Vintage movie still: Mogambo

Paul Levitz and his gi-normous DC Comics book

The comics scribe and former DC publisher has penned a tribute to the company and its characters and its huge: 18.4 x 13.5 x 3.5 inches and weighing 15 pounds, which explains why it's so ridiculously expensive. You can read an interview with Levitz talking about it here.

See Sean Lennon perform on NPR

Lennon's new project with Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, performs a "Tiny Desk Concert."

Green Lantern movie trailer

Music new releases Nov. 16, 2011: Glee, Springsteen, Hendrix, Ray Davies, Norah Jones

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album
Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album

The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story (3 CD/3 DVD)
The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story (3 CD/3 DVD) Bruce Springsteen

...Featuring Norah Jones
...Featuring Norah Jones

West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (4 CD/ 1 DVD Collectors Box)
West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (4 CD/ 1 DVD Collectors Box)  Jimi Hendrix

Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year
Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year Jimi Hendrix

See My Friends
See My FriendsRay Davies

DVD new releases Nov. 16, 2011: Avatar, Airbender, Perry Mason, Grant Morrison

Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray]
Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray]

The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender

Perry Mason: Season Five, Volume 2
Perry Mason: Season Five, Volume 2

Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods
Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods

John Byrne draws Marvel characters again

Too bad about Byrne's falling out with Marvel, as he does such lovely work on the characters, as seen in this new Con poster.

Marvel Comics Feb. 2011 solicitations

Highlights from Marvel's February offerings.

CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNIBUS VOL. 1
Written by STAN LEE with ROY THOMAS
Penciled by JACK KIRBY & JIM STERANKO with GIL KANE, GEORGE TUSKA, JOHN ROMITA, DICK AYERS & JACK SPARLING
Covers by RON GARNEY & JACK KIRBY As America began preparation for the inevitable entry into World War II, a secret military project gave birth to the greatest one-man fighting force ever known: Captain America! Transformed by the Super-Soldier Serum from a 97-pound weakling into the Star-Spangled Avenger, Steve Rogers led the charge to liberate the world from the Axis Powers’ grasp. But before the war’s end, an accident left Cap frozen in suspended animation and his sidekick Bucky seemingly dead, while the world turned on for decades. When the Avengers resuscitated him decades later, Steve Rogers was greeted by a world vastly changed. He was a man out of time tormented by the death of his partner, but no less committed to the cause of fighting evil in all its forms. In this amazing OMNIBUS collection, you’ll experience Captain America’s trend-setting Silver Age solo-stories from the very beginning. Packed with page after page of Stan-and-Jack magic, it’s Cap vs. his most classic foes of the Marvel Age — including the Red Skull, Baron Zemo, M.O.D.O.K., the Super-Adaptoid and more! And as if every story and every letters page wasn’t enough, we’re topping it off with an in-depth visual analysis of Jim Steranko’s legendary Cap run by no less than Steranko himself! It’s Comics 101 by one of the medium’s greatest innovators! ’Nuff Said! Collecting TALES OF SUSPENSE #59-99, CAPTAIN AMERICA #100-113 and NOT BRAND ECHH #3.
856 PGS./Rated A ...$99.99


MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE MIGHTY THOR VOL. 10 HC
Written by STAN LEE with GERRY CONWAY
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA
All hail Asgard! All hail the titanic tenth Thor MASTERWORKS! Stan “The Man” Lee and Big John Buscema are back, bringing you a set of comic-book masterpieces as only mighty Marvel could present. So join Thor, Odin, Balder, the lovely lady Sif and the Warriors Three as they confront colossal cosmic threats that only the gods of Asgard can counter. It all starts off with the amazing Infinity epic! An unimaginable destructive force is marching across the universe — one so powerful that before he can face it, the Mighty Thor must travel across Hela’s realm of the dead and face off in battle against no less than all-father Odin himself before it can be stopped! It’s a father vs. son battle to shake the heavens! And of course, there’s treachery a-plenty, courtesy of the mischievous Loki. Teamed with Karnilla, the Norn Queen, Loki won’t stop until the throne of Asgard is his, and hell descends upon Earth in the form of Durok the Demolisher. He’s an enemy so powerful that Thor must team up with the Silver Surfer to match his might. Then, it all comes to a head when Thor must run a gauntlet of towering Storm Giants before Loki weds the Lady Sif! We’ll meet you at the altar! Collecting THOR #184-194.
248 PGS./All Ages ...$54.99

