Pop Artifact! Apple piggy bank

Vintage DC Comics house ad

"Lost" preview March 1, 2006: season 2, episode 15



Read ABC's teaser copy for tonight's show.

Listen to the most recent offical "Lost" podcast.

Watch a preview for tonight's show.

See promo pictures from the episode.

Come back tomorrow for a summary of the show with observations/speculation.

See the Best "Lost" Sites on the Web.

DVD cover art: "Justice League" season 2, "Lois and Clark" season 3, "Superman Animated" vol. 3

All three of these are out June 20.

The second season of "Justice League" contains 26 episodes on four disks.

"Lois and Clark: The Complete Third Season" is a six-disk set. And the third volume of "Superman: The Animated Series" is a two disks.







More TV on DVD.

Pop Culture Roundup March 1, 2006

NPR profiles the great New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair.

---------------------

Also from NPR, a concert by Belle & Sebastian and the New Pornographers.

---------------------

Like me, Pop Culture Gadabout is a bit concerned about all his TV idols of yore passing away lately.

---------------------

Sonic Pollutions has a couple of posts featuring rare Byrds video.

---------------------

Preview pages of DC Comics' upcoming "52" series are up here. The limited, weekly series, which ushers us into the supposedly less "grim'n'gritty" post-"Infinite Crisis" DC Unverse, features this sequence of the once lighthearted Ralph Dibny (Elongated Man) sticking a pistol in his mouth:



---------------------

TV Guide talks to Emilie De Ravin of "Lost."

---------------------

World of Kane celebrates delightfully twisted French songsmith Serge Gainsbourg.

---------------------

Upcoming Fantagraphics Books releases


HE DONE HER WRONG
By Milt Gross
256-page black-and-white Paperback $16.95

First published in 1930, the famously wordless He Done Her Wrong is Milt Gross' graphic masterpiece, the result of his prior collaboration with Charlie Chaplin on the 1928 silent-era film classic The Circus. Sharing the same goofy, over-the-top comic mayhem that was Chaplin's trademark, and preceding the expressive, cartoony art style of MAD Magazine legend Harvey Kurtzman, all of He Done Her Wrong's hilarious slapstick, tragic heartbreak, heroism and villainy, character development, high emotions and raucous thrills somehow manages to take place, astonishingly, without a single word of text, or conversation, or even a footnote. The story follows the convoluted misadventures of a naïve frontiersman with superhuman strength exploited by a larcenous robber baron who eventually double crosses our hero and steals his girl. The pursuit leads to New York City where a sordid cast of cantankerous salesmen, officious government bureaucrats, bumbling hospital attendants, a lusty widow with a defensive Chihuahua and one angry barber wreak more havoc in our characters' lives than a hundred Little Rascals in a Marx Brothers film. He Done Her Wrong is a classic comics work, legendary among aficionados, and arguably the 20th century's first graphic novel. Fantagraphics Books is proud to put this back into print in a facsimile edition, unabridged, with newly designed covers.


ZIPPY: TYPE 'Z' PERSONALITY
By Bill Griffith
128 pages, black-and-white with 24 pp. in full-color $19.95

Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead is a pop culture icon. The surrealist-leaning character is one of the most recognizable figures on the newspaper pages, seen by tens of millions of people a day. Syndicated by King Features since 1986, Zippy is read in hundreds of daily newspapers across the country, while the Pinhead's trademark non sequitur, "Are we having fun yet?," has become so often repeated it's in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. His likeness has been graffitied on the Berlin Wall and aped for Saturday Night Live's classic "Conehead" sketches. This new Zippy collection features approximately a year's worth of strips, from November 2004 through November 2005, including full-color Sundays. Unlike most newspaper pages, the book sports top-notch reproduction worthy of Griffith's master draftsmanship. Part satire, part philosophy, and part surrealism, Zippy is one having fun pinhead and the perfect antidote to the real world. In Type "Z" Personality, Zippy's new collection of daily and Sunday strips, Zippy dabbles in haiku, visits the malls of Australia, talks to Albert Einstein, lampoons "Manga" and goes into a deep trance while bowling. And if all that wasn't enough, Zippy insults Dick Cheney while imagining he's the hood ornament on a 1931 Studebaker.

TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #2
By Michael Kupperman
32-page comic, $4.50

The critics agree! Tales Designed To Thrizzle #1 is the smash debut of 2005! From Wizard's "Secret Stash" pick of the month to Steven Grant of Comic Book Resources (who says of the first issue, "One of the most entertaining comics I've read in years."), the critics agree! Heidi MacDonald of The Beat says "Folks, this is the funniest thing since Monty Python. I mean it." Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter says, "Really funny... Buy five and leave them in the backseat of your car." Well, for those of you who just can't get enough, the second issue is here! Featuring scary snakes! Delicious bacon! Johnny Silhouette, private eye! The Silver Knight! Create your own adventure with the Space Patrol! Murder She Didn't Write! Are you tired of portraits where the eyes move? And much, much more!

ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #10
By Johnny Ryan
48-page B&W comic, $4.95

Special double-sized tenth issue, celebrating the fifth anniversary of AYC! After being named Rolling Stone's "HOT Comic of 2005" in September, Ryan delivers a perfect jumping-on point for new readers (even though every issue is a stand-alone masterpiece of toilet humor)! Shifting gears from last issue's mini-opus, Ryan this time pukes up 48 pages of non-stop gag cartoons (fans of Ivan Brunetti's Haw! will have an idea of what to expect). Fans of South Park, Beavis & Butt-head, and Jackass simply must discover the steaming ass-genius that is Johnny Ryan and Angry Youth Comix.


CLOUDS ABOVE (2nd printing)
By Jordan Crane
216-page, full-color, 6 1/4" x 6 3/4" hardcover, $18.95

Back in print! This gorgeously packaged (yet affordable) all-ages fantasy is an instant classic. On their way through the city to school, Simon and his cat Jack keep taking shortcuts that lead them through fantasy worlds of wooden monsters and insatiable appetites, just for starters. Will they make back home safely? Full-color. This will undoubtedly be one of the more handsome and unique packages in recent memory, with a brilliant graphic novel inside that justifies its elegant format. The Clouds Above calls to mind everything from Where the Wild Things Are to The Wizard of Oz to The Chronicles of Narnia, with its depiction of a fantastic world that lurks just around the corner from reality and that only children believe exists.


DARLING CHERI
By Walter Minus; designed and edited by Monte Beauchamp
32 pages, full-color, 10" x 10" Hardcover $14.95

Darling Chéri is the sensually illustrated story of a young career woman who awakens one morning to not only the light of an early dawn but also to the realization that love has left her current relationship. Immediately she begins penning a brisk farewell note to her soundly sleeping boyfriend before pursuing the love that has since left. Celebrated throughout Europe for his captivating illustrations of fashionable and scantily clad females, Walter Minus' colorful work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Marie-Claire, Elle, The New Yorker, Maximal and L'Entreprise, and in countless advertising campaigns including Chanel, Coca-Cola, AirFrance, Nissan, Mercedes, Renault and Kodak. This is his first American book. This is the third BLAB! storybook, a series of graphic novels showcasing artists from Monte Beauchamp's annual BLAB! anthology, presented in a faux-children's book format, though this volume is aimed at older readers.

DER STRUWWELPETER
By Bob Staake; edited and designed by Monte Beauchamp
32 pages, full-color, 10" x 10" Hardcover $14.95

Originally written in 1845 by German physician Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894), 'Der Struwwelpeter' reads like a fairy tale breaking loose from a doomed roller-coaster, crashing through a rusty calliope, and finally splashing into the miasmic ooze of Hell -but somehow still managing to float. Mesmerized as a child by the nightmarish prose and haunting images contained in the book, noted author/illustrator Bob Staake (MAD magazine, Cartoon Network, even Hallmark Cards) gives a 21st century spin to these 14 stories -each more politically incorrect than the next. The nastiest things happen to children who disobey the wishes of their parents: thumb suckers have their digits cut off, the pyro-fascinated are set ablaze and, of course, picky eaters rot away and die prematurely. In other words, precisely the type of bedtime stories you'll want to read to a six-year-old, provided it's not your six-year-old. Publishers Weekly calls Staake's illustrations "a stylistic collision of Russian
constructivism and pop art that explode with energy and joyous intensity."

THE COMICS JOURNAL #273
Cover by Eddie Campbell
192-page squarebound magazine, $9.95

This issue, Dirk Deppey sits down for a freewheeling interview with cartoonist Eddie Campbell, the artist behind the forthcoming graphic novel, The Fate of the Artist and collaborator with Alan Moore on the danse macabre of Jack the Ripper epic, From Hell. A born raconteur, Campbell discusses everything from self-publishing, to Hollywood adaptations, to the philosophy of the graphic novel. Also, a conversation with avant-garde Manga artist Junko Mizuno (Pure Trance). Chris Lanier explores the work of sequential painter (and Holocaust victim) Charlotte Salomon. Look for an extensive portfolio of socialist cartoonist Art Young's visions of Hell. Plus all the news, criticism, and commentary that you've come to expect.

