PopCult

Our third entry today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a surprisingly cool Designer Barbie that, despite being a bit pricey, would fit right in with almost any 1/6 scale sci-fi diorama. It’s a great gift for the Barbie Collector or 1/6 scale hobbyist on your holiday shopping list.

Signature Barbie x Yoon Ahn Doll
by Mattel Creations
$100.00 plus tax and shipping

First of all, Yoon Ahn is the co-creator of the boundary-redefining style brand AMBUSH. A globally influential creative director, Yoon Ahn is a fashion force to be reckoned with. This first collaboration with Mattel looks like something straight out of a 1970s issue of Heavy Metal, and it’s a real winner.

The doll has action-figure-like articulation, some removable body armor, and a distinctive design that’s aesthetically  flexible enough to fit into any kind of science fiction scenario.

This doll (the doll design is by Suim Noh, while the package design is by Diana Leto) brings Yoon Ahn’s fashion concept to life using a newly-sculpted body and the neutral-expression “Kit” headsculpt. She has 13 points of articulation, which is way more than your average Barbie doll.

It’s pretty savvy of Mattel to create a doll with such a vast potential crossover audience.  There are an awful lot of lonely Astronaut GI Joes out there in space who’d appreciate some feminine companionship.

In addition, she comes with a robot cat, which has six points of articulation. This is a nice feature for the doll collectors, but it’s also a pretty cool add-on for people building futuristic dioramas.

There’s also a doll stand included, although the doll does actually hold her balance pretty well.

Here’s Mattel’s blurb:

Take a trip through time to the future of fashion innovation! We partnered with genre-defying designer Yoon Ahn to bring to life one of our most unique dolls ever, an exploration of the Barbie of tomorrow. Pulling inspiration from anime, street style, and Ahn’s distinct visionary perspective, this robot-esque Barbie and her pet robot cat blend clean minimalist lines with an artistically technological feel. Together, they’re a pair of creations unlike anything else we’ve ever made.

You can order the Yoon Anh Signature Barbie Doll directly from Mattel Creations. I don’t believe you need to be a member of any of the clubs to buy this item. It’s a great gift for the futurist Doll Collector or 1/6 scale action figure collector on your holiday shopping list.

2027 Calendar
Featuring Art by Ian Bode
$35.00, from Ian Bode Art

The second pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a new calendar (for 2027) featuring art by Charleston’s own, Ian Bode.

Ian is a longtime friend of PopCult (Mel and Rudy have turned up in the background of a few of his pieces), and he’s got a lovely, distinctive style that stakes out its own very original place somewhere near classic Psychedelic Art and the work of Keith Haring and Sergio Aragones. He truly elevates traidtional cartooning to the level of fine art.

He’s also been providing the caricatures for FestivAll’s “Three Things” for years.

I’m going to quote a bit from his official bio here:

Ian Bode was born and raised in Charleston, WV. After leaving WV in his late teens and traveling around the country, he returned to become a self-taught, full-time artist. His work is displayed in galleries, public buildings, and private collections across the country. He also collaborates with other visual artists and graphic designers on commercial projects.

In addition, he has individually and collaboratively made several 2D and 3D public art projects. His most recognizable style is a graphically narrative, cartoon-oriented world filled with his black and white faceless characters collectively called “The Passenger.” This faceless cartoon is a vacuum into which the viewer’s identify and awareness can be filled in. The viewer is in the emotive driver’s seat, much like The Passenger.

Using repeating themes, colors, and icons, he aims to establish a visual language that makes each piece relatable to the other creating a universe with loose laws and a sequential narrative that does not intrude or contradict itself. He was named WV Artist of the Year 2018 by West Virginia Living magazine.

If you live around Charleston, you’ve seen Ian’s art. Now you can bring some of it home to look at every day. Aside from this calendar, you can find Ian’s art on T-shirts, pins, prints and more at his website.

Orders placed now should arrive in time for Christmas.

Recommended for the art lover or proud (WV) Charlestonian on your holiday shopping list.

Today we’re kicking off The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide early with a bonus pick that’s a surefire perfect gift for the Batman fanatic on your holiday shopping list. Now, I have to be honest and give you fair warning here, I had planned to feature this pick next week, but Wednesday afternoon I received word that stock is running low on this item, so if you want it, you’d better act fast. There will be two additional Gift Guide entries posted later today.

