Posted on January 27, 2016 by Zac Cherin

After buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, The Walt Disney Company had to wait three years for its investment to begin paying tangible dividends. If, however, the initial box-office performance of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a sign of things to come, then the wait was well worth it.

The seventh installment in the Star Wars film saga shattered the U.S. total box office record, passing the $760.5 million mark set by James Cameron’s blockbuster “Avatar” in 2009.

"Hey there Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are lookin’ good. You're everything a big bad wolf could want." - Li'l Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham & The Pharaos

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If you're new to Zenescope, then you know that these are not your grandmother's fairy tales. Each one of their characters carry a classic name, with a modernized story. And Red Riding Hood is no exception, as she begins a 5 issue series titled:

This contest has ended.

The randomly selected winning entry is: JANAN C. from RIVERWOODS, IL.

Is there anything that amazing Minnie Mouse cannot do? In this DVD from Disney Junior, Minnie's dream of singing onstage is about to come true -- until her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse backup band pals discover that their musical instruments are gone! Now the race is on to track them down and reach Melody Mountain by sunset. But even if they find the missing instruments in time, should Minnie sing the blues, croon a country tune, or boogie to a disco beat? It's going to take help from YOU -- plus a few Mouseketools -- to get Minnie in the right groove to totally rock out!

Bursting with fun, surprises, additional episodes and two delightful "Bow-Toons," Pop Star Minnie is simply song-sational!

By Chris Delloiacono and Mike Maillaro

Mike: Last Saturday, Chris and I were scheduled to go to a Pro Wrestling Syndicate show which was going to feature a massive interpromotional angle with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling.  PWS is a local indy promotion that we both love, and which has gotten a lot of coverage in Cheap Pops over the last few months.  The show was cancelled because New Jersey got hit with a massive snowstorm.  

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Patsy Walker, Hellcat! (2016) #1-2

Written by: Kate Leth
Art by: Brittney L. Williams
Colored by: Megan Wilson
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Sabino (issue 1) and Clayton Cowles (issue 1 & 2)

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

I had no intention to go into this week sounding negative, but there were quite a few books I wanted to talk about just to say they are not living up to their potential (which is exactly what my teachers often said about me). But let’s talk about some books I am actually excited about first, shall we…

Our friends over at Morphsuits are at it again with their comic book related fun. We've shared some of their infographics in the past but now they've come up with something more engaging. A Deadpool compatibility quiz!

Find out if you're a match made in heaven (or hell) with Marvel's 'merc with a mouth'.

The quiz is fun, with plenty of options and callouts to things Deadpool loves. So dive into the quiz and let us know, in the comments below, how compatible you are with the 'Pool!

Sure, everyone wants to hang out with the awesomeness that is Deadpool, but would you actually get along with the guy?

DEVOLUTION #1

Written by: Rick Remender
Art by: Jonathan Wayshak
Colored: Jordan Boyd
Lettered by: Rus Wooton

Published by: Dynamite
Cover Price: $3.99

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

In the future, humanity believes that religion is the cause of all the world’s woes. So, they creates a “weapon” called DVO-8 which is supposed to solve all the worlds’ problems by wiping out the part of the brain that follows religion. This goes horrible wrong and creates a virile infection that causes all people and animals to devolve into horrible creatures.

Cheap Pops - January 24, 2016

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This Week:

"The Ritchie Blackmore Story" on DVD from Eagle Rock Entertainment chronicles the long and storied career of one of the greatest rock guitarist of all time. With a career spanning over 50 years and running the gamut from Hard Rock to Heavy Metal, from “commercial hit” Rock to Medieval Renaissance music, and considered by many to be one of the most spectacular visual guitar players, Ritchie Blackmore is also the one guitarist most people probably know the least about.

The television landscape has become a inundated these days with shows featuring teams of people looking for Bigfoot and other cryptozoological critters. Some of them are dry and anecdotal. Some of them feature the same thing in different locations, usually highlighted by people wandering around in the dark knocking on trees and letting loose with a yell.

