Pop Culture Safari!

Pop Culture Roundup Jan. 10, 2006

The B Side remembers Lou Rawls.

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The Boston Globe does a feature on animation pioneer and "Little Nemo" comic strip artist Winsor McCay.

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The Guardian has a new podcast from the hilarious Ricky Gervais.

DVD new releases Jan. 10, 2006

Eraserhead

The Flash - The Complete Series

Max Allan Collins - The Black Box Collection: Shades of Neo-Noir

The Zorro Cliffhanger Collection

More Upcoming DVD releases.

Upcoming goodies from TwoMorrows Publishing

SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE EDITION

Legendary artist Jack Kirby first conceptualized Silver Star in the
mid-1970s as a movie screenplay, complete with illustrations to sell
the idea to Hollywood. Too far ahead of its time for Tinseltown, Jack
instead adapted his “Visual Novel” as a six- issue mini-series for
Pacific Comics in the early 1980s, making it the last original creation
of his career. Now, in SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE EDITION, “King” Kirby’s
final, great series is collected at last, this time reproduced from his
powerful, uninked pencil art! Read the complete story of
Homo-Geneticus, the New Breed of humanity that spawns both hero (Silver Star) and
villain (the nefarious Darius Drumm), leading to one of the most
action-packed narratives and spellbinding climaxes ever conceived on a comics
page! And as a special bonus, read Kirby’s provocative screenplay,
reproduced in its entirety, including illustrations and never-published
character sketches! Plus there’s pin-ups and other rare Kirby art, and
an historical overview to put it all in perspective. A percentage of
profits from this book go to the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center,
so don’t ask, just buy it!

The 160 page (plus cover), squarebound 7" x 10" Trade Paperback with a
full color cover and black-and-white interiors retails for $19.95 in
the U.S. and ships 22 March 2006.

ALTER EGO #57

Alter Ego #57 spotlights THE GOLDEN AGE OF MARVEL! ’Nuff Said? There’s
a full-color painted Captain America cover by JACK KIRBY & PETE VON
SHOLLY! A complete issue-by-issue index of Timely/Atlas/Marvel
super-hero stories—from Marvel Comics #1 (1939) to The Yellow Claw #4
(1957)—compiled by MICHELLE NOLAN—lavishly illustrated with scarce art
by Golden Age masters SIMON & KIRBY, EVERETT, BURGOS, ROMITA, AYERS,
HEATH, SHORES, SEKOWSKY, SCHOMBURG, PFEUFER, GUSTAVSON, POWELL, AVISON,
GABRIELE, MANEELY, SEVERIN, plus rare retroactive illos by KANE, The
Brothers BUSCEMA, ROBBINS, BUCKER, SEVERIN (the other one), HOOVER,
FRENZ, KUPPERBERG, et al.! GENE COLAN & ALLEN BELLMAN on the 1940s
Timely super-heroes—& JIM AMASH talks to Atlas artist VIC CARRABOTTA!
Plus FCA—MICHAEL T. GILBERT—BILL SCHELLY—& MORE!! Edited by ROY THOMAS.

The 100 page (plus cover), saddle-stitched 8 1/2" x 11" magazine with a
full color cover and black-and-white interiors retails for $6.95 in the
U.S. and ships 8 March 2006.

BACK ISSUE #15

BACK ISSUE #15 examines “Weird Heroes” of the 1970s and 1980s—and with
heroes like these, we’re glad they’re on our side! In all-new
interviews, MIKE PLOOG discusses Ghost Rider, MATT WAGNER revisits The
Demon, and JOE KUBERT dusts off Ragman. The pencil art of GENE COLAN is
spotlighted in “Rough Stuff” (with Batman, Wonder Woman, and Night
Force covers among the mix); JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ recalls Deadman; and
“Greatest Stories Never Told” looks at DC’s unpublished Gorilla Grodd
series, with interviews and art by TERRY AUSTIN and CARL POTTS. Plus:
Ploog, DON PERLIN, GERRY CONWAY, and DOUG MOENCH on Werewolf by Night;
LEN WEIN on The Phantom Stranger; and BOB ROZAKIS and STEPHEN DeSTEFANO
on ’Mazing Man! Featuring rare and classic art by these artists, plus
JIM APARO and others. With an all-new Werewolf by Night cover by ARTHUR
ADAMS! Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

The 100 page (plus cover), saddle-stitched 8 1/2" x 11" magazine with a
full color cover and black-and-white interiors retails for $6.95 in the
U.S. and ships 15 March 2006.

Pop Artifact! Dolly Parton doll

Vintage DC Comics house ads

See the Best DC Comics Sites on the Web.

Comics previews

Mile High Comics has first looks at: 100 Bullets #68, Captain Atom Armageddon #4, Desolation Jones #5, DMZ #3, Elfquest The Discovery #1, Fables #45, Wildcats Nemesis #5, Ares #1, Daughters of the Dragon #1, Exiles #75, New X-Men #22, She-Hulk 2 #4, Son of M #2 and X-Men The 198 #1.

"Bewitched" season 3, "Flying Nun" and "Gidget" coming to DVD

A four-disk set including all 32 season 3 episodes of "Bewitched" will be out March 21. These shows originally appeared in color, which means fans won't need to make the black-and-white or colorized versions as they did with seasons 1 and 2.

Also due out March 21 are two shows featuring the delighful Sally Field (we like her, we really like her): "Gidget - The Complete Series" on four disks and the complete first season of "The Flying Nun," also on four disks.

More TV on DVD.

Dark Horse releases "Creature from the Black Lagoon" novel

From the press release:

DH Press is proud to announce the newest addition to
its original Universal Monsters novel series, Creature from the Black
Lagoon: Time’s Black Lagoon. Following in the footsteps of previous DH
Press original novels featuring Dracula and Wolf Man, the Creature has
been revamped with a modern horror sensibility by noted sci-fi author Paul
Di Filippo and is set in the year 2015. This book will be released in
May 2006 at a retail price of $6.99 (ISBN-1-59582-033-7).

In 1954, an expedition found what seemed to be a missing link in the
evolutionary chain: an ancient, immensely powerful amphibian Creature.
Scientists tried to tame it, break its will, and even change its very
being with surgery and torture, but the beast rebelled, killing nearly all
in its way. But was the creature truly a throwback, a freak survivor of
some prehistoric era, or was it something more?

Six decades later, one scientist attempts to find out, using a time
machine to journey into the past. What he finds not only shatters his
vision of what the Creature might be, but could change the history of the
human race forever.

Turning the conventions of what we feel we know about the Creature on
its ear, critically-praised science fiction author Di Filippo reinvents
the classic monster with a tale of time travel, horror, and mystery
that blends Cold War science fiction with today’s cutting edge cyberpunk
in a vision of what terrors still lurk in the swamp.

“Di Filippo is like gourmet potato chips to me,” said Harlan Ellison,
famed science-fiction writer. “I can never eat just one of his short
stories.”

Pop Culture Roundup Jan. 9, 2006

Remember "Lost"? Cool TV show about a buncha folks on a mysterious island? The last new episode was on a year and a half a ago. Anyway, it looks like ABC is finally getting it's act together to show a new one someday soon. In the meantime, check out two new official "Lost" podcasts.

Newcomer Will Toale has been cast as the WB's "Aquaman."

Mike Sterling has more Batman Hot Links than a Gotham City IHOP.

Yahoo! Movies has sneak peeks at "Underworld: Evolution" and "X-Men 3."

Doc Savage Complete List of Novels