Pop Culture Safari!

New comics Aug. 5, 2009: Buffy! Flash of Two Worlds! Doom Patrol! Spidey! Subby! Torch! Young Allies! More!

Releases of note this week. Click the title links to order discounted books from Amazon.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #27 Season 8 continues.

SAGA OF SOLOMON KANE A trade paperback collecting Marvel Comics' adaptation of the Robert E. Howard pulp hero's adventures.

DC CLASSICS LIBRARY FLASH OF TWO WORLDS Spotlighting team-ups between the Silver- and Golden-age Flashes. Collects FLASH #123, 129, 137, 151 and 173.

DOOM PATROL #1 A new, Keith Giffen-scripted effort to revive this beloved team. Features a new Metal Men backup feature. Great combo, but I'll have to see if I dig the execution.

WEDNESDAY COMICS #5 Continuing DC's wonderful new tabloid-size anthology series.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #601 The 600th anniversary issue last month was a gem, featuring a warm, funny script by Dan Slott and pages upon pages of lovely John Romita Jr. art. A truly fun comic to read. This week sees the return of Mary Jane Watson in a script by Mark Waid, which could also be pretty danged good.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGE YOUNG ALLIES Vol. 1 Bucky, Toro and other young heroes take center stage in these 1940s adventures.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS SUB-MARINER Vol. 3 Silver Age Subby! Collecting SUB-MARINER #2-13.

SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Collecting Dan Slott's enjoyable mini from a few years back--a title that woke me up to the fact that not everything Marvel publishes these days is terrible, soul-less dreck.

Film noir movie posters: The Verdict

Disneyland Donald Duck card game

Pop links: Superman documentary! Buck Rogers discovers e-mail! Kirby Estate and Simon fighting over American?

Via Booksteve: A BBC documentary on Superman from 1981, featuring interviews with the Man of Steel's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, cartoonist Will Eisner and many more.

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Also from Booksteve: Buck Rogers foresees e-mail!

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Dynamite Comics plans to revive Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Fighting American character. The Kirby Estate approves of the deal but Joe Simon evidently doesn't.

CD new releases Aug. 3, 2009: Modest Mouse! G.I. Joe! Miracles! Brian Wilson! Jim James solo! More!

New CD releases of note this week. Click the title links to order discounted items from Amazon.

No One's First, and You're Next by Modest Mouse

The Classic Prestige Sessions 1951-1956 by Miles Davis

G.I. Joe - Soundtrack

Depend on Me: The Early Albums by The Miracles

Tribute To by Yim Yames (tribute to George Harrison by My Morning Jacket vocalist Jim James. I checked out the samples at Amazon and like it a lot)

What Love Can Do by Various (various artists in new recordings produced by Phil Ramone, including a new tune by Brian Wilson, plus a new version of his "God Only Knows." The rest of the lineup looks pretty lame, though)

Dog House Music by Seasick Steve

Birth of the Teen Idols by Various Artists

Many Moods & The Big O by Roy Orbison

Three Classic Albums- Jazz Red Hot & Cool/Newport 1958/Jazz Goes To Junior College by Dave Brubeck

The Electric Asylum, Vol. 3: Rare British Acid Freakrock by Various Artists

Box Set by Robert Wyatt

DVD new releases Aug. 4, 2009: Flight of the Conchords! Scewball icons! Daffy Duck! Elvis!

New releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!

Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Second Season

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

The Wizard of Oz (Import - English - All Regions)

Icons of Screwball Comedy, Vol 1

Icons of Screwball Comedy Vol. 2

Daffy Duck's Quackbusters

Elvis Presley: The Ed Sullivan Shows: The Performances

Disneyland Main Gate ticket

Sun Records star Billy Lee Riley dies

1950s rockabilly star Billy Lee Riley died Sunday at age 75.

Riley is perhaps best remembered for his classic 1957 single, "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll" -- a novelty rockabilly rave-up inspired by the era's U.F.O. mania -- which proved a hit and prompted him to rename his band the Little Green Men.

Despite this promising start, Riley's commercial fate was sealed after Sun put its promotional efforts behind Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" -- a song Riley played on -- which zoomed up the charts and past his own follow-up single "Red Hot."

Despite his disappointment, Riley continued to record for Sun and Phillips for several years, before going on to cut sides for Mercury, Atlantic and Crown, as well as his own Nita and Mojo labels, creating a body of work that's been championed by rock critics and notable fans, including Bob Dylan.

Pop link: Jack Kirby Superman puzzle game

See a Superman puzzle game illustrated by the great Jack Kirby.

Film noir movie posters: The Postman Always Rings Twice

Disneyland 1964 main gate pass

Pop links: Pogo! Astroworld! Five Stairsteps! Foom! War comics!

Pappy presents a Pogo story from 1953.

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Visit Houston's Astroworld theme park via a 1960s Viewmaster packet.

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Via Bedazzled: The Five Stairsteps on Soul Train.

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Read the first issue of Marvel Comics' in-house Foom fanzine.

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From Golden Age Comic Book Stories: A few stories from Atlas Comics' War title, featuring work by Russ Heath, Joe Sinnott, Joe Maneely and others.