Arts & Entertainment __ Connie Sheehan/Daily Nebraskan Brian Schur sits among mst a few Batman items sold at the store he owns, Cosmic comics. bam! batman s back invading local shops By Bryan Peterson Suff Reporter Break out the Bat briefs, boys and girls. Batman is back, bigger than ever, according to Lincoln mer chants. Stores in Lincoln arc filled with Batman merchandise and collect ibles to fill the needs of a new generation of Batman fans. Larry Lorenz, owner of Trade A-Tape/Comic Center, 227 N. 11 St., said he has seen a great surge ol Batman interest. He said a new, younger audience has joined the older core audience. “He’s always been a popular character, but there is a bu/z about it now for some reason,” he said. I’ve always liked him. The comic quality has varied. When done right, he is a good charac ter.” Cosmic Comics, Last Park I’la/a, carries a wide variety of Batman paraphernalia, including boxer shorts, watches, lunch boxes and two dozen t-shirt de signs. Brian Schur, the store’s owner, said he is expecting much more merchandise soon. Schur said Batman’s popular ity rose with the appearance of the 1982 book, “The Dark Knight Returns.” In the book, a 50-year old Batman came out of retire ment to battle urban blight in Gotham City. The interest in Batman has continued to rise since then, being fueled by two monthly comics, a series of graph ic novels and antic i pation of the movie “Batman,” which will open in Lincoln on June 23. The movie will feature Mi chael Keaton as Batman and vet eran bad-guy Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Schur said long-time Ba# .an fans were skeptical at first, especially concerning Kea ton’s portrayal of Batman. Now that he has seen clips from See BATMAN on 8 Attack of the new releases Well, ili in is it: the last summer of the 1980s. Music anil other trends shape soci ety's perception of an era -- and are usually the most powerful in the latter half of a decade. All the great 1960s classics were recorded alter 1965. Most trashy 1970s disco, which is currently being revived in under ground clubs, w as recorded in the late ’70s. But during these identity-lacking, rctro-cra/ed 1980s, most of the inter esting music was recorded before 1984 - when the second British inva sion and MTV opened doors for groups like New Order, Bauhaus and The Smiths. t Relentless nostalgia and haby boomers’ arrogance shot a sedative into the arm ol pop c nil tire in the mill HOs. And we re still leeling the el lev. is as oldies radio stations and powerful yuppies saturate the air wa\os and media w nh the sounds and styles ol ihe ' Big Chill generation. It has been hard lor new bands to get breaks because programmers and record label exec mixes would rather re hash the Beatles and Jellerson Airplane than listen to people who don't I eel sentimental alter xxaichmg an episode of "thirty something." But the SOs artists ate finally lighting back Asa few of the follow ing new releases prove, it s not too late to end the . lift Bono ami Michael Stipe arriving it Hollywood pre mieres. Hu e re ready lor their ,veli deservedclose up Mr DeMdlc.Stay tuned. litimU : H +> Debbie Harry, “Once More Into the Bleach." tt hrysalis): Re-mives ol both oid and new songs are always a gamble because* they usually strip most ol the original hooks from a tune and add endless ilrnm 111:11 huii' ih il tut itn l.tr > millennium. Bui dial s hardly the ca>e with this re mixed retrospective ol Blondicand Debbie Marry classics from the late ID7()s and early S(K. Blondie hits like “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Atomic” and “The Tide is High” -- as well as Harry's solo efforts “Feel the Spin” and “French Kissin’ In the U.S.A.” - arc all included with just enough high tech, synth-pop polish and techno house sampling to give them a mod em feel. And the re-mixing wasn't done by some corporate sound engi ill'll, i wui} aiiu iiu iiuMiaiiu, v.im.s Stein, did all the studio work. The re mix of “Rapture” makes Harry’s golden oldie sound like the latest favorite on Brooklyn and Bronx homeboys’ bealboxes. The “Rap ture” re mix, with its funked-up, throbbing 1989 bassline, could easily be re-released and sell even more copies than the 1981 original. Ditto for the re-mixes of “Backfired” and “Rush, Rush.” Musical deja vu has never sounded this fresh. (Grade: A +) Cookie Crew, “Born This Way.” (Poly(iram): Cookie Crew, Britain's answer to Salt ‘N Pepa, scored two hip-hop hits the past few years w ith the feminist rap “Females (Get On Up)” and the the U.K. house track “Rok Da House.” On their l .S debut, these two South London homegirls prove lhal trenchant rap anil hip-hop doesn't have to eome Imm the bor oughs ol New York City. The> ma\ ha\e to lake a Hr»>ii\ an.cm to sound nit hem ic bin unlike most rappers, they rel\ lesson electronic sampling and scratching and more on tapping to produce a heal. \iul ihe Cookies aeei deal ol singing about the sexist stx-ixoixpes their male xonnterparis wallow in. On cuts like "I rom the South' and 'Black U the Word, ihx- Cookies come oil sounding cheesx. cme and streetwise simulta neous!} BomlhisWjv islurther proo! that these daxs. more ol the interesting Max k soul is coming I'rom the U.K. instead ol New York. < (■ ratio: B i Swing Out Sister, “Kaleido scope World." il’olxdrami: Swing Out Sister, the lashion posing British duo that hit the H.S. I op 10 in l()X6 with "Breakout," is hack with a second I..P. ol inoffen sive pop. Their sound is described in the press kit as "ja/./y pop," but tracks like "Wailing Game" and "Forever Blue" sound more like postmodern Mu/.ak. Fortunately, British colleagues like Everything But The Girl exist - and that group does more for the power Mu/.ak genre than Swing Out Sister’s bouncy, annoying pap could ever hope to. However, there’s a bright side to ‘ ‘ Kaleidoscope World" if one just looks at the jacket cover: fash ion victim/vocalist Corrinc Drewcry wears enough eyeliner to make her resemble a cheerful, bubble-gum version of Siouxsic Sioux, (tirade: C -) Swans, “The Burning World.” (Uni): New York's Swans, along with Coil, Sisters of Mercy and Sonic Youth, have created some of the decade’s best dirges and art school pretensions. On “The Burning World,” Swans' debut on Urn Rec ords, Manhattan’s inert leaders of the funereal have created another beauti ful, wrist-slashing, hyper-poetic trib ute to death, darkness and mysticism See BEATBOX on 8