It's a toss-up as to which Marvel "hero" has the largest body count -- The Punisher or Wolverine. But I do remember way back when Wolverine finally got his own series, some few years after the Frank Miller miniseries, that the body count was what helped sell the title. The promo poster even showed Logan -- man without a past -- standing atop a pile of bodies, claws extended and ready for more.

So it's not much of a surprise that this is what people in the Marvel Universe would know him for -- being a killing machine. But Charles Soule puts a different spin on those perspectives, with not one but two ordinary people trying to remind this new Logan that he's seen as a hero.

Yeah, I said "new Logan." I'll get to that in a minute.

It's been a surreal journey, and it's about to come to an end -- or to a whole new beginning in Tom King and Mitch Gerads' unconventional take on Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and the rest of Jack Kirby's Fourth World pantheon of New Gods.

Scott Free -- the titular Mister Miracle -- is the new Highfather. And, in keeping with the family tradition, he must make a sacrifice to make peace with Darkseid. When Scott was a boy, his father gave him to Darkseid in exchange for Darkseid's son, an exchange that was meant to keep the peace between New Genesis and Apokolips. Now that Scott and Barda have a son of their own, Jacob, they find themselves in the same boat, forced to give up their child to Darkseid.

So they prepare him -- and a vegetable tray -- to go meet the boy's grandfather and negotiate the peace. 

But Mister Miracle is an escape artist, after all, and he's got a plan.

Too bad for him it's a total failure. Perhaps Plan B might have better luck.

Abby is eleven years old and lives in Smithville with her mother, father, Jonah her younger brother, and their dog named Prince.  Abby and Jonah have a secret fairy friend named Maryrose who is trapped in a mirror in their basement.  Abby, Jonah, and even Prince typically go on fairy tale adventures when Maryrose helps them enter through the mirror.

"The Phantom of the Opera" is, unfathomably, they longest running Broadway musical of all time. It's also a disturbing gothic rape fantasy, for which Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a masterful score. When the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, announced that Webber's sequel "Love Never Dies" would open the 2018-2019 Broadway Series, the thought off sitting through another long, sung-through, gothic rape fantasy chased with a double shot of stalker fantasy all set to more Webber orchestration was not one of love. Of course, there was always the possibility that Webber's music paired with Glenn Slater lyrics and Ben Elton's book would raise this continuing tale of unlikable Parisians above its overachieving predecessor. 

We've seen the trailers online for SANDMAN, but we all know that trailers aren't often representative of the whole story. What can you tell us that's a bit more in-depth about the film?

SANDMAN is kind of a passion for us, for our whole team. It's a project that I wrote about a year and a half ago. Some of the premise is based upon my own life, so it made it a little bit easier to bring the story together.

Task Force X has been sent to Atlantis, recently risen from the ocean floor, to nuke it back to the sea bottom. Or have they?

It certainly seems that way, as Lord Satanus and Master Jailer break into the chamber of magical treasures of Atlantis, being the best place to detonate the bomb. But the rest of the Suicide Squad has decided this isn't the best move, orders from Amanda Waller be damned, and they're trying to break through the barriers that separate them so they can stop the explosion. And, hey, because this is Aquaman's book (AQUAMAN #40), he even gets a few lines in, as well as some fighting.

What ensues is some Harley Quinn fourth-wall randomness, a game of "Bomb, Bomb, Who's Got The Bomb?" and some quick grief therapy for Killer Croc who's gone completely nihilistic with the loss of The Enchantress. Oh yeah, and Harley has a secret sub-mission that she just remembered.

The DC Universe is still exploring -- in JUSTICE LEAGUE -- the great cosmic odyssey that began with the destruction of the Source Wall, releasing unfathomable energy into the multiverse. It could be the end of everything, the beginning of something new...or it may just be a frustrating plot device to keep readers wondering.

Lex Luthor has been hard at work to unlock this secret, embodied in an energy source called The Totality. He's been traveling through time, using magic, and imprisoning a demonic Dark Multiverse maniac version of Batman himself -- the Batman Who Laughs, introduced in the DARK NIGHTS: METAL series. This Batman holds the answers Luthor seeks, but those answers come at a cost, one that Luthor is happy to pay.

Anyone who knows anything about Frank Oz and especially Jim Henson should understand that they created the muppets to provide joy and entertainment to people of all ages.

What they mean to you is different than what they mean to your neighbor.

Recently former Sesame Street writer, Mark Saltzman, came out and said that Bert and Ernie are gay. What being gay means for a muppet is still yet to be determined, however, that was his point of view. Frank Oz, who created Bert and probably knows Jim Henson better than anyone outside of Henson's family, said that Bert isn't gay; he also questioned why their sexuality mattered?

Matt Damon: Still Looking Slick at 46

The Captain Marvel Trailer makes me flashback to 2013's MAN OF STEEL, and it looks like the movie will be heavy on flashbacks as well.

