Pop Artifact! Wind-up Spider-Man toy



Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Pop Culture Roundup April 30, 2007

Paul McCartney talks about his upcoming album, due out June 5.

The 13-track set is due June 5 in North America via Starbucks' new Hear Music label and will also be the first McCartney album to ever be available digitally.

..."Memory Almost Full" concludes with a five-song medley end "and that was purposefully retrospective," McCartney says. "I thought this might be because I'm at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John (Lennon) and a lot of that was also looking back. It's like me with 'Penny Lane' and 'Eleanor Rigby' -- I'm still up to the same tricks!"


The album is available for pre-order now from Amazon.

There's also a deluxe version available, featuring a scond disk including three bonus tracks, "audio commentary" by Paul and six fold-out postcard-size photos.



Best Beatles Sites

------------------

See a teaser for the straight-to-DVD animated film "Superman: Doomsday."

Best Superman Sites

--------------------

Fox Home Entertainment is releasing a limited edition 9-DVD set July 24 that collects all 51 episodes of Irwin Allen's 1960s sci-fi series "Land of the Giants." You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

TV Shows on DVD: Complete List

--------------------

From the Animation Archive: a 1939 magazine article detailing the then-new Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

Best Disney Sites

---------------------

A series of Doctor Who trading cards is planned.

Trading cards based on the first three seasons will be released over an 18-month period, to catch up the trading card releases closer to the TV series broadcast in the States.

Best Doctor Who Sites

----------------------

Dial B for Burbank presents a Shadow Art Gallery with lots of pics of the famed pulp hero.

More Shadow

-----------------------

Newsarama has info about Marvel Comics' new "clasics comics" series, featuring adaptations of "The Last of the Mohicans," "Treasure Island," "The Man in the Iron Mask" and more. Veteran writer/editor Roy Thomas is handling the scripts for those first three. Each "book" will run as a six-issued mini-series.

Best Marvel Comics Sites

Today's Video: 1960s Spider-Man cartoon theme song

In color!



Cover art for Evanier's Kirby: King of Comics

Looks nice! This is the cover for comics historian Mark Evenier's upcoming looking at the life and groundbreaking art of Jack Kirby, co-creator of the X-Men, Hulk, Fantastic Four and many more.



Published by Abrams Books and due out Oct. 1, this book is a coffee table tome, heavy on the art, and should be gorgeous. Evanier's long-awaited big biography of Kirby will be out later.

Evanier was a friend of Kirby's and worked as the artist's assistant in the late 1960s and early 1970s before embarking on a screenwriting career. You can stay up to date on Evanier's Kirby bio and his other projects at his official site.

"Kirby: King of Comics" will be a 224-page hardcover with an original pull-out poster by Alex Ross (an artist that doesn't seem, to me, to have much to do with Kirby at all in terms of style or visual power, but he's popular, I guess).

Pop Artifact! Rubber Captain Marvel figure

Could be a pencil topper, I think.



Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 27, 2007

A big screen film tracing the origins of X-Men villain Magneto is in the works.

David Goyer will direct "Magneto," an "X-Men" spinoff film from 20th Century Fox and Marvel Studios that's drawn from the villain played in the original trilogy by Ian McKellen.

...McKellen's participation in "Magneto" will likely be limited, since the film is an origin story. In a storyline hinted at by the original "X-Men" films, Magneto comes to grips with his mutant ability to manipulate metal objects as he and his parents try to survive in Auschwitz. Magneto meets Professor Xavier (played as the wheelchair-bound mutant leader by Patrick Stewart) when Xavier is a soldier liberating the concentration camp.


-----------------

Here's the first production shot of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in the upcoming "Iron Man" movie.



-------------------

The Sci Fi Channel's new "Flash Gordon" series debuts Aug. 10. The network also starts airing the third season of "Doctor Who" this summer, with the first ep set for July 6.

--------------------

Tarzan toys!

--------------------

Dial B for Burbank looks at a book Shadow creator Walter B. Gibson and his wife wrote about psychic phenomena.

--------------------

Musician Bobby Pickett of "Monster Mash" fame has died.

Mr. Pickett’s multimillion-selling single — with the indelible chorus “He did the monster mash, it was a graveyard smash” — hit the charts three times: on its original release in 1962, when it reached No. 1, and in 1970 and 1973. Mr. Pickett’s Karloff impression was forged in Somerville, Mass., where as a 9-year-old he watched horror films in a theater managed by his father. He later made it part of his act when he began performing in Hollywood nightclubs in 1959.

Full details on Tex Avery's Droopy The Complete Theatrical Collection DVD

Animation fans should be excited about this set, due out soon. Here's the skinny:

It's a doggone good time as Warner Home Video presents Tex Avery's Droopy The Complete Theatrical Collection, available for the first time on DVD! The 2-Disc DVD Collector's set, a must-have for fans of classic animation, is available on May 15, 2007 and includes the Academy Award® nominated animated short "One Droopy Knight".

World renowned Tex Avery created Droopy Dog, a low-key animated movie character at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This mournful deadpan witty basset hound detective, who spoke in a jowly monotone voice, was shrewd enough to outwit his enemies - the conniving Butch the Irish bulldog and the thieving, Nasty Wolf and English Fox.

SYNOPSIS
Droopy, a detective basset hound, lulls the bad guys into a false sense of security by acting slow and dumb when in actual fact he is a genius. The shrewd Droopy always outwits his enemies!

Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection DVD features 24 re-mastered and unedited animated shorts including:

* Dumb-Hounded
* The Shooting of Dan McGoo
* Wild and Woolfy
* Northwest Hounded Police
* Señor Droopy
* Wags to Riches
* Out-Foxed
* The Chump Champ
* Daredevil Droopy
* Droopy's Good Deed
* Droopy's "Double Trouble"
* Caballero Droopy
* The Three Little Pups
* Drag-A-Long Droopy
* Homesteader Droopy
* Dixieland Droopy
* Deputy Droopy

Tex Avery's Droopy The Complete Theatrical Collection DVD also features 7 animated shorts in its original 16x9 Cinemascope version including:

* Millionaire Droopy
* Grin And Share It
* Blackboard Jumble
* One Droopy Knight
* Sheep Wrecked
* Mutts About Racing
* Droopy Leprechaun

EXTRA DVD CONTENT
The special features include:

* "Droopy and Friends: A Laugh Back" - a documentary retrospective featuring the highlights of Tex Avery's iconic character and band of regular misfits, which made the collection so memorable and dear to our hearts. Peppered through the featurettes will be moments reflecting Tex's early days, from inspiration, to his passions as an artist, entertainer and eventual auteur.

* "Doggone Gags" - a montage of great moments from the Droopy series, culled together in the fashion of a gag reel.

You can pre-order the set now for $19.99 from Amazon.



Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie poster



Pop Artifact! Captain Marvel coloring book





Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 26, 2007

Handy! A fully-functioning Spider-Man suit enabling the wearer to climb up walls and sling web should be available by 2017.

Italian researchers say they have developed a new method for creating a surface-gripping material that mimics "spider silk" and imitates carbon nanotubes.

----------------

Pete Townshend has launched new Web-based software that can create music.

The Who guitarist/songwriter said that with a voice recording, a digital image and a rhythm clapped into a microphone, his new "Method" software will create spontaneous digital music and allow anyone to be a composer, and possibly a rock star.

"You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It's as simple as that," said Townshend...


---------------------

World of Kane celebrates the work of Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the otherworldly music for "Forbidden Planet."

---------------------

Via PCL LinkDump: Groovy 1960s radio jingles.

----------------------

The big battle in the "Heroes" season ender reportedly takes place in Kirby Plaza, an homage to legendary comics creator Jack Kirby.

Lost clues: "D.O.C" ep. 18, season 3

Synopsis:

Desmond, Charlie and Hurley tend to the parachutist who's landed on the island while Sun questions Juliet about what happens to women on the island who become pregnant.

The parachutist looks to be mortally wounded and Desmond and the rest, miles away from Dr. Jack and the beach camp, aren't sure what to do. Charlie and Desmond are arguing when Hurley accidentally sets off a flare gun, attracting the attention of the Other Mikhail who, you know, died a few episodes ago. Apparently he got better. And, being a former field medic for the Soviet army, he fixes up the parachutist so long as Desmond and the rest don't take him prisoner.

Meanwhile, Juliet leads Sun to a hidden ultrasound lab in the Dharma medical hatch. By measuring the growth of Sun's baby, Juliet can determine the baby's date of conception (D.O.C.) and learn whether the child was conceived before the plane crashed or after Sun and Jin arrived on the island. For Sun, the test also will reveal whether Jin or the man she had an affair with before the crash is the father.

Turns out the dad is Jin, a mixed blessing for Sun. This puts her conscience more at ease, but every woman Juliet knows about who's become pregnant on the island dies, as do their babies.

Back in the jungle, the parachutist revives. When Hurley tells her he and the rest are the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 she's shocked. She says the plane was found and there were no survivors. So, again we ask, what the heck is going on?



Clues, observations, speculation:

* If plane wreckage and dead passengers were discovered in the outside world, how is it that there's plane wreckage and living survivors on the island? Is some quantum, alternate time line scenario at work, where in one reality the passengers died and in another they survived? Or was the found wreckage faked by the Others to hide the existence of the island? The seem to have the resources to do such a thing.

* Why do women on the island die instead of giving birth? If the island is some alternate reality, or exists in a time line somehow separate from the outside world, maybe it's impossible to introduce new life into it.

* Also on the alternate reality front: We've seen that most of the crash survivors, due to choices they've made, have created certain realities or circumstances for themselves. Maybe that's what's happened on a much larger scale with the island, and maybe that's why this particular group of people ended up there. The island seems to be a place of healing and second chances. Maybe there were enough goofed-up, conflicted people on one plane to end up there, to survive the crash and to receive a second chance. Perhaps there's a mystic quality to the island's electromagnetic properties that drew the plane there. But, if this is the case, why do some people on the island die anyway, like Shannon, Boone, Mr. Eko and Libby and Ana Lucia?

* In regards to healing, Mikhail says the parachutist will recover quicker on the island than she would in the outside world. And, indeed, Mikhail is up and walking after apparently being killed. But this doesn't seem to be the case for some people. Boone died after his fall and Shannon, Libby and Ana Lucia all died from their gunshot wounds.



* On the other hand, maybe Mikhail faked his death. It looked pretty real though...

* More island weirdness: Juliet tells Sun that men on the island have much higher sperm counts than in the outside world. Why?



* Will any of the now dead people on the island, including Ethan Rom, Nikki and Paulo, come back too?

* We see that Juliet is feeding Ben information on her findings about Sun and other women among the crash survivors. And Juliet isn't happy about being a spy. But why is she agreeing to do this for Ben? What is he holding over her?

* Jack's acting shifty, showing a more clinical than friendly interest in Jin's pregnancy. Is he brainwashed?



* What will we learn about the parachutist? Was she sent to rescue Desmond by Penny? Is anyone from the outside world aware what's happened to her? Will they come looking?

* According to numerous reports, the parachutist says "I'm not alone" in Portuguese.

* The parachutist also spoke variously in Spanish, Chinese and Italian.

