Coming Up: 'Marvel: Spider-Man: The Official Cookbook: Your Friendly Neighborhood Guide to Cuisine from NYC, the Spider-Verse & Beyond'
Out July 2 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
With great recipes, there must also come great responsibility . . . to share. Spider-Man’s decided to do just that, pairing recipes for his favorite New York City dishes with action-packed anecdotes. From Aunt May’s Wheatcakes to Miles Morales’s Arañitas to Wong’s Chai Tea Latte, Spidey turns each meal into a culinary adventure.60+ RECIPES: Enjoy more than 60 of Spider-Man and Co.’s favorite recipes for appetizers, main courses, desserts, and beverages from all over New York City!
BRING NYC HOME: Cook up recipes from all around the five boroughs and enjoy the global influence that makes the city a true melting pot.
ENTER A MULTIVERSE OF FLAVOR: This cookbook also features contributions from Miles Morales, Ghost-Spider, and more heroes from across the Spider-Verse!
PERFECT FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS: Great for beginners and experienced chefs alike, this cookbook will help you prepare amazing dishes inspired by your favorite super heroes for your friends and family.
COMPLETE YOUR MARVEL COLLECTION: This cookbook stands alongside fan-favorite cookbooks such as Avengers Campus: The Official Cookbook: Recipes from Pym's Test Kitchen and Beyond, Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook, and Marvel Comics: Cooking with Deadpool.
New Pop Culture Books: Beach Boys, Harlan Ellison, Blues Brothers, More
Our picks this month. Click the links to order from Amazon.
Here, for the first time in print, is the history of The Beach Boys, by The Beach Boys.
Their only official book, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys is the ultimate chronicle of one of the world’s greatest bands. Through their unique sound, complex harmonies, sensational live shows and use of innovative recording techniques, The Beach Boys became woven into the cultural fabric of America and influenced generations of musicians globally. This book documents how it happened.
Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston together provide a combined career narrative especially for this book, and through meticulous compilation from sources worldwide, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson’s words are equally represented. Documenting how they went from a Hawthorne garage band to a global phenomenon, they tell the astounding story of their ascent: perfecting their harmonies, initial fame as a surf group, and then their ultimate progression as pioneering recording artists to become one of the most musically complex ensembles in history.
Their text is accompanied by iconic images, never-before-seen negatives and rare ephemera. Given unprecedented access to their personal archives, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys offers intimate insight into the lives of the group. Also opening their archives are Brother Records and Capitol Records, all of which assist in illustrating their remarkable journey.
Expanding the narrative are a host of contributors who have been involved with or inspired by the band's music, including Peter Blake, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Def Leppard, the Flaming Lips, Bobby Gillespie, David Lee Roth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Kerr, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Carly Simon, Pete Townshend, Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, and many more.
A group collaboration, The Beach Boys by the Beach Boys is, in effect, The Beach Boys’ autobiography. Like their music, it is poignant, frank, often humorous but always sincere.
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As one of the great writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century, Harlan Ellison shaped the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. This inventive and provocative collection of his best-known and most-acclaimed stories is a perfect treasury for old Ellison fans as well as readers discovering this zany, polyphonic writer for the first time.
Featuring these stories and many more:
“‘Repent, Harlequin,’ Said the Ticktockman” — Hugo Award winner
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” — Bram Stoker Award winner
“Mefisto in Onyx” — Bram Stoker Award winner
“Jeffty Is Five” — British Fantasy Award winner
“Shatterday” — Twilight Zone episode
“The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” — Edgar Allan Poe Award winner
“Paladin of the Lost Hour” — Hugo Award winner, Twilight Zone episode
“They’re not going to catch us,” Dan Aykroyd, as Elwood Blues, tells his brother Jake, played by John Belushi. “We’re on a mission from God.” So opens the musical action comedy The Blues Brothers, which hit theaters on June 20, 1980.
Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage. But Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honor the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles—made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews.
However, in the 44 years since, it has been acknowledged a classic: it has been inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a “Catholic classic” by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the twentieth century.
The story behind any classic is rich; the saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colorful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard’s Lampoon and Chicago’s Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote.
Ian's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be “the complete man,” and he would strive for the means to achieve this “completeness'”all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction. Exceptionally well connected, and widely travelled, from the United States and Soviet Russia to his beloved Jamaica, Ian had access to the most powerful political figures at a time of profound change.
Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering material that casts new light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography. His unprecedented access to the Fleming archive and his nose for a story make this a fresh and eye-opening picture of the man and his famous creation.
From actual murder to magazine fiction to movie, the history of Double Indemnity is as complex as anything that hit the screen during film noir’s classic period. A 1927 tabloid sensation “crime of the century” inspired journalist and would-be crime-fiction writer James M. Cain to pen a novella. Hollywood quickly bid on the film rights, but throughout the 1930s a strict code of censorship made certain that no studio could green-light a murder melodrama based on real events. Then in 1943 veteran scriptwriter and newly minted director Billy Wilder wanted the story for his third movie. With tentative approval from the studio he hired hardboiled novelist Raymond Chandler to co-write a script that would be acceptable to industry censors.
