I have a confession to make. I've never read a Gregory Maguire book before. I know the name, I know the fame, and I've even seen the musical, WICKED, based on his novel of the same name. But I just hadn't sought out any of his works to try them in their written form.

And then I saw AFTER ALICE. When it comes to Alice in Wonderland books, I'm much like Mel Gibson's character in CONSPIRACY THEORY who, whenever he saw a copy of CATCHER IN THE WRY, he felt compelled to buy it. So I picked it up and looked forward to another trip down the classic rabbit hole.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR asks the question: What if the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs missed? Well, apparently the answer is that the dinosaurs would have learned how to talk, build houses, plow fields, and raise giant chickens, all without the benefit of any evolutionary advances like opposable thumbs.

Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is the titular dinosaur, the runt of his nest. But his family loves him nonetheless, despite his overwhelming fear of the giant chickens. (I know they're something else, but I'm not a paleontologist, and they are treated like giant chickens so I'm calling them giant chickens.) But until Arlo can pull his weight on the farm, he can't make his mark on the grain silo his father built. So his Poppa (Jeffrey Wright) gives Arlo a special mission -- put an end to the "critter" who is stealing corn from their silo.

The New Line Theatre kicked off their second production in their swanky new digs in the Marcelle Theatre with AMERICAN IDIOT, a mostly sung through musical written by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, featuring the entire American Idiot album with a few numbers from 21^st Century Breakdown included too. Obviously, if you’re a Green Day fan you’ll probably love the show. Me, I’m not a huge fan. I don’t necessarily dislike the band; I just don’t typically listen to them. Immediately after the performance, my first reaction was, “Nice performed by some great talents, but I don’t have much sympathy for these presumably upper-middle class suburbanites being self-destructive by cooking their heroin and meth on the silver spoons they were born with.” And yet something deep in my guts said, “Sleep on this one.

Being a child in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s exposed me to the peak years of KISS and their merchandising machine, as well as the launch of MTV.  I like to think I have somewhat eclectic musical tastes these days, but I still love KISS not to mention all those bands that exploded to national fame with some assist by MTV.  You know, bands like Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, and Twisted Sister.  In fact, TS’s “Stay Hungry” album--and I owned it on vinyl--was only the third album I bought that didn't feature Mickey Mouse, Big Bird, or Star Wars characters.  

All-New All-Different Avengers #6 by Mark Waid and Mahmud Asrar

Summary: A time displaced Kang attacks the All-New All-Different Avengers.  He reveals there was a glitch in the timestream stranding him in this time.  He recruited villains like Equinox, Cyclops, Radioactive Man, and has taken over the Vision’s programming in order to create a new Kang Dynasty in our time.

Nova has gone to Jersey City to find Ms Marvel after both of them were thrown off the team because of Vision’s manipulations. They realize Vision is the enemy and head back to the team.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—animation is one of the least appreciated visual art forms in this country. In many other cultures, perhaps most notably in Japan, animation is considered in no different light than live acted cinema. In America, animation almost always falls into two categories: Japanese anime, and cartoons. Cartoons, sadly, are often dumped in the children’s bin: Sponge Bob, The Simpsons, if you’re lucky perhaps the classic Bugs Bunny episodes. Of course, there’s also the granddaddy of the medium –Disney. Currently, Disney is on an unstoppable roll. Since they own the Star Wars and Marvel cinematic licenses Disney practically can’t help but make money. They aren’t resting on their laurel, however; they’re still putting some highly entertaining original adventures in the tradition of SNOW WHITE and BAMBI. They will score another huge hit with ZOOTOPIA. Kids of all ages will enjoy it and their parents won’t be bored to death waiting for the credits to roll.

Sony has released the first full trailer for the upcoming Ghostbusters relaunch.  As expected, this has been pretty controversial.  When I posted this, on Youtube there were pretty much exactly as many likes as there were dislikes.

According to comicbook.com Disney announced a 'sequel' for the 2014 hit movie: BIG HERO 6, in the form of a TV series on Disney XD.

While the animation style hasn't been announced yet, given Disney's work on STAR WARS REBELS, it's reasonable to think that BIG HERO 6 will have a similar look. That being said, they could go with more traditional animation as Disney has secured KIM POSSIBLE showrunners Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley to executive produce. The two will will be teaming up with Nick Filippi, who will also serve as executive producer and supervising director.

From Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer of Disney Channels Worldwide

From Short List Magazine: 

The film adaptation of Stephen King's legendary Dark Tower series is finally about to begin: Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey have been confirmed as the two leads.

The news came via a tweet from the man himself:

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

Now, I’m a East Coast boy, but I’ve visited California a number of times over the years.  I’ve seen some amazing things in the state, both natural and manmade, so a book dedicated to saluting the state is reasonable idea.  CALIFORNIA: THE MAGIC ISLAND is an interesting read unlike just about anything else on bookstore shelves.  Try to get your head around a book fusing myth, history, ABCs, the animal kingdom, and a tour through the Golden State.  This might seem like a bit too much to contain in the pages of one book, but it’s all woven together quite well for the elementary school crowd.

Vampirella (2016) #1

Written by: Kate Leth
Art by: Eman Casallos
Colored by: Valentino Pinto
Lettered by: Erica Schultz

Published by: Dynamite
Cover Price: $3.99

Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet's Ace Reporter by Tim Hanley
Published by: Chicago Review Press
Cover Price: $17.99 (print or Kindle)

At the conclusion of his new book INVESTIGATING LOIS LANE, Tim Hanley writes, “Superman is the worst thing to ever happen to Lois Lane.  At the same time, he’s also the reason she exists.”  By the end of this excellently researched piece, I was forced to agree.

In the various reviews and columns I do for Critical Blast, I talk a lot about diversity in comics.  I have said this many times over, as much as Marvel and DC seem inclined to throw out more diverse characters, the biggest problem for me continues to the need for more diversity in terms of the actual people writing, drawing, and editing comics.  There has been a little more optimism in this are lately with David F. Walker wring Cyborg, G. Willow Wilson writing Ms Marvel, and renowned author Ta-Nehisi Coates being announced as the new writer of Black Panther.

But way back in 1993, there was a much more serious attempt at creating diversity in comics. And it was called Milestone Media.

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter (with assistance from Gina Maillaro)

This week!

I’ll admit it—I’m embarrassed. What I knew about Carole King before arriving at the Fabulous Fox to see BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL consisted mostly of the soft rock easy listening stuff I used to get subjected to when my coworkers would insist on tuning our radio to the “Delilah” show on KEZK in St. Louis. I knew she won a Grammy forTapestry and you can hear “It’s Too Late,” “I Feel The Earth Move,” and “A Natural Woman” pretty regularly still today. I knew she was elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but they let Green Day and The Public Enemy in too--Run DMC and Public Enemy got in before Peter Gabriel, Rush (are you kidding me?), Lou Reed, Hall & Oats, Nirvana and KISS. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy rap music a great deal, but this isn’t the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, this is Rock & Roll. Carole King, no disrespect intended, didn’t really strike me as a rock star either.

When it was announced that a 'director's cut', R-rated version of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE would be released on blu-ray, it sparked a firestorm of complaints. I'm here to give you 5 reasons why it's not nearly as awful as you think.

Turning the characters and setting of THE LION KING into a series is something that's far past due for Disney. In THE LION GUARD, viewers once again meet Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and Zazu -- however, they are minor players in the story, as the focus shifts to the next generation.

In this introductory pilot, THE LION GUARD: RETURN OF THE ROAR, we meet Simba's son, Kion, who's happy that he's not in training to take over as ruler of the Pride Lands (that honor going to his older sister, Kiara) so that he can play with his friend Bunga, the honey badger. But their games take them to where they shouldn't be, putting Bunga in danger of attack by the hyenas -- and when Kion tries to warn them off with a roar, it's more than anyone anticipated.

After escaping Earth-2, the members of Team Flash are operating under emotional duress. Barry (Grant Gustin) is still carrying the weight of the deaths he saw on Earth-2, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is trying to hold it together after having seen Jay (Teddy Sears) killed by Zoom, and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is concerned about Caitlin's behavior, worried that it might put her on the road to becoming Killer Frost.

There’s a lot of ugliness in the world, as we all know. Missed deadlines and misanthropy. Bill collectors and bad attitudes. Snarled traffic and starving children. It’s enough to make a person want to crawl back into bed, positive that nothing you can do can effect change.

However, just as the seasons turn and their opposites are made apparent to the patient, there is also an opposite to the unsightliness of society, if only we can be bothered to actively look for it.