It's hard to believe that THE INCREDIBLES came out back in 2004. It's even harder to believe that we didn't get any sequels in all this time, unless you count the video game "INCREDIBLES: RISE OF THE UNDERMINER." I am happy that they moved the release date up to next year. And we finally got a teaser, which seems to suggest this movie takes place soon about the first one. Not much else to go on here, but the first one was brilliant, and I am looking forward to finally getting a sequel! Sure beats another CARS.

Disney/Pixar's "Incredibles 2" opens in theatres in 3D June 15th, 2018.

BLACK SABBATH: THE END is a multi-format send-off from Eagle Rock Entertainment of Black Sabbath’s final concert, held in their hometown of Birmingham, England on February 4^th, 2017, available in combinations of DVD+CD, /BluRay+CD, Double CD, Triple 180gram Vinyl and a Limited Edition Deluxe collector’s set.

Reviewed here is the 2-disc DVD+CD set, containing the DVD of the live concert and studio Angelic Sessions, and the single CD of the studio Angelic Sessions.

From Comics Beat:

Well well. Just the other day we mentioned the horrible Q3 financials for convention company Wizard World. Along the way we pointed out that their revamped publishing plans didn’t seem to have gone too far and mistakenly said that the “WizPop daily newsletter idea had never appeared. we were corrected in that it’s actually up as a daily FB post.

With a little more than 1200 followers. Not to be mean.

From The New York Times:

Marvel Entertainment, the home of Captain America, Spider-Man and the X-Men, among other colorful heroes, is undergoing a change in leadership. The company released a statement Friday announcing the appointment of C. B. Cebulski as editor in chief. Mr. Cebulski is replacing Axel Alonso, who served in that role since 2011 and is leaving Marvel.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Interviews

CHICAGO meets SWEENEY TODD in this episode of GOTHAM as Professor Pyg (MICHAEL CERVERIS) moves up from attacking the GCPD cops on Penguin's payroll to the very elite of the city itself. When the bodies of several homeless are left on the GCPD doorstep, Captain Gordon (BEN MCKENZIE) and Lucius Fox (CHRIS CHALK) discover the bodies have been excavated of their organs. When Gordon traces Pyg to the location where the bodies were butchered, he loses another cop and runs across a cryptic message--a quote from Jonathan Swift's A MODEST PROPOSAL. The implications are clear: Pyg plans to make the rich eat the poor. Literally.

What do you get when you mix The Brian Setzer Orchestra; Sharon, Lois & Bram and The Vince Guaraldi Trio? An album that brings together several styles of music in a holiday recording you will enjoy, regardless of which holiday you celebrate.

Starting with the first song “Revvin’ Up The Reindeer,” things get up and boogying with a 50’s big band sound reminiscent of The Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Warner Bros. Pictures announces “FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD” as the title of the second of five all new adventures in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World™.  Opening exactly one year from today, November 16, 2018, the film features an ensemble cast led by Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, with Jude Law and Johnny Depp. 

At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Redmayne).  But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. 

Archie (KJ APA) and Jughead (COLE SPROUSE) evade the police in no less than two scenes in the latest episode of RIVERDALE before they engage in a madcap car race that ends with them narrowly evading the police a third time!

And somebody didn't get Waylon Jennings music approved for the scene? I mean, after all, Archie and Jug are just some good old boys, never meaning no harm.

Betty (LILI REINHART) has just about had it with taking orders from the Black Hood -- so much so that she's actually changed her ringtome from "Lollipop" by The Chordettes to a simple chime. Fortunately, he says he only has one job left for her: Find the identity of the so-called Sugarman, the main supplier of the drug Jingle Jangle -- that stuff Reggie Mantle (CHARLES MELTON) gave everybody last week at the party.

Okay, deep breath…I can do this…in through the nose, out through the mouth…okay, I’m ready…

Justice League didn’t suck. There, I said it. Happy now? Oh, don’t get too excited, it’s far from perfect. It’s also got lots of Gal Gadot reprising her role as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck returning as Batman, virtually no Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and a pretty breezy pace, so that’s all good.  If the last Fantastic Four had not been released, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice would be the Ishtar of superhero movies, and this effort is nowhere near that bad. However it’s also rather derivative, at times, of Marvel’s The Avengers films, has a tacked on villain few outside of DC Comics’ most loyal fans will have even heard of, way too much of Zack Snyder’s signature visual overkill, and poorly integrated Joss Whedon humor.

