Enjoy the holiday of your choice!



We'll see you next year!

Premiere 2006 preview issue features "Superman" cover

"The Return of Superman" gets top billing in the mag's look at what's coming to theaters next year.



And here's a shot from inside:



See the Best Superman Sites on the Web.

U.S. cover art for "Doctor Who: Complete First Series" DVD set

It's out Feb. 14.



See the Best Doctor Who Sites on the Web.

Pop Culture Roundup Dec. 23, 2005

Shout! Factory will release a four-DVD set collecting the best of 1970s children's show "The Electric Company" on Feb. 7.

NPR explores "the best CDs you didn't hear this year."

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's....SuperChrist!

Top 10 graphic novels, DVDs, CDs and action figures Dec. 22

At Amazon:

Graphic Novels

1. Watchmen

2. Black Hole

3. Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition

4. V for Vendetta

5. Watchmen (Absolute Edition)

6. Frank Miller's Complete Sin City Library

7. The Acme Novelty Library

8. Girl on Girl (Y: The Last Man, Book 6)

9. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

10. Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous

DVDs

1. Serenity (Widescreen Edition)

2. March of the Penguins (Widescreen Edition)

3. Firefly - The Complete Series

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

5. Wedding Crashers - Uncorked (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

6. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

7. Lost - The Complete First Season

8. Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0

9. 24 - Season Four

10. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Widescreen Edition)

CDs

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

2. The Essential Johnny Cash [Limited Edition] [Original recording remastered] ~ Johnny Cash

3. Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast ~ Various Artists

4. The Legend [Box set] ~ Johnny Cash

5. Prairie Wind ~ Neil Young

6. Back to Bedlam ~ James Blunt

7. Extraordinary Machine ~ Fiona Apple

8. Illinois ~ Sufjan Stevens

9. Aerial ~ Kate Bush

10. No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7) ~ Bob Dylan

Action figures

1. Batman Begins Flying Batman Figure

2. Marvel Legends Legendary Riders Figure: Vengeance

3. Marvel Legends Gift Pack Spider-Man classic Feasome Foes Gift Pack

4. Marvel Legends Sentinel Series Figure: Angel Red

5. The Batman Secret Files Rogues Gallery Figure: Penguin

6. The Batman Secret Files Rogues Gallery Figure: Mr. Freeze

7. Marvel Legends Sentinel Series Figure: Cyclops

8. Marvel Legends Legendary Riders Figure: Origin Thing

9. Batman Begins Action Cape Batman Figure

10. Marvel Legends Sentinel Series Figure: Omega Red

Pop Artifacts! Hanna-Barbera buttons

Christmas comics!

Pop Culture Roundup

Jessica Simpson: Bond girl? Charlize Theron said no to the part.

Comics/TV scribe/history and one-time Jack Kirby assistant Mark Evanier celebrates his fifth anniversary of blogging. Congrats Mark! Your site is a daily spot for me.

A DVD focusing on the Velvet Underground's 1993 reunion tour is out Jan. 24 from Rhino Records. "Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII" features live performances of VU classics such as "Heroin," "Pale Blue Eyes," "Rock'n'Roll" and "Sweet Jane."

Mexicovers is a new-to-me blog presenting great south-of-the-borderish exotica music, along with the cool cover art.

Dial B for Blog presents another of his favorite comic book Christmas stories (this one's a fave of mine, too): "The Silent Night of the Batman," from the era when the Caped Crusader was heroic enough to belt out a Christmas carol, not sulk around like a constipated ninja all the time.

Fred Hembeck shares his first attempts at scripting a comic.

TV Guide reports on the end of "Alias."

Frank Miller says he wants to make five "Sin City" films.

There's an animated flick coming out soon, but a third live-action Conan film is supposedly in the works too. No word on whether the one-terminator will be back.

The BBC has a report on rare, early Disney films, sketches and background drawings found in Japan.

Pop Artifact! Addams Family buttons

Christmas comics!

