Superman used to be the butt of jokes regarding his underwear being on the outside. DC fixed that by giving him a new 'armored' look. A jeans and t-shirt look was made to accomodate Grant Morrison's run on Action Comics; which he has re-claimed now that he's been de-powered and his identity exposed.

It was also said that just putting on a pair of glasses and slouching his shoulders as Clark Kent shouldn't be enough to conceal his identity. DC is now addressing that problem as well in an attempt to phase out any of the old Superman tropes.

And they're using Lois Lane to do it.

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, John Romita Jr doesn't pull any punches when speaking of Lois Lane. He explains that not only is she annoying, but she should consider herself stupid for not figuring out Clark's identity 25 years ago:

When I was a kid, I learned how to make paper airplanes. I can now make three different kinds -- the basic kind, the skinny basic kind, and the one that somewhat looks like a Star Trek scout ship. When pressed, I can make a paper sailboat (or maybe it's a hat), and once I made a swan. I don't think paper fans count.

That's me.

And then there's John Montroll.

John Montroll is the author and designer behind DC SUPER HEROES ORIGAMI. Which I absolutely had to have, because I'm a fifty-years-in-the-making fan of all things DC Comics. And I thought it would be fun to share this with my seven-year-old through art projects of origami.

I learned that I knew nothing about folding paper -- but that I could be taught.

Rounding out our coverage of JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS CHRONICLES is the third episode. This one is called "Big" and is all about Wonder Woman.    

Commentary:

You know, the HR-V ads before these videos are WAAAAYYYYY off theme.  The narrator is so bright and cheery, it takes a second to adjust back into the dark tone GODS AND MONSTERS has going for it.  

This one starts with President Waller sending Agent Steve Trevor to infilitrate Kobra to find a powerful new weapon they are building.  Kobra is about to execute him when suddenly Wonder Woman appears through a Boom Tube to rescue him.  They quickly defeat Kobra, but Kobra is able to activate their secret weapon, Gigantra!  Actually, a giant robot.

Here is the second of three episodes of JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS CHRONICLES.  This one features Harley Quinn and Batman, and is called “Twisted.”

Commentary:  While I have thought both of these shorts were terrific, I can’t help but think that it has to be confusing for a lot of casual viewers to do stories like this.  One of the comments on Youtube said “This ain't your grandma's Justice League!” and I’m just not sure how I feel about that.  YES, I love to see the status quo get rocked at every opportunity, but when you get this far away from the source material, part of me wonders why you don’t just create something new entirely.  Batman’s costume in particular is such a departure, he looks more like an homage to Batman than any version of Batman I’ve ever seen before.

The American heavy metal band, 'Disturbed', announced on their Facebook page that new music is forthcoming. Having taken a hiatus from both music, and each other, the band secretly came together and has been working on the new album IMMORTALIZED.

"This album had the arduous task of, in some way, justifying the hiatus; giving the fans something that made it worth our time away from one another. We hope that it succeeds in that task. Thank you for staying with us over the years." - Official Statement from Disturbed via Website/Facebook

The first song released titled, "The Vengeful One" is accompanied by a music video. Fans of Disturbed will recognize the style of music right away. While they haven't done anything revolutionize their sound, they certainly didn't alienate their fans.

Last night on TBS's CONAN, Conan O'Brien announced that he is going to be immortalized with a set of four Pop! Vinyl figures to be available this July, when CONAN will become the first-ever late-night show to broadcast from San Diego during Comic-Con® International. Created for TBS byFunko, the figure designs include "Conan O'Brien," "Batman Conan," "Zombie Conan" and"Conan's Monster."

Check out Conan's announcement from last night's show:
teamcoco.com/video/pop-conan-figures-are-coming

by Mike Maillaro, Gina Maillaro, Graham Scherl, and Mike Weaver

ARMOR WARS #2 by James Robinson and Marcio Takara

Summary: Rhodes is watching the autopsy of Spyder-Man by Dr Druid.  Fisk is working with Arno Stark to rob Kiri’s technology.  Arno is able to provide Fisk’s operative Stingray with a stealth armor to sneak into her lab...though the armor is killing Stingray.  Kiri’s lab defenses go into full effect, and Kiri and Lila (Rhode’s niece) defeat Stingray.

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

DC has been putting a lot of marketing muscle behind the upcoming JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS.  In the upcoming weeks, there will be a digital comic series, and they have also been posting some shorts on Machinima's Youtube channel.   There are three of them, and we'll be posting them over the next few days.