PACKS OF THE LOW COUNTRY is a six-chapter graphic novel set in a world where monsters have, relatively recently, become a reality--the dreamchild of creators John Dudley and Don Cardenas, two Chicagoans with a love of the comics art form and a passion for telling stories.

Currently, the two have begun a Kickstarter campaign to put their six chapter tale into a hardcover format, and thus far the response has been positive and on track to meet that goal.

We sat down with Dudley to discuss the origins of this latest entry into the monster-fighting genre, to learn what makes it stand out from its competitors and how the book went from idea to reality.

How did you and Don come together to work on this project?

I've been a fan of THE FLASH since the pilot. It wasn't the easiest thing to be some of the time, particularly last season. So it's quite relaxing to be an ardent fan and be able to honestly say that the current episodes are some of the best of the series.

"When Harry Met Harry" gets its name from Cisco's advice to Harry Wells (TOM CAVANAGH) to make some friends. Harry does so -- with himself, from different corners of the Multiverse. This brings together the "Council of Wells," as Cisco (CARLOS VALDES) calls it, a think tank that does a lot of arguing with itself. But if they can get along, they may just be able to track down which of the many "DeVoes" out there is the one that Team Flash is looking for, having advance knowledge that he/she will be one of his greatest foes.

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!

When Reese Getty (BETTER CALL SAUL's PATRICK FABIAN) wakes up in a hospital, he's told he just had a brush with death. But now that he's got a second chance at life, he's going to try to turn things around with his wife. He shows up with roses, only to hear her canoodling with another man -- and that man is revealed to be Lucifer Morningstar (TOM ELLIS). Reese follows Lucifer to Lux, and Lucifer buddies up to him. He learns that Reese is out to destroy the man who stole his wife, and Lucifer--not realizing it's him--gives him the encouragement to truly punish the man.

"Nazi piece of s***. Be seeing you at Gotham Pizza motherf*****."

If you were planning to be at Gotham City Pizza and received this message prior to showing up, you would understandably be concerned. But this was the message sent via Facebook to comics artist ETHAN VAN SCIVER right before a planned event at Gotham City Pizza in Ormond Beach, Florida. According to store manager, MARCO FALLETTA, van Sciver let him know that he was receiving the threats.

Latin Grammy winner Mister G brings forth a children’s album here that tells a story about nature and us all being one with the Earth—with the planet, with its animals, and with each other, bringing a message that we have ownership in this beautiful world we live in, be it adults or children.

Mister G does this by painting a pretty picture of a lush green Earth and the wonders in it. As he sings about it, he sings about how we must not only enjoy it, but do our part to keep it that way. Singing lyrics in both Spanish and English, he gives this sense of unity to children--that it’s not the languages that makes us different, but the music that binds us together. One does not need to understand all the words to hear the beauty in these songs. But whether you speak English or Spanish, you can enjoy it even more because he blends the two seamlessly throughout the album.

I live in a LEGO world. My son has thousands, separated into color-marked drawers. We made a plywood top overlay for one of his play tables and covered it with LEGO base plates. We've worked on some pretty intense kits.

Or so we thought.

Along comes THE GREATEST BRICK BUILDS: AMAZING CREATIONS IN LEGO. And not only do the contents live up to the title, they surpass it. These models aren't just creative -- they're enormous. The smallest of them begin at just over 10,000 bricks. The largest is two million! The level of detail in the model of Ohio Stadium (750,000 bricks) is astounding, and just needs the sounds of fans cheering to complete the illusion.

A while back, we were privileged to review THUMP: THE FIRST BUNDRED DAYS, a novel concept that presents the 2016 campaign in a new setting. Rather than getting into the policy wonk details of how each campaign was run, Thump's creators -- Brett R. Smith, Timothy Lim, and Mark Pellegrini -- simplified the events to the traditional rhyming style of the children's picture book, complete with illustrations that draw from Peter Rabbit rather than from the editorial cartoon pages of your daily newspaper.

After reviewing the book, and seeing the reactions online of others once the book was released, we spoke with editor Brett R. Smith about some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of Thump -- where he came from, and where he's going from here.

What was the "secret origin" of THUMP: THE FIRST BUNDRED DAYS?