I was supposed to like ARRIVAL, the new first encounter thriller starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker. I wanted to love it, and sing it’s praises in high hyperbole. I wanted to tell you to walk out of Marvel’s excellent Doctor Strange and sneak in to watch this gem. I can’t though. I can’t because it’s a bit of a chore to sit through. Unnecessary subplots were an unwanted distraction. WARNING: SPOILERS MAY BE PRESENT HEREAFTER!

If you read my concert reviews regularly you’ll notice a trend—I much prefer the older acts, the classic rock and roll bands that are now regulated to “oldies” stations. The best shows I’ve ever seen have consistently been by veteran talents. ARW, consisting of Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman of the seminal progressive rock band Yes, proved once again that terrific bands, like fine wine, only get better with age. Why Yes isn’t already in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame I can’t even begin to fathom.

It's back to the 80s for the LEGENDS OF TOMORROW team, replete with more nostalgia than you could stuff into a pair of parachute pants.

We open with our long-lived villain, Damien Darhk (NEAL MCDONOUGH) engaging in a drug deal in exchange for an artifact, an ancient fasces. (No clues were dropped that I could find as to whether this was a DC Comics Easter egg, as the Isis amulet was recently). Darhk is doing Don Johnson better than Don Johnson did, and when the police arrive he's prepared. But then he's rescued by a speeding Eobard Thawne (MATT LETSCHER), whom Darhk has not seen since 1942 when Thawne hired him to nuke New York City. Of course, for the time-traveling Thawne, it was just moments ago. Thawne reveals that he knows Darhk's future, and reveals part of the plan we saw come together in ARROW, and he offers Darhk actual power rather than symbols of it.

When I picked up KOOKABUK SHARES HIS SHOVEL by Kevin Howard and Jesse Howard (illustrated by Lorian Dean), I was expecting a didactic book for children that teaches about sharing. As someone who hated “lesson” books as a child, I was a bit hesitant.

However, this book is way more than that. Half picture book, half parenting guide, KOOKABUK demonstrates how to navigate difficult situations when your child is on the autism spectrum or has a developmental disability.

In this story, Emily – a neuro-typical child (a child without developmental disabilities) – befriends Kookabuk, a child on the autism spectrum, at the park. But they struggle when Kookabuk won’t share his shovel with Emily. Kookabuk’s mother implements several strategies, and soon all three are playing happily together.

I've got to truly hope that the ending of this episode is an obvious mislead. The alternative would be terribly, terribly disappointing.

The entirety of the present-day focus of "So It Begins" is on Prometheus, the new big bad in town who has it out for Green Arrow [STEPHEN AMELL]. As Oliver and Diggle (DAVID RAMSEY) track him, Oliver is adamant with Felicity (EMILY BETT RICKARDS) that he does not want the new recruits brought into this investigation until the threat level has been assessed. And apparently the threat level is pretty high, because Prometheus is a master of killing people with ninja throwing stars, and has now begun killing seemingly random civilians.

From Director LUC BESSON comes this film adaptation of VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS, and the trailer for it is a mental whorligog of clashing environments, impossible physics, and illusory moments.

Set to The Beatles' "Because," this trailer immediately starts to put me in the frame of mind I was in when watching films like BLADE RUNNER, BRAZIL, and other scifidelic cinema treats (and a few not-so-treats, like JUPITER ASCENDING). It has all the right elements of "I don't know WTF I'm watching, but I want to see more of it!"

I’ve seen STRAIGHT NO CHASER so many times now I’ve lost count—it’s either been five or six after their last performance at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis on Sunday, November 6, 2016. That show was a bit unusual in that they historically have played here much closer to the holiday and that the show started mid-afternoon. Of course, watching STRAIGHT NO CHASER is a joy any day, anytime.

After the Alien Amnesty has been pretty much accepted, there comes even more reason for people to distrust aliens--their technology.

"Crossfire" begins with Kara (our Best TV Actress of 2015 Winner, MELISSA BENOIST) trying her best to acclimate a naive Mon-El (CHRIS WOOD) to life among human beings. She's gotten him a job at CATCO under the name of plain old Mike Matthews. She's even given him glasses to complete the look, just in case he ever decides to put on a cape. Unfortunately, Mon-El must have skipped his Orientation to Earth Culture training, because he's unfamiliar with everything, like telephones and especially work. Throughout the episode, Kara catches him unloading his work onto the twitterpated executive assistant Eve Tesmacher (ANDREA BROOKS), or canoodling in the supply room.

On this election day in the United States, people on both sides of the political aisle are conjuring up visions of a dystopian America should "the other side" win the vote. What better day than this, then, to release THE HUNGER GAMES on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc?

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

When a person from the real world shows up in your favorite comic book reality, it used to be a pretty big deal. For the past few elections, the candidates themselves have been doing cameos here or there in superhero titles, such as when Spider-Man got the opportunity to meet Barack Obama.

