Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Sun, 03/15/2015 - 15:00
Howard the Duck. Unfortunately, when most people hear the name, they immediately think of the pretty awful movie from the 80's. But before that, Howard the Duck was a real funny comic from Marvel by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik. Marvel has tried to bring the character back a few times over the years, including having him as a regular in Generation X for a short period of time, but he just never seemed to go much higher than cult favorite.
Last year, Howard the Duck had a brief cameo appearance in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy. Since Guardians was such a huge hit, Marvel has seemed determine to flood the market with Guardians-related series. Just last week, they announced that Groot is getting his own book soon too. So, I'm not surprised that they decided to give Howard the Duck another try. What did surprise me though, was that this issue was great!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Sun, 03/15/2015 - 03:00
I really liked Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure when it first came out. I was ten years old and a bit of a history nerd. So seeing characters like Billy the Kid, Abe Lincoln, and Joan of Arc dealing with life in modern day California was just a lot of fun. I also thought the end of the movie used some real clever tricks when it came to time travel. It was just about a perfect movie to my ten year old self. Despite my love of the movie, I never watched the cartoon, read the comics, etc. It just seemed like a pretty closed work that any expansion to would ruin. Because of this, I have never even seen Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
But, when I heard they were doing a comic series, I decided to give it a try. Clearly ten year old Mike was MUCH smarter than 35 year old Mike...
There's a lot of wrong ways you can go when you want to blend 'cute' and 'dark'. Ted Naifeh gets it right with COURTNEY CRUMRIN. So does Roman Dirge with LENORE.
Stan Silas takes things a step further with his Chibi characters living in a CALVIN AND HOBBES-like world, in the Titan Books publication, NORMAN. The titular Norman is a cute little 8-year-old blonde-headed boy with an imaginary friend. It just so happens his imaginary friend to urge him to kill people, and taunts him about getting caught.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Sat, 03/14/2015 - 12:12
Growing up, I was never really into Star Trek. When I met my wife, she was a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, especially the tie-in novels. So, I became a fan of Star Trek through her, but I've never really had a huge nostalgia connection to Star Trek. Because of this, I've been real open to enjoying some of the newesr Star Trek like Enterprise and the relaunch movies.
IDW has done a terrific job with their ongoing series exploring the new Star Trek continuity. A few months ago, the Enterprise crew encountered Q and were sent into the future to see what the Deep Space Nine crew were up to. After that, the Enterprise was finally able to embark on their 5 years mission...to boldy go where no one has gone before. Though that took a bit of a twist...
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 03/10/2015 - 19:00
While I was flipping through DC's upcoming solicitations, I saw the below solicit and image featuring DC's "All-New" Batman (hey, I thought All-New was a Marvel thing)...
BATMAN #41
Written by SCOTT SNYDER Art by GREG CAPULLO and DANNY MIKI
Cover by GREG CAPULLO
THE JOKER Variant cover by SEAN MURPHY
On sale JUNE 10 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The all-new Batman makes his debut! Who is he, and what happens next? Find out here as a new era begins in Gotham City!
For all the spectacle of a San Diego Comic-Con or a Wizard World, there' something that's been slowly slipping away from the concept of the comic book convention: the comic book. Oh, it's still there, but now it's become a mecca for video game developers to show off their latest beta releases and Hollywood movie studios to generate buzz for their next year's action movies.
Mike D'Alessio is no stranger to comic conventions. He may not be known to the fans, but to the industries who attend these conventions, he and his Promoguys Marketing Group are major -- nay, invaluable -- players. Now D'Alessio is bringing all his experience and klout to bear as he brings the first annual Atlantic City Boardwalk Con to New Jersey -- but this isn't just another comic book convention, as you'll see as we talk with Mike about what's going to make this convention bigger and better.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 03/10/2015 - 08:45
It's always good to learn something when working on a review. Reading Vampirella: Our Lady of Shadows, I learned that when you are sitting by yourself in a nice restaurant reading a Vampirella comic is probably not the best choice. I was getting a lot of odd and annoyed looks at Ramsey's Pub in Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City when I was putting this review together.
BTW, and this isn't related to the comic at all, the food there was great and the service could not have been nicer. But, I'm afraid I've got some bad news....the drinks are way overpriced. Two rum and cokes cost me more than a three course dinner. Yikes!
But, that has nothing at all to with Vampirella. On with the comic!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 03/10/2015 - 03:00
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!
Submitted by Tricia Delloiacono on Tue, 03/10/2015 - 02:00
Wait, are you telling me you haven't read Bone? Really? Okay, stop reading this right now. Go! Go, buy Bone. Go buy this trade right now and come back. I'll wait here.