* Plus she's got a tattoo.



* Mikhail appears to have a special hatred for Charlie. He likely knows Charlie shot Ethan and perhaps wants revenge.

New and upcoming action figures April 26, 2007


Marvel Legends Icons series 3 figures, see below

Complete List of Marvel Legends Action Figures
Complete List of DC Direct Action Figures

Here's a look at action figures available via your local comics shop or via the TIP!-supporting links below:

DC Direct Action Figures

Superman Last Son Action Figures
--Last Son Superman
--Ursa
--Bizarro
--Zod

Shazam Action Figures
--Dr. Sivana
--Captain Marvel Jr.
--Mary Marvel
--Billy Batson and Hoppy
--Captain Marvel

Justice League of America Series 1
Superman
Black Lightning
Black Canary
Vixen
Red Arrow

Superman Vs. Doomsday
Doomsday
Lex Luthor and Robot
Solar Suit Superman
Superman

Batman and Son
Batman
Ninja Man-Bat
Robin and Daimin
The Joker

52 Weeks
Animal Man
Batwoman
Booster Gold
Supernova

Batman Through the Ages
--Box Set

Batman/Superman Series 4
--Batzarro
--Bizarro
--Superwoman
--Batwoman
--Batman Beyond
--Kryptonite Batman

DC Direct Reactivated Action Figures
--Batman
--Wonder Woman
--Lobo
--Superman

DC 13-inch Figures
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Green Lantern
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Lex Luthor
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Two-Face
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Superman
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Shazam
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Flash

Elseworlds Action Figures Series 2
--Red Son Batman
--Red Son President Superman
--Kingdom Come Jade
--Kingdom Come Spectre and Norman McKay
--Gotham By Gaslight Batman

Elseworlds Action Figures Series 3
--Supergirl
--Batgirl
--Nightstar
--Kingdom Come Aquaman
--Red Son Green Lantern

First Appearance Series 4
--Blue Beetle translucent
--Blue Beetle
--Brave New World Atom
--Warlord
--Brave New World Martian Manhunter
--Brave New World Aquaman

Infinite Crisis Action Figures Series 1
--Powergirl
--Omac
--Mongul
--Earth Prime Superboy
--Alexander Luthor

JSA Action Figures
--Mr. Terrific
--Hawkgirl
--Dr. Midnite
--Hourman
--Golden Age Atom 2-pack

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer action figures
Battle Stretch Mr. Fantastic
Fire Blast Human Torch
Raging Thing
Silver Surfer

Hanna Barbera Series 2 Action Figures
--Captain Caveman
--Fred Flintstone and Dino
--Johnny Quest
--Magilla Gorilla
--Penelope Pitstop and Muttley
--Tom and Jerry
--Yogi Bear
--Flintstones at the Drive-In

Hanna Barbera Series 3 Action Figures
--Fred Flintstone Quittin' Time
--Twinkle Toes Fred Flintstone
--Great Grape Ape
--Huckleberry Hound
--The Jetsons
--Secret Squirrel
--Snagglepuss

McFarlane Lost series 2 action figures
--Crash site box set
--Sawyer
--Jin
--Sayid
--Desmond
--Sun
--Mr. Eko

Marvel Figure Factory Sets
--Angel
--Beast
--Black Costume Spider-Man
--Deadpool
--Invisible Woman
--Silver Surfer

Marvel Legends Action Figures

Hasbro Marvel Legends Figures Series 1
--Emma Frost
--Ultimate Iron Man
--Movie Beast
--Planet Hulk
--Banshee
--Hercules

Hasbro Marvel Legends Action Figures Series 2
--Wolverine
--She-Hulk
--Yellow Jacket
--Quick Silver
--Lord Asgard Thor
--Magneto Xorn
--X3 Jean Grey
--First Appearance Storm

Hasbro Marvel Legends Figures Series 3
--Bucky Barnes
--First appearance Captain America
--Marvel Girl Rachel Grey
--Heroes for Hire Black Knight
--Hydra Soldier
--X-3 Colossus
--Astonishing X-Men Cyclops
--Danger

Hasbro Marvel Legends Icons 12-inch Action Figures
--The Punisher
--Doctor Doom
--The Human Torch
--The Silver Surfer

Marvel Legends Masterworks Sets
--Spider-Man Vs. Green Goblin
--Fantastic Four Vs. Mole Man
--Hulk Vs. The Thing
--Galactus Vs. Everybody

Marvel Select Figures

Best of Marvel Select Figures
--Grey Hulk
--Thanos
--Ultimate Spider-Man
--Green Goblin
--Mephisto

NECA 7-inch John Lennon action figures
--Color
--Black and white

NECA Grindhouse action figures--Quentin Tarantino as soldier
--Dakota
--Cherry

Pop Artifacts! Captain Marvel movie serial posters



Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 25, 2007

World of Kane celebrates composer and music technology pioneer Raymond Scott. Y'know those great tunes from old Warner Bros. cartoons? Many of them were written by Scott. He went on to develop a number of electronic musical instruments.

--------------------

David Lynch gets deep.

Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.

Eraserhead was growing in a certain way, and I didn't know what it meant. I was looking for a key to unlock what these sequences were saying. Of course, I understood some of it; but I didn't know the thing that just pulled it all together. And it was a struggle. So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.

I don't think I'll ever say what that sentence was.


---------------------

Taking a cue from Dark Horse's new "Buffy Season 8" comics series, IDW Publishing plans a season 4 "Star Trek" comic.

Star Trek: Year Four will follow along the same lines as the single-issue, self-contained stories that are being featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between. In the premiere issue of this all-new series, Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise discover the Strand—a multi-planet construct of a dead civilization and a brilliant genetic scientist obsessed with its technology. Kirk discovers the scientist’s secret, resulting in his genetic creations revolting — and forcing Kirk to make a hard decision, pushing the U.S.S. Enterprise into the crossfire.

Best Star Trek Sites.

-----------------

The two-part season-ender for CW's "The Batman" animated series features a guest appearance by a Justice League of sorts.

"Martian Manhunter is starting the Justice League," executive producer Alan Burnett says, "and he would like nothing better than to have Batman on the team." Also on the guest list: the Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Superman.

Best Batman Sites.

-------------------

The upcoming "Incredible Hulk" film is a new start for the would-be franchise, essentially ignoring the wretched Hulk flick of a few years ago.

Avi Arad, who is producing the upcoming The Incredible Hulk, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will not make use of any of the elements of the first Hulk movie. "It's a new Hulk," Arad said in a news conference while promoting Spider-Man 3, on which he was also a producer. "A new direction, new size, new color, new attitude. No, anything that was done before is not in this movie."

Evidently, Arad says he was joking about the color. However, there are have been rumors that the Hulk will be gray in at least the early part of the film, just as he was in his early comic book adventures.

Best Hulk Sites.

--------------------------

Excuse Me While I Kiss this Guy Dept.: There are lots of sites out there with song lyrics, but most don't have permission by songwriters to publish the words. But Yahoo! has a new one that's legit:

Yahoo Music in the US is letting users look up the words to 400,000 songs by artists such as Prince and Beyonce.

...the site will also come in useful for settling arguments about classic records.

Does Kate Bush really sing: "It's me! I'm a tree! I'm a wombat!" in Wuthering Heights?

And are Bananarama "guilty as a cocoa bean" in Love In The First Degree?

The answer, in both cases, is no. Bush is singing: "It's me, I'm Cathy. I've come home"; Bananarama are as guilty "as a girl can be".


You can access the lyrics search feature here.

---------------------

Rolling Stone features a new Paul McCartney interview as part of it's 40th anniversary issue. You can see excerpts here.

----------------------

Director Julie Taymor talks about her new flick "Across the Universe," a musical set to Beatles tunes.

The $45 million film is a love story set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and is told through songs by the Beatles, which the cast, including Evan Rachel Wood and several tyros, perform themselves. (Bono, Eddie Izzard, Joe Cocker and Salma Hayek all have cameos.) Taymor selected the 32 songs from a catalog of 200.

"We move from the early Beatles songs -- 'All My Loving,' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' -- that have that fabulously innocent, early-1960s feel," she says, "to songs like 'Revolution' that, I wouldn't say they got totally political, but they have a certain kind of awareness.

"What I loved was the ability to show, I suppose you could say, the coming of age of six young people through the innocence of high school to the war to the playground of the Summer of Love. They sound like cliches, but when you tell it through the music of the Beatles, it rings with some truth."


Best Beatles Sites.

----------------------

Two more "Doctor Who" adventures, "Robot" and "Time Lash," arrive on DVD in the UK this summer with US release likely to follow sometime later on. Here's info on each set's extras:

Robot will include the following special features:
- A 40-minute documentary called Are Friends Electric? will look at Tom Baker's introduction to the series and the making of his first story. This documentary will include contributions from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Terrance Dicks, Philip Hinchcliffe, and Barry Letts.
- A clip from Blue Peter recorded on the Robot sets
- A 15-minute featurette called "The Tunnel Effect" which focuses on the creation of the Fourth Doctor title sequence
- A photo gallery
- Subtitle Production noted
- Radio Times listings in pdf format
- Commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks

Timelash will include the following:
- A 25-minute documentary called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly narrated by Terry Molloy and featuring contributions from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Paul Darrow, and Eric Saward.
- A photo gallery
- Subtitle Production notes
- Radio Times listings in pdf format
- Commentary from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, and Paul Darrow
- There will also be a 'Coming Soon' trailer for the next DVD release



Best Doctor Who Sites.

-------------------

Tap is back!

Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming.

The mock heavy metal group immortalized in the 1984 mockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," will reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7.


Lost preview April 25 episode

Click here for a preview of tonight's new episode. Then come back here tomorrow for a full roundup of clues and observations.

Also see:
The Best "Lost" Sites on the Web.
"Lost": What we STILL don't know
Lost Season 3 Episode Guide

DVD: Gunsmoke season 1

After a few box set collections, this classic TV (and radio before that) Western finally gets the season-by-season treatment.

This first installment, on six disks, is out July 17 and available for pre-order for $26.99 from Amazon.

The show's first season aired during the 1955-56 TV season and includes 39 episodes. The first show is introduced by actor John Wayne. Guest stars include John Carridine, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Chuck Connors and future TV produce Aaron Spelling.



DVD: Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series

Finally the real versions of these two great Hanna-Barbera supertoons. Click the links to pre-order either set for $20.19 from Amazon:

Space Ghost and Dino Boy Complete Series

Birdman and the Galaxy Trio Complete Series


Info:
Two Hanna-Barbera animated classics are flying onto shelves this summer as Warner Home Video presents Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series, each on 2-disc collectors sets featuring the episodes in the three-segment form as they originally aired along with plenty of great new extras. Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series and Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series come to DVD July 17.

The retro hit Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series soars through space and time to deliver justice! First, intergalactic policeman Space Ghost navigates the cosmos in his tricked-out spaceship, The Phantom Cruiser, battling villains like Brak and Zorak with his legendary suit and powerful wristbands. Then, Dino Boy teams with caveman Ugh and dinosaur Bronty to go primeval on the ancient menaces of their primitive home. And finally, Space Ghost flies again with more extraterrestrial adventures and thrilling takedowns. This dynamite compilation also features the dynamic six-part Space Ghost episode, The Council of Doom. It's cosmic entertainment for all!