Batmobile and Bat Boat 1967 Gift Set 3
Available only from The Corgi Model Club
$109.99

This beautifully crafted set from Corgi Model Club is a faithful reproduction of one of the most sought-after and rare diecast Batmobile collectibles. This is the real Batmobile, as designed by George Barris, not the later movie versions or the bogus “first licensed Batmobile” that a scam artist tried to pass off as genuine a dozen years ago.

This is the collector’s set that every kid of a certain age lusted after, and now it is finally attainable.

Introduced in time for Christmas 1967, this first issue of the GS3 gift set famously combined the second version of the Batmobile (featuring a tow hook) with the iconic ‘tin fin’ first edition of the Bat Boat.

Each model was presented with Batman and Robin figures – which when displayed together featured the unusual sight of Batman and Robin in both cockpits! To avoid that visual anomaly, this special Corgi Model Club edition has all four figures included separately, thus allowing you to position them as you wish.

Of course, that also means you can have two Robins or two Batmans in either vehicle if you wish, but then that’s the fun of playing with toys.

Corgi collectors will know the 1967 GS3 box for its unique illustrated header card – which folded flat, allowed it be sent to retailers without damage. The box also included a yellow plastic insert to hold the models in position. Later versions of the GS3 set omitted both the illustrated header and the yellow insert.

Included with this model is the die-cast metal trailer, operating instructions, lapel sticker, 12 x yellow rockets, two sets of Batman and Robin figures and the all important individually numbered Corgi Model Club certificate of authenticity.

It’s seriously one of the coolest iterations of The Batmobile that ever existed, and while the price may seem high, it’s a mere fraction of what original sets sell for these days.

You can only find this at The Corgi Model Club. While you’re there, you might want to consider joining, for yourself or for your giftee.  Members get a really cool reissued Corgi Model each month, with plenty of chances to catch up on older models. Aside from a few different versions of the Batmobile, the CMC also offers spectacular 1/50 scale diecast versions of iconic vehicles from the worlds of James Bond, The Saint, The Green Hornet, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Yellow Submarine, and coming next spring, The famed Monkeemobile.

But if you want this set, don’t put it off. This is in short supply and is very limited.

Our second pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is an artbook that straddles a few different areas of interest and would be a great gift for fans of travel, history, retro art and stickers.

Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires (330 Travel Ephemera Stickers)
by Letterform Archive
ISBN 979-8-9891423-2-3
$40 from The Publisher, or discounted at Amazon 

Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires takes you on a trip around the world during the golden age of travel. Back in the day, the classy hotels all around the world would give out stickers for travellers to slap on their luggage as a memento of where they’d been.

Plus, it was also free advertising.

And it’s really cool to look at.

Let me quote the publisher’s blurb:

Journey across time and place with hundreds of vibrant steamer trunk labels from the Golden Age of Travel, faithfully reproduced as 330 charming full-color stickers

In the late nineteenth century, as industrialization allowed for the emergence of the leisure class, an unprecedented number of world travelers began touring the globe via train and sea. From far-off destinations they brought home a curious collection: eye-catching labels bearing the insignia of grand hotels, pasted to their steamer trunks as souvenirs.

Today, these labels are also souvenirs of graphic design—from the opulence of art deco to the minimalism of Swiss Style. Featuring hundreds of delightful examples from the collection of Letterform Archive, Hotel Retro highlights the labels’ artistry in illustration, lettering, and typography, and restores them to their original adhesive use for the pleasure of a new generation.

This is a great book that isn’t a difficult read, but it can spur your imagination and whisk you off to a vacation in your mind on the Orient Express or around India’s Golden Triangle, or on the Trans-Siberian Railway. You can check into the the grand historic hotels without leaving the comfort of your home, and if you are so inclined, remove the sticker from the book and put it on your suitcase.

Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires has 240 pages with 330 removable stickers depicting famous hotels from around the world.

Recommended as a gift for the traveller at a heart, romatic adventurer or fan of terrific graphic design. You can order Hotel Retro: Vintage Luggage Labels from Tokyo to Buenos Aires directly from the publisher, discounted from Amazon or from any bookseller by using the ISBN code.

