Press Releases

FROM J.S. EARLS: 

Marvel Comics has emasculated their fan-favorite vigilante, taking away the Punisher’s guns and replacing his skull emblem to make him kinder and gentler for modern readers, but fans of writer Mike Baron’s acclaimed five year run on the street-level sentinel can revisit his no-nonsense, gritty take on vigilante justice with Baron’s newest hero, partially inspired by Gerry Conway’s creation.

Mike Baron’s upcoming graphic novel is Private American and it marks a return to form for the Eisner winning writer of brooding, complex, and often violent protagonists. Hot on the heels of his hilarious Florida Man comics (American Mythology), Private American is a Cuban American living on the US southern border, whose frustration with the migrant crisis turns to retributive violence when its consequences touch his family circle.

Thrilled By Outpouring of Police Support, Eisner Winner Mike Baron Donates Thousands to Law Enforcement Programs and Charities before National Police Week 

After quickly raising the needed funds to self-publish his latest comic 'Thin Blue Line,' a police-focused graphic novel coming out next month, Eisner-winning writer Mike Baron and his creative team wanted to give back to law enforcement and remind his readers about this week's National Police Week. 

Among comic book readers, Mike Baron is best known for writing The Flash, Nexus, Star Wars, and The Punisher for Marvel Comics, but this graphic novel is one of the only comics he's written that will not be available at comic shops, chiefly because every publisher Baron submitted it to responded that making street cops the heroes did not align with their business model. 

Delighted By Outpouring of Police Support, Eisner Winner Mike Baron Launches Second Campaign on Kickstarter

After quickly raising more funding than needed to self-publish his police-focused graphic novel Thin Blue Line, Eisner-winning writer Mike Baron and his creative team are moving the project to Kickstarter today to give others a chance to become a backer and get involved in supporting law enforcement in the US.

Among comic book readers, Mike Baron is best known for writing Star Wars, The Flash, Nexus, and The Punisher for Marvel Comics, but this graphic novel may turn out to be one of the only comics he's ever written to not be available at comic book shops, primarily because every publisher Mike reached out to said that making street cops the hero didn't align with their business model.

London, UK (July 2, 2021) Park Row, the first fully immersive DC-inspired gastronomic restaurant experience found anywhere in the world, will open in Soho August 10th on Brewer Street, featuring five premium restaurants and bars spaces, storytelling and world-class food and drink that draws inspiration from some of Gotham City’s most famous (and infamous) residents.

Reservations are now live for London’s most anticipated opening of the year Park Row, which includes The Monarch Theatre, a unique, immersive multi-sensorial gastronomic experience secreted within the depths of a stunning Grade II listed restaurant on Brewer Street, Soho.

Brian Pulido, the creator behind Lady Death and other iconic comic book properties, makes his return appearance to CROM CON this Saturday, April 24.

The appearance marks the one-year anniversary of the monthly online convention and, fittingly, the one year anniversary of Pulido's previous appearance with the event.

CROM CON -- the Comics Related Madness -- is a monthly online show founded by "Pops" Van Zant which runs for three days, live, on the event's Facebook and YouTube pages, and features a revolving door of independent comic book industry talent. 

The Critical Blast awards have all been announced, but we saved the best for last: the Bombshell of the Year for 2020, based on our readers votes of all twelve of our Bombshell of the Month nominees for the prior year. And while we wanted to announce this earlier this year (we knew the results as of February 1st), we wanted to wait on this one until our Bombshell had her award in-hand, and that meant waiting for order to be taken and to arrive -- which was slightly more complicated this year due to Covid's impact on many trophy shops, many of which rely on intramural high school sports for their income. (This year's trophies came from Icon Trophies and Designs.)

LITTLE ROCK, AR—Cirsova Publishing is proud to announce that it has partnered with Michael Tierney and Robert Allen Lupton to restore and reprint Julian Hawthorne’s The Cosmic Courtship [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cirsova/the-cosmic-courtship-by-jul..., a never-before-collected pulp Planetary Romance by the son of famed American author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Mary Faust, a brilliant scientist, has developed a machine that can allow the conscious human soul to explore the cosmos! Her promising young assistant Miriam Mayne has accidentally transferred her consciousness Saturn, where she falls under the enchantment of an evil sorcerer! Jack Paladin, her love, sets out after her on a thrilling celestial journey to the ringed planet! Swashbuckling adventure and high romance await in Julian Hawthorne’s The Cosmic Courtship!

Streaming services once again dominated the voting for the category of Best Series Actor of 2020, with not a single traditional broadcast medium making a statistical showing.

Hulu's The Great saw leads Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult both achieve 3% of all votes cast, in a three-way tie with DC Universe's Stargirl's Luke Wilson, while the superhero lead for the aforementioned Stargirl, Brec Bassinger, pulled in 4%.

DC Universe also saw Doom Patrol's April Bowlby stretch past the pack to nab 9% of the ballots, but Anya Taylor-Joy doubled that with 18% for her work on Netflix's The Queen's Gambit.

Where most of the categories this year have seen an influx of competition, from comics to movies to shows, the Best Film Actor category was surprisingly slim this year -- perhaps an indication that while the films themselves were entertaining, there were very few standout performances in them. It seems an odd dichotomy, yet here we are.

