Robert Crumb/Gilbert Shelton 2010

Far too brief and with nowhere near enough Gilbert Shelton, this recent clip from the Festa Literaria Internacional de Paraty (FLIP) offers the always controversial Robert Crumb at his best, looking good, being modest and then attacking America.

Syd Barrett-Octopus

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite tragic rock geniuses. There's a new Syd Barrett compilation coming out that combines for the first time his best sol tracks with his best Pink Floyd material.

Posters From 1979

As the seventies ended, you were nobody unless you had a poster. It all started with Farrah a few years earlier and then, as with most good things, it got run into the ground. This ad, apparently this company's 68th, was from 1979. Let's take a look, shall we?

First we have Rex Smith (later DAREDEVIL on TV) from a TV movie entitled SOONER OR LATER that really wasn't THAT popular to begin with and certainly is little remembered today.

Roseanna Rosannadanna was Gilda Radner's SNL character which had peaked in popularity a year or two earlier.

Dirk Benedict here was nearing the end of his BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA fame and sttill a few years away from THE A TEAM.

Meat Loaf's BAT OUT OF HELL poster by Richard Corben did as much to sell that album as its music did and the image is still popular today.

Chery Ladd was a lovely young woman. Cheryl followed Farrah on CHARLIE'S ANGELS so it was natural to try to market her the same way but for some reason, Cheryl Ladd without pants still looked too wholesome to be a huge seller.

Clark Brandon. Seriously. Do you know who Clark Brandon is? I do and I still barely remember him. Hard to believe anyone had his posters on their wall. He had a consistent 7 year run as a teen, mostly on TV, between 1973 and 1983.

Farrah (Blue). For some people, you could never get enough Farrah. Even though her super-popularity was settling down by this point, this huge, beautiful poster was still a big seller. I still have this one.

Brooke Shields as Wanda Nevada. WANDA NEVADA was an attempt at selling young teen Brooke as something other than a young teenage sex symbol after PRETTY BABY but it didn't work. Soon enough she was back in BLUE LAGOON and ENDLESS LOVE and it would be years before she got any respect as an actress and comedienne. If anything, if the film is remembered at all, it's because it's the only time Peter Fonda and his dad Henry appeared in the same picture.

Jaclyn Smith was and is a lovely woman who is so classy that, again, that "sexy" thing that Farrah could do effortlessly just kind of looked silly to me when she tried it. I did buy this one though.

Kiss, of course, is a marketing dream and I'm sure this was probably the biggest selling poster on this ad!

Finally, we have Stephen Shortridge! And you thought Clark Brandon was obscure! Mr. Shortridge had the unenviable task of replacing John Travolta on TV's WELCOME BACK KOTTER after the feature SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER made him the biggest star in the country overnight. To make matters worse, the producers hedged their bets by keeping Travolta's character around in cameo appearances anyway which prevented Shortridge from ever being fully accepted as a sweathog.

RIP-Sir Norman Wisdom

Sadly I only recently discovered the now-late Norman Wisdom, a cornerstone of British comedy for decades. Lots of his stuff on YouTube, though, including this late period stage schtick. Hilarious! Norman Wisdom died today at the age of 95, much beloved by his countrymen of all ages.

DC/Aurora 1965

One of the earliest tie-ins to the 1966 BATMAN TV series was this now-iconic Batman model from Aurora. These classic DC character models were out in late 1965 and have been reissued from time to time over the years since. I had the Batman one and later the Superman one. Somewhere I have a photo of myself with the assembled but unpainted Batman model.

Felix the Cat vs Frankenstein

I know a number of folks who frequent the Library here are likely to end up at next weekend's New York Con. If so, be sure to ask about the event seen here, apparently left out of the program book! IDW is sponsoring the event in promotion of Yoebooks' recent FELIX THE CAT book and the still upcoming (but scheduled to be released this week I hope) collection of Dick Briefer's FRANKENSTEIN comics! I'd love to be there but can't so all of you guys need to go and report back on the event to me, okay? Okay! Enjoy!

Creepy and Eerie Publisher in a Flintstones Comic!

Talk about an unexpected tie-in. One of my all-time favorite comic books is 1965's THE FLINTSTONES AT THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR but I had forgotten or never noticed that it was published through Western (Gold Key) but by a subsidiary of Warren Publishing, the folks who brought you CREEPY, EERIE and FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (as well as later VAMPIRELLA). Seems publisher Jim Warren picked up some of the licensing rights and thus did a couple printings of this great, fun souvenir! One of my Facebook pals pointed thisout tonight as we discussed this week's 50th anniversary of TV's first prime-time animated series.

Here, however, is something I don't see listed anywhere and certainly never would have caught without the above knowledge! The characters are all drawn very much on-model and the incidental characters, human and otherwise, are done in Hanna-Barbera's signature style, also. All except one! In the story entitled "On the Job Straining," Fred attempts a magic act. His audience is filled with typical H-B non-descript human characters and...as

seen in the lower left hand corner of the bottom panel below, one strangely realistic gentleman with detailed hair and thick framed glasses.

Maybe I'm wrong but....above is a picture of Jim Warren when he was younger from the Official Warren Publishing Website. What do you think?