"Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 3" contents revealed

Out Oct. 25, the four-disk set will include:

Disc 1 - BUGS BUNNY CLASSICS (149 mins)
Hare Force
Hare Remover
Hare Tonic
A Hare Grows in Manhattan
Easter Yeggs
The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (commentary)
Bowery Bugs (commentary)
Homeless Hare
The Case of the Missing Hare (commentary)
Acrobatty Bunny
Wackiki Wabbit (commentary)
Hare Do
Rebel Rabbit
Hillbilly Hare (commentary)
Duck! Rabbit! Duck! (commentary)

Disc 2 - Hollywood Caricatures and Parodies (141 mins)
Daffy Duck in Hollywood
Hollywood Capers (commentary)
The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (commentary)
Porky's Road Race
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos
She Was an Acrobat's Daughter (commentary)
The Film Fan
Speakin' of the Weather
Thugs with Dirty Mugs (commentary)
Goofy Groceries
Swooner Crooner (commentary)*
Wideo Wabbit
The Honey-Mousers (commentary)
The Last Hungry Cat
The Mouse That Jack Built (commentary)

Disc 3 - Porky and the Pigs (143 mins)
I Haven't Got a Hat (commentary)
Porky's Romance (commentary)
Porky's Party (commentary)
Porky in Egypt
Porky and Teabiscuit
Pigs Is Pigs
Pigs in a Polka (commentary)*
Porky Pig's Feat (commentary)
Daffy Duck Slept Here
Bye, Bye Bluebeard
An Egg Scramble
Robin Hood Daffy (commentary)
The Windblown Hare
Claws for Alarm (commentary)
Rocket Squad (commentary)

Disc 4 - All Stars Cartoon Party (146 mins)
Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur
Super Rabbit (commentary)
Daffy Duck and Egghead
A Gruesome Twosome (commentary)
Draftee Daffy (commentary)
Falling Hare (commentary)
Steel Wool
Birds Anonymous (commentary)*
No Barking (commentary)
Rabbit Punch
An Itch in Time (commentary)
Odor-able Kitty (commentary)
Walky Talky Hawky (commentary)*
Gonzales Tamales (commentary)
To Beep or Not to Beep (commentary)

Quick hits

Marvel and Microsoft are teaming up for a series of videogames, say news reports.

DC Direct is coming out with a series of Looney Tunes figures, the Comic Book Bin reports. Newsarama has pics.

Cameron Diaz turned down the chance to play Wonder Woman, says here.

A remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" starring Owen Wilson puts a new spin on the James Thurber tale: The movie Mitty is a comic book writer, according to reports.

The Detroit Free Press profiles Jim Ottaviani, who writes highly entertaining non-fictional graphic novels about science and dinosaurs and stuff.

Stan Lee's Pow! Entertainment is launching a toy line, reports ICv2.

Dan Slott, Marvel's last best hope for making its comics fun again, talks to Newsarama about his upcoming Thing series. One I'll surely be checking out, given Slott's recent Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series, which was a blast.

Image Comics' Girls isn't worth reading, says Joanna.

Dial B for Blog posts unpublished Fantastic Four covers.

Drawn sings the righteous praises of master designer Saul Bass.

Unveiled: Slip case art for "Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince"

The book is due out July 16 and available via Amazon.

Click for a full-size view.

Another batch of Bob boots

Coming from Columbia Records Aug. 30:

Bob Dylan's "No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7" is the latest edition in the critically acclaimed "Bootleg Series," as well as the companion soundtrack to the two-part feature-length film, "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," a Martin Scorsese picture.

The film will make its U.S. premiere on the Public Broadcasting System's "American Masters Series" over the course of Monday and Tuesday nights, September 26-27th, respectively.

The two-CD chronologically sequenced package contains 28 Bob Dylan tracks -- 26 of them previously unreleased -- comprised of rare private recordings, live concert, television and festival recordings, and 12 alternate takes of songs from his Columbia LP recording sessions in New York and Nashville during this period. The songs range in time from 1959 (a high school recording of "When I Got Troubles," most likely the first original song he ever recorded), to 1966 (alternate takes of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" from the "Blonde on Blonde" album recording sessions, as well as "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Like A Rolling Stone" from the legendary 1966 UK tour).

