Originally published at FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE. You can comment here or there.

Episode 19: February 1988

Welcome to the nineteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast! This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index. Part commentary. Part history lesson. All podcast.

This week Jeffrey and Michael…well, normally this is where Michael would normally write something like, “This week Jeffrey and Michael conclude their look at the issues of Superman that tie into the Millennium event,” but in all honesty only one book really and truly ties into that crossover. At any rate the Superman books with the cover date February 1988 are covered this week, which included Superman #14 (a team-up with Green Lantern), Adventures of Superman #437 (Jose’s finest hour) and Action Comics #597 (Pa Kent proves that he can’t think on the fly).

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also theiTunes link .

If you want to comment on the show or contact the hosts you can always private message Mike and Jeff, at the Superman Homepage, leave comments here or at the Homepage or here or email them by clicking this link.  All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome. The guys will try to incorporate e-mails into the episodes once the show gets rolling.

Seriously, let us know what you think.

Originally published at FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE. You can comment here or there.

Episode 14: November 1987

Welcome to the fourteenth episode of From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast!  This podcast has a simple premise; examine just about every Superman comic published between Man of Steel #1 in 1986 to Adventures of Superman #649 in 2006 in an informative and hopefully entertaining format.

Part index.  Part commentary.  Part history lesson.  All podcast.

This week Michael and Jeffrey check out one of the best months in the Crisis to Crisis era so far as they explore the books that came out in November 1987.  Well, three of the books came out with the cover date November 1987.  One of them came out with a cover date of December 1987, but that wasn’t actually a Superman title so it doesn’t count and besides it finishes off a story that continued out of this month’s Action Comics, so it made no sense to cover it next month, which is kind of full as it is so please stop judging us.

(Deep breath)

All right.  This time out the boys discuss the first Post-Crisis appearance of a certain citizen of the fifth dimension, see the birth of a new hero and watch as Booster Gold does a really good job of beating Superman senseless.  It was a fun month and both Jeffrey and Michael had a really good time recording this one.

You can subscribe to the show in two ways. First there is the RSS Feed and there is also theiTunes link .

If you want to comment on the show or contact the hosts you can always private message Mike and Jeff, at the Superman Homepage, leave comments here or at the Homepage or here or email them by clicking this link.  All questions, concerns, fears, trepidations and cheap shots are welcome. The guys will try to incorporate e-mails into the episodes once the show gets rolling.

Seriously, let us know what you think.

Originally published at VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX. You can comment here or there.

Views From Sector 666 Episode 1

You would think that a guy that for some reason can’t keep a regular schedule wouldn’t want to start another “mini-series” but here we are with Views From Sector 666, my attempt to discuss Blackest Night month by month.  Joining me for this madcap journey into the zombie apocalypse for the DCU is my good friend Thomas Deja, host of DJ’s Comics Cavalcade and co-host of the addictive Better in the Dark.  Thomas has been on the show with me before discussing Green Lantern and it seemed like he was a good choice to discuss an event that stems from the Green Lantern titles.  Hopefully Shag will be with us next month when we do this but this thing came together with little to no notice so I didn’t have a chance to coordinate things as I normally would.

So this month we give a brief and horrendously inadequate break down on the lead up to Blackest Night before getting into Green Lantern #43, Blackest Night #1, Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps issues 1 thru 3 and Green Lantern #44.  Amidst the “serious discussion” are about sixteen hundred tangents that amused us greatly.  I also do the world’s worst impression of Dan DiDio.  I mean it was awful.  Really, really bad.  I was thinking of cutting the majority of our tangents but they made me chuckle while editing and Views is all about tangents.

During the episode I mention John Ostrander and his battle with glaucoma.  John Ostrander is one of the best writers that the comic book business has ever seen.  Suicide Squad.  Firestorm.  Manhunter.  The Spectre.  The Kents.  These are all some of the best comics I have ever read and if he loses this battle he loses his site.  Check out the site Comix4sight and see how you can help.  If all you can spare is a dollar that’s fine but try to give something because John deserves it.

