Pop Culture update: Mile High Comics; John Buscema; Barry Windsor-Smith; Conan;

The Denver Post profiles pioneering comic shop owner Chuck Rozanski, whose 42-year-old Mile High Comics business has expanded to include a 65,000-square-foot warehouse housing "two miles of comics" along it's inner perimeter.

Q: Why do people spend so much money on a collectible comic that they might be able to see scanned online for free?
A: With comics, the tangible has a gratifying aspect. If I wanted to read my 1950s Disney comics, there's no way I'd want to read them on my iPad or Kindle. I want to hold them. There's a sense of ownership. You enjoy the linear progression as a collection. To actually hold an issue in your hand, and know it's one of less than 100 surviving comics in the entire world? Well, that's pretty special.
-----

Diversions of the Groovy Kind takes a look at John Buscema's "floating head" superhero covers for Marvel Comics.


 -----

Bronze Age Babies offers a side-by-side comparison of artwork by Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema, who illustrated adaptation of the Conan story "The Tower of the Elephant."

Vintage movie poster: Red Planet Mars


Video: Beach Boys - A Signature Harmony

Here's an exclusive clip from Rolling Stone featuring Brian Wilson and the band talking about their new reunion LP.

New Amazing Spider-Man movie poster spotlights Spidey and Gwen


The next album in the Paul McCartney reissue campaign is...

Wings Over America, plus the "Rock Show" film on DVD. Details:
The next McCartney album to be reissued will be ‘Wings Over America,’ the 1976 triple live album that documented Wings’ only tour of America, and the first time McCartney had toured America since the Beatles‘ final performance at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966.

In addition, ‘Rockshow,’ a concert film from that tour, will be released on DVD for the first time. Previous versions for home consumption, video and laserdisc, had songs removed for time purposes, but the DVD will contain all 30 songs that were featured in the theatrical release.
 More here.

Paul Weller records Birthday tribute to Paul McCartney

The Modfather is issuing his cover of the Beatles' "Birthday" on Macca's 70th, June 18, as a benefit single for the War Child charity. It will be available via download one day only. No info at War Child on where to download the tune or how much it will cost, but I'd imagine you can find out by visiting their site on Monday.

Unbelievably realistic Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow action figure

This is just crazy! I mean, it's like they shrank ScarJo!


BBC radio this week: Stream radio drama, comedy, music documentaries

Click the links to stream these BBC radio programs.

England's Still Dreaming: 30 Years of Punk Available on BBC iPlayer
Steve Lamacq looks at the seminal events of 1976 which led to the explosion of punk music.

 Radio Luxembourg 208 - Your Station of the Stars Available on BBC iPlayer
Noel Edmonds tells the story of Luxy, the original pop music station in the UK

 Shakespeare's London
Writer Iain Sinclair seeks out echoes of Shakespeare's city in the London of today.

 Anthony Hope - The Prisoner of Zenda
Swashbuckling adventure set in fictional Ruritania in the 1890s. Starring Douglas Hodge

 Charles Paris: Murder Unprompted
Bill Nighy stars in Simon Brett's tale of the actor who also plays the role of detective

 Charles Paris: Sicken and So Die
Bill Nighy stars in Simon Brett's tale of the actor who also plays the role of detective

 Dickens on Location
The places described by Charles Dickens, explored by the people who live in them today.

 The Goon Show
Classic material from one of the all-time radio comedy greats

 Groucho Was My Father
The daughter of the most famous cigar-smoker in film history shares some intimate epistles

 The Late Alfred Hitchcock Presents
...Hitchcock Presents. Stories inspired by the master of suspense

 Short Stories by Robert Heinlein
Weird and wonderful tales by the American sci-fi writer

 Liverpool: The New Wave
Janice Long presents a series looking at Liverpool's post-Beatles music scene.

 Never Mind the Horlicks: Punk at Middle Age
Tom Robinson traces the legacy of the punk rock explosion of the mid-seventies.

 The Stiff Records Story
Madness frontman Suggs tells the story of the influential record label.

