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!

Comics shipping this week

All in all a pretty light week, but a couple of big new titles to talk about.

Happy Halloween! Just for fun, I've compiled a short-list of Halloween songs, which could be considered the top songs of all-time for the spooktacular holiday. No Halloween party would be complete without hearing these 5 songs at one point or another. So without any further delay, let's get to the list!

5: Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie

The closest thing to a modern age song you'll find on this list, released in 1999, almost anything by Rob Zombie is Halloween worthy. A super fan of horror films, Rob Zombie delivers a song with all the creepiness you need on Halloween. The opening line of dialogue: "Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable lust for the dead?" is the perfect intro for a song as creepy as it's title implies.

TRICIA HELFER returns to the role of Charlotte Richards in this episode of Lucifer. Only this time she's really Charlotte Richards. Prior to that, she was a human host occupied by Lucifer's mum, the Goddess of Creation. When Lucifer gave her a new home, the body collapsed. By rights, that should have been it, since the body was freshly murdered when mum took it over. But there's something deeper going on, and Charlotte is oblivious to it. All she knows is that she's lost six months of her life, her family, her children--and she has to go on acting like she remembers it all to avoid people thinking she's crazy. Because she's pretty sure she spent the last six months in Hell.

Just because you're a god doesn't mean you can't change -- several times, in fact, for reasons of environment, fashion, or unexpected plot twists.

The Norse god of thunder, Thor, isn't immune to these changes, having gone from a clean-shaven "Goldilocks" to a close-cropped bearded Avenger to...a frog? And later, a woman?

Thor isn't one afraid to turn and face the strange ch-ch-changes! And the folks at HalloweenCostumes.com have put together a nifty little infographic that helps you trace all the different looks he's taken on over the years. Adjust your cosplay accordingly.

Judgment comes to the Gotham police as those on the payroll of Penguin (ROBIN LORD TAYLOR) start to find themselves being slaughtered, their bodies left wearing the heads of pigs. This is the introduction of the character Professor Pyg (MICHAEL CERVERIS), and his motives have yet to be explained. But he's a big fan of Jim Gordon (BEN MCKENZIE) and his stance against police corruption. Too bad he doesn't feel the same way about Gordon's partner, Harvey Bullock (DONAL LOGUE).

I grew hearing Fleetwood Mac on the radio, but really became aware of them when MTV ran videos for their Tango In the Night hits “Everywhere”, “Seven Wonders,” “Big Love,” and  “Little Lies.” Singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s “Go Insane” and singer/Keyboardist Christine McVie’s “Got A Hold On Me” were also frequently on MTV in those halcyon days of actual music videos. I remember thinking that Buckingham was a little bit odd, possibly due to his shock of dark curly hair over piercing eyes that seemed to bore into my soul through the television. His voice often seemed somewhat odd too, at least to me. I always thought he’d play a really cool version of the Devil in a long form video or perhaps on Broadway, or maybe even attempt to breakout into film. McVie, on the other hand, seemed much more the wallflower, bashfully sticking to the sidelines while her band mates made the bigger waves.  Those notions were both somewhat accurate and wildly wrong.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Zachary Levi is going to be Earth's mightiest mortal.

The actor will star in the DC comic book adaptation Shazam!, which follows a boy named Billy Batson, who can transform into an adult superhero by uttering the magic word "Shazam!" 

...

Hakuna Matata! It means no worries! And that's exactly what you'll have when you go see the off-broadway production of Disney's THE LION KING.

On tour, to bring this brilliant musical production to a city near you, it is currently in Syracuse, NY for 3 weeks. At the vintage, and beautiful, Landmark Theater, I wasn't quite sure if it could accomodate a show with large set pieces and near life-size elephant costumes.

But they pulled it off.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Interview

According to NJ.com:

Regal Entertainment Group, the second largest chain in the U.S...is partnering with mobile ticketing app maker, Atom Tickets, to test out a "demand-based pricing for film tickets in several markets early next year," according to Variety.

The higher demand in a movie -- say "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" or "Justice League," to cite two upcoming titles expected to be hugely successful -- the higher the ticket price.

Ricky Byrd, 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts) and reformed addict (over 30 years clean), has been writing songs and playing concerts at rehab and recovery clinics around the nation to bring hope to those in recovery to help give them the strength to carry on. As he puts it, he was blessed with the “gift of desperation” in 1987.

