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

Walking through Wal-Mart tonight I discovered a display case full of toys for the upcoming movie: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I was excited to see that the back of the packaging showed that a Wonder Woman action figure is available, unfortunately there were none to be found. Mind you, the display case was almost entirely full of Batman and Superman figures. So either Wonder Woman didn't ship, or she's the only one that has been purchased and she sold out.

I digress...

During my search for a Wonder Woman action figure I discovered a "Gauntlet Assault" Batman. As he stood there all Batman-y, in his suit of gold with abs outlined in green, he wore giant green gauntlets on each hand. His fists were poised for pounding.

“(Bassist/guitarist) Steve (Norgrove) and I had talked about doing a sort of low-key, homemade acoustic album," says Brian Lisik of Curtisinterruptedus, follow-up to his 2012 release The Mess That Money Could Buy. It is his fourth solo release since cutting his musical teeth as the founder and frontman of ‘90s slop rockers The Giants of Science.

Throughout, the singer and his crack band, the Unfortunates (Norgrove, guitarist Ray Flanagan, and drummer Craig Lisik), along with co-producer Benjamin Payne (drums, guitars, percussion, banjo, backing vocals) and guests including Roberts; Tim Longfellow (Todd Rundgren, Alex Bevan) on piano, organ and accordion; and cellist Matt Reese (The Flying Carpet People) harken back to the sounds of Big Star, Cheap Trick, early Aerosmith and John (when he was still Cougar) Mellencamp.

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 - The Husbands of River Song

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Douglas Mackinnon

Cast

DEATHGASM on Blu-ray disc from Metal Heads / Dark Sky Films is a Heavy Metal gore fest horror/comedy that is as serious as its name implies. What I mean is that when you read the title of this movie, the first thing that comes to mind is not “This is going to be scary, and terrifying.” No, the first thing that is going to come to mind is probably what came to mine: ”I bet this is a hoot!” And, my friends, it is.

Filmed in New Zealand with mostly local actors, DEATHGASM tells the story of a would-be headbanger, Brodie (Milo Cawthorne), who is sent to live with his straight-laced uncle and his family after his mother get arrested. He is immediately disliked by his jock cousin and his friends at school because he’s a headbanger and listens to what they call "devil-worshiping, heavy metal music."

1. Greenland
2. Dystopia
3. Domain of Apocalypse
4. Egyptia
5. Technolpolis
6. Classified
7. Spider-Land
8. The Regency
9. King James' England
10. Weirdworld
11. K'Un Lun
12. Utopolis
13. New Mars
14. Classified
15. Higher Avalon
16. Arachnia
17. Marville
18. The Eye of Agamotto
19. Classified
20. Manhattan
20a Attilan
20b Manhattan- Earth 616
20c. Manhattan- Earth 1610
20d. Monster Metropolis
21. The City
22. The Warzone
23. New Quack City
24. The Far East
25. Valley of Flame
26. The Hydra Empire
27. 2099
28. Hala Field
29. The Monarchy of M
30. Sentinel Territories
31. The Wastelands
32. Mutopia
33. Westchester
34. Killville

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd, PARKS AND RECREATION) is just getting out of prison for burglary -- but of the social justice kind, so that makes it okay. The particulars of his case -- as well as his character and skills -- bring him to the attention of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who wants him to break into a vault to steal back technology Pym invented that is being prepped for military use and sold to the baddest bad guys in the Marvel Universe, Hydra.

One of the joys in getting to review music is getting to listen to someone you've never heard of before and after listening to them you realized you missed something special for a long time.

Such is the case for Eva Cassidy. I had never heard of Eva or her music prior to listing to the NIGHTBIRD 2CD set I am reviewing here. I could forgive myself for not hearing of it if Eva was someone relatively new on the scene. That is not the case here, so I could kick myself in the pants for not having heard of her sooner and been listening to her music all this time! Eva Cassidy passed away in November 1996 at the age of 33 from melanoma a mere 10 months or so after the music on these CD was recorded.

Loosely based on the life of inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano, JOY is supposed to be "a story of a family across four generations, centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right." ;Joy brings David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper back together again after SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.; I had seen SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and enjoyed it thoroughly so I went into this movie with high hopes.; I had watched the trailer so I knew this was supposed to be an inspirational tale about a woman who achieves success.; Good holiday fodder.

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

This is the last week of comics in 2015. Not a lot of new series coming out, but still quite a few books I want to talk about...

It’s the season the season for forgiving and forgiveness, so let’s leave our politics and political correctness and 21^st century tendency towards anger at the door for a minute and talk about Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, THE HATEFUL EIGHT. I know it’s going to be hard for some folks to be objective about this but let’s be honest; Tarantino’s comment about police earlier this summer probably didn’t cost him a lot of his core audience. Tarantino’s movies have always been a love/hate proposition. If you loved PULP FICTION and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS you’re probably going to see THE HATEFUL EIGHT regardless of what Tarantino or I have to say about anything. If you don’t generally care for his films, you’ll head on down to the next theater and watch that quirky little art film everyone’s been talking about, Star…something.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of Marvel books shipping in March.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #7 by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • MIKE DEODATO (A/C)

“THE WAR MACHINES” PART 2!

• War Machine and Iron Man team up to stop a brand new threat to the Marvel Universe… like only they can. All this plus more hints to next summer’s insane Marvel blockbuster event.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of DC books shipping in March.

Mike: So, of the 52 books that launches under the New-52, 12 of them are still around for issue 50 (well, 49 for Justice League).

It’s Christmas time!  While most people are thinking of Santa, I’m thinking of that other eternal figure, The Doctor!  This year’s Christmas special is called “The Husbands of River Song.” 

We’ll be posting a review up after it airs, but for now, have some trailers!

If you haven't yet seen the movie, turn back now. There are spoilers in this post that will ruin it for you. Given the record breaking numbers at the box office during opening weekend, I'm comfortable writing this article as most diehards have seen the movie several times already.

For those of you who haven't, *waves hand* you will leave this page and drive to your nearest cinema.

Still here? Well then, you must have seen the movie. Because like I mentioned, there are SPOILERS below.

Cheap Pops - December 22, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

- TLC Results
- The Roman Empire Begins!
- NXT Takeover London Results
- PWS Fightmare Before X-Mas Results
 

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

Kind of just winding down the year here. Lots of books I’m reading this week, but very few new series or anything that really jumps out at me. Let’s see what we can find to talk about…

If you look back over history and think about great openings to great stories, what comes to mind? “It was a dark and stormy night?” “It was the best of times, It was the worst of times?” Perhaps even “Once upon a time?” Yes, truly all classics, openings to wonderful stories. But what about “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away?” I will venture to say without even flinching that this last opening means more to perhaps more people in the world today than even “Once upon a time!”

I myself have just returned from seeing the latest installment in the Star Wars saga--and having darn near sequestered myself from watching, reading, or even listening to anything pertaining to who was in it and what was it about, I will offer no spoilers here.

Lady Antebellum spent much of 2015 on the road on their "Wheels Up Tour," taking off in Olso, Norway, and landing in Las Vegas in early October. About half-way through they filmed a show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California on June 27th and that is the basis of this release.

The video opens with a carload of young girls who rode three days from Austin to attend. And no wonder -- they get an up-close-and-personal meet-and-greet with the band. Quickie interviews of fans coming to the concert in Irvine and stage setup and preparations make way for a typical rock concert smoke and lights entrance. They've come a long way since I saw them at southern Wisconsin's Rock County 4-H Fair in the summer of 2008 -- just a simple show following their self-titled debut, but with the enthusiasm you knew would take them far. I see the dude sporting the dual braids is still playing backing guitar.

By Mike Weaver and Mike Maillaro

Squadron Supreme (2015) #1