Here's what I take away from MARVEL RISING: OMEGA #1: There's going to be a cartoon series, and this comic evidently is the seed planted in the hope of germinating into viewer interest. This explains the more animated style of art taken by Georges Duarte and Roberto Di Salvo, as the panels definitely look like they're promoting a cartoon show.

As for the story itself, I have a handful of misgivings. What we have here are three of the characters seen on the cover -- Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, and America Chavez -- as well as two more Inhumans teamed up to fight one of the X-Men's most annoying villains -- Arcade. It's another Terror Trap designed for the mighty mutants, which is now being beta tested by our fledgling not-yet-a-team of plucky young fighters for justice

The Archie contingent of my collection has been growing significantly in the past few years -- not because of RIVERDALE or the new take on the Archie Comics characters, but because I have a ten-year-old comics reader who loves the classic stuff. We have shelves of Archie digests picked up at Wal-mart and Half Price Books, as well as some hardcover collections from various eras. One of those collects stories from the 1940s, when Chick (as Archie was called in his first appearance) first met Betty as she moved in next door. The later stories involved Betty and Veronica organizing dances for soldiers, as well as other references to the ongoing war effort. 

Nobody is dealing all that well with the way the Batman / Catwoman wedding went -- or, rather, didn't -- particularly Batman himself. In typical Batman fashion, whenever something traumatic happens to him, he buries himself in his work.

Now, normally, this would mean a trail of busted jaws and broken ribs stretching across the length and breadth of Gotham City, lasting until someone finally beats some sense into him. This time is different, however. As he relates to Commissioner Gordon at the scene of what seems a mundane murder, "Lately I may have gotten over my head. I need to reset. Bottom line, this is a mystery and I'm a detective."

Calling the Beatles "influential" to rock and roll is an understatement. They were as essential to music as oxygen is to life. I was seven years old when John Lennon was taken from the world, forever ending any chance of a Fab Four reunion. As time marched on, seeing at least one Beatle perform live had become a "bucket list" item. Thanks to Ringo Starr, that box is finally checked.

At 78 years of age, you might think Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band would be a show that relies on nostalgia over musicianship. Rest assured, Ringo, aka Sir Richard Starkey, is still the infectiously charming performer he's been since the Beatles early days. As a drummer he's been immensely influential and inconceivably still underrated by "experts" in such matters. All of Ringo's many talents were on display as the thirteenth iteration of the All-Starr Band played a lively show at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis.

MACGYVER was one of those classic 80s shows that are often imitated but never duplicated. Attempts to make movies of THE A-TEAM never took off, and remakes of KNIGHT RIDER just didn't have staying power.

In one of the many iterations of SCOOBY-DOO, way back in the days of Saturday Morning cartoons, Scooby and the gang used to meet celebrities. Granted, they were celebrities who had enough free time to show up and do some voice acting for Hanna-Barbera, but they were still celebrities. Don Knotts, Mama Cass, a handful of others.

I was reminded of that series with this new release, SCOOBY-DOO AND THE GOURMET GHOST. The story finds the gang going to stay with Fred’s Uncle Bobby — Bobby Flay, whom Fred apparently didn’t know was a famous chef, much to Shaggy and Scooby’s disbelief. Flay is opening up a cooking resort with tons of “only in the cartoons” mechanical helpers that make cooking a breeze for anybody. He’s assisted in this by other celebrity chefs, including Giada DiiLaurentis, who is presented here as a sort of Wonder Woman in training as far as her surprising capabilities go.

Callie is an only child of a world-renowned taxidermist.  She helps her father in his shop as his assistant.  Callie’s mother and father are divorced and, since the divorce, this is about the only time she spends with her dad. 

Cosplay inspires the imagination of so many people. Some do it just for a lark, and some get bitten by the cosplay bug big time, churning out some truly stunning transformations that not only bring the characters out of the fantasy and into reality, but simultaneously bring the fans out of reality and into the fantasy.

Whether it's video games, comic books, or animated fantasies, there are always so many characters to pick from -- and our September Bombshell of the Month is one who can take them on from all media, as you will see.

So now, Critical Blast is proud to introduce to you our...

Critical Blast Bombshell, September 2018

Ginger Punk Cosplay

(What is this ComicsGate thing you keep hearing about? To some, it's a hate group, symbolizing old white guys whining about comics turning into political agitprop for social agendas. To others, it's a movement of fans who just want to read good comics again without having to endure stories where the writer's personal ideologies and philosophies have been shoe-horned into their favorite character's makeup.

It's a pretty big thing, and it's a pretty volatile one as well, with some comics professionals (so-called) making threats of violence (or at the very least wistful wishes of agonizing death and disease) against anyone who dares to align themselves with the movement.