Pop Artifact! Halloween!

Vintage Halloween comic book cover



Found at the Grand Comic Book Database.

Comic sneak peeks

Mile High Comics has posted first looks at: Batman Gotham County Line #2; Desolation Jones #4; Jonah Hex #1; Seven Soldiers The Bulleteer #1; Swamp Thing #21; Winter Men #3; Captain Universe/Hulk #1; Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #9; Marvel Team-Up #14; Nightcrawler #11; Sentinel #1; Spider-Girl #92; Spider-Man House of M #5; Spider-Man Unlimited #12 and X-Men Colossus Bloodline #3.

Quick hits

Dial B details the 1972 Rutland Halloween comic book stories, which were a first, sneaky attempt to "cross over" Marvel and DC Comics characters.

Examining Teen Titans mania.

Amidst lots of rumors and hype, Marvel Comics announces an adaptation of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series.

Retrocrush counts down the 100 top horror movies performances of all time.

You can check out four tunes from the new Rubber Soul tribute, This Bird Has Flown here. (The Ben Harper track, for starters, is awful. Dar Williams' isn't bad at all.)

Details on how ABC is using mysterious Web sites to promote "Lost."

DVD new releases for November 2005

Nov. 1


The Dick Cavett Show - John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Brady Bunch:Complete Fourth Season

Fox Film Noir Collection (Amazon.com Exclusive)

Fox Studio Classics Collection (Amazon.com Exclusive)

Star Trek Enterprise - The Complete Fourth Season

Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition)

Steve Mcqueen Box Set


Nov. 8


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Widescreen Edition)

Remington Steele - Season 2

Doctor Who - City of Death (Episode 105)

The Partridge Family - The Complete Second Season

Doctor Who - The Claws of Axos (Episode 57)

Ducktales - Volume One Collection

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers - Volume One Collection

George Pal - Flights of Fantasy

Lenny Bruce Performance Film

Live 8

La Dolce Vita (Deluxe Collector's Edition)

Tommy & Quadrophenia Live With Special Guest


Nov. 15


Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Chosen Collection (40 Disc DVD Set)

Charmed - The Complete Third Season

Cheers - The Complete Seventh Season

The Flintstones - The Complete Fourth Season

Frasier - The Complete Seventh Season

Friends - The Complete Tenth Season

The Huckleberry Hound Show - Vol. 1

Madagascar (Widescreen Edition)

Murder One - The Complete Second Season

Scrubs - Season Two

Three's Company - Season Five

Tru Calling - The Complete Second Season

The Yogi Bear Show - The Complete Series


Nov. 22


The Andy Griffith Show - The Complete Fourth Season

Astro Boy:Collection Box Set (1980)

Batman Vs Dracula gift set

C.S.I. Miami - The Complete Third Season

Dark Shadows Collection 21

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - 2nd Gig, Vol. 2

King Kong (1976)

King Kong (2-Disc Special Edition) (1933)

King of the Hill - The Complete Fifth Season

Leave It to Beaver - The Complete First Season

Mighty Joe Young (1949)

The Polar Express (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)

Seinfeld - Season 5

Seinfeld - Season 6

War of the Worlds (Widescreen Edition)

Nov. 29


C.S.I. - Crime Scene Investigation Season 5

Family Guy, Vol. 3

Havoc (Unrated Version)

March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)

Sky High (Widescreen Edition)

The Tomorrow People - Set 2

Top 10 bestselling graphic novels, DVDs, CDs and action figures/toys

From Amazon:

Graphic Novels

1. Watchmen (Absolute Edition)

2. Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition

3. Watchmen

4. Black Hole

5. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

6. Batman: The Long Halloween

7. V for Vendetta

8. Identity Crisis

9. Bone: One Volume Edition

10. A History of Violence

DVDs

1. Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition)

2. Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)

3. Alias - The Complete Fourth Season

4. Cinderella (Disney Special Platinum Edition)

5. Lost - The Complete First Season

6. Firefly - The Complete Series

7. The Wizard of Oz (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)

8. Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Full Screen Edition)

