AJ Lee (no, not the wrestler, this one has real talent!) is a seven-time Female Vocalist Of The Year award winner as voted by the Northern California Bluegrass Society (which in itself is quite an accomplishment, considering she is only 19!) and is releasing her second solo album aptly named AJ LEE.

With an album consisting of just six songs, AJ is not timid here about taking on the likes of Graham Parson and Bob Dylan, showcasing a unique style that has been compared to Alison Krauss.

And that is important, because like Alison Krauss, this is not your Granddad’s Bluegrass. If you’re thinking Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, or The Dillards (aka The Darlings from THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW), you’re barking up the wrong tree.

For lack of better words, this is more “modern” Bluegrass--modern in the sense that Bluegrass, just like Rock or Country, has evolved over time to become something of its own that, while different, is still rooted in it’s past.

So here's where the situation stands in the Marvel Comics Universe, vis a vis their crossover event, Secret Empire:

Captain America is the bad guy and, for all intents and purposes, has always been the bad guy since his origin. He's an agent of Hydra, the outfit that has ever been looking to dominate the world because dominating the world is a cool job to have.

Of course, Captain America has not always been the bad guy. You weren't reading about the adventures of a secret double agent doing deep cover for a villainous entity while he stood up for the Red, White, and Blue. The Marvel Universe reality was rewritten (I won't delve into the *cough* technical details; it's a cosmic entity that can rewrite history/reality on a whim. Let's just call it "magic" and move on) such that Steve Rogers' past was changed, aligning events to have him brought up the Hydra Way. Nurture beats Nature in this scenario. So, presto: Captain Hydra.

After a blockbuster film, the highest grossing Broadway production in history, ridiculous DVD sales and constant worldwide tours, everybody knows what Disney’s THE LION KING is all about, right? Yes, I still haven’t seen the movie (might as well wait for the “live” action remake now), but I was fortunate enough to see the last tour when it set attendance records at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis.  Since there shouldn’t be any reason to rehash the coming of age story for the future King of the Beasts amid the evil schemes of his sinister uncle, allow me to discuss what makes THE LION KING musical one of the most unique and memorable theatrical experiences you’ll find anywhere.

Remember how upset the world got when it was revealed that Captain America had always been a Manchurian Avenger in the employ of Hydra? That quickly subsided when it was revealed that Kobik, a being created from pieces of the Cosmic Cube, had rewritten reality to make America's beloved Steve Rogers into a traitor from childhood. She'd basically done a "Red Son" on old winghead even as she helped Maria Hill create the idyllic village / supervillain prison known as Pleasant Hill, where villains had their realities changed to become law-abiding Mayberry citizens.

Having bided his time until this moment, Captain America puts all his tactical skills to bear in SECRET EMPIRE, organizing a three-pronged attack that is designed to allow him to take over.

DC Comics and IDW Publishing have had their share of property marriages in the past. I was particularly fond of the Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes crossover, as it seemed a natural given that both teams were future-oriented, making it easier to breach dimensions and meet.

It's a little trickier with the pairing of Star Trek and the Green Lantern Corps, but writer Mike Johnson is making it work.

STRANGER WORLDS continues the story begun with THE SPECTRUM WAR, which found Hal Jordan and a handful of other ring-bearers (not all of them green) lose the fight against Nekron and get ejected from their reality just before it collapsed entirely to destruction. They emerged in the STAR TREK universe, which means they didn't just swap realities, but they time-traveled into the future. However, without a power battery, all the ring bearers soon find their energy waning, and there's no way to recharge their rings.

Or is there?

Climb in and buckle up, boys and girls. This is the event we've been waiting to kick off ever since DC kicked off their Rebirth line with REBIRTH #1. That ended with Batman finding a yellow smiley-face button with a blood streak that was immediately familiar to comics fans as the iconic badge (and plot driver device) of WATCHMEN.

For months now (years, it seems) that plot has been left out there, supplemented in drips and drabs in various titles. But now, the team of Tom King and Jason Fabok have honed in on the main mystery, and it's a fun ride!

Yeah, I'm going to be walking smack through spoiler territory here, so you've been warned.

ATLANTA - April 19, 2017 - Square Enix, Blizzard and Wizards of the Coast will be among the companies at MomoCon, the convention with the largest gaming floor in the Southeastern United States.

They boys seem to be losing it in this mansion as well as getting lost in conversation. Brand Burch's reputation even lurks here.
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Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

The boys felt it was well needed to think up some conversation starters while roaming around the vast land of Hyrule.
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Doctor Who Series 10 - Episode 1 – The Pilot

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Lawrence Gough

Cast:

So if you've been paying attention to S.J. Mitchell's coverage of the SUPERMAN:REBIRTH storyline, you should have had all your questions answered as to how Clark Kent and Suerpman can both be running around together -- particularly after the Superman we've been reading about lo these past several years just died!

And since that Superman died, you'd think Supergirl would be more than a little suspicious about this Superman, whom she welcomes with open arms, begs to speak in Kryptonian with (because Kryptonian doesn't have contractions, except it totally does every time they speak it), and spends family time with like a good cousin-once-removed with Superman's son, Jon. You'd think she would, but yet she's not.

Conveniently, today happens to be a Kryptonian holiday (Kal must have had a copy of Poor Rich-Ard's Almanac tucked into that rocket of his), the "Day of Truth," and so he's vowed to tell Supergirl the truth about what happened to him.

During the Star Wars Celebration, Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy revealed a poster for the movie which may have revealed the relationship between Luke and Rey.

And that's not even the big news!

A lot of questions were asked during the panel but nobody had to answer any hard pressing questions, other than Josh Gad jokingly asking Daisy Ridley and BB-8 who Rey is related to. Before they left the stage though, Rian played a teaser for the audience that went a little something like this...

Time for a little shameless self-promotion!

A few months ago, my cousin, Nichó Martin, reached out to me to read over and edit his manuscript for his first book, 40 YEARS TO HEAL A BROKEN CHILD.

Up front, I don't think it's appropriate for me to write a formal review of the book.  It was written by family, and I am credited as the editor. BUT, I will say that it is an excellent book. Nichó has written a very honest book about the many difficulties he has faced (and sometimes caused) in his own life. Once you start reading, you are going to blast right through it.

As kevin continious to struggle and slowly slip into madness because of the endless maze, Zach is loving every second of Kevin's torture.
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I'm used to seeing Archie Andrews with red hair. I'm used to seeing him drive a red car.

But I never thought I'd see him with a red Solo cup.

But that's just how things roll in RIVERDALE, the edgy, angsty version of the classic comics characters where everybody is broken, everyone has a secret, and the best people are the ones who live in the morally lighter gray areas than others.

At issue this week is Jughead's birthday party. The thing is, Jug (COLE SPROUSE) doesn't like celebrating his birthday. He really doesn't like celebrating it. So when Betty (LILI REINHART) decides she's going to throw him a party, Archie (KJ APA) tries his best to talk her out of it. But Betty is headstrong and won't be denied, so Archie volunteers his house -- which is going to be empty this weekend, because his dad (LUKE PERRY) is out of town to finalize divorce papers with his mom! So, yeah, Archie is at the top of his angst game right now.

The New York Yankees played the Orioles close in their last series until finally breaking through with a win in the final game.

Since entering fatherhood, I have encountered a new phenomenon in publishing. Well, it's new to me, anyway. Prior to my graduation, books were things that had a cover -- either hard or soft -- and pages in between. Sometimes pictures. (Okay, quite often lots of pictures. I read a lot of graphic novels.)

Once the short human took up residence, however, I found completely different kinds of books. Not just the kind where each and every page was a half-inch thick cardboard slab (that he still managed to chew the corners off of; beaver DNA, don't ya know?) . No, these were "activity" books. They had compartments in the back to store things, like miniature charactes and a roll out map of a scene on which the characters would play. Where was this when I was trying to map out troop movements while reading LORD OF THE RINGS?

Thomas Pavitte's MARVEL: SPIDER-MAN 1000 DOT-TO-DOT BOOK makes anyone able to render drawings of their favorite Spider-man characters. Featuring twenty scenes -- including a double-sized spread pull-out -- and printed on heavy stock, single-sided pages, each of these pages will keep you busily entertained for hours.

Yes, hours. Did I fail to mention there are 1000 connections in each drawing?

Now, any kid who's done dot-to-dots before can tell you -- the more dots you have, the more detailed your finished drawing will be. So you can imagine the kind of results you'll get with 1000 dots! The good news is that the pages are huge -- 9 1/2" by 14" -- so there's a large canvass to work on. The bad news is that, well, there are 1000 dots! And since some of the lines trace back over themselves, there's a handy color-coding in place so that you don't get lost.

Oh, Aimee Ray. You have such confidence in my cutting, stitching, and stuffing talents where I know there is none. Nevertheless, your project kit, MARVEL UNIVERSE FELT, appeals to me.

This boxed kit contains nearly everything you need to complete ten projects, each producing a huggable hero. Using the templates and the sheets of colored felt, you can cut out the pieces for Iron Man, Falcon, Rocket Raccoon (ohhhh yeahhh), Black Widow, Hulk, She-Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange -- presented in increasing order of difficulty. The kit also provides the stuffing and sewing floss, as well as instructions so simplistically presented that even I could follow them! All you need to bring is your scissors, your needle, and your willingness to take on the projects.