What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Bombshell of the Month Sofy Frezer

I grew up in books. They were all over the place. There were the slim hardbound Weekly Readers that regularly found their way into my collection. There were the dog-eared paperbacks in the classroom library. There were the well-read Readers' Digest anthologies and unabridged classics and Big Little Books and (yes) more comic books than a reasonable person could count (and I knew exactly how many there were).

Annabelle DiMarco has a secret -- a secret life passed on to her from her mother, and her mother before her.

Because Belle is a beast hunter, someone who keeps humanity safe from the things that go bump in the night; or, more precisely, the things that eviscerate whole communities and swallow them up in eternal torment.

If Diogenes ever carried his lantern into the city limits of Riverdale, he'd be gone on to Greendale before the day was out.

Let's start with the Cooper household. Not only has the arrival of eldest brother Chic (HART DENTON), whom IMDb now lists as "Chic Smith" so we can better understand some of Hal's resentments, created discord with the Coopers, now he's also brought murder to their doorstep. And Betty (LILI REINHART), poor Betty, instantly jumps in to help her mother clean up and dispose of the body. We don't even know who killed him yet. We may not think it's Chic, with that heroin-thin frame of his, but surely Alice didn't just become a murderer? Regardless, Betty gets involved in the cover-up, moving the body to a disused sewage pipe.

I never expected DEADPOOL could be as good as it was, but Fox really nailed it perfectly.   The teasers and posters for DEADPOOL 2 have definitely shown that we can expect more of the absurdity of the first movie.  The newest trailer features unfinished special effects, mocking the blind, a very unexpected returning character, and a parody that Disney ain't going to be too thrilled with.

The plans of The Thinker (currently played by KENDRICK SAMPSON) are further revealed, and further complicated, in this episode of THE FLASH. With Barry's powers having been revealed to Warden Wolfe (RICHARD BROOKS), he's been locked away in an "off the books" metahuman wing. It's off the books because the warden has secretly been selling metahumans to Amunet Black (KATEE SACKHOFF), and now he knows that Barry Allen (GRANT GUSTIN) is The Flash and locks him away with his most recent captures: Becky "Hazard" Sharpe (SUGAR LYN BEARD), Mina "Black Bison" Chayton (CHELSEA KURTZ), Sylbert "Dwarfstar" Rundine (DEREK MEARS), and Ramsey "Kilg%re" Deacon (DOMINIC BURGESS). But when Barry learns that they are up for sale to Amunet Black, he begins working on a breakout. This is a great scene for Barry, as he's working without powers and showing what he's capable of as a scientist going full MacGuyver.

No one would ever guess that the secret identity of Sparks, a heroic super-dog...

...is actually two cats!

August and Charlie are two escaped felines from a laboratory that is definitely up to no good. Their intelligence has been boosted, but August's is off the charts. So much so that when she ran back to her original home with her new friend, Charlie, only to find the house abandoned and up for sale, she sold some of the leftover items in the house online, parlayed the money in the stock market, and then bought the house for herself, all using a laptop.

But August has one irrational fear: grass. This keeps her from ever going outside unprotected. And so she built a robotic dog suit for outdoor adventuring. With her running the computer in the rear and Charlie navigating from the front, they take Sparks out to rescue babies and perform good deeds.

If you weren't happy with the liberties taken with the animated adaptation of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, then you're probably going to walk away sourly with this adaptation as well. BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT has little in common with the graphic novel that came before it, save that it's set in a Victorian era, and that Batman is pitted against Jack the Ripper. Two foes, one title, and nothing else bears any resemblence to the classic Elseworlds story.

Wizard World comic con returned to St. Louis this past weekend. It boasted big name celebrities such as John Barrowman and Sebastian Stan (note Stan Lee was supposed to attend but canceled after being rushed to the emergency room.) But despite some of the star power, Wizard World 2018 overall was rather lackluster.

