After the CW's heavily watched CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS crossover, the showrunners made a point of merging the separate universes (SUPERGIRL had existed in a parallel Earth to FLASH and ARROW, largely because she originated as a CBS show before migrating to the CW). In current canon, the characters still believe there is now only one merged universe. But the viewers realize this is not the case, as multiple Earths were shown once more at the close of the event.

One of these Earths was Earth-2, originally the home of Jesse Quick and now the setting for the new CW series, STARGIRL, starring Brec Bassinger as young Courtney Whitmore who finds herself carrying on the legacy of a Justice Society of America hero. Whether or not this opens the door to Jesse Quick (Violett Beane) or her father, Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh)  is anyone's guess, but we can keep our fingers crossed.

Every month the staff at Critical Blast combs the cosplay community for up-and-coming cosplayers who deserve to have a broader audience for their work, taking into account not only costuming skills and spirit, but also how they use that ability in service to others. Through this, we've not only met some talented cosplayers, but also some fine human beings.

We've been telling readers all year long that there is a cosplay revolution taking place in the southern hemisphere, with some breakout talent that is truly eye-popping. More than that, the camaraderie that has come from our Brazilian friends has been nothing short of inspiring. That is certainly the case with this month's featured cosplayer, who brings his optimism and acting skills to the convention floors and public events, breathing life into some of the most recognizable -- and most underserved -- characters of comics and pop culture.

Clint Eastwood's RICHARD JEWELL is a compelling look at the actual events of 1996 and the bombing that took place at the Olympic Games in Atlanta Georgia.

When an AT&T security guard named Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious backpack, he insists police investigate it. This was a pre-9/11 world, where people weren't as hyper-aware of abandoned knapsacks and packages. Inside the pack were three very large pipe bombs, and the evacuation of the area is ordered. When the bomb went off, 111 people were injured, and Alice Hawthorne (44, Albany, Georgia) and Melih Uzunyol (40, Turkey) lost their lives. But the devastation could have been much worse. By all rights, Richard Jewel was a hero.

Until the FBI and the media decided he wasn't, and began profiling him as the person who planted the bomb in order to set himself up to look like a hero.

If you're like a lot of other places in the country, you're probably "sheltered in place," either working from home or just stuck at home without work.

If you're a comics fan, you've also been hit by Diamond Distributors closing down operations for the duration, leaving your local comics store without new merchandise, meaning even the stores that were remaining open during the coronovirus outbreak will hurt. (For more about that, check out our conversation with two retailers on how they plan to cope with the situation.)

However, while the Diamond shutdown definitely impacts Marvel and DC shipments, there are a lot of independent comics creators out there who sell directly to the consumer outside of Diamond, with product that may have been crowded out by the larger lines of titles from the Big Two, and this is a good opportunity to check them out.

If you think about it, a lot of video games over the past few decades have included luck-based minigames with wagering, so the distance between video games and casino games have never really been that far apart. Some games take this even further by including actual interactive casinos within the game world, or make casino games more useful than a downtime distraction.

In this article, we’re going to look at five popular video games that also included traditional casino and card games.

The Sims 3

Sims 3 players can purchase the Lucky Simoleon Casino DLC, which not only adds an entire casino with blackjack and slot machines, it also adds a Gambling skill that will level up as your sim plays.

The second season of TITANS picks up with -- and rapidly resolves -- the first season cliffhanger, which saw Raven's father, Trigon, take over all the Titans and begin his slow-walk of death to the world. With Gar Logan (Ryan Potter) being the only member unaffected he gets through to Raven (Teagan Croft) who in turn reaches out to Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites). One by one Trigon loses his grasp on their souls, as Raven takes out her father with a mighty release of her powers. 

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a jeweler living the high life at a high cost. He maintains a home with his wife and children, as well as an apartment with his girlfriend, Julia (Julia Fox), but it takes more than selling high-end jewelry to a select clientele. Howard has so many shady irons in the fire that he has to become an expert juggler and proficient liar just to keep his head above water.

The Mark Millar Elseworld's tale gets an animated adaptation as DC Entertainment releases SUPERMAN: RED SON on Blu-ray this week.

The premise of the Elseworld's graphic novels was a genius concept, wherein all the elements of an event in the DC Universe would remain fairly the same save for one change that altered the course. With SUPERMAN: RED SON, that change was a half-day; twelve hours, in which the Earth's rotation made it so that Superman's rocket did not land in a Kansas wheat field, but in a wheat field within Stalin's Russia. This gave Millar the playground to test the ages-old argument of nature versus nurture, as Kal-El is raised to support the State and believe in the ideals of communism, while still having within him the innate desire to help people.

Critical Blast wraps up its spate of announcements for the Best of 2019 awards with the revelation of 2019's Critical Blast Bombshell of the Year, as decided by our readers.

Every month, Critical Blast evaluates the cosplay skills of various participants in the hobby, looking for those who stand out not just in their costuming skills but also in how they apply that talent. And every year those twelve cosplayers are added to our annual ballot to determine who will take the next step from Bombshell of the Month to Bombshell of the Year.

Voting in this category was fairly even, with the topmost vote-getters separated only by a percentage point each.

If you've never attended a New Line Theatre musical, Head Over Heels, a fun “jukebox” musical conceived and written by Avenue Q's Jeff Whitty and adapted by James Magruder, would be a great place to start. It's based on a 16th century book called The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, by Sir Philip Sidney, and while never wildly popular itself, it has endured to influence even the Bard himself, William Shakespeare (or whoever really wrote King Lear). After reading it in college, Whitty had a flash of inspiration. He conceived of a mash-up, that modern day concept of combining two things you wouldn't think would work together yet magically do just that. You can spend hours browsing song mash-ups on YouTube. Whitty took it to a whole new level, mashing 16th century prose with the music of 80s punk-pop favorites, The Go-Go's.

You only have to go a few pages in to STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 before you know you're in a Tom King book. The traditional hallmarks are there -- the repetitive cycles of daily life that become a routine of ennui, even in the life of someone who regularly participates in the extraordinary.

Adam Strange is Earth's first spaceman. An archeologist by trade, Adam chanced upon an encounter with a Zeta Beam, a transportation ray that strikes Earth at specific times and teleports whoever it hits across the galaxy to the planet Rann, ravaged by pollution and in perpetual war with itself. Naturally, he becomes a hero, being a virile man of Earth. It's reminescent of Edgar Rice Burroughs' JOHN CARTER series in that respect.

It's not uncommon that a film have a theme. In fact, it's expected. You watch the film, you digest the plot, and you come away with the idea that, "This was a metaphor for this particular idea."

With CHARLIE'S ANGELS (2019), the theme is explicitly stated up front, and then slowly moves on from there to hammer that idea home. And that idea is this: Men are bad.

In this Elizabeth Banks take on the CHARLIE'S ANGELS franchise, the Townsend Agency has been taken international, just as John Bosley (Patrick Stewart) is retiring. As a tribute of sorts, every agency's lieutenant is given the rank of "Bosley," which doesn't get confusing at all. So Elizabeth Banks' character in this film is called Bosley as she directs the activities of her Angels while also directing the actors playing them.

GHOST KILLERS VS. BLOODY MARY is designed to appeal to the fans of cult, independent gross-out gore flicks. If you have a collection of Troma titles and early Peter Jackson works, then this is an edition that will fit nicely onto your shelf.

The basic plot of the story involves a YouTube ghost hunting group that is struggling for clicks as they overact and overemote while faking the ghosts they are seeking to destroy. When a high school student is hospitalized after a purported encounter with an urban legend spook, the principal calls the group in to do their thing and make the local parents feel better. He doesn't believe there really is a ghost, but he's heard of their YouTube channel and he thinks that putting on a good show will help people relax. And the Ghoul Hunters are more than happy to take the money to put on a show.

Tom Holland and Chris Pratt lead this charming Disney Pixar road-trip / buddy movie in a literal quest for magic.

ONWARD presents a world that was initially sword-and-sorcery, and allows it to evolve into one of modern convenience while retaining its culture and creatures. Unicorns are nusance animals, small dragons are kept as pets, and the ways of magic have been long forgotten for smart phones.

It's been a while since indie comics pro Tess Fowler has claimed another career in the comics industry. That dry spell may be over now, depending on how events shape up after today's astonishing announcement from DC Comics writer/artist Sean Gordon Murphy, the driving force behind the best-selling BATMAN: WHITE KNIGHT franchise.

In fact, reception to the WHITE KNIGHT line has been so encouraging to DC that they gave him the reigns to his own little universe -- the Murphyverse -- with power to hire talent for issues that would appear between extended runs.

In the category of Best Film of 2019, we had, perhaps, the most competition of any other category in terms of the number of nominations each vying for the vote of our readers. But there were only three films that cracked the barrier into double-digit percentages of the prize pie.

Coming in for the third place position was the Quentin Tarantino blockbuster with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD, and its fictionalized account of actors who fell into the orbit of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate, just before the Manson family murders.

Bounding out of the pages of Amigo's ROGUES comes BARBARA THE BARBARIAN in this first issue, which tells the savage swordswoman's origin in flashbacks while putting her on the path to a new adventure -- with old traveling companions and old adversaries.

Accompanied by her fun-seeking partners, Blast and Clenk, Barbara sets out for a new city with plans to hide out and maintain a low profile. It's a pipe dream at best, given the impulsive nature of the two men. But it ends up being Barbara who blows their cover when she chances to encounter Hocker, a fence for stolen goods, leading to a chase that brings her back into confrontation with a trio of female warriors who she has bested in combat before.

We've written before how so many of our Best of 2019 contests were nail-biters, close calls, and photo finishes.

That certainly wasn't an issue when it came to the readers selecting who they thought the Best Film Actor of 2019 was. In fact, the field quickly narrowed so that the only significantly reportable actors became a club of five.

Rosa Salazar and Brie Larson made up the superhero contingent of the pack, for their roles in ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL and CAPTAIN MARVEL, but both were overtaken by Taron Edgerton for his exuberant performance in the Elton John musical-biopic, ROCKETMAN. 

Comics fans run both hot and cold. One of our favorite activities is kvetching about how some of the big comic stories are going in odd, strange, uncomfortable, or flat-out wrong directions. But ask us what our favorites are? Well, then we'll switch gears and tell you all why those exact same stories are captivating our attention and why you should be reading them too!

And so it that we had quite a number of votes for our nominees for Best Comics Story of 2019, starting with some independent titles who made some impressive debuts, like WHITE WIDOW (Absolute Comics) and BIGFOOT BILL (Doug TenNapel).

Every month the staff at Critical Blast combs the cosplay community for up-and-coming cosplayers who deserve to have a broader audience for their work, taking into account not only costuming skills and spirit, but also how they use that ability in service to others. Through this, we've not only met some talented cosplayers, but also some fine human beings.

Our newest cosplayer caught our attention with her unique ability to portray characters of different genders, pulling off male and female characters with equal alacrity and skill. We had to share with our readers her talents at both costuming and modeling our favorite heroes, and we believe you will be as impressed as we are.

And so, dear readers, we at Critical Blast are pleased and proud to present to you, our...