Today’s first pick in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is the perfect gift for fans of classic Looney Tunes…it’s a collection of recent cartoons orginally made for HBO MAX that perfectly capture the spirit and hilarity of the original products of Termite Terrace.

Looney Tunes Cartoons: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
From Warner Archive
Sold By Movie Zyng
$34.98

Since I chose this pick for The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide, the voice of many of the main characters in these cartoons, Eric Bauza, suddenly and shockingly passed away, and this collection would not be a bad way to remember his many talents.

Originally billed simply as “Looney Tunes Cartoons,” this 2019-2024 revival of the classic Warner Brothers cartoon characters was the first to get it right in decades.

Since they were created under the absent management of Leon Schlesinger, the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons produced at “Termite Terrace” at the Warner Brothers Studio have been the gold standard of animated shorts. Only MGM and Max Fleisher came close to the chaos and hilarity of Looney Tunes. The other studio’s cartoons, expecially Disney’s, pale in comparison.

With animation legends Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng at the helm, Warner Brothers led the pack with a roster of animation superstars like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and more. Even with top directors, Avery and Clampett, moving on after WWII, the Warner Brothers cartoons still cranked more hits than misses until around 1960.

After the animation unit was shut down in 1965, there had been many attempts to revive the Looney Tunes characters (at least once a decade) with mixed results. Some of the revivals have been commercially successful, and some get credit for trying, but none of the revivals have come close to matching the comedic craft and anarchy of the classic Looney Tunes of 1935 to 1945. In fact, a lot of the attempted revivals were downright horrid.

That’s why, when I settled in to watch Looney Tunes Cartoons, I was stunned. The animation was lush and easily as good as the golden age. The character designs skipped over the last few decades of ill-advised “updates” and returned to the classic looks. And the cartoons are funny as hell. There was none of that limited animation and angular design crap.

These were like finding freshly-discovered artifacts, unseen since the 1940s. If it weren’t for the occasional contemporary reference (flat screen TVs and smartphones), these would pass for vintage Looney Tunes gold.

Even more shocking to me was the credits. The producer of Looney Tunes Cartoons is Pete Browngardt, the creator of Uncle Grandpa. I loved Uncle Grandpa on Cartoon Network, but I never got any indication from the show that the same producer could make classic-style Looney Tunes cartoons. The show had more of a modern, Cal-Arts style to it.

Yet even way more shocking to me was the discovery that Johnny Ryan was one of the writers and story editors. I’ve been a fan of Ryan’s since Fantagraphics started publishing his underground comic, Angry Youth Comix, back in the 1990s, and with his extreme and obscene take on the world he is probably the last person on the planet that I would have pegged as ever working on a mainstream animated property.

I cannot stress how pleasant a surprise it is to see new Looney Tunes that are so faithful to the source material. The character designs harken back to the designs of Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and a young Chuck Jones. The Bugs Bunny you see in Looney Tunes Cartoons is primal Bugs. He’s not even the refined Bugs that we saw in the 1950s. This is pure, uncut Bugs Bunny.

There have been minor design changes, but they are miniscule. Bugs Bunny has yellow gloves instead of white.

Daffy Duck is the insane Bob Clampett Daffy, not the lame egotistical Daffy of the post-war era. This is manna from heaven for fans of classic animation.

Other Looney Tunes characters are revived as well. Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote return in new cartoons which are as funny as the three good ones that Chuck Jones made back in the 1950s. The crew behind these cartoons was responsible for the animated parts of Coyote vs. Acme, earlier this year.

We also get to see classic renditions of Marvin the Martian, Gossamer, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety and Sylvester, Beaky Buzzard, Taz, Porky Pig and others.

The Voice work by Bob Bergen, Candi Milo, Eric Bauza, Fred Tatasciore, Jeff Bergman and others is great. The direction and tone is perfect, and the animation is amazing. Check out HBO Max for the best Looney Tunes Cartoons in 75 years.

Now you can get all these animated gems in one glorious piece of physical media for you to wrap, put under the tree and treasure. You can even pet it and call it George.

