Pop Culture Roundup July 29, 2007

Fred Hembeck draws the original X-men.

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Talk show Tom Snyder, of "Tomorrow Show" fame, has died.

Known for his improvised, casual style and robust laughter, Snyder conducted a number of memorable interviews as host of NBC's "The Tomorrow Show." Among his guests were John Lennon, Charles Manson and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

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Jon Favreau, director of the upcoming Iron Man film, will script a comic book about ol' Shellhead as well.

The ...four-issue Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas mini-series, which is slated for release around the time that the Iron Man movie debuts on May 2nd, 2008. Favreau will be working with Adi Granov, the artist who designed the Iron Man suit used in the movie.

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Image Comics has plans to publish new comics series based on some of Jack Kirby's late-career creations, says Image Publisher Erik Larsen.

It will be two books to begin with. Silver Star covers Earth - Captain Victory covers all space and both will be packed with awesome Kirby characters and concepts many of which have only appeared as sketches. The idea is to introduce these characters one after another the same way that characters were introduced in other Kirby books over the years. What I'd like to do is feature Jack's original drawings and whatever notes he might have had in the back of the books to give readers insight into what Jack drew and what we had to work with. In the Silver Star book, for example, there are a few drawings that feature characters that didn't make it into the book. In Jack's original Silver Star pitch there was a whole gang of guys that wound up on the cutting room floor and Jack redesigned his "Angel of Death" character so much that he doesn't look like the same guy. That original design was cool as all hell and I want to put that design to good use. Jack has numerous cosmic characters that would fit right in to Captain Victory and Earthbound characters would be right at home in Silver Star and we can mix and match as well, having cosmic characters appearing in Silver Star and non-cosmic characters popping into Captain Victory.

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You can nab the new Marvel Legends Stan Lee action figure here. The figure, along with this She-Hulk figure, is only available from Hasbro or at this year's San Diego Comicon International.



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It's the 50th anniversary of the great R&B label Stax Records and NPR is presenting interviews with some of the great musicians who made it what it was. First up: Booker T and the MGs guitarist Steve Cropper.

More Stax: PBS' "Great Performances" profiles the label in special this Wednesday. Check yer locals.

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The New York Times' profiles Portmeirion, the eccentrically designed town on the Welsch coast that served as the setting for the cult TV series "The Prisoner."

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Keith Richards is penning his memoirs. What he can remember of them anyway...

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IDW Publishing has a new Doctor Who comic book series in the works, and will be republishing an old one.

...current TV series script editor Gary Russell will pen the series with Nick Roche ("Transformers: Devastation" and "Transformers: Beast Wars") providing artwork. "Doctor Who" showrunner Russell T Davies will oversee the book.

IDW will also begin reprinting Dave Gibbons' run on "Doctor Who Monthly" from the 1980s. Originally presented in black and white, the books will now be colored using new techniques.

1 comment:

  1. I wonder if they'll re-reprint the Gibbons work that ran in the Marvel series from the 80s.

    ReplyDelete