Terry Toons movie poster


NPR presents live highlights from the Beach Boys reunion tour

Check out some high points from recent Beach Boys concerts here.

DC Comics September 2012 solicitations: Phantom Stanger; Sword of Sorcery; Amanday Conner; Wonder Woman: Amazon Princess Archives; Showcase Presents Flash !; more!

Items of note from DC's September releases:

THE PHANTOM STRANGER #0
Written by DAN DIDIO
Art by BRENT ANDERSON and SCOTT HANNA
Cover by BRENT ANDERSON
On sale SEPTEMBER 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
• Learn what happened to The Phantom Stranger after the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY story!
• Who has been sacrificed? Who is guilty? Who can save us? And who…is The Phantom Stranger?
• Major players in The New 52 will be introduced in these pages!



SWORD OF SORCERY #0
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Backup story written by TONY BEDARD
Art by AARON LOPRESTI and MATT RYAN
Backup story art by JESUS SAIZ
Cover by JOSHUA MIDDLETON
On sale SEPTEMBER 19 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
• In this new series featuring the long-awaited return of AMETHYST, Amy Winston leads a strange life on the road with her mother. She’s about to learn why it’s all been necessary when she discovers she’s the lost princess of Gemworld — and has powerful enemies hunter her!
• AMETHYST is written by Christy Marx, best known for her work on animated TV series including G.I. Joe, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more, as well as the comics series Sisterhood of Steel.
• And in the backup story set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the monstrous warrior BEOWULF is charged with finding and defeating the evil Grendel.


 TEAM 7 #0
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art and cover by JESUS MERINO
On sale SEPTEMBER 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
• Threads of the entire DC Universe collide in this new series set in the early days of The New 52 from writer Justin Jordan (The Strange Talents of Luther Strode).
• As Superman emerges, so too does the world’s counter measures against him and his kind!
• Dinah Lance, Amanda Waller, Steve Trevor, John Lynch, Alex Fairchild, Cole Cash, Slade Wilson are Team 7 – and their story will change everything you know about The New 52!


 
DC Comics: The Sequential Art of Amanda Conner (The Dc Comics Art of Amanda Conner)

Written by AMANDA CONNER, GEOFF JOHNS, JUSTIN GRAY, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, JUDD WINICK, BARBARA KESEL, CHUCK DIXON, JAI NITZ and TERRY MOORE
Art by AMANDA CONNER and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Cover by AMANDA CONNER
On sale NOVEMBER 7 • 304 pg, FC, $29.99 US
• Acclaimed artist Amanda Conner, currently illustrating and cowriting BEFORE WATCHMEN: SILK SPECTRE, is the focus of this new hardcover collecting some of her greatest work for DC Comics!
• This spectacular new hardcover features SUPERMAN: LOIS LANE #1, BIRDS OF PREY #47-49, JSA CLASSIFIED #1-4, SUPERGIRL #12, the GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL, plus stories from SECRET ORIGINS 80-PAGE GIANT #1, THE JOKER: LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES #1, WONDER WOMAN #600, numerous covers and more!


 WONDER WOMAN: THE AMAZON PRINCESS ARCHIVES VOL. 1 HC
Written by ROBERT KANIGHER
Art and cover by ROSS ANDRU and MIKE ESPOSITO
ADVANCE SOLICIT • On sale FEBRUARY 27 • 352 pg, FC, $74.99 US
• At last, the wild WONDER WOMAN adventures from the late 1950s are collected in full color in a new ARCHIVES series!
• Collecting WONDER WOMAN #98-110.



Showcase Presents: The Flash Vol. 4

Written by JOHN BROOME, GARDNER FOX, E. NELSON BRIDWELL, CARY BATES and FRANK ROBBINS
Art by CARMINE INFANTINO, ROSS ANDRU and others
Cover by CARMINE INFANTINO and JOE GIELLA
On sale OCTOBER 24 • 528 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
• The Flash faces Heatwave, Gorilla Grodd and Captain Cold, and meets Green Lantern, Superman and the Golden Age Flash!
• Collects THE FLASH #162-184.

Promo photos: Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore