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