From Buzzfeed:

BuzzFeed News can exclusively reveal that Marvel Television is working on Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, an upcoming feature-length animated film about a new generation of diverse superheroes.

Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors is part of a new, multi-platform animated franchise starring the next generation of Marvel heroes set to launch in 2018. The program will launch with six, four-minute digital shorts (which will follow Spider-Gwen with her new secret moniker, Ghost-Spider). Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors will premiere later in 2018.

From Entertainment Weekly:

This Phoenix has risen… again. On Nov. 2, 2018, Dark Phoenix will arrive in theaters and finally deliver the storyline X-Men fans have wanted for years. Simon Kinberg previously attempted to tell the iconic Jean Grey tale — about the telepath’s battle with demons in her own mind — with his screenplay for 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, but studio pressure squeezed her story into a reductive subplot. Kinberg, making his directorial debut, felt in his gut that this was the story that he needed to tell once Bryan Singer, who directed the previous two sequels, stepped aside. “[The film] was so clear in my head, emotionally and visually, that it would have killed me to hand this to somebody else to direct,” Kinberg says.

It should be a great day for our Riverdale High students. Jughead has just received word that his dad, FP, is being released early from jail, thanks to overcrowding and Cheryl Blossom's character testimony. And Betty's going to be there for Jughead all the way, helping him with his dad. Which means neither of them can look into the "Devil House" where Betty was led earlier by the Black Hood -- which they've just discovered is the same house where the Riverdale Reaper murders occurred forty years earlier -- so they ask Archie and Veronica to look into it for them.

That will put quite the crimp in #Verchie's schedule, as they've been using every spare minute making out and hooking up. But since Archie dropped the L-word on Veronica after a bout of canoodling, they both need something to distract them. It seems Veronica wasn't able to say it back, and her introspection as to why leads her to realize that she's never heard her parents say it to each other once.

Huge weekend for WrestlePro coming up.  They have shows on Friday and Saturday, and both shows are going to feature a huge dose of Impact Wrestling on top of the amazing WrestlePro regulars.

We're still in the "I can't even..." stage of processing last night's mid-season finale of THE FLASH. That was a very, very naughty place to leave the fans hanging for the winter break, @FLASHtvwriters!

We open simply enough: Barry and Iris are going through the wedding gifts, opening the cards, and -- like most people -- making a huge return list. The reference to Mick Rory's gift of forty toasters from a fire sale was priceless. But the action quickly picks up when the two leave the department store with their credit, only to be assaulted by Clifford DeVoe -- The Thinker -- who captures The Flash and whisks him away.

I have been pretty excited about the return of ROSEANNE.  Ignoring the last season, ROSEANNE remains one of my all-time favorite comedy shows.  Part of me wants to be jaded about all the revivals and remakes we get on TV, but I actually loved the X-FILES and PRISON BREAK revivals, not to mention WILL AND GRACE has been getting a ton of positive buzz.  As long as these shows are being done with love and respect for the audience, I am all for them coming back.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s 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!

Since the mysterious Sinnerman has been granting favors and stealing Lucifer's gig (not to mention somehow being able to get the drop on him, leave him in the desert, give him back his wings and steal his "devil face"), Lucifer has decided to up his game and get back to granting favors himself. But when he grants a favor to a young man named Joey whose greatest desire is to work for the mob, the result is finding Joey as the victim of a homicide that falls into Lucifer and Chloe's lap.

The old, old story comes to life on DVD, as Virgil Films presents JONAH: THE MUSICAL.

Filmed at the Sight & Sound Theatres in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this presentation blends screen animation with actors on stage to deliver a captivating, comical, and Christian experience.

The tale begins in animation, with Jonah as a boy. He's presented as someone who wasn't very social with other children, not very physical, and afraid of the water. He prays a lot, and one day hears God tell him a prophesy. This makes him famous among his people, but he doesn't hear from God for another seventeen years, well after the Philistines killed his father.

Shifting to live stage, Jonah's latest prophecy is to go to Ninevah. Jonah would rather see them destroyed than saved, so he goes into hiding. His countrymen, knowing he has a prophecy they need to hear, hunt him down high and low, until his mother, sister and grandparents find him and see him off on a ship to Tarshish.

