New authorized line of Tarzan novel reprints announced


Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., has announced a new line of authorized Tarzan novel reprints featuring cover art and illustrations by Joe Jusko.

Details:
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., is proud to launch the first four volumes of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library. This new series presents for the first time the complete catalog of Mr. Burroughs’ literary works in handsome uniform, hardcover editions, featuring dust jacket art by renowned artist Joe Jusko, and rare and previously unpublished supplementary material.
“We have long dreamed of, and have frequently been asked by fans about, reproducing authorized editions of all of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 80-plus novels,” says Jim Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. “This has not been done since the 1970s, and as a testament to the enduring demand of his works, we have embarked on an exciting journey. We have named it the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library to distinguish these from any other editions, and they will contain additional content that in most cases has never been seen before. While it will take a few years due to the sheer number of books we need to reproduce, we are committed to seeing all of his works in print again. We are delighted that eminent artist Joe Jusko has agreed to be our sole artist for cover art and frontispieces. He is one of the most popular illustrators of our time and we believe there is no one better suited to bring to life the richness of Mr. Burroughs’ literary creations.” 
Published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company founded by Mr. Burroughs in 1923, each volume of the Authorized Library is packed with extras and rarities not to be found in any other edition. Featuring exclusives ranging from artwork by the legendary Joe Jusko to forewords and afterwords by today’s authorities and luminaries to a treasure trove of rare and never-before-published bonus materials mined from the company’s extensive archives in Tarzana, California, the Edgar Rice Burroughs Authorized Library will take readers on a journey of wonder and imagination they will never forget. 
“I have dreamed of this project ever since I first saw Neal Adams’ and Boris Vallejo’s Tarzan cover paintings back in high school,” says Joe Jusko. “I am so honored that all these years later ERB, Inc., has made that dream a reality. I have never been more excited by or put more work into anything, and if I’m to be remembered for anything I’ve done, I want it to be these covers.”




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Bird at 100: Charlie Parker to be celebrated with reissues, more, in 2020



Next year makes the centenary of one of America's most important and influential musicians, the great Charlie Parker.

An array of special releases and events are planned to celebrate his legacy over the next year. Via Verve Records:
The incomparable life and extraordinary, trailblazing career of jazz titan and influential composer Charlie Parker will be honored throughout 2020 with a worldwide celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth (August 29, 1920). Lovingly dubbed Bird 100 after the nickname of the preeminent alto saxophonist who was one of the fathers of bebop and progenitors of modern jazz, the centennial will include a host of major initiatives including exciting new music releases, a tribute tour, festivals and events, prestigious exhibitions, special partnerships, a unique graphic novel, exclusive collectible art, and myriad of independent appreciations and concerts.  
"The centennial of Charlie Parker is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate his life, legacy and art form with the world. We are thrilled to honor Bird's transformative musical impact on past, present and future generations," said the Estate of Charlie Parker.
Parker's longtime label Verve Records, in conjunction with UMe, the global catalog company of Universal Music Group, will kick off the yearlong celebration this week with a limited edition vinyl pressing of the rare 12" LP, The Magnificent Charlie Parker, an exclusive release for Record Store Day's Black Friday, taking place Friday, November 29 at independent record stores around the country. The limited album, out of print on vinyl since its original 1955 release, is pressed on vibrant yellow vinyl and includes a quintessential David Stone Martin cover as well as painstakingly recreated art including Clef Records labels. The 11-song LP features Parker going toe-to-toe with frequent collaborators Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Max Roach and John Lewis with arrangements by Gil Evans.

