Pop Culture Safari!

Upcoming DC Direct action figures and more

Here's a look at new stuff coming from DC Direct:

Poison Ivy 13" Deluxe Collector Figure

Uni-Formz Flash, Professor Zoom & Black Flash Variants

DCU Origins Series 01
Two-packs:
--Batman
--Nightwing
--Catwoman
--Joker

DC Chronicles Superman Statue

Heroes of the DC Universe 2: Joker Bust

Batman Black And White Statue (Frank Quitely Version)

Gotham City Stories Statue Part 02 - Catwoman

Vintage movie magazine covers: Marilyn Monroe

Pop links: Robotman! Beatles ARE bigger than Jesus! Hear Dylan's holiday album!

Read a golden age Robot Man story illustrated by the great Jimmy Thompson.

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John Lennon was right!

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Hear a complete preview of Bob Dylan's upcoming Christmas album:

Kirby family seeks rights to Marvel characters

Yes! The family of the late Jack Kirby is seeking rights to all the Marvel Comics characters he created and co-created. Good luck to 'em!

Heirs to the comic book artist Jack Kirby, a creator of characters and stories behind Marvel mainstays like “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four,” last week sent 45 notices of copyright termination to Marvel and Disney, as well as Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and other companies that have been using the characters.

The notices expressed an intent to regain copyrights to some of Mr. Kirby’s creations as early as 2014, according to a statement disclosed on Sunday by Toberoff & Associates, a law firm in Los Angeles that helped win a court ruling last year returning a share of the copyright in Superman to heirs of one of the character’s creators, Jerome Siegel.

Vintage Superman cartoon movie shorts ad

More Dollhouse season 2 promo images

Deal alert: Columbia Best Pictures Collection, 11 films, for $59.99

Today only, Amazon is offering the Columbia Best Pictures Collection set for $59.99 instead of $135.95

Details:

14-disc set of 11 Best Picture Oscar winning films in an attractive, collectible, black fiber cover with slipcase. The pages within will have film synopsis, details on the Oscar win for each film, and art from key scenes. This set features Columbia Pictures' Best Picture Oscar winners spanning the years from 1934 to 1982 and include the following films:
1934 It Happened One Night
1938 You Can't Take It with You
1949 All the King's Men
1953 From Here to Eternity
1954 On the Waterfront
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1966 A Man for All Seasons
1968 Oliver!
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1982 Gandhi

Vintage Superman Pep comic buttons ad

Pop links: Gotham Sirens/Marvel Knights compared! Clash mini-reunion! Reed Crandall pirate comics!

A humorous comparison of DC and Marvel Comics' "cheesecake" books Gotham Sirens and Marvel Divas. Turns out Divas isn't as cheesecakey as one might presume.

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Former Clash members Mick Jones and Topper Headon are reuniting for a fund-raising cover of the band's old tune "Jail Guitar Doors."

The pair teamed up with folk activist Billy Bragg in the studio to promote the singer's campaign to help rehabilitate prison inmates.

Bragg's Jail Guitar Doors initiative, named after the song, supplies musical instruments to prisoners. Several inmates have gone on to pursue careers as performers since the scheme started two years ago.

...The recording session was filmed for a documentary about the prisoners' aid scheme called "Breaking Rocks," which will be premiered as part of the Raindance film festival at the Proud Gallery in Camden Town, London, on October 1.

The film will be followed by performances from Bragg, Jones, the MC5s' Wayne Kramer and Chris Shiflett of the Foo Fighters amongst others.

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Pappy presents a Reed Crandall-illustrated pirate tale.

Hear Bob Dylan's Christmas album

Or bits of it, anyway. Sound samples from Dylan's upcoming "Christmas in the Heart Album" are now available on Amazon UK and they are, in a word, hilarious.

Bob plays up the camp aspect big time, with lots of orchestration, female backup singers, accordion (for reals) and all manner of other corny stuff. I love it!

I'll be buying it for sure. Who knows, it could become another of my seasonal favorites. Good fun for a Christmas party at any rate.

Vintage Pep comic button ad

Pop links: Remembering Mary Travers; New DC Universe Classics figures, more!

So long Mary Travers. The Peter, Paul and Mary singer has passed away at age 72. The New York Times has an obituary here.

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Former Black Flag singer will voice the Doom Patrol's Robotman on the "Batman: Brave and the Bold" 'toon.

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Some cool upcoming DC Universe Classics figures, I especially like Mary Marvel and Dr. Mid-nite.

Deal alert: Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection box set for $99.99

Today only Amazon is offering the Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection box set for $99.99, ordinarily $199.98.

Vintage Superman Pep cereal ad

Pop links: Carl Barks! Christmas Carol poster! More!

Good stuff from Booksteve today (well, everyday. But I found these posts especially interesting): A short interview with the great Disney comics artist Carl Barks and a trailer for the Blackhawks movie serial.

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I posted a couple of stills down below, but here's the poster for Disney's upcoming CGI adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

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British session drummer Bobby Graham has died at age 69, reports the NME. Graham played on more than 1,500 records including such hits as Petula Clark's "Downtown," Them's "Gloria," Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" and the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night."