You can order Looney Tunes Cartoons: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) from Movie Zyng, and poke around the site for plenty of other great Looney Tunes collections.

Today’s second entry in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a Blu-ray collection of a British sitcom that I raved about last August.  Ann Droid comes from the brilliant mind of Diane Morgan, AKA Philhomina Cunk, and it’s a great gift for fans of Cunk, cutting-edge British comedy, or just really great funny stuff in general.

Ann Droid (2026) 2-Disc Set Blu-ray
Available from Cinema Discs.com
$21.98 with free shipping

Frist I’ll let the blurb do the talking…

In the near future, when widow Sue (Sue Johnston) is left living alone, her well-meaning but hopeless son Michael (Paul Ready) gifts her a secondhand, discontinued eldercare robot named Linda (Diane Morgan). What follows is a brilliant blend of deadpan British humor and touching drama, as the socially inept, overly attentive robot turns Sue’s quiet life upside down. Created by Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall, this acclaimed BBC sitcom explores themes of aging, loneliness, and the absurdities of modern technology with sharp wit and genuine heart.

This 2-disc Blu-ray set includes all six episodes of the hit first season in stunning high definition. A must-have for fans of British comedy and smart sci-fi satire!

Here’s what I wrote:

Ann Droid is a brilliant six-episode sitcom, created by Diane Morgan (Cunk, Mandy) and Sarah Kendall and it manages to be fiercely hilarious and satirical while also being heartwarminig and engaging.

Ann Droid tells the story of Sue, a widow whose husband died 18 months earlier, and her new android assistant robot, whom she names Linda, after her sister…who she can’t stand.

Linda is a “pre-loved” and discontinued AnnDroid Z58/100 Basic Eldercare Robot given to Sue by her son, Michael, because he’s reconciling with a wife who cheated on him during the time his father was dying.

The series is set in 2029, so it’s not a far-flung futuristic tale. It’s quite plausible, given the rise of AI. Sue’s life is populated by a universe of realistic characters who happen to be ripe with comedic potential. We have the loser son, the overbearing friend that everybody hates, an array of cantakerous elderly friends, plus the cheating wife of the son, the guy she cheated with and the various employers of Michael.

What makes the show work, aside from the sharp and well-paced writing and direction, are the performances. Sue Johnston is well-known to Anglophiles from her work on Downton Abbey and The Royle Family, and Diane Morgan has never been less than incredible in everything she’s done. Whether she’s the dimwitted documentarian, Philomena Cunk, or the erratic underachiever, Mandy, she’s simply one of the most briliant comic actors around. As Linda, she manages to balance an almost alien-like naivety with a battery of knowledge equal to the internet, and she’s just as capable as AI of misconstruing reality and screwing things up completely.

She’s very much like ChatGPT with a body, and the comedic potential is fully-realized here.

The supporting cast is note-perfect as well, and the show is one of the rare programs that I’ve actually binged. It’s that compelling and hilarious.

Watch this preview…

Anyone who knows Morgan from her work on Cunk or Mandy knows how darkly hilarious she is.  This show manages to be both hysterical and heartwarming, which is a true claim here, unlike when they say it about other recent shows.  I’ve only seen the region-free Blu-ray at Cinema Discs.com, but it may turn up elsewhere.

Also of note, if you are already a fan of Diane Morgan, be advised that Cunk On Cinema, a three-part series, will hit The BBC on November 12, and Netflix a few days later.

It’s Godzilla Day, along with being the third day of The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide, so today our first entry is just going to send you to the Godzilla.com blog so that they can point you to all the fine last-minute celebratory Godzillery.

As they said last week…

Godzilla Day is coming, and there are plenty of ways to join the celebration! November 3, 2026, marks 72 big years since the original Godzilla opened in Japanese theaters in 1954. This year, the occasion brings everything from a remastered video game and exclusive artwork to apparel, toys, and more.

The festivities also lead into the North American theatrical release of Godzilla Minus Zero, with IMAX Early Access in theatres across North America on Godzilla Day, November 3, ahead of the wide release on November 6. Tickets are on sale now! Whether your plans involve a trip to the movies or a new addition to your collection, here’s what to look out for!

