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

A-FORCE #5 by Marguerite Bennett, G.Willow Wilson, and Jorge Molina

Summary: Loki broke a hole in the shield wall allowing zombies to pour into Arcadia. She-Hulk rallies A-Force to stand against them.  Nico finds herself at the end of the water, and she gets attacked by the mutated shark from the first issue.  Nico seems ready to die, but Starchild saves her.  Nico realizes her name is Singularity (I still prefer called her Starchild).  Singularity charges into the zombies, sucking them up into her pocket dimension. Nico is worried she is going to lose Singularity just like she lost her adopted sister and mother.  Singularity says goodbye and explodes, taking all the zombies with her.

Cheap Pops - October 18, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

- WWE Partners with ESPN

I've loved the National Pastime since I was a little kid. So, it's kind of fun as I ponder how much joy and sadness the game of baseball has brought me in life. Right now I'm on a great stretch as the Mets just defeated the Dodgers to setup a NLCS matchup with the Cubs. A relatively unlikely matchup at season's commencement, but one that makes a lot of sense, when you realize just how loaded with exceptional youth both squads are. Breaking down the series isn't what I'm here to do. What I've got for you is an odd journey through life to a series that I simply cannot wait to watch.

DC's Super Hero Girls. A property fashioned by DC in partnership with Mattel toys. On the surface, it appears like nothing more than a way to market toys to young girls. But, when you start digging, you unearth so much more when you reach the foundation.

The theme, 'Get Your Cape On', has a music video on both YouTube and DC’s Super Hero Girls website. Accompanying the video are inspiring lyrics, written and performed by singer/songwriter, Jordyn Kane.

This month’s theme is FIGHT THE FIGHT, a box spotlighting some of the Comic Bento team’s favorites fighters.  This was a fairly random collection, but you get five books and they are a great value, so it’s real hard to complain.  You get over $80 of comics here for $25.  And I enjoyed all but one book in the box. 

I have to admit, I am much more excited about next month’s collection. It’s called “Masks” and it’s curated by Gail Simone! 

X-O MANOWAR – Vol. 2: Enter Ninjak

 The joy of seeing a theatrical show for the first time is that everything is a surprise. Such was the case with DOGFIGHT, a musical presented by Stray Dog Theatre. Based on a 1991 film starring River Phoenix (which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen), with the book by Peter Duchan and music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, DOGFIGHT was not exactly what I expected – which is kind of funny, because I really didn’t know what to expect. I guess I had decided from the title alone that it would be a gritty war story with music both rousing and melancholy. Instead, it turned out to be a funny and touching love story, and I was not at all disappointed to have my preconceived notions dashed.

The world of THE FLASH just got infinitely more diverse with the arrival of Jay Garrick (Teddy Sears, 666 PARK AVENUE), who comes from another Earth where he was called The Flash. But after his arrival on our Earth, shortly after his battle on his world with Zoom, he was brought to our world through the singularity that Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) fought at the end of Season One.

He comes with a warning, but the team doesn't know what to make of him -- and Barry certainly doesn't trust him. In fact, he's a real jerk towards Jay. So their response is to run tests on Jay -- and keep him locked up in the STAR Labs facility.

While on its 15th issue, ROBYN HOOD by Zenescope Entertainment offers a stand-alone to help draw in new readers without alienating them to the story. This is how comic books did it before other companies began rebooting titles every year.

In this, Pat Shand's latest offering of the alluring archer, Robyn and her partner Marian continue their exploits as 'Nottingham Investigations'. It gives off a SUPERNATURAL vibe, only with female protagonists, who also happen to be a witch and an archer.

Front Lines Reviews by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

1602 WITCH HUNTER ANGELA #4 by Marguerite Bennett, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Kody Chamberlain

Summary: Angela and Serah’s skull head to Faerie to finish off Enchantress.  Serah seems to have been manipulating events to distill magic to be ready to stay alive after Enchantress killed her.  All the free floating faerie magic Enchantress has been sending out should allow that to happen.  Serah returns as a ghost.  Angela promises to restore her to full life.  Enchantress arrives.

