Another week of entertainment and pop-culture is in the books. The end of Summer is drawing nigh as the morning air has begun to greet us with a chill. Apples and pumpkins are beginning to become the flavors many people turn to, for their drinks, in the form of cider and coffee. With all of that comes a new fall television lineup! But before we can get to covering all the new and exciting shows, let’s revisit the events of last week with your…

Didn you notice someone missing from last night's Emmy Award ceremony? How about the former "Big Three" -- ABC, CBS and NBC? Oh, they were there, but with the onset of original programming offered through Internet channels, their presence is more of a token than ever. (We've discussed in the past, at length, that this was coming.) It was hard enough for traditional, free broadcast channels when the cable networks entered the fight, but with the advent of Netflix and Amazon, the competition for market share just got that much stiffer.

Cheap Pops - September 20, 2015
by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

Last week, we covered the “modern” Doctors.  Today, we wrap up our coverage of Doctor Who by going back to talk about all seven classic Doctors.  I tried to list my favorite episodes for each Doctor, but I have to admit, the titles for many of these serials were so generic that I may have missed some.  

Lots to cover here, so let’s get started:

1602: WITCH HUNTER ANGELA 3 by Marguerite Bennett, Kieren Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Frazer Irving

There's an interesting, long-standing trope in comic books that posits a superhero creates his own villains; that before the arrival of the superhero, there were no super-threats to the city he calls home, and that they are attracted there solely because the hero exists there to fight them.

The theme of GOTHAM runs counter to that proposition, putting forth the story of the titular city at least a decade prior to the arrival of the Dark Knight who would make Gotham City a name known around the world. It's a grim place, where the forces of law and order and the forces of the criminal underworld aren't pitted against each other but rather are entangled so much as to be indistinguishable one from the other.

I've been a fan of SUPERNATURAL for a very long time. I still remember when I first watched the show. My future wife, Patti, and I were in the midst of a cross country journey, and we stopped in Missouri for a couple days to visit my close friend Daron. He got us hooked by watching several episodes of the fledgling show's first season DVD. We picked up our own copy of the season as the journey took us to states further on down the road, and a love for the series was built traveling much the way Sam and Dean Winchester do in the series.

Loosen the noose and slowly step off the chair. Climb back inside from that window ledge. Shut the engine off, put out the cigarette and open the garage door. The Philadelphia Eagles are 0-1 to start the 2015 season, but there's no reason to write them off just yet. As a matter of fact, I'll give you 5 reasons why the sky isn't falling (yet).

According to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), KISS is now #1 with the most Gold Album Record awards. With 26 albums and 4 solo albums under the KISS brand (released simultaneously), a feat never duplicated, they have earned a total of 30 Gold albums. They have also acquired 14 Platinum and 3 multi-Platinum albums over the years.

A true testament of their longevity that spans across four decades.

From the press release:

“Congratulations to KISS – the new Gold standard for albums by American bands,” said Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA.  “What an extraordinary achievement for an enduring band.  Forty years later and the band is still rocking.  Congratulations to KISS on their Gold album milestone and continued success."

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

What do Aaron Copeland, Carl Orff, Modest Mussorgsky, and Johann Sebastian Bach all have in common?  They all have music arranged and played by the greatest power trio of progressive rock ever: Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Is there a better opening song to a concert than “Karnevil 9-1^st Impression Part 2?” Or better opening lyrics than “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends?" In all my concert going and musical listening, I think not (well, maybe with the exception of Alice Cooper’s “Hello Hooray”); but anyway, how apropos for this band who, even at the time of this show in 1997, had been around, despite a break-up in the early 80’s, for decades?

The NFL is in full swing today, and while many people were figuring out their fantasy football draft last week, there were other things happening. So whether you were trying to decide what round to draft ‘Gronk’, or getting hyped for your team’s season, we took care of tracking down pop-culture views, news and reviews. Grab your morning coffee because it’s time for your…

Since there have been 13 different Doctors and 50+ years of Doctor Who, it can be a bit overwhelming.  So, we’re going to give some quick information about each incarnation of the Doctor and some of the best episodes starring each Doctor. We decided to start with the “modern Doctors,” since all of that is currently on Netflix and easily accessible.

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann)

Late last night, WWE made the following announcement on their Instragram feed:

Pokémon, Niantic and Nintendo are teaming up to create the ultimate FREE gaming experience.

Pokémon GO will use your phone's GPS to hunt down Pokémon as you walk around parks, neighborhoods and hiking trails. And, if you haven’t lost touch with your friends while searching for that elusive Gengar, you’ll be able to trade and battle!

But don’t worry, if you have no friends left, you can always battle the nearest opponent in range.

In an exclusive interview clip, provided to Comicbook.com via Lary King Now, Michael Shannon offers some inside information regarding his role in Batman v Superman. And it doesn't involve flippers, as he once suggested.

Being under a lot of pressure to reveal secrets about his role in the film, Shannon offered up a quote that led many rumor mongers to shotgun speculation all over the internet. During his interview with Larry King, he admitted to essentially trolling everyone. Then he went on to compare his role in BATMAN V SUPERMAN to that of Russell Crowe's Jor-El as 'kind of like a ghost'.

Logged on this morning to a nice surprise!  We finally got a release date and a teaser trailer for Marvel's Jessica Jones.  It will begin airing on Netflix on November 20.  It also looks like they stopped calling the show AKA JESSICA JONES.  

Jessica Jones is an adaptation of Bendis and Gaydo's brilliant comic series ALIAS.  Jessica Jones (played by Krysten Ritter) is a former superhero who has become a private investigator.    The series will also feature:

We got another pair of JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS books to review today, with one featuring Luke Skywalker and the other with Princess Leia. As I mentioned in my review of AFTERMATH, the bulk of these books are set during the Original Trilogy, not in the JOURNEY TO STAR WARS timeframe.

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens - The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure by Jason Fry

Hardcover - $12.99
Kindle - $6.46
Published by Disney Lucasfilm Press
192 Pages

I have been looking forward to this comic for a long time now. I will admit, I had sort of lost interest in STAR WARS for a while, but with REBELS and all the hype for THE FORCE AWAKENS, I have been in a STAR WARS mood lately. Thankfully, I don't have as much free time as I did when THE PHANTOM MENACE came out. My wife and siblings spent way too much time driving me all over the place to find STAR WARS toys and cup toppers from Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Thanks, Gina, Patti, and Chris.  You are terrible enablers.

Instead of toys, this time I am acting out my obsession with comics and books. I have bought every STAR WARS comic Marvel has put out so far, and slowly I'm working my way through the novels that have come out the last few years that Disney declared official canon. And SHATTERED EMPIRE sounded like it was going to be a real good one.