I've often thought to myself, "Self, our life needs theme music." I hope it gets composed by Danny Elfman or Hans Zimmer, but I'm afraid it might get done by Arthur Korb.

These are the thoughts I now think as I listen to the tracks from The Music of DC Comics, Volume 2. Now, I know, comics are printed on paper and don't usually come with musical accompaniment. These are (mostly) from animated and live-action adaptations, smart-ass. And what an eclectic mix it is, starting with "The Baby from Krypton" from the 1940 SUPERMAN radio show, all the way through the opening theme credits for CW's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW.

The world of spies and foreign intelligence has always intrigued me. I suppose it comes from growing up in the Cold War era, with the Watergate scandal, President Reagan telling Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, and that suave, debonair secret agent of British intelligence, James Bond, in regular rotation on early cable. Even though “my” Bond will always be Roger Moore, I was hooked from the first moment. Gadgets, hidden weapons in secret compartments, remote listening devices, enigmatic codes, I devoured everything I could find on the subject of spycraft. I soon learned that the life is not nearly as glamorous as Hollywood makes it out to be. Maintaining relationships based on trust is difficult when your very life hinges on the fact that you can trust no one.

Would you believe that bedtime could be the start of a great adventure?

That's the underlying theme of BEDTIME FOR BATMAN, the picture book from Michael Dahl and Ethen Beavers that tells two parallel stories using the same set of text and contrasted images.

On one page, you see the young protagonist, as he makes his preparations for the night. On the other page, there is Batman. For the boy, the signal is the clock (cleverly drawn), while for Batman the signal is the spotlight that shines his symbol on the clouds. Both have to clean things up and lock things away, and the juxtaposition of the images is genius -- and engaging -- turning bedtime into adventure time.

Diamond Comic Distributors Inc has released their monthly report for the top selling products in June and, despite the mixed social commentary about DC's 'Rebirth', the company outshined it's top competitor, Marvel Comics.

While only two of the 'Rebirth' titles landed in the top ten, they were issues containing DC's flagship characters: Batman and Superman. And, even though Wonder Woman's 'Rebirth' title was absent, Princess Diana of Themyscira made an appearance as the first issue of her series landed in the #9 spot.

Caldecott winner Mary GrandPre may be best known as the illustrator of the US prints of the HARRY POTTER series, but her work extends far beyond the boy wizard's adventures, including pieces in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal. However, CLEONARDO, THE LITTLE INVENTOR is the first time I can recall that GrandPre is also the author as well as the illustrator.

Cleonardo Wren is a young girl who comes from a long line of inventors, including her father Geonardo, her grandfather Leonardo -- all the way back to their ancestor, Neandernardo! She loves helping her father in his workshop, but with the town's Grand Festival of Inventions coming up, she finds she's more hindrance than help as her father tries to come up with a winning idea. So she takes to the forest to build things on her own out of the materials nature provides.

Fresh from Scholastic's Graphix imprint comes this full-color graphic novel, DREAM JUMPER: NIGHTMARE ESCAPE. And what's even better, while it's a series, it's the first of the series, so you're getting in at just the right time.

DREAM JUMPER tells the story of Ben Maxwell, a kid who has trouble sleeping because he is plagued with strange dreams. But they're not just his dreams -- he also enters the dreams of others, like his best friend who knows of Ben's ability and thinks they should incorporate to capitalize off of it.

Marvel announced a new series titled CHAMPIONS, a title in which they reached an agreement with Heroic Publishing to use, and young Scott Summers seeks to be a member.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, series creators Mark Waid and Tom Breevort discussed the new series, artist Humberto Ramos, its members, and the concept.

This comic book nerd, however, is all about how it affects his favorite marvel mutant: Cyclops!

Captain America: Sam Wilson #10 by Nick Spencer and Angel Unzueta

Summary: A Texas Senator and an oil executive are working together to create a new private policing initiative called the Americops.  They are reducing crime rates, but there seems to be a lot of harassment, racial profiling, and excessive force, especially when it comes to dealing with minorities.

Meanwhile, several black heroes have gotten together in a private memorial for James Rhodes.  Sam is asked to give a eulogy at the funeral, and he does a terrific job.

The Truth Changes Everything!

In the third and final season of Bitten -- In order to end a decades-old vendetta, Elena Michaels leads her family into a vicious war against the Russian Alpha and his Pack, who will stop at nothing to wipe out her bloodline.

Bonus features in this release include deleted scenes, extended scenes, and A Look at the Final Season featurette.

