Pop Culture Safari!

Pop Culture Roundup: Spidey, Play-Doh, Soho and more!

ITEM! Remembering Spidey Super Stories.

ITEM! It sounds like Bill Murray has joined the Marvel Universe.

ITEM! Spoiler: "Doctor Who" producer apologizes for spoiling a spoiler.

ITEM! Preview the soundtrack of Edgar Wright's 60s-set horror flick, "Last Night in Soho."

ITEM! A Play-Doh-building competition show is in the works, because of course it is.

Comic art: Vintage Asterix color guide

New comics collected editions: Tomb of Dracula - The Complete Collection Vol. 5

Our pick this week.

Tomb of Dracula: The Complete Collection Vol. 5

Dracula has sired a son! Why does baby Janus have golden skin, and what is his destiny? As Quincy Harker’s vampire hunters form an unholy alliance with Anton Lupeski’s Satanic cult, the net is closing in: Drac’s next meal could spell disaster. And when Dracula meets the devil himself, it’s a truly transformative encounter! After centuries in the shadows, Dracula finally steps out into the sunlight. But if his humanity is restored, what does that mean to his enemies? And is this a bad time for his daughter, Lilith, to return? It’s all leading up to a final, fatal reckoning! Plus: Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano reunite to complete a gorgeous, gothic project decades in the making!

Collecting TOMB OF DRACULA (1972) #55-70, STOKER’S DRACULA #2-4 and material from MARVEL PREVIEW #12 and SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN (1974) #26.

Pop Culture Roundup: Famous Monsters, Around the World with Tennant, Elvis and Wilco!

ITEM! The new adaptation of "Around the World in 80 Days" starring former "Doctor Who" star David Tennant will debut Jan. 22 on PBS.

ITEM! Check out some original cover art from the beloved Famous Monsters mag.

ITEM! Elvis Costello wings it.

ITEM! Wilco covers a couple of Beatles tunes.

Pop Pic: Lassie

Watch the Faces Live in England - October 1971

Comic art: Original Dell Tarzan cover painting by Jesse Marsh

Pop Culture Roundup: Spidey, Green Lantern, Batgirl, more!

ITEM! Clues indicate that Sandman may be back in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

ITEM! The upcoming Green Lantern series on HBO Max is going to be "gigantic," producers say.

ITEM! Brendan Fraser will play a bad guy in the upcoming Batgirl film.

Pop Pic: Lana Turner

Best comic book covers of the week

What caught our eye. In shops this Wednesday.

Pop Pic: Jerry Lewis

Picture Sleeve Parade: James Bond in the 70s

007-related singles and EPs from the 1970s.

Pop Pic: Katherine Hepburn

Hot Trax '71: John Lennon, Chi-Lites, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, more!

New songs on the charts this week 50 years ago. Listen to the Hot Trax '71 playlist.

John Lennon - Imagine

The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her

Bread - Baby I'm-a-Want You

Glen Campbell / Anne Murray - I Say a Little Prayer

James Brown - My Part

Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

Pop Diary: The Specials - Protest Songs, The Graduate, more!

What I've been hearing, watching, drinking, etc.

The Specials - Protest Songs 1924-2012. The remnants of the Specials (we're down to Terry, Lynval and Horace, now, it appears) can still stir up some spiky sounds of dissent, and do so here on tunes by others, some dating back more than a century. Interestingly, there's nary a skanking beat heard on any of the tunes, but they are all, even so, delivered with energy, imagination and passion.

Terry Hall is lead vocalist on nearly all the selections, launching the LP with the Staple Singers' "Freedom Highway," and then dropping his voice down low for Leonard Cohen's sardonic "Everybody Knows." He's especially great with his deadpan delivery of Chip Taylor's "Fuck all the Perfect People," demonstrating that protest can be personal, as well as political.

Guest vocalist Hannah Hu is featured on Talking Heads' haunting "Listening Wind," while Lynval Hall sings over stripped down versions of Big Bill Broonzy's "Black, Brown and White" and Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up." There are also two wickedly funny and true tunes penned by Malvina Reynolds (famous for "Little Boxes") and, perhaps most unexpectedly of all, a great cover of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention's "Trouble Everyday." Who could've predicted something like that back in the Specials' early 80s prime?

As latter day albums go, this one is worth a go.

The Graduate. It's been a long time since I've seen this one and it holds it up. Our high school-age daughter watched along with us and liked it, too, so I know it's not just me. Part of the reason is likely Dustin Hoffman's great performance. From today's vantage point, he may've been anticipating the Millenials moreso than lampooning the Baby Boomers, with his portrayal of an aimless, dejected recently graduated undergrad. At least his folks had a swimming pool to laze around in, not just a basement and video games.

Anne Bancroft is great, of course, as the iconic Mrs. Robinson and we enjoyed William Daniels' brief turn as Dustin's dad, having enjoyed his performances recently as we continue marathoning our way through "St. Elsewhere." But the performance I enjoyed the most on this viewing was Hal Holbrook as MR. Robinson. He's amusingly drunken and detached, consistently pouring Dustin a Scotch when he's asked for Bourbon, and cluelessly encouraging the cad/grad to ask out his daughter, unaware that the youngster is sleeping with his wife. And, oh yeah, there are some great tunes on the soundtrack, too.

Drinking: