Not that 56-year-old Mike has that much more money.

§ April 2nd, 2025 § Filed under collecting § 8 Comments


In late 1980, I spotted this comic on the rack during an out-of-town car trip and boy was I intrigued by the premise. Dr. 13, the DC Universe’s most prominent skeptic, face-to-face with the Spectre, DC’s most famous ghost? Somehow even at 11 years old I knew this was a confrontation of some significance. However, also because of being an 11-year-old, I had a limited budget for comics purchases and opted to pick up one of DC’s digests, which I had been in a habit of collecting, and hoping to grab that Ghosts issue another time.

As it turns out, that later time didn’t arrive, either due to a lack of availability in my area, or it sold out before I could make my bicycle rounds amongst the various convenience stores, grocery stores, and newsstands looking for my reads. And in the decades since I never did find copies, or copies of all three parts (as the Dr. 13/Spectre story ran through issues #97, #98, and #99) were never found in back issue bins all at the same time.

Why I didn’t just buy the individual issues as I found them, like I have with other back issues I was collecting, I have no idea. Could be that what 11-year-old Mike wanted for his comic collection didn’t have the same priority as other items I was seeking as, say, 20-or-30-or-40-or-God-help-us-50-something year old Mike. But I still occasionally thought about these comics and wanted to read them.

They did get reprinted, in one of the black and white Showcase volumes, and again in a Spectre Omnibus, but I didn’t get either of these. However, recently, thanks to a certain little stuffed friend, I finally have my hands on these issues, and now at last I can peruse this story.

Ghosts in general is a fun anthology title that, given time and access, I’d love to collect together a full run. The covers are great, the interior art is nice, and for some reason these appeal to me more than other DC mystery anthologies aside from that one issue. For some reason I’ve had a number of copies of Ghosts #1 come through the shop of late…maybe I should hang onto one.

In the meantime, I’ll read these Dr 13/Spectre stories and finally satisfy the curiosity of 11-year-old me.

The Final ’90s Countdown: Prologue 2.

§ March 31st, 2025 § Filed under final '90s countdown § 10 Comments

Okay, the voting, she is over, and I have counted your entries and there is one clear “winner” — but that said, all nominated are winners as they represent a solid representation of the variety of great comics the 1990s had to offer. Often a maligned decade due to the long shadow cast by the massive market crash, it was still a peak time for exciting works by talented creators.

I only had to disqualify a couple votes…since I had decided From Hell was disqualified having first appeared in the Taboo anthology in the late ’80s, I felt this also applied to Wolff and Byrd Counselors of the Macabre since it first showed up as a strip in 1979. Sorry, pals…it is a good comic.

Some of you lamented that Eightball was disqualified due to its 1989 debut, and that it was much a ’90s comic as its indie brethren. I was going to say it got covered during my Final ’80s Countdown…but rather, Eightball-precursor Lloyd Llewellyn was the title covered. I guess folks thought it was a ’90s title during that poll, too. …Maybe I’ll have to do a special review of Eightball as a sidebar to all this to make up for its borderline status.

The next thing I had to think about a bit was Peter Bagge’s Hate. Technically, it’s a continuation of material that had appeared in Bagge’s humor anthology Neat Stuff, which had started in the 1980s. It would seem to put this in the same category as From Hell and Wolff and Byrd, series that began in previous publications before continuing as its own title. But I think the shift of focus from “The Bradleys” in Neat Stuff to just specifically Buddy Bradley in Hate is enough of a transformation to make Hate its own thing. If it had been a series of stories titled “Hate” in Neat Stuff that eventually spun off into a separate comic of the same name, that would have been different. I realize it’s really splitting hairs, but I’m making the call that Hate isn’t disqualified.

A more general realization is that, looking over the final list of titles here, there are some comics I’m just plain not going to have much to say about. I mean, I recognize every single comic suggested, we definitely carried them at the shop, but I know literally nothing about them otherwise. It’s not like the ’80s Countdown where I had at least something to note about each title from personal experience, whether I read it or not. I’m chalking this up to my own transition from being a fan in the ’80s, being more immersed in reading the comics and reading about them in ‘zines and such, to working in comics retail through the ’90s, where it was more about selling the comics to customers. I mean, of course I had to know something about each title in order to do properly sell them, it’s not the same as being a fan and, y’know, actually reading them. It’s like memorizing something for a test and then immediately forgetting it afterwards once you don’t need it anymore.

Well, okay, not the best analogy there, but I hope you get my meaning. I’ll do my best discussing some of these titles I’m knowledge-deficient on…get ready for lots of Wikipedia links. …Well, okay, I’ll try to find more personal and informative links than that, but we’ll muddle through all this together, I hope.

On the other hand, a few of these titles I have plenty to say about, so gird your internet loins for that. I’ll start discussing these comics next week, starting with the lowest vote-getters in alphabetical order and working our way up through future installments over the next few…months, probably? Anyway, thanks to all you folks for participating (and I haven’t yet looked at the seperate discussion thread on the voting…I’ll get to that, too!)!

My bid for Diamond (20 bucks and an original 45 of Chris de Burgh’s “Dont Pay the Ferryman”) was rejected.

§ March 28th, 2025 § Filed under retailing, sir-links-a-lot § 10 Comments

One final reminder about leaving your pick for your favorite 1990s indie comic in the comments to this post here. Just read the rules first! I’m shutting down the comments after this weekend (I think I can do that) and I’ll start tallying the votes.

I haven’t really been monitoring the comments there, except for when I was asked to rule on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell (nope, sorry, it began serialization in 1989) so I don’t know how far off the rails everything got there. I trust everyone behaved themselves.

In other news…sorry my entries have been a little on the brief side this week. A combination of some long days at work and a sudden new eyeball issue have been bit of a distraction. (No biggie on the eye thing…the main problem is under control, but apparently I’m now allergic to one of the eyedrops, in case anyone here has seen be in person and wondered about my irritated eye with the swollen lids.) I should be back up to speed soon. Especially if I’m about to discuss a couple dozen different 1990s comic book series.

• • •

In other news:

  • Yup, Batman #158, with the first part of the new “Hush” storyline, has been unleashed. And as I noted in my previous post on the subject, there are plenty of people buying more than one cover of the thing, which is likely what DC was hoping for. Anyway, sold about what I was expecting, with enough left over for the stragglers who see, like, part four on the shelf and are all “THERE’S A NEW HUSH STORY!?”

  • So Diamond Comics Distribution has a buyer, a company called Alliance Entertainment. Actually, when I first heard the news, it was “ALLIANCE BUYS DIAMOND,” and I was all “wait, Diamond’s subsidiary game company Alliance bought it?” until I discovered it was a totally different Alliance. I’m not sure where it’s going after this, given Diamond is in its diminished form, and I can’t be the only store that’s shifted everything it could away from Diamond to other distributors. I just placed my monthly order with them and it’s the smallest its ever been. My weekly bill from Lunar Distribution is larger than that month’s Diamond order.

    It’s definitely a “wait and see” thing, though I’m sure Diamond-exclusive publishers Dynamite Entertainment and DSTLRY are breathing tentative sighs of relief.

  • Marvel’s slow rollout of who’s gonna be in their upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film was quite the stunt, as it seemed to be all over social media for hours the other day. Looks like this film will be just total mayhem but, and I hate to beat this drum again, there’s a lot riding on this film being a box office smash. And it already sounds like the movie is going to cost a lot of money, so a billion dollar take is almost certainly a necessity. We’ll find out soon enough.

There you go, All The News You Already Knew About. Thanks for reading, pals, and with any luck I’ll be back to normal blogging next week.

Boris and Mike.

§ March 26th, 2025 § Filed under this week's comics § 11 Comments


Now, several times over the years I’ve held the original 80-page Boris Karloff Thriller #1 from 1962, and I don’t know why I never kept a copy for myself. Wotta cover that thing had.

This new reprint, on the shelves of your better stores or even mine this week is not a complete “facsimile edition” as is popular with all the kids these days. It’s a 36-page sampler of stories from the original two issue run of this title, cleanly printed on nice white paper. The stories are…well, typical of horror/mystery stories of the period, with nice art and not-too-scary plots. No credits for the stories, unfortunately…they weren’t in the original, but there was enough editorial space in this new reprint to have added them in. Art by Mike Sekowsky and George Evans in here!

• • •

Comics writer Mike W. Barr has had some serious health issues and equally serious medical bills, and can use some help. Please contribute to his GoFundMe if you can.

And now, proof I don’t use A.I. to write this site.

§ March 24th, 2025 § Filed under low content mode § 6 Comments

Unfortunately, the post I was working on last night just wasn’t coming together, and by the time I figured that out it was too late to start a new one, hence the lack of content today. Sorry about that, folks!

However, I’ll take this moment to remind you this is the last week to submit your votes for the Final ’90s Countdown, in which we’re looking for your favorite 1990s indie books! Be sure to read the rules there (and make sure your book actually started in the ’90s!) and I’ll start discussing them all in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll be back with (hopefully) something more substantial to read on Wednesday!

Robots in dis poncho.

§ March 21st, 2025 § Filed under collecting § 15 Comments

So I was pricing up some comics the other day, and my eyes just happened to light upon a title I hadn’t ever seen before on one of the price guide pages. I looked up the comic on the Grand Comics Database and sure enough, that was a cover entirely unfamiliar to me.

