The film FROM DUSK TILL DAWN was such a cool event for me.  Think about it, this was the team up of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.  At the time, it seemed otherworldly and more akin to a comic book than a movie theater.  As a film, it was wasn't perfect, but it was funny, featured great performances, and was a hybrid of action and horror.  If nothing else, it was unforgettable.

The folks over at Nerdist have the 'exclusive' but we've got the Critical Analysis! The new Voltron series for Netflix has an official logo and title! And that titles implies that this probably isn't a reboot of the classic franchise.

Voltron: Legendary Defender

From Nerdist:

Little is known about the series thus far, particularly about the cast and creators, but we do know that it will follow the same classic Voltron formula of uniting five teenagers in gigantic, robotic lions to protect the universe from towering evil. Only through the power of teamwork will they be able to kick some robotic ass, take some robotic names, and stop a terrible intergalactic war.

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Spider-Man (2016) #1

Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Sara Pichelli
Inking assist: Gaetano Carlucci
Colored by: Justin Ponsor
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit

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

SHAFT IMITATION OF LIFE #1 – David F. Walker is one of my favorite comic writers and Shaft was one of my favorite books that came out last year. This is definitely the book I am most looking for to this week. 

Cheap Pops - February 8, 2016

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This Week:

I don’t care much for Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, Marvel Comics’ “Merc With The Mouth.” As a character, he’s a blatant derivative of DC’s Deathstroke, he talks too much, and writers have made him corny and sophomoric for years. When the character first debuted in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, played by heartthrob Ryan Reynolds, he was merely okay at best, given a couple of decent lines early on before showing up at the end of the movie (one that most comic book fans pan but I actually enjoyed) with his mouth missing and two long forearm spikes that made him look more like Baraka from the Mortal Kombat video games franchise than the lithe, gun-toting assassin. Reynolds waited patiently while DEADPOOL, a standalone feature, languished in developmental hell. During that wait he played Hal Jordan in DC’s GREEN LANTERN, which was so poorly crafted that most people would probably agree that X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE was far superior, even if they didn’t like it either.

Special thanks to our friend Matt Graham.  Grey and I were talking to him a few weeks ago about comics, and I asked him to participate in this conversation about the best in comics for last year. Let's talk comics!

Best Comic Company

Mike Maillaro's picks:

On the heels of Zack Snyder announcing that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is 99.9% completed, Henry Cavill has posted an image to his instagram account. Indicating that he's started his training for the upcoming Justice League movie and the image serves as motivation.

Henry Cavill IS Superman.

From his instagram account henrycavill:

Warm up phase for Superman training started today! Posting this pic to set myself a minimum goal...and force myself to actually keep going haha! @gritandteeth

MINIMUM goal? Way to make the rest of us feel inadequate, sir. Having no need for padded 'muscle' suits, Cavill is determined to be bigger than ever. Whether you like Snyder's interpretation of the character or not, Cavill is 100% committed to being the best on-screen portrayal of Superman we've ever seen.

When you think of Caesar, you think of three things: Rome, betrayal, and salad. The Coen Brothers, creators of such classic comedy films as RAISING ARIZONA, FARGO, THE BIG LEBOWSKI and O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? and more dramatic features such as NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT are back with HAIL, CAESAR!, a tale of McCarthy-era Hollywood. I typically enjoy movies that explore that era, but the Joel and Ethan Coen didn’t break any new ground here. HAIL, CAESAR! had the grandeur of Rome, it was as funny and exciting as your average Caesar salad, and it betrayed my high expectations.    

CBS has made it official! THE FLASH and SUPERGIRL will be joining forces as the scarlet speedster makes his way to National City on March 28th, 2016. Details of the episode have yet to be released.

