The AIMS team has been challenged by the Rogue Team to return to the Dark Forest and capture the Woman of the Woods -- a legend who, among her other talents, can mimic anyone else's voice. She's out there with the Raven Mocker (another Bigfoot) and now apparently also with the Black Wolf, who has made its presence known. According to Shawnee folklore, the Black Wolf arrives to escort a departed soul to the afterlife.

Both the boys brought their pajamas to the mansion.
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With the NFL Draft starting tonight, I often wonder what it would be like if there was a draft for a new team of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Who would be the first pick?

I would have to say for Marvel Comics, the selection of heroes is far more complicated than our DC Comics draft. Given the state of Marvel Comics, the popularity of some heroes exceeds their actual powerset. You could probably take these heroes into consideration for the top 5 picks:

With the NFL Draft starting tonight, I often wonder what it would be like if there was a draft for a new team of superheroes in the DC Universe. Who would be the first pick?

I would have to say for DC Comics, the first 3 picks would be easier to predict than our Marvel Comics draft. It most likely comes down to the following 3 heroes:

Next week, Titan Comics will release the debut issue of TEKKEN, based on the best selling fighting game by Bandai Namco and we have your first look!

Written by Cavan Scott (Doctor Who, Vikings) and illustrated by Andie Tong, this sensational new comic series taps into TEKKEN's rich history. The series will featuring the usual stunning action and K.O.'s that fans have come to expect from the popular franchise!

There are a total of SIX variant covers available for the first issue with Andie Tong also providing art on two of them. Get ready to be immersed into martial art, tournament action as the world of TEKKEN unfolds onto the pages brought to you by Titan Comics!

COVER A: ALEX RONALD

There's a great temptation to team up Batman and The Shadow. How could there not be? They're both controlling characters, obsessed with justice, maneuvering a team of operatives. They operate in darkness and strike from a position of inducing fear. They're literally the same person in different masks.

Dynamite's been doing a...well, quite frankly, dynamite job with the pulp heroes and the public domain supers, and it's great for the fans that they've been willing to share their sandbox with DC Comics, as they've done with their recent crossover with Wonder Woman '77 and The Bionic Woman. (JSA / PROJECT SUPERPOWERS anybody? C'mon, it's low hanging fruit!) Putting Scott Snyder and Steve Orlando together to chronicle this meeting of the masterminds is a natural pairing, and Riley Rossmo's art has just the darkness and deco feel to it to blend the two worlds together.

So how does it all play out?

FLASH #21 is a continuation -- and a departure -- from the story that began in BATMAN #21. Geoff Johns and Tom King are still driving, but even when multiple writers (and artists) are on the same page, you can sense the shift. Where BATMAN #21 opened "The Button" in a fashion that was very WATCHMEN-like in its structure, FLASH #21 shows some glimpses of that at first but for the most part sticks to the basic format for telling a comics story. Which isn't to say that Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter told a bad story -- far from it. It's just to say that, the gears have shifted, and you can feel the shift.

Just like time travel is supposed to work, not a second has passed for Team Flash since we last saw them (Episode 318, "Abra Kadabra").  Barry Allen (GRANT GUSTIN) is figuring out that he needs to run to 2024 and find out from his future self how he stopped Savitar, while over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlyn Snow (DANIELLE PANABAKER) has gone full Killer Frost and is preparing to make frozen dinners out of Cisco (CARLOS VALDES), Julian (TOM FELTON) and H.R. (TOM CAVANAGH).

Looking for a WICKED good read that will leave you FROZEN with fear while TANGLED up in a ball of laughter? Then you'll be ENCHANTED with these BEASTLY tales from Kiersten White (PARANORMALCY).

Surely you've read enough fairy tales that...

Scratch that. This is 2017. What was I thinking?

Take two.

Surely you've seen enough movies based on fairy tales (yes, that's much more millenial) that you've noticed trends that have caused you to ask questions. Like, "Just how many evil queens are there?" and "Did everyone name their son Jack?" And even, "What kind of twisted mind would think of doing all these horrid things to innocent (but oh-so-brave) children?"

Today is Claire Temple's birthday!

Okay, that wasn't quite as impactful as I was hoping. If I'd published this yesterday, I could have opened up with "This is Catwoman's birthday!" Or I could wait five more days and say "This is Ghost Rider's birthday!" But it's Claire Temple's birthday, which is fine enough. She's on IRON FIST, after all.

Now, if you've found yourself knowledge of my encyclopedic knowledge of superhero birthdays, you're going to love this. If you rolled your eyes and sighed to yourself over another comics nerd geeking out -- well, you probably came to the wrong website in the first place. (It's okay. We're glad you're here!)

Fun.com is the source of my copious information -- and they've put together a keen little (okay, maybe a bit bigger than little; it's a colloquial use of 'little') infographic that will make a great addition to any comic fan's calendar! All it lacks is a way to import it into Outlook...

Pop culture is usually a reflection of real life and in both cases, we see references to gambling. Art imitates life and these pop culture references definitely reflect this pastime!

Krusty the Clown’s Sports Betting

Few shows manage to capture life quite like The Simpsons does, it’s pretty much the epitome of pop culture. Krusty the Clown is Springfield’s loveable comedy character and he hits rock bottom on more than one occasion. We all know someone that isn’t great at betting and boy does Krusty fall into that category.

He bets against the Harlem Globetrotters in an episode, which every basketball fan will know is a big no no. In typical fashion, he loses it all and subsequently rushes out in a fluster.

It sure seems that way.

In a tweet last night, writer-producer Patrick Schumacker, revealed that POWERLESS would not air this week or next. He also indicated some doom-and-gloom on the horizon and thanked fans for watching.

While this particular writer at Critical Blast really enjoyed POWERLESS, many felt that the humor fell flat and was just written poorly. I contend that the writing was actually quite good and the show was full of heart and fun. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the majority.

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

We continue on with more conversation starters for you if ever a time you may need them.
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Thanks for watching! Any view that we get is a shining moment for us but let us know how this episode made you feel because we are here to keep you entertained.

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.