From the initial trailers, I was hyped over SUICIDE SQUAD.  Unfortunately, I was over-hyped due to the star-studded cast of supervillains and because I grew up appreciating the DC universe.    I am from the era of Michael Keaton Batman, so I liked DC before Marvel ever came across my radar.  Because I was a teenager, I did not mind BATMAN FOREVER nor BATMAN AND ROBIN.  The "campy" aspect was at an all-time high, and big box office actors joined the cast which was great for a teen girl who was in love with Chris O'Donnell as Robin.  

Which brings me to SUICIDE SQUAD: it was okay.  It was entertaining for the first 75% of the movie before it becomes even too outlandish for me (and the great soundtrack also tapers off).  Robbie Margot steals the shows as Harley Quinn, but not many others are stand-out characters aside from her, Jay Hernandez as Diablo, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.  

ANIMOSITY #1

Written by: Marguerite Bennett
Art by: Rafael De Latorre
Colored by: Rob Schwager
Lettered by: Marshall Dillon

Published by: Aftershock Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

Time Life's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Live-Volume 1 Prince Tribute Edition on Purple Vinyl a Fitting Tribute to an Artist Who had the Most Memorable R&R HOF Performance

When Time Life released their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live-Volume 1 it was just after Prince had passed away. The album, containing his performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” quickly sold out its first pressing.

Time Life felt that it should honor the artist by re-releasing the album in a limited edition pressing on purple vinyl.

What a drag it must be for DC Comics and their parent company, Warner Brothers, to constantly be chasing Marvel. Oh sure, DC is currently showing up in the top 10 of comic book title sales, but only because at their core, most collectors are obsessive compulsive individuals. Every five years, when DC relaunches their comic universe and throws continuity out the window, many ardent fans take to the internet chatroom and social media outlets, throw a fit about DC doesn’t respect their audience (and they don’t, but that’s another story) and still go out and buy all of the first issues of the new comics line every five years. So while their sales are up, their brand loyalty and consumer confidence are not close to what it should be. Marvel makes mistakes too, yes, but they’re often stories that just missed their mark for whatever reason, and they haven’t built their business model around a cycle of planned irrelevancy.

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

Back from a much needed break. Refreshed and ready to go! Thankfully, this is a pretty light week of comics for me, so let's jump right in. 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers needs little or no introduction from me. Since they released their self-titled album back in 1976, the band has had a string of hits any number of which can be found as staples on any classic rock radio or Sirius XM station, and they have had a Greatest Hits compilation in print since ’93.

What does bear introduction is that the Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits is being released here for the first time ever on 180gm vinyl, in a 2 LP set from Geffen Ume.

Tom Petty is one of those iconic voices that fits the music he writes and sings; although sounding more and more like Bob Dylan as he grows older (just my opinion), the songs on this set are mostly from what I consider his heyday of 1976 thru 1993.

Our August 2016 Critical Blast Bombshell is relatively new to the art of Cosplay -- but it's apparently a natural talent for her. Sky Song is the second cosplayer to be featured as our Critical Blast Bombshell, and we're sure you'll be seeing more of her at conventions and across the Internet!

Sky exhibits all the qualities we look for in a Bombshell -- talent, commitment to the role, and the application of cosplay to community work, putting cosplay in a positive light to the rest of the world. If you're looking for a positive role model in cosplay -- look to the Sky.

Olympic Fever is setting in -- the perfect time for an Olympic-sized comedy like THE BRONZE. And in case you haven't heard about THE BRONZE and thus don't know what it's about, let's give you a quick rundown on the show:

A decade ago, Hope Ann Greggory (BIG BANG THEORY's Melissa Rauch) was America’s sweetheart. Her inspired performance on a ruptured Achilles at the world’s most prestigious gymnastics tournament clinched an unlikely bronze medal for the U.S. team and brought glory to her hometown of Amherst, Ohio. But in the years since that epic third place victory, Hope hasn’t done a whole lot with her life. Still living in her dad Stan’s (Gary Cole) basement, still sporting her daily uniform of a Team USA gym suit with teeny-bopper bangs, ponytail and scrunchie, she spends her days at the mall milking her minor celebrity for free food and favors.

You know how you absolutely love a show, or a comic book, or a film franchise, but they eventually start to wear out their welcome? The plots become rote, the twists become predictable, and you drift apart. Call it Prequel/Sequel Fatigue, call it milking it for all its worth, call it what you will, but Hollywood has settled into a routine of turning everything that makes a respectable profit into a franchise and then squeezing every last drop out of it. Such has been the case with the Jason Bourne character. Created in the novels of the late great thriller author Robert Ludlum, Bourne had a successful film run in the big screen adaptions of THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002), THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004), and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007).

This week's Critical Blast Giveaway is Tommy Brandt's NUFF SAID on CD. If you're wondering what's on the album, then you'll want to check out our review of the album. And if you want to know who this Tommy Brandt fellow is, then you'll want to read the interview we did with him.

And, as always, if you haven't entered one of our contests before, then you need to be sure to inspect our rules and regulations for all the legal mumbo jumbo. But after that, just pick your option(s) below. (Hint: You can choose all of the options for more entries, and SOME of them you can choose EVERY DAY to increase your odds of winning, but you didn't hear that here!)