Well, I was intrigued, so one visit to the eBays and the passing of some mailing transit time later, I am now the proud owner of the one and only issue of Zody the Mod Rob, published by Gold Key in 1970:


A representative panel:


I’ve done this sort of thing before…I spotted in the price guide some Popeye educational four-page something or ‘nother I hadn’t known about, and after finding a cheap copy on eBay here it is in my hot little hand.

It just showed up in the mail on Thursday, so I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Online pals who have tell me not to bother, but c’mon, look at this dumb thing. It totally smacks of someone in his 40s sittin’ around his office, puffing on a cigarette and thinking of What The Kids Are Into and scripting the comic accordingly. (See also that first run of the Teen Titans.)

Anyway, if you need to know more, here’s a good write-up from some years back (though I’ll add the reason the title is in plain type up above the logo, as wondered by that writer, is so the comic could be more easily identified on the rack if a bunch of books are overlapped on a single shelf — same reason for the corner boxes showing the characters on Marvel books).

• • •

I’m probably gonna close voting on the Final ’90s Countdown at the end of next week, so get in your favorite 1990s indie book over at that post sooner rather than later!

Spoiler: Lois and Lana are cured.

§ March 19th, 2025 § Filed under lex luthor, superman, this week's comics § 21 Comments

SPOILERS AHEAD


So I have to admit, of the many post-Capital Comics/First Comics attempts at reviving the Badger, this one feels most like the classic version of the character, with funny, off-kilter dialogue and a quickly-paced plot and oddball character moments. I have to admit I was taken aback a bit in the first issue by the occasional stereotyped accent used by the Badger’s Vietnamese wife Mavis, but said accent is brought up by other characters in this second issue, and she appears to be deliberately doing it to mess with a specific person. Whether we get an actual reason for it eventually, who’s to say…this is a Badger comic, after all. (Plus, I can’t remember if that was a thing in the original Badger books.)


Cute and fun, though it feels weird describing a comic with Darkseid and Desaad as bad guys as “cute” but there you go. My knowledge of the Sonic universe ends with the initial three or four original games for the Sega Genesis, and a few episodes of the live action/CGI Knuckles TV show which I inexplicably started watched not long ago. I don’t jibe with this “Eggman” stuff, for example…”Dr. Robotnik” or get out.

But the charm in this series is in the interactions between the Sonic characters and the Justice League, which is wisely the version of the team most kids will know from the animated series. And it is definitely a comic for all ages, despite the reference to a nearly 30-year-old Flash story from the Mark Millar/Grant Morrison that’s in there for aged folks like myself.

The comic also gives us this one cool panel:


Even with Wonder Woman’s foot stickin’ down from the panel above, it’s stil quite the image.


In which Elektra fights a deceased enemy of Daredevil’s that has some back and taken possession of a willing thrall in the land of the living. The main Daredevil book is also dealing with similar menaces, in that devils representing the Seven Sins are possessing friends and enemies of his. The supernatural element does feel weird to me just a little, despite 1) this is taking place in the Marvel Universe, and 2) there’s been plenty of that sort of thing in the Daredevil comics before.

It’s still an enjoyable story, don’t get me wrong. I do wish the “Red Band” polybag gimmick wasn’t A Thing, in place to supposedly protect the squeamish from the violent content within. There’s maybe like one or two panels in this issue where the blood and violence is maybe a bit much, but just as easily been handled differently and appeared in a regular ol’ non-polybagged edition.

Anyway, how long before we get, like, ghosts and demons and stuff in the TV series? We’ve already had “mystical amulets.”


I know there had been delays on the second issue, but looking it up for a customer I was shocked to be reminded it had been since the middle of 2023 since #1 came out. Regardless, this is still one solid piece of Superman comicking, building itself around, more or less, the “classic” Silver/Bronze-age-y version of the character.

The story is in regards to Superman’s search for a cure for Luthor’s incurable condition, with flashbacks to their shared childhood and CLark’s possible influence on Lex’s life. Said search reminds me a little of a story I read waaaaay back in the early ’80s, in Superman #362 and #363, in which Lois and Lana are accidentally exposed to a deadly plague…the same one that killed Superman’s adoptive parents (long story).


As you can see in those panels, Superman went researching for cures on other plants, to no avail.

He thinks about putting them into the Phantom Zone:


…but the Phantom Zone villains use their combined psychic powers to sabotage the device, because they’re dicks.

And, speaking of Luthor, even he’s like “nope, can’t help you, wouldn’t help you even if I could.”


And like in Last Days #2, Superman travels into the future to find a cure, but given the ol’ “can’t change history” excuse:


Plus, though I didn’t pull any panels for use here, I believe a similar search goes on in The Death of Captain Marvel to no avail. It was just interesting to me that these stories take on similar elements, but of course a “searching for a cure” plot on a superheroic level is going to involve, like, going to other planets and other times. And Last Days does it in a compelling way, tying the past to the present, and giving us a Superman/Luthor relationship that’s fascinating to read.

