Over five decades of solitary and deeply personal work, Charles Schulz drew 17,897 Peanuts comic strips, producing a body of work that constitutes not only the richest achievement in comic strip history but also the most resonant sports strip of all time. Thousands of Peanuts panels are filtered through Schulz’s love of sports, a collective subcategory that perhaps more than any other delivers the essence of his work.
Sandbox World
Rob Zombie ushered in the cast of the Munsters. Jeff Daniel Phillips, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Daniel Roebuck step into 1313 Mockingbird Lane.
Christmas is just around the corner. Quick Robin, to the Christmas-Bat Tree! DC Comics and Hallmark are releasing in October a new Batman Classic TV Series Christmas ornament.
The Shazam comic book series never took itself too seriously. The same could be said about the Shazam! movies. The sequel seems to be not too far from the first movie. Shazam! Fury of the Gods so far looks like it is a fun movie that will have moviegoers enjoying themselves once again.
I love the Penguin Classics series books. You will find some of humanity's greatest books ever written. Comics have come a long way since Superman hopped over buildings in Metropolis. Marvel Comics is now deemed as classic literature by Penguin Classics. The first three books in the series, Black Panther, Captain America, and The Amazing Spider-Man will be published on June 14, 2022. These three books should be hot sellers for Penguin Books and perhaps pump new sales for both Penguin and Marvel.
I was lucky to see the groundbreaking series Smallville when it originally premiered on October 16, 2001. For ten years, Smallville's adversarial showdown between Lex Luther and Clark Kent went back and forth. Viewers waited for Clark to become Superman as he secretly used his powers to help the citizens of Smallville. Along the way, Clark met a gamut of characters and actors from Superman lore from both movies and comic books. Smallville became the blueprint for Arrow and The Flash series on CW for years to come. Smallville: The Complete Series 20th Anniversary Edition is a great way to see the whole run of the classic series.
Prepare for the chill of a lifetime as the master of suspense, Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), hosts every spine-tingling episode from the complete first season of Night Gallery.
Barry Allan has been running for seven seasons and is not running out of speed yet. Season eight is around the corner and is running at full throttle. The Flash: The Complete Seventh Season was part of the Arrowverse and technically a spin-off series from Arrow. The Flash will be matching the Arrow series this year and outpacing Arrow with a 13 episode 9th season. The Flash always had a richer history in the comics to draw from. Season seven is no different, the show has settled on cruise control since season 4 with the same formula. Mirror Monarch plays a central role in the Mirrorverse storyline. The formula-driven Flash series will soon come to a halt. You can tune into The Flash on The CW every Tuesday night at 8:00 pm ET for new Season 8 episodes.
A new species of conodonts has just been discovered by a Danish/Swedish team of paleontologists. The fossil is around 469 million years old and was recovered from a succession of limestone in western Russia, rocks that once formed the seafloor sediments during the Ordovician Period. Because the species proved to be new to science, it had to be formally baptized with a unique Latin moniker. As all study authors are passionate hobby musicians and have long love affairs with the history of heavy rock music, they decided to honor one of heavy metal's true pioneers — guitar legend Tony Iommi of BLACK SABBATH.
It has become a novelty act for many groups as of late to do a whole album of cover songs. Deep Purple has come full circle. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover who both were in Episode Six covered Arthur Lee's Love song "Alone Again Or." I am not surprised that the first song is "7 And 7 Is." It's a great selection of tunes on what is going to be perhaps the last official studio album for the group. Never say never. This is a great range of musical influences. Bob Dylan's "Watching The River Flow" is a welcome surprise. This is a must for Deep Purple Fans.
Folks you might be seeing quite a lot of Squid Games costumes out for Halloween this year. The psychologically thrilling Korean drama — which premiered on September 17 is catching the world by surprise. Amazon and Etsy are selling non-sanctioned costumes. Most of the costumes are unisex, I am sure some sicko will come out with a sexy version of the Squid Games costume. Netflix fell asleep behind the wheel with this one. Better get one before Halloween gets here, shipping could be a problem if you do not watch out from where you are getting the costume.
It's not every day an actor leaves a series after season one and gets replaced in season two with a completely different actor. Perhaps Darrin from Bewitched but that is a whole different story. Javicia Leslie who plays Batwoman in season two gives the character more meat to chew on. Caroline Dries, who developed the series returns season two of Batwoman gives us non-stop action once again. Batwoman is a fun series outside the Bat-Universe with all the same things you would expect in a superhero soap opera swashbuckling series. Some fans consider the series to be a self-serious superhero melodrama sprinkled with choreographed fighting scenes. If you want escapism from reality and inspirational hope, Batwoman: The Complete Second Season is your ticket to fun. Batwoman is in good hands with Javicia Leslie. The third season of Batwoman was announced in February 2021 and is set to premiere on The CW on October 13, 2021. Same bat-channel, same bat-time. This is a perfect way to binge-watch the series before season three begins.
