Comics

"The Gift" leads up to the wedding of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle by taking us, after the events of METAL and all the various universes to -- you guessed it -- another alternate universe. In this case, it's an alternate timeline -- a BoosterPoint universe.

Gotham City is unrecognizable. Jokers -- plural, and way more than just three -- run amok in the streets. Tim Drake has a cubicle job, Jason Todd sells tires, and Duke Thomas is a mental invalid. And where is the Batman?

He's armed to the teeth and killing superheroes who come to Gotham so they don't get "Jokered." Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is at a party, dancing with his mother on her anniversary.

That's right. Bruce Wayne and Batman are different people, all because Booster Gold time-travelled in an attempt to recreate "For the Man Who Has Everything" as a gift to Batman for his upcoming wedding.

From Marvel

He put Frank Castle in the War Machine armor for Marvel Legacy — but that was just the start. Now writer Matthew Rosenberg discusses his plans to take the Punisher’s war on crime to the next level in a brand-new series!

Marvel: In the new Punisher series, Frank will no longer have the War Machine armor. Is this, then, a back-to-basics approach?

It's here! Action Comics #1000 is available today and we're covering yet another previously released story right out of the pages of the landmark issue!

"Five Minutes" is written by Louise Simonson with art by Jerry Ordway. Listen in as I discuss my thoughts about this self-contained story as well as share in my excitement for Action Comics #1000. Wednesday, April 18th will forever be a holiday for Superman fans, as it's the 80th anniversary of Action Comics #1.

From Valiant:

Not sure if you've heard by now but Action Comics #1000 comes out tomorrow. On the same day that Action Comics #1 debuted.

In AC1K Tom King (Batman, Grayson) tells a tale about the end of days for the planet Earth, and how Superman is visiting for one final goodbye to his parents. It's a beautiful homage to Ma and Pa Kent who took in an alien immigrant and raised him as their own. Loved him like he was born from them.

Then King ruined it with one panel. Give a listen to the latest "Superman Talk" and I'll explain why. If you haven't read his story yet and can't wait for tomorrow, you can read it for free here.

The modern political landscape is a labyrinthe so torturous and dizzying that those who live outside it are often happy they do not understand it. Ignorance, after all, is bliss, and those who do completely understand the inner workings of the machine never seem all that happy about having the knowledge.

For all the misery that comes with political knowledge, there sure are a lot of books on the subjects -- and an awful lot of people buying them, depending on the season. Case in point: Peter Schwiezer's point-by-point takedown of the Clinton Foundation during the 2016 campaign, which was greatly anticipated, hotly debated, and, now, nearly antiquated (such is the speed of the news cycle).

While much was made of the anecdotes relating to UraniumOne, Rosatom, and Ericsson, the overall gist of the book was to demonstrate a pattern of enrichment, following the players and the flow of money across a blurred-line overlap of political favors and charitable donations. 

Action Comics #1000 4-page preview of Brian Michael Bendis story, chock full of Jim Lee art! Also: Pre-Order numbers for Action Comics #1000 and DC Nation #0!

Tune in to tonight's episode to hear what I have to say about the newly released 4-page preview and how big the pre-order numbers are for Action Comics #1000. DC Nation #0 has twice as many pre-orders and could be twice as important for the future of DC Comics. Listen in and check out the preview below! Also as an added bonus, the cover of the FREE DC NATION #1 featuring Rogol Zar!

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running 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!

Steve talks (Bizarro) Superman as he goes over the latest issue of Superman by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.

Some of the topics covered:

• Is Bizzaro truly Superman's opposite? 
• How much effort goes into editing Bizarro language?
• Why is there so much emphasis on characters being attracted to Superman?

Did you read Superman #44? Leave your comments below!

Marvel Entertainment Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, shared a little fan art on Twitter. But it wasn't exactly what you'd expect. He left out a very important piece of the character as he drew it on official Marvel Comics stock. Was his omission by design?

