Pop Culture Safari!

Pop focus: Aurora superhero model kits

Ah, clumsy fingers and the disorienting fumes of Testors glue. Building models was fun, though I was particularly good at it, or dedicated to the hobby. I did make a few, though. Including - with the patient assistance of my mom - Aurora's Batman figure.

The Caped Crusader was just one of a lineup of pop culture characters Aurora produced in the 1960s and 70s, including other DC and Marvel comics heroes.

Here's a selection of pics focusing on the entire lineup. Which did you build?

Pop Artifact: Vintage Hulk transistor radio

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2 Return Preview

Today's best thing ever: Jeff Bridges' "Sleeping Tapes"

New Brian Wilson album - No Pier Pressure - out in April

A release date and details on Brian Wilson's long-awaited new solo album have emerged.

No Pier Pressure, which features guest vocals from Zooey Deschanel and M Ward, Fun's Nate Ruess, country singer Kacey Musgraves and Wilson's former Beach Boys bandmates Al Jardine, David Marks and Blondie Chaplin, will be out April 6.

There's only a spendy "import" version of the album listed on Amazon U.S. We'll keep you posted when the domestic release pops up.

Here's the track list:

'This Beautiful Day'
'Runaway Dancer' [featuring Sebu Simonian]
'What Ever Happened' [featuring Al Jardine and David Marks]
'On The Island' [featuring She & Him]
'Our Special Love' [featuring Peter Hollens]
'The Right Time' [featuring Al Jardine and David Marks]
'Guess You Had To Be There' [featuring Kacey Musgraves]
'Tell Me Why' [featuring Al Jardine]
'Sail Away' [featuring Blondie Chaplin and Al Jardine]
'One Kind Of Love'
'Saturday Night' [featuring Nate Ruess]
'The Last Song'
'Half Moon Bay'

Cool pics from Jack Kirby exhibition in France

The Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center has posted a bunch of pics from a Kirby retrospective presented at Angoulême 42nd International Comic Festival.

We need to honor Kirby and other comics pioneers with exhibitions like this in our nation.

Pop Culture Roundup: David Tennant; Norm Breyfogle

Former Dr. Who David Tennant follows in the footsteps of Christopher Eccleson and Karen Gillan to portray a Marvel Comics villain. He'll star as Zebediah Killgrave, a.k.a. the Purple Man on the studio's upcoming Netflix series, "Jessica Jones."

Killgrave, the Yugoslavian spy, was accidentally exposed to a chemical that turned his skin permanently purple and also gave him the ability to control others at will. He first appeared as a villain to Daredevil but his history with Jessica Jones is much darker and far more controversial. He kidnapped her while she was the superhero Jewel and forced her to do terrible things.

Her life as a superhero meets a tragic end, so the series will explore Jones while she rebuilds her life as a detective. This hopefully means any references to Killgrave and Jones’ past will be just that – references. Perhaps Killgrave will resurface and become a villain again but either way the writers will have to handle this with care, given the controversial realities of Killgrave in the comics.

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Fans of comics artist Norm Breyfogle have been rallying DC Comics to release a collection of his Batman work in hopes it will generate attention and royalties for Breyfogle in the wake of a stroke. Now such a collection is on the way.

....DC Comics appears to have rushed solicitation of Legends of the Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle, Vol. 1.

The 54-year-old artist was hospitalized in mid-December following a stroke that paralyzed his left side, including his drawing hand. Breyfogle has no health insurance, and his savings was eaten away by the hospital stay, leading his brother and sister-in-law to launch an online fundraising campaign to help pay for months of care and physical therapy.