Space Ghost and Dino Boy: The Complete Series features 24 Space Ghost episodes including The Heat King, Zorak, The Sandman, The Cyclopeds, Space Sargasso, The Gargoyloids, and more! The DVD set also features 18 Dino Boy episodes including The Worm People, The Sacrifice, The Terrible Chase, The Mighty Snow Creature, and many more! The feature-length, exclusive enhanced content "Simplicity: The Life and Art of Alex Toth" takes you on a journey of a master cartoonist, who as an illustrator is remembered for his prolific work in comics and animation, and who as a person is remembered as the brash, often brutal, yet funny intellectual who transformed the cartoon world with his distinct touch as auteur. This documentary looks at the legacy of his genius, and pins down for us a solidarity of what life was like for this most revered of artists.

Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series takes the action around the world and into outer space! First, winged hero Birdman harnesses the power of the sun to fight criminal masterminds like Number One, Vulturo and Dr. Millenium. Then, cosmic crusaders Gravity Girl, Vapor Man and Meteor Man - better known as the Galaxy Trio - serve up justice in space as they travel the universe eradicating evil and procuring peace across the cosmos. And finally, it's more Birdman with his trusty eagle Avenger and his namesake battle cry that strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies. Fly away with these favorite retro heroes as they deliver old-school justice in this 2-disc collector's dream compilation.

Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: The Complete Series collection includes twenty 23 minute episodes on 2 two-sided discs, including X The Eliminator, The Ruthless Ringmaster, Galaxy Trio and the Sleeping Planet, Birdman Meets Reducto, Birdman and the Monster of the Mountains, Galaxy Trio Versus Growliath, The Return of Vulturo, and more! The enhanced content "Birdman: The Forgotten Hero" covers the inspiration from the early days of Birdman, as a superhero fighting injustice, up to his new assignment as a legal counsel. Featured will be a historical retrospective on what legendary cartoonist Alex Toth brought to the original series.



Comics shipping April 25, 2007

See complete lists:
DC Archives
DC Showcase
DC Trade Paperbacks
Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Essentials
Marvel Trade Paperbacks
Upcoming Trade Paperbacks - Graphic Novels


Comics shipping April 25, 2007

DARK HORSE COMICS

FEB070071 CITY OF OTHERS #2 (OF 4) $2.99
DEC060066 PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOL 6 TP (MR) $9.95
FEB070073 REX MUNDI DH ED #5 $2.99
FEB070087 USAGI YOJIMBO #102 $2.99

DC COMICS

STAR12483 100 BULLETS VOL 2 SPLIT SECOND CHANCE TP $14.95 $10.17 at Amazon.
FEB070243 52 WEEK #51 $2.50
JAN070267 ACTION COMICS #848 $2.99
FEB070246 AMAZONS ATTACK #1 (OF 6) $2.99
OCT060266 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #3 $2.99
FEB070251 BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #5 $2.99
DEC058083 BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP $19.99 $13.59 at Amazon.
FEB070268 BLUE BEETLE #14 $2.99
FEB070309 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #32 $2.25
FEB070249 CATWOMAN #66 $2.99
FEB070279 CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD #6 (OF 6) $2.99
FEB070347 CROSSING MIDNIGHT #6 (MR) $2.99
FEB070351 EXTERMINATORS #16 (MR) $2.99
JAN050373 FABLES VOL 5 THE MEAN SEASONS TP (MR) $14.99 $10.19 at Amazon.
MAR040361 FILTH TP (MR) $19.95
FEB070273 FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #35 $2.99
FEB070317 FROM EROICA WITH LOVE VOL 9 $9.99
JAN070337 GALS VOL 10 $9.99
JAN070292 HAWKGIRL THE MAW TP $17.99 $12.23 at Amazon.
FEB070287 JSA CLASSIFIED #25 $2.99
FEB070286 JUSTICE #11 (OF 12) $3.50
FEB070283 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5 $2.99
FEB070284 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA VAR ED #5 $2.99
JAN070334 MEGATOKYO VOL 5 $10.99
FEB070336 NINJA SCROLL #8 $2.99
FEB070319 OMUKAE DESU VOL 4 $9.99
FEB070293 OUTSIDERS ANNUAL #1 $3.99
JAN070338 PENGUIN REVOLUTION VOL 3 $9.99
JAN050354 PLANETARY VOL 3 LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY TP $14.99 $10.19 at Amazon.
FEB070337 RED MENACE #6 (OF 6) $2.99
FEB070294 SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #3 (OF 4) $5.99
FEB070292 SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #29 $2.99
JAN070315 SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES VOL 4 $14.99 $10.19 at Amazon.
JAN070269 SUPERMAN #662 $2.99
FEB070307 TEEN TITANS GO #42 $2.25
JAN070353 THUNDERBOLT JAXON TP $19.99 $13.59 at Amazon.
FEB078231 TRANSMETROPOLITAN VOL 3 YEAR OF THE BASTARD TP $12.99
FEB070303 WONDER WOMAN #8 $2.99
JAN070343 WORLDSTORM #2 $2.99

IMAGE COMICS
FEB071879 ALIEN PIG FARM #1 (OF 4) (MR) $2.99
DEC061884 INVINCIBLE #41 $2.99
JAN071939 NOBLE CAUSES #28 $3.50
FEB071881 RIDE SAVANNAH (ONE SHOT) $4.99
DEC061890 SPAWN #167 $2.95
FEB072035 SPAWN VOL 2 DARK DISCOVERIES TP (O/A) $9.95
FEB071916 STRONGARM #3 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC061892 TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD IMAGE ED #5 $2.99
JAN061782 TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #1 (OF 5) $2.99
FEB071939 UNIQUE #2 (OF 3) $2.99
DEC061874 WALKING DEAD SORROWFUL LIFE VOL 6 $12.99 $10.39 at Amazon.
SEP051681 WALKING DEAD VOL 4 HEARTS DESIRE TP (MR) $12.99 $9.74 at Amazon.

