When we ended the third season of GOTHAM, it looked as though we were going to see Bruce Wayne (DAVID MAZOUZ) take up his night-stalking ways that will lead to his eventual identity as The Batman. Alas, as the season progresses, we find Bruce Wayne choosing to be more of a jerk, burying himself from his future by going full-bore into the playboy mode, spending nights on the town with drinking buddies and getting sloshed. He even ends up fighting with Alfred (SEAN PERTWEE) and ultimately firing him.

It was my very first convention. I do not do well around crowds, nor am I a people person. Much like James Halliday, I prefer the solitude of a book, video game, movie, or SyFy television show. The convention center seemed to be a fictional reality like the Oasis. I saw all sorts of things that sparked the imagination; my boyhood dreams came to life. What Easter Eggs could I find in a center filled with tens of thousands of eager game enthusiasts? Would I likely find love, like Wade Watts? Absolutely -- in fellow game designers sharing the same passion: creating games for the children.

I'll be honest with you, dear readers. I don't read that much Marvel. I love the characters, I've seen all the movies (even the Nicholas Hammond Spider-man films and the Roger Corman Fantastic Four!), I know the origins -- and I used to read a lot more of them, back in the 70s and 80s. But these days, reading the Marvel line seems less like an escape and more like a chore, what with all the Spider-men, X-People, and Avenger teams, all coming from different universes and timelines.

But a number one issue relaunch of a book we haven't seen for a little while, that's enough of an event to convince me to take a peek under the covers and see what's what. Which is how I ended up with one of the many variant covers of FANTASTIC FOUR #1 by Dan Slott and Sara Pichelli.

In a word? It's fantastic!

Nobody likes to see their heroes get their asses handed to them – especially if those heroes have superpowers. It just not right! This is probably why I couldn’t thoroughly enjoy the Netflix incarnation of Marvel’s DAREDEVIL, the poor guy was simply beaten too often.

I know that a good story requires that heroes face adversaries who get the better of them during the first encounter. But after some clever plotting, or training, or gadgets, heroes are supposed to win the day. However, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was found unconscious in an ally or on a roof, usually in a pool of his own blood, almost every week.

Shedding tears for fallen heroes

Do you remember movie audiences’ dismay when they witnessed Superman’s funeral at the end of BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN? And what about the outpouring grief that gripped theatregoers after watching AVENGERS INFINITY WAR? Our heroes are not supposed to lose.

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 5 "Mermaid"

Guest Star(s): Karan Soni, Bridget Everett, Samm Levine

Written and Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait

This was the episode that Bobcat Goldthwait and Stephen Colbert were talking about on THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT that made me interested in this series in the first place.  It’s a romance story about a man and a mermaid…with a heavy dose of discussing racism…

Every comic book fan has a secondary hobby, whether they realize it or not. It goes beyond the enjoyment of four-color adventures and into the realm of subjective statistics. I'm speaking of course of the ranking system everyone keeps of Top Ten this or Worst Ever that. It's almost always a trap, and everyone's list may overlap with someone else's but will almost never be the same.

So when comics and science fiction veteran editor Robert Greenberger says he's compiled the Justice League's 100 Greates Moments, you can be almost assured he's missed something on your list, and included something you've either missed or dismissed.

SUICIDE SQUAD #45 kicks off the adventure that will cross over with AQUAMAN. Following the events of DARK NIGHTS: METAL, there's been a little bit of fallout, the most globally noticeable being the arrival of a new continent in the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Europe: from the murky depths of the sea, Atlantis has risen once more, triggered by a thought from Aquaman and creating unrest all across the world. 

And when there's unrest, there's bound to be a small-minded musclehead with a modicum of power who knows better than the rest of us and decides to "fix" things. In this case, it's Admiral Meddinghouse, who sees the arrival of the new continent -- an arrival that triggered tidal waves off the eastern seaboard -- as nothing less than an act of war. So he calls in his chips with Amanda Waller to have Task Force X sent in via submarine to meet up with an Atlantean contingent who also feel that the fabled city should remain under the sea.

Jaw dropping on every level!

It's been 25 years since Magic: The Gathering was introduced and it's been 4 years since the last comic book based on the IP hit the stands. Now, Wizards of the Coast is teaming with IDW to bring Planeswalker, Chandra Nalaar to the forefront.

The new series is touted as introducing "an all-new approach to storytelling". The series will be written by Vita Ayala (Supergirl, The Wilds) with interior art by Harvey Tolibao (X-Men, Green Arrow).

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 4 "The Goatman Cometh"

Guest Star(s): Melissa Joan Hart

Written and Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait

The biggest problem with CW's series, ARROW, is that it has to keep ratcheting up the action to top its previous season. The natural end result was that the writers have painted themselves into quite a corner with the way the sixth season has wrapped up. The good part of that, however, is that we get the fun of watching them try to write their way out of it.

This season sees Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen (STEPHEN AMELL), take on several different challenges, not the least of which comes from a federal agent, who is convinced that Oliver is the Green Arrow and is looking to put him behind bars for his vigilante actions. The irony of all that is that the case is largely built on a digitally manipulated image of Green Arrow unmasking to reveal Oliver Queen's face -- a fake that tells the truth.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running 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

Some really big returning series this week!

If you've ever been locked out of your house, you know what a pain it is trying to break back in. Turn the house is an electronic fortress, and add three armed robbers inside holding your kids hostage, and you've got BREAKING IN, a home invasion / heist drama fraught with tension and desparate players on both sides of the conflict.

Shaun Russell (GABRIELLE UNION) is a mother of two, and has arrived at her late father's estate to prepare it for sale. Her father was a crime boss, about to be face trial before he was run down in the street. But before he could go to trial, he liquidated all his assets and put them in a safe in his country home, a secluded manse on several acres and modified with the best security and surveillance systems money could buy.

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 3 "Devil in the Blue Jeans"

Guest Star(s): Bryce Johnson, Michael Ian Black, Jill Talley, Ross Bryant

Written and Directed: by Bobcat Goldthwait

Episode 3 is done as a Behind the Music style documentary about a musician, Caleb Faustini (Ross Bryant) who sold his soul to the devil (Michael Ian Black).  Bryce Johnson plays a documentary film maker who disappears before the footage is ever seen.

Domestically, INCREDIBLES 2 now holds the crown as the highest grossing Disney-Pixar film, with FINDING DORY and TOY STORY 3 taking a step back on the list.

Disney broke the internet when they announced that director Brad Bird was coming back to tell another story involving the family of supers. INCREDIBLES 2 has now crossed the billion dollar mark after continuing to hold on to its theatrical run. Released back in June, it has earned nearly $1.05 Billion dollars worldwide; which surpasses FINDING DORY on the worldwide charts. Whether you're surprised by this or not, it's no small feat for a movie to make a billion dollars worldwide.

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 2 "Face in the Car Lot"

Guest Star(s): Tara Lynne Barr, Dave Foley, David Koechner

Written and Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait

Bobcat Goldthwait's Misfits & Monsters- Episode 1 "Bubba The Bear"

Guest Star(s): Seth Green

Written and Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait

From Variety:

Sir Patrick Stewart will reprise the role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in a brand new “Star Trek” series on CBS All Access, Variety has learned.

The exact plot details are being kept mostly under wraps, though the series is said to tell the story of the next chapter of Picard’s life. That indicates that it will take place after the events of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” rather than being a prequel or reboot.

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Review By The Masked Ace