Invasion #3 from DC Comics.  Whe I was a kid, I walked into the grocery store one day with my family, and there on the magazine rack inside the door was Invasion #3.  I hadn't seen the first two issues before that (not that I recall, anyway), and this one made my young jaw drop.  All those heroes on the cover!  All those heroes inside!  United to face a global threat of alien invasion! So many ill in a full page shot of hospital beds!  I would hunker down there beside the rack and flip through the pages, so excited about this comic.  As I said, the magazine rack (more like shelves) was right beside the entrance to the store, and I remember many times hunched there getting a blast of cold air whenever someone entered the store in winter. I don't know if this was one of those times, but if it was, I wouldn't have noticed as entranced as I was.  I have since bought issues 1 and 2, but as yet haven't read them. 

Outlaws of the West #84 from Charlton Comics.  This was probably my first western comic; if not, it was my first Charlton western comic.  This issue was given to me (or traded for something) by a friend of mine back in grade school.  It's one of my favorite comics merely because of the memory/nostalgia of it; I remember little about the contents.  What stuck out to me at the time was the details of the Charlton printing when this comic was made: the colors were a bit blotchy and the bottoms of the pages sometimes had serrated cut patterns.  I also remember the western dialect used in the stories was heavy.  Overall, probably not a great comic, but it'll always stick in my mind affectionately.

In this introductory Extra episode, I mention some recent buys, I am asked if "they still make comic books anymore," and I recommend a new podcast by a Comic Book Attic listener: Kirby Your Enthusiasm.  (5:26)

(Comic pictured is a recent dollar buy).

The Thanksgiving & Black Friday Comic Book Experience.  (20:21)

(Thinking about Black Friday brings new meaning to the title of the comic pictured here...)

It's time again for a look at a crazy old romance comic; this time, the issue is Love Experiences #9 from 1951.  Also, some recent finds.  (22:58)

In this episode, I take a look at Marvel's The Adventures of Quik Bunny.  (9:57)

What I bought Nov. 17.  (9:39)

The accompanying cover shot is a "wheels" themed comic in my collection.

In this episode, I take a look at The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man #2 from Marvel Comics.  (8:29)

This is a placeholder for the link to The Cinematic Attic: http://cinematicattic.libsyn.com/

There you will find all my movie-related podcasts and blog content.

That's right, folks.  I have revived the separate libsyn page for The Cinematic Attic.  Why?  As much as I didn't want to realize it, my interest in film has become almost equal to my interest in comics.  I have a lot of great ideas for new movie podcasts, youtube vids, and other content.  It just feels right for me to have a page devoted to lots of comic podcasts, a page for all the movie podcasts, and a page for a variety of other podcasts.  The trinity of Mike, if you will.

I am in the process of migrating all the Cinematic Attic content that was exclusive to The Attic of Babel page to its rightful home, http://cinematicattic.libsyn.com/  As the items are moved, I will be deleting them from The Attic of Babel page.

If all the content moving of the past year has confused and frustrated anyone, I apologize.  I think this will finally straighten it all out.

In this episode, I talk about Nightveil #5 as well as recent finds and mail order goodies.  There's also a Doc Savage addendum and a report of comic books sighted in a grocery store (in 2010!  Not a dream!  Not a hoax!  Not an imaginary story!). (18:17)

What comics I bought for 9/15.  New buying habits.  (8:56)

After reading some of them, here are a few grades: 
New Mutants #17: C
Incredible Hulks: Enigma Force #1: C
Captain America: Patriot #1: A.

In this short episode, I talk about A Career as a Veterinarian..., a 2009 reprint of a 35 year old promo comic.  (7:23)

Today, August 11, marks the 4th anniversary of The Comic Book Attic's first posted episode.  I recorded a Comics on Wheels episode today; I'll post that as soon as I can spare the time.  Hope you're all enjoying today's new comics.

In the first episode of a brand new comic book podcast on promotional comics, I talk about Saving Can Be Fun! from 1968.  Old advertisements included.  (15:59)

This episode is all about comics by mail.  I go over some recent comics I got in the mail (and elsewhere), and I talk about the days of ordering comics by mail when I was a lad. (29:32).

I talk about the new comics purchased on June 23rd as I drive home from the shop.  Also, my visit to The Collector's Edge. (14:03)

(Accompanying cover pic is of an issue I got at The Collector's Edge.)

In this episode, I go over vacation comic book finds and talk about The Adventures of Jell-O Man and Wobbly #1. Yes, Jell-O Man.  (23:44)

Betty Paginated zine, latest issue #31 seen here.

Betty Paginated blog here.

New Dimension Comics

Photos of the immense back issue room at New Dimension Comics here and here.

Three videos taken during my 2nd visit to Geppi's Entertainment Museum:

The half I've read, stored away:

The half I haven't read, strewn about my house during sorting:

Ever hear those Pep comic buttons advertised during the Superman radio show?  Here they are...

In this episode, I talk about Young Allies #1. (16:13)

Comics purchased on June 16. Comic sorting. (7:39)

(The cover pic accompanying this episode is of a comic I bought a few weeks ago. I forgot to use this image then, but I'll use it now to promote a comic I love: Atomic Robo.)

Driving home from the comic shop. (6:51)

I set out to read 100 comics in May, and here's what I read:

From 2010:

1. The Flash #2

2. The Marvels Project #8

3. Adventure Comics #11

4-8. Superman: War of the Supermen #0-4

9-11. Marvel Zombies 5 #1-3

12. Sentry: Fallen Sun #1

13. X-Men: Blind Science #1

14. Justice League: Generation Lost #1

15. Owly and Friends (FCBD 2010)

16. Free Comic Book Day: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter

17. Atomic Robo/Neozoic/Box 13 Free Comic Book Day 2010

18. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #155 ½: FCBD

19. Free Comic Book Day: The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Comics

20. Weathercraft and Other Unusual Tales (FCBD)

21. Free Comic Book Day 2010 