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.

From Comic Book Resources:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment trumpeted its “toy-to-life” console game LEGO Dimensions last month, it promised “a lot more” properties would join the likes of DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings and Back to the Future at launch. Thanks to a leak, we now know at least some of them — including Doctor Who, Portal 2, Jurassic World and The Simpsons.

Similar in approach to the popular Skylanders and Disney Infinity, LEGO Dimensions will enable players to purchase LEGO sets that they’ll build into characters, vehicles and devices that can be introduced into the game with the Toy Pad. They’ll be able to mix and match characters and objects from a range of properties, changing and expanding gameplay.

Blast of the Week -  What did you think of Avengers: Age of Ultron?

By Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Convergence:  Nightwing and Oracle #2 by Gail Simone and Jan Durrsema

For my generation, Christopher Reeve will always be the best Superman, and Michael Keaton will always be the best Batman. Taking on an iconic superhero role always runs the risk of stereotyping the actor, but Michael Keaton had already made a name for himself before donning the cape and cowl, with a string of comedies like JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY, MR. MOM, and BEETLEJUICE, contrasted with incredible dramatic performances in shows like CLEAN AND SOBER and, later, PACIFIC HEIGHTS.

As Riggan Thomson, the lead character of BIRDMAN (subtitled THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), Keaton portrays a washed-up actor, best known for having played the titular superhero, Birdman. While Keaton may have had some experience to draw on for part of this, he's never been "washed up" and has kept busy his entire career. With BIRDMAN, Keaton delivers a disturbing performance of a man mocked by his past and taking incredible risks to redeem his status, even if it takes suicide.

By Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Front Lines is Critical Blast's weekly look at the "reality changing" events going on in the DC and Marvel universe.  For the first month, we had a little bit of a cushion as we were only talking about Convergence. But now Secret Wars is in full swing too, so May is going to be a VERY busy month for your Front Lines team.

Secret Wars

These are some things I've noticed in my past few months as strictly a fan and not a guy doing any sort of coverage of the comics industry. (I am not using sarcasm tags, so hopefully the sarcastic ones stand out and I don't have to shake my head that the point went over someone's head):

Peter Dinklage's star has been on the rise for a number of years now, but it certainly began shining its brightest when he took on the role of Tyrion Lannister in the HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin's sword and sorcery epic novel series, GAME OF THRONES. The series features a wide cast of characters (and rumor has it you should never get too attached to any of them), but it was Dinklage and his portrayal of Tyrion that captured the hearts and minds of fans, as reflected in the votes for this category.

According to Hollywood legend, Martin had no other actor in mind for the part of Tyrion, and no other auditions were held for the role; there was no one else to be considered but Dinklage. Whether that's true or just an interesting bit of filmmaking apocrypha, what ultimately matters is that Dinklage brings the wit and wisdom, the comedy and tragedy, of this character to a level that resonates with fans.

I was recently invited to see Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Robert G. Reim Theatre in the Kirkwood Community Center. Millie, based on the 1967 film of the same name, was a hit on Broadway, winning a number of Tony Awards including Best Musical in 2002. I have always enjoyed works based on the 1920s, from art deco architecture aand design to the lavish lifestyles depicted in books like F. Scott Fitgerald's "The Great Gatsby." I had no idea what to expect from this show, but I had a hunch I'd enjoy it. I was right!

By Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Maillaro: Team Open Mike continues our mad quest to cover the front lines of Marvel and DC's huge crossovers.  This week, we hit Secret Wars (both the current one, and a quick glimpse back at Secret Wars 2).

Secret Wars (2015) #1

Disney has finally started to release some information on their forthcoming Disney Infinity 3.0.   What we know so far is that the game will be very Star Wars heavy.  The new starter pack will come with Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.   I am actually surprised they didn't got a little heavier on Rebels or The Force Awakens...but the variety of figures here is pretty cool. 

We also got a pretty cool trailer, which features a lot of vehicle action and lightsaber duels, which makes sense for Star Wars.  Hopefully they will have decent controls for the flying:
 

On the Marvel side, the only new character they have shown is Hulkbuster Ironman.

There's a reason why the CW is the #1 broadcast network on Tuesday nights among men 18 to 34, and that reason wears a red uniform. His name is Barry Allen, and he is not only The Fastest Man Alive, he's a ratings bonanza.

Grant Gustin is accompanied by an ensemble cast that has made THE FLASH one of the must-watch series on television. His premiere episode outpaced every show in CW history to become their most watched telecast ever, pulling in more than 13 million viewers across all viewing platforms.

It's no surprise, therefore, that THE FLASH won handily in the voting for Best Television Series of 2014. But it wasn't without some pretty stiff competition. Close on its heels was ARROW, followed by BBC's DOCTOR WHO.