Pop Culture Roundup

Crusade Fine Arts is publishing a 576-page collection of Billy Tucci's comic "Shi." The book, "Definitive Shi - The Essential Warrior Vol. 1," ships next March.

Booksteve shares a 1979 Christmas card from Wendy and Richard Pini.

Fred Hembeck celebrates Christmas in Riverdale.

Newsarama has an interview with DC Direct toymaster Georg Brewer.

Dark Horse presents Universal Monsters novels



From the press release:

Drawing on the legendary history of Universal Pictures' rendition of cinema's most famous monster icons, DH Press revamps classic movie characters from the Golden Age of horror films for a new generation. These all-new original prose novels, based on legendary characters such as Dracula and The Mummy, will be infused with the intensity of modern horror classics. The first wave of books coming in 2006 will feature Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The initial releases coming out in January 2006 will be Dracula: Asylum and Wolf Man: Hunter's Moon, both retailing for $6.99 each.

In Dracula: Asylum (ISBN-1-59582-018-3, $6.99) we find ourselves back at Dr. Seward's Sanatorium, where Dracula was originally destroyed, in the days directly following the end of World War I. After being gone for years Dracula finds himself trapped beneath the grounds of the madhouse where his evil reaches out into the minds of the weak and insane. As death claims victim after victim, will anyone be able to stop him?

Dracula: Asylum is written by Paul Witcover, the author of the visionary science fiction novels Tumbling After and Waking Beauty, a biography of Zora Neale Hurston and numerous short stories. He is the co-creator of the cult comic book series Anima and has served as the curator of the New York Review of Science Fiction reading series.

In Wolf Man: Hunter's Moon (ISBN-1-59582-030-2, $6.99) we meet Lawrence Talbot who, on a vacation in Europe, has his life changed forever when he is bitten by a lycanthrope and is cursed to walk the Earth for the rest of eternity no longer a man, not fully a beast but as one of the damned: a werewolf. In this story Talbot is chased by a heretical cult dedicated to destroy all marked by the sign of the Wolf. But will the friends he finds, an order whose mission is to protect the werewolves, prove to be even more dangerous?

Wolf Man: Hunter's Moon is written by Michael Jan Friedman, a New York Times best-selling author who has written or co-written numerous novels in the fantasy, science fiction, and young adult genres - many in the Star Trek realm.

Comic book birthday: John Severin







Images from the Grand Comic Book Database.

New comics Dec. 21, 2005



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

40 Years of X-Men DVD-ROM

Abomination Mini-bust - Bowen Designs

Acme Novelty Library #16

Comics As Philosophy HC

Conan And The Jewels Of Gwahlur HC

Coyote Vol 2 TP

Crisis On Multiple Earths The Team Ups Vol 1 TP

Daydreams and Nightmares SC

Diamond Select G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes Vs. Storm Shadow Bookends

Fantastic Four By J. Michael Straczynski Vol 1 Premiere HC

Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four Vol 1 Family Heroes Digest

Marvel Masterworks Avengers Vol 5 Ltd Ed HC (#54)

Marvel Masterworks Avengers Vol 5 New Ed HC

Marvel Milestones Thor Statue

New X-Men Academy X Vol 3 X-Posed TP

Owly Vol 3 Flying Lessons TP

Plastic Man Vol 2 Rubber Bandits TP

Star Wars Darth Vader Mini Bust

Star Wars General Grievous TP

Star Wars Prelude To Rebellion TP

Superman Batman Deluxe Bookends

Swamp Thing Spontaneous Generation TP

Tom Strong Book Four SC

Ultimate Galactus Book 2 Secret TP

See a Complete List of Upcoming Comics.

Pop Artifact! King Kong game



Christmas comics!

Pop Culture Roundup

Fred Hembeck is back with the many (many, many, many) faces of Santa.

Dial B shares his all-time favorite Christmas comics tale (which, I might add, is a real downer!).

