Now, I’m a East Coast boy, but I’ve visited California a number of times over the years.  I’ve seen some amazing things in the state, both natural and manmade, so a book dedicated to saluting the state is reasonable idea.  CALIFORNIA: THE MAGIC ISLAND is an interesting read unlike just about anything else on bookstore shelves.  Try to get your head around a book fusing myth, history, ABCs, the animal kingdom, and a tour through the Golden State.  This might seem like a bit too much to contain in the pages of one book, but it’s all woven together quite well for the elementary school crowd.

Vampirella (2016) #1

Written by: Kate Leth
Art by: Eman Casallos
Colored by: Valentino Pinto
Lettered by: Erica Schultz

Published by: Dynamite
Cover Price: $3.99

Investigating Lois Lane: The Turbulent History of the Daily Planet's Ace Reporter by Tim Hanley
Published by: Chicago Review Press
Cover Price: $17.99 (print or Kindle)

At the conclusion of his new book INVESTIGATING LOIS LANE, Tim Hanley writes, “Superman is the worst thing to ever happen to Lois Lane.  At the same time, he’s also the reason she exists.”  By the end of this excellently researched piece, I was forced to agree.

In the various reviews and columns I do for Critical Blast, I talk a lot about diversity in comics.  I have said this many times over, as much as Marvel and DC seem inclined to throw out more diverse characters, the biggest problem for me continues to the need for more diversity in terms of the actual people writing, drawing, and editing comics.  There has been a little more optimism in this are lately with David F. Walker wring Cyborg, G. Willow Wilson writing Ms Marvel, and renowned author Ta-Nehisi Coates being announced as the new writer of Black Panther.

But way back in 1993, there was a much more serious attempt at creating diversity in comics. And it was called Milestone Media.

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter (with assistance from Gina Maillaro)

This week!

I’ll admit it—I’m embarrassed. What I knew about Carole King before arriving at the Fabulous Fox to see BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL consisted mostly of the soft rock easy listening stuff I used to get subjected to when my coworkers would insist on tuning our radio to the “Delilah” show on KEZK in St. Louis. I knew she won a Grammy forTapestry and you can hear “It’s Too Late,” “I Feel The Earth Move,” and “A Natural Woman” pretty regularly still today. I knew she was elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but they let Green Day and The Public Enemy in too--Run DMC and Public Enemy got in before Peter Gabriel, Rush (are you kidding me?), Lou Reed, Hall & Oats, Nirvana and KISS. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy rap music a great deal, but this isn’t the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, this is Rock & Roll. Carole King, no disrespect intended, didn’t really strike me as a rock star either.

When it was announced that a 'director's cut', R-rated version of BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE would be released on blu-ray, it sparked a firestorm of complaints. I'm here to give you 5 reasons why it's not nearly as awful as you think.

Turning the characters and setting of THE LION KING into a series is something that's far past due for Disney. In THE LION GUARD, viewers once again meet Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and Zazu -- however, they are minor players in the story, as the focus shifts to the next generation.

In this introductory pilot, THE LION GUARD: RETURN OF THE ROAR, we meet Simba's son, Kion, who's happy that he's not in training to take over as ruler of the Pride Lands (that honor going to his older sister, Kiara) so that he can play with his friend Bunga, the honey badger. But their games take them to where they shouldn't be, putting Bunga in danger of attack by the hyenas -- and when Kion tries to warn them off with a roar, it's more than anyone anticipated.

After escaping Earth-2, the members of Team Flash are operating under emotional duress. Barry (Grant Gustin) is still carrying the weight of the deaths he saw on Earth-2, Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) is trying to hold it together after having seen Jay (Teddy Sears) killed by Zoom, and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is concerned about Caitlin's behavior, worried that it might put her on the road to becoming Killer Frost.

There’s a lot of ugliness in the world, as we all know. Missed deadlines and misanthropy. Bill collectors and bad attitudes. Snarled traffic and starving children. It’s enough to make a person want to crawl back into bed, positive that nothing you can do can effect change.

However, just as the seasons turn and their opposites are made apparent to the patient, there is also an opposite to the unsightliness of society, if only we can be bothered to actively look for it.

Power Man and Iron Fist (2016) #1

Written by: David Walker
Art by: Sanford Greene
Colored by: Lee Loughridge
Lettered by: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99

Avengers Standoff Welcome To Pleasant Hill #1 by Nick Spencer and Mark Bagley

Summary: This comic starts with Bucky Barnes.  Since Original Sin, Bucky has been in space as “The Man on the Wall” protecting Earth from alien threats. But a cosmic level threat has brought him back to Earth.  He slips into a secure SHIELD facility using Steve Rogers access codes.  He plays a holographic video.  We see a SHIELD lab where something goes wrong and an explosion kills everyone.  There is a little girl hiding in the lab.  She seems to see Bucky, even though she’s supposed to be a recording. She tells him “want to be safe. Just want to be happy.”  SHIELD troops arrive, blasting Bucky.

The Destroyer #151: Bully Pulpit by Warren Murphy and RJ Carter
Published by: Destroyer Books
Cover Price: $8.99 ($2.99 on Kindle)

I love adventure "pulp" novels.  Series like THE DESTROYER feel like the adult versions of THE HARDY BOY CASEFILES books I grew up on.  I was surprised when Amazon tried to bring the genre back to life with THE DEAD MAN series a few years ago.  Sadly, these books didn't get all that much traction, but I did think they were worthwhile descendants of series like THE DESTROYER.   That said, THE DESTROYER is still the king to me,  151 books in the main series over the last 45 years. 

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

Hieroglyphs of Emotion is the second CD in Mae Edwards' multi-media project "Starlette & Saint: A Memoir on Dualism" containing commentaries reflecting her years-long studies into numerous spiritual traditions (Christianity, Buddhism) as well as thought provoking references to folklore, world history, psychology, U.S. travel destinations and popular film.

This contest has ended.

The winner is MICHAEL M. of Clarks Summit, PA.

This was a really cute book that featured a really cute slow-burn romance. I loved the dynamic between Lara Jean and her two sisters and their father. I was happy to see that the book featured a functional, loving family (although I do get a little tired of the "dead mother" trope). The Covey family had their own holiday traditions and quirks, which to me made them jump off the page. Despite being close, each sister had secrets hidden from the others, which leads into the biggest thing I enjoyed about this book - the moral ambiguity. There were no clear answers, and lots of moral grayness.

However, I did have a lot of issues with this book. I think a lot of it is personal preference. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, this book was just not for me.

My biggest problem with this book was the misleading blurb. If you read the blurb of this book, you'd think the plot is this:

Cheap Pops - February 21, 2016 by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

Max Landis is writing a unique perspective on Superman's story within the pages of SUPERMAN: American Alien, and he has released a sneak peak into some dialogue that answers the question:

"What's the deal with Superman's red underwear?"

Okay, so it's not underwear. But it is a required garment when you consider the skin-tight nature of the blue suit...

In sports, often team owners will shift personnel around when the team isn't winning. They'll fire coaches, assistants and even cut ties with star players. Eventually, though, if none of that works, the General Manager is removed from power and the organization rebuilds.

Is DC prepared to do the same with their ‘general managers’ Dan Didio and Jim Lee?

On Earth-2, Zoom is aware that Harrison Wells has returned -- and he's tearing up the city leaving flaming messages demanding he be turned over. (It's all being covered on Channel 52!) And with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) captured by Zoom, things aren't looking well for the team of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh) and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes). Cisco just witnessed Zoom kill Ronnie "Deathstorm" Raymond (Robbie Amell) and Cisco's doppelganger, Reverb, and lets Wells in on the bad news. But they have other things to deal with as well -- Barry's doppelganger, Bartholomew, whom they also captured, is waking up.

Bartholomew takes some getting used to. He's very much a live-action Ned Flanders who whines a lot and makes hollow threats about giving people a piece of his mind.