In Marvel Legacy and Avengers: No Surrender, we are led to believe that a character named Voyager has retconned herself into Marvel history.  But unlike Sentry or Blue Marvel, it seems that everyone in comics' memories have been rewritten to believe that Voyager was there all along (Blue Marvel and Sentry were written as if they were always there).

​Avengers #675 - No Surrender Part 1

Written by: Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub
Art by: Pepe Larraz
Colored by: David Curiel
Lettered by: VC’s Cory Petiit

Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $4.99

From Marvel:

Today, Marvel Entertainment and Conan Properties International are excited to announce the iconic CONAN franchise will make its grand return to Marvel next year.

With over 650 issues from 1970 to 2000, Marvel brought fans the adventures of Conan The Barbarian, Conan the Adventurer, Conan the Savage, and Savage Sword of Conan, among other popular titles.

The often troubled Lindsey Lohan has thrown her cowl in the ring for consideration to play Barbara Gordon, aka BATGIRL.

Joss Whedon is set to direct the movie, announced months before the big shakeup at DC Films, which placed Walter Hamada as the new president. There's no guarantee that Hamada will continue with the project however, as we've seen many movies get cancelled or lose their directors.

Lindsey Lohan took to twitter last week asking her fans to "RT if I should star in the new BATGIRL movie and everyone tell (Joss Whedon)". After being in and out of re-hab, its nice to see that she feels stable enough to get back into Hollywood, but being a red-headed actress doesn't exactly give her an automatic look.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Disclaimer: We don't actually have any articles about Norm MacDonald this week, but I am a fan so he got the cover image this week.

by David Jones
How to Make a Blockbuster on a Budget? by Moneypod.

Mister Miracle -- Scott Free -- is a character that has had me puzzling over him ever since I first encountered him in Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics. Oh, I got his schtick: world's greatest escape artist, so naturally anyone he fought would try to trap him rather than just shoot him or fight him hand-to-hand. And I got that he was in love with this amazon-like Big Barda who used to work for the bad guys. And I even got that he was supposed to be a god -- one of the new ones -- even though he seemed to be the least godlike, relying on tools and technology rather than exhibiting anything remotely deific.

But what I never understood was, how does his mask conform to his face so perfectly? I mean, look at that thing! It curves to his lips, and goes right inside his mouth! He can eat, he can smile, he can shout -- the mask never slips! I have a ski mask. I can tell you, that's not natural.

Eh, it's comics. Go with it.

I know a lot of people who find comfort in repetition. They drive to work the same way every morning. They eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch, or both. They go out for dinner and order the same thing at the same restaurant. Some people need that reliable stability in their lives. That is absolutely fine, I make no judgment here. For others, that’s a torturous existence. That’s like waking up every morning to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” going to work, getting soaked by a truck driving through a puddle along the curb, and thinking, “Really? Again? I swear this happens every time…” That’s how I’m beginning to feel myself. Repetition, déjà vu—but not quite a true “Groundhog Day” experience when I go to the movies to watch anew Liam Neeson action flick. There are some slight deviations from film to film. The Commuter, opening everywhere on January 12, 2018, is one such deviation, but by and large it’s exactly what you might suspect it is.

Today, Nintendo launched a 15-minute Nintendo Direct mini which focused on heavily on games coming for the Switch.

Here's the thing, I love my Switch, but at times it just feels like this system is going to be primarily ports, including ports for games that already came out years ago.  There are a lot of cool announcements here, but if I didn't have a Switch yet, there is nothing here that really grabs me as a potential customer.  And still no sign of a Virtual Console coming anytime soon, so I am pretty much treating that as as "never going to happen."   

In a time when Confederate statues and flags are being vandalized, removed, or simply voted away, it's shouldn't be surprising to hear that other Southern references are taking the hit. Case in point: Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, a dinner theater event in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (home of Dollywood), as well  as in Branson and Myrtle Beache, will be removing the word "Dixie" from its title.

Dolly explained that the name changes were due to an expansion of the shows into other markets. "By streamlining the names of our shows, it will remove any confusion or concerns about our shows and will help our efforts to expand into new cities," she says. Which probably translates to, "If we wanted to get permits to break ground in these new places, the politicians said we might want to rethink our branding."