The artwork for The Magnificent Charlie Parker is also available for purchase, along with four additional classic album covers, including four by David Stone Martin, as archival quality, framed canvas prints exclusively via uDiscover. The high-end wall art is available in a variety of sizes and includes the albums: Big Band, Machito Jazz With Flip & Bird, The Magnificent Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker With Strings and Charlie Parker With Strings (Vol. 2). For more information and to order, visit uDiscover: https://shop.udiscovermusic.com/collections/charlie-parker 
Verve/UMe plan to celebrate Parker with several releases throughout 2020 and are currently in the works on a vinyl boxed set of Parker's complete Clef 10" albums featuring David Stone Martin's iconic illustrated covers. Charlie Parker: The Clef 10" Albums Collection will arrive on August 28, 2020 timed with Parker's 100th birthday and include five extraordinary albums he recorded for Norman Granz's Clef Records: Bird and Diz, Charlie Parker, Charlie Parker Plays South Of The Border, Charlie Parker With Strings and Charlie Parker With Strings (Vol. 2). The LPs will feature newly remastered audio from the original analog tapes and will include faithful reproductions of the classic artwork and packaging. The albums will pressed on 180-gram black 10" vinyl and will be housed in an attractive slipcase. Representing Bird's fruitful late '40s to mid-50s Clef period, the albums have never been released together and all but Bird and Diz have been out of print on vinyl since their original releases. These albums are being presented in the form they were originally released in for the first time in more than six decades.

Craft Recordings will release The Savoy 10-inch Collection in February 2020. The deluxe boxed set features four 10" LPs cut from newly restored and remastered audio. The collection highlights Parker's pioneering bebop recordings for Savoy Records from 1944-1948, featuring jazz legends Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell, Max Roach and more. The package includes faithfully restored original album artwork, plus a booklet containing vintage photos, rare ephemera and new liner notes by GRAMMY®-winning author Neil Tesser. The complete set will also be released digitally.

Bird's incredible legacy and immortal music will soar throughout the year with a variety of festivals, concerts, events and an exciting tribute tour. Sanctioned by the Estate of Charlie Parker, "Fly Higher: Charlie Parker @ 100" features acclaimed co-musical directors Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone) and Terri Lyne Carrington (drums) as they celebrate the jazz master, one of the most innovative and influential artists in modern musical history and examine his impact in pop, hip-hop, rap, rock and jazz. Joined by a superb lineup including Charenée Wade (vocals), Adam O'Farrill(trumpet), Kris Davis (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass) and Kassa Overall (DJ), Mahanthappa and Carrington will honor Parker's centennial year by showcasing Parker's uncompromising musical joy, humor and beauty by mining his deep repertoire and showcasing new, modern compositions. The tour is produced by Danny Melnick for Absolutely Live Entertainment and represented for bookings by International Music Network. For more information, visit charliebirdparker.com/events/tour-events 
Parker's hometown Kansas City, Kansas and his adopted hometown New York City will honor the legend with their annual festivals and both have big plans for his 100th birthday. On the last weekend of August 2020, the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival will kick off in New York City. For the past 28 years, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival has presented some of the finest musicians in the world who reflect Charlie Parker's musical individuality and genius to promote appreciation for this highly influential and world-renowned artist. Produced by City Parks Foundation, the festival is a vibrant and free celebration of jazz that brings together storied, veteran players and the next generation of jazz artists. The festival is held over the course of three days in neighborhoods where Charlie Parker lived and worked, in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park and the East Village's Tompkins Square Park. More information will be available here soon: cityparksfoundation.org/charlieparker 
Birdland, the NYC jazz club that adopted their ornithological name in 1949 to capitalize on the popularity of their regular headliner Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, will curate a month-long Charlie Parker Jazz festival at the famed venue in August 2020. Each week will feature a different headliner honoring Bird with the festivities launching with "Bird With Strings" in which renowned clarinetist Ken Peplowski will be the music director and he and a conductor friend will invite different soloists, on many different instruments, to play the arrangements with a chamber orchestra. This will be followed with Birdland's 10th annual "Bird-thday Celebration" featuring an all-star ensemble performing Parker's compositions. The month will culminate with celebrated saxophonist Joe Lovano and the Joe Lovano Us Five who will do a reprise of Bird Songs, their Bird-themed album released on Blue Note Records in 2011. For tickets and more info, visit Birdlandjazz.com
Additionally in NYC, Jazz Congress will host a panel discussion about Parker titled "Bird and Beyond: Celebrating Charlie Parker at 100" at the conference taking place January 13-14th, 2020 at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Later in the year, the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at Lincoln Center will present a series of programs that will include conversations and screenings in the Library's Bruno Walter Auditorium, plus listening salons of rarely heard recordings in the Library cafe.