TCJ LIBRARY Vol. 6: THE WRITERS
By Various; Tom Spurgeon, ed.
360-page Paperback $19.95

From the cool passion of sci-fi and occasional comics writer Harlan Ellison to the soap opera explorations and genre twisting of X-Men writer Chris Claremont and Howard the Duck creator Steve Gerber, between 1966 and 1985 a generation of writers emerged that changed the face of American comic books forever. Many were fans every bit as much as they were professionals, creative artists working from an understanding of what felt right on the comics page forged by years of close scrutiny above and beyond the final sales figures. Some were tempered by exposure to new waves in cinema, new voices in writing, and new comics from Europe and Japan. Coming to comics at a time when the financial awards were poor and the chance for ownership of what one created was even poorer, these writers breathed new life into the dying icons of the past. Writers like Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Harlan Ellison, Marv Wolfman, Denny O'Neil, Mark Evanier, Mike Baron and Alan Moore infused comics like X-Men, Captain America, and Swamp Thing with a progressive social outlook that ran directly in the face of decades of simplistic might-makes-right pseudo-moralizing. Some made their careers in other writing fields but toiled in comics out of a sense of loyalty and passion; others became comic book writers just out of their teens and never left. They were America's comic book children come home. The Comics Journal Library: The Writers celebrates the ascendancy of writer-driven mainstream comic books with a series of revealing, in-depth interviews, many conducted at the height of their influence.

New comics March 1, 2006

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


All Star Archives Vol 0

Captain America Winter Soldier Vol 1


Complete Jon Sable Freelance Vol 4


Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol 1 TP - Deluxe Edition

Essential Spider-Man Vol 1 TP New Printing

Exiles Vol 12 World Tour Book 1

JSA Vol 10 Black Vengeance

Secret War HC

Squadron Supreme Death Of A Universe


Superman Adventures Vol 3 Last Son Of Krypton


Superman Adventures Vol 4 The Man Of Steel


Superman Deluxe Statue

Vampirella Morrison and Millar Collection

DARTH VADER Star Wars 1:4 Scale Figures Sideshow Collectibles Toy

"RING" ANGEL 6" Action Figure BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL Gentle Giant Studios Toy (Pre Order Ships in Feb/2006)

SET of 5 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

AZRAEL 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

NIGHTWING 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

CATWOMAN 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

BANE 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

MASK OF TENGU BATMAN 6" Action Figure DC DIRECT BATMAN:KNIGHTFALL Series 1 Toy (Pre-Order Ships in Feb/2006)

See a Complete List of New Comics Shipping This Week.

Pop Artifact! Rat Fink ring

Vintage DC Comics house ad

Pop Culture Roundup Feb. 26, 2006

Via Boing Boing: an incredible collection of Japanese robot, etc., toys.

----------------------

Also from Boing Boing: Photos of tiny models of early Disneyland.

----------------------

Bubblegumfink shares some, um, bubblegum and gets in an Ed Roth mood (check out today's Pop Artifact! up top [when I get around to posting it]).

----------------------

Fats Domino survived Hurricane Katrina and has new album coming out, the appropriately titled Alive and Kickin'.

-----------------------

Some cool, exotic Les Baxter sharity.

-----------------------

Booksteve remembers Dennis Weaver.

-----------------------

Action-Figure.com checks out upcoming Teen Titans action figures.

-----------------------

Rhino Records is reissuing the Dinosaur Jr. albums, with bonus tracks.

-----------------------

An Entertainment Weekly writer thinks he's figured out "Lost."

CD new releases Feb. 28, 2006

Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Gerry Mulligan Last Set at Newport

Elvis Costello and Metropole Orkest My Flame Turns Blue

Dave Edmunds Get It

Ella Fitzgerald Ella and Things Ain't What They Used to Be

Bob Marley & the Wailers One Love at Studio One 1964-1966

Lee Perry Dubstrumentals

John Phillips Wolf King of L.A.

DVD new releases Feb. 28, 2006

The Avengers: Emma Peel Collector's Edition Bonus Disc

The Avengers: The Complete Emma Peel Mega-Set

Charmed - The Complete Fourth Season

Ellen: The Complete Season Three

Gene Autry - Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride

Gene Autry - Rancho Grande

The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan

Monty Python's Flying Circus: Graham Chapman's Personal Best

Monty Python's Flying Circus: John Cleese's Personal Best

Monty Python's Flying Circus: Terry Gilliam's Personal Best

Monty Python's Flying Circus: Terry Jones' Personal Best

Newsradio: Complete Third Season

Perils of Pauline: Chapters 1-12

Pride & Prejudice (Widescreen Edition)