by Michael Maillaro, Michael Weaver, and Guest Writer Graham “Grey” Scherl

Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #8 (Secret Wars: Last Days) by Al Ewing and Luke Ross

by Michael Maillaro, Michael Weaver, and Guest Writer Graham “Grey” Scherl

Front Lines is Critical Blast’s weekly roundup of all the Convergence and Secret Wars action going on.  We do this so you don’t have to.

You’re welcome!  

Special thanks this week to Grey who jumped in to help out with our main reviews!

Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. Three pretty unassuming Canadians fellows who, unlike many high profile celebrities, can often enjoy a peaceful meal without people recognizing them. I don’t know when they arrived in St. Louis for tonight’s gig at the Scottrade Center, but I bet they’re not quite as incognito here as they might be in Denver or Atlanta or Houston. St. Louis is a Rush town. If Sammy Haggar is our musical mayor, Rush is our Board of Aldermen. Kind of makes you think of their hit “Subdivisions” in a whole different way, doesn’t it?

There’s a good portion of America these days that probably hasn’t heard of Ed Sullivan or his variety show and thus don't know just how popular and important it was to the people of the US and to the careers of the performers who now occupy the status of legend in the entertainment industry.

Then there’s a good portion of us who were too young to remember THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW when it was on because we were too young by the time it wound down in 1971.

But there is still a sizable number of Americans who remember the show because they tuned in every week to see it. Those, dear reader, are the luckiest of all… because they got to see Elvis, the Beatles and so many more before all the rest of us.

Now, thanks to StarVista Entertainment, the rest of us can count ourselves lucky too. This 6-DVD set spans the entire run of THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, showcasing many of the talents that performed on it through the years.

PITCH PERFECT 2 hit a high note with me.  I tried not to set my expectations too high—I just wanted a light-hearted comedy that I could take at face value, and PP2 delivered!  Elizabeth Banks, who apparently likes to announce for both a capalla competitions and Hunger Games, directs this fun and fancy free sequel.  The movie starts out with the Barden Bellas going back to school in their senior year of college.  They have already won three national a capella titles after PITCH PERFECT, and end up in a more exhilarating singing competition faced with formidable German opponents Das Sound Machine. 

Maillaro: We really needed a break from all the EVENTS we’ve been covering lately, so we retreated to cover some Image stuff.   This week, we hit Ellis’s new series, Injection, and flash back to look at the first Saga trade.

The angel choir just got a whole lot sweeter Thursday night. Legendary blues guitarist Riley B. King -- "Blues Boy" King, and better known as B.B. King -- passed away in his Las Vegas home while undergoing home hospice care for dehydration.

King's particular guitar style and soulful voice were instrumental in elevating the blues genre into the mainstream. Together, he and his trusty Gibson ES-355 went on to produce more than forty albums, including "There Must Be a Better World Somewhere," "There is Always One More Time," and the unforgettable "Lucille," named after the moniker he gave his guitar after rescuing it from a burning bar in Twist, Arkansas, caused by a fight by two men over a girl named Lucille.

Twitter today is overflowing with tribute posts from musicians of all genres, a testament to the influence the man had on all of music.

HOLY CRAP!!  THIS LOOK GREAT!!  I wasn't all that sold on the Supergirl trailer, but I loved this one.

Some spoilers:

• Sarah Lance is alive thanks to Lazarus Pit. She's called White Canary now.
• Arthur Darvill's accent as Rip Hunter is incredible.
• The team consists of Captain Cold, Heatwave, White Canary, Atom, Firestorm, and Hawkgirl.  Though we also see Flash and Arrow in the teaser.
• Team is brought together to fight Vandal Savage.
• THE ATOM SHRINKS!!!

Without any further delay, here's the trailer:

If you weren’t lucky enough to get swept up in Chuck the first time around, you truly missed something unique. I got caught in the tidal wave at the very last scene of season two. My husband was watching the show and I was on my way through the living room. I stopped, watched the lead character, Chuck, do this thing where he looked at his bad guys, had some sort of flash, then did crazy, flipping kung fu. I remember looking at my husband and saying, “That was cool. Does he always do that?” To which he laughed and said, “Not like that!” I didn’t realize until I watched the seasons and caught up for myself that that scene was an awesome ending to season two. It truly only takes one scene to pull the viewer in. It’s a show made with passion that bleeds through to the audience.

I very clearly remember when they announced there would be a second series of this critically-acclaimed, fantastic show Broadchurch, and thinking, how on Earth is that possibly going to work? If you’ve seen the first series, it is quite clear, cut, and dry. The ending is a complete wrap-up. Sure, maybe there are a few lingering questions, but nothing that couldn’t be swept away with a short epilogue or possibly even left hanging on purpose to have the viewers realize that nothing is ever completely tidey. But, nonetheless, since the first series was amazing and the acting was spot on, how could I resist not coming back to Broadchurch for another visit? I hoped with crossed fingers the producers knew what they were doing and this wasn’t just a cash grab to keep a wayward series going, ie. Lost-style.