The past couple of years the con has been shrinking, fewer vendors, fewer celebrity guests, and fewer panels, all of which contributed to lower attendance numbers. And the fact that it was Super Bowl weekend didn’t help either. (Hey Wizard World, comic con attendees like football too! Just saying.) While Wizard World brought in some guests that had never been to St. Louis before, the con itself lacked its usual excitement. Even the vendors seemed concerned about lack of attendance. That said, the cosplayers yet again came out in force and did not disappoint.

With Cain (TOM WELLING) now openly interacting with Lucifer (TOM ELLIS), it was only natural that the phrase "My Brother's Keeper" get used as an episode title. And since Lucifer's travails always must mirror somehow those going on with his associates in the LAPD, we should expect sibling issues with someone else.

In this case, the issues are with Ella Lopez (AIMEE GARCIA), whose brother has gone missing. He's a diamond authenticator, and it appears he's involved in some shady deal with a smuggler, thief or some-such. Ella is so concerned over his disappearance that she immediately hires Mazikeen (LESLEY-ANN BRANDT) to bounty-hunt him. What they find is the dead body of the diamond dealer, and it appears Ella's big brother is Suspect Numero Uno.

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!

It's seeemed a little strange to me how little we've seen of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY considering the movie is coming out in May.  Even during the Super Bowl last night, instead of a real teaser, we got a teaser that the real teaser would be coming out the next day.  That is some INCEPTION-level logic there. 

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Bombshell of the Month Sofy Frezer

From The Los Angeles Times:

Character art for the upcoming "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot has been revealed and Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo are sporting more than just brand-new looks.

Nickelodeon's "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a new animated show that reimagines the fan-favorite characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The series will follow the Turtles as they discover new powers and a new mystical world that exists beneath the streets of New York.

Joining the brothers in their adventures are some familiar faces, including friend and trusted ally April O'Neil as well as their sensei, Master Splinter.

...

WrestlePro’s first show of 2018 is going to be a huge one. Brace For Impact will be at WrestlePro's home base at the Rahway Recreation Center in Rahway, NJ on February 3, 2018.

With much of the focus of DC's REBIRTH has been the role that WATCHMEN quantum-god Doctor Manhattan has played, it's easy to forget the major role played by the return of Wally West, aka Kid Flash, aka The Flash (just not the Barry Allen one). Wally was ripped from history and imprisoned in the Speed Force, only to return to discover that almost ten years were stolen from just about everybody -- enough to make them all forget about him, about the Teen Titans, and who knows what other events and teams.

That theme continues in this year's THE FLASH annual. While Wally can help people remember him with a touch, he has yet to bring himself, after over a year, to let his beloved aunt, Iris West, remember who he is. And when he learns that Iris has just been forced to kill the Reverse-Flash (again, we know) with a Black Hole gun, it pushes him away from Flash and Kid Flash (also named Wally West) and toward anyone else who might remember him.

Years ago, like most of my peers, I had my hands on the greatest toy the world had ever seen: Stretch Armstrong, the hero you could flex, twist, and stretch and who would always return to his original form. Unless it was cold, in which case he might take a little longer. Eventually, I got to see the stuff inside Stretch Armstrong, shortly after which he wasn't as much fun to play with.

Now Stretch is making a comeback -- and he gets clothes in the process! IDW has licensed STRETCH ARMSTRONG AND THE FLEX FIGHTERS for comics. If you haven't heard of the team, that's okay. They're brand new, as is Stretch, all of whom will be appearing their own animated cartoon series starring SCOTT MENVILLE (TEEN TITANS GO's Robin) as the teenaged Stretch and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION alum WIL WHEATON as their corporate sponsor, Jonathan Rook.

So much happens on this episode of RIVERDALE, not the least of which is "Black" Betty (LILI REINHART) working out her new webcam business. The town is all abuzz about the decapitation of the statue of the town's founder, General Pickens, and the pressure is on the Southside Serpents as the most likely suspects. Sheriff Keller (MARTIN CUMMINS) has made numerous visits to the community, asking the same questions over and over, but when he shows up delivering eviction notices because the trailers are behind in their rent, Jughead (COLE SPROUSE) can no longer sit idle.