Pop focus: Dick Tracy memorabilia

A fixture of the comics pages, radio, movie serials and TV for decades, Dick Tracy is an iconic pop culture figure. You can still follow him in the funny pages, where his current adventures are chronicled by comic book vet Joe Staton and Mike Curtis.

Here's a look at some of the collectible items Chester Gould's square-jawed police detective has inspired over the years.
























Pop culture roundup: Walt Disney; Edgar Rice Burroughs; Superman

Esquire looks at what might have been: Walt Disney's Lost City of Tomorrow.
It all began with a vision of a wheel. Folks would call the circumference home, while a climate-controlled city center would house corporations from all over the world. Between the urban and suburban would lie the greenbelt, dotted with parks, golf courses, and anything else paradise had to offer. A web of electric monorails and car-sized movers would act as the spokes, zipping residents to and fro. No more grueling commute. No more noisy streets. No more of life's little frustrations.
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The challenge of illustrating Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom.

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Hake's Auctions is selling off one of the greatest collections of Superman memorabilia.


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A new, very pricey, book looks at classic airline ads.


Fab Friday: Vintage Beatles pics

More Beatles posts at the Glass Onion Beatles Journal.





New Ant-Man movie poster



Video: Kid musicians play "Love and Mercy" with Brian Wilson

Students from Miramonte Elementary and Bravo Magnet High School got the chance to record with music legend Brian Wilson on Love & Mercy.

Coming up: Monster Mash: The Creepy, Kooky Monster Craze In America, 1957-1972

Out July 1. Pre-order from TwoMorrows Publishing now.

Details:
Time-trip back to the frightening era of 1957-1972, when monsters stomped into the American mainstream! Once Frankenstein and fiends infiltrated TV in 1957, an avalanche of monster magazines, toys, games, trading cards, and comic books crashed upon an unsuspecting public.

This profusely illustrated full-color hardcover covers that creepy, kooky Monster Craze through features on Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the #1 hit “Monster Mash,” Aurora’s model kits, TV shows (Shock Theatre, The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Dark Shadows), “Mars Attacks” trading cards, Eerie Publications, Planet of the Apes, and more! It features interviews with James Warren (Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella magazines), Forrest J Ackerman (Famous Monsters of Filmland), John Astin (The Addams Family), Al Lewis (The Munsters), Jonathan Frid (Dark Shadows), George Barris (monster car customizer), Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (Rat Fink), Bobby (Boris) Pickett (Monster Mash singer/songwriter) and others, with a Foreword by TV horror host Zacherley, the “Cool Ghoul.” Written by Mark Voger.

Comic art: Doctor Who covers by Dave Sim






Coming up: Rhino's Super Rare Doo Wop Box

Out July 24, 2015 on five CDs.

Details:

From the team that brought you the original three Doo Wop Boxes comes this one, chock full of the rarest and greatest vocal group recordings from 1951-63, the golden years of Doo Wop. We present, not only some of the greatest names the Moonglows, the Flamingos, the Heartbeats but their hardest to find recordings too. Compiled and annotated by Grammy winner Billy Vera, this may be our most fabulous set yet. If you were to buy the original vinyl copies of these classics, it would cost you several hundred thousand dollars that is if you could find them. This is a Doo-Wop box that no serious collector can afford not to own. And youll never hear them sounding as good, thanks to master re-mastering expert Jerry Peterson.


See Wink for my review of the Alex Toth "genius" trilogy

Check out the nifty Wink books site for a photo-filled review by yours truly of IDW's brilliant three-book series focused on the comics and animation work of Alex Toth.


Vintage DC Comics superheroes stickers from Blue Ribbon Bread