And then there's MOUNTAIN MONSTERS, where the team of investigators get all fired up, carry their guns, and vow to "get that sonnuvabitch" when they get near him -- and they always seem to get too close for comfort, whether they're chasing down a Sheepsquatch, a Midnight Whistler, a Yahoo or any of the other many legendary creatures rumored to roam the Appalachian territory.

Huge news in Radio Times today!

Steven Moffat has decided that his “timey wimey” as showrunner of Doctor Who has come to an end and he will step down as the show’s lead writer and executive producer after six series at the helm, RadioTimes.com can reveal.

Moffat will hand over the keys to the TARDIS at the end of the next series in 2017 to Broadchurch writer and Doctor Who fan Chris Chibnall.

The Flash has gone up against some pretty fast villains in his short tenure as Central City's hero. But now he's up against a new sort of criminal -- a metahuman with the power of slow.

Technically, The Turtle (Aaron Douglas) sucks the speed out of anything around him, allowing him to appear to be moving quickly, when he's actually sauntering around, taking what he came for and leaving unseen. He's been a pet project for Cisco (Carlos Valdes), but no one has believed he existed. But now Cisco thinks The Turtle might hold the key to capturing Zoom, by using his abilities to steal Zoom's speed. This gets the attention of Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), who has worked a secret deal with Zoom to steal The Flash's speed!

Disney is known in the theatre world for elaborate and grandiose productions like THE LION KING and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Those shows feature exciting sets, memorable songs, exciting costumes and touching stories. Perhaps that’s why I was disappointed with Disney’s NEWSIES, based on the 1992 film which in turn was inspired from David Nasaw’s book CHILDREN OF THE CITY. No matter the medium, the story is an interesting piece of actual history that just didn’t translate into a must-see show. It will play well enough at the Fabulous Fox, where St. Louis’ own Alex Prakken will grace the venerable stage as Oscar Delancey, one of tightwad newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer’s heavies. Pulitzer founded the New York World and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but the show arrives just a little too late for Pulitzer to be a major villain in St. Louis—you can blame Enos S. Kroenke for that.

Secret Wars 9 by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic

Summary: Black Panther and Namor approach Doom.  Black Panther is armed with the Infinity Gauntlet.  Doom offers to return Wakanda and Atlantis to them, but they don’t want “fake kingdoms on a manufactures world, subjected to the whims of a vain fraud.” Black Panther turns Doom to glass. Namor shatters Doom, but he is able to pull himself back together.

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Scarlet Witch  #1-2

Written by: James Robinson
Art by: Vanesa Del Rey (issue 1), Marco Rudy (issue 2)
Colored by: Jordie Bellaire (issue 1)
Lettered by: VC’s Cory Petit

Dan Rodriguez, an artist based out of Minneapolis, MN, is creating quite a buzz in the Midwest. The groove-based, bluesy over-toned sound of his music, mixed with his powerful, yet seductive voice creates an atmosphere different from other music. It's refreshing, tantalizing, and just plain good!

Rodriguez chose to create Come On Home in Nashville, with the intent of layering a back-to-roots Americana vibe on his work. The fresh setting resulted in totally unblemished emotion for Rodriguez’s finished music: “These are real, honest songs sung with hope and desperation… pain and joy,” he states.

Last night's episode of SUPERGIRL dropped some bombs and cranked up the drama by having a relationship altering moment, between two major characters. Whether you enjoy the drama or not, it's clear that there's no turning back now.

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- Caution: Spoilers Ahead -

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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

When I first started reading comic books, one of my favorite titles was TEEN TITANS. Not because they were the sidekicks of the heroes, or even that they were close to my own age, but that they were kids with powers, and were prone to getting into (and reacting to) situations the way kids would react. There was impetuousness, recklessness, infighting, crushes, jealousies, and the formation of lifelong friendships.

So when I learned that UGLIES writer Scott Westerfeld (joined by Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti) had released a new book, and that this book was about teenagers with superpowers, how could I possibley resist? Hence, this review of ZEROES -- they're like heroes, only not.