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.

*     *     *     *

- Caution: Spoilers Ahead -

*     *     *     *

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.

Cheap Pops - January 17, 2016 by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

Fear is a part of life.  Whether you’re young, old, or somewhere in between, there's probably something you fear.  As we grow older, many of these terrors are outgrown, although some stick with us throughout our entire lifetimes.  Conquering fear is a buzzword of the modern world, but in reality, management is truly the best medicine for those things that frighten us.  

Hollywood Reporter announced that Tim Curry will be returning to Rocky Horror!  For Fox's upcoming Rocky Horror Picture Show musical, Tim Curry will be playing the narrator!  Charles Grey played the role in the original play and movie.  Curry joins a cast which already includes Laverne Cox as Dr.Frank-N-Furter (the role Curry made famous in the original play and movie), Adam Lambert as Eddie, Victoria Justice and Ryan McCartan as Brad and Janet, Reeve Carney as Riff Raff, and Staz Nair as Rocky Horror  Kenny Ortega will be directing.  

Entertainment Weekly posted up a new teaser for the second half of Star Wars Rebels Season 2 (which returns next Wednesday, January 20th).  It's pretty epic!
 

Click here to watch!

Featuring Luke, Slave Oola and the Rancor from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, soon you'll be able to adorn your shelf with a Rancor, its snack and the one that got away.

*     *     *     *

From Diamond Comic Distributor's Inc:

Recreate the iconic Rancor battles in Jabba’s Palace from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi with the figure pack, featuring a 6” supersized Rancor POP! and two 3 ¾” vinyl figures of Oola, Jabba the Hutt’s Twi’lek slave dancer, and Luke Skywalker wearing his black Jedi costume and wielding a bone.

The Rancor monster was a creature that lived beneath Jabba's palace. For punishment (or just pure entertainment) the notorious gangster would occasionally send it a snack through a trap door in the floor.

In an update on their website, Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) has issued a statement that they've exercised their right to stop recording for Warner Bros. Records.

*     *     *     *

In their statement they cite the incredible turnover of executives since they signed on, including "3 different regimes". There is also a mention of a lawsuit filed by the label against the band:

"In the coming days, you may read about the lawsuit our label filed against us for exercising our legal rights, rights the State of California granted specifically to protect artists." - A7X

MTV's new fantasy epic, THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES, is based off the best selling book series by author Terry Brooks and delivers a unique take on a fantasy world that exists here on Earth.

*     *     *     *

The opening sequence of the pilot episode, "Chosen", shows us several landmarks that immediately tell us this story takes place thousands of years after the fall of mankind. This isn't an imaginary realm on another world, even though the world your viewing is a far cry from what we're accustomed to.

Elves and humans alike are threatened by Trolls, Gnomes and 'Rovers' when they're outside of the safe confines of home. Other than those threats, the land is at peace and has been for quite some time.

Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when the one doing the leaving is only one of 32 options you have. So it's understandable that this break-up can only end one way. Badly.

With the NFL owner's vote that allows the Rams to pack up operations and move to Los Angeles in 2016 the fans wasted no time in offering up some parting gifts for the team:

St. Louis Rams fans dropped off jerseys at Rams Park, no fans out here now pic.twitter.com/eiQegdQQC8

— David Carson (@PDPJ) January 13, 2016

And others prefer to just burn bridges-er jerseys:

For Christmas, my wife was able to get us tickets for the January 8 taping of THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT.  I have been a huge Colbert fan for a long time now.  We actually got to attend two tapings of THE COLBERT REPORT back in the day (and we got to attend a tapings of THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART and THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN too). 

I don’t think most of our readers have gotten the experience of what it’s like to attend a TV taping, so I thought I would walk them through the whole process.  In my opinion, there has to be a far better way of doing it, but pretty much every taping I’ve been to has been exactly the same. 

Zack Snyder has been adamant that he's not okay with people spoiling his movie. Latino Review is known for digging up spoilers and sometimes throwing theories at the wall to see what sticks. It makes for a toxic combination.

In it's latest attempt to spoil a movie, Latino Review is reporting they know who the 'other' villain in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be.

Exclusive: Batman V Superman's Other Villain Revealed...[SPOILER] — https://t.co/fFRpJHW1Rr #BatmanvSuperman pic.twitter.com/vcXpFiCtIe

— Latino Review (@LRNews) January 13, 2016