What did we talk about on Critical Blast this week?

Critical Blast Bombshell, December 2017 - Jennifer of Themyscira

Gotham's nightmare is over. Professor Pyg has been brought into custody, and is safely tucked away in Arkham Asylum. But who is the serial killer who threatened Gotham's cops?

The answer lies behind titanium plates surgically implanted in Pyg's jaw and cheeks. X-rays show he's had extensive surgery to alter his appearance (and make it really painful to punch him in the mouth). Gordon tasks Lucius Fox with deconstructing the images to get to a pre-surgery composite sketch, while he goes to Arkham to interrogate Pyg further. And when Gordon finally manages to get under Pyg's skin, the mask slips just enough for Gordon to see inside.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like...Wonder Woman?

Now that's a Christmas tradition we can get behind! In fact, some of our favorite Christmas stories involve things like Superboy and the Legion looking for the Star of Bethlehem, or Batman tracking down a thief dressed like Santa Claus. So why not put a little cosplay into your Christmas, like our Bombshell does this month. She even rescues Star Wars from the cringeworthy Christmas crossover it tried so long ago with a Star Wars holiday pose!

Get ready to hang your stockings and say your prayers, because cosplay is coming at you now, as we proudly present the...

Sam is a hall monitor at Eerie Elementary. It's not just a job, it's an adventure.

That's because the hall monitors at the school historically have one secret job that nobody but former hall monitors understand: keeping Eerie Elementary from eating students. Only Sam and his friends Lucy and Antonio (and their mentor, former hall monitor Mister Nekobi, the janitor) know that they're really up against one of the town founders, Orson Eerie, who found a way to transfer his soul into the school building through mad science and strange magic.

The writers take some chances in the telling of this episode of Riverdale, beginning with the opening presentation, done in a crime documentary style. It then splits the episode into three vignettes, all happening simultaneously.

The Black Hood has left a note on the door of Pop Tate's diner, giving the citizens of Riverdale 24 hours to live a sin-free life. That doesn't seem so much to ask.

Suit up properly as you enter this week's contest for a branded STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI hoodie from our friends over at FanJackets.com!

This cotton/polyester hoodie is black with the STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI logo on the front. It's the perfect accessory for attending a Star Wars film, or just hanging out.

Open to U.S. Residents only, so be sure you've familiarized yourself with our official rules and regulations. Then take one or more options on the form below (some of them you can take once per day to maximize your chances).

And, of course... May the Force be with you!

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I enjoy seeing new, contemporary theatre, which St. Louis has in abundance.  I also have a deep appreciation for the classics, and sometimes the comfort of seeing Anything Goes or South Pacific is exactly what I want after a stressful week. On November 28, 2017, I finally got to check off a classic from my to-do list that has been “a puzzlement” to me for too long. I guess I always put off watching one of the several Hollywood film versions of the venerable Rodgers & Hammerstein classic The King and I—and I own the one starring Chow Yun-Fat on DVD, still wrapped in plastic—because I wanted to see the pageantry of the stage production first. I’m glad I did. Ace director Bartlett Sher’s Tony Award-winning revival toured to the Fabulous Fox Theatre for a Nov 28- Dec 10, 2017 run that might just be the show to see at the Fox.

Following suit in a long line of men who have been fired from their positions, due to allegations of sexual harassment, Producer Andrew Kreisberg (ARROW, THE FLASH, SUPERGIRL) is now among the shamed.

Vicitms of sexual assault have been empowered to speak out against their attackers, ever since news broke about Harvey Weinstein. It used to be that men in powerful positions were able to make their accusers go away quietly. Those days are officially over and there are probably a lot more men out there who are shaking in their boots right now.

A few weeks ago, we had published a story that C.B. Cebulski had been named the new Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics.

Now that the dust has cleared from JUSTICE LEAGUE, comic book fans have their attention set on the next huge comic book movie...AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR!  Well all right, BLACK PANTHER does come first, but I think everyone knows that AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR is going to be the standard-bearer for years to come.  This morning, Disney posted up the first real trailer: