Power Man and Iron Fist (2016) #1

Written by: David Walker
Art by: Sanford Greene
Colored by: Lee Loughridge
Lettered by: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

Avengers Standoff Welcome To Pleasant Hill #1 by Nick Spencer and Mark Bagley

Summary: This comic starts with Bucky Barnes.  Since Original Sin, Bucky has been in space as “The Man on the Wall” protecting Earth from alien threats. But a cosmic level threat has brought him back to Earth.  He slips into a secure SHIELD facility using Steve Rogers access codes.  He plays a holographic video.  We see a SHIELD lab where something goes wrong and an explosion kills everyone.  There is a little girl hiding in the lab.  She seems to see Bucky, even though she’s supposed to be a recording. She tells him “want to be safe. Just want to be happy.”  SHIELD troops arrive, blasting Bucky.

The Destroyer #151: Bully Pulpit by Warren Murphy and RJ Carter
Published by: Destroyer Books
Cover Price: $8.99 ($2.99 on Kindle)

I love adventure "pulp" novels.  Series like THE DESTROYER feel like the adult versions of THE HARDY BOY CASEFILES books I grew up on.  I was surprised when Amazon tried to bring the genre back to life with THE DEAD MAN series a few years ago.  Sadly, these books didn't get all that much traction, but I did think they were worthwhile descendants of series like THE DESTROYER.   That said, THE DESTROYER is still the king to me,  151 books in the main series over the last 45 years. 

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

Hieroglyphs of Emotion is the second CD in Mae Edwards' multi-media project "Starlette & Saint: A Memoir on Dualism" containing commentaries reflecting her years-long studies into numerous spiritual traditions (Christianity, Buddhism) as well as thought provoking references to folklore, world history, psychology, U.S. travel destinations and popular film.

This contest has ended.

The winner is MICHAEL M. of Clarks Summit, PA.

This was a really cute book that featured a really cute slow-burn romance. I loved the dynamic between Lara Jean and her two sisters and their father. I was happy to see that the book featured a functional, loving family (although I do get a little tired of the "dead mother" trope). The Covey family had their own holiday traditions and quirks, which to me made them jump off the page. Despite being close, each sister had secrets hidden from the others, which leads into the biggest thing I enjoyed about this book - the moral ambiguity. There were no clear answers, and lots of moral grayness.

However, I did have a lot of issues with this book. I think a lot of it is personal preference. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, this book was just not for me.

My biggest problem with this book was the misleading blurb. If you read the blurb of this book, you'd think the plot is this:

Cheap Pops - February 21, 2016 by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

Max Landis is writing a unique perspective on Superman's story within the pages of SUPERMAN: American Alien, and he has released a sneak peak into some dialogue that answers the question:

"What's the deal with Superman's red underwear?"

Okay, so it's not underwear. But it is a required garment when you consider the skin-tight nature of the blue suit...

In sports, often team owners will shift personnel around when the team isn't winning. They'll fire coaches, assistants and even cut ties with star players. Eventually, though, if none of that works, the General Manager is removed from power and the organization rebuilds.

Is DC prepared to do the same with their ‘general managers’ Dan Didio and Jim Lee?

On Earth-2, Zoom is aware that Harrison Wells has returned -- and he's tearing up the city leaving flaming messages demanding he be turned over. (It's all being covered on Channel 52!) And with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) captured by Zoom, things aren't looking well for the team of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes). Cisco just witnessed Zoom kill Ronnie "Deathstorm" Raymond (Robbie Amell) and Cisco's doppelganger, Reverb, and lets Wells in on the bad news. But they have other things to deal with as well -- Barry's doppelganger, Bartholomew, whom they also captured, is waking up.

Bartholomew takes some getting used to. He's very much a live-action Ned Flanders who whines a lot and makes hollow threats about giving people a piece of his mind.

The folks over at Bleeding Cool have revealed several panels from today's comic books that could be clues to 'Rebirth'; a concept revealed by DC co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee.

