Pics from Disney's The Princess and the Frog

Here are some images from Disney's upcoming "The Princess and the Frog." It's the studio's first hand-animated flick in forever and looks lovely. More here.

















Vintage promo still: Jayne Mansfield


Rolling Stones 45 rpm picture sleeves









Pop links: New DC Comics blogs; when Elvis met the Beatles; new Scorsese flick

DC Comics has launched blogs for its Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints. The join DC's mainline blog, The Source.

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What really happened when the Beatles met Elvis Presley? The Los Angeles Times investigates.

“No matter who you are,” says Schilling, “walking into Elvis Presley’s house is a different experience. His presence put things on a certain level, and I think the Beatles could feel that. But Elvis knew how to handle it. He said, ‘If you guys are just going to sit around and stare at me, I’m going to bed.’ That broke the ice and got a laugh out of everybody. Right away, the Beatles understood that Elvis was a guy with a sense of humor—and a guy who really loved crazy British humor. It wasn’t too long before John and Elvis were talking about Peter Sellers and favorite scenes from Dr. Strangelove.”

See more Beatles posts at Beatles Blog Daily!

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See a trailer for Martin Scorsese's upcoming film, "Shutter Island."

“Shutter Island” is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island’s fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

Vintage promo still: Tarzan


New Green Lantern First Flight DVD pics

Here are two new images from the upcoming direct-to-DVD Green Lantern film.





Video find: Jimi Hendrix on the Lulu Show 1969

Watch Jimi break into a cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" near the end.

First look at Beatles Remasters stereo and mono box sets

Here's a first look at the Beatles Remasters box set! It'll feature stereo versions of all the band's albums, plus the 2-CD Past Masters singles compilation, along with a DVD featuring the "making-of" shorts included on early versions of the individual album remasters.



And here's a look at the Beatles in Mono box set, which includes CDs of all the albums originally released in mono mixes.




Pop links: Alex Nino! Mr. Tawny! Neil Young!

See a couple of Alex Nino-illustrated horror tales from 1975.



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Mr. Tawky Tawny vs. the Recession:



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Neil Young will be profiled by PBS' "American Masters" June 10. Check yer local listings.

New comics June 10, 2009

New comics of note this week. Click the links to order discounted books from Amazon.


BATMAN #687
RED ROBIN #1
Two more post-Bruce Wayne Batman titles (Dick Grayson is now Batman, Bruce Wayne is missing/dead--there, I just saved you a few hundred bucks in back issues). Neither of these interest me as much as last week's Grant Morrison-penned Batman and Robin, which was quite fun, and Paul Dini's upcoming Batman: Streets of Gotham, which seems like it may be worthwhile as well. I'll probably keep my buying to just those two, skipping the Batwoman-helmed Detective Comics and a Dini-scripted Gotham Sirens. Let's face it, the Batman Family is too big.


BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #5 I loved the first four Mike Kunkel-written/drawn issues of this kid-oriented title. This ish sees scripters Art Baltazar and Franco and artists Byron Vaughn and Ken Branch helping out. The plan, I guess, is to have this team alternate with Kunkel in order to get the book on a monthly schedule.


SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN LANTERN VOL. 4 More budget-priced Silver Age stuff. Includes Green Lantern #60-75.


SUPER FRIENDS #16 My daughter's favorite comic. It's good stuff!


JSA SERIES 1 ACTION FIGURES
FLASH
GREEN LANTERN
SANDMAN
STARMAN
Based on Alex Ross art. Not really my thing.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #597 I'm already two weeks behind on this story line, which, unfortunately, looks to be somehow related with Marvel's latest crossover buyer-manipulation project, Dark Reign. What's say we prohibit comics publishers from further crossovers? Maybe the economic downturn will be a good corrective to such things.


ESSENTIAL THOR VOL. 4 Thor moves from the Kirby- into the Buscema era with Neal Adams helping out in between. Collects Thor #167-195.


EXCALIBUR VISIONARIES ALAN DAVIS VOL. 1 I was never a big fan of Excalibur or the writing on this title, but the art was something to behold. Davis is one of the modern greats of superhero comics. Collects Excalibur #42-50.

THOR TALES OF ASGARD BY LEE & KIRBY #2 Reprinting Lee/Kirby's work on this Thor backup feature.

MUPPET SHOW #2
TOY STORY MYSTERIOUS STRANGER #1
Two new kid-oriented comics from Boom Studios. Good stuff.

SHERLOCK HOLMES #2 The first issue of this never made it to my comic shop. Was it any good?


ART OF HARVEY KURTZMAN: THE MAD GENIUS OF COMICS A coffee table tome written by Denis Kitchen. I don't see how this could be anything less than mandatory.

Bowery Boys: Jungle Gents movie poster


Deal alert: Complete Firefly Blu Ray DVD set for $39.99

Today only, Amazon is offering the Complete Blu Ray DVD set of Firefly for $39.99, a savings of $15.

Pop links: Donald Duck is 75! Cover Browser is cool! The Specials reunion rolls on!

It's the 75th anniversary of Donald Duck!

Donald Duck made his debut on June 9th, 1934, in the animated short The Wise Little Hen, in which Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoid work by feigning stomach aches. Since then Donald has appeared in over 150 cartoons, 21 video games, several feature films and most importantly thousands of comic book stories.

Indeed, Donald Duck comics--especially those written and drawn by the brilliant Carl Barks--are something truly special. But, unfortunately, Gemstone Comics is no longer publishing them! I believe Boom Studios now has the license to do so. I hope they'll use it! And, speaking of which, is there any hope of this series of Barks reprints ever seeing the light of day in the U.S.?



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Booksteve hips us to the joys of Cover Browser.



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The Specials are extending their reunion tour. Now we just need to get those guys to the U.S.

CD new releases June 9, 2009

New CD releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!


The Eternal by Sonic Youth


Some Girls by The Rolling Stones (Audio CD - 2009) - Original recording remastered


Tattoo You by The Rolling Stones (Audio CD - 2009) - Original recording remastered


Emotional Rescue by The Rolling Stones (Audio CD - 2009) - Original recording


Foolish Little Girl / Sing Their Hits From It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World...Plus! by Shirelles

DVD new releases June 9, 2009

New DVD releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!


Gran Torino (Widescreen Edition)


Perry Mason: Season 4, Vol. 1


Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music Director's Cut (40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition with Amazon Exclusive Bonus Disc)


Get Smart: Season 3


Father Knows Best: Season Three


The Jack Lemmon Film Collection (Phffft! / Operation Mad Ball / The Notorious Landlady / Under the Yum Yum Tree / Good Neighbor Sam)


Zane Grey Theatre Complete Season One


Paul Weller - Just a Dream - 22 Dreams Live (DVD+CD Set)


Time Warp: Season One


JRR Tolkien documentary

Vintage promo still: Creature from the Black Lagoon


Jungle Drums of Africa movie poster


Pop links: Original Land of the Lost cast! Jack Cole blog! The second Batman and Robin team! Khan comic!

Where are the original stars of "Land of the Lost"? The Associated Press brings us up to date.



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Check out a new blog dedicated to the works of cartoonist (and Plastic Man creator) Jack Cole.



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Did this Silver Age tale inspire Grant Morrison's new take on Batman and Robin?



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Newsarama previews IDW Publishing's adaptation of "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan."