FLASH 22 concludes "The Button," but it's a conclusion that brings with it little in the way of a conclusion. Flash is still in the dark about everything that has gone on, including the death of Eobard Thawne, and Batman is giving serious consideration to chucking the whole Batman thing on the advice of his Flashpoint reality father. (Show of hands: Who thinks he will do it? Hint: Does DC still have solicitations for Batman, Detective, and half the rest of their publication lineup? Right.)

See you're running round on Infantino Street

Whatcha doin' out there? Who ya tryin' to beat?

He knows what you're thinkin', cuz he your evil future self

Savitar's got plans to put Iris West on the shelf.

This is why the CW  doesn't come to me to provide the music for its shows. But it's really nice to see episode pays tribute to one of the all time most influential artists on THE FLASH comic books, Carmine Infantino. But in the CW series, Infantino Street is not a place of optimism -- it's a place of death. It's the place where Savitar is fated to murder Iris West and The Flash won't be able to save her.

And the countdown is at 24 hours.

Zach and Kevin work the night shift at Joe's Diner, cleaning up after messy customers while putting up with noisy dead people.
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This was teased a while ago, but I was so glad to see the return of Jay Garrick in this week's Flash!   I've been a fan of the character since he served as Impulse's mentor for a while. Amd yes, I know this was spoiled on the cover, but I still totalled geeked out at this panel!

In the comic, Barry Allen doesn't recognize Jay Garrick, so he ends up vanishing back into the speed force, but we've been getting a lot of teases about JSA returning in recent months, so I am taking this as just a quick tease of things to come.

We've seen the teaser. We've witnessed the trailer. Now, we have questions that need answering. Mainly, now that the X-Men franchise has expanded and mutants are spilling over onto television, will THE GIFTED be a part of a shared universe?

Join me as I discuss the pitfalls of such a possibility. Also, what's with that title, couldn't they have found something that utilizes the 'X' a little more?

by Chris A. Jones, author of Reversione: Reset The Future

Time travel has been a source of fascination for decades, serving as the central theme in some of our most treasured science fiction stories. But is time travel really possible? Although I’ve recently penned a novel centered on time travel, the truth is I personally don’t believe that it is possible. There are of various opinions, science, and theories circulating around this issue and there are a number of things that seem to negate the possibility of time travel, or at least prove to be quite problematic.

In a tweet put out yesterday, Geoff Johns expressed that everything he's done in comics has led to November's big event: DOOMSDAY CLOCK.

In an interview with SyFyWire, Geoff Johns wanted people to know that the big event was not a sequel to WATCHMEN, and that it will not crossover with any other titles. It will be a self-contained story with "No watered down one-shots or mini-series". That being said, he made sure to note that it will "affect everything moving forward and everything that has come before".

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

Last week Marvel and FOX gave us a teaser for their upcoming tv series THE GIFTED and promised a full trailer today.

As with most made for tv comic book properties, THE GIFTED is grounded in reality to deal with more dramatic themes so the focus can be more on the characters than their 'gifts'. While SFX continues to improve on most of these shows, the more fantastical they become, the harder it becomes to deliver without appearing campy.

The series will deal with siblings who have a 'gift' due to a genetic mutation. And while they're afraid to let their father know, because he apparently hunts people like them, when he finds out that his organization is after his children, he opens his eyes to acceptance.

Seth and Kendra Sorenson are back, and the world is a better place for it.

The teenaged siblings who captured our hearts and imaginations in Brandon Mull's FABLEHAVEN series return in an all new adventure, DRAGONWATCH, and the dangers continue to mount. After having defeated the demons with the aid of the dragons, the dragons have decided they want more. They are no longer happy being confined to magical preserves, and are testing their limits. The wizard Agad comes to Grandpa Sorenson for assistance in finding caretakers for Wyrmroost, a dragon sanctuary where the caretaker duties are split between the wizard Marat and the dragon king, Celebrant. But the defenses of Wyrmroost have been weakening during this partnership, and Celebrant is probing those mystical defenses that would allow him to obliterate the walls of Blackwell Keep and release all the dragons of Wyrmroost upon the world, free once more.

According to the website Winter is Coming, George R.R. Martin is releasing an anthology-style book titled BOOK OF SWORDS to give fans a pacifier as they anxiously await the next installment of the on-going A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series.

Martin's inability to finish a novel, in a reasonable amount of time, has infuriated fans over the years. This news will be met with both excitement and frustration.

Of the 16 stories included in BOOK OF SWORDS, Martin's is compiled from unused notes he wrote for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE. Titled "Sons of the Dragon" and will tell the history of Aenys I Targaryen and Maegor the Cruel (the second and third Targaryen Kings that ruled from the Iron Throne).

Radio Times has announced:

Billie Piper will join David Tennant for her first ever Doctor Who audio episodes from Big Finish productions, in Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 2. Piper's Big Finish debut is the first time she and Tennant have worked together on Doctor Who since the 50th anniversary television special The Day of the Doctor in 2013, and the first time she has appeared as the Doctor's regular companion since 2006 TV episode Doomsday.

When the hero gets his calling, he has no choice but to answer it and commence to adventuring.

But it's not that easy when the calling comes after the hero is in his forties. That's the dilemma of Angst, the hero of David J. Pedersen's fantasy series chronicling "a midlife crisis in medieval times."

Now you have a shot at winning the first four books in the series, autographed by Pedersen. All you have to do is...

...well, why don't we just let David's Dangerous Muses explain what you've got to do. Watch the video below for instructions.

Take it away, ladies!

While no official word has been given from Warner Bros, we take a look at whether or not KRYPTON should be considered a prequel. Set two full generations before the birth of Kal-El, the series will focus on his grandfather Seyg-El, played by Cameron Cuffe. With David Goyer assisting on the series there seems to be a connection, whether WB wants to openly admit it or not.

So why is Jeff meeting secretly with Trapper in the woods, without telling the other members of the AIMS team? This Saturday is going to reveal that particular secret. Is it really Trapper? If it is, is Trapper running the rogue team?

Or is it something more sinister at work -- like a branching plotline!

The AIMS team is in disarray. Feeling betrayed and left in the dark about Trapper's plans, Buck, Huck and the rest of the team reluctantly agree to give Trapper's plan a chance -- which involves using Jeff as a spy!

But there's a problem. Jeff is still getting nosebleeds, he apparently really has been taken over at times by the Woman of the Woods -- and while on a night investigation, Huck does the unthinkable: he gets lost in the woods! And when the cameraman finds him...he's not Buck anymore.

Fox is getting another comic book based show titled THE GIFTED. Brought to us by Marvel and mutant mainstay Bryan Singer, the teaser gives us a couple of kids stealing popcorn from a vending machine.

Now, there are a couple of flashes of other mutants using their powers but nothing is as obvious as the portal that opens up. Already confirmed for the show, it’s nice to get a glimpse of the portal popping power from the mutant named Blink.

CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER (written by Audrey Penn and illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson) is the tenth picture book in the #1 New York Times bestselling THE KISSING HAND series. 

Chester Raccoon can't wait to attend his friend Pepper Opossum's "overday" sleepover, with several other nocturnal friends. Not even Sassafras Skunk's "stinky puffs" can ruin the fun when Pepper Opossum, Stanley Squirrel, Sassafras Skunk, Amber Porcupine, and Chester play darts (using Amber's quills, of course), hang upside-down, skip stones across the creek, play follow the leader, and eat tasty rotten fruit and dead bugs (yum!). But when everyone gets sleepy and starts heading to bed, Chester feels homesick and misses his mom. 

Some very unexpected news from Variety yesterday:

USA Network has staged a “Psych” reunion.

The original cast and creator are returning for a two-hour holiday movie, “Psych: The Movie,” this December, Variety has learned.

The news comes more than three years after “Psych” went off the air in spring 2014, after airing for eight seasons and more than 120 episodes.

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

Photo: "Superman Through the Ages" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Helgi Halldórsson/Freddi
 

Ahead of this year’s long-awaited JUSTICE LEAGUE movie, which features yet another appearance for Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel, we’re here to take a quick look at the few men lucky enough to pull on those famous red underpants for either TV or the silver screen.

The storied history of the Superman character now spans over 80 years, and it’s safe to say there have been quite a few portrayals during that time. Originally conceived by writer Jerry Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster as a comic book strip, it took a little over a decade before Superman made the all-important leap into the world of cinema.