JoBlo has pics of lots of upcoming Fox movies, including "X-Men 3," "Bandidas," "Date Movie," "Ice Age 2" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend."

CDs Dec. 20 new releases

Art Ensemble of Chicago Chi-Conga

The Damned The Black Album

Bob Marley & the Wailers Man to Man

Last week's new releases.

DVDs Dec. 20 new releases

Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0

Brothers Grimm

ER - The Complete Fourth Season

Party of Five - The Complete Second Season

Serenity - Widescreen Edition

Doctor Who books and toys 2005

Great Britain is in the midst of Whomania, thanks to this past year's revival of TV's longest-running sci-fi series.

The new series is set to air sometime/somewhere on U.S. television next year and is due out on DVD Feb. 14.

Whether it will generate the same excitement here as there remains to be seen. But here's a look at some of the recent Who items now available overseas.

Doctor Who Toys


Radio Control Dalek



Mini Radio Control Dalek Battle Pack



3D Character Walkie Talkies



LCD Dalek Spaceship



Electronic Sonic Screwdriver



Tardis Talking Money Bank



Dalek Triangular Quartz Analogue Watch



Doctor Who Talking Bottle Opener



Doctor Who Board Game



Doctor Who Puzzle



Doctor Who Puzzle


Doctor Who Novels


"Doctor Who", Only Human



"Doctor Who", The Stealers of Dreams



"Doctor Who", The Deviant Strain



"Doctor Who", Monsters Inside



"Doctor Who", The Clockwise Man



Doctor Who: Winner Takes All


Doctor Who Audio Documentary


Doctor Who: Project Who?


Other Doctor Who Books


"Doctor Who": The Legend Continues



"Doctor Who", Monsters and Villains



"Doctor Who" Quiz Book



Back to the Vortex



Doctor Who: The TARDIS Manual: Includes Build Your Own TARDIS Model



Doctor Who: Intergalactic Activity Book



Doctor Who: Sticker Guide



Doctor Who Funfax

Pop Artifact! Honey West action figure




She's a private eye-full, don't you know?

Christmas comics!

"Flintstones" season 5, complete "Scooby Doo/Dyno Mutt" and "Baby Looney Tunes" DVD bound

Heads up Hanna-Barbarians, March 7 will see the release of:

Baby Looney Tunes Vol. 1
When Tazmanian Devil was a teeny, he loved his toys more than anything - until he broke them! When Granny gives him a new toy clown, he guards it ferociously in Taz in Toyland. Then tiny Tweety tawt he heard his friends whispering about him in A Secret Tweet. But his sad feelings soon fly away when he discovers his happy surprise! Nap time follows playtime ? except Daffy can't sleep after losing his blanket, so baby Bugs leads a mission to find it in Comfort Level. Awake and refreshed, Granny teaches the wee ones to swim in her pool. Overconfident Daffy thinks he has a feather up on everyone else, only to discover he doesn't exactly take to swimming Like a Duck to Water.

Baby Looney Tunes Vol. 2
Seeing a big, bright yellow school bus gets the gang dreaming about School Daze and they all prepare by playing show-and-tell, practicing a fire drill and riding an imaginary school bus of their own! Granny buts Bugs in charge when she goes up to her room and the wily bunny must solve the mystery of some spooky sounds in Things That Go Bump in the Night. Baby Sylvester gets sidetracked while playing hide-and-seek and eats a whole jar of cookies. When he confesses to his friends, they invent a fib about The Creature from the Chocolate Chip! After all that, boredom sets in ? until Granny saves the day with a giant Card Bored Box...and the preschoolers' imaginations take flight from there.