Yesterday, WB posted the trailer for TEEN TITANS GO TO THE MOVIES!  This will be in theaters on July 27, 2018.

I loved the WONDER WOMAN gag in the trailer.  The fifteen second fart joke, not so much.  That is definitely the dichotomy of TEEN TITANS GO.  Clever moments and dumb gross out moments often within seconds of each other.  All in all, I usually really  like TEEN TITANS GO....though I am not sure I could sit through a 90 minute TEEN TITANS GO movie.  But it's very likely I will be taking my kids to see this. 

Judging a book by its cover, David Jagneaux's THE ULTIMATE ROBLOX BOOK: AN UNOFFICIAL GUIDE is visually appealing. The hard, glossy binding; bold title font, pictures, use of color, compact size, and thickness are all a huge win. You could picture this book sitting on your desk, picking it up, fanning the pages, perusing its large font, clear graphics, screenshots, explanations, bullets, and continuous use of the top seller banner throughout. Stunning to say the least.

The title of the book, at first glance, also grabs your attention. Using a power word like ULTIMATE would seem to indicate all users, at any level, would not only benefit from reading it, but that it would offer immense value. What should an ultimate guide contain? Beginning 101 account creation? How to create games? How to script? Advance power user techniques? Examples? And much more! But does it accomplish its objective, or is it just another gimmick to lure an easily persuaded gift-giver? 

Van Helsing vs Robyn Hood is a 4-part mini-series that has the vampire hunter crossing paths with the "otherworldly fixer-for-hire".

The story starts off with an action sequence as Van Helsing quickly dispatches a few low-level vampires. Business as usual for her, as she almost appears to be enjoying herself. Until one vampire in particular seems to be trying to send her a message:

"Find Von."

He seems to be struggling to fight "the hunger" but fights it long enough to give Liesel (Van Helsing) a clue as to who infected him. After killing him, she notices a crown tatoo on the side of his neck.

The Masked Ace has returned!  January 22 marks the 25th Anniversary of Raw!  To celebrate, the WWE will be doing a huge live Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as well as the Manhattan Center (home to the first ever Raw taping back in 1993).  On Raw and Smackdown, WWE announced a who's who of stars returning for the celebration

In the town of Derry, Maine, children disappear. And nobody cares. Well, except for the kids, of course. And only some of them.

From the looks of things, Derry is a small town. Small enough to get just about everywhere in it via bicycle. Plus, we get to see a map of it later in the film, confirming its size. So one would think that if a couple of kids disappeared there, it would be a thing. But the only ones who pay all that much attention to it are a small band of misfit kids who are on persistent defense against a truly sociopathic bully who doesn't just give them wedgies and take their lunch money, but also carves his initials into them with a knife -- and receives no legal punishment for it.

New SyFy series KRYPTON, premiering this Spring, has been the subject of criticism by fans as the direction of the show has been unclear from its inception.

As we get closer to it's premiere date, and production is nearly completed, Geoff Johns, David Goyer and Cameron Walsh spoke candidly about the show, at the Television Critics Association winter press event. Cameron Cuffe, who plays Seg-El (Superman's grandfather) was also in attendance.

Imagine a world where Superman doesn't exist.

I don't like it either. But when the time traveling Adam Strange visits Krypton to speak with Seg-El, Kal-El's grandfather, it is of dire circumstance. Someone is traveling through time in an attempt to prevent Superman from ever coming about.

Color me curious.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

The “mystery” member of Marvel Entertainment’s upcoming comic book series Exiles has been revealed, and it’s a character never before seen in comic books … kind of.

The fifth member of the group, which is made up of alternate universe takes of familiar Marvel characters, will be a new incarnation of Valkyrie that closely resembles Tessa Thompson’s version of the character from last year’s Thor: Ragnarok.

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!

CW posted a fun little trailer announcing the return of their superhero shows starting next week.  I did think it was odd since LEGENDS OF TOMORROW isn't coming back yet, and they didn't include BLACK LIGHTNING which also debuts this week. I know it is a different canon (for now), but I haven't seen a lot of advertising muscle put behind that show, so it just seems like CW doesn't have a lot of faith in it.  Making it part of the Arrowverse could have been a real good way to give it some legs.