This is a Black Label book, and as such is outside regular DC continuity, allowing for a twist or turn that would break regular Superman canon. That said, I think it’s notable that the story is called “The Last Days of Lex Luthor,” and not “The Death of Lex Luthor,” so I’ll be interested to see how it all wraps up next issue.

thanks to Bully, the Little Super Bull, for his production help

“Weaknesses: Nicotine, Self-Hatred.”

§ March 17th, 2025 § Filed under publishing, swamp thing § 16 Comments

So the response to the Final ’90s Countdown survey is going fairly well, people are mostly avoiding the excess conversation there and leaving their choices. I have noticed that quite a few titles are being suggested that I (gulp) don’t really have anything to say about, so I’m gonna have to muster all my blogging powers to discuss them. I’ll say more about this when I actually start going over everything.

Anyhoo, get in there and cast your vote (after reading the instructions of course)!

• • •

Last week we got ourselves a new facsimile edition of a Swamp Thing comic book, this time being Swamp Thing #37 from 1985, the (supposed) first appearance of everyone’s favorite magical Englishman, John Constantine.

And since we are living in the Modern Age of Comical Books, there are variants a’plenty. Did your pal Mike get one of each? Oh yes he did.

There’s the standard issue regular cover:


The “Mondo” variant, with the image redrawn:


…and an ad on the back where you can buy a poster of same:


Then of course there’s the “action figure” variant:


…the back cover of which is detailed with figures I wish they’d actually make in this supposed Super Powers line:


No cigarettes in sight, but he does have his Flame Hex:


Cover D is the foil covered version, which doesn’t scan very well, but I assure you it’s plenty shiny:


And rounding out this batch of funnybooks is the blank cover, where you can get your favorite artist to draw a picture of Swampy on a motorcycle, Easy Rider style:


Now I mentioned above that this was the “supposed” first appearance of Constantine. That would be because there are some who think…well, here, I wrote about this back in 2004, but rather than send you to that heavily link-rotted entry, I’ll just reprint the pertinent info, sans dead links:

“And then there’s pal Mark, he of Dorothy of Oz fame, who makes the (I believe) very correct claim that in issue 25 of Saga of The Swamp Thing, it’s a caricature of Sting, not John Constantine, who makes an appearance. However, due to the physical similarities, some people have claimed that issue 25 marks a ‘cameo’ appearance of Constantine, predating his actual first appearance by over a year. In fact, look at this exchange in the letters column of Swamp Thing #54 (Nov 1986):

“‘Close scrutiny has brought forth one fascinating observation I’d like to share with you concerning Mr. Constantine. Everyone knows he made his debut in ST #37. But has anyone taken a close look at issue #25? … In panel 2 [of page 21] a sobbing Abigail Cable is standing next to – yeah, that’s right – John Constantine! I always wondered how Constantine could have known so much about Abby and Swampy. The bloke must’ve been following them around for months, maybe years.’

“And the official editorial reply, from Karen Berger her own self:

“‘Aren’t you the observant one…. Great spotting on Constantine’s first appearance.’

“I’m sure this is just Karen keeping a fan happy, but I’m sure you see where the confusion comes in.

“Anyway, the very reason Constantine was created was because the Swamp Thing artists at the time (Steve Bissette and John Totleben) wanted to have Sting as a character in the series….”

Okay, back to 2025 Mike now, the one with the tricky back and the eye problems. Here’s the specific panel from #25 we’re all talkin’ about here:


Mmmmm…yeah, unless that was John during his time performing in the punk band Mucous Membrane, I don’t think the character we know and love would be caught dead dressed like that. Or maybe he would, that John fella is hard to pin down.

Anyway, this “is it or isn’t it?” has been a bone of contention for years, where even the Hot Comics Apps (as of three years ago) couldn’t keep their story straight. (Warning: I do link back to that 2004 post there…honestly, don’t click on the links if you go read it.)

Now what Swamp Thing comic should get a facsimile next? Frankly, I’m pushing for them to publish a proper, finished and colored comic book version of the 1970s unpublished Swamp Thing #25. Or, for an actual published comic, Brave and the Bold #176 from 1981, the Batman/Swampy team-up by the writer of the then-forthcoming Saga of the Swamp Thing series, and drawn by Jim Aparo. That’s a good’un.

Which one would you pick?

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.

56.

§ March 13th, 2025 § Filed under old § 30 Comments

So as I was busy being born in an Oxnard hospital on this very day 56 years ago, some newsstand owner somewhere was putting the new issue of Daredevil, #52, on the racks:


But not before stamping the arrival date on the cover, of course:


I acquired this in a collection not long ago, and it’ll go nicely with my similarly-stamped Amazing Spider-Man #73!

(And a happy birthday as well to my blogging brother-in-arms Andrew!)

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