The Flintstones Complete Fifth Season
In Season Five, the Flintstones and Rubbles still delight young and old with prehistoric versions of modern conveniences and modern predicaments. Over 26 episodes on 4 discs, the two families travel in a time machine, tangle with jewel thieves, spies and celebrity cops and get caught in a handful of show-business fiascos. Usually at stage center, fathead Fred is menaced by a mad scientist, joins a rodeo, takes flying lessons, impersonates royalty and plays Santa Claus in a really big way. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm grow bigger and cuter - and the rivalry between their parents over who's Bedrock's Most Beautiful Baby causes a temporary rift.
Extras:
--Two original commercials and an interview bite with Joe Barbara and William Hanna about the creation of the Flintstones series, with introduction by a historian of animation, Earl Kress.
--A Stone Age Parenting Guide: Humorous look at child rearing in the stone age.
--Stone By Stone: Original production storyboards of a classic episode "The Gruesomes" running along side the actual finished episode to learn how it all came together.

The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour Complete Series
The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour chronicles the outlandish animated union of man and beast to solve crimes - and brings comic relief to the kid in everyone! As the catchy theme song celebrates: "...while Scooby is haunted by a spooky ghost, Dynomutt is doin' what he does most!" That means becoming a mechanical menace to the bad guys, faithfully assisting his action-hero comrade The Blue Falcon. Watch Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Dum (a dim-witted cousin first introduced here) & the Mystery Inc. crew and Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon whenever you feel like watching the dogs!
Extras:
--Eerie Mystery of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt?s History: A look at fascinating history of Scooby Doo as well as Dynomutt, dog wonder.
--IN THEIR OWN WORDS: The original Scooby Doo and Dynomutt voice actors share memories and voices from their days on these two popular shows.
--The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Files: Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt stills gallery with previously unseen treasures from the Hanna Barbera vault including original character sketches and more!

DVD collects Laurel and Hardy classics

From the press release:

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Hollywood's most-beloved comedy duo, let loose on DVD April 18 in a brand-new release built around two of their best, but rarely seen, feature films -- "TCM ARCHIVES: THE LAUREL AND HARDY COLLECTION." This deluxe two-disc set from Warner Home Video, priced at $39.92 SRP, features the slapstick team's "The Devil's Brother" and "Bonnie Scotland" (both newly-restored from original nitrate film elements), and a number of bonus features.

Highlights of the bonus features are a full-length documentary, "Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story," narrated by Chevy Chase, which showcases not only the early films of Laurel and Hardy but also dozens of stars who developed a huge following from appearing in short subjects, such as The Little Rascals (Our Gang) and The Three Stooges. Also included in the extras are excerpts from several of the pair's movies, including the only surviving footage from the "lost film," "The Rogue Song."

Laurel and Hardy -- enduringly popular, perhaps because their irresistible antics were underscored by an indomitable optimism -- made 104 full-length features and shorts together, never running out of comic ideas or insane inventions. Accidentally paired up in the mid-twenties' silent era while both were under contract to Hal Roach, their comedy styles meshed so well that they gained immediate popularity with audiences. Unlike many of their peers, they easily survived the talkie revolution to become even greater stars during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when audiences craved escapist fare.

Stan Laurel (the thin one) did much of the writing and some of the directing. Oliver Hardy, known as "Babe" to his friends, mostly golfed when away from the movie set, leaving the more creative work to his partner Stan.

Some of Laurel and Hardy's other classics include "The Battle of the Century" (1927), the Academy Award®-winning "The Music Box" (1932), "Sons of the Desert" (1933) and "Way Out West" (1937).

Pop culture roundup

A fourth and final "Bloody Christmas Mix" from the Rev at Spread the Good Word. This one features everyone from Hasil Adkins to Lou Rawls to the Kinks.

Booksteve dug up some cool stuff over the weekend: A black-and-white "Nick Fury" poster by Jim Steranko and a look at Wally Wood's "Lunar Tunes."

Can Superman save Santa? It's the real war on Christmas.

Marvel Comics exec Peter Cuneo gets profiled in the Harvard Business School alumnis newsletter.

Dial B presents some nice Christmas comics artwork by Neal Adams, Nick Cardy and others.