Pop Culture Safari!

Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day across the United States. Drop by your local shop if you have one and pick up some free goodies.

More info here.

Here's a video, too:

Fab Friday: Vintage Beatles pics

Pop culture roundup: Secret Agent X-9; Walt Disney; Comic Book Creator magazine; Frank Frazetta; Jack Kirby

Atomic Pulp traces the history of comic strip and movie serial hero Secret Agent X-9.

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Dangerous Minds shares a sad 1938 rejection letter penned by Walt Disney Productions to a woman who had the nerve to apply for a "man's job." (Neat letterhead, though).

....Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.

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Jon B. Cooke talks to the Providence Phoenix about his new Comic Book Creator mag, the first issue of which spotlights the great Jack Kirby.

"See that Fighting American right there?" Cooke says, pointing to rows of plastic-sleeved comics displayed on shelves behind the counter. He ticks off other titles on display: The Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men. Jack Kirby had a hand in all of them, he says.

He walks to a wall rack and pulls down a comic. "Unquestionably this is a Jack Kirby co-creation: Thor, the mighty Thor," he says, opening the book to the credits page. "And as we can see right there, there is no co creator credit."

"The parasites in their shiny suits control much of Jack Kirby's life's work now," Cooke writes in the story's explosive finale. "The Marvel/Disney empire is raking in billions of dollars from the fruit of his imagination and they aren't leaving scraps for his children and grandchildren."

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Speaking of Jack Kirby (as we so often do): Blogger Pat Barrett rightfully chastises the New Yorker for not properly crediting an Iron Man illustration by the artist in the mag's latest issue.

When every other week your back pages feature an “illustration” or two that’s nothing more than some Photoshop fun with stock photos, the person doing the shopping gets credited as well as the people who snapped the pictures and the syndicate who bought them. Why couldn’t the same respect be extended to one of pop culture’s most tragically under respected creators?

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Golden Age Comic Books shares another great batch of Frank Frazetta art.

Today's best thing ever: Batman car seat!

BBC Radio this week: Goon Show; Vincent Price; Sherlock Holmes; Terry Pratchett; Radiohead

Click the links to hear the following programs.

The Goon Show: The Silver Dubloons Neddie Seagoon must plunder a sunken Spanish galleon. Stars Spike Milligan.

The Price of Fear: Guy Fawkes Night Vincent Price remembers a bonfire party when a bullying father disappears.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson's historical Scottish adventure, starring David Rintoul.

Sherlock Holmes: The Beekeepers Apprentice Fifteen-year-old Mary Russell encounters the legendary detective in retirement, leading to a collaboration between the two. Laurie King's homage stars James Fox.

Only You Can Save Mankind Sci-fi drama from Terry Pratchett, based on the first novel in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

The Radiohead Story Steve Lamacq presents an in-depth profile of the influential band.

Pictures from Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror

Some pics from the upcoming Doctor Who episode, co-starring Dame Diana Rigg and daughter Rachel Stirling.

Today's best picture ever: Brian Wilson

New pictures of Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel

Carson of Venus online comic strip added to official Edgar Rice Burroughs site

The official Edgar Rice Burroughs site recently started publishing a weekly Tarzan strip by longtime comics scribe Roy Thomas and artist Roy Grindberg. For $1.99 monthly, you can keep track of the jungle lord's adventures.

Now, there's an additional bonus strip added on for subscribers: the adventures of Carson of Venus, written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Tom Floyd and Diana Leto.

You can subscribe to the strips here.