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE MIGHTY THOR VOL. 2
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY Cover by JACK KIRBY & DEAN WHITE
Welcome back to the Eternal Realm! Welcome back to Asgard! And welcome back to the MARVEL MASTERWORKS! Forged in mythology, built for epic adventure and launched on the comic-reading public like a thunderbolt from the blue, the Mighty Thor quickly became one of the standout titles in the revolution that came to be known as the Marvel Age of Comics. Here — in the painstakingly restored, full-color pages of the MARVEL MASTERWORKS — you can experience the early tales of Thor, and witness his evolution and the introduction of his classic cast of characters just like the day they hit newsstands. In this volume, you’ll behold the return of Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, the Cobra and Mr. Hyde while witnessing the first appearances of the Enchantress, the Executioner and the Grey Gargoyle. And to top it off, Thor battles X-Men nemesis Magneto, the Avengers drop by, and the Tales of Asgard continue spinning the history of Asgard and the Norse gods. They’re Stan and Jack classics you won’t want to miss! Collecting JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #101-110.
232 PGS./All Ages ...$24.99

NAMOR VISIONARIES: JOHN BYRNE VOL. 1
Written by JOHN BYRNE
Penciled by JOHN BYRNE
Cover by JOHN BYRNE
Namor, the Sub-Mariner! The world's first mutant! King of Atlantis! See one of Marvel's most iconic characters written and penciled by the talented John Byrne! As Namor finally learns the truth about his nasty temper, he faces the corporate threat of the diabolical Marrs' twins, tames the deadly Griffin, is sued for his attacks on New York and gets beheaded! It's Namor like you've never seen him before! Guest-starring Namorita, Iron
Man and the Fantastic Four! Collecting NAMOR, THE
SUB-MARINER (1990) #1-9.
216 PGS./Rated A ...$24.99

DC Comics Feb. 2011 solicitations

A couple of picks from DC's February offerings:


DETECTIVE COMICS CLASSICS
Written by GARDNER FOX, MIKE FRIEDRICH and ELLIOT S. MAGGIN
Art by FRANK SPRINGER, SID GREENE, GIL KANE, MURPHY ANDERSON and MIKE GRELL
Cover by JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ
Previously available only in the DETECTIVE COMICS ACTION FIGURES BOX SET from DC Direct, this collection features classic tales from DETECTIVE COMICS #377 and #384-385 and BATMAN FAMILY #1! Features an appearance by The Riddler, plus a team-up tale starring Robin and Batgirl!
On sale FEBRUARY 16 • 50 pg, FC, $5.99 US 

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE WITCHING HOUR VOL. 1 TP
Written by various
Art by various
Cover by NICK CARDY
DC’s mystery/horror series THE WITCHING HOUR is collected for the first time in a value-priced package featuring issues #1-21!
Stories include:
    “Let the Judge Be . . . You!”
    “Once Upon a Surprise Ending”
    “A Fistful of Fire”
    “The Lonely Road Home”
    “The Turn of the Wheel!”
This volume features artwork by comics luminaries including Neal Adams, Alex Toth, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Wallace Wood, Gil Kane and more.
On sale MARCH 23 • 544 pg, B&W, $19.99 US

Beatles Live at Washington Coliseum on iTunes

Now, here is something sort of exciting: A chance to see this Beatles performance from their first U.S. visit.

Beatles available on iTunes, world doesn't change

I'm baffled that people are baffled. The biggest news on the net this morning is that the Beatles are now available via iTunes. I can see this is big music business news. The Beatles are the biggest, most famous band ever. And for years, they've been reluctant to make their music available on iTunes. Now they finally have.

But apart from the pocketbooks of Paul, Ringo, Olivia and Yoko, EMI and the two Apples, what difference does it make to anyone really?

Yes, you can now visit iTunes, pay a couple bucks and download any Beatles song. But I already have all the Beatles songs on my iPod. They were the first things I loaded on. I just plunked my CDs in my computer, ripped them at Apple Lossless into iTunes and synched my iPod. Bang. Dead easy.

It's not like we haven't been able to hear the Beatles digitally or anything up until now.  Before I bought my iPod, I had a Creative brand MP3 player and listened to the Beatles on it for years.

So, I guess now people who don't own the Beatles CDs and who haven't already borrowed and ripped their friends' CDs can now go to iTunes and download the tunes.

That's the difference between today and yesterday.

Or maybe not. Maybe the reason that this seems exciting on some level is this great music, groundbreaking in its time, is now available -- directly and legitimately -- on this newest of musical platforms, and that, we hope, it will bring a whole new audience that same joy it's brought to all of us.