This year is no exception, as Valiant Comics puts out the nick-of-time appearance of Hillary Clinton in FAITH #5. The appearance is central to the second story of the issue, "Faith in Politics," written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Pere Perez. In the story, Faith is sent by her editor (who knows her secret identity) to cover a Hillary Clinton appearance in her superhero guise. She's not keen on doing it -- covering politics for an entertainment blog -- and I can keenly sympathize with her as I write this.

Jughead #10

Written by: Ryan North
Art by: Derek Charm
Lettered by: Jack Morelli

Published by: Archie
Cover Price:  $3.99

Bloodshot U.S.A. #1

Written by: Jeff Lemire
Art by: Doug Braithwaite
Colored by: Brian Reber
Lettered by: Dave Lanphear

Published by: Valiant
Cover Price:  $3.99

There are two words that will always make me pick up a book to read it: "Scott" and "Westerfeld." So it was a given that when Scholastic sent me the advance of HORIZON, I was going to read it. And now that I have, I can safely say, "So should you."

HORIZON is more than the name of the airline that crashes early in the book, carrying a high school robotics team among other passengers. But this is no ordinary crash. The survivors survive because they were chosen to survive, crashing in a jungle that is passing strange -- and not just because the plane was flying over the North Pole (en route to Japan) when it went down.

Are they wildly off course? Are they even on Earth anymore? The questions and theories build as this unique group of kids encounter unusual plants, unrecorded species of animals, and technology that defies anything known to man.

I have to say, MARVEL’S DOCTOR STRANGE was probably the most visually stunning Marvel movies I’ve ever seen. It was like INCEPTION and HARRY POTTER had a baby and it grow up to be the coolest kid ever!

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dr. Stephen Strange, an outstanding neurosurgeon who, due a tragic car accident, loses the use of his hands. Dr. Strange learns about a possible way to get the use of his hands back, so he can return his beloved profession. Strange’s quest to repair his hands takes him beyond his wildest comprehension when he meets The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Thanks to Dr. Strange’s photographic memory, he catapults from student to being center stage for all the action.

Deadline is reporting that Universal Studios has inherited a live action VOLTRON project, when they inked a deal with DreamWorks Animation.

It was already in development behind the scenes, but Universal now has writer David Hayter (X-Men, Watchmen) and producer Tom Engleman on board. While David Hayter has an extensive list of credits to his resume, Tom Engleman's IMDb page is rather bare.

The promos for this episode of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW were geared toward it being Halloween week. Thus, the focus was on the zombies that got created during the U.S. Civil War when a time-pirate crashes there with a bioweapon.

But the really intense story here wasn't the involvement of Sara (CAITY LOTZ) and Nate (NICK ZANO) assisting General Ulysses S. Grant (JOHN CHURCHILL) against confederate zombies (oh where oh where is Selena Rosen when I need her?), nor is it in the drama that finds Ray (BRANDON ROUTH) and Martin (VICTOR GARBER) trapped aboard the Waverider with a zombified Mick (DOMINIC PURCELL).

Like the fictional Fox Mulder of THE X FILES, I want to believe. Since I was a kid I would eat up all the writings of J. Allen Hyneck and Erich von Daniken. It didn't hurt that it was the heyday of Stephen Spielberg's wildly successful CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and the television film adaptation of Barney and Betty Hill.

So I've read just about everything that could possibly be interesting about UFOs. Not.

Because now David J. Hogan has released the UFO FAQ through Backbeat Books, and it lives up to its subtitle: All That's Left to Know About Roswell, Aliens, Whirling Discs, and Flying Saucers.

I can’t honestly say when I first discovered Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, in the pages of Marvel comics. It might have been in the early days of The Defenders, where he teamed up with Namor of Atlantis, the Hulk, and the Silver Surfer. It might have been in a cameo with Spider-man in Marvel Team-Up or The Avengers. I know I didn’t start with the Steve Ditko classics. I was a huge fan of the Roy & Dann Thomas run with artist Jackson Guice. Those issues are etched in my brain forever. That run was always going to be the perfect embodiment of Doctor Strange as far as I was concerned, until this lanky bloke named Benedict Cumberbatch came along.

“There will be no music, dialogue or poetry from the film Love Jones in this production,” said MC Lyte. “Now sit back and enjoy the LOVE JONES: THE MUSICAL.”

Say what? There’s certainly no shortage of musicals adapted from hit films: SISTER ACT, DIRTY DANCING, A CHRISTMAS STORY and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY have all graced the stage of the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, with varying degrees of success. SISTER ACT was fantastic. The others were…well, SISTER ACT was fantastic! LOVE JONES certainly wasn’t as horrible as some reviews have made it out to be – I was entertained by it. Yet I do agree that there’s no real reason to name this production after the film if it eschews most of what made the film resonate with its audience.