One of my biggest gripes about DC's REBIRTH is that they gave me all this exorbitant foreplay in the one-shot, and now they're dragging out the underlying story in dribs and drabs across all their titles with sneaky little mentions. Over in TITANS this week, we get the name-drop of "Manhattan" when Omen probes Abra Kadabra's mind. But there's another reference to the whole thing this week as well, happening here in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD #2.
Batman has made the Justice League aware of the Suicide Squad's existence, and they're none too happy that the criminals they put behind bars are actually being cut loose on a regular basis to perform secret missions. At the close of the previous issue, the two teams finally entered into conflict, which plays out over the course of this second issue.
Of all the DC projects springing from the Hanna-Barbera universe, FUTURE QUEST was probably the one that excited me the most. Taking the world of Jonny Quest and finding a way to merge it with all the H-B action cartoons (and even some of the action-comedy cartoons like THE IMPOSSIBLES) seemed a daunting task, but the team somehow made it work, through the threat of a multi-dimensional planet killer called The Omnikron.
After a few issues, the series seemed to be meandering a bit, as it needed story space to bring in all these characters, including introducing the new Mightor to the universe and tying his energy club to that of Omnikron. And the artwork had become serviceable but not outstanding. In short, the series was starting to sputter toward boring.
From page one, panel one of the latest issue, that's not the case any longer.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/27/2016 - 08:18
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/20/2016 - 07:55
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/13/2016 - 19:00
DC made some big announcements today regarding their Hanna Barbera line. They are doing a series of annuals, all of which will crossover with a mainstream DC character. And as a special bonus, each annual also includes a backup feature introducing a new character to the Hanna Barbera reboot. The main stories and the backups all have top of the line creative teams, and from the solicits, they all seem to tie in to both DC and Hanna Barnera continuity.
All four of these look great, but I will say the one I am most looking forward to is the Flintstones/Booster Gold. Especially since it's got a Jetsons' backup!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/13/2016 - 09:48
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Mon, 12/12/2016 - 17:00
Archie Comics was pretty busy at the end of the week posting up four teasers for new books coming soon. We don't get much information beyond creative teams and a teaser image, but Archie has been putting out a lot of cool books lately, so it's very likely I will end up buying most of these.
First up, we have the return of the Little Archies in March! Baltazar and Franco actually have worked on Little Archies before in a crossover with Tiny Titans. This is right in their wheel house and should be a lot of fun.!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/06/2016 - 07:34
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Wed, 11/30/2016 - 03:00
Valiant send out a press release on Monday telling us "War is coming!" heralding the return of X-O MANOWAR in a new series debuting in March 2017. They didn't tell us much else, just the very cool image above.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/29/2016 - 11:59
Saw this on a few places the last two days, so felt it was worth reporting on.
Marvel and Capcom characters will duke it out in a new crossover fighting game coming to consoles next year. Multiple sources tell Polygon that Marvel vs. Capcom 4 is currently in development and slated for release sometime in 2017.
Although Capcom hasn’t officially announced the game, we’ve been told the company will unveil Marvel vs. Capcom 4 this week alongside Sony’s PlayStation Experience event where the Capcom Cup 2016 Street Fighter 5 tournament will be held.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/29/2016 - 11:36
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!
Fantasy stories that find a person transported to another world have always been a staple in the industry. Whether the protagonist walks through a wardrobe or falls down a rabbit hole, falls asleep in a cave of mists (like Edgar Rice Burroughs' A PRINCESS OF MARS) or gets swallowed by a hippo at the zoo (Brandon Mull's BEYONDERS), the method is usually nothing more than a convenient story device to get Person A to Plot B for the sake of expediency so the action can begin.
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/22/2016 - 07:59
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/15/2016 - 08:07
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!
Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/08/2016 - 08:32
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!
When a person from the real world shows up in your favorite comic book reality, it used to be a pretty big deal. For the past few elections, the candidates themselves have been doing cameos here or there in superhero titles, such as when Spider-Man got the opportunity to meet Barack Obama.
This year is no exception, as Valiant Comics puts out the nick-of-time appearance of Hillary Clinton in FAITH #5. The appearance is central to the second story of the issue, "Faith in Politics," written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Pere Perez. In the story, Faith is sent by her editor (who knows her secret identity) to cover a Hillary Clinton appearance in her superhero guise. She's not keen on doing it -- covering politics for an entertainment blog -- and I can keenly sympathize with her as I write this.
