Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAnswering your mystical call since 1969

Yes, I’m thinking about bringing “End of Civilization” back, just in time for Previews to (maybe) go away.

§ March 14th, 2025 § Filed under pal plugging, podcast § 3 Comments

First, thanks for the birthday wishes from yesterday, both here and on the Blooskies. Much appreciated, and helped me get through some birthday blahs I was having. 40 didn’t do it to me, 50 didn’t do it to me, but 56 caught me by surprise. Ah well, it is what it is.

Second, don’t forget to get in your submission for the Final ’90s Countdown of indie comics. Represent your 1990s faves, and I’ll talk about ’em when I decide the voting’s over! (I’m already seeing some votes for titles I have literally nothing to say about, so it’s gonna take all my blogging powers for some of those write-ups!)

Third, I’ve added a couple new icon links in the sidebar, this time to more podcasts. That Vintage Video link has been there a while, since I’ve guested on a couple of episodes, and a third is coming soon-ish!

New to the sidebar is Longbox Heroes, a long-running weekly podcast of comics news and reviews hosted by Todd and Joe. I am officially a Friend of the Show, and they shout me out in every episode which is nice.

That link goes to their Patreon, but the weekly show is free. But, for only a dollar a month you get a lot of bonus material, including an additional weekly podcast (“After Dark”), a monthly review of the more offbeat superhero movies (“Comic Book Oddities”), and the monthly “Previewing the Past,” where they look at the Diamond Previews of exactly 30 years ago. It’s like my old “End of Civilization” posts, only much more thorough! And if you pay five bucks a month, you get all the bonus stuff right away, otherwise you wait a couple days for “After Dark” and two weeks for the rest.

Speaking of that “Previewing the Past,” the most recent episode, covering March of 1995, includes some contributions from me! I guess the guys were tired of me messaging them after the fact with some tidbit or two about what they discussed, since I’ve been in this business for so long I was selling the stuff they were talking about in those old catalogs. Anyway, they sent me a scan of the March ’95 book, I wrote up some notes on some of the items therein, and they used them on the show! So, if you sign up now, you’ll get to hear that (unless you join at the dollar level, in which case you’ll have to wait a week or so).

If you need additional incentive…on a recent episode Joe stated that for their “Comic Book Oddities” podcast, where the movies are chosen randomly from a list, if Frank Miller’s The Spirit comes up, they will move Heaven and Earth to have me as a guest commentator. To which I say, “My City Screams…to Be on That Podcast!”

Okay, and that other new icon added to the sidebar is for War Rocket Ajax, a show I have listened to since Episode #1 and plugged on this site even back then. Lots of great interviews to be had there, plus answering reader questions, entertaining lists of ranked comics, and a whole lot more. I am also Friend of the Show to these guys as well, occasionally sending in a contribution now and again. One of my faves is my thematically-appropriate submission for their Rawest Moments in Comics list, here on Episode 666. I even sponsored an episode way back when! Their Patreon will give you bonus audio and writings, too.

And it just occurred to me that I should have added icon links to the Comic Book Yeti podcast (where I was a guest recently) and to my pal Kurt’s Welcome to Geektown, for which I am a Patreon supporter.

Oh, wait, speaking of Comic Book Yeti, they put up a free bonus track from my interview on their Patreon. So please, check that out if you need to hear more of my melodious voice.

Sheesh, okay, this was supposed to be a short post, since it’s still technically my birthday as I write this, and in my aged, decrepit state I barely have the energy to spare. Thanks for reading (and listening!), pals, and I’ll see you Monday.