Director Wilder then cajoled a star cast into coming aboard: the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck in her unforgettable turn as the ultimate femme fatale; alongside Fred MacMurray, going against type as her accomplice; and Edward G. Robinson as a dogged claims investigator. Wilder kept Chandler on for the entire shoot, and other key collaborators were cinematographer John Seitz, costume designer Edith Head, and composer Miklôs Rôzsa. With all these talented contributors, the final film became one of the earliest studio noirs to gain critical and commercial success, including being nominated for seven Oscars. It powerfully influenced the burgeoning noir movement, spawned many imitators, and affected the later careers of all its cast and crew. Double Indemnity’s impact on filmmakers and audiences is still felt eight decades since its release.
Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete, never-before-told history of writing, making, and marketing of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.
J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote: “I wisely started with a map, and made the story fit.” The Maps of Middle-earth presents four of Tolkien’s iconic maps, reimagined and newly updated for this edition by acclaimed Tolkien artist, John Howe, and richly decorated with scenes from the books:
Middle-earth, a breath-taking panorama of all the locations from Hobbiton to Mordor that feature in The Lord of the Rings;
Wilderland, a charming evocation of the realm to which Bilbo journeyed ‘there and back again’ in The Hobbit;
Beleriand, a lyrical portrayal of the ancient landscape of the First Age, where the great tales of The Silmarillion took place;
Númenor, an exclusive reproduction of the legendary island described in Unfinished Tales, which was sunk beneath the waves in the Second Age of Middle-earth.
The maps are accompanied by an authoritative text written by Brian Sibley, which tells the stories behind The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, and gives accounts of how the original maps came into being. Filled with illustrations by John Howe, many of which appear here for the first time, the book also features gazetteers of all the names on each of the four maps. They provide revealing insights into the significant role each place-name played in the stories, including those of Númenor, the island-kingdom once inhabited by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion, ancestors of Aragorn, that was sunk in a cataclysmic storm following the treacherous deeds of Sauron, as told in Of the Rings of Power in The Silmarillion.
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Spurred by innovations in printing technology, the modern poster emerged in the 1890s as a popular form of visual culture in the United States. Created by some of the best-known illustrators and graphic designers of the period — including Will H. Bradley, Florence Lundborg, Edward Penfield, and Ethel Reed — these advertisements for books and high-tone periodicals such as Harper’s and Lippincott’s went beyond the realm of commercial art, incorporating bold, stylized imagery and striking typography. This book, based on the renowned Leonard A. Lauder Collection, explores the craze for literary posters, which became sought- after collectibles even in their day. It offers new scholarly perspectives that address the aesthetic sophistication and modernity of the literary poster; the impact of early experiments in the field of advertising psychology; the expanded opportunities for women artists, who played an important role in advancing the socalled poster style; and the printmaking techniques that artists employed in this novel art form. A lively survey of a little-known but highly influential period in graphic design, The Art of the Literary Poster is sure to delight enthusiasts of illustration, advertising, and book arts.
From the stylist behind David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust look, an electrifying memoir taking readers behind the curtains during a legendary chapter of pop culture history.
Suzi Ronson was working in an English hair salon in the early 1970s when Mrs. Jones came in for her weekly shampoo and set. After being introduced to her son, David, and his wife, Angie, she soon finds herself at the Bowies' bohemian apartment and embroiled in their raucous world.
Having crafted his iconic Ziggy Stardust hairstyle, Suzi becomes the only working woman in David's touring party and joins The Spiders from Mars as they perform around the globe. Amid the costume blunders, parties, and groupies she meets her husband-to-be, Mick Ronson, and together they traverse the absurdities of life in rock & roll, falling in with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, and Lou Reed along the way.
Dazzling and intimate in equal measure, Me and Mr. Jones provides not only a unique perspective into one of the most beguiling stars in the history of pop music but also of a world on the cusp of cultural transformation.
The Avengers explores the phenomenon of one of Marvel Comics’ most popular super hero teams and the most significant and influential Avengers stories, and includes relevant spinoffs and ancillary comic book characters and events.
Framed by a longtime comic book industry insider and told using hundreds of comic book images, variant covers, and Marvel Cinematic Universe storyboards and concept art, this book recounts the Avengers’ essential stories: from the team’s origins with Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp; to their most iconic battles; to alternate lineups including the Dark Avengers and the West Coast Avengers; and how the Avengers are powerful and relevant in today’s comic book (and super hero film) culture.
With more than three hundred Avengers illustrations, beginning with their inception in the early 1960s to present-day treatments of the group, The Avengers is sure to appeal to new fans looking for a great place to start learning about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, to megafans, and to Marvel collectors alike.