9. Titanic - Special Collector's Edition (1997)

10. The L Word - The Complete Second Season

CDs

1. Thanks For The Memory...The Great American Songbook IV ~ Rod Stewart

2. Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook [DualDisc] ~ Bette Midler

3. A Time To Love ~ Stevie Wonder

4. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane [Live]

5. Prairie Wind ~ Neil Young

6. Confessions on a Dance Floor ~ Madonna

7. Timeless ~ Martina McBride

8. Playing the Angel ~ Depeche Mode

9. Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled ~ Melissa Etheridge

10. Born to Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set [Original recording remastered] ~ Bruce Springsteen

Toys and Action Figures

1. Mr. Potato Head Darth Tater

2. Star Wars Build Your Own Lightsaber

3. Batman Begins Deluxe Batmobile

4. Power Rangers S.P.D. Delta Command Megazord

5. Star Wars Darth Vader Voice Changer Helmet

6. NFL Legends Figure: Barry Sanders Detroit Lions Blue Jersey

7. Batman Begins 6" Ultra Armor Figure: Laser Blaster Batman

8. Mystery Machine Ghost Patrol (Scooby Doo)

9. Batman Begins Action Cape Batman Figure

10. Power Rangers SWAT Command Truck

Pop Artifact! Halloween!

Vintage Halloween comic book cover



Found at the Grand Comic Book Database.

Comic book books: Big, old, black-and-white reprints

I'm a bronze age baby. I hit my comics-loving peak at age 10, smack dab in 1975.

I still love comics of course. But that was when trips to the spinner rack took on their greatest importance. Later I got interested in records and girls and my priorities shifted.

And one of the things I loved most about reading comics back then were the great reprints. Marvel put out a bunch of reprint books each month. And stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s often appeared as backup features in regular titles. Plus there were those big 80- and 100-page giants and annuals. Not to mention those nice, tabloid-size treasuries.

But best of all were these:



"Superman from the 30s to the 70s" and "Batman from the 30s to the 70s" are still (somewhat tattered) treasures of my comics collection.

(There was a "Shazam" volume too, which I still regret not buying at the time and it still continues to elude me on eBay. I have the whole works on CD, but it's not the same...)

Sure, in 2006 we're spoiled for reprints with DC Archives and Showcase volumes and Marvel Masterworks and Essentials. But I'll never give up my "30s to the 70s" books. They're too much a part of me.



I don't know how many times I've read the stories they contain. I've loved these books to literal pieces, especially the Batman volume. The stories where Batman and Robin traveled back in time were particular favorites. Seeing the mean, gun-wielding Batman of the early tales was startling. And I loved learning there'd been a Batgirl before Barbara Gordon--not to mention a Batwoman!

There are a couple of sections in color, including Denny O'Neil and Irv Novick's classic "One Bullet Too Many," which in just a few pages (panels, really) shifted the tone and course of every Batman story to follow. All without an overpriced, overblown "event" series that promises to change everything but doesn't. It's a re-boot today's comics creators could learn a lot from.

There's great stuff in the Superman book too. It leads off with some of the "Socialist Man" tales, where the Man of Steel regularly championed the downtrodden while socking it to corporate fatcats. And from there it's on to the goofy Bizarro tales, Lois Lane's shenanigans and other assorted whimsies of the Weisinger era. The book ends with some stories from when Julius Schwartz took over the editorial reins, providing another great example of how to makeover a character on the fly.



What got me thinking about these books again and led me to pull them off the shelf is the arrival of DC's Showcase books. These are nice and thick like Marvel's Essentials, but on whiter paper and with better production. Perhaps they'll catch the attention of younger readers like the "30s to the 70s" books did mine. My 7-year-old son, for one, is excited to dig into the Showcase Superman volume I got the other day.

Younger readers will find a heap of fun stuff to read in the Showcase books. It's nice to think about a new generation of kids discovering these stories.