Many of the songs or tracks are introduced in the film for the first time in history, or are representative of times and places covered in the film, while others are alternate takes of classic tracks that were unearthed during the making of the film. For example, the version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" performed in 1961, at the intimate Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, was never known to have existed on any tape until now.

On the other hand, the "No Direction Home" film version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is taken from the Newport Folk Festival, July 1964; while the CD version presents -- for the first time -- the first complete take of the song with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, recorded at Columbia Studios the month before. The track is then followed on the CD by "Chimes of Freedom" from Newport '64.

Archivists and researchers reviewed more than 400 hours of recordings by Bob Dylan in the preparation of "No Direction Home." The two CDs will be packaged with a 60-page color book housed in a slipcase. The book will include separate liner notes written by Andrew Loog Oldham, and Al Kooper who sheds light on the "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" recording sessions in New York and Nashville (for which he played organ and served as musical director). An authoritative track-by-track delineation is also included.

The first feature-length film biography ever produced on the artist, "No Direction Home" is narrated in its entirety by Dylan. In addition to hours of black-and-white and color archival footage and photography, it features exclusive interviews with Joan Baez, photographer John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, Allen Ginsberg, Tony Glover, Al Kooper, Bruce Langhorne, Paul Nelson, Suze Rotolo, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Izzy Young of the Folklore Center, and many others.

You can pre-order the set now from Amazon. A DVD of the "No Direction Home" film also is available for pre-order, and is due out Sept. 20.

Pop Artifact! Obelix figure

The Fantastic Four Jack'n'Joe Gallery

Jack Kirby's pencils on the Fantastic Four never looked batter than when Joe Sinnott started inking them. It was surely a match made in comic book heaven.

Now you can see a gallery of Jack'n'Joe art at Sinnott's official site, including covers and a few rare black-and-white pieces.

New JLU figures coming up

Set to debut at the International Comicon this week in San Diego, new figures depicting the animated versions of Black Canary, Orion and Bizarro, Action Figure Insider reports. No pics yet.

New CD releases of note

July 12

Marian McPartland and Elvis Costello Piano Jazz
Willie Nelson Countryman
Son Volt Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Richard Brautigan Listening to
Duke Ellington The Piano Player
The Everly Brothers A Date with, Both Sides of an Evening, Instant Party!, It's Everly Time and Sing Great Country Hits
Soft Machine & Heavy Friends BBC in Concert 1971
Joe Strummer Walker

July 19

Art Blakey The Big Beat
Donald Byrd Fuego
Don Cherry Symphony for Improvisors
Sammy Davis, Jr. & Carmen McRae Boy Meets Girl: The Complete on Decca
Herbie Hancock Inventions and Dimensions
OST The Dukes of Hazzard

Quick hits

Salma Hayek may be up for a part in Sin City 2, says JoBlo.

Uma Thurman is set to star in a superhero-themed movie, reports Dark Horizons.

The impressively produced Comic Art magazine is set to return after a break in publishing, according to the Comics Reporter.

Drawn! discovers the lovely art of Eyvind Earle, background artist for Disney's "Sleeping Beauty."

Fred Hembeck sees "The Fantastic Four." I spose I should see it too eventually.

Quick hits

Bubblegumfink finds some groovy cover art from the 1970s Marvel Comics Planet of the Apes mag.

Bedazzled checks out the Library of Congress' online "Wizard of Oz" exhibit.

Drawn finds some nice fireworks label art.

The Planet of Sardines stumbles upon lots and lots of paperback cover art scans.

Rato Records offers up Bert Kaempfert's "Swingin' Safari" LP.

Record Brother has two new vinyl sharity offerings.

Comic Book Heaven has a personal Jack Kirby remembrance.

Mike Sterling sees "The Fantastic Four."

Superfrankenstein checks into this whole crazy Batman-is-a-libertarian phenomenon. My take: Batman, a guy who dresses up in a big batsuit and fights criminals whilst unarmed, isn't nutty enough to be a libertarian. He's more like a Truman Democrat.

Pop Artifact! Count Chocula figure toy

New Gervais series takes to air soon

Ricky Gervais, star and co-creator of The Office (funniest show ever), has a new series starting on the BBC July 21.

Extras focuses on people working as, um, extras on movies. HBO is set to air it in the U.S., but there's not a date yet.

See Gervais' site for clips and more info.

DVD new releases for July 12

July 12

Million Dollar Baby


Cry Baby