From WWE.com

Following more than two years of extensive evaluations, four-time World Champion Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher.
 
Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon.

Things could have gone a lot better on LUCIFER with Episode 3.18, "The Last Heartbreak." You have a serial killer copycat and the immortal cop who worked the previous case. That's pretty hard to screw up -- and, to be fair, the episode had a lot of great scenes in it, particularly those involving Lt. Marcus "Cain" Pierce (TOM WELLING) recalling moments from his life as a detective in the 1950s and an almost-relationship developed with Kay (FIONA GUBELMANN) and her current-day granddaughter, Maddie (also Gubelmann).

Will Lois Lane and Jonathan Kent be erased from existence?

With Brian Michael Bendis' first Superman story coming in the pages of Action Comics #1000, it is expected to lead into his 6-part mini-series THE MAN OF STEEL. On social media, Bendis has mentioned "new characters" and a "new status quo". Now that we have the FULL solicits available for the weekly mini, starting the last week of May, things are starting to become a little clearer.

And some fans may not be happy.

Something has happened to Lois Lane and Jonathan Kent. Based on the solicitations Superman must come to grips with what happened. Then he struggles to keep it a secret. Then there's no mention of them at all, until the final issue when their fate is revealed.

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

I am buying quite a few books this week, but not a lot of new and exciting books to talk about...It's always hard to find something new to say about "issue 43" even of a series I am enjoying.

Jude Ellis (STEVE ZAHN) is the sheriff of a sleepy northwestern coastal town that suddenly finds itself the center of a federal investigation. When Ellis is called to investigate a body washed up on a restricted beach, he finds not one body, but a handful -- with  countless more floating in on the tide. What's more, some of them are survivors, still alive. When Agent Emma Peralta (SANDRINE HOLT) begins to interview the survivors for DHS, she finds they all have one story in common -- they are refugees from a war with genocidal intent. But the country isn't a foreign one -- it's the United States, only 250 years in the future.

The police procedural is possibly one of the longest-lived, most successful television genres after the situation family comedy. From DRAGNET to ADAM-12, all the way to HILL STREET BLUES and LAW & ORDER, people love to watch the good guys at work bringing the bad guys to justice.

Note: This review is for the Audible version.

It's never the wrong time of the year to watch a Christmas special, particularly when it's one of the DOCTOR WHO episodes, as they are as momentous as they are charming.

This particular episode finds The Doctor (PETER CAPALDI) heading off to Antarctica, where he intends to refrain from his next regeneration and allow himself to die. He quickly learns, interestingly enough, that this is not the first time he's decided to do this very thing, as he learns there is another TARDIS nearby -- and another Doctor. The original one, portrayed by DAVID BRADLEY as a dead ringer for the first Doctor, William Hartnell.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Critical Blast Bombshell, March 2018 - Cosplay Kitti

It was a hot time in old Gotham last night, as multiple story threads just got a little more vicious.

First and foremost, Ivy Pepper (PEYTON LIST) has perfected her little killing plants, and sets her sights on the man who killed her father: Harvey Bullock (DONAL LOGUE). Combining the Lazarus Water stolen from the Wayne Foundation, the pollen from her newest blossoms kill within minutes, sprouting quickly from their victims and turning them into organic flower pots. And her next target is all the rich people at the Wayne Foundation charity fundraiser, including Bruce Wayne himself.

Here we go!   I absoultely love that they had Zoe Saldana (as Gamora) open the video.  Actually all the scenes showing how the Guardians interact with the Avengers are pretty great.  Lots of shots of Wakanda coming off the success of BLACK PANTHER.  And that shot of Cap fighting Thanos by himself really harkens back to INFINITY GAUNTLET #4 one the the most classic moments in comic history.

Marvel has been building up to this movie for 10 years, 18 movies, and like 10 different TV series.  My favorite comic when I started reading comics was SILVER SURFER featuring Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, so I can't possibly be more excited.