Here is the first one, called "Bomb" and featuring Superman and Brainiac:

From Comicosity:

June 22nd, 2015 – New York, NY / Portland, OR – Today comiXology, the revolutionary cloud-based digital comics platform, proudly announced a digital distribution agreement with Dark Horse Comics, the largest independent comic book publisher, to bring their full digital catalog of collections, graphic novels, and manga to comiXology’s platform! Now, all Dark Horse Comics collections, graphic novels, and manga will be available on comiXology the same day the print versions arrive in bookstores.

“We are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement which brings the Dark Horse catalogue found in the Kindle Store to the comiXology platform,” remarked President and Publisher of Dark Horse Comics Mike Richardson.  “For the first time, hundreds of Dark Horse graphic novels will be available to comiXology’s devoted readers. The technology is stellar and we are pleased that our books will be showcased flawlessly.”

ROBYN HOOD #12 “A Tale of Rot”

Publisher: Zenescope

Available: 7/1/2015

I've been blessed by God with a GRITS -- a Girl Raised In The South. I've got the waistline to prove it. Which is why, when she asked me to write a review on her newly purchased cookbook, I was only a little disappointed.

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the book itself. It's just that there were so many non-surprises for me in it, because they were things I have on a regular basis: things that were regular Sunday dinners, things that were made on a weekend that carry the family through to Tuesday -- with tupperware contained lunches to boot!

Of course, we're also familiar with Big Smo, the fledgling country singer, through his reality show, and the food from Momma Smo -- June Smith -- is as regular a character there as anyone else, as any viewer can tell you.

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

There is a great disturbance in the Force.

After a year of establishing themselves as a major thorn in the Empire's side, the Rebels return for a second season to continue their fight for freedom. With the defeat of the Inquisitor in season one, the Empire is not to be outdone. Hera, Kanan, Ezra, Sabine and the rest of the crew will face a new threat.

Darth Vader.

While being the most notorious advocate for the Empire in the entire galaxy, the showrunners still plan to use Vader sparingly:

“I think you don’t want to overuse a character like that, and you don’t want to have characters like Darth Vader in a situation where he’s going to lose relentlessly,” Filoni told MTV News over the phone.

SAINT LOUIS (June 18, 2015) –  After weigh-ins at Scottrade Center on Thursday, Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock will finally settle their “Unfinished Business.”

“Bellator MMA: Kimbo vs. Shamrock,” which airs live and free on Spike at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT, features a main event between the aforementioned Slice and “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” The fight is nearly seven years in the making, after a fluke accident caused the cancellation of their first planned meeting.

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Prez #1

Remember HERMAN'S HEAD? It was a rather short-lived cult hit in the early days of the Fox Network. The show was about a fellow named Herman who had a Greek chorus of sorts who represented emotions arguing over the daily matters of Herman’s life.  While the show is probably best remembered for being an early vehicle for Hank Azaria and Yeardley Smith who would go on to become Fox mainstays on THE SIMPSONS, HERMAN'S HEAD was probably a show before its time. It went for the laughs, with guest appearances by Bobcat Goldthwait and Leslie Nielsen, but it never garnered high ratings and was cancelled after three seasons.

Austin Basis has a long and varied career in acting -- and lately a lot of it has been at the CW. As the newest season of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets underway, we spoke with the actor about his career and where things are going for his character on this fan-favorite television show.

You’re a very persistent actor. You’ve taken the traditional route from playing unnamed characters and bit parts, and worked your way up the ladder. Which I actually like to see over the “I just discovered somebody, let’s cast them and write them a million dollar check.”

UPDATE (6-23-2015): You may now pre-order this album!

According to Iron Maiden's website, they plan to release BOOK OF SOULS; their first studio album in nearly five years and their 16th overall.

Recorded in Paris, with their producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, they put the finishing touches onto it earlier this year. Given the recent health problems with frontman Bruce Dickinson, they wanted to wait until he was fully recovered before the album's launch.

Bassist (and founding member) Steve Harris, contributed to seven of the eleven tracks. And for the first time since 1984's POWERSLAVE, Dickinson has two tracks written entirely by him. BOOK OF SOULS is expected to have a total running time of 92 minutes, making it the bands first ever double studio album.

And that's a good thing!

On the surface it would appear that Superman and Wonder Woman are going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean that the writing is on the wall for DC's power couple. On the contrary, it simply means that they are learning more about one another. With each argument they endure, their relationship only grows stronger as they discover how best to deal with the other's needs.

Sure they're fictional characters, but when people start freaking out over an isolated incident or a disagreement, sometimes it's good to put things into perspective. Over the course of their young relationship we've seen them have differing opinions and philosophies. This happens in every relationship.

People shouldn't be climbing out on the ledge because they saw a panel of Superman telling Wonder Woman that he doesn't love her anymore.