Next month: Blackest Night #2,  Green Lantern #45, Green Lantern Corps #39, Blackest Night: Superman #1, Blackest Night: Batman #1 and Blackest Night: Titans #1.  Thomas will return and hopefully I can get Shag on too.

Also check out the podcasts Thomas either hosts or co-hosts because they…are…awesome.

Originally published at FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE. You can comment here or there.

So I am doing some surfing…

Wait.  I have a question.

Does anyone call it “surfing the web anymore”?  Seriously.  Is that an archaic term these days?

I’m just curious.

In any case, I was poking around on some of the hype sites despite trying not to do that so as much these days for my own sanity and because I have been so freaking busy.  Over at Comic Book Resources they had a five page preview of Adventure Comics #1.  In the spirit of full disclosure I am looking forward to Adventure Comics #1 like you wouldn’t believe.  I have followed Conner Kent since he first appeared and I like the character quite a bit.  Also I am kind of jazzed that Superman is getting his “family of titles” back.  August can’t come fast enough for me.

So I’m checking out the five page preview and then I get to this page.

Uh…is that Superboy…like the old school, adventures of Superman when he was a boy Superboy at the top of this page?

When I saw the previous page with Superboy flying with the Legion I was of the opinion that when Clark traveled to the future he put on the costume but while in Smallville he was just, for lack of a better term because the term does suck, a red blue blur.  Here we see a young kid in a Superman…well, Superboy costume saving the day.

Maybe Superman: Secret Origin is going to have some genuine surprises.

For the record I have no problem if they bring back Superman growing up as Superboy.  As much as I like a Clark Kent that put on the costume for the first time as an adult (heck, I co-host a podcast about it called From Crisis to Crisis) Superman as a character is versatile enough that changes like this can be made.  I may not connect to it on a deep and emotional not to mention nostalgic level but if done right it can be kind of cool.

More to follow…

Originally published at FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE. You can comment here or there.

So what does this…

…have to do with this?

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Originally published at VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX. You can comment here or there.

Episode 69: Wednesday at Titans Part 2

Do you have a comic shop that you go to?  A place where you can just go and hang out for a little while and chat with the guys and gals working there as well as your fellow patrons?  Well if you do then this week’s and next week’s episode will seem kind of familiar.  If you’re not familiar then this is a taste of what that sort of thing is like  In either case I finally got my act together and recorded an episode of the show on location at Titan Games and Comics in College Park, GA.  This week more people enter the fray and the conversation gets more…interesting.  Sadly things are changing at Titans so I am really glad I got this episode in when I did.  More on that at a later date.

I have been rather ill this week and I had a few other commitments to get done, so I had no time to go through my Official Marvel Zombie application.  I’ll try to get to that next week.

As always, you can e-mail using the handy link to your right.  I also welcome comments and questions either here or at the Official Views From The Longbox Forums, a proud member of the Geek Out Loud forums.  Also leave me a review at iTunes via the other handy link to your right.

Thanks everyone.  See you next week.

Originally published at VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX. You can comment here or there.

Episode 65: God Will Probably Sit This One Out Too

Another week, another solo episode.  This one is very late, but I wanted to get it out anyway.  The subject this week is the Punisher.  I go through some random thoughts on the character before tackling two books I got out of Titan Games and Comics dollar box; The Punisher Movie Special and The Punisher: A Man Called Frank.  I also have a few e-mails to go through this week in addition to some shout outs and announcements.

One of those announcements is that Views now has some forum space thanks to my buddy Big Honkin’ Steve.  Head on over to the Geek Out Loud Forums, scroll down slightly and there you are.  Start threads, comment on threads already started but more than anything have a good time with it.  I am planning to use this area a lot, so come and let your voice be heard about the show.

Links

The Punisher Archive: A very details Punisher site.  I frequently use this as a resource for the character.

Marvel’s Punisher Entry: Marvel’s online handbook entry.

Originally published at VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX. You can comment here or there.

