Newstime: The Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

From film to TV, gaming to comics and everything in between, here’s what you might have missed in pop culture news this week.

TV

With 2019 kicking into gear, Netflix has given its audience something to look forward to on July 4. The third season of Stranger Things has been announced for return mid-year, releasing the first poster with the tagline, “One Summer Can Change Everything”. The announcement also released the titles for each episode, some including The Mallrats, The Case of the Missing Lifeguard, and The Battle of Starcourt.

It appears Netflix had strong intentions of bringing in the New Year with a bang, also releasing the first teaser for season two of The Punisher. Only Frank Castle and Jessica Jones remain, following the streaming service’s cull of Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The teaser does not give enough detail to make out a synopsis, though a second teaser and a full trailer are expected soon.

Evil Dead legend Bruce Campbell has been chosen to host a new incarnation of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not TV show, which will focus on unusual and amazing events, and cases of unsettling physical abilities and traits. The show has not yet started production, but fans of both Campbell and the Ripley Believe It or Not brand wait in anticipation.

FILM

Aquaman is still king of the Box Office, taking more than $750 million in worldwide grosses, leading to speculation that it could be the first billion-dollar grossing film for the DCEU by the end of its cinematic run.

Empire has an exclusive first image of Mark Strong in his villainous role as Dr Thaddeus Sivana in the upcoming DCEU release, Shazam!. According to ScreenRant, a new trailer for the film is expected to land online mid-January.

A new trailer has been released for The Kid Who Would Be King, with pop culture references and a stronger fantasy spin compared to the previous trailer.

Another trailer that appeared this week was for upcoming horror sequel film Happy Death Day 2U. Get ready to re-live it all again and again!

Kevin Smith announced on New Year’s Day via Twitter that pre-production has begun on the long awaited Jay & Silent Bob reboot film. According to earlier reports, the film will tackle the topic of Hollywood reboots.

Spent the first day of 2019 having a #JayAndSilentBobReboot pre-pre-production meeting at our holiday-roomy @WeWork office! @JayMewes took this pic of me and @JordanMonsanto to both mark the moment and to document that we were the only dopes in Hollywood working on the holiday. pic.twitter.com/xTNrpN6OF6

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) January 2, 2019

Swinging onto a different Twitter feed, a Spidey fan suggested to Into the Spider-Verse Executive Producer Phil Lord that Japanese Spider-Man (the live-action ‘60s variant) be included in the sequel. To which Lord replied:

I will IF we cross 200 domestic.  Deal everybody? https://t.co/Fu0K06hxzq

— philip lord (@philiplord) January 2, 2019

ANIME

Sword Art Online: Alicization released a new key visual and trailer for the season’s remaining episodes this week. The anime is returning after having a break with Episode 14 to air on Jan 12, and will also be available via Animelab’s delayed simulcast service.

The Pokemon Company rang in the new year by releasing a poster image and teaser trailer for their upcoming feature film, Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. This CGI return of the Psychic Legendary is slated for July 12 in Japan.

COMICS

DC has paid a heart-warming tribute to Stan Lee one week after what would have been the icon’s 96^th birthday. Before Lee became the editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, he got his start with Detective Comics #600, and would go on to write special issues for DC on-and-off throughout the years, such as 2001’s Just Imagine series. DC Comic’s memoriam, available in the front of all issues released this week, pays “Utmost Respect from the Distinguished Competition” a title which Lee would often attribute DC during his Stan’s Soap Box Column.

Brian Michael Bendis posted some teasing images strongly hinting at what he has in store at DC in 2019. Whether or not all the visuals shared are concrete confirmation of what we’ll see from DC this year remains to be seen, but the images include a Bruce Tim-esque Batman Beyond, a Gal Gadot-ish Wonder Woman, Superman’s outfit abandoned and Batman standing next to the Bat-Signal.

Green Arrow’s current title at DC Comics will conclude in 2019 with issue 50, Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto has unveiled the first look at his new Samurai 8 series, Brian K Vaughn and Cliff Chiang’s Paper Girls will conclude in July this year, DC has cancelled its 12^th New Age of DC Heroes title by dropping The Curse of Brimstone, and the gun-toting caped crusader seen in The Batman Who Laughs will get his own one-shot from Scott Snyder and Eduardo Risso in March.

THIS WEEK’S PICKS

Halo Lone Wolf #1 (Dark Horse Comics) – Spartan Linda-058 is sent on a solo covert mission on a distant planet to take down a wanted scientist. Written by Anne Toole with pencils by Kieran McKeown.

Detective Comics #995 (DC Comics) – The countdown to issue #1000 continues with only five issues before the landmark special! Alfred Pennyworth has been attacked at Wayne Manor – can Batman solve the mystery behind who’s targeting those closest to him? Written by Peter J. Tomasi with art by Jaime Mendoza and Doug Mahnke.

Champions #1 (Marvel Comics) – Jim Zub and Steven Cummings bring us a new era of Champions, which sees the team go global thanks to Ms. Marvel –but a hidden secret lurks and threatens to destroy it all!

Star Wars Age of Republic – Obi-Wan Kenobi #1 (Marvel Comics) – The third one-shot in the Star Wars Age of Republic series has writer Jody Houser and artist Cory Smith deliver us a tale of Obi Wan’s early days training young Anakin Skywalker.

Wolverine – The Long Night (Marvel Comics) – The hit podcast of 2018 comes to us in comic-book form! Special Agents Sally Pierce and Tad Marshall arrive in Burns, Alaska to investigate a grizzly crime scene which leads them to murder, nefarious cults and a mutant known as Logan… Written by the man behind the podcast Benjamin Percy with art by Marcio Takara.

LEAD IMAGE: Detective Comics’ Batman