CBS has released a statement from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg:

“We are so incredibly excited to announce something that we have dreamed of happening since we starting making SUPERGIRL – THE FLASH and SUPERGIRL are teaming up!” said THE FLASH and SUPERGIRL Executive Producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg. “We want to thank Grant Gustin for making the time to come visit (on top of his already immense workload) and all of the folks at CBS, The CW, Warner Bros. and DC for working this out. And finally, thanks to the fans and journalists who have kept asking for this to happen. It is our pleasure and hope to create an episode worthy of everyone’s enthusiasm and support.”

Writer
Pat Shand

Artwork
Roberta Ingranata

Colors
Slamet Mujiono

Letters
Jim Campbell

Editor
Pat Shand

Production & Design
Christopher Cote
Joi Dariel

Grimm Universe created by
Joe Brusha
Ralph Tedesco

INTO GLORY

The Story:

This is going to be hard for many people to believe, but way back in the mists of time there existed a world without an Internet. It wasn't quite the Stone Age, but the dust wasn't fully off the chisels yet. We had computers, and we were learning how to hook them together, but you had to call up an individual site using your phone line and a modem. Imagine that to go to a website you had to plug in its phone number, then wait, then log into it. Then to go to another website, you had to hang up with that one, and dial up another one. Yes, that was life. (It also snowed every day, and we walked to school barefoot uphill both ways.)

FAITH #1

Written by: Jody Houser
Art by: Francis Portela & Marguerite Sauvage
Colored: Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe

Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.99

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

It's once again that time of year -- when we look back at the things we loved last year and try to determine which ones were the best of the best ("of the best, sir!"). The best movie, the best television show, the best books, the best comics -- and the people who brought them to us.

So, after a nomination process that makes the Iowa Caucus look like a standard up-or-down vote system, we've settled on the list of nominees below. But, we always recognize the fact that the readers may know better than we do, so each category has an "Other" option where you can put in what we missed.

Unfortunately, to avoid the potential for ballot stuffing (to the best of our abilities) the form below requires that you be logged into your Google account. If you don't have one (and why wouldn't you?) then you won't be able to participate.

So let the voting now commence...and good luck to all the candidates and write-ins.

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

SPIDER-MAN #1 – Miles Morales is finally back in his new series. Same creative team as the old one, but now it takes place in the Marvel Prime universe. This is definitely the book I am most excited about for next week. 

God’s unconditional love is the central focus of Joanna Beasley’s album, Loud Love. About it, Joanna says "We’re singing back to God what He already says about Himself and about us. His love is bold, true, loud, unconditional, and constantly pursuing you wherever you go!”

This contest has ended.

The winner is PETER G. of Galloway, NJ.

When a crew of masked criminals set to work, they're attacked by a bat-like caped figure. But it's not Batman who's making the scene but a new player: Batwoman (Yvonne Strahovski). And she's a far less merciful fighter than he is! However, when Batman (Jason O'Mara) does show up, it's just in time for Batwoman to see him blown to bits, making her the last person to have possibly seen Batman alive as the days turn into weeks with no appearance from the Dark Knight in Gotham.

Batwoman -- aka Katherine Kane -- has no one to turn to but her father, Colonel Kane (Geoff Pierson), to tell her story. But when the Batmobile rumbles down the street, she pursues it and quickly deduces that the Batman role is being filled by the former Nightwing (Sean Maher), accompanied by Robin (Stuart Allan) who also returns to Gotham after hearing about Batman's disappearance.

Cheap Pops - February 1, 2016

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

From Comic Book Resources:

After months of reports and speculation, Cartoon Network has officially announced its new Justice League animated series. Titled "Justice League Action," the show, like the network's fellow DC Comics-based series "Teen Titans Go!," will run in installments of 11-minute episodes. Notably, the show features the return of both Kevin Conroy as the voice of Batman and Mark Hamill as the voice of The Joker, roles they made famous in '90s classic "Batman: The Animated Series."

Here's the official description of the series, which doesn't yet have a premiere date:

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Old Man Logan (2016) #1

Written by: Jeff Lemire
Art by: Andrea Sorrentino
Colored by: Marcelo Maiolo
Lettered by: VC's Cory Petit