The collections of songs on his latest album, CLEAN GETAWAY, comes because of requests from people at these shows, and I can honestly say I have never heard anything else like this collection of songs before.

While people are choosing their content digitally in droves, there's still an enormous market out there of people who like to have something tangible in their hands when it comes to books, comics, and movies. I know my own DVD collection was getting to be something unweildy, taking up a whole wall of shelving in my house. It really became a hassle when we'd be out and see a Blu-ray or a DVD of a movie we loved, and couldn't remember if we already owned it. I've bought some accidental duplicates on more than one occasion.

RIVERDALE tosses in another callback to the comics this episode as Archie (KJ APA) grows more anxious about the murderer on the loose. Now with Moose Mason (CODY KEARSLEY) and Midge (EMILIJA BARANAC) have both been attacked while parking (they're okay; Moose protected Midge with his body and took a bullet for her), Archie seeks a way to be more pro-active in his hunt.

Meanwhile, we learn that squeaky clean Kevin Keller (CASEY COTT) has been taking late night jogs through the local forest, cruising for gay hookups. He was doing this when he heard the gunshots involving Moose and Midge, and helped get them to safety. But his story doesn't ring true to Betty (LILI REINHART), who cautions Kevin against such activity, particularly with a fugitive on the loose. This causes a rift between the two friends, as Kevin feels like this is his only option for hooking up with other gay guys (although to be honest, for a small town, he hasn't had much of a problem so far in Riverdale).

2017 marks the 50^th Anniversary of the release of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention’s iconic, off-the-beaten-path album ABSOLUTELY FREE. Unlike another, more famous album that got a 50^th anniversary remastered and rereleased, this year, this one is actually worth owning and listening to!

Whereas the “other one” was played with far too much so that it hardly resembled the original at all, the marvelous mastering here seems to have sought out and achieved making the original sound better, but not different, on that magical 180-gram vinyl.

In Seattle 2042, Time Bureau agent Gary (ADAM TSEKHMAN) sends out a distress call when he fails to stop an assassination. That call gets intercepted and answered by the Legends.

In this time period, ARGUS has tossed away their covert nature and taken over, turning the country into a police state. Metahumans are outlawed, as is religion. The guards were trying to take Zari Adrianna Tomaz (TALA ASHE) to their prison, when the transport was interrupted by Kuasa (TRACY IFEACHOR), a metahuman who can transform her body into water. Zari gets away, but is tracked down by the Legends for protection -- which she rejects.

Last December, I talked a bit about THE LAST WITNESS.  As a big fan of THE DESTROYER, I was eager to read the spin-off series LEGACY by Warren Murphy and Gerald Welch.  While I was waiting for the next LEGACY book, Welch had mentioned to me that he had another series called THE LAST WITNESS.  I liked it so much, I ended up reading the first four books of the series over a long weekend. 

THE FLASH continues its fourth-season winning streak with this episode, featuring the advent of Rebecca Sharpe, aka Hazard (SUGAR LYN BEARD), a girl with notoriously bad luck who finally has the tables turn thanks to her becoming a metahuman.

After we learn through The Thinker (NEIL SANDILANDS) and The Mechanic (KIM ENGELBRECHT) just how important Rebecca is to The Thinker's overall plans, we jump to S.T.A.R. Labs, where a breach is opening, and Wally West (KEIYNAN LONSDALE) awaits with a stuffed teddy bear and a bouquet of flowers. But it's not speedster Jesse Quick who comes through the warp, but her father, Harry Wells (TOM CAVANAGH). He's delivering something to Wally: a break-up box. And he's very uncomfortable doing it.

A few years back, I got to speak with cartoonist Tom Batiuk about the fortieth anniversary of his strip, Funky Winkerbean. And then something happened that doesn't often happen to comic strip artists.

Tom got nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. And then he was a finalist for the award.

The notice came for Tom's work on the Funky Winkerbean strip that focused on a longtime favored character developing breast cancer. The strips were collected into three volumes, to bring LISA'S LEGACY to the world.

So when I was told that Tom was going to be in St. Louis on a book signing tour, I jumped at the opportunity to talk with him a little bit more (and couldn't resist bringing my first four volumes of THE COMPLETE FUNKY WINKERBEAN with me, because it couldn't hurt, right?) about this incredible journey he's been taking through the funny pages.

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!