’Challa (Black Panther) and asked for help so that they could protect the world from Thanos and get help for Vision.

Infinity War was every last bit of fantastic from the writing, to the character development, to the comedic relief that Drax never fails to bring. But it also represented the good parts of humanity that come out in times of darkness, much like a diamond from under pressure. It’s easy to be left feeling bummed about half of the MCU being lost in the Soul Stone, (Fear not, friends. They’re still around, we just have to figure out how to get them out of there,) if you don’t read the comics.

Rest assured the still untitled Avengers 4 is going to bring us the happy ending in every realm that we wanted, especially now that Captain Marvel is on the case.

Photo By: Avengers: Infinity War

VCU Professors Take a Critical Look at Black Panther Film

David Streever | March 20, 2018

Topics: adam ewing, african american studies, black nationalism, Black Panther film, brandi summers, chioke i'anson, Marvel, Marvel Comic Universe, postcolonialism, tressie cottom, vcu

In its fifth week dominating the box office, a panel of professors at Virginia Commonwealth University sat down for a forum on Marvel’s Black Panther at the VCU Arts Depot. Dozens of VCU students attended the event, titled Critical Perspectives on Black Panther, organized by Chioke I’Anson of the Department of African American Studies.

Ewing, Summers, Cottom

On the panel were Tressie Cottom, an assistant professor of sociology at VCU and the much-lauded author of Lower Ed, along with Brandi Summers and Adam Ewing, both assistant professors of African American Studies at VCU.

Ewing began by raising some criticisms of the film, which he enjoyed, but said he’s “become churlish since leaving the theater.” He raised three issues, centered on the depiction of the conflict between the titular hero of the film, Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, and the villain, Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan.

His first critique was the use of damage imagery, which he said Oakland and Killmonger were steeped in. Killmonger was “raised without a father, loses his moral compass…he’s a reflection of the damage done by white supremacy as is Oakland.” Second, he took issue with what he said was a poor framing of the Martin Luther King Jr. versus Malcolm X debate, in which “Martin usually wins, and if Malcolm wins, it’s because he’s made into Martin.”

His final critique, posed as a question, concerned Agent Ross, a character played by Martin Freeman. “What the hell is going on with that CIA dude, and what role is he playing in the film?” Ewing asked to widespread applause.

Summers spoke next, countering some of Ewing’s statements, but also agreeing in part. “I’m from Oakland, that was not Oakland,” she said, but found herself in parts of Killmonger’s story.

“I, like Erik Killmonger, had to believe in fairy tales in order to get out [of Oakland],” she said. “Growing up, blackness kept you in your place…You had to imagine a Wakanda.”

She took up the damage imagery theme Ewing referred to and said it was also used in subversive ways throughout the film. As the Black Panther, T’Challa is the defender of Wakanda, and he wears an energy-absorbing suit made out of Vibranium.

Vibranium is a fictitious ore that Wakandans have used to become the most technologically advanced civilization on Earth. Their advances let them cloak their nation, rendering it invisible and unpolluted by the rest of the world, even throughout the slave trade and later periods of European colonization and exploitation on the rest of the African continent.

Summers noted that the kinetic suit was “helping us to imagine ways to take this damage, done on our bodies, and to use it to do something else. I understand [what Ewing said about] the damage part, but I want to think about how we can redistribute violence and trauma.”

She disagreed with her colleague on Killmonger, who she said was a reminder that conflict exists within the black community, quoting the common saying, “Not all skinfolk can be kinfolk.”

She concluded by saying that she loved much of the movie, particularly the ways in which it showed a technologically-advanced African nation, and provided another way to think about a continent that she said could be hard to have a relationship with for African Americans. “Films like this allow us to imagine our relationship to Africa.”

Cottom took the final turn, staking out her turf as a fan of the whole Marvel cinematic universe. “This was the best origin story so far,” she said about Black Panther. “The only one that maybe even comes close–and Captain America is not my jam, I think he’s a fascist, you can fight me on that later–is Captain America The First Avenger.”

She praised the film for its aesthetics as well. “It matters that this is a beautiful movie because we don’t have a lot of movies where black people are beautiful.” She said that was thanks to director Ryan Coogler, the black director who also made Creed and Fruitvale Station.