Woody Gutherie has to be the most important lyrist in the history of music. His words have weight if you study the man and the times he grew up in. Kung-fu introduced me indirectly to Woody Guthrie through David Carradine's "Bound for Glory." Carradine channeled Gutherie's life as no other actor has done for a musical artist. Nora Guthrie the daughter of Woody with the help of Robert Santelli has brilliantly captured the essence of one greatest musician. Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli collects some of Gutherie's personal writings and scribbles. The book is graced with original Woody drawings and copies from the various copybooks of his lyrics that he jotted when he was alive. This is the most personal book on Woody Guthrie in book form. You get the see a passionate human fighting corruption in politics and big business with his music and various artistic extensions of his core believes. You don't have to love Woody's music. This testament to his legacy will surprise both and new and old fans. You can't be more personal than this unless you talked to the man himself.
But Inked is more than a book of cartoons. Dator also dives into the creative process, offering bonus commentary on how ideas have come to fruition, how one idea has led to another, and the various attempts to get an idea right. Along the way, he shows how a spark of imagination has turned into a laugh-out-loud moment with only a single image and caption, and how other attempts have found themselves on the cutting-room floor.
That question has haunted Jeff Finn since 1985 when he first researched the infamous vocalist and lyricist of the legendary 1960s rock band, The Doors. Finn is the writer, director and narrator of Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison, a forthcoming limited film series that rips the hinges off Morrison's purported official story. Indie film production company Z-Machine has released a new extended preview of this hard-boiled but empathic documystery. What If everything we think we know about Jim Morrison is wrong?
Everything old is new again. Argle Bargle Books is onto something special. Their winning formula is quite simple. They take public domain comic books and repurpose them with new pertinent dialogue. I love the old comic book feel. This is a winning formula for the Ottawa-based independent publisher. The Canuck publisher supports Canadian and international underground comic creators who exhibit something new to say in the 4-color medium. Argle Bargle Books' new offering is called, GREENIE JOSEPHENIE. Just think of it as a rap song with loops and mixes cobbled together with new lyrics.
In the 70s it was a thing to gather a whole bunch of musicians to create a concept/rock opera album. Albums as Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and The Wiz are perfect examples of rock operas that cobbled some up and coming talent of the time. Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is another record released in 1975 with rock icons such as Manfred Mann, Gary Moore, Brian Eno, Phil Collins, and Cozy Powell.
Scary for Halloween or every day of the year: The officially licensed Super7 Universal Monsters retro monster masks! A collaboration with Retro-a-go-go and designed by artist Doug P'gosh. Made of high-quality plastic with an elastic headband and with retro packaging that will remind you of being a child before the Internet.
You can't keep a good book down. Even if it's a children's book. Vote For Me! by Ben Clanton is enjoying a resurgence due to his Narwhal and Jelly fame. Vote For Me! was Clanton's first published book. It was re-issued a year ago. It is so apropos for today's political divide so Tundra Books decided to reprint the book. The whole notion of the book is silly but rooted in reality at many times. Since the book's first printing in 2012, politics has grown to new shameful heights and Vote for Me! parodies the opposite polarities in both political parties. There is no right or wrong, and blue or red. They just want your vote.
The U.S. Postal Service commemorates the Day of the Dead, an increasingly popular holiday in the United States, with the release of four new Forever stamps. A dedication ceremony for the stamps was held today at the El Paso Museum of Art.
AllHorror.com, a movie database like IMDb but only for horror, was created by Adrian DeGus along with a team of fellow horror fans as a way to help others find new movies based on the exact types of movies they already love. Horror seekers can browse through over 8,725 movies organized into over 150 different horror sub-genres, 25 different styles, 107 different years and the streaming platforms they can be watched on. Seekers can also find new horror movies similar to movies they already know using AllHorror's "Movies Like" system that is curated manually by horror fans who have personally seen all movies mentioned. All movies are rated, have hand-picked screengrabs, trailers, critic reviews, spoiler-free "What to Expect" write-ups and similar movie recommendations. Horror fans can also browse through hundreds of top lists curated by AllHorror staff as well as lists curated by fellow fans.
Black Sabbath's Technical Ecstasy was a bitter pill for fans to swallow. The band was no longer hungry, most of them had nothing left in the can. Drugs had taken over the band and the music suffered. Sabbath strayed away from their roots and gave us perhaps the worst album in their recording catalog. However, a song like "She's Gone" is a polished gem that stood out from the lot. “It’s Alright,” is the first time we hear Bill Ward sing on a Sabbath album. There was nothing technical or ecstatic about this album. It was a train wreck from the beginning. It is rare if ever any songs are played live from this album. Time can be forgiving, Rhino has given us an extremely extended version of the album with new live songs and 90 minutes of new studio outtakes and alternate versions of the songs recorded. This deep dive is a welcome addition and perhaps salvation to a greatly misunderstood album. This offering is meant for the true Black Sabbath super-fan.
Keep home closer with Astro, the household robot for home monitoring, with Alexa. When you're away, use the Astro app to see a live view of your home, check in on specific rooms and viewpoints, and get activity alerts. When you're home, Astro can follow you from room to room playing your favorite music, podcasts, or shows, and find you to deliver calls, reminders, alarms, and timers set with Alexa.
Fisher-Price has released an officially licensed set of Little People collectibles featuring the Rolling Stones. Fans can live out their rock n’ roll dreams and get some "Satisfaction" with this special edition Little People Collector Rolling Stones figure set from Fisher-Price. This rockin' gift set features four members of the iconic band brought down to Little People toy size, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood. This must-have figure set is a great gift for music fans of all ages.