The Week in Pop: Comics, Atari, Poets and More Picks

(from usatoday.com
by Whitney Matheson)


Before you sprint from your cubicles to start the weekend, take a gander at some of the books, movies and other things I've been digging this week. (I already covered the tunes in my Week in Music feature.)

These go to 11:

1. Free Comic Book Day. Don't forget tomorrow is the one day of the year where you can get a load of free comics at your local shop! My faves include Hip Hop Family Tree (Fantagraphics), Avatar/Itty Bitty Hellboy/Juice Squeezers (Dark Horse) and the Kaboom! Summer Blast, but you can't go wrong with most offerings.

2. Richard Linklater's trailer for Boyhood. The execution looks as great as the concept, which involved shooting a film for 12 years as the lead actor aged from 6 to 18.

Boyhood - The Official US Trailer

3. Playing House. I really liked the pilot of USA Network's new comedy, which follows best friends (Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair) who reconnect in the midst of catastrophe. The supporting cast is great, too, and includes Keegan-Michael Key and Zach Woods (from The Office/Silicon Valley).

4. The trailer for Jellyfish Eyes. Artist Takashi Murakami has made a movie, and it looks as colorful and dreamlike as you'd expect. For more info, head to jellyfisheyesthemovie.com.

5. Snake Pit Split with My Stupid Life (comic). Imagine my surprise when I started reading this comic and saw Pop Candy mentioned on the first page! A split effort with cartoonists Mitch Clem and Ben Snakepit, it includes diary comics that, as a bonus, include songs the artists were listening to when they drew 'em. Grab it for $5 at silversprocket.gostorego.com.

6. Star Wars Day. Don't forget Sunday is the day to display your Force fanaticism proudly (as if you don't do that every day). Why not celebrate with some Chewy cufflinks?

7. Poets.org. I give a thumbs-up to the site's redesign, which makes it easy to learn about poets, find local poetry events and sign up for "a poem a day." Don't forget about poetry now that National Poetry Month is over!

8. Get Over It! by Corinne Mucha. Mucha establishes herself as a cartoonist to watch with this graphic novel about how she got through a breakup. It's out next week; order it for $15 at secretacres.com. (While you're there, peruse the site; this publisher puts out tons of delightful comics.)

9. Letters of Note. Compiled by Shaun Usher and published by Chronicle, this new book beautifully highlights fascinating letters (both new and previously published on lettersofnote.com). The hardcover demands prime space on the coffee table.

10. All of the E.T. Atari game burial stories. This week E.T. and gaming fans lost their minds when a legend proved true: Yes, hundreds (if not thousands) of copies of a badly reviewed Atari E.T. game were found buried in the New Mexico desert. (And a documentary is already being made about it, in case you were wondering.)

11. The new season of FX's Louie. After a long break, the comedy returns May 5 with new episodes. I previewed a few this week and liked what I saw; my husband said each short ep feels like a little tone poem, which I think is an apt description.