Throughout the course of her career, Liesel Van Helsing has run up against her share of foul creatures. But now she may have met her equal, in a battle that has been generations in coming.

When her safe house is burgled, Liesel finds herself on a two-week tear through the city, following clues and taking out demons while trying to recover that which was lost.

But while the thief has a personal connection to the stolen property, Liesel herself finds herself serendipitously in the possession of a lost family artifact when she busts up a demon-run fencing operation.

The titular conflict of VAN HELSING VS. DRACULA'S DAUGHTER doesn't quite happen in this first issue, but that doesn't mean either lady isn't in the thick of it. While Van Helsing has her hands full of hellspawn, her future opponent is making herself known to two of Liesel's friends -- visiting newlyweds, Jonathan and Mina Harker!

Once upon a time, Riverdale was Main Street USA -- the perfect place, frozen in a perfect time. But for the past several years, the home town of Archie Andrews has become a magnet for violence and horror -- and the fans are eating it up!

The latest is this jointly-licensed property through Dynamite Comics, RED SONJA AND VAMPIRELLA MEET BETTY AND VERONICA. When the She-Devil with a Sword and the Darling of Draculon chase a chaos cultist thorugh dimensions, they are brought to Riverdale, where they must go undercover as high school students. Holy 21 Jump Street, Batman! Fortunately, they have some help blending in -- which is even harder than you might think -- with the assistance of Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, who are just as keen to find the serial killer who has been plaguing the Riverdale Police Department.

The last time I saw the Death-Defying Devil in Dynamite Comics, he was a spirit on the level of The Spectre, able to stride down the street while looking over skyscrapers. Quite a leap from his time as Daredevil (yes, that's his real name, much like Shazam's real name is Captain Marvel, and like Captain Marvel he also had the name first), when he fought in the streets and had a band of feistly little kids as his entourage.

Well he doesn't have the entourage, but he's definitely back down to street level in this newest series, DEATH-DEFYING DEVIL, by Gail Simone and Walter Geovani.

The iconic Batman tour-de-force that served as a vehicle for Jim Lee's introduction to the DC Comics stable, HUSH, is the latest storyline to be adapted into the DCAU straight-to-DVD library, and scene omissions and straight-up plot changes, it's a largely enjoyable way to pass 90 minutes.

When I read that this was the first LENORE issue in five years, my first thought was, "Gosh, I must have read a reprint, because I know it was only just a few months ago when I reviewed LENORE." So I looked up the review. And I looked at the date.

Tempus fugit. Which is Latin for "Life comes at you fast." The hip Roman kids used to carve #TEMPUSFUGIT on the columns of the coliseum.

So for the past five years, Lenore -- the cute little dead girl -- has been holed up in her home with her demon friend Pooty, trying not to get eaten by an insane pickle hat (not a typo) just waiting for them to open the door. Needless to say, she's very hungry now. But food will come in some of the most unexpected places.

UGLYDOLLS is one of those films that works if you (a) don't question things and (b) have something to read while your kids watch it. The premise of the Overly Optimistic Outcast has simply been done to death, and it would take some masterful storytelling to jolt some life into that tired old plot.

The UglyDolls are toys that didn't make the quality cut at the factory, and get shunted down a chute to Uglyville. Moxie (KELLY CLARKSON) still dreams of making it to "the big world" and finding her child, and every day in Uglyville is a party with Moxie at the head of it. No one thinks Moxie will every realize her dream, but none of them, not even Mayor Ox (BLAKE SHELTON), crush her positive attitude.

The news from CW about the next season's huge crossover (just around the corner, really, with episodes in December 2019 and January 2020) continue to tease fans with new potentials at every turn. With the recent revelation that KEVIN CONROY will be appearing in the event as an older Bruce Wayne, it's easy to think he may be playing the Bruce Wayne seen in BATMAN BEYOND.

But there's also the possibility he's playing an entirely different Batman -- perhaps a kinder, gentler, exceedingly poite and moral Batman.

Earlier it was revealed that BURT WARD would also have a role to play in the upcoming CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS. Ward, of course, played Robin in the 1960s Batman television show, opposite of Adam West. With the addition of Conroy to the multiversal cast, it raises the potential likelihood that what we may get to see are a retired Dynamic Duo -- a Batman and Robin who, on another Earth, had their heyday in the swinging 60s and 70s.

Look! Up in the Sky! It's a new Critical Blast Bombshell of the Month!

Every month the staff at Critical Blast combs the cosplay community for up and coming cosplayers who deserve to have a broader audience for their work, taking into account not only costuming skills and spirit, but also how they use that ability in service to others. Through this, we've not only met some talented cosplayers, but also some fine human beings.

This month, we expand our reach to Krypton (No, we don't believe it either, but we also can't disprove it) for a cosplayer whose scope ranges from capes to armor. So without futher ado, we are happy to introduce  you now to our...