Quick hits

Rhino Handmade, the limited-edition arm of Rhino Records, is releasing a box set collecting recordings by comic Allan Sherman. (Mark Evanier says it's available cheapest via Barnes and Noble.)

Over at the official Star Wars site, you can download wearable paper character masks.

And here's a page where you can download cut-and-fold robots (this and the Star Wars item via BoingBoing.)

Dial B pays tribute to Bernie Wrightson.

Comics artist Charles Burns and Chris Ware chat, link via Drawn.

Mystery novelist and "Dick Tracy" comics scripter Michael Kilian has passed away.

Despite objections from the publishers of the "Asterix" comics, a French mobile phone manufacturer can register the brand name Mobilix.

The revived "Doctor Who" beat out "Desperate Housewives" as most popular drama in the U.K. National Television Awards. Britons are smarter than we are.

Music downloads from the videogame based on Jeff Smith's "Bone" comic are available here.

Will "Buffy" characters live on in straight-to-DVD films?

Everyone do...the Batusi!

I haven't been to the comic book shop this week, but it sounds like DC went with Wonder Girl out of the numerous cover illustrations artist Michael Allred prepared for his issue of the publisher's "Solo" series. I'm looking forward to checking it out. In the meantime, let's review:







Pop Artifact! Halloween!

Vintage Halloween comic book cover



Found at the Grand Comic Book Database.

"Lost" tonight...

...is a repeat of the season opener (sigh). But if you wanna watch it again, or missed it the first time, you might wanna review the various clues and other notable things that occur during the episode. Check up TIP!'s roundup here.

Also see the Best "Lost" Sites on the Web.

New CD releases of note

Oct. 25

Vashti Bunyan Lookaftering
Marshall Crenshaw Downtown, Field Day, Good Evening and Mary Jean & 9 Others
Dave Edmunds Tracks on Wax 4 and Twangin'
The Fiery Furnaces Rehearsing My Choir
Rita Lee (ex-Os Mutantes) Bossa'n Beatles
Jimmy Smith Christmas '64
They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABCs
VA This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul

Nov. 1

Miles Davis The Cellar Door Sessions 1970
Nirvana Sliver: The Best of the Box
Wilco Kicking Television - Live in Chicago

DC sneak peeks: the return of Kubert, Pini and Garcia-Lopez



If you checked out the DC Comics solicitations for January released the other day, you may've noticed three comics greats have new projects set to debut that month.

Here are some preview pages of the upcoming Sgt. Rock mini-series by Joe Kubert along with a fresh Elfquest story from Wendy Pini and a Justice League Classified arc by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (inks by Klaus Janson).

Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy by Joe Kubert



Elfquest: The Discovery by Richard and Wendy Pini



JLA Classified #16 by Gail Simone and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

New comics releases Oct. 26



Available now at yer local comics shop or via This is Pop!-supporting links:

Batman Begins Camouflage Batmobile

Batman Under The Hood TP

Conan Volume 2 God In The Bowl and Other Stories TP

Elfquest The Grand Quest Vol 11 TP

Hercules New Labors Of Hercules TP

Incredible Hulk Wall Statue

Krypto And Friends Animated Series Maquette Set

Marvel Masterworks Mighty Thor Vol 4 HC Ltd.

Marvel Masterworks Mighty Thor Vol 4 New Ed

Marvel Monsters Monsters On The Prowl

Marvel Universe Astonishing Kitty Pryde Bust

Marvel Visionaries John Romita Jr

Merchant Of Dennis The Menace TP

Mister X Vol 2 Secret Life Of Mister X TP

New X-Men Academy X Yearbook Special

Rogues Gallery Mysterio Bust

Silver Age Fantastic Four Mole Man Med Statue

Spider-Man Vs The Sandman Statue

Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol 4 Inhuman TP

Uncle Scrooge #347

Vampire Buffy: 12-inch Buffy the Vampire Slayer figure

Fantastic Four movie figure assortment series 4

See the complete list of new and upcoming comics.