Photo: George Reeves as Superman

From some sort of fan event. I'd never seen this pic before.

Rober McGinnis Mike Shayne paperback covers

What the world needs now...

is more songs with cheerful whistling.

Doctor Who Victory of the Daleks clips

Bat vehicles!

I always love to see pics of those wonderful Corgi Batman vehicles and Geek Orthodox has a nice array today. And, don't forget, you can see a lot more Corgi greatness on our sister site, the DC Comics Fortress of Memorabilia.

DC previews new Doc Savage title

You can get a peek at DC's new Doc series here.

Record Store Day is this weekend: cool exclusives

Each year, record stores encourage people to remember that they still exist with a special day, and special treats to lure people through their doors.

This year's lineup of special 45 r.p.m. records and other goodies features limited-edition releases by Bruce Springsteen, Elvises Presley and Costello, Blur, Jimi Hendrix and more. See the entire lineup here.

Tolkien-C.S. Lewis team-up stories to hit big screen

A movie adaptation is in the works for James A. Owen's "Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica" series, which tells the fictional, world-hopping adventures of a young J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. It's a cool-sounding idea. I hadn't heard of the books before today.

Scorsese planning 3-D Hugo Cabret adaptation

This could be good: Martin Scorsese plans a animated, 3-D adaptation of Brian Selznick's children's book/graphic novel hybrid "The Invention of Hugo Cabret."

Based on Brian Selznick's best-selling children's book, story is set in 1930s Paris and centers on a 12-year-old orphan named Hugo, who lives in a train station and must finish what his late father started by solving the mystery of a broken robot.

Project, which will begin lensing in London in June, marks Scorsese's first foray into kid lit as well as his debut 3D film.

Joss Whedon to pen/direct Avengers film

This is a promising development. From Variety:

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk will soon start taking orders from Joss Whedon.
Marvel Studios is wrapping up a deal for Whedon to helm "The Avengers," which assembles the superheroes in one pic on May 4, 2012, that Paramount will distrib. Whedon will also rework Zak Penn's script.

Retro-Action Aquaman figure

Here's a pic of Mattel's new Mego-style Aquaman Retro-Action figure.

Now streaming on Netflix

Some new items of note:

• Earth Girls are Easy
• Godzilla Raids Again
• Moon
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• New Adventures of Tarzan
• Tarzan and the Green Goddess
• Tarzan and the Trappers
• Father Goose
• Harold and Maude

New BBC archive depicts the changing face of Doctor Who

From the Beeb:

A new online collection from BBC Archive reveals the story behind the changing face of Doctor Who. As Matt Smith begins his new adventures as the 11th Doctor, BBC Archive reveals how the very first regeneration was planned in 1966.

Internal BBC memos, Radio Times letters and exclusive images have been digitised and made available for the first time, offering an insight into how viewers have reacted to each new actor taking on what has become an iconic role.

See it here.

Krates of Kirby!

Whoa: 600 boxes of drawings and character designs artist Jack Kirby did for the Ruby-Spears animation company have been unearthed and are being considered for development.

CD new releases April 13, 2010: Jeff Beck, Iggy and the Stooges, Iron Man, Tom Lehrer, Incredible String Band,

DVD new releases April 13, 2010: Apollo 13, Great Mouse Detective, Dallas season 13, Emergency season 6, Pirate Radio, Alias Smith and Jones,

  

28 days later: The Netflix lag

I just don't see the point of buying any more DVDs. Not when I can rent or stream them so cheaply. And apparently I'm not alone.

Strong-arm tactics from movies studios have led Netlix to delay rentals of new Fox and Warner Bros. releases until 28 days after become available for purchase.

I figure I'll just wait. After all, I wait to watch HBO and Showtime series until they become available on DVD. I wait sometimes up to a year to see movies on DVD because getting a baby sitter and shelling out for movie tickets is too much of a hassle. I have plenty of already-available stuff to watch and catch up on. So what's 28 days?

This is just delaying the inevitable. DVDs will soon become a thing of the past and the film industry, much like newspapers and magazines publishers, need to figure out new ways to make a profit. I don't have any easy answers. I'm contributing to the problem. But the genie's out of the bottle folks.

Retro-Action DC Superheroes action figures spotlighted

Superhero Times has an in-depth review and lots of pics of these Mego-tastic new figures featuring Superman, Lex Luthor, Batman, Green Lantern and more.

2010 Eisner Award nominees announced

Highlight categories:

Best Graphic Album—New
Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzuccheilli (Pantheon)
A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
The Book of Genesis Illustratedby R. Crumb The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb 1 edition, by R. Crumb (Norton)
My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and Émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)

Best Comics-Related Book
Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel, by Annalisa Di Liddo (University Press of Mississippi)
The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)
The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, by Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)
Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, by Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)
Will Eisner and PS Magazine, by Paul E. Fitzgerald (Fitzworld.US)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
The Best of Simon & Kirby, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, edited by Steve Saffel (Titan Books)
Blazing Combat, by Archie Goodwin et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
Humbug, by Harvey Kurtzman et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures deluxe edition, by Dave Stevens, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips
Bloom County: The Complete Library, vol. 1, by Berkeley Breathed, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Bringing Up Father, vol. 1: From Sea to Shining Sea, by George McManus and Zeke Zekley, edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW)
The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons 1913–1940, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)
Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, by Gahan Wilson, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
Prince Valiant, vol. 1: 1937–1938, by Hal Foster, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Walt McDougall, and W. W. Denslow (Sunday Press)

Best Publication for Kids
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, by Jarrett J. Krosoczeka (Knopf)
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis (Bloomsbury)
Tiny Tyrant vol. 1: The Ethelbertosaurus, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme (First Second)
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz hc, by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best Continuing Series
Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy et al. (Vertigo/DC)
Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)
The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)

Best Writer/Artist–Nonfiction
Reinhard Kleist, Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (Abrams ComicArts)
Willy Linthout, Years of the Elephant (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)
Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan/Holt)
David Small, Stitches (Norton)
Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Michael Kaluta, Madame Xanadu #11–15: “Exodus Noir” (Vertigo/DC)
Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines, Wolverine: Old Man Logan (Marvel)
Fiona Staples, North 40 (WildStorm)
J. H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC)
Danijel Zezelj, Luna Park (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer
Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project (Marvel) Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon)
Geoff Johns, Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)
James Robinson, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)
Mark Waid, Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)
Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer/Artist
Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW)
R. Crumb, The Book of Genesis Illustrated (Norton)
David Mazzuccheilli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)
Terry Moore, Echo (Abstract Books)
Naoki Urasawa, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka (VIZ Media)