Celebrating its sixth year, the annual Charlie Parker Celebration in Kansas City, Kansas will celebrate Parker's centennial with Spotlight: Charlie Parker, a 10-day citywide celebration of his life and music on August 20-29, 2020. KC Jazz Alive,University of Missouri Kansas City, the American Jazz Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mutual Musicians Foundation, Bruce Watkins Cultural Center and numerous other cultural and civic organizations will host jam sessions, tours, lectures, exhibits, panel discussions, poetry slams, workshops and concerts celebrating Charlie Parker—Kansas City's native son. More information available at Spotlightcharlieparker.org 
Other collaborations and partnerships include an event at The GRAMMY Museum® in Los Angeles to be announced at a later date, an official custom Charlie Parker Legends Series alto saxophone mouthpiece with RS Berkeley, modeled after the original one Parker used, and a graphic novel that the Charlie Parker Estate is currently developing with the esteemed Z2 Comics. The boutique company which has pioneered the "graphic album" format will bring some of Charlie Parker's wild stories to vivid life through the marriage of comics and music.

Bird 100 will be an incredible opportunity to bring Charlie Parker's music to new audiences, expand awareness of his role in not only advancing jazz but helping to invent the artform known as bebop, celebrate his importance as an early "superstar soloist" of modern music and bring the extraordinary, inspirational and heartbreaking story of the man known as "Bird" to new platforms.

Time Capsule: Game Day




Time Capsule: Game Day


Time Capsule: The Kinks at the Fillmore, Nov. 27-30



New comics day: Golden Age Human Torch Omnibus; X-Men Classic Complete Collection 2; Everything's Archie Vol. 2

Our picks. Click the links to order from Amazon.

Marvel proudly presents TIMELY'S GREATEST, a series of once-in-a-lifetime Omnibi presenting the greatest stories from the era when Marvel was known as Timely Comics. Marvel's first super hero, the burning-hot hit known as the Human Torch, seared his way into readers' minds in 1939, setting the path for all Marvel icons to come. Carl Burgos' fiery hero wasn't a typical do-gooder; he was a creation of cutting-edge science in a world that was terrifi ed by his burning visage. In this first-time-ever collection of every Human Torch tale from the character's debut through Carl Burgos' April 1942 induction into the war eff ort, you'll experience the birth of Marvel Comics. Also featuring Burgos' rare post-war and 1950s Torch stories and covers.
COLLECTING: MARVEL COMICS 1; MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 2-34, 83; HUMAN TORCH 2-7, 28; ALL-WINNERS COMICS 1-4; DARING MYSTERY COMICS 7; CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS 76; YOUNG MEN 24-28

In 1986, Marvel launched CLASSIC X-MEN, a series that reprinted the "All-New, All-Different X-Men" era - with a twist! All-new backup stories fleshed out the 1970s tales and delved deeper into the characters' lives - and new story pages were even inserted into the reprints, expanding on key moments and sowing the seeds for future storylines! Now, all this newly created material has been collected together, allowing fans to explore the early lives of Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Havok, Polaris, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Banshee, Dazzler, Rogue and Mystique like never before! Friendships are forged, losses are mourned and lives are transformed in these rare tales that dance between the raindrops of some of the most revered X-Men comics of all time!
COLLECTING: CLASSIC X-MEN 24-44, MATERIAL FROM MARVEL FANFARE (1982) 60

Coming up: "Green Arrow by Mike Grell Omnibus Vol. 1"


Out June 30. Order from Amazon now.

Details:
For the first time collected into omnibus hardcover format, read the now-cult-classic stories from 1986-1990 by Mike Greel that repositioned Green Arrow as an inner-city crusader for justice. Green Arrow takes on Russian spies, his sometime foe Shado, oil companies, drug cartels, the IRA, and he even discovers he'll be a father. Best of all, discover the origin of the Emerald Archer and his superhero sidekick Speedy!

Pop Pic: The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.


Coming up: "The Spectre: The Bronze Age Omnibus"


Out July 14. Order from Amazon now.

Details:
Originally introduced in More Fun Comics #42 in 1940 and co-created by Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, the Spectre is a green-caped, white-skinned figure who metes out justice in the name of heaven. DC's grim arbiter of justice, the Spectre, resurfaced in the 1960s for all-new--and sometimes controversial--stories demonstrating the true power of his vengeance. In this omnibus collecting Showcase #60-61 and #64, The Brave and the Bold #72, #75, #116, #180, and #199, The Spectre #1-10, Adventure Comics #431-440, DC Comics Presents #29, and Ghosts #97-99, witness former cop Jim Corrigan dish out ghoulish punishments across the DC Universe!

Records We Missed: "How to Overcome Disappointment"


Records We Missed: Great Moments in Cubs Baseball!


New Music Friday: Harry Nilsson; Jimi Hendrix; Beck; David Bowie

Our picks this week. Click the links to order from Amazon.





Pop Culture Roundup: Batman; Vinyl library; The Who; Muhammad Ali and UFOs

ITEM! Actor Kevin Conroy, who's provided the voice of Batman in numerous animated productions over the past few decades, finally has a chance to portray the Caped Crusader in body, too, in the CW's upcoming "Crisis of Infinite Earths" crossover.


ITEM! The Internet Archive and Boston Public Library have teamed to digitize more than 1,000,000 sound recordings in the library's collection. So far, you can listen to around 750 albums here.


ITEM! The Who were honored this week with a stone on Camden Town's Music Walk of Fame in
London.
The Who said: “We are honoured to be the first band with a stone on the Music Walk Of Fame. 
“Camden has always been vital to London’s thriving music scene and is, as we all know, a world-renowned hub for the arts. As Londoners, it’s very surreal to be immortalised in stone on Camden High Street, and it’s quite something to know that people can pop by and see us anytime, albeit virtually!”

ITEM! From 1972: Muhammad Ali describes his encounters with UFOs.


Coming up: "Aquaman: Deadly Waters The Deluxe Edition"


Out Aug. 11. Order from Amazon now.

Details:
Fifty years ago, writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo began their acclaimed tenure on Aquaman with their epic nine-issue tale of Mera's disappearance and Aquaman's frantic quest to get her back, including issues #40-48. Now the next installment of classic Aquaman features Black Manta and Ocean Master. Collected for the first time in a new Deluxe Edition, which includes Aquaman #49-56.

Vintage movie poster: "Donald Duck in 'The Greener Yard'"



Coming up: "Man and Superman and Other Stories: The EC Comics Library" by Harvey Kurtzman


Out Jan. 28. Order from Amazon now.

Details:
These stories ― all drawn by Kurtzman, some of which he also wrote ― are from the pages of Weird ScienceWeird FantasyTales from the Crypt, and more. With Al Feldstein, Kurtzman created "Lost in the Microcosm," "The Man Who Raced Time," and "Atom Bomb Thief." There's also "The Radioactive Child," "The Last War on Earth," and the titular story, a cautionary tale about how the laws of physics would impact a real-world superhero, delivered in a uniquely bold, slashing cartoony-but-dead-serious style. This volume also includes essays by experts and more. Black & white illustrations throughout.

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" - New character posters