New Pop Culture Books: Origins of Marvel Comics; A Women's Trek; Magic with Alan Moore, Godzilla and More
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A deluxe, collector’s edition of the original Origins of Marvel Comics including a new cover, essays, and more.
Originally published in 1974, Origins of Marvel Comics features the first appearance of characters who have dominated the pantheon of Marvel’s modern storytelling mythology—Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, and Doctor Strange—along with a second Silver Age tale featuring these special heroes, all hand-picked and introduced by the one and only Stan Lee, and serving as an essential showcase for writers and artists such as Stan himself, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, and Marie Severin.
Whether viewed as a historical artifact that launched an industry of presenting Marvel Comics to a broad audience of fans or a collection of the best in Silver Age comics by many of the greatest creators to ever put pencil to paper, Origins of Marvel Comics highlights both the lasting greatness of these iconic characters as well as the monumental contributions of the talented creators who launched an entire storytelling universe.
The Joker is dead, but not forgotten. Gotham City is saved, but it is still not safe. By night, its new symbol of hope, Batman, continues his fight to protect the innocent and the powerless. By day, his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, wonders whether there may someday be a future beyond skulking the city’s rooftops or the cavernous halls of his stately manor alongside the ever-dutiful Alfred Pennyworth.
But even after death, the Clown Prince of Crime’s imprint can be seen in more than just the pavement. Remnants from The Joker’s gang are leading wannabes fascinated by his bizarre mystique on a campaign of arson that threatens the city—even as it serves greedy opportunists, including millionaire Max Shreck. And survivors of exposure to The Joker’s chemical weapon Smylex continue to crowd Gotham City’s main hospital.
To quell the chaos, Batman needs more than his cape and his well-stocked Utility Belt. Bruce Wayne is forced into action, prompting a partnership with a charismatic scientist to help solve the health crisis. But as he works in both the shadows and the light, Bruce finds himself drawn deeper into Gotham City’s turmoil than ever before, fueling his obsession to save the city—an obsession that has already driven a wedge between him and Vicki Vale. The loyal Alfred, who had hoped Bruce’s efforts as Batman could help him find closure, finds the opposite happening. Nightmares begin to prompt Bruce to ask new questions about the climactic events in the cathedral, and investigations by Commissioner Gordon and reporter Alexander Knox into the arsons only amplify his concerns.
Having told the people of Gotham City that they’d earned a rest from crime, Batman finds the forces of evil growing ever more organized—and orchestrated—by a sinister hand behind the scenes. The World’s Greatest Detective must solve the greatest mystery of all: Could The Joker have somehow survived? And could he still have the last laugh against the people of Gotham City?
Nana Visitor, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Kira Nerys, explores how the series has portrayed and influenced women. Interviews—with the stars, writers, producers, and audience members from all walks of life, including a politician and an astronaut—highlight the struggles and triumphs of women both behind and in front of the camera throughout the sixty-year history of Star Trek, and how they have mirrored the experiences of women everywhere.
The groundbreaking casting of Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in 1966 was a paradigm shift for women and people of color. Pioneering is no picnic, and she planned to leave the show until none other than the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. contextualized her appearance in people’s living rooms across America as a way for people of color to know they were indeed an important part of the future.
Since then, each Star Trek show has both reflected the values of its time and imagined a future of equality. In her first book, Open a Channel: A Woman’s Trek, Nana Visitor sets out to discover both how Star Trek led the way for women, and how each show was trapped in its own era.
For Visitor, this is more than a book about Star Trek. It’s also about how society and the stories we tell have evolved in the last sixty years, and how the role of women has changed in that time.
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H.P. Lovecraft's most famous horror story, rendered in chilling detail by modern manga horror master Gou Tanabe!
The complete graphic novel in one volume, faithfully reproducing the original Japanese release, featuring a title page in silver ink, eight pages in full color, and eerie metallic copper tones and spot color on the cover.
What links together two bands of worshippers, one deep in the Arctic snows, one hidden in the bayous of Louisiana, is more than their shared practice of blood sacrifice.
It is the inhuman phrase they both chant: Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn—“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” Now these nightmares will disturb the sanity of Francis Thurston, a young man pursuing an investigation into the cult of Cthulhu that leads to the most forsaken spot in the vast Pacific…and to Earth’s supreme terror, the risen corpse-city of R’lyeh.
First published in 1928, The Call of Cthulhu, rendered in chilling detail by modern manga horror master Gou Tanabe, is the most famous of all of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, and was the namesake of the acclaimed role-playing game system set within the Cthulhu Mythos.
