Ask any millennial the question, "Who shot J.R.?" and you'll likely get a blank stare. But after last night, they can finally relate to that expansive generation gap, as RIVERDALE serves up the real murderer of Jason Blossom.

Last week, Riverdale law enforcement searched the trailer of F.P. Jones (SKEET ULRICH) and found the gun that killed Jason Blossom. The problem with that? The trailer had just been searched moments before by Archie (KJ APA) and Veronica (CAMILA MENDES), at the behest of Alice Cooper (MADCHEN AMICK), and the gun was not there then. Which means someone planted it. But who? And why does F.P. confess to the crime?

That's the mystery that Archie, Veronica, and Betty (LILI REINHART) have to solve, before a dejected--and now parentless--Jughead (COLE SPROUSE) leaves Riverdale for good.

Let me get something off my chest right from the start: all reviews are not created equally. A boutique website like CriticalBlast.com is typically invited to attend a press screening 1 to 10 days in advance and our reviews are subject to an embargo until the day of release. I’m fine with that, for the most part. Sure the site would get more hits if we were among the very first to get our article up, but there’s a decent percentage of moviegoers who can be swayed by reviews and word-of-mouth buzz, to both the benefit and detriment of the film. The benefits are most obvious around Oscar time, when films nobody’s even heard of are suddenly everyone’s darlings, and the opposite effect is often seen when a mediocre film gets savaged in reviews and the director takes to social media like a petulant little…well, like Donald Trump.

When The Flash and Batman began to follow the trail of radiation left behind by Eobard Thawne and the mysterious yellow bloodstained smiley-face button, it led them into the past. But the past wasn't what it used to be -- it was the Flashpoint past, a timeline that should have ended when The Flash undid the historical changes he wrought.

But Flashpoint continues to exist, and the two heroes have landed themselves in the Batcave, headquarters of Thomas Wayne who became the Batman when his wife and son were gunned down in an alley. Thomas is in the midst of a suicidal Hail Mary, as the cave is about to be besieged by soldiers from both Atlantis and Themyscira. Batman and Batman fight them off while Barry rebuilds the Cosmic Treadmill, which powers up on its own as soon as its complete, forcing The Flash and Bruce to beat a hasty exit.

Things start to pick up, things start to get freaky! Watch Kevin and Zach scream like little babies as they count down 45 things from a 90's childhood that you probably forgot about.

Everything has been leading up to this point. Armed with knowledge from the future, Marty McFly Team Flash has to convince Doc Brown Tracy Brand (ANNE DUDEK, THE MAGICIANS) not to give up on developing the flux capacitor her practical applications of speed force theory. That's because four years from the present, she develops the technology Flash can use to imprison Savitar in the speed force.

But...isn't that what caused this in the first place? If Flash 2024 managed to trap Savitar in the speed force after he killed Iris, then when does Savitar get the imprisonment that creates him and turns him into what he is? (That question gets even more twisty at the end of this week's episode!)

Marvel’s The Defenders follows Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). A quartet of singular heroes with one common goal – to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who realize they just might be stronger when teamed together. The Netflix original series will launch globally on August 18, 2017.

I have been a fan of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series for over 25 years.  I have read the books over and over again, and they remain very important to my life.  There have been attempts to bring The Dark Tower to film for a long time now, and August 4, we finally get to see how that plays out.  I know a lot of people will be critical that this movie seems far different from the books, but the series leaves a lot of room for interpretation and reimagining, so I am perfectly okay with that.

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

FORSAKEN HEARTS is the second book in the DEAD HEARTS novels by Susanne L. Lambdin, which takes place somewhere in the upper western portion of the United States a year or so after a devastating virus has destroyed most of humanity turning them into zombies and other creatures. The small pockets of normal humans left are trying to survive against the obvious threats, but also new and emerging ones as the virus continues to mutate.

It also takes place after a pivotal battle at Pike’s Peak in the first novel.

Now, admittedly, not having read the first novel, I was not sure how I was going to catch on to things--the characters, places, continuing story lines--but I will say Susanne did a very good job here of referencing just enough to the first book throughout the story to give the reader enough information to gain an understanding of what is going, on but not so much that the story would become a rehashing of the first book.

I'm a sucker for a remade fairy tale. Throw in that it's going to be a take on Lewis Carroll's Alice characters, and I'm going to be a first-in-line reader.

So when I saw that Wendy Spinale was going to follow-up her steampunk fantasy, EVERLAND, which put J.M. Barrie's characters through a dystopian steampunk adventure, with UMBERLAND, I knew I had to do more than just read the book -- I had to get inside the author's head and share some time with those characters.

Alas, I couldn't fit, so I settled for asking her questions instead.

How did it first occur to you to put these Victorian characters through the Steampunk engine?

photo credit: Clint & Jillian Cosplay and Photography with Fali Ruiz-Davila

A moment of honesty is called for here. I could not just dive in and give a simple, glib introduction with something clever about our monthly Bombshell's representation or about whatever holiday might be coinciding with the timing of our publication.

Florencia Sofen's story, just as much as her skills, put me in a position of awed admiration. Her courage to leave her country for one halfway across the world, and her passions that drive her cosplay journey are inspirational.

The AIMS team has been challenged by the Rogue Team to return to the Dark Forest and capture the Woman of the Woods -- a legend who, among her other talents, can mimic anyone else's voice. She's out there with the Raven Mocker (another Bigfoot) and now apparently also with the Black Wolf, who has made its presence known. According to Shawnee folklore, the Black Wolf arrives to escort a departed soul to the afterlife.

Both the boys brought their pajamas to the mansion.
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With the NFL Draft starting tonight, I often wonder what it would be like if there was a draft for a new team of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Who would be the first pick?

I would have to say for Marvel Comics, the selection of heroes is far more complicated than our DC Comics draft. Given the state of Marvel Comics, the popularity of some heroes exceeds their actual powerset. You could probably take these heroes into consideration for the top 5 picks:

With the NFL Draft starting tonight, I often wonder what it would be like if there was a draft for a new team of superheroes in the DC Universe. Who would be the first pick?

I would have to say for DC Comics, the first 3 picks would be easier to predict than our Marvel Comics draft. It most likely comes down to the following 3 heroes:

Next week, Titan Comics will release the debut issue of TEKKEN, based on the best selling fighting game by Bandai Namco and we have your first look!

Written by Cavan Scott (Doctor Who, Vikings) and illustrated by Andie Tong, this sensational new comic series taps into TEKKEN's rich history. The series will featuring the usual stunning action and K.O.'s that fans have come to expect from the popular franchise!

There are a total of SIX variant covers available for the first issue with Andie Tong also providing art on two of them. Get ready to be immersed into martial art, tournament action as the world of TEKKEN unfolds onto the pages brought to you by Titan Comics!

COVER A: ALEX RONALD

There's a great temptation to team up Batman and The Shadow. How could there not be? They're both controlling characters, obsessed with justice, maneuvering a team of operatives. They operate in darkness and strike from a position of inducing fear. They're literally the same person in different masks.

Dynamite's been doing a...well, quite frankly, dynamite job with the pulp heroes and the public domain supers, and it's great for the fans that they've been willing to share their sandbox with DC Comics, as they've done with their recent crossover with Wonder Woman '77 and The Bionic Woman. (JSA / PROJECT SUPERPOWERS anybody? C'mon, it's low hanging fruit!) Putting Scott Snyder and Steve Orlando together to chronicle this meeting of the masterminds is a natural pairing, and Riley Rossmo's art has just the darkness and deco feel to it to blend the two worlds together.

So how does it all play out?

FLASH #21 is a continuation -- and a departure -- from the story that began in BATMAN #21. Geoff Johns and Tom King are still driving, but even when multiple writers (and artists) are on the same page, you can sense the shift. Where BATMAN #21 opened "The Button" in a fashion that was very WATCHMEN-like in its structure, FLASH #21 shows some glimpses of that at first but for the most part sticks to the basic format for telling a comics story. Which isn't to say that Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter told a bad story -- far from it. It's just to say that, the gears have shifted, and you can feel the shift.

Just like time travel is supposed to work, not a second has passed for Team Flash since we last saw them (Episode 318, "Abra Kadabra").  Barry Allen (GRANT GUSTIN) is figuring out that he needs to run to 2024 and find out from his future self how he stopped Savitar, while over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlyn Snow (DANIELLE PANABAKER) has gone full Killer Frost and is preparing to make frozen dinners out of Cisco (CARLOS VALDES), Julian (TOM FELTON) and H.R. (TOM CAVANAGH).

Looking for a WICKED good read that will leave you FROZEN with fear while TANGLED up in a ball of laughter? Then you'll be ENCHANTED with these BEASTLY tales from Kiersten White (PARANORMALCY).

Surely you've read enough fairy tales that...

Scratch that. This is 2017. What was I thinking?

Take two.

Surely you've seen enough movies based on fairy tales (yes, that's much more millenial) that you've noticed trends that have caused you to ask questions. Like, "Just how many evil queens are there?" and "Did everyone name their son Jack?" And even, "What kind of twisted mind would think of doing all these horrid things to innocent (but oh-so-brave) children?"