The Vaude-villains are a group of criminals unlike anything existing in comics. Created by a person or persons unknown in TAP DANCE KILLER #1, they were an innocent group of actors hired to play roles in a horror musical, transformed through chemical means into being psychologically traped in their roles. While on-stage, they performed the deed they were programmed to -- the elimination of members of the Vitalli mob family.

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

Tis the season to be jolly, hang the holly, and oh! by golly get into the folly of...

You know, sometimes a line just doesn't go where you plan it to. But you get the idea. It's December, and everyone's thoughts are turning to that special person in the special outfit who brings us wonderful feelings of happiness.

Nope, not him. At least, not in the Critical Blast offices. We're still totally ready for Santa, sure, but it's our monthly cosplay model who is all the buzz today.

We couldn't wait until Christmas to unwrap this gift. So, please, gather round and feel the comfort and joy as Critical Blast presents to you our...

Critical Blast Bombshell, December 2018

Spittani

The schedule must be getting tight on the 20-page comic (remember when they were 22 pages?) HEROES IN CRISIS, because the former lead artist, Clay Mann, was only able to turn in the first page and the last page of this issue, which were basically the confidential confessional pages. Lee Weeks picks up the rest of the in-between, where Tom King's plot doesn't move the action forward from the previous issue (or even the issue before that).

That's because this issue is done entirely in flashback, to fill in the gaps and answer some of the questions about what Sanctuary was and how it operated.

I’ve gotta say, the Joker of the future is looking pretty spry for a (very) white guy.

The Clown Prince of Crime has been hinted to still be alive during the time of the BATMAN BEYOND comic book series, which has this reviewer questioning whether or not the animated movie BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER has any bearing on the comic book canon, which seems to be an anchor-point in actual DC Comics future history. At the end of the previous issue, he brought down a high-rise owned by Bruce Wayne, although nobody as yet knows he’s responsible. He only took credit for it when he confronted Barbara Gordon, surprising her in her office and narrowly missing her with a bullet.

My first exposure to the tradition of Krampus came through Brom's exquisite horror novel, KRAMPUS: THE YULE LORD. Since then, I've seen Krampus headline a film and appear in a few other media outlets.

The horned devil appears in this issue of TAROT, WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE, doing that thing he does: kidnapping naughty children to be taken away and whipped with a switch. But he stands opposed by Tarot, who seeks him out each year in her attempts to stop him. Unfortunately, he is more powerful than most magical-based entities she battles. Her magic doesn't affect him, but his magic -- a very unusual magic for the task he has at hand -- certainly has an impact on Tarot. (Take the plot of Milo Manara's SWITCH and instill it into a magic bell, and you'll figure it out.)

Things are getting seriously weird in RIVERDALE as Betty (LILI REINHART) and Jughead (COLE SPROUSE) won't let go of their investigation into the Gargoyle King and the addictive role-playing game of Griffins & Gargoyles. With the Warden having commited suicide via the traditional means of ascendance -- cyanide and blue fruit-like-flavored drink (Kraft Foods will seemingly never break the link to them and the Jim Jones tragedy that forever tainted their brand) -- Jughead is left without a primary suspect for the Gargoyle King. But Betty uncovers that their parents knew the Warden when they were playing G&G in high school, when he was the RROTC instructor. She lures all the parents to Veronica's speakeasy through forged invitations from the Gargoyle King, intent on interrogating them to find out which of yhem might have committed the first G&G murder. The finger of suspicion points conveniently to Darryl Doiley -- convenient, because he killed himself years ago.

It's Thanksgiving on THE FLASH, and the parallel themes running triplicate through this plot are all about fathers and daughters, and the relationships that build between them.

When thirteen-year-old Ben wakes up in a fantasy land called Meridia, he encounters evil faeries, transparent elves, and others like him called 'weeds.'  The world he has entered is disappearing, or 'fading.'  All things are vanishing.  ”What once was, never was.”  Fortunately, Ben is wearing a watch, albeit broken, that can stop the Fading.  He befriends brother elves, Tamerlane and Charlemagne, as well as other weeds Queen Regent Avery and Marcus.  They are attacked, and barely escape one of the Sovereign’s generals in the queen’s crystal castle.  Together they set out on an adventure to find The Creator to stop the Fading.  During the journey, they acquire three dragonwoofs, creatures Ben describes as, “You really are just a dog, aren’t you?”  The dragonwoofs used to be able to fly and breathe fire; but no longer, and they are almost extinct in Meridia.

There have been lots of comic book based coloring books to come out, and honestly they are a whole lot more fun than some of the other coloring books that have been published and marketed toward adults. Who wouldn't want to take a crack at coloring some of our favorite comic panels? Because these have basically been the actual comics, sans color -- not the coloring books of yore that were thick black lines with no details, created solely and originally as coloring material.

The nice thing about ARCHIE'S HOLIDAY COLORING BOOK is that there are so many years to pull from--decades, even, from covers to pin-ups. The word balloons have been left intact for the jokes, and many of them are some classic Dan DeCarlo Betty and Veronica images.