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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

4001 AD: SHADOWMAN – Stop taunting me, Valiant!! Shadowman was one of my favorite Valiant books. It’s clear that Valiant wants to do more with the character. He’s appeared in various forms in Ninjak, Books of Death, and now 4001. Stop teasing us and just give us a new Shadowman series already!!! 

The setting is 1936, and John Reid -- the retired Lone Ranger -- knows one thing for certain: "Hitler and Mussolini are up to no good, without question! And their no good is a far worse no good than no good ever was in my day. Makes me mad as a hornet!"

The perfect summer series, IMHO, is mindless, full of music, has plenty of dancers, and is unabashedly nostalgic. ABC's six-week summertime event, Greatest Hits, fits the bill. When I heard about it from Steve Spears over at Stuck in the '80s I immediately thought back to the summer of 2005, when the limited series Hit Me Baby One More Time trotted out bands from the '80s to sing one of their hits, then tackle a newer pop song. Greatest Hits blessedly skips the "competition" format and just presents the musicians to let them do what they do best: perform in front of an appreciative crowd, just like the good ol' days.

Starting today, Critical Blast is proud to introduce a new feature showcasing the art of cosplay: The Critical Blast Bombshell! Every month we will spotlight a cosplayer doing his or her best to bring our favorite heroes (or villains) to life.

This month, and inaugurating our new feature, we are privileged to present to you a cosplayer from Philadelphia, Lady J, who embodies the essence of cosplay both in imagination as well as in her career path and charity work.

In an announcement today from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the sequel to 2012's WRECK-IT RALPH is coming to theaters on March 9th, 2018!

Moving on from the arcade, Ralph and Venellope von Schweetz will be racing along the information highway via the internet. John C. Reilly and Sara Silverman are slated to return to voice their lovable, yet flawed, characters.

The movie will be directed by Rich Moore (ZOOTOPIA) and Phil Johnston (writer: ZOOTOPIA, WRECK-IT RALPH), and produced by Clark Spencer (ZOOTOPIA, BOLT) has yet to be given an official name.

Here are a few statements from their announcement on Facebook Live today:

Wonder Woman (1968) #178 and #179

Written by: Dennis O’Neil
Pencilled by: Mike Sekowsky
Inked by: Dick Giordano

​Published by: DC
Cover Price: 12 cents each

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

This contest is over. The winner is AIDA R. of MIAMI, FL.

Hilarious, warm, and fangirl-certified, THE FANGIRL LIFE is an essential guide on channeling amazing fangirl traits into moving forward in real life, too. As a contributor to Slate, Lifehacker, HelloGiggles, and Bustle, Kathleen Smith is also a licensed therapist reporting for outlets such as Counseling Today, The Huffington Post, and PsychCentral.

Critical Blast is proud to present our readers the option of winning a copy of this life manual for the geek girl, adorkable girl, or just the every day fangirl, discussing topics such as:

Hired To Kill

Tag Line: A-Team meets Charlies Angels meets Miami Vice.

So what do you get when you mix A-Team’s macho-ness, Charlies Angels’ beauty and toughness and Miami Vice’s sexiness? The answer is a 90’s movie shot direct to video that has risen to cult status.

This 2-disc director approved Special Edition Blu-ray+DVD starring America’s answer to Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brian Thompson, along with big name draws (at the time) like George Kennedy, Jose Ferrer and Oliver Reed, the latter two of which I consider to be two of the finest actors in cinematic history.Which has me asking myself: Why are they in this movie?

St. Louis has more than enough comic, anime, cosplay, sci-fi and fantasy geeks within its general market area to support a substantial pop culture convention or “comicon.” Yet we don’t have one, or at least we don’t really have one in the traditional sense. The Wizard Worlds conventions have run downtown for a few years now and some comic creators have said they’ve done okay there, but they are grossly overpriced for admission which grants you the privilege to hand over an even bigger wad of cash to the likes of T.J. Hooker, some random cannon fodder Jedi gal from one of the what-should-be-non-canon STAR WARS prequels, or some dude who got ate by one of THE WALKING DEAD three seasons ago.

All-New X-Men #10 by Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley (Apocalypse Wars)

Summary: Beast is dying in the desert, but Ozymandias arrives and convinces the Sandstormers that Baal (En Sabuh Nur’s father) would be angry if they let him die. Ozymandias takes Eye of Horus that Beast got from Dr Strange and heals him.  Ozymandias realizes Beast is from the future.  Ozymandias wants Beast’s help in overthrowing Baal to help bring about the Apocalypse.  The Sandstormers arrived to arrest Ozymandias and Beast