People like to share the experience of music, and I think it's this element that makes this development Big News.  A whole lot more people are likely to be hearing Beatles music. And that's a good thing.

Vintage ad: Beverly Hillbillies for Kelloggs

DC Comics annuals of the 60s

Back in 1960s, DC regularly put out these thick collections that assembled and reprinted some of the best Golden Age and later stories featuring Superman, Batman and related characters. I missed out on most of them, but have fond memories of the 100-page Spectaculars, etc., that were the 1970s equivalent.

These days, there are tons of reprints of nearly every kind of comic available -- superhero books, indy and art comics, comic strips, manga, etc. -- but I have a fondness for these thick, relatively cheap reprints. I certainly gravitated toward them as a kid. I enjoyed reading old Batman and Superman stories from before I was born and nearly wore out my copies of "Batman from the 30s to the 70s" and "Superman from the 30 to the 70s," which were the DC Showcases of their day.

And what got me started on this whole post? A nice collection of 60s annual covers on display over at Golden Age Comic Book Stories. Here's a sample:

Garfield strip ill-timed for Veterans Day.

Whoops:

Jim Davis, the cartoonist behind Garfield, apologized on Thursday for a comic strip that stirred up controversy when it published on Veteran’s Day. In the strip, Garfield stands above a spider with a rolled up newspaper cocked in-hand. The spider taunts the cat, saying if he squishes him, “they will hold an annual day of remembrance in my honor.” In the final frame, a spider dangling over a teacher’s desk asks a class, “Does anyone here know why we celebrate ‘National Stupid Day?’” Davis said the strip was created almost a year ago and that running that particular comic on Veteran’s Day was the “worst timing ever.”

Pulp cover: Jungle Stories

Pulp cover: Jungle Stories

Why superhero movie don't boost sales of superhero comics

Why do anime and film adaptations of manga and indy comics such as Naruto and Scott Pilgrim help spur sales of those titles while superhero films, such as the  Iron Man or X-Men movies, don't seem to boost sales for those books much at all?

It's a case of comics confusion, suggests Journalista:

If the Naruto anime left you interested enough in the story to go to a bookstore and check out the manga, you’d find more of the same: The anime stays as close as possible to manga-ka Masashi Kishimoto’s original concepts, and Kishimoto is in turn the consistent driving force behind the creation of the comics version, regardless of who spotted the blacks or drew a particular forest background. So long as you first bought the Naruto volume with the big “1″ on the spine, liked it and followed it with the one labeled “2,” you’re pretty much guaranteed to be satisfied by the results.
If the X-Men films convinced you to pick up your first X-Men graphic novel, however, you’d be in for an entirely different experience. Your first exposure would depend upon which author’s version of the series you pulled out of the stack, be it Stan Lee, Chris Claremont, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar or Chuck Austen, and the artwork would likely change from one artist to another within the book’s pages. If you remained interested enough by what you read to buy a second one, that second volume would be as much of a crapshoot as the first, unless you very carefully observed which names were on the spine each time you invested your hard-earned dollars on a new book. 
I think that's a pretty good argument. Journalista goes on to blame much of this also on "the replaceable nature of the writers and artists, as dictated by the work-for-hire business practices upon which Marvel depends," but I think there are a number of additional factors at work:

  • The continuing problem of continuity. Crack open most superhero books and you need to know 20-40 years of the title characters' previous history to fathom what's going on.
  • Many people don't understand where to find or how to read comics these days. Blame the direct market. If you could find X-Men (or Iron Man or Spider-Man or Batman, etc.) comics in the grocery or drug store, and the comics made sense to new readers, you'd likely sell a lot more copies. But instead, we have to depend on people finding and visiting comic book shops, figuring out which of the seven monthly X-titles to try, none of which they'll like, because the stories don't make sense and are nothing like those in the movies.

Those of us who were around in the days when nearly all kids read comics have made these points time and time again and I'm no doubt preaching to the choir here. But it continues to frustrate me that the comics publishers don't seem to know how to market their products apart from in movies and toys.

Here's how to sell more comics:
  1. Sell them in places where they'll get seen.
  2. Create comics that are fun to read and easy to understand.
  3. If you have the benefit of a big feature film, capitalize on it by making the comics palatable to those who enjoyed the movies.

A lot of fanboys won't like that third step. But, let's face it, many of the superhero movies of late are truer to the original characters than are the current comics. A movie grabs the elements that make Superman or Batman or the X-Men compelling and run with them. They celebrate the hero's mythology while many current comics try to tear it apart.