…
…
Oh, you're back? Great. Now, let me tell you why you need to keep buying Bone for your grandparents, your parents, your children, your nieces and nephews, and for yourself. I originally read Bone in black and white about a decade ago. Simply put, I loved it. It was funny, heart-warming, and sweet. I was in college at the time and remembered loving the simple, but wonderfully written story about this little creature, Bone, and his adventures. It brought me back to a time of well-crafted fairytales. Jeff Smith weaves a web that enthralls the reader into needing “just one more issue!” Going back to it a decade later, I knew there was no way the story could possibly hold up to the standards I had set in my head years ago.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Sat, 03/07/2015 - 11:04
I actually wasn't sure if I was going to pick this series up or not. I think Bendis has done a really good job with Guardians of the Galaxy, but I do think the market might be a little oversaturated with Guardians books right now. You have the core Guardians of the Galaxy series, Guardians 3000 (which was sadly unreadable), Rocket Raccoon, Starlord, and now Guardians Team-Up. But, I do try to give most #1's a read...if just for the purposes of reviewing them. So I decided to give it a look. If nothing else, I knew I would enjoy seeing Art Adams drawing both teams.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Fri, 03/06/2015 - 15:34
From Deadline:
CBS and Warner Bros. TV have released the first images of Supergirl star Melissa Benoist as the super heroine. Gone are the bleach blonde locks and the skimpy, midriff-baring cheerleader outfit from the Supergirl comics.
The more conservative mesh garb in muted colors is very similar to what Henry Cavill wears in the Warner Bros. Supeman movies — maybe DC and the studio are eying a potential crossover of the cousins in matching outfits?
The CW also is going for consistency, with the Supergirl costume created by the same designer who also did the costumes for the other two CW/WBTV DC superhero series, The Flash and Arrow: three-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland, Memoirs Of A Geisha and Chicago). “In designing Supergirl, I wanted to embrace the past, but more importantly, thrust her into the street-style action hero of today,” she said.
Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Fri, 03/06/2015 - 07:25
By Gina and Mike Maillaro
Mike: We have a special guest this week! My wife agreed to help create "fill-in" issues for if Open Mike Night was running behind schedule.. This was actually written a few weeks ago in case of emergencies. And this week, I was out of town for most of the week and then Weaver's internet was down. Our regularly scheduled column should be up early next week.
My wife is an OG comic geek. Her first comic was Kingdom Come. She hasn’t read comics in a while, but she’s still got a lot to say. Hi, honey!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Thu, 03/05/2015 - 08:52
When the New 52 was announced, Justice League Dark was one of the titles I was most excited about. Part of that was that I really loved Shadowpact, and this seemed like the natural evolution of that series. And adding the Justice League name would be good on getting that book a little more attention. I also liked Peter Milligan's work on X-Statix and Human Target, and Mikel Janin is one of my favorite artists.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 03/03/2015 - 03:00
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!
Descender #1 – Jeff Lemire is pretty much as close as you get to a guaranteed good comic. Descender is a sci-fi series coming out from Image about a young android trying to survive in a world where android have been banned. And Dustin Nguyen is doing the art. I loved his work on Lil Gotham. Lemire is also doing All-New Hawkeye this week, and I am looking forward to both titles.
The CW Network has yet another DC Comics show to add to its programming schedule -- but don't expect any crossovers with THE FLASH or ARROW.
iZombie was the creation of comics veterans Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, and was part of DC's Vertigo line of horror comics. In the comics, the lead character was named Gwen, a girl who was a zombie who lived undetected among the living, but she had to eat a brain every month or lose her memories. Fortunately, her job as a gravedigger gave her ready access to food, at the cost of gaining the dead person's memories upon consumption of the brain.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Sat, 02/28/2015 - 03:00
Archie Comics has made numerous attempts over the years to bring back their Red Circle line of heroes. The biggest problem is that Marvel and DC have pretty much cornered the superhero market, so if someone is attempting to get in on the game, they need to bring something different to the table.
The latest attempt has brought in some big names in the comic industry to put a darker, more mature spin on the characters. This actually is my first exposure to the Red Circle characters. But since I enjoyed Afterlife with Archie and Sabrina so much, I figured it was worth checking this book out.
The Black Hood #1
Written by: Duane Swierczynski Art by: Michael Gaydos Cover by: Michael Gaydos Colored by: Kelly Fitzpatrick Lettered by: Rachel Deering
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Fri, 02/27/2015 - 11:04
From Deadline:
DC Comics superheroes are uniting in a potential new drama series at the CW, a spinoff from hits Arrow and The Flash that will feature several fan-favorite recurring actors/characters from both shows. I have learned that the network has teamed with Arrow creators Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim for a project eyed for next season toplined by Brandon Routh, Victor Garber, Wentworth Miller and Caity Lotz.
The untitled project, now in development, is described as a superhero team-up show. Routh, Miller and Garber will reprise their popular DC Comics characters — Arrow‘s Ray Palmer/The Atom (Routh), Flash villain Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Miller), and Flash‘s Dr. Martin Stein (Garber). Because her Arrow character Sara Lance was killed off, with her sister Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) taking over as the Black Canary, it is unclear whether Lotz will play the same or new superhero.
Star Trek #43