Episode 64: Tales From The Dollar Box: Flying Blind on a Motorcycle

I’m flying solo for the first time in two months this week and while the plan was to only go about a half hour with some listener e-mail after that things did not go as planned.  It was fun though, so there’s that.  This week I talk about the 1992 storyline Rise of the Midnight Sons, which saw the Ghost Rider of that era team with the Ghost Rider of the seventies for their “epic” battle against Lilith.  Along the way they team up with and/or fight Morbius the Living Vampire, the Nightstalkers and one of the worst comics of all time, Darkhold.  Before that I tell you about my broken glasses, ask you to take part in an experiment and go through a little of the history of Ghost Rider as a concept.  After the “main feature” I go through a stack of reader e-mail.  All of this in an hour and change.

If you have any particular thoughts about this episode or the books I discuss feel free to comment here or write me directly at michael@viewsfromthelongbox.com.

Links

The Grand Comic Database: I mention it on the show.  It’s part of the experiment.  Check it out if you haven’t yet.

Originally published at VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX. You can comment here or there.

Episode 61: A Year Three Place of Dying

Welcome back for Part 2 of my conversation with Shag on some of the Batman books from 1989.  This time out we go through two Marv Wolfman written Batman tales; Batman: Year Three and A Lonely Place of Dying.  We cover a lot of ground this time out and it is a pretty packed episode as we cover the writing, art and characters of both stories.

The cover you see at the top of this post is from from my trade of A Lonely Place of Dying.  That is Marv Wolfman’s signature on the cover.  I had the chance to meet him twice at two different DragonCons and I am really pleased to have this book signed.

Did I bring it back the next year to get it signed by George Perez?  No.  Why?  Because I am a moron.

Links

Here are the links to the podcasts and blogs mentioned in this week’s episode.  We go into why we like them in the episode so here are some straight up links.

• Major Spoilers
• Has Boobs, Reads Comics.
• The Continuity Blog
• Tom Vs. The Flash
• Speed Force
• Groovy Superhero

Come back on Friday for the second part of our conversation where we tackle Batman: Year Three and A Lonely Place of Dying.

Originally published at FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE. You can comment here or there.

…Trinity.

I mean I really didn’t like the book and was seriously considering dropping it altogether.  I dropped Countdown, after all and man that was hard to do, at least from the perspective of being an addict.  You are currently reading a blog written by a person that has in his house at least 80% of the super-hero books DC published between 1986 and 2006 and will tell you that he owns the 1997 crossover Genesis and not blink or feel dirty like he should.  I have stuck with them through a lot, so it has been kind of rough lately to admit to myself that I really don’t care for a lot of what DC is doing at the moment.

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Originally published at Fortress of Baileytude. Please leave any comments there.

I like DC Direct.  I like Mego.  I like the current wave of Mattel action figures.  My absolute favorite DC line of toys EVER was the Super Powers collection.

And I just found some commercials.

I placed the videos below the cut, because I like you.  I found a site years ago that had some great info on the line, including the original pitches and what could have been.  Check that out HERE. 

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Originally published at Fortress of Baileytude. Please leave any comments there.

And I really didn’t want to postpone it either, but that’s how it worked out.

I had a plan.  I really did.  I was going to spend the end of July writing all of the posts ahead of time so I could just crank them out daily.  I forgot one simple thing, though.

Back to school.

My day job is that of a department manager at a big box office supply store.  We take care of business as opposed to simply saying that that was easy.  This time of year is busy for us because the area schools are getting ready to start up again.  Add to that Georgia’s Tax Free Holiday and I am one tired human being.

So if you were looking forward to the Reign of the Supermen stuff I am sorry.  It’s coming, just not in the next week or so.  I really want to have everything done before I transform and roll out.

Sorry.  My bad.

Oh!  Thanks to the people who have been leaving comments.  I really appreciate it.  James is one of my buddies from the Superman Homepage who writes bang up reviews of the old Superman radio series and some kick ass retro reviews as well.  BrianR is someone I don’t think I have spoken to online but seems like a good egg and has a neat blog called Comics In Crisis, which I greatly enjoyed and need to add to my blog roll.  And my boy Fiduch is a Live Journal friend, so seeing him comment was neat too.

Oh yeah.  Some guy named Shag keeps commenting too.

Just kidding.  Shag’s a very good friend of mine.

So there you have it.  Stuff is coming.  It’s just delayed.  I feel bad but unfortunately this blog is something that sometimes has to be put off when time is tight.

More to follow…