New Pop Culture Books: Art of Spider-Man: Brand New Day; History of Paul Simon's Graceland; Kolchak Companion, More

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day - The Art Of The Movie 

Four years have gone by since we last caught up with our friendly neighborhood hero. Peter Parker is no more, but Spider-Man is at the top of his game keeping New York City safe. Things are going well for our anonymous hero until an unusual trail of crimes pulls him into a web of mystery larger than he's ever faced before. In order to take on what's ahead, Spider-Man not only needs to be at the top of his physical and mental game, but he must also be prepared to face the repercussions of his past! As Spider-Man: Brand New Day wows moviegoers the world over, discover the behind-the-scenes magic of the film's visual development--from early concept sketches to final character designs. Explore environments, costumes, and exclusive insights from the next chapter for Marvel's neighborhood hero!

Hardcover, 208 pages.

Days of Miracle and Wonder: Paul Simon and the Trials and Triumphs of Graceland

In 1984, Paul Simon was at a professional and personal crossroads. His new marriage was failing and his career was in danger of stalling. He was forty-two, navigating a digital age, searching for inspiration in a scene driven by music videos, synthesizers, and drum machines.

Driving around that summer, a bootleg cassette of “township jive”—the street music of South Africa—kept him company. Lent to him by a friend, it reminded Simon of the sound and the joy of the early days of rock and roll. He began to invent his own lyrics to the groove, and became drawn to the idea of recording with the musicians on that tape. But South Africa was in the thrall of a racist apartheid system, and with economic and cultural boycotts in place, such an undertaking was risky. He grew determined to find the right conditions to allow for a collaboration.

Simon took a fateful trip to Johannesburg in 1985. It would turn out to be the first step on a musical journey that would lead him to New York, Los Angeles, Louisiana, and London, and eventually to the release of Graceland, a critical and commercial triumph, winning multiple Grammys, selling 16 million records, and spawning a five-year, worldwide tour.

Days of Miracle and Wonder is the first book to tell the full story of Graceland, offering windows into Simon’s creative process, the technical innovations that brought his songs to life, the people and places that made the album possible, the forces that helped the album achieve mainstream reach, and the controversies that the music raised—and which remain today. It sheds light on a period when America opened its doors to the sounds and styles of Africa and other faraway lands.

This is an informed, heartfelt celebration of Simon’s magnum opus, a recording forged in a tense cultural moment, but suffused with hope, change, and a sense of global connection.

Hardcover, 320 pages.

The Kolchak Companion: Fifty Years of Night Stalking

The Kolchak Companion: 50 Years of Night Stalking is the complete history of one of the most influential characters on horror and television, reporter Carl Kolchak. 

Written by Edgar-nominated Mark Dawidziak, the planet's foremost authority on all things Kolchak, the book charts each incarnation of the character first played by Darren McGavin in The Night Stalker, which set the ratings records for a TV movie when it first aired on January 11, 1972. A highly rated sequel movie, The Night Strangler, premiered a year later. It was followed by a 20-episode series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which began a one-season run on Friday the 13th, September 1974. 

The Kolchak movies and series went on to inspire and influence everything from The X-Files, Men in Black and Twin Peaks to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Walking Dead and Supernatural. Featuring several new chapters and interviews, The Kolchak Companion is a greatly expanded and completely revised new version of a book first published as Night Stalking in 1991, then as The Night Stalker Companion in 1997. 

It includes extensive interviews with McGavin, Kolchak creator Jeff Rice and Night Stalker producer Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows), as well as such other key Kolchak contributors as writers Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Twilight Zone), David Chase (The Sopranos) and Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future).

Softcover, 502 pages.

Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film

Released in 1968, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead revolutionized horror, redefining the zombie subgenre and influencing filmmakers for generations.

This official retrospective tells the full story of how the film was made by a small group of people at the outset of their film-making careers. Interviews with cast and production company members explore the genesis of the movie, from persuading friends and family to become investors, finding the perfect run-down farmhouse in rural western Pennsylvania for the central location, assembling a cast of extras to portray “flesh-eating ghouls”, and the ground-breaking casting of a black actor in a leading role—Duane Jones as Ben—to the rough-and-tumble guerilla-style shoot.

The book explores how Night of the Living Dead went from controversial to iconic over the years, gaining critical acclaim and a hardcore cult following. And how zombies—as envisioned by Romero and his co-creators—now permeate everything from video games to literature, all tracing back to the unparalleled original.

Illustrated with movie stills, memorabilia, and unpublished on-set photos never previously seen, and including analysis of the original shooting script annotated by George A. Romero, this book is a must-have for horror fans.

Hardcover, 192 pages.

George Perez's New Teen Titans Artist's Edition

Go behind the scenes of the formation of one of the most iconic teams in comic book history with GEORGE PÉREZ’S NEW TEEN TITANS ARTIST’S EDITION.  

Marv Wolfman and George Pérez created a massive hit for DC Comics when The New Teen Titans hit comic shop shelves in 1980. The team of Robin, Starfire, Wonder Girl, Raven, Kid Flash, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stole everyone’s hearts, rivaling even the X-Men for preeminence in the comic market.  

This Artist’s Edition of George Pérez’s stunning work will give a unique view into how the teen titans came to be, featuring a large selection of the artist’s original art including beautiful covers and a curated selection of pages from issues #1-40 and more of The New Teen Titans. Plus, a heartfelt introduction by Pérez’s longtime collaborator and New Teen Titans co-creator, Marv Wolfman.  

Although appearing to be in black and white, all the art is scanned in color, enabling the reader to see the work as close to the original as possible – ink gradients, blue pencil, and all the unique nuances that make original art so special – are all clearly visible and printed at the same size as drawn.  

Hardcover, 200 pages.