I’ve decided to quit doubting Marvel. They clearly have a plan. At this point they could do films for comics like Power Pack or The Adventures of Young Aunt May—I just made that up—and they’d gross a quarter of a billion dollars. Disney paid $4 billion dollars for Marvel and has nearly made their money back at this point strictly on box office, never mind the merchandise. Their latest entry in the mighty Marvel movie mythos is ANT-MAN.

Saw an interesting story in the New York Post this morning:

Back in 2006, comic book and toy dealer John Cimino bought a collection from a seller who needed money for a new hot-water heater. Within the assortment of pop-culture oddities for which Cimino paid $500 was a cheap, rayon-and-cotton Halloween costume from the 1960s featuring Spider-Man.

“I didn’t think twice about it,” Cimino tells The Post. He tossed it in his basement.

But Cimino would later give that costume a closer look, and what he discovered has led to one of the more puzzling mysteries in the superhero world, and might muddy the origin story of one of the world’s most well-known — and lucrative — characters

...

Exposure to unfamilair characters is a huge part of the reason I like crossovers so much. For example, ZERO HOUR was pretty much the whole reason I became interested in Starman and the Legion of Super-Heroes. I had never really heard of Jennifer Blood until she showed up in SWORDS OF SORROW, but Nancy Collins did an excellent job explaining the character in a two-page spread in the VAMPIRELLA/JENNIFER BLOOD tie-in.  Because of that comic, I wanted to know more about Jennifer Blood. So when I saw Dynamite was putting out a collection of JENNIFER BLOOD: BORN AGAIN, I had to give is a try.

Deadline is reporting that Disney has begun moving toward a sequel to MALEFICENT. Due to its success, it's no surprise that the studio has reached out to Linda Woolverton to come back and write the planned sequel. Producer Joe Roth is also on-board, however the status of director Robert Stromberg is uncertain.

Given the $180 million budget and $760 million at the box office, it makes sense that Disney would want to keep the same ingredients to the spell it cast on movie-goers.

The biggest question will be if Disney can get Angelina Jolie to reprise her role, as she seldom does. She has expressed her love for the character in the past, so perhaps that provides a little enchantment for the hope of her return:

While Zenescope's WONDERLAND may focus on Calie Liddle, the White Queen, the series began with a lot more horror -- and with the one and only Alice Liddle, who was imprisoned in the madness realm for years as a child.

But Alice wasn't always alone. Over a period of years, she was visited by a young boy, J.W., who was initially rescued by Alice from a pair of cannibal twins. After making a promise to the Jabberwock, young J.W. is sent back to the real world, but he continues to visit little Alice over the years even as he ages into an adult.

My wife and I took our two-year-old son Nathan to the beach today. It was a beautiful day both for weather and general family fun, and memories. Nate played in the sand, wiled away in his little pirate tent, cackled as the waves crashed over him and dad, and he collected some shells for mom. It was the type of perfection that washes away the thoughts of traffic and parking issues in a tide of happiness. The shells will hopefully be the start of a collection that Nate will love for many years.

The mighty creative costume makers over at MorphCostumes, have conjured a clever cameo collage of the one and only Stan Lee.

Having been instrumental in the creation and success of so many of Marvel's mightiest heroes, he has been invited time and again to appear in the movies. Even though movies such as SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN were produced by rival studios, his notoriety transcends the angers over who has rights to what.

His cameos have become so 'meta' that some conspiracy theorists claim that he has a larger role to play in all of these movies as...

The Watcher!

Regardless of why he's there, it's something we've all grown to love about these movies, in a 'Where's Waldo' sort of way. So feast your eyes on this awesome array of appearances!

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

1872 #1 by Gerry Duggan and Nik Virella

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

HAWKEYE #22 - I don't really like Matt Fraction's work all that much. To me, HAWKEYE was a bit overrated. I hate that work, but it's the only way I can describe it. Even though ALL-NEW HAWKEYE has been out for months, the last issue of Fraction's HAWKEYE run is just coming out this week. I am not buying this one, but I did think it was worth mentioning, I know a lot of people enjoyed the "Hawkguy" run.