I know what everyone's going to say at the end of this trailer: How come everyone in the cast already seems to know that Kara is Supergirl? Her sister, her boyfriend, James (not Jimmy) Olsen (played by Mehcad Brooks), the DEO agent. Didn't THE FLASH take a whole season to do that (and he's supposed to be the fast one)? Seems the only one who doesn't know is Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) who named the Maid of Might after her initial appearance.

Like many females my age, the search for interesting, reasonably-priced leggings has become an epic quest. There aren’t a ton of options and the ones you run across are outrageously priced. As I googled and re-googled my search, I started becoming discouraged. I’m not a typical girl, I don’t follow trends and generally wear black shirts so I don’t have to figure out how things match. Yea, that kind of person. But when I started seeing these leggings popping up, I realized this was a perfectly comfortable, yet stylish way of flying my geek pride colors. I could wear these to work with a long sweater and get away with it. Oh, the exciting possibilities! My first thought when I saw the generally accepted prices were I could probably make these myself. I’m just that type of person.

TeeFury started offering leggings a few weeks ago. I have tons of TeeFury shirts and have watched them expand like a rabbit family over the last year or so. Their original, simple concept is a winning one. If you've never bought a shirt from TeeFury, the idea is most shirts are only offered for that day and are designed by fans. Many times the shirts are cross-geekdom and completely irresistable. As an added bonus, the price is perfect. A standard size shirt is $11 and shipping is usually only a few bucks. For less than $20, you have these cleverly designed shirts that are unique and rare. Then they started expanding their merchandise by offering Women’s and Toddler sizes. More recently, TeeFury starting offering custom sneakers, posters and, the aforementioned, leggings.

It really shouldn't have worked. I mean, none of it fits: The Guardians of the Galaxy comic book has always been something of a mish-mash of incongruent characters that don't fit anywhere else. The cast of the film included an unlikely lead in Chris Pratt, a professional wrestler and MMA fighter in Dave Bautsta, and two of the sexiest actors around--so the lades tell me--in Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel doing voce-over work! Impossible? Not for James Gunn, the director who turned this crazy dea into yet another Marvel cinematic success. Mr. Gunn shouldn't bill himself as "director" anymore. His credit should read "Alchemist." Who else could turn this leaden concept into pure gold?

The votiing for this one wasn't even close, with Guardians pulling in a whopping 46% of all votes. The only one that came close was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with 23%.

Cheap Pops - May 13, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

• E:60 Behind the Curtain

• Best in Our World: Wrestlers as comic characters

• Elimination Chamber returns

The underlying theme of the book, Woven, is about passion. Passion to become your own person, passion to fall in love, and passion to achieve your goals. Even though the setting for the book is unconventional, the drive behind the book is undeniable. With the book, my editor received a note emphasizing the author's own struggle and passion to create this mystical story. It, in and of itself, is a woven journey on the road of life to get this book published and ends up being a soul-strengthening tale of overcoming odds. Just one day before the book was set to be released, it was pulled because of the author's personal life choices. Despite this defeat, the author faced down these injustices, garnered international attention, and managed to draw the interest of the biggest publishers in the US.

I really loved Peter Capaldi’s first season playing The Doctor. I even took the time to review every episode as they aired, something I plan on doing again this season. I was fortunate enough to get the first issue of this series at New York Comic Con before it was available for sale, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. When Titan reached out to us about reviewing the first collection, I had to take advantage.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Volume 1 - Terrorformer

Written by: Robbie Morrison
Art by: Dave Taylor and Mariano Laclaustra
Colored by: Hi-Fi and Luis Guerrero
Lettered by: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt

Published by: Titan
Cover Price: $19.99

This collection contains Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor #1-5.

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

George Lucas gets a lot of Internet anger directed his way. In fact, I've made some choice criticisms about his work over the years.  Still, it's hard to argue that for many of us he created our favorite fictional world.  It doesn't just stop with STAR WARS either. My God, the Indiana Jones trilogy is amongst my most loved films, as well.

While most of the work he's created in the past twenty years doesn't stand up to those classics I mentioned above, he did release the wonderful RED TAILS a few years ago.  Like any creator, Lucas is hit or miss, but his highs are so far above most others, it boggles the mind.

From Yahoo News:

Archie Comics, the acclaimed and bestselling comic book publisher that is home to some of the best-known pop culture creations in the world, including Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica, Josie & The Pussycats, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the hit AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE series, announced today that it would launch a historic crowdfunding campaign via the popular Kickstarter platform.

The Kickstarter campaign’s call to action is a simple one: Help Archie Comics build a New Riverdale. Specifically, the Kickstarter will ask fans to help fund a slate of titles that build off the surefire success of ARCHIE #1 ­­­­­— the debut issue of a new, ongoing ARCHIE series from writer Mark Waid (Daredevil, Kingdom Come) and artist Fiona Staples (Saga). The series will be crafted by some of the biggest names in the comic book industry and feature the most beloved characters in comic book history.