Pop culture roundup: Stan Lynde, Sean Lennon, "Mad Men" Barbies, Pete Townshend

Stan Lynde, creator of the "Rick O'Shay" and "Latigo" comic  strips is leaving his native Montana at age 81 to move to Ecuador. He's also leaving much of his work behind, donating it to the state historical museum.

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Sean Lennon is taking a pretty under-the-radar career approach, lately, scoring indy movies such as "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead" and the superhero-themed "Alter Egos," in which he has a cameo as a super villain.

Here's a video of him composing and recording a tune for the latter film:


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"Mad Men" Barbies, in their own hip playhouse:

 


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Pete Townshend, who recently published his own memoirs, talks to the New York Times Sunday Book Review about his reading habits.

Two rare, unbootlegged, Beatles demos up for auction

An auction of items George Harrison gave to his family members back in the 60s includes two eyebrow-raising items: A pair of demo recordings that appear never to have been released or bootlegged. That's a rare circumstance, anymore, after the Beatles Anthology releases and the zillions of unofficial bootlegs of studio and live recordings that have come out over the years.

Here are details on the two demo acetates as described by Bonhams:


"What Goes On"
This track was due to be recorded on 5th March 1963 but the group ran out of time. They revisited the track during a recording session on 4th November, when they were just a month away from the release of the next album, 'Rubber Soul', and had only completed half of the tracks for it. The acetate offered here is a demo with vocals and guitars only.



"Granny Smith"
The Beatles began work on this track on 11th April 1966 and as it was untitled at that stage, it was known as 'Granny Smith'. It became 'Love You To' nearer the release date, in August, of the album 'Revolver'. 

The black leather jacket and Beatle boots George wore during the band's Hamburg days are also part of the auction. Oh to be rich...

Pop culture gift guide 2012 - music, movies, comics, books, more!

For pop culture fans -- lovers of music, comics, movies and more -- here are some highlights from the past year that will make great gifts.

Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon.

Music


Harvest Years 1969 - 1974 by Kevin Ayers


Greatest Hits: 50 Big Ones by the Beach Boys


Completely Cilla 1963 - 1973 by Cilla Black


The Complete Beat (5 CDs) by the English Beat


TheGift (deluxe edition) by The Jam


At the BBC by the Kinks


Return of the Stuff That Dreams Are Made of by Various Artists


Charlie is my Darling, Ireland 1965, Limited Edition by the Rolling Stones


Hearts in Their Eyes by the Searchers



Never Mind the Bollocks...: Deluxe Edition by the Sex Pistols


I Hear a Symphony (Expanded Edition) by the Supremes


Surf Age Nuggets


The Velvet Underground & Nico 45th Anniversary [Super Deluxe]


Live at Hull 1970 by The Who

Comic book and comic strip reprints


Archie Archives
Now up to seven volumes of vintage Archie Comics collected in color, hardcover form.


Complete Flash Gordon Library
A new series from Titan Book reprinting Alex Raymond's Sunday strips in great reproduction. Very reasonably priced, too. The second volume will be out Dec. 18.


DC Archives
DC continues to collect classic runs of Golden and Silver Age Comics in these beautiful, full-color hardcover volumes. 2012 volumes featured Sgt. Rock, Wonder Woman, Batman and others.


DC Showcase Presents
Still offering great bang-for-the-buck, these phonebook-size, black-and-white collections of DC Comics series featuring Batman, Superman, the Flash and more and tremendous fun, providing fans of classic comics hundreds of pages of entertainment at a very reasonable price.


EC Comics Library
Fantagraphics' new series of hardcover collections, each focusing on a particular artist's work from the classic EC era. Great stories of suspense, war, horror and more from some of America's best and most infuential comics artists, including Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood and others.


Legends of the Dark Knight / Tales of the Batman
A new series of color hardcovers focusing on the work of some of Batman's best artists, featuring volumes dedicated to Jim Aparo, Marshall Rogers, Alan Davis, Gene Colan and Don Newton.


Marvel Masterworks
You can get these in full-color hardcovers or trade paperbacks and they look great. These books feature classic 60s and 70s Marvel Comics featuring the X-Men, Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and others.


Marvel Omnibus Collections
Ginormous books collected 30 or more issues of classic Marvel Comics, complete with letters pages, pin-ups and other features from the originals. Larger format, too. They take up a lot of shelf space, but they are a great way to re-enjoy these stories and art. 2012 saw great volumes dedicated to the Avengers and early Lee/Romita Spider-Man.


Mort Meskin: Out of the Shadows
A lovely collection of tales illustrated by this artist who might have been a key creator of the Marvel Age had he not died far too early.


The Phantom Charlton, Gold Key and King Years
Reprints of the purple-suited Ghost Who Walks' comic book adventures. The first volume features art by the great Jim Aparo.


Prince Valiant
Big, brilliant reprints of Hal Foster's gorgeously illustrated Sunday strips.


Walt Disney's Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge (Carl Barks Library)
 Loving, colorful collections of Carl Barks stories and art from classic Walt Disney comic books. These volumes are collecting the complete Barks in beautiful, durable books featuring a wealth of historical background in addition to all the stories.


Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse
Published by Fantagraphics, these are excellent collections of black-and-white daily comic strips from the 30 and 40s -- four volumes to date -- featuring the delightful stories and art by Floyd Gottfredson.


Sandman Slipcase Set
All of Neil Gaimin's class Sandman comics in collected form.


Spirit World
A nice, hardcover reproduction of Kirby's oddball suspense/horror mag created in the 1970s.


Steve Canyon reprints from IDW Publishing
There are now two volumes available of this complete reprinting of Milt Caniff's classic adventure strip. Nicely packaged and reproduced in hefty books.

Pop Culture Books


The Art of Betty & Veronica


Blast Off!: Rockets, Robots, Rayguns, and Rarities from the Golden Age of Space Toys


The Creativity of Steve Ditko


James Bond: 50 Years of Movie Posters


Marvel Comics: The Untold Story



Totally MAD: 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity


The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: A Definitive Encyclopaedia Of Existing Information


LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia


The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia


The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy


The James Bond Archives


Avengers: The Art of Marvel's The Avengers


Batmobile: The Complete History


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney's Classic Animated Film

 
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Complete and Annotated...All the Bits


Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery


The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012 HC


Tarzan The Centennial Celebration

The Beatles


George Harrison: Living In The Material World


George Harrison - Early Takes Volume 1: Music From The Martin Scorsese Picture Living In The Material World


George Harrison: Living in the Material World - book


The John Lennon Letters


Magical Mystery Tour Deluxe Box Set (Blu-ray/DVD/double-vinyl EP)


Produced by George Martin [Blu-ray]


RAM [Deluxe Book Edition] [4CD+1DVD] by Paul McCartney


Kisses on the Bottom: Deluxe Edition by Paul McCartney


Ringo 2012 [Amazon.com Exclusive CD+DVD Version]


Yellow Submarine [Blu-ray]

DVD and Blu-ray releases


The Replacements - Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements


Doctor Who: Series Seven - Part One


Doctor Who: 2011 Christmas Special [Blu-ray]


The Amazing Spider-Man (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy)


Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray]

 
Mad Men: Season Five


Marvel's The Avengers (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)


Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]


The Cabin In The Woods [Blu-ray + UltraViolet Digital Copy]


Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures [Blu-ray]

 
Quadrophenia (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]


Sherlock: Season Two


Tarzan - Season One: Part One (4 Discs)


The Adventures of Tintin