In some cases there are characters regaining their lost memory. What this means for the future of the DC Universe remains to be seen. How far will they go with memories returning and others being wiped out?

If what they're spoiling turns out to be true, it's an easy fix for Superman regaining his 'Clark Kent' secret identity. Not long ago, Lois Lane revealed Superman's secret identity to the world in order to prevent Hodr_root from having control over the Man of Steel. This revelation angered Superman as he insisted that he was handling it his way and Lois had no right to do such a thing.

Cheap Pops - February 16, 2016

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

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

POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #1 – David F. Walker writing on what should be a pretty big deal project with Power Man and Iron Fist both getting Netflix series over the next two years? Definitely count me in for this one! 

Ever since it was announced that John Bernthal would be cast as Punisher for season 2, of the Netflix orginal series DAREDEVIL, fans were excited to see the two rivals square off. The new trailer will only enhance that level of excitement.

A 2 minute and 12 second trailer has premiered that details the conflict between, not only Daredevil and Punisher, but Matt Murdock and his friends. In typical 'It's okay for me to do it, but not someone else' fashion, Matt Murdock doesn't like the Punisher's methods. It begs the question: When does right, become wrong?

"You know, you're one bad day away from being me." - Punisher

With all of the hype and marketing, there was some concern that DEADPOOL was trying to overcompensate for being a small member of the superhero genre. Now that the covers are off and we finally get a look at the goods, it's clear that DEADPOOL is bigger than expected.

While the movie has some kinks, it's not tied down by too many gags that don't work. A highly quotable movie, don't try to do it line-by-line because DEADPOOL can be a mouthful.

But before you take in all of DEADPOOL, it's important to prepare yourself.

 “Who am I?” While this question may be asked throughout the film, the answer seems clear that ZOOLANDER 2 is just another sequel hoping to follow in moderate success after the original film…and falls flat on the runway.  Ben Stiller directs this train wreck, and he also co-wrote the movie with Justin Theroux.  However, I wish someone could have salvaged this script to make it partially enjoyable.

Disney Junior Buccaneer Jake and his crew of Neverland Pirates are in for another adventure when Captain Hook looks for the treasure of the shipwrecked Colossus when, at the same time, the mer-wizard Lorth Fathom (Malcolm McDowell) escapes his imprisonment and looks to take over the Never Sea. In fact, it may be more than Jake and his crew can handle -- so they get help from Captain Flynn (Josh Duhamel), Captain Frost (Harland Williams) and Captain Beatrice Le Beak (Teri Hatcher).

As the final official trailer has now been released, while it was mostly the same scenes shuffled around, we did get a few new shots to tease our senses.

So what did we make of it all?

1) Batfleck is a Badass
In case there were people unsure of Batman's badassery, it was on full display as this trailer features the bat. Is this a hint about how the movie opens up? Or will the movie be interrupted for a beatdown of thugs? Either way, the repor between Bruce and Alfred is enjoyable and anyone who had any doubts can now set them aside. He even blocks a punch from Superman. Without effort.

Yes, Flash, welcome to Earth-2, where up is down, black is white and... Wait a minute. I'm pretty sure that would be either Earth-3 or Bizarro World. Either way, the Earth-2 in THE FLASH is a pretty trippy place, where science has advanced enough to make DNA-level detection easy enough to be an app in your smart watch, but style took a sabbatical in the 1940s.

(New York, NY – February 10, 2016) Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, announced today that it will publish a script book based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II, a new play by Jack Thorne. The Special Rehearsal Edition of the script book will be published in print in the United States and Canada at 12:01 a.m. on July 31, 2016. Published in hardcover under Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine Books imprint, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (ISBN 978-1-338-09913-3; All Ages), the eighth Harry Potter story, will be priced at $29.99 U.S. and $39.99 Canada. The script eBook will be published by Pottermore simultaneously with the print editions by Scholastic in the US and Canada, and Little, Brown Book Group in the UK.