Splendid news for enquiring minds, and guaranteed salvation for humanity! Messrs. Steve and Alan Moore, proprietors of the celebrated Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels (sorcery by appointment since circa 150 AD), have produced a clear and practical grimoire of the occult sciences that offers endless necromantic fun for all the family. Exquisitely illuminated by a host of adepts including Kevin O’Neill, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Melinda Gebbie, and Ben Wickey, this marvellous and unprecedented tome promises to provide all that the reader could conceivably need in order to commence a fulfilling new career as a diabolist.
Its contents include profusely illustrated instructional essays upon this ancient sect’s theories of magic, notably the key dissertation “Adventures in Thinking,” which gives reliable advice as to how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved. Further to this, a number of “Rainy Day” activity pages present lively and entertaining things to do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel, and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of spirits, deities, dead people, and infernal entities from the pit, all of whom are sure to become your new best friends.
Also contained within this extravagant compendium of thaumaturgic lore is a history of magic from the last ice age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters and complemented by a variety of picture stories depicting events ranging from the Palaeolithic origins of art, magic, language, and consciousness to the rib-tickling comedy exploits of Moon and Serpent founder Alexander the False Prophet (“He’s fun, he’s fake, he’s got a talking snake!”).
In addition to these manifold delights, the adventurous reader will also discover a series of helpful travel guides to mind-wrenching alien dimensions that are within comfortable walking distance, as well as profiles of the many quaint local inhabitants that one might bump into at these exotic resorts. A full range of entertainments will be provided, encompassing such diverse novelties and pursuits as a lavishly decorated, decadent pulp tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form. Completing this almost-unimaginable treasure trove is a lengthy thesis revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent in a manner that makes transparent the much-obscured secret of magic, happiness, sex, creativity, and the known Universe, while at the same time explaining why these lunar and ophidian symbols feature so prominently in the order’s peculiar name. (Manufacturer’s disclaimer: This edition does not, however, reveal why the titular cabal of magicians consider themselves to be either grand or Egyptian. Let the buyer beware.)
From the New York Times bestselling author and legendary storyteller Alan Moore, the first book in an enthralling new fantasy series about murder, magic, and madness in post-WWII London.
If this London is what they call the Smoke, then that place is the Fire...
The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital stumbles Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?
Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).
So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever...
Celebrate Godzilla's 70th anniversary with this illustrated encyclopedia from kaiju designer Shinji Nishikawa. Revisit the most monstrous Godzilla incarnations of the past 70 years in this comprehensive guide.
This illustrated book features the many versions of Godzilla and its monstrous foes, from the original 1954 movie to SHIN GODZILLA in 2016, and even the 2021 animation. With in-depth explanations accompanied by illustrations from renowned manga artist and monster designer Shinji Nishikawa, this 216-page book explores the powers and anatomy of over 100 kaiju, including Mechagodzilla, SHIN GODZILLA and Mothra! Nishikawa worked on the monster designs for many Godzilla movies from 1989 to 2004, and here he unravels the live-action special effects and theatrical CG animations of the Godzilla franchise in this essential enyclopedia. This comprehensive guide covers the Godzilla Showa Era (1954-1975), Godzilla Heisei Era (1984-1995), Godzilla Millennium (1999-2004), SHIN GODZILLA (2016), Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Toho's animated Trilogy (2017-2018), and Godzilla: Singular Point animated series (2021).
The 64-page art catalog featuring 31 new watercolors by Mike Mignola. The watercolors focus on many of the themes near and dear to Mignola: Skulls, monsters, and the supernatural. Additionally, there will be a number of Hellboy covers and pencil drawing, all scanned in the manner of Artist’s Editions, from the original art.
Within You Without You is a highly personal exploration of George Harrison's essential contributions to the Beatles and his solo work, as well as his significant role as a Western proponent of Indian music and beliefs. Through close examination of his guitar playing in the Fab Four and his songwriting both in and out of the Beatles, author Seth Rogovoy demystifies the enigma of this most reluctant of rock stars.
Drawing upon the insights of the author--a rock critic and historian of over forty years standing--as well as those of expert observers including Beatles filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg and English rock singer-songwriters Robyn Hitchcock and John Wesley Harding, among others, this book extensively examines George Harrison's contributions to the musical world. Within You Without You will forever change the way readers hear the music of the Beatles and view Harrison's role in the group, as well as enhancing appreciation of Harrison as a cultural figure above and beyond his work as a musician.
Walt Disney Treasures: Personal Art and Artifacts from The Walt Disney Family Museum chronicles the legacy of the legendary American artist, storyteller, filmmaker, and visionary through iconic objects that represent his life and career. Through historical research, firsthand accounts, and Walt’s own words, readers will uncover the most treasured artifacts that tell the story of Walt Disney and his family, as well as the significance of each item to Walt’s personal and professional life. With more than 250 images from the collection and galleries of The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco and the Disney family archives—some never seen by the public—readers will experience Walt’s story like never before.
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