Pop Culture Safari!

Watch/listen: "A Very Spidey Christmas"

Via Film Music Reporter:

Sony Classical and Sony Pictures Animation will release a new soundtrack EP featuring the Christmas songs recorded for the studios’ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, including Chris Pine’s rendition of Spidey-Bells (A Hero’s Lament) (as featured in the movie’s end credits) and Up on the House Top, Joy to the World performed by Shameik Moore and Deck the Halls performed by Jake Johnson. A Very Spidey Christmas will be released digitally tomorrow, December 21.

Coming up: Marvel Masters of Suspense - Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus Vol. 1

Out Aug. 27. Order from Amazon now.

Before Steve Ditko revolutionized comic book super-heroes with the Amazing Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, he applied his incomparable storytelling mastery to taught suspense-thrillers. These chilling stories were cast with nervous-eyed dreamers and sweaty-palmed schemers, none of whom make it out with getting theirs. They were parables of wrenching psychological tension, expressed by one of comic book's most unique creative minds, and they will leave you curled up and screaming for more-whether you like it or not! Marvel is honored to collect Ditko's complete stories of suspense in two beautifully restored Omnibus volumes. From his very first Marvel work in 1956 through to his last five-page masterpiece, every iconic Silver Age Ditko short is collected in these incomparable Omnibus editions.

COLLECTING: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) 33, 38, 50-73, STRANGE TALES (1951) 46, 50, 67-91, TALES TO ASTONISH (1959) 1-26, TALES OF SUSPENSE (1959) 1-15, 17-24, STRANGE WORLDS (1958) 1-5, WORLD OF FANTASY(1956) 16-19, AMAZING ADVENTURES (1961) 1-6, JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS (1950) 45, 51, MYSTERY TALES (1950) 40, 45, 47, TWO-GUN WESTERN (1956) 4, WORLD OF SUSPENSE (1956) 2, MARVEL TALES (1949) 147, SPELLBOUND (1952) 29, STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL (1955) 5, ASTONISHING (1951) 53, WORLD OF MYSTERY (1956) 3, 6, BATTLE (1951) 63, GUNSMOKE WESTERN (1955) 66

Time Capsule: "The Night Before Christmas" animated TV special, 1968

Coming up: Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus Vol. 1

Out Aug. 20. Order from Amazon now.

Details:

In August 1939 a new voice hit the newsstands and changed the comic-book world forever: MARVEL COMICS #1, with its blazing Human Torch cover, had arrived! And this 64-page pulp package wasn't your typical assortment of super-powered, straight-laced, do-gooders-this was something completely new. The amazing android creation of Dr. Phineas Horton, the Human Torch was neither man nor hero-he was a blazing force of nature that shocked and unsettled mankind. Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, the half-human/half-Atlantean, ventures from his undersea kingdom into the world of man-not with a mind set on peace, but towards vengeance! These two characters would form the foundation for the style of conflicted hero that defi nes Marvel to this day, and you'll see them evolve across twelve full issues from their raw forms into the battling fire and water mega-hits of the Golden Age! They're flanked by an eclectic set born out of the fast-paced energy and imagination of the Golden Age including the heroic Angel; the wild and incomparable robot invention, Electro; the hard-edged detective, the Ferret; Terry Vance, the boy adventurer; the Western Masked Raider; and the ongoing jungle adventures of Ka-Zar, the Great. Featuring an extensive essay on Marvel's pulp magazine pre-history, publisher Martin Goodman and the birth of Marvel Comics by noted historian Will Murray, and topped off with special bonus features including original artwork and items never seen since 1939, this collection forms the cornerstone of Marvel history essential for every comic book fan, collector and historian!

COLLECTING: MARVEL COMICS 1 & MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 2-12