Pop Culture Safari!: 02/01/2013

Trailer for new album by James Hunter

I like the retro soul of James Hunter's previous couple LPs. New one is out this week.

Hear Jimi Hendrix's People, Hell and Angels album

People, Hell and Angels, a new collection of previously unissued Jimi Hendrix recordings is now streaming via NPR.

The album is out March 5.

Pop stuff: What I'm reading, watching, hearing, etc.

Alex Toth's Zorro: The Complete Dell Comics Adventures

If you've read much about Toth, you knew he was an opinionated cuss and very critical of comics and comic art -- including his own.

One of his biggest frustrations with comic book stories, and the Zorro scripts he was given at Dell in particular, was that they tended to place words over image. Toth felt that, in a visual medium, pictures should drive the story, not words.

In these stories, which should be a perfect match for Toth's love of swashbuckling adventure and his ability to put beautiful, flowing action on the comics page, you can't help but relate to his frustration.

We should be getting big panels of Zorro sword-fighting up and down staircases, swinging into action. leaping off balconies and running across moonlit rooftops. Instead, we get page after page crammed with six panels of talking heads practically crouching under crowded word balloons.

Part of this is a product of the time, the late 1950s, when comics tended to be word driven and pictures came in second. Dell's editors didn't appreciate the caliber of artist they had on hand. If only they'd let Toth follow through on his desire to cut some of the words and move forward more of the story with his visuals, which there's no question he could have done.

So, as much as people tend to praise Toth and his work on this series, in my view it's not the artist presented at his best. It's not even that entertaining of a read. Occasionally, there a nice plot twist or a funny scene. But I kept thinking how much better it could be.

Speaking of which, the production values in this new color edition from Hermes Press is taking some hits in online customer reviews. Some folks prefer the black and white/gray-scale version published by Image Comics in 2001. I missed that one, though it's still available and I may need to pick it up. Toth's art looks very good in black and white -- he was a master at balancing the two tones. The Hermes edition reviewed here looked ok to me, but there's no question that the colors, "remastered" from scanned art, overpowers the line art and images are somewhat murky and blurred in spots.

If you love Toth, there's no question you'll want to see these stories in one form or another. But be prepared to be a little underwhelmed. The stories here don't compare with much of his other work, including the great Zorro pin-ups and stand-alone illustrations he did throughout his career just for fun. In these, at least, he had room to let his imagination, and Zorro's cape, flow.

Video find: Ukulele Ike performs "Singing in the Rain"

An early film of Ukulele Ike aka Cliff Edwards performing his big 20s hit "Singing in the Rain," later made memorable again by Gene Kelly the movie musical of the same name.

Edwards voiced "When You Wish Upon a Star" in Walt Disney's "Pinocchio."

New Iron Man 3 poster

BBC Radio this week: Stream music, comedy, drama and more.

Click the links to stream the following shows.

I Was a Teenage Heartthrob. Nina Myskov confronts the ultimate question for teenage girls in the 1970s - David Cassidy or Donny Osmond? With vivid illustration from archive radio footage and the hits of that extraordinary era.

Alan Bennette: The Lady in the Van. Autobiographical play about the woman who took refuge in author Alan Bennett's Camden garden and stayed for 15 years. Stars Maggie Smith.

Doctor Who: To the Last. The Time Lord calls on friends, family and the Meddling Monk to help overthrow the Daleks.

The Goon Show: The Scarlet Capsule. Professor Ned Quatermass unravels a mystery around some enigmatic blue serge suits. Stars Spike Milligan. From February 1959.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Ian Fleming's magical tale of a car saved from the scrapyard that takes the Pott family on a fantastic adventure. Stars Imogen Stubbs.

Patricia Highsmith: The Call of the Owl. Patricia Highsmith's intriguing tale of obsession, starring John Sharian.

The Howling Terror Mystery. In July 1900, an enormous megaphone projected a human voice for miles across the South Downs. Alan Dein recalls the story the newspapers labelled The Howling Terror.