Made of Pen and Ink: Fleischer Studio, The Florida Years" continues to introduce readers to the influential, innovative and still funny animated cartoons produced by Max Fleischer, after Fleischer Studios moved to Florida. If you want to learn how the Popeye, Superman, Gulliver and Out of the Inkwell cartoons were made (among others) and where to see them, this book is for you. With original interviews with artists who made the classic shorts as well as plenty of rare illustrations, this book is a must-have for any movie fan who wants a deep dive into one of the greatest animation studios and the cartoons it produced.
From 1955 to 1983 The Brave and the Bold stood as one of DC Comics’ core titles, a series that spanned multiple eras and popularized the very concept of the “team-up,” the joining of forces of superheroes, monsters, and more! It also introduced such superstars as the Silver Age Hawkman, Metamorpho, and the Justice League of America! It was a magazine like no other!
Now, writer-editor Jim Beard offers up observations and opinions on the book fans fondly called “B&B” as he journeys through every story, character, and creator of its legendary 200-issue run! Be prepared for fun, facts, and whatever strikes his fancy on a very personal and personable comic book odyssey!
Breaking Bold and Brave includes dossiers on all 200 issues of The Brave and the Bold plus Super DC Giant #S-16 and DC Special Series #8, as well as essays on many aspects of the book’s history, such as eras, editors, try-out team-ups, and, of course, Batman and Bob Haney! It also features a Foreword by comics legend and B&B scribe Paul Kupperberg and a Q&A with B&B writer Alan Brennert!
Charles M. Schulz introduced readers to “Good Ol’ Charlie Brown” on October 2, 1950, with the publication of the very first Peanuts comic strip—considered the most iconic comic of all time. It is also a perfect haiku of art, text, and paranoia, with a variation of the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” thrown in for literary measure. Everything that is great about Schulz and Peanuts is established right out of the gate in these four perfect panels, which have influenced every comic strip that has followed.
With this innovative, palm-sized pop-up book, cartoonist and comics historian Gene Kannenberg Jr. brings that very first comic strip to life for a whole new generation, as well as for longtime fans of the classic and beloved brand.
Yoko Ono (b. 1933) firmly established herself as a leading figure in the Fluxus movement by the mid-1960s. Since that time, her multimedia practice, encompassing sculpture, film, performance, instruction, and music, has had a significant impact on the trajectory of contemporary art. The first major publication on Ono’s work in more than a decade, this important volume celebrates her career at a pivotal moment and illustrates the prescient themes that the artist has long championed and that have become central to today’s art practice.
This handsome volume traces Ono’s career across continents, beginning with the artist’s early work in Tokyo. Ono’s time in 1960s London is also centered, and the survey looks critically at the development of her work in that period against the more public specter of her relationship with John Lennon and The Beatles. The book then focuses a wider lens on Ono’s transnational networks, including her impact on continental Europe and her extended residency in New York. Throughout her career in each of these places, Ono championed feminist, antiwar, and environmental ideas that have only grown in relevance. Drawing on key themes of audience participation, play, and music, the book also employs Ono’s own words to encourage readers to experience Ono’s work through actions that she finds particularly resonant: reading, enacting, imagining, and wishing.
Pop Culture Roundup: Marvel Crime, Robert Beerbohm, McHale's Navy
ITEM! An inside look at Marvel's line of prose crime novels.
ITEM! The Comics Journal eulogizes comics historian and retailer Robert Beerbohm.
ITEM! Follow pop-blogger Booksteve has co-penned a book about "McHale's Navy."
Coming Up: 'Nancy and Sluggo's Guide to Life: Comics about Money, Food, and Other Essentials'
Out May 14 and available for pre-order now from Amazon.
Details:
The newspaper cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller once admitted that “all my characters are conceived in desperation.” Nancy was no exception. She was the niece of the star of his other strip, Fritzi Ritzi, and meant to serve as a throwaway gag character. But Nancy could not be contained: Within a few years, Bushmiller’s strip had been renamed for her, and she had begun her ascent into the pantheon of cartooning greats.
Nancy, along with on-and-off boyfriend Sluggo, delivered absurd laughs to readers for decades, all rendered in Bushmiller’s distinctive line that cartoonist Denis Kitchen once called “geometric perfection.” A masterpiece of humor and cartooning, Nancy earned both scorn and acclaim for decades, serving as a muse (and sometimes punching bag) for the likes of Andy Warhol, Joe Brainard, Gary Panter, Matt Groening, and more.
This collection of Bushmiller’s Nancy brings together a selection from the beloved Kitchen Sink Press editions of Nancy strips, including How Sluggo Survives! and Nancy Eats Food, as well as a number of newly selected cartoons.
Together, this wide-ranging collection offers a chance for readers to experience the full range of Bushmiller’s absurd humor and unexpected visual delights. As Nancy once said: “Anything can happen in a comic strip!”
Hot Trax '74: Hear/See Songs by Wings, Kool and the Gang, the Hollies and More
New songs on the charts 50 years ago this week:
Picture Sleeve Parade
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