“The way we are lit, the way we are styled, it’s clear that Ryan Coogler loves black people,” she said, contrasting him with another famous black director. “We can fight about this later too, but the way Tyler Perry focuses his cinematography, his eye, it tells you what he thinks about black people.”

She said the film was an outlier in that it was made for a black audience, noting that even with otherwise well-made media like NBC’s The Carmichael Show, “they had to have a biracial character to explain the show to white people. There has to be a white character that asks the questions, that clarifies the internal dialogue black people have, for a presumed white audience.”

One especially bright spot for her was Letitia Wright’s Shuri, the younger sister of T’Challa and a technological genius, and the visualization of a whole spectrum of black girls and black women, including the heroic spy-warrior Nakia, played by Lupita Nyong’o, the fierce General Okoye played by Danai Gurira, and the regal queen of Wakanda, played by Angela Bassett.

“You didn’t know who T’Challa would end up with,” she said about potential romance. “Generally, you watch one of these and you know where the black guy’s going to end up, unless it’s with the white blond woman, it’s going to be the only other black woman.”

She described it as postcolonial in as much as a Disney film could be. “Disney is as racist as you can imagine–it becomes Disney by producing racist caricatures,” she said, adding, “this says nothing at all about Disney and everything about where black people have become situated in the economy.” One of the prejudices she identified was the model minority myth, which the Wakandans portray when they are contrasted with African Americans.

She attributed some of the failings of the movie to the genre it sits in. “It still ends at the UN [United Nations], not in Wakanda. Superhero movies are about the state–that’s why you have Captain fricking America.”

Despite the variety of women in the film and their roles, she found another spot of disappointment related to the genre, saying, “but this is still a superhero movie and this is still the world we live in, so the women are mostly there to protect T’Challa…That says something about the limits of our imagination.”

But she argued that despite the ways it gave in to some stereotypes, it was a fundamentally subversive film, depicting Wakanda as “a kinfolk society, organized around kinship ties, which are argued to be “primitive” in sociology.” She added, “the idea that in Wakanda you can be a quote-unquote primitive culture, but also be economically and scientifically advanced refutes a colonialist white supremacist theory.”

Jonathan Becker, an associate professor of Educational Leadership at VCU, brought up the ending of the film, in which Wakanda announces itself to the rest of the world and Shuri opens a STEM center in the heart of Oakland. Cottom said that was a classic example of how the fear white people feel about ascendant black communities is often addressed.

“[At the end of the movie,] The only place for Wakanda to go was to come out and kick everybody’s asses, but it has to end with a nice safe school where they’re going to teach the community,” she said, going back to her disappointment that the film ended with Wakanda going to the UN.

Zachary Johnson

One attendee, Andre Zachary, a VCU dance fellow, spoke to defend education. “We do need a training ground to nourish black art-making,” he said, saying that one difference between Perry and Coogler is that Coogler went to film school. He brought up Trinidad as an example of a place where black art flourishes, and talked about how many historically black spaces, citing dance halls and juke joints, where people learned to dance and music have disappeared in America due to gentrification. ”Those are educating grounds, not in the sense of western standards, but in the sense that blackness has its own space.”

Cottom agreed with him, but noted that there’s a “difference between education and schooling,” saying education can happen anywhere, you don’t need a school like Shuri’s. “One of the biggest myths is that if you don’t have a school wedded to an economic system, you aren’t educating anyone.”

“I absolutely believe that black spaces need to exist, and certainly unpoliced black spaces,” she said, but noted that in the context of the film, Shuri and T’Challa don’t ask the people of Oakland what they need, making their school a colonialist project.

Another potential counter-point came from a woman who said she’s unhappy hearing Killmonger described as Malcolm X to T’Challa’s King, saying, “Malcolm X had a lot of love in his heart. There’s no love in Killmonger.” She described both civil rights leaders as frequently misunderstood.

Ewing agreed with her and said “even Coogler” misunderstands Malcolm X. “There’s a notion that King was moving toward a more radical position and Malcolm to a gentler one, but that’s not true.” He said the central conflict between the two was a debate over integration. ”King is saying, we have this world that’s been created, we can’t do anything about that, but we need to work within this framework…it’s an integrationist vision.”

“Malcolm’s position is that you can not reform this system,” he continued, describing King as trying to save the burning house, and Malcolm X as wanting to exit and build a new one. “The movie walks right up to this conclusion [that you can’t save the house], and then it’s forced to retreat, ending at the United Nation, ending with the CIA agent giving the thumbs up, ending at the STEM center in Oakland.”

The question of the CIA returned again near the end of the talk when an attendee said that Agent Ross was one part of a dialectic response to Killmonger. “Ross says you’re on our team so long as you limit yourselves to STEM and charter schools, keep guns out of the hands of Killmonger. He’s the containment that lets white people feel good by containing the revolutionary threat.”

“Which to be fair is the job of the CIA,” said Cottom, noting that the Killmonger/Malcolm X comparison falls flat when you consider his targets. “He would have been Malcolm if he took the fight to the CIA, instead he takes it to Wakanda. I can’t recall a single moment in the film when he locates the problem in white nationalism, instead, he points to black nationalism.”

Summer responded to say that “Killmonger wasn’t a person” like the other characters, he was “that brute in the white imagination,” she said, adding, “I hate that we have to compare him to an iconic figure [like Malcolm], he’s an idea, not a character. I hesitate to invest too much into who Killmonger was instead of what he represented.”

One of the final questions introduced the biggest disappointment possible for fans of the uniquely black film Coogler created in Black Panther, when an attendee asked if we’ll see his vision permeate throughout the rest of the Marvel movies.

No, according to the panel. Cottom explained, “Like all the other movies, it becomes subsumed when it drops into the Avengers because it’s rooted in nationalism. That’s why Captain America has to lead the Avengers. That’s how it’s going to be until we finally kill him and get to move on. We’ll get another Black Panther movie, but you should expect to see the other Marvel characters in it.”

All photos by Landon Shroder

Local Activist Launches Black Panther Challenge Campaign in Richmond

Amy David | February 9, 2018

Topics: #BlackPantherChallenge, Black Panther, Black Panther film, Marvel, RVA Black Panther Challenge, SM Youth Empowerment Program

A Richmond youth activist has launched a local crowdfunding campaign for the #BlackPantherChallenge, which was started by Frederick Joseph and went viral recently to help raise funds for children in the Harlem Boys & Girls Club to see Marvel’s “Black Panther” film, coming out Feb. 16.

Lance Cooper is the Youth Program Director for the SM Youth Empowerment Program here in Richmond, which he founded in 2016 to strengthen the underserved community and provide underprivileged, kids with an opportunity to participate in valuable education opportunities.

“My goal is to provide the opportunity for underprivileged children to get the experience of seeing this movie in theaters,” Cooper wrote on the campaign page for his reason for launching it. “It is extremely important for them to see characters that look like them portrayed in positive, powerful ways on the big screen.”

Created on Jan. 22, the #RVABlackPantherChallenge set a goal of $5,425 for kids in the program to see the film and as of Friday morning, the campaign had surpassed its goal at nearly $6,000.

Image by RVA Black Panther Challenge

Tickets for the film are $10.85 per adult and $7.85 per child. According to the page, the donations will fund tickets for children to see the film as well as refreshments. Tickets will be given out to children in the SM Youth Empowerment Program and to children in the Richmond area. Cooper’s goal is to give 500 youth the chance to see the film.

The remaining balance of donations after tickets are purchased will go toward Richmond youth empowerment programs and children hospitals, according to the GoFundMe page.

Cooper is planning to post video and pictures of their results, youth reactions and their experiences in the theater upon viewing “Black Panther.”

The film has shattered all advanced ticket sales over any superhero film to come before it, which makes it clear that representation of actors and actresses of color on screen is not only what the public wants, but what they need, especially black children who will finally get a superhero to look up to.

“When I asked the two boys (seen in the GoFundMe photo) why they felt the need to see Black Panther, they replied ‘because we finally have a black superhero,’” stated Cooper on the GoFundMe page.

Cover Photo by Disney

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