MARVEL COMICS

FEB078174 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2ND PTG YU VAR #539 $2.99
FEB072208 CABLE DEADPOOL VOL 6 PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS TP $14.99 $12.23 from Amazon.
MAY062034 CAPTAIN AMERICA RED MENACE VOL 1 TP $11.99 $8.79 from
Amazon

JAN072437 CIVIL WAR FANTASTIC FOUR TP $17.99
FEB072203 CIVIL WAR X-MEN TP $11.99
FEB072097 DAILY BUGLE MAY NEWSPAPER (BUNDLE OF 50) PI
FEB072121 DAREDEVIL #96 $2.99
FEB078027 DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BORN 2ND PTG VAR #1 (OF 7) (PP #760) $3.99
FEB072157 EXILES #93 $2.99
FEB072099 FALLEN SON DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA AVENGERS $2.99
FEB072122 FANTASTIC FOUR #545 CWI $2.99
FEB072126 HEROES FOR HIRE #9 $2.99
JAN078267 NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI SECRET HISTORY (PP #758) $3.99
FEB072158 NEW EXCALIBUR #19 $2.99
NOV062346 POWERS #24 (MR) $2.95
FEB072170 PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA MAX #3 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99
DEC041799 RUNAWAYS VOL 3 GOOD DIE YOUNG DIGEST TP $7.99
JAN072433 RUNAWAYS VOL 7 LIVE FAST DIGEST TP $7.99
FEB072147 SILENT WAR #4 (OF 6) $2.99
FEB072116 SPIDER-MAN POSTER BOOK $5.99
FEB072186 SPIDER-MAN VISIONARIES ROGER STERN VOL 1 TP $24.99 $16.49 at Amazon.
DEC031891 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 6 VENOM TP (STAR18855) $15.99 $10.87 at Amazon
STAR19265 ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 6 RETURN OF THE KING TP $16.99 $11.55 at Amazon.
FEB072169 WISDOM #5 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
FEB072161 WOLVERINE #53 $2.99
FEB072162 WOLVERINE BLACK AND WHITE VAR #53 $2.99
FEB072166 X-MEN FIRST CLASS #8 (OF 8) $2.99

WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT

MAR073029 WIZARD MAGAZINE DC TOP SECRET PROJECT CVR #188 $5.99
MAR073027 WIZARD MAGAZINE SPIDER-MAN CVR #188 $5.99
MAR073028 WIZARD MAGAZINE SUMMER PREVIEW ISSUE CVR #188 $5.99

COMICS

AUG052970 ANGEL DIARY VOL 1 GN $10.95
FEB073258 BART SIMPSON COMICS #35 $2.99
FEB073166 BETTY & VERONICA #226 $2.25
FEB073168 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #174 $2.49
JAN073613 CASTLE WAITING VOL II #6 $3.95
FEB073372 CHUCKY OTTLEY CVR A #1 (OF 5) (MR) $3.50
FEB073373 CHUCKY PHOTO CVR B #1 (OF 5) (MR) $3.50
FEB073831 DEVI #10 $2.99
OCT063379 DORK TOWER #36 $3.49
FEB073250 EUREKA SEVEN VOL 5 GN $9.99
STAR19147 EXCEL SAGA VOL 1 TP $9.95
FEB073835 GAMEKEEPER JOHN CASSADAY COVER #2 $2.99
FEB073833 GAMEKEEPER JONATHAN HICKMAN COVER #2 $2.99
FEB073834 GAMEKEEPER MUKESH SINGH COVER #2 $2.99
DEC063472 GIANT SIZED RED SONJA #1 $4.99
MAR073077 JOHNNY HIRO #1 $2.95
FEB073170 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #130 $3.69
FEB073807 KORGI VOL 1 TP $10.00
MAR073734 MICROGRAPHICA GN (MR) $10.00
FEB042750 NEON GENESIS EVANGELION VOL 2 2ND ED TP $9.95
FEB073472 NICK CARDY COMIC STRIPS TP $14.95
FEB073100 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #19 (MR) $2.95
NOV063512 NIGHTWOLF THE PRICE #4 (OF 5) $2.99
OCT053028 ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS VOL 1 GN $10.95
FEB073403 PS238 #22 $2.99
FEB073172 SABRINA VOL 2 #84 $2.25
JAN073927 SADHU #7 (RES) $2.99
OCT063799 SE7EN LUST #4 (OF 7) (MR) $3.99
FEB073259 SIMPSONS CLASSICS #12 $3.99
FEB073838 SNAKEWOMAN #10 $2.99
JUL062899 SOULFIRE DYING OF THE LIGHT TP $14.99
MAR073503 TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #4 $3.99
FEB073299 TRUTH SERUM THE LONELY PARADE TP $15.00
FEB073473 UNCLE SCROOGE #365 $7.50
STAR15313 VAGABOND VOL 1 TP $12.95
FEB073839 WALK-IN #5 $2.99
FEB073474 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #680 $7.50

MAGAZINES

JAN073614 COMICS JOURNAL #282 $9.95
MAR074711 GAME TRADE MAGAZINE #87 PI
FEB073910 NEWTYPE ENG ED MAY 2007 $12.98

Pop Artifact! Captain Marvel paper flying toys







Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 24, 2007

Kryptonite discovered in Serbian mine!