More announcements are on the way! We’ll continue updating this blog as details are revealed, so keep checking back for the latest news.

Seriously, with a new movie opening this week, tons of new merch, physical media, toys and apparel coming out, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of the big, grumpy, lovable destructive force of nature.

Pro-tip:  If you are a local, Charleston, WV movie-goer, Park Place Cinemas in Charleston has access to ALL of the special popcorn buckets, souvenir cups and other goodies.

Radio Free Charleston is Partly-NEW as we dig into our archives for two 2017 episodes of RFC Volume FourTuesday on The AIR!  To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.

Here’s the deal. On Sunday, I began  running The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide here in the blog. This begiins my most labor-intensive month of work on PopCult.

However, this year I also decided to abscond with my beautiful wife for a quick trip to The Bluegrass State to see some friends and do some holiday shopping.

But I didn’t want to schedule another full-repeat in this spot because I just did that three weeks ago.  The solution was to record a brand-new first hour, and then dig out two episodes of RFC Volume Four which had not yet been recycled into Volume Five.

The fun part is that I recorded this show last Friday, on the same day I cranked out NINE POSTS for PopCult.

We have a killer show anyway.  We open with a really cool collaboration from Massing’s new Remix collection, Nothing 2 Fear. We get to hear them team up with Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess on a track remixed by Smith. Then we bring you a cut from the new album by our old friends, The Big Bad, Hexed.

The rest of our first hour includes new music from The Pistol Whippers, Vinto Van Go, Lonely Robot and more.

Then we bring you two great episodes of RFC Volume Four that haven’t been heard anywhere in over five years.

I’m tired just thinking about it.

Check out this playlist, with links to most of the artist’s page for the first hour of the show…

RFC V5 291

hour one
Massing w/Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Flattery”
The Big Bad “Romance Postmortem”
I. Jeziak & The Surfers “Twilight”
The Pistol Whippers “Punani Tsunami”
Vinto Van Go “Sometimes Maybe”
Hitchcock Circus “Cry Baby”
Payback’s A Bitch “Election Day (26 Remaster)”
Messer Chups “El Popcorno”
best dressed ghost “Citrus Kissed and Citrus Told”
Gary Myrick “Evil Men”
Lonely Robot “Twin Suns”
The Anchoress “Stop The World”
Nothing To Protect “Black Coconut”
The Surfaris “Hey Joe”

hour two
Scarlet Revolt “Bleed”
Bon Air “Cloaking Device”
Wren Allen Band “Before Hello”
Christopher QiET Vincent “Ain’t No Man Gonna Change”
Fabulous Head “C U Move”
CHUM “Angels In The Snow”
Year Long Disaster “Names of God”
Byzantine “Ancestry of the Antirchrist”
HARRAH “Blood Moon”
Chuck Biel “Turtles All The Way Down”

hour three
The Velvet Brothers “All I Know”
Bon Air “Julia”
Fabulous Head “White Trash”
The MFB “Thigh Gap Mishap”
The Company Stores “So Good”
Under Social “Dead Inside”
Treasure Cat “Battle of Britain”
Corporate Orange “New Drugs”
Wren Allen Band “Flood”
The Scrap Iron Pickers “Swamp Thing”
Groove Heavy “Feel This Groove”
No Rain “Blind”
David Synn “Regression”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. We bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

After RFC, stick around for encores of recent episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM get ready for two classic episodes of The Swing Shift, featuring the best Swing Music from the last century!

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM,  Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursdays and Sundays.

Our second pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is the latest Disney Store exclusive set of Marvel MEGO figures.

Spider-Man Mego 8” Action Figure Set 2 – World’s Greatest Super-Heroes
From The Disney Store
$99.99 plus shipping

I’ve been writing about my love of MEGO action figures for most of the life of this blog, and this set is perfect for the MEGO collector, Marvel fan, or just anybody who likes cool action figures.

These vintage-style figures depict four characters from the Spider-man universe that have never been rendered in the MEGO format before (except by some very talented customizers). This is a great combination of brand-new stuff that’s still soaked with nostalgic appeal.

