By Mike Weaver and Mike Maillaro

Maillaro:  This week’s column we are going to focus on two “funny” books: The Tick and Groo.  Personally, I think comedy is much harder to write than drama.  Comedy is real hard to find the right balance between clever and silly.  

I saw the following news story over at Newsarama:

Mickey Mouse is returning to comics - and we don't mean Marvel.

IDW Publishing announced Wednesday that the California-based company is launching Disney Comics, a new line of comics featuring Disney's anthromorphic animal characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. It all begins in April with Uncle Scrooge #1, with a Donald Duck series in May and Mickey Mouse in June. September will see IDW resume publication of the long-running Walt Disney's Comics and Stories series with issue #723.

Asked by Newsarama Wednesday afternoon why a Disney Comics line is licensed out to another publisher and is not kept under the Marvel/Disney roof, Marvel declined to coment.

Word association time: what’s the first thing you think of when someone says “Cinderella?” I’d bet the top two answers would be “glass slippers” and “Disney.” The animated classic has been entertaining generation after generation for more than half a decade. What you might not know is that the famous theatre duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II created their own stage musical version just a couple of years later, but it didn’t actually play the gilded stages of Broadway until…2013! That seems completely ludicrous! The thing is, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was actually created specifically for television. It aired on March 31, 1957, on CBS, starring Julie Andrews as Cinderella. It was absolutely huge, drawing approximately 60% of the American television audience then. It has since been remade twice for television, perhaps most notably in 1997 with Brandy and the late Whitney Houston as Cinderella and The Fairy Godmother, respectively, airing on ABC.

Lots of big happens from the House of Ideas today.  After months of teasers, this afternoon Marvel Editors Tom Brevoort and Alex Alonso had a press conference at Midtown Comics in New York City to spill the beans on Secret Wars.

Some of the highlights of the Press Conference included:

- Some background on the Secret Wars events.  Apparently, Jonathan Hickman had pitched it to Marvel even before he had started working on Fantastic Four.  So everything Marvel has done in the last few years has been done through the intent of moving towards Secret Wars (including Avengers Vs X-Men, Age of Ultron, Axis, and Original Sins).

- They also called this the most coordinated event Marvel has ever done...though I am not sure how much of a ringing endorsement that is.  Original Sins had a major plot point happen off panel...

This week:

• Macho Man Goes into WWE Hall of Fame

• Where’s Alberto Del Rio?

• Royal Rumble Predictions

• And More!

In a Best Supporting Actor category this year that pits Hulk against Hulk (Edward Norton vs. Mark Ruffalo), the true giant to beat may be Robert Duvall, who was nominated by the Academy for his performance as Judge Joseph Palmer in this gripping, emotional drama, THE JUDGE.

The story from director David Dobkin and screenwriter Nick Schenk plays on the popular trope of the big city professional doing his job in small-town America. In this case, it's Robert Downey Jr. who portrays Hank Palmer, a hotshot lawyer who specializes in defending rich clients who are completely guilty. When he is notified of his mother's death, he travels back to his home town in Indiana, where old tensions still exist between himself and his estranged father, who is also the town judge.

Welcome to the first edition of The Longbox Short-List.  Each week, I am going to be posting my recommendations for the best comics to buy each week.  Just a warning, I make these picks BEFORE I actually read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.

You can find the comics shipping next week at this link.

Raw Reactions (Episode from January 19th, 2015)
Mike Maillaro and I are going to be doing a weekly wrestling column called Cheap Pops starting this Wednesday. I wanted to get out ahead of it and offer some brief commentary about this week's Raw. Hope to "see" you all later in the week.

Raw hasn't been particularly entertaining the past few months. Wrestlemania season is off and running, though, do things have picked up a bit, The Legends Reunion each January is always a lot of fun. Let's take a quick look hour by hour.

Hour One
Pretty typical opening mess of a segment. Fifteen minutes of talking with HHH, Lesnar, Rollins, Cena, etc. Only real thing coming out of it was Cena wrestling again tonight to try and bring back Ziggler, Ryback, and Rowan. Do we really need idiotic melodrama like this? Cena failed last week, of course he's going to win this one.

From Newsarama:

Press Release

What can you get for a dollar? How about the Marvel Universe? Today, Marvel is proud to present TRUE BELIEVERS – a new line of comics debuting exclusively in comic shops this April. Printing the first chapter of popular series for the suggested retail price of $1 – TRUE BELIEVERS is the perfect way for readers interested in trying out some of Marvel’s most popular titles in history without breaking the bank.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS is the direct follow-up to JUSTICE LEAGUE: WAR, hinting that there may start being some continuity to the DC Universe Original Movie universe (and yes, I know that's a redundant use of 'universe'). With Darkseid's forces turned back, the world was introduced to a superhero team. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to tell the team that they were a team -- and as a result, when Steve Trevor (George Newbern) comes to Cyborg (Shemar Moore) with a mission to find a missing submarine carrying nuclear missiles, he is set up for a sore disappointment.

Meanwhile, on the coastal New England town of Mercy Reef, Arthur Curry (Matt Lanter) is getting drunk over the recent death of his father. He gets into a brawl with a group of heavies, and displays just how strong he is -- and is observed by an Atlantean bodyguard to Queen Atlanna.

At last night's NXT tapings, it was announced that their next special would be taking place on February 11, 2015.  They also announced three matches for the card:

WARNING!  THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS ABOUT

UPCOMING NXT EPISODES!