Back in the 90's Jim Lee took the world by storm with his Wild C.A.T.s comic book for the creator owned publishing company, Image Comics.

It didn't take long for the imaginative characters to find their way into an animated series. The personalities and character designs were unique and refreshing for the time they were introduced. Breaking off into Wildstorm Studios, Jim Lee took his idea to new heights.

Eventually in 1999 Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics and in 2010 it was shut down.

Science fiction has no shortage of Artificially Intelligent spacecraft. Coincidentally, it also doesn't have a shortage of A.I.s that enjoy the name Lucy (see HOMEWRECKER, HACKERS, and RED PLANET).

On Syfy's KILLJOYS, Tamsen McDonough provides the voice for the ship's computer, Lucy, providing personable (and smartass) dialogue to interact with the crew of the show's bounty hunters, earning her the unofficial title of the show's Fourth Killjoy. We spoke with McDonough about her role, and the role of A.I. in science fiction -- and modern life -- to get her perspective on things from the inside.

On KILLJOYS, you provide the voice of Lucy, the ship's computer. You have such a chemistry with the cast and your vocal interactions with them, I have to wonder -- even though you're not on screen, do you work physically with the other actors, or are you working solely out of a recording studio sound booth?

Yes, that's right, the next LEGO animated feature film is THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. It focuses on the Dark Knight having to take responsibility for raising his son. And if you're thinking Damian Wayne, you couldn't be more off base.

The idea of Alfred taking charge of the man-child that is the LEGO Batman character is absolutely in character, and totally hilarious. The nod to the many costumes of Batman are a nice touch, although I cringe at the new Robin costume routine. And the trailer also offers up the most profound statement on the relationship of Batman and Bruce Wayne:

"Does Batman live in Bruce Wayne's basement?"

"No! Bruce Wayne lives in Batman's attic."

Enough philosophizing. You want to see the trailer. So here it is.

I am sort of taking off from my Cheap Pops column for the summer, but I still wanted to post my thoughts on WrestlePro's July 23 show in Union.  This was an outdoor show, which marks the first time I can ever remember going to see a wrestling show outdoors.  

Another great WrestlePro show. Huge props to everyone who made the best of a real hot night (actually it wasn't that bad for the audience by the time the show started, but it still had to be brutal in the ring) and a shaky sound system. It still ended up being one hell of a show!

Lots of great matches. My pick for match of the night was probably the triple threat with Danny Maff, Matt Macintosh, and Chris Dickinson. This was a clash of three different styles, and it amounted to a really strong match with great spots and even some humor.

Agents of SHIELD #7 by Marc Guggenheim and German Peralta

Summary: The issue starts with Coulson’s team trying to recover a crashed satellite.  The Department of Defense comes to take over the operation, opening fire on Coulson’s team to get them to stand down.  Between this, and Coulson’s protocols to take down superheroes, most of his team has decided to call it quits, and the rest of the team is having a difficult time trusting Coulson.

Every election cycle, there is always a story or three about some politician running for office who picks a theme song and forgets that he has to pay the band. And it's such a simple thing to do -- you contact ASCAP or BMI and you get yourself a license. It's simple enough that every high school band director or local cheerleading camp instructor knows the drill. And after one or two lawsuits making the news, you can bet that every campaign strategist knows this as well.

So why is it that the campaign for Donald Trump is angering so many musicians? Surely they know better.

Well, the fact is, they do know better.

In 1880s Kansas, sharpshooter-turned-rancher Clay Travis (Pare) goes from happily married father of two to a man on a mission after the disappearance of his 17-year-old daughter, Lily. Determined to bring her home and to protect what little family he has left, Clay leaves his quiet ranch and heads to Wichita and on to Dodge City, where he's forced to confront Ty Stover (Adkins), an old nemesis, and put his reputation as the fastest draw in the West on the line. With the help of an unlikely companion, hardened old barkeep Billy (Kristofferson), he leaves a trail of gunsmoke and dead bodies in his wake.

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**review includes spoilers for seasons 1&2, and mild spoilers for season 3**

I’ve been a huge fan of The 100 for the last couple years. There is so much to love about this show, including a suspenseful dystopian / post-apocalyptic world, moral grayness, diverse characters, and strong and complex women.

When we last saw everyone at the end of season 2, Clarke and Bellamy just radiated Mount Weather in order to save their friends, who were being harvested for their bone marrow. Unfortunately, killing the bad guys also meant radiating a few good guys – including Jasper’s girlfriend, Maya. Clarke left camp in order to deal with her guilt, while Jaha and Murphy went on a trek in search of the mysterious “City of Light.” The Grounders violated their pact with Clarke by abandoning the “Sky People” at the last minute, fracturing the friendship/maybe more relationship between Clarke and Grounder Commander, Lexa.

Probably not since LORD OF THE RINGS have expectations for an extended edition of a film been so high as it has been with BATMAN V SUPERMAN:DAWN OF JUSTICE Ultimate Edition. With fans in a schism over their reviews on the theatrical release of the film, running the gamut from Batman's body count to Wonder Woman's too-short screen time, people are waiting to see if an extra 30 minutes of footage alters their perception of what they've already seen.

The answer? Probably not. If you liked it, there's more to like. If you hated it, there's more to hate. People are rather intractable about things once they've already made their minds up. (GHOSTBUSTERS, anybody?)