Front Lines Reviews by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

This was probably the best season opener since The Eleventh Hour. It gave us some real depth to dig in to, and showed us some new tweaks on the Doctor’s relationships with his enemies, Davros and Missy. There was quite a few genuinely funny lines in the episodes, and the story was pretty easy to follow. Moffat can get a little far out there at times, but he kept things under control and the end result was one of the best Dalek stories since Doctor Who returned.

This week!

- Night of Champions Results
- Lucha Underground Season 2!!!!
- Review: WWE Network: Legends With JBL Episode 1 (Eric Bischoff)
- NXT Results

Savoy Brown is one of the seminal English blues rock bands to come out of the sixties, and are still playing great blues after all these years. Their newest album, THE DEVIL TO PAY on Ruf Records, continues true to form.

Although the line up of the band has seen numerous musicians come and go throughout the years since they started in 1965, with some finding fame in other bands (most notably Foghat)  the band as it is today comprises Simmonds on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Pat DeSalvo on bass, and Garnet Grimm on drums. This kind of intimate lineup is perfect for this kind of music to my eyes, and especially to my ears when the guitar player is a master craftsman like Kim Simmonds.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of Marvel books shipping in December.

SECRET WARS #9 (of 9) by JONATHAN HICKMAN & ESAD RIBIC

Mike: Secret Wars finally comes to an end.  About 3 months after Marvel has already started their relaunch.  Great planning there.   I am just sort of bummed out we will still be doing “Front Lines” into December, just because Marvel can’t get their act together.  I love the column, but I thought we would be long done by then.

With assistance by Mike Maillaro

Check out Newsarama for a complete list of DC book shipping in December.

DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE #2 by FRANK MILLER,  BRIAN AZZARELLO, ANDY KUBERT and KLAUS JANSON

 Front Lines Reviews by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

AGE OF APOCALYPSE #4 by Fabian Nicieza and Iban Coello

September 26, 2014 marked the 75th anniversary of the first appearance of Batman in DETECTIVE COMICS #27. I knew the year was the anniversary, but I didn’t pay much attention to the actual date. So when I saw the solicits that 9/26/15 was BATMAN DAY, I tried overly hard to figure out out. “Okay, I get ‘May the Fourth” as STAR WARS DAY, and ‘March the Fifth’ as National Jim Beam Day (am I really the only one who celebrates that?), but what was the archaic, numerological meaning that marked these numbers as BATMAN DAY. Boy, was I let down when there wasn’t some clever number-play going on, and it was simply an anniversary date -- the 76th one at that.

Still, they say every dog has its day, so why not at least one bat? The Critical Blast geeks decided to sit around the cave and discuss the whys, wherefores, and woes of being a Bat-Fan.

CBS and NFL Network are reporting a 40% increase, in overnight ratings, from last year. The Giants entered the contest having lost their first two games of the season, holding hands with the Philadelphia Eagles at the bottom of the NFC East. A third loss, would have severely threatened the Giants chances at reaching the playoffs, before the end of September.

With a divisional matchup against the Washington Redskins, this game was a playoff game within itself. The Giants first loss came against the Cowboys and starting the year with two divisional losses would have all but eliminated them from contention. It's no surprise that football fans (Giants fans in particular) were locked into, what could be billed as, a mid-September elimination game. The game brought in an 11.9/20 household rating/share.

Disclaimer: I won't bury my thoughts in this article. I absolutely loved the premiere episode and cannot wait for more. However, I understand that many people weren't happy with it and feel there was something missing. So I'm attempting to take an objective look at THE MUPPETS, to find out what prevented many fans from enjoying the show. With that out of the way...

It's time to get things started.

The Montreux Jazz Festival was started in 1969 by the late Claude Nobs, and is renowned worldwide as one of if not the great Jazz festivals held; everyone who is anyone wants to play at this yearly event. Now, with consent from the festival and the artists, Eagle Rock Entertainment is making these concerts available for the first time on CD.

SANTANA AND MCLAUGHLIN: LIVE AT MONTREUX 2011 is one such concert…and what a concert it is!

In the annals of television comedy, some pairings are simply classic to the point of everlasting. I thus posit that the partnership of Leonard and Sheldon has already made that list (although Sheldon might point out that it would be more proper to call the team Cooper and Hofstadter, because traditionally comic pairings are known by their last names, the listing would be alphabetical, and -- most importantly -- it would list him first).

However, to simply reduce THE BIG BANG THEORY to nerdy roommates Leonard and Sheldon (Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons) would be grossly unfair, because the show's success is due to its ensemble nature. The science squad would be woefully incomplete without the acerbic man-child Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and innocently naive Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar).

You’ve heard your friends talk about it. The sound of dice clacking together, as they're rolled with fervor, echoes within the walls of your local game shop. The collective groan, and/or sigh of relief, when the dice reveal the player's fate, sends a chill down your spine. "What's happening?" You ask yourself. "What is this mystical game that mixes superheroes with dice?" As you approach the tables, in awe, you discover...that you have absolutely no freaking clue what's going on!

Well, it’s time for you to get involved and be a part of the hype!

Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox have debuted a brand new trailer for the upcoming THE PEANUTS movie. As part of their marketing campain, they've also set up a website where everyone can 'Peanutize' themselves! It's a clever idea to get people to share how they would look in the world created by Charles Shulz. Each image comes stamped with the movies release date to keep it in the front of everyone's minds as the viral campaign looks to invade social media. You have the option of saving your image as an avatar and as wallpaper for your desktop.

Your personal peanuts pressman has perpetrated his own picture for posterity

From the press release:

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

The NFL is all about parity. This year, however, it's full of 'have's' and 'have not's'. According to ESPN, since 1990, only 22 of the 160 teams to start 0-2 have made the playoffs. With a total of 9 teams still seeking their first win of the 2015 season, let's take a look to see which ones have the best chance of turning things around and marching, or in some cases stumbling, into the playoffs.
 

His name is Barry Allen. And he is the fastest man alive.

When CW's SMALLVILLE began to introduce additional DC Universe characters, the trend was to stay away from anything that looked like a costume if a hoodie could suffice, finally giving way to the traditional Superman costume in the final episode. When ARROW debuted, it was, to a degree, still the hoody look, with some leather armor and facepaint added. It seemed the super-suits were definitely a no-go area for the network. So when they announced THE FLASH was coming, I was wondering what the new outfit would look like. I was ecstatic to see that it looked very Silver Age -- and that Grant Gustin was able to pull the look of Barry Allen off without it appearing to be a convention cosplay (which I love, but not in a television show).

Today, we are wrapping up our coverage of JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.  

Like the last two reviews I did, these books are both classified as Young Adult books. SMUGGLER’S RUN stars Han and Chewbacca. LOST STARS introduces two new characters that have a major impact on the STAR WARS universe. More on that later.

With television premieres starting this week, let's take a look at the top 5 most anticipated shows for the 2015 Fall season. With two returning series, and three new ones, I've compiled a list that's diverse in both genre and network.

The Muppets - ABC (premieres 9/22 8:00 pm)