NXT Title Match
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

NXT Women's Title Match
Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

#1 Contender's Match
Finn Balor vs. Adrian Neville

I would also expect that they will probably add another match between Baron Corbin and Bull Dempsey.  

Match Analysis and Predictions

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn - NXT Title

Maillaro: Welcome to Open Mike Night.  Although, since this is a relaunch (new home…same creative team), maybe we should call it Ultimate All-New 52 Open Mike Night Now!  Okay, maybe not.

Just a quick introduction.  My name is Mike Maillaro.  I am a newcomer to Critical Blast, but I’ve been writing reviews and columns for various sites for a long time.  Actually, the first comic review I ever wrote was for Crossgen’s Way of the Rat #1 way back in June 2002.   

I have been reading comics regularly since my mom used to buy me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventure issues at our local taxi stand.   

I could use clichéd terms like “mesmerizing,” “stunning,” and “incredible” to describe Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort, “American Sniper.” They would be fitting adjectives, but they wouldn’t quite do the film justice. You see, Clint Eastwood doesn’t make bad movies. He makes near-perfect movies, each one simple and straightforward in presentation, yet featuring complete and complex characters. The man is a living legend, just like Chris Kyle, the subject of this challenging but wholly worthwhile film was during his service to his country.

Cheryl Barnes wants you to Listen to This, her debut five years in the making and steeped in Jazz and Blues. It features a stellar list of sidemen including Brandon Fields on Sax, John Hammond on Piano, and Rickey Minor on Bass with Orchestration by John Beasley.

Kanisha K. is this multi-talented 21-year-old singer/songwriter's self-titled full-length album featuring the uplifting and empowering track "My Another Day” and new single "Bring Me Home."

With four critically-acclaimed albums already under her belt, Liz Kennedy now has a new collection of songs to share. Influenced by legendary artists like Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Randy Newman and Carole King, Liz adds her own unique, inviting stamp of sandpaper and honey tinged vocals on Speed Bump's 14 dynamic folk/blues influenced pop/rock tracks.

Amazing X-Men #15

Written by: Christopher Yost 

Art by: Jorge Fornes 

Colored by: Rachelle Rosenberg

Lettered by: VC's Joe Caramagna 

Cover by: Kris Anka

Published by: Marvel

Cover Price: $3.99

Note: This is a review of the digital version which can be found on Comixology.

Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!

Let's just set the record straight before we even start here, I am far from a fashionista. But I am, however, a certified geek. I was raised on a healthy diet of comics, Star Wars, Star Trek, and wrestling. Growing up in a family of boys, I didn't have much of an opportunity for princesses and glitter. I did, though, have the X-Men and X-Factor living on the balcony of the Barbie dream house.

On that note, I recently decided to bring my love of pop culture to my wardrobe. I've always been a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, but, being a teacher, I can't wear that to school. So, I've endeavored to drag myself into the 21^st century and invest in leggings. My first set of leggings, of course, had to push the boundaries. Frankly, who needs standard black leggings when you can have Marvel characters splashed across the sides?

SUM OF THE PARTS is a 90-minute documentary of the band and artists that are the group Genesis. It chronicles the band’s music from its inception up to their 2007 reunion concert, as well as detailing each member’s solo career with added interviews into present day.

Genesis is almost unique in the music world in that their popularity has stood the test of time. Despite lineup changes, butting heads, changes in musical styles and never really being known as a “rock” band, they have achieved lasting worldwide fame both as a group and as solo artists.

Twilight Zone #11

J. Michael Straczynski (writer)

Guiu Vilanova (artist)

Francesco Francavilla ©

Dynamite Entertainment

(Rod Serling voiceover): “A busy day. A man sits at a desk. With too much to do, and not enough time to do it in the previous weeks, he finally has time to relax for a moment and ponder what he should have for lunch. Also, in the subconscious of his mind, the question of how he should spend the money he received for Christmas gnaws on him without him realizing it. What should he finally spend his cash on? The answer lies in an unexpected email...”

I remember when I was a kid. I remember snap shots of my childhood. I remember some great memories, and some that were not so great. But sometimes, memories fell into both categories, and I’ve always been kind of conflicted on how to feel about them.

I could tell you about my thoughts... but you're only going to scroll down past these words and view it anyway.

Anyway, Marvel has released the latest trailer for AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, a trailer that's been almost as hotly anticipated as the movie itself. And do we learn anything new? Maybe. It appears that Ultron may have the capability of controlling some of the heroes -- or, maybe not. Who is he going to take down from the inside out? How does he get Thor to attack Tony Stark? How does he get Hulk to battle Iron Man? Is it some bizarre kind of AI nanotechnology? Is it the Soul Gem put into his possession by Thanos?

Share your favorite conspiracies in our comments section. And enjoy the trailer! It's just going to make the time between now and May 1 seem that much longer.

The story of Jake and the Neverland Pirates spins out of the story of Peter Pan and Wendy. But what happens if everyone begins to forget that story?

That's the premise of Disney Junior's JAKE AND THE NEVERLAND PIRATES: BATTLE FOR THE BOOK, as Jake, Izzy and Cubby answer a call for help from Peter Pan that takes them someplace they've never been: London. Wendy Darling still reads to her brothers Peter and Michael about their adventures they had in Neverland with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell fighting Captain Hook. But when Hook learns of the book's existence -- and of the way he's portrayed in the story -- he decides he will steal it and have it destroyed. This prompts Wendy to sing a special song that would call Peter Pan if ever they needed his help. But with Peter otherwise occupied, Tinker Bell carries the call to Jake and his crew, who have plenty of experience retrieving treasure from that sneaky shnook.