Based on Margaret Atwood's award-winning, best-selling novel, THE HANDMAID'S TALE is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Facing environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate, Gilead is ruled by a twisted fundamentalism in its militarized "return to traditional values."  As one of the few remaining fertile women, Offred (ELIZABETH MOSS) is a Handmaid in the Commander's household, belonging to a casete of women forced into sexual servitude as a last desperate attempt to repopulate the world. In this terrifying society, Offred must navigate between Commanders, their cruel Wives, domestic Marthas, and her fellow Handmaids - where anyone could be a spy for Gilead - with one goal: to survive and find the daughter who was taken from her.

The name of the movie is Tomb Raider, but name of the game is franchises. That’s the word that makes Hollywood drool like Pavlov’s pooches. Some are obvious, like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe that everyone in Tinseltown is scrambling to emulate.  Tomb Raider would seem to be an obvious candidate, considering it’s essentially Indiana Jones as a British woman. Born from the multi-billion dollar videogame industry, Tomb Raider’s lead character Lara Croft has driven a long parade of console videogames, a successful comic book series, and two reasonably successful films starring Angelina Jolie. After more than a decade, Hollywood decided the time was right to reboot the cinematic arm of the Tomb Raider franchise.

MATT DAMON (JASON BOURNE) stars in this ALEXANDER PAYNE vehicle about a world where the capability of shrinking living beings is made a reality.

Being able to become five inches high, while irreversible, comes with many advantages, which fall into the categories of ecology and economy. Requiring less to sustain yourself scales what might be a meager savings for a full-size individual into a fortune for a miniaturized one, allowing for a retirement to leisure much earlier. Likewise, the less one uses, the less waste produced, so it's a win-win.

Payne does a wonderful job exploring the downsides of the technology as well -- particularly with political dissidents being shrunk against their will, and the challenges to illegal immigration if refugees can simply be shipped overseas by Federal Express.

From DC:

Following the success of DC’s modernized takes on classic Saturday morning cartoons and a previous selection of acclaimed one-shot crossovers featuring Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, DC plans to shake up the worlds of superhero fans and lovers of old-school cartoons yet again. Today, the publisher announced plans to release four all-new one-shot comics that bring some of DC’s most exciting heroes together with well-known characters from the world of Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1970’s. These books will be available at comic book retailers and for purchase digitally on May 30.                                             

The bombs are dropping so fast in this episode of RIVERDALE it's a veritable plot-point barrage.

For weeks, Jughead (COLE SPROUSE) has known in his gut that Hiram Lodge (MARK CONSUELOS) has been buying up distressed properties in Riverdale for nefarious purposes, but he hasn't been able to say what they are. When Hiram urges Fred Andrews (LUKE PERRY) to run for mayor in the special election, it concerns Archie (KJ APA), who is willing to work for Lodge himself, but doesn't want his family involved. So he gives Jughead a bit of information he didn't have before: that Hiram had bought Pop Tate's Choklit Shoppe. This solidifies Jughead's desire to out Hiram's plans, but he cannot get anyone to go on the record against him.

From Marvel

This July, Laura Kinney forgoes the Wolverine mantle, and returns to the title that made her famous. Prepare for a new beginning with writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Juann Cabal‘s X-23 #1!

Since her debut nearly 15 years ago, Laura has emerged as one of the most dynamic, distinctive, and ferocious characters in the Marvel Universe. Trained to be a weapon, and sporting a signature two claws on each hand, X-23 has been tested against some mighty forces—as a person and as a hero—but never relents, never gives up. And this summer, she’ll begin again.

When a powerful pyrokinetic metahuman shows un in Central City, Team Flash is certain they've found yet another of the twelve bus metas they've been looking for. But Erik Frye (OLIVER RICE) got his powers the same night The Flash did, and after attempting to rob a bank, he is suddenly bereft of his abilities.

The power loss is tracked down to a new metahuman, who actually is one of the ones from the bus incident: Matthew Kim (LEONARDO NAM) has the abilities to remove a metahuman's powers with a touch. But more than that, he can then place them into another person's body.

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!