Kryptonite, the substance that drains Superman’s powers in the comic book series and movies, has been discovered in real life in a Serbian mine – at least a mineral that matches the formula of kryptonite as described in the film Superman Returns has been found there.

Best Superman Sites.

------------------

Did "Heroes" swipe the climax of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" comics series?

------------------

Season three of "Doctor Who" is coming to the Sci Fi Channel this July.

According to the press release:

The series will debut on SCI FI in July 2007, kicking off with the Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Runaway Bride, guest-starring award-winning comedy actress Catherine Tate.

In season three, David Tennant returns to his role as the mysterious, time-traveling Doctor. American audiences will meet the Doctor's brand-new sidekick, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), in the first official episode of the season, "Smith and Jones."

Chris Regina, Vice President of Programming, SCI FI Channel, said 'Doctor Who' has become a favorite among SCI FI audiences. We are happy to bring the show back for its third season and look forward to following the Doctor's continuing adventures with his newest companion."


Best Doctor Who Sites.

Lost May 9 episode preview

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers:

BEN BEGRUDGINGLY BEGINS TO INTRODUCE LOCKE TO THE SECRETS
OF THE ISLAND -- BEGINNING WITH THE MYSTERIOUS JACOB --
AND JULIET'S SECRET GOES PUBLIC, ON ABC'S "LOST"

"The Man Behind the Curtain" - Ben begrudgingly begins to introduce Locke to the secrets of the island, beginning with the mysterious Jacob. Meanwhile, Juliet's secret goes public, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are M.C. Gainey as Mr. Friendly/Tom, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Andrew Divoff as Mikhail, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Marsha Thomason as Naomi, Sterling Beaumon as young Ben, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Carrie Preston as Emily, Doug Hutchison as Horace, Samantha Mathis as Olivia and Madeline Carroll as Annie.

"The Man Behind the Curtain" was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff & Drew Goddard and directed by Bobby Roth.


See the Best "Lost" Sites on the Web.

Traveling Wilburys reissue out June 12

Long out of print, the two Traveling Wilburys albums will be packaged together--with assorted extras--in deluxe and standard CD/DVD sets from Rhino Records June 12.

Click the links below to order either set.

Here are details from the press release:

Nearly twenty years after the creation of the band, and over a decade since the music was last available to fans, the music of The Traveling Wilburys will be reissued on June 12, 2007, in the U.S. and June 11, 2007, worldwide. Rhino Entertainment announced the project today and will distribute the package from the Wilbury Records label.

The previously released albums Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 and Traveling Wilburys Volume 3 feature inarguably some of music's greatest singer-songwriters -- George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan -- as the iconic band The Traveling Wilburys. Both CDs will be combined into one release, The Traveling Wilburys Collection, and will feature bonus tracks of rare and newly mixed previously unreleased music along with a bonus DVD featuring a 24-minute documentary showing unseen footage of the Wilburys and their five video clips.

The Traveling Wilburys collectible packages will be available in four configurations. Each configuration is a remarkable commemoration of this unique group.

Standard Package - Features 2 CDs (Volumes 1 and 3) with bonus tracks, bonus DVD of content and a 16-page collectible book.

Deluxe Edition Set - Linen-bound deluxe edition features 2 CDs (Volumes 1 and 3) with bonus tracks, bonus DVD, and a 40-page collectible book with photos, original liner notes, new liner notes and a uniquely numbered certificate of authenticity.

In trying to explain how the Wilburys originally came together, George Harrison once said, "The thing about the Wilburys for me is -- if we'd tried to plan it, or if anybody had said, let's form this band and get these people in it -- it would never happen, it's impossible. It happened completely, just by magic, just by circumstance. Maybe there was a full moon that night or something like that. It was quite a magical little thing really."

The Traveling Wilburys BACKGROUND

The Traveling Wilburys was not a carefully planned band, not formed from deep premeditation. Rather, the band was created in a casual blending of genuine friends one ordinary afternoon, which turned out to be anything but ordinary.

George Harrison needed a B-side song to accompany a European single release from his widely regarded Cloud Nine album. While in Los Angeles, George approached Jeff Lynne for help with the B-side, since he had co-produced the album. It happened that Jeff was working with Roy Orbison on the upcoming Mystery Girl album. Roy readily agreed to lend a hand in the musical effort. As fate would luckily dictate, George's guitar was at Tom Petty's house, and he too offered to join in and make some music. When the group showed up to record, Dylan also lent a hand to help complete the half-finished song George had written. George has often been quoted as saying, "And so everybody was there and I thought, I'm not gonna just sing it myself, I've got Roy Orbison standing there. I'm gonna write a bit for Roy to sing. And then, as it progressed, then I started doing the vocals and I just thought I might as well push it a bit and get Tom and Bob to sing the bridge." The final result was a song called "Handle With Care." George later said, "I liked the song and the way that it turned out with all these people on it so much that I just carried it around in my pocket for ages thinking, Well what can I do with this thing? And the only thing to do I could think of was do another nine. Make an album."

The album they created was called the Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 -- a playful nod to the reality that subsequent volumes were unlikely. Volume 1 was released in October 1988 preceded by the single "Handle With Care." The album achieved wide critical acclaim, and most critics agreed that the music was so extraordinary because of the modest ambitions of the band, which translated to a fresh and relaxing sound. Rolling Stone Magazine instantly called it one of the Top 100 Albums of all time. The album also saw commercial success; it reached #3 on the Album charts, garnered double-platinum status and earned the group a Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.