At the behest of Disney, Mego Corp. continues their relaunched classic 8” action figure line. This exclusive four-figure set, which includes Symbiote Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Rhino and Mysterio, comes in vintage-style Mego packaging inside an outer box. The set includes a collectible metallic coin with classic Spider-Man art and Mego logo.

Each figure has 26 points of articulation, exact replicas of the vintage Mego accessories, and removable silkscreen stretch costumes.

The inner boxes perfectly capture the look and feel of the vintage MEGO figures from the 1970s, and it’s great for Spider-man to have new villains to fight. The black-suit Spider-man is a fan-favorite who wasn’t created until after MEGO concluded their original run, so it’s great to have him on hand…until the symbiote gets out of hand, anyway.

Part of the Marvel World’s Greatest Super-Heroes Collection by Mego, and can only be ordered from The Disney Store, or purchased at their theme parks. Most of the time they have some kind of free shipping deal for something this pricey, so check the website for more details.

The first pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a book we first reviewed back in June.  This is the first of several books devoted to classic men’s adventures magazines that we have in this year’s Gift Guide.  It’s the perfect gift for the fan of great commercial art, or folks who yearn for the days when we had more innocent saliciousness in our entertainment.

Gil Cohen: Inside/Out Archive Collection
Covers and Illustrations From Vintage Men’s Adventure Magazines 
Art by Gil Cohen
edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle
New Texture
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1943444731
$45.95

Gil Cohen: Inside/Out is an unexpected treat. It’s a treasure trove of the work that celebrated Aviation Artist, Gil Cohen, created from the 1950s to the 1970s when he was a freelance artist working for several of the top Men’s Adventure Magazines.

The Men’s Adventure Magazines were something that probably has to be explained to most folks younger than fifty. These sucessors to the vaunted “Pulp” magazines of the 1930s and 40s were magazines aimed at men, but they weren’t quite porn. In hindsight, they seem raunchy and innocent at the same time. Most of the time they told testosterone-fueled stories of big, strapping men fighting against all odds, much of the time accompanied by a dame in a bikini or her underwear.

They were soaked with a type of salaciousness that, by today’s standards, seems almost wholesome. This much over-the-top masculinity, which wasn’t quite as toxic as what we see today, is sort of charming. Aside from the more lurid stories, there was a lot of WWII adventures, and fighting wild animals. It’s fun stuff if you don’t mind the total lack of political correctness and the delightfully dated references.

But this book is not about those magazines, per se. The one feature that the Men’s Adventure Mags had that makes them so remarkable was that they featured spectacular painted covers and inner illustrations. This is where commercial art elevated itself to the level of fine art, and in the Men’s Adventure Mags, they did it without the pretentiousness or marketing savvy of the Pop Art movement, which was happening concurrently to the heyday of this type of adventure illustration.

This book is dedicated to one of the top Men’s Adventure Magazine illustrators, Gil Cohen, who went on to do several movie posters and over 100 paperback covers for the Mack Bolan: Executioner series, before turning his focuse to Military and Aviation Art, where he is considered a master, with several works hanging at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, as well as at the Pentagon.

This book, the first in a projected series, is an overview of Cohen’s work in the Men’s Adventure field (there have been several collections of his other art), and it’s stunning.

This is work that was created under intense deadline pressure. Yet, Cohen’s artistic ability and professionalism shine through. He managed to take deliberately sensational stories, filled with lurid details and PG-rated prurient interests and illustrate them with beautifully-composed and expertly-deliniated flash.

Most of the time, the illustrations were much, much better than the stories they depicted.

Cohen is 94 years old, and I believe he’s still painting. He’s been interviewed extensively for future volumes in this series, which will present his work in chronological order, but this first entry is an incredibly generous sampler of his entire Men’s Adventure career.

We get to see how Cohen manages to tell a story in a single illustration that conveys more emotion and attracts more readers than the prose that accompanies it. This book opens the door to a whole world of amazing art that hasn’t been exposed to enough people.

Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle have curated a wonderful collection of Cohen’s art, and I’m really looking forward to see more entries in this series.

Fans of fine illustration, great art and retro pop culture will love this book.

You can order Gil Cohen: Inside/Out directly from the publisher (along with a vast array of other books devoted to Men’s Adventure Mags) or from Amazon, or try ordering it from your local bookseller using the ISBN code.