Leading off the list of nominees for Best Film Actor of 2020 is Stranger Things' Millie Bobbie Brown for her titular role in the Netflix film, Enola Holmes, taking only 2% of the vote. She us only barely passed by Ariana Greenblatt, with 3%, for her supporting role in Love and Monsters. 

When Critical Blast first published, we tried to create a category for every form of entertainment medium. A natural choice seemed to be television -- if you didn't see a movie in a theater or on home video, that seemed to be the default option.

Even when we began our annual reader-decided awards, "Best Television Show" seemed a natural category, even with streaming services firing up. But now it just seems strange to call it that -- anachronistic even, particularly in a year where not a single traditional broadcast network garnered enough votes for any series to make a sizeable showing in our results. Streaming has done to serial entertainment what crowdfunding has done to comic books -- it's widened the field of choices and the competition has gotten fierce.

It's no secret that Hollywood was hit hard by the 2020 pandemic. With theaters closed, film production came to a halt and many movies had to look for alternative outlets such as streaming on their sister company channels. The lack of big budget competition paved the way for films shot specifically for streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu to jump into the competition as well, giving our viewers a more diverse set of titles to vote on this year for the Best Film of 2020, casting their ballots for such fare as Dolittle, Love and Monsters, and Mulan.

Netflix lands in the bronze spot this year, netting 14.66% of the vote with their Victorian action adventure, Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobbie Brown as the younger sister to the famous detective Sherlock -- played here by a mustachioed Henry Cavill -- and the standoffish Mycroft.

During a year where people were forced to huddle in their homes, sequestered from the populace in order to stave off the Zombie Apocalypse / Andromeda Strain pandemic, comic books -- especially small press and crowdfunded comics -- too off in a big way. And while people still loved to be scared and thrilled by an ever ready stream of horror and superhero titles, ultimately people wanted to laugh this year, and they showed it in their votes.

While the "big two" of DC and Marvel made a far more impressive showing than they did in the Best Comic and Best Comic Artist categories, there was still the undeniable presence of the upstart, bellying up to the bar and shouldering the giants aside to sit among them as equals.

Given what has been an unprecedent year for comics, culminating in an overwhelming number of nominations from independents and crowdfunded titles vying for the honor of Best Comics of 2020, it isn't surprising that the competition for the Best Comic Artist would be just as heavy. A sign of this is that "Other" -- a housekeeping category that usually represents about 1% of total votes every year from write-ins, gathered up a sizeable 9% this year, representative of just how many new up-and-coming artists are on the horizon. In fact, "Other" is the faceless hominid standing in the bronze position of our Comic Artist Olympics, having placed third among all other nominees and write-in candidates! So congratulations, Other, and better luck next year!

Every year, Critical Blast opens up the polls to our readers to select the best of everything entetainment, in multiple categories. And while some categories slimmed down this year due to the spread of coronavirus forcing people to stay home, the comic book business has seen a boom, thanks largely to a number of independent creators who have turned away from the traditional publishing market and toward crowdfunding to get their four-color fantasies fit to print and into the hands of readers.

BURBANK, CA (Sept. 18, 2020) – Calling all comic book fans to Explore the Multiverse! DC today announced the evolution of DC UNIVERSE into DC UNIVERSE INFINITE, a premium digital comic book service set to launch on January 21, 2021. With access to more than 24,000 comic books at launch, DC UNIVERSE INFINITE subscribers will also encounter digital-first comics, member access to DC fan events, as well as a steady stream of recently released comics six months after their physical versions hit store shelves. Following its initial launch, DC UNIVERSE INFINITE will begin expanding globally in SUMMER 2021.

Focused On Developing New Voices Alongside Industry Veterans

Transitions To Advisory Role At IDW Publishing

Critical Blast Publishing will be releasing their newest anthology, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW on July 1, 2020.

The speculative fiction collection -- featuring the works of Jared Baker, Erica Ciko Campbell, Sarah Cannavo, Michael W. Clark, Christopher Cook, Andra Dill, Cara Fox, R.A. Goli, Gerald A. Jennings, Kevin Kangas, Daryl Marcus, Damascus Mincemeyer, Steve Oden, Evan Purcell, Troy Riser, Joseph Rubas, Hannah Trusty, Wondra Vanian, Henry Vogel, and KD Webster -- recounts tales of meetings with the literary Devil, in the vein of "The Devil and Daniel Webster," "Faust," and other such similar conventions. With stories set in the past, present, and future, and ranging from comedy to horror, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW is designed to appeal to as wide a readership as possible.

Critical Blast wraps up its spate of announcements for the Best of 2019 awards with the revelation of 2019's Critical Blast Bombshell of the Year, as decided by our readers.

Every month, Critical Blast evaluates the cosplay skills of various participants in the hobby, looking for those who stand out not just in their costuming skills but also in how they apply that talent. And every year those twelve cosplayers are added to our annual ballot to determine who will take the next step from Bombshell of the Month to Bombshell of the Year.

Voting in this category was fairly even, with the topmost vote-getters separated only by a percentage point each.