All of time and space? Something for your bucket list--especially if you get to travel it in the company of the immortal Doctor Who. Over the show's fifty-plus year history, the regenerating Doctor (a plot device used to cover the change of actors as the show progressed) has gone through a number of unusual and dramatic changes. But none have been more dramatic than when we met the Thirteenth Doctor, when former Doctor, Peter Capaldi, ended his tenure on the show giving way to Jodie Whittaker, the first time we have seen the Doctor regenerate as a woman (even though we knew it was possible, when the Doctor's longtime foe, the Master, regenerated as "Missy").

No facial expressions. It's not animated. It's not live-action. Of all the criticisms out there about Disney's photorealistic update of The Lion King there's one thing it's not: 

A failure.

BRAND is one of many new independent comics coming from the crowdfunding trend that has grown up over the past two years. The brainchild of writer Antonio Brice and artist Caanan White, the comic book is mostly impeccably drawn and colored, and each individual scene is compelling in its narrative.

It's when looking at the book as a whole where things suffer.

The Great Train Show made a stop in Belleville, Illinois this weekend, bringing with it something for train enthusiasts of all ages -- from wooden tracks and LEGO to modern and antique HO scale locomotives.

Vendors displayed their wares up and down the length of the Belle-Clair Expo Center, with something in a price range for everyone. You could pick up display pieces for as little as a dollar, or drop several hundred on a rare engine or a brand new set. And beyond the vendors, several St. Louis area train clubs were on hand with their highly detailed arrays of tracks and scenery, as well as a few surprises we didn't expect, including some video producers who catered to trainspotters with DVDs and Blu-rays.

Click the video below for a virtual experience and meet some of the people behind the event.

There are more than ten, we’re sure, but these are the topmost laughs that just about anyone can recognize with their eyes closed. So here, for grins and giggles, are the ten that stand out above the rest.

I’ve been a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s work since 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, a strange little criminal caper featuring a hardboiled mix of miscreants portrayed by the likes Michael Madsen and Tim Roth. Twenty-seven years later, his ninth feature film—if you count the Kill Bill films as one big one released in two parts—is Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. Does the genius who created Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Bastards still have the vision to tell quirky tales of unlikely heroes as only he can?

SAN DIEGO, CA (July 25, 2019) – IDW Publishing is proud to debut Rom: Dire Wraiths, a three-part comic book miniseries about Earth’s incomparable heroes – the astronauts whose mission among the stars brought them face-to-face with the Dire Wraiths, the shape-shifting scourge of the universe!

The 80s anthem, FOOTLOOSE, defined a generation that wanted--nay, needed!--to blow off steam through music and motion. It was a time when we wanted to get physical, to dance in the streets and dance in the sheets, and nothing was going to stop us now.

The classic show became a musical in 1998, and tonight the cast at The Muny delivered the penultimate performance of the show's St. Louis run.

The musical adaptation takes a few liberties with the script, of course, sometimes for time considerations, and sometimes for simplicity of stage direction. Instead of Ren McCormack (MASON REEVES) working at a grain mill, he waits tables at a burger joint. And preacher's daughter Ariel Moore (McKENZIE KURTZ) has her daredevil urges tamed down so that she's screaming at trains instead of in front of them.

Ian Fleming's MI-5 agent James Bond has thrilled and chilled readers and moviegoers for decades. But despite all that history, how well does anyone truly know the man?

Jeff Parker and Bob Quinn team up through Dynamite Comics to give us a Bond we've never seen before; a Bond who could be both shaken and stirred, far from infallible, hardly smooth, but very much showing that diamond in the rough quality that makes him a candidate for a new type of defense program.

When we meet Bond, he is only 17, growing up in a Britain beseiged by Nazi blitzkreigs. A student, he teaches judo on the side, and befriends a German professor who knew his mother from their years at school together. But when the professor is attacked and killed, James takes the initiative to track down the men behind it, causing him to miss his train for a class outing.

The character you are about to see in this movie has a lengthy and rich history, nearly as long as Superman's, and peppered with controversy from the beginning.

And, despite a relatively recent change to the comic book mythos that carried over to this movie, his name is not Shazam. His name is Captain Marvel, and he predates a certain Air Force pilot turned alien warrior turned superhero by leaps and bounds. "Shazam" is what he shouts to change from youthful Billy Batson into his adult hero persona, as he does in this movie. Why would he call himself "Shazam" if every time he introduced himself he ended up changing identies?

Disney made a name for itself in the film industry by plumbing the depths of folk and fairy tales. These days, Disney has found a new path to the box office, by mining the depths of Disney itself. It sounds a bit like an ouroboris, the mythical snake that eats its own tail. But, surprisingly, it's been working, and this latest outing is no exception -- in fact, it probably surpasses all previous live-action remakes of animated classics.

There's something about Veronica. Veronica Mars, that is. The Kristen Bell character won the hearts and minds of fans and marshmallows during the three-season run of the series -- so much, so, in fact, that when showrunner Rob Thomas pitched the idea for a motion picture if he could raise the funds, he set a record on Kickstarter almost overnight.

Now fans have a new reason to celebrate, as the news just broke out of San Diego Comic Con from Bell herself that all eight episodes of VERONICA MARS Season Four are now available for streaming on Hulu!

Here's the trailer as a convincer, in case you haven't already pounced on that link we just provided to begin the crime-fighting binging.