In today's episode, I discuss the image and what may have been going through Joe Marvel's mind when he drew it. Give us 5 minutes of your time and let us know what YOU think about Quesada's fan art.

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The first thing to know when picking up JETSONS #6 is this: George Jetson is dead, having sacrificed his life doing a Bruce Willis in ARMAGEDDON to destroy a meteor on a collision course with Earth.

The other thing you need to know: It's not a meteor, and George Jetson is not dead.

As Jane, Elroy, and Judy gather for the last three minutes of Earth, they are shocked when the hurtling meteor comes to a dead stop outside the atmosphere. Inside, George is just as shocked to be floating in an empty space with his mother -- who is no longer Rosie the Robot but in her human body and about in her mid-thirties.

I could build this up, but why don't we just forego with the niceties and small talk and delve right in.

I think it's safe to say if we had to guess at the sexuality of any of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters (yes, we're actually having this discussion), probably nobody would bat an eye at the suggestion that, at the very least, Snagglepuss would be gay. The stereotypes were all there. So that fact that he's a gay character in DC Comics EXIT STAGE LEFT: THE SNAGGLEPUSS CHRONICLES is anything but a surprise, and a perfectly acceptable notion for the character.

It's the rest of the world that, quite properly, falls under the category of WTAF.

Snagglepuss is gay.

Huckleberry Hound is gay.

Quickdraw McGraw is gay.

I've got Kurt Cobain singing "All Apologies" in the back of my head now.

The countdown continues to the wedding of the century between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. With BATMAN 44, "Bride or Burglar," things slow down just a bit in order for Selina to do some woolgathering while trying on dresses.

But it can't be as simple as that.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running 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!

From Marvel:

Four heroes. One team. They’re back.

Reed, Sue, Ben, Johnny: welcome home.

After a spacefaring foray into the unknown, Marvel’s First Family returns this August with FANTASTIC FOUR #1.

Written by Dan Slott with art by Sara Pichelli, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Thing, and the Human Torch reunite this summer.

From the "Oh Yeah, They're Still Doing That" Department: DC Comics DOOMSDAY CLOCK #4 continues the story that brings the universe of WATCHMEN into that of the DCU proper, as the hunt for Dr. Manhattan continues. Slowly.

I appreciate that Geoff Johns is going for the "slow burn" in storytelling, but the slow burn only works well when the story overall is fast paced in terms of overall delivery and production. Having to wait two months between issues lets the burn fizzle out. 

What we do get this issue is the origin of the new Rorschach, as he muddles his way through life in Arkham Asylum. And no, I still haven't processed the fact that Batman has admitting privilieges to Arkham to the point that he can commit an inmate there without trial or even a psychological exam from a licensed psychiatrist. That's probably his scariest non-super power to date!

From Marvel

The reach of INFINITY COUNTDOWN has expanded to every corner of the multiverse, but the question remains…Countdown to what?

This July, writer Gerry Duggan, artist Mike Deodato Jr., and colorist Frank Martin answer that query with one word that resounds throughout infinity: War.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running 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

Lot of big anniversary issues this week, and the return of my favorite Valiant series!

From CBR:

Spinning out of the Justice League: No Justice four-issue miniseries, DC Comics will launch two new Justice League titles with all-new rosters. Justice League Dark will be written by James Tynion IV with art by Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez and Brad Anderson, and Justice League Odyssey with writer Joshua Williamson and art by Stjepan Sejic. Both titles will launch in June.

From Deadline:

American Gods producer FremantleMedia North America has acquired the rights to Astro City superhero comic book series to develop as a live-action TV drama series.

...

Astro City made its debut in 1995 with Image Comics and is currently published by DC Comics.

Despite the fact that the comic books’ current publisher, DC Comics, is owned by Warner Bros., Busiek owns all of the rights to Astro City, which he will now exploit in TV with FMNA.