Thus far, our plucky village-girl-turned-princess Sofia (Ariel Winter) has been lucky: nobody close to her -- not counting the scheming Cedric (Jess Harnell) -- has discovered that she has magical powers at her disposal thanks to the Amulet of Avalor, which allows her to talk to animals and call any princess to her in a time of dire need.

That lucky streak breaks, however, when her sister, Amber (Darcy Rose Byrnes) catches Sophia talking to her animal friends, forcing Sofia to tell her about the amulet's power. Amber's jealousy drives her to scheme a way to get to use the amulet herself, to call a princess of her own, just to meet her -- she's hoping for Rapunzel. But she is unaware of the amulet's legend:

Open Mike Night

by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Spider-Gwen #1

Written by: Jason Latour
Art by: Robbi Rodriguez
Colored by:  Rico Renzi
Lettered by: VC's Clayton Cowles
Cover by: Robbi Rodriguez

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

From Deadline:

Disney XD is revisiting Ducktales. The network said today that it has ordered a new animated comedy series based on the Emmy-winning series that aired from 1987-1990 as part of The Disney Afternoon daily syndicated cartoon block. The new series is slated to launch in 2017. Produced by Disney Television Animation, Ducktales will again star Disney’s iconic characters Scrooge McDuck, his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Donald Duck.

The new series will follow Scrooge McDuck, his curious and mischief-making grandnephews — Huey, Dewey and Louie — and the optimistic yet temperamental Donald Duck as they embark on high-flying adventures worldwide. Other beloved characters slated to be in the new stories are: Duckworth, Gyro Gearloose, Launchpad McQuack, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica DeSpell & Poe, Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys (Burger Beagle, Bouncer Beagle), Mrs. Beakley and Webbigail Vanderquack.

Cheap Pops - February 25, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

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by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Superman & Batman: Generations

Featured: Earth 38

Written by: John Byrne
Art by: John Byrne
Lettered by: John Bryne
Colored by: Trish Mulvihill
Published by: DC

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

Amazing Spider-Man #15 – Spider-Verse epilogue.  Spider-Verse was a great story, though I did think the end was a bit abrupt.  I’m curious how they are going to wrap up Spider-Ock’s story, so this is a huge issue for me.

As I sit to watch Horrible Bosses 2, I remember the first one being pretty amusing. Jason Sudeikis was one of my favorite recent SNL members, Charlie Day is genius in It's Always Sunny in Philly, and who doesn't love Jason Bateman, the only (fairly) sane Bluth. It's this casting adoration that drew me to the first movie and made me return for the second. However, it IS a sequel. With trepidation, I hit play, knowing sequels are generally regurgitated humor posing as original wit.

The movie opens with the Clash singing Police on My Back, so at least we know someone involved has good musical taste. We jump right in with the lead trio having witty banter, an Austin Powers-seque visual penis gag and vaguely racist humor, that is a strong start so far and sets the tone. There will be no high-minded comedy hiding around here. If only they could shoehorn in a fart joke, we would be set.

Getting middle schoolers to read is as easy as pushing a boulder up a hill with an anvil attached to your back as monkeys bounce on your head. I would know, I teach them. It's just a generalization, but the majority of them claim to have much more interesting things to do then sit down and read a real, page-turning, wood-fiber-smelling, honest to God book. And I'm not too big to admit, when I received the book in the mail, I had wandering thoughts of seeing if I could just download the book on my iPad and read it. Seriously, who carries around a book in the hand anymore? But as soon as I opened the first page and the waft of new book smell carried through the air, I remembered how wonderful it was to hold a book in your hand and feel the weight of the author's words printed on paper. It caused me to wonder if my students ever knew the enjoyment of trying to figure out how to transport books with them so they would have it on hand for any free moments to read just a few more pages.

Spiderwick has an alternative source of facts. Fablehaven has competition. And Hagrid wipes a tear from his eye as he adds a new volume to the summer reading list for the Care of Magical Creatures.

This is all due to one Pip Bartlett, a young girl who lives in America which is exactly like the one we know -- except for the zoology, which has been expanded to include magical creatures. Despite all this magic that people have everyday contact, there is an unshakeable disbelief in Pip's claim that she has the ability to talk with these creatures like some eldrich Doctor Dolittle. Perhaps that's because she can talk with the creatures and understand them, but they're under no obligation to obey what she tells them.

editorial by Dr. Richard R. Reichel

Hollywood and the entire United States are missing out on huge opportunities that not only could improve the entertainment industry, but greatly benefit our nation financially and add thousands of jobs.

Remember what happened to our automotive industry because of foreign imports? Something similar is occurring with America’s film industry. Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries are slowly but surely taking our movie and TV business away. China is rapidly building up a significant film enterprise.

In the U.S., California is no longer No. 1 for filmmaking. Louisiana does more production. California says it will triple its tax-credit dollars to $330 million, but this is too little too late.

I actually am amazed that Batwing lasted as long as it did. The fact is managed to reach 34 issues (36 if you count the 0 issues and the Future's End special) is a pretty astonishing feat. Batwing seemed perpetually on the low end of the sale's chart, but DC stuck with it for a long time. Batwing started as a member of Batman Inc stationed in Africa who would deal with villains and problems in that region. It was a very unique book, and I thought Judd Winick did a great job with it.

There have been quite a few comic series lately that have expanded on or continued TV series. Smallville, Arrow, Flash, Young Justice, Buffy, Angel, X-Files, and Charmed come to mind. Most of these series have been very good. In fact, I was never even much of a fan of Smallville, but the comic series was excellent. I actually like this trend, and hope we see it more for TV series, especially those that ended far too soon.

Silk #1

Written by: Robbie Thompson
Art by: Stacey Lee
Colored by: Ian Herring
Lettered by: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover by: Dave Johnson

This contest has completed. The randomly selected winner is Eric R. of Gibsonia, PA. Congratulations, Eric!

Batman has joined the newly formed Justice League in order to keep tabs on Superman, a mistrust that is complicated by Superman’s clumsy – but well-meaning – clone, Bizarro. Bizarro’s creation of the Bizarro League has caused confusion amongst the world’s greatest Super Heroes, but an even greater and mysterious threat may force the Justice League and Bizarro League to band together to defeat evil.

Okay, we know you're here to enter your name into the form at the bottom and get into this giveaway. But before we get to that, we have some things here that we think you'll really enjoy.

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

Chris: I've got to say, I'm not really certain where a lot these matches are going.  WWE TV has certainly picked up on the Road to Wrestlemania.  Roman Reigns' stock has risen in my eyes because he has Daniel Bryan there to help get him over.  My first thoughts on the show are a lot of title changes.  I miss Elimination Chamber, which was a super fun gimmick match, but this is shaping up to be a solid show with lots of fresh matches.

From Variety:

Aquaman has officially landed.

Director Zack Snyder tweeted the first photo of Jason Momoa as DC Comics superhero Aquaman on Thursday night.

Momoa, ex-star of “Game of Thrones,” will appear in Snyder’s upcoming film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” as well as the future Justice League films.

In the DC comic books, Aquaman is the king of the seven seas, hence the poster slogan.

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” hits theaters March 25, 2016.

Here’s the full photo:

Source: Variety

I've been a fan of Funko's Pop Vinyl line for a while, and Doctor Who has always been a license I hoped they would get around to releasing.  Well, good news everyone, starting in June, we will finally have some cute, beady eyed Doctor Who vinyls for your display shelves.  The line will have nine figures: Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, the TARDIS, a Dalek, a Weeping Angel, a Cyberman, and an Adipose.

I ended up already pre-ordering Tom Baker, Peter Capaldi, and David Tennant.  And I think the Dalek is particularly bad ass. 

Here are the pictures:

During Grant Morrison's rather insane run through the BATMAN series a while back, there were two issues that seemed a little off: BATMAN #666 and BATMAN #700. These featured a rather violent Batman a generation into the future. We learned that this Batman was the grown Damian Wayne, and he seemed a little off in the head (he talks to a cat named Alfred) and he's got a bit of an invulnerability power not seen before. Morrison seemed to be messing with our heads with this, because some time after that, in current continuity, Damian was killed at the hands of his mother, Talia al Ghul.

With Damian's recent resurrection -- and with super powers, no less -- it seems almost a certainty that this Batman is an established future, much the way that Jason Todd's death became an established past with statements made in Frank Miller's BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

What’s this now?

As part of Critical Blast’s journey through the DC Multiverse, Open Mike Night will be expanding to showcase some of the comics that helped shape DC’s many, many worlds. We have some pretty cool features planned here, so keep coming back.

As Marvel keeps rolling out their Secret Wars plans, we will probably be expanding to include some of those worlds too.  More on that in the coming weeks!

Justice League of America (1960) 29+30

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

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