"With great power, must also come great responsibility." - Ben Parker

Avengers vs X-Men
Uncanny X-Men
Yu-Gi-OH!
Dungeons & Dragons
Justice League
Age of Ultron
War of Light...
and now Amazing Spider-Man will be added to the growing number of sets that WizKids has released for it's popular game Dice Masters!

That will make 8 sets in under 2 years. One has to ask, is WizKids getting carried away with the success of it's game?

By Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #1

JOURNEY TO STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS - SHATTERED EMPIRE #2

Written by: Greg Rucka
Art by: Marco Checchetto, Angel Unzueta, and Emilio Laiso
Cover by: Marco Checchetto,
Colored by: Andres Mossa
Lettered by: VC's Joe Caramagna

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

The Peanuts gang may not be the most intricately animated group of cartoon kids, but they're certainly enduring. Their somewhat sedate pacing and thoughtful observations have made them a mainstay of our Halloweens, Thanksgivings and Christmases for decades.

In 1980, the team of Bill Melendez and Phil Roman brought Charles Schulz's comic strip tykes to the big screen (although not for the first time) in a full length adventure, BON VOYAGE, CHARLIE BROWN (AND DON'T COME BACK). It's a tale that finds Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty and Marcie (and, of course, Snoopy and Woodstock) traveling to France as part of a student exchange program. This comes just after Charlie Brown has received a mysterious letter from a French girl named Violette, inviting him to come stay at the Chateau Mal Voisin -- the Home of the Bad Neighbor.

Cheap Pops - October 13, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

-NXT Takeover Respect Results

Doctor Who Series 9 - Episode 3 and 4 - Under the Lake/ Before the Flood

Writer: Toby Whithouse

Director: Daniel O'Hara

Cast:

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

SUPERMAN: LOIS AND CLARK #1 – I was a huge fan of Jurgens’ Superman work in the 90’s, and CONVERGENCE: SUPERMAN was kind of bittersweet for me. I enjoyed the comic, but it just bummed me out that it was memories of a reality that we just can’t see any more. Kind of like AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS. So I was thrilled when they announced we would get a comic series telling us what happens to this version of Superman, Lois, and their newborn son. I am really looking forward to this.

Anyone familiar with Christian Rock today probably knows well the band Building 429. Comprised of Jason Roy (Lead Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards), Michael Anderson (Drums), Jesse Garcia (Guitar/Keyboards/BGVS), and Aaron Branch (Bass/BGVS), their newest album UNASHAMED already has two hit singles getting quite a bit of airplay: "Impossible" and "Ocean Deep."

For those not familiar with them, their name is derived from Ephesians 4:29 which in the HCSB Bible reads as “No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.” They were the Gospel Music Association New Artist of the Year in 2005, and have had many hit Christian songs through the years following, not the least of which was 2012’s “Where We Belong” which set a record for remaining as Billboards #1 Christian Song for an unprecedented 15 weeks.

ODE TO THINKING is the newest album from British singer/songwriter/guitarist Bobby Long comprised of eleven original songs, and produced by Mark Hallman.

Bobby hails from London and moved to New York in 2009. A product of the burgeoning English folk renaissance, it is easy to hear the influences of both the home of his birth and that of his home in New York.

I have been listening to a lot of “old school” rock of late, so listening to Mr. Long’s CD offered me a chance to sit back and listen to music that would stir my thinking. Not being familiar with his earlier works, I wasn’t sure what kind of songs I was going to hear given a title such as ODE TO THINKING. What I found after listening to the CD was that the album was aptly named.

There seems to be no shortage of musicals based on popular films these days. Some of them are pretty good; SISTER ACT was hilarious, and you can bet pretty much any Disney adaption will be top notch. Others, such as DIRTY DANCING and A CHRISTMAS STORY, probably should have been left where they belong -- on dusty VHS tapes. Then there are the unexpected conversions of cult movies to musical theatre that one wouldn’t expect to see. That’s where New Line Theatre excels, in bringing the unexpected to the St. Louis theatre scene. They did an incredibly tense musical version of the horror classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD a couple of seasons ago that had my niece and I jumping out of our seats. Their current production is HEATHERS, based on the 1989 dark comedy starring Wynona Ryder and Christian Slater. I know dark comedy has been around probably forever, but I think that was the film that I first really became aware of the concept.