In 1990, following the unexpected death of Roy Orbison in December 1988, the remaining members reconvened to record Traveling Wilburys Volume 3, dedicating the album to Lefty (Roy) Wilbury. With Harrison and Lynne producing again, both "She's My Baby" and "Wilbury Twist" became radio hits as the album reached #11 in the U.S. and achieved Platinum success.

Track Listing:

Disc One
TRAVELING WILBURYS VOL. 1

--Handle With Care
--Dirty World
--Rattled
--Last Night
--Not Alone Any More
--Congratulations
--Heading For The Light
--Margarita
--Tweeter And The Monkey Man
--End Of The Line

Bonus Tracks:
--Maxine*
--Like A Ship*

Disc Two
DVD -- The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys

Music Videos:
--Handle With Care
--End Of The Line
--Inside Out
--She's My Baby
--Wilbury Twist

Disc Three
TRAVELING WILBURYS VOL. 3

--She's My Baby
--Inside Out
--If You Belonged To Me
--The Devil's Been Busy
--7 Deadly Sins
--Poor House
--Where Were You Last Night?
--Cool Dry Place
--New Blue Moon
--You Took My Breath Away
--Wilbury Twist

Bonus Tracks:

--Runaway (B-side to "She's My Baby" UK CD and 12")
--Nobody's Child (previously released on Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal)

DVD new releases April 24, 2007

The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition)

Notes on a Scandal

The Venture Bros. - Season Two

Murder, She Wrote - The Complete Sixth Season

The History Boys

Happy Days - The Complete Second Season

Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show

Laverne & Shirley - The Complete Second Season

Spider-Man 2 - Unrated, Extended Cut (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)

Mork & Mindy - The Complete Second Season

More upcoming DVDs

CD new releases April 24, 2007

Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys

Let the Boogie Woogie Rock'n Roll by Various Artists

Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP by Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band

The Bullet and Sur-Speed Records Story by Various Artists

The Ref-O-Ree Story: Southern Soul by Various Artists

Let the Boogie Woogie Rock'n Roll by Various Artists

12 by Patti Smith

We'll Never Turn Back by Mavis Staples

Songs of Love and Hate by Leonard Cohen

Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen

Songs from a Room by Leonard Cohen

Starring Sammy Davis Jr by Sammy Jr Davis

Sammy Davis Jr Sings Just for Lovers by Sammy Jr Davis

Ice Man Cometh / Ice on Ice by Jerry Butler

The Soft Machine by Soft Machine

Volume 2 by Soft Machine

More upcoming CDs

Pop Artifact! Captain Marvel magic dime saver









Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 23, 2007

Dial B for Burbank profiles "Doc Savage" cover artists James Bama.

More Doc Savage.

------------------

An audiobook version of DC Comics' "Infinite Crisis" storyline is in the works.

------------------

From PCL LinkDump: Great performance clips from the Pete Seeger-hosted roots music show "Rainbow Quest," including Elizabeth Cotton performing "Freight Train," Seeger, Doc Watson and others singing "Careless Love," Donovan and Shawn Phillips singing "Guinevere," and a buncha Johnny Cash.

-------------------

Yoko Ono and Keith Richards are expected to testify on behalf of Phil Spector in the record producer's murder trial.

-------------------

Monsters and Critics profiles Asterix co-creator Alberto Underzo.

"As long as I don't have a foot in the grave I keep going. Asterix and Obelix are a part of my life. They are my children and feed me well."

Uderzo, who turns 80 on April 25, already has an idea for his next volume.


Pop Artifact! Disneykins Donald Duck figure



Vintage comic book ad



Pop Culture Roundup April 20, 2007

Dial B for Burbank looks at DC Comics' take on The Shadow.

-------------------

Nominees for the 2007 Eisner comics awards have been listed.

-------------------

Download a full "Doctor Who" shooting script.

New Spider-Man 3 pictures







See the Best Spider-Man Sites on the Web.

"Grindhouse" flick spawns DVD series

From the press release:

In the spirit of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez film Grindhouse, BCI will launch the Welcome To The Grindhouse DVD series - a line of double feature DVDs featuring the original exploitation films that inspired the current theatrical hit.

The first two "Welcome to the Grindhouse" DVDs will be released on July 3:

Welcome to the Grindhouse: Pick-up and The Teacher

Pick-up
Crown International Pictures, 1975. An off-beat story about two young women whose lives are forever changed when they hitch-hike a ride in a mobile home. Starring Jill Senter and Alan Long. Rated R - 80 minutes.

The Teacher
Crown International Pictures, 1974. An explosive story about a beautiful, provocative 28-year-old high school teacher whose seduction of a student proves fatal. Starring Angel Tompkins and Jay North (TV's Dennis the Menace). Rated R - 98 minutes.

Welcome to the Grindhouse: Evil Eye and Black Candles

Evil Eye
1974. Peter Crane is having nightmares about murdering someone. His psychiatrist Dr. Stone has him hospitalized for being unable to differentiate between dreams and reality. Soon, people start turning up dead at the hospital. Is Peter really a killer or is there something more sinister afoot? Starring Richard Conte (The Godfather), Anthony Steffen (The Night Evelyn Came Out of The Grave) and Pilar Velasquez. Not Rated - 84 minutes.

Black Candles
1983. Carol and her boyfriend Paul travel to England after the unexpected death of her brother. Once there, she discovers her sister-in-law is involved in satanic rituals -- and Paul is slowly being drawn into the cult. Starring Helga Line (The Lorelei's Grasp) and Vanessa Hidalgo. Directed by international cult filmmaker Jose Ramon Larraz (Vampyres: Daughters of Dracula). Not Rated - 85 minutes.