No matter how fastidious you are in maintaining your comic shop pull list in your never-ending battle to make sure you don't miss anything good (or accidentally waste your money on something not so much), it never hurts to do a last minute check on what's coming out this week so you can make those fine-tuned adjustments.

Here are our looks at this week's upcoming comics, and our hot takes on whether they're a pick or a pan. Your mileage may vary.

Retro games have been out on the market for some time now. You can find them in any store's toy aisle, with classic titles like Pac-Man, Asteroids, and others. The catch: they're almost all Plug-and-Play. Which is fine if you don't mind sitting within four feet of the screen.

Enter AtGames and their new line of Flashback Blast!

To illustrate what makes these games different, we ran one of the units through an experienced video game tester.

I've expressed previously my love for the old DC horror titles like GHOSTS and HOUSE OF SECRETS, or Charlton's MIDNIGHT TALES (featuring the Midnight Philospher and his hot little niece, Arachne), and how disappointing it is that such titles don't exist in the market these days.

I stand corrected. There is at least one title out there that captures the twist-ending, twisted-horror that these older books did so well, albeit with a touch more mature language. Zenescope's GRIMM TALES OF TERROR continues to bring the Twilight Zone-esque feel with stories that have endings you simply don't see coming.

"Don't Flash Your Lights" builds on an urban legend about gang initiations that involve random killings.

Click to enlarge.

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” 
― George Orwell, 1984

We communicate with words. We may communicate crudely or eloquently, but nevertheless we do it with words. And as we mature, we learn there are words that are better than others, and there are words that are not spoken in polite society.

And then there are words that are not only looked down upon, but they are controlled. They can be said, but only by certain people. This act of protectionism embues a word with power, ideally to remove the power of hate from it when used by those who would use it thusly.

We know the most prominent of these words by their first letters. The F-word. The N-word. Say them in the wrong place, or be the wrong person, and your environment can quickly change.

Which is why it was such a shocking moment when X-Man Kitty Pryde dropped one of these bombs in the classic X-Men graphic novel, GOD LOVES, MAN KILLS.

The biggest challenge I face as a critic is telling you, my wonderful readers, about films I truly enjoy. When a film is terrible, I have no shortage of material. When a film is just so-so, I can explain the good and the bad in equal parts. However, when a film knocks my socks off I don't really want to tell you anything about it. I want to transform into my 10 year-old self and say, "Ohmigod you have to see this! It's so hilarious! There's this one part that had me laughing so hard but I can't tell you about it because it would ruin your fun so why are you still here holy crap go see it and then we'll talk!" And that, my friends, is how I feel about Ralph Breaks The Internet. 

It’s amazing to me how modern country music has lost its differentiation from other forms of modern music, like it sold its soul to rock and roll. Today it all seems like just rock music with just a touch of country added, no doubt to stay more mainstream and modern.

What a breath of fresh air it was, then, for me to listen to WHO I AM from TJ Hernandez.

Immediately upon clicking on the first track in my player, I realized I wasn’t listening to mainstream country pop music. (Huzzah!) I was listening to old school country--in voice, lyrics and musicianship, this was country music as it was when it was known as Country and Western!

The songs are lyrical stories, with the first song, “Corporate Man,” being a well-constructed song. Just by reading the lyrics you would say, “This is a Country & Western song.” And with its pedal steel and twangy guitar, it completes the picture.

People can't get enough of MARS ATTACKS, as the big-brained aliens seem to re-attack us every couple of years now.

This viewpoint of the alien invasion is grounded by the story of a man and his elderly father. It's a contentious relationship, as the older man is a conservative retired U.S. Marine with a cantanerous attitude, while the younger one is more of a pacifist who has never lived up to his old man's expectations.

The two of them find themselves on the run for survival when the Martians attack the nursing home, leaving the entire landscape charred. Now with the son pushing the father in a wheelbarrow -- the only mode of transportation they could find -- the two encounter a militia group ready to take on the invaders. They're armed to the teeth with all kinds of guns, and one of them even has a bazooka.

Adventure in the fashionable fifties continue as Bettie Page finally gets her own ongoing series, after a few minis and a Halloween One-Shot. The pin-up queen, who came to comic book prominence largely thanks to the tireless efforts of the late Dave Stevens, now leads her own series as a special agent, working a division that deals with U.F.O.s and extra-dimensional threats.

Sevi Ettinger is a 15 year old with a heart for her fellow human being’s suffering. And while there are many songs written about the ravages of war, few are written about the suffering of all the refugees on this world, as humans flee for their lives and the lives of their children to start a better life, only to find themselves still living in harsh conditions and unable to fulfill their dreams.

SALTY WATER is an EP album of 4 songs filled and expressed with the long suffering that Sevi has felt for these refugees. The title song, “Salty Water,” was written by her while living in Shanghai, with the aid of an app on her phone as she was moved by the plight of the Syrian refugees.

For those two or three of you who haven’t seen the trailer yet for the live-action Detective Pikachu film, may we present to you:

So yeah, not only did they actually go through with it but what has already been shown in this one trailer has already blown away people's expectations entirely. This does make us wonder though, what other difficult to adapt games and anime might be suited to live-action film or television to be released somewhere down the line?