Our parents delighted in the zany, musical, beach party adventures of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. Started in 1963, with BEACH PARTY, there were a total of 7 movies made in the series. One year and 3 movies later, BIKINI BEACH was released and became the biggest moneymaker of the series and of any beach party genre film, at the time. Eventually Hollywood went on to make over 30 films in the inspired genre known as 'beach party movies'.

In 2013, Disney launched a bodacious new franchise of beach party movies with TEEN BEACH MOVIE. It tells a tale of two kids from high school, who find themselves magically teleported into the (also beach party) film-within-a-film: 'Wet Side Story'. TEEN BEACH 2 is the sequel that reunites main characters Mack (Maia Mitchell) and Brady (Ross Lynch), when Lela (Grace Phipps) and Tanner (Garrett Clayton) drop in from the fictional movie.

Cheap Pops - July 12, 2015

by Chris Delloiacono, Mike Maillaro and Jeff Ritter

This week!

- Beast In the East Results

- WWE2K16 Cover revealed

Well, that didn't take long.

Batman is going after Superman because he's a threat to the world.

Superman is going after Batman because he's a reckless vigilante.

The fight is real. The reasons are valid. We don't know why Wonder Woman is there yet but she's there and she's kicking ass!

by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

WE STAND ON GUARD #1

I’ve been hyping this ARCHIE relaunch since it was announced back in mid-December. I do think ARCHIE has a certain classic timelessness about it, but there is a TON of room for them to update the title for a new audience. So, now that it's here, is ARCHIE 2.0 going to live up to the hype?

ARCHIE (2015) #1

Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Fiona Staples
Colored by: Andre Szymanowicz with Jen Vaughn
Lettered by: Jack Morelli

Published by: Archie Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” - Cersei Lannister

Game of Thrones is the name given to the popular HBO series based after George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, for which the first book is titled. Ripe with political intrigue and set in a fictional, medieval time which resembles the ‘dark ages’ more than it does a pleasant Renaissance, Game of Thrones has become ingrained in today’s pop culture.

Someone -- and by the word balloons, we know that someone is a Black Lantern -- is chasing Ganthet, who carries with him six rings of power, each a different color. He escapes in the nick of time to another universe... the Star Trek universe!

Specifically, the J.J. Abrams STAR TREK universe, because that's important to people.

Ganthet's fate is discovered by the crew of the USS Enterprise, and the rings are taken for analysis. Of course, this would correspond with the sudden appearance of a Klingon vessel, captained by someone with a mad-on for Kirk. And with emotions running high... people on each side get CHOSEN!

What is pop superstar Taylor Swift doing on the set of X-Men Apocalypse? Writer/producer Simon Kinberg shared a photo of Taylor, himself, Sophie Turner and a bald James McAvoy on his Twitter account.

Haters gonna hate. @taylorswift13 #jamesmcavoy @SophieT pic.twitter.com/f8nwXPETSH

— Simon Kinberg (@Kinberg) July 8, 2015

So let's fill this blank space, starting with the most boring reason and working our way up to the juciest rumor:

Shake it Off - She's simply a fan and happened to be in the area. Her popularity is sure to get her access wherever she goes.

Marvel has announced that Elodie Yung (Jinx in G.I. JOE: RETALIATION) will be joining the cast of DAREDEVIL season 2 as Elektra. 

I will say upfront that I don't know Elodie Yung's work all that much, but she does seem to be an extremely beautiful woman.  Which really isn't a required trait to play Elektra, just a personal commentary from me.  I am definitely a fan of beautiful women.

1969. What does that year make you think of--hippies, Woodstock, Vietnam? If you were a alive and old enough to recognize music you couldn’t have made it through 1969 without hearing Credence Clearwater Revival. John Fogerty, the band’s guitarist, singer and songwriter, was perhaps the most prolific musician ever in a single year. Who else has put out three full albums of all new material in a single calendar year? Not even in the Internet Age does this happen. Credence Clearwater Revival was like a star just bout to go nova—it blazed white hot that year before fading away soon after. Infighting broke up the band and legal battles have kept them from reconciling for decades. Despite the hardships, John Fogerty has endured. He seems pretty happy, just a little more than a month beyond his 70th birthday. He’s got an incredible band on a highly successful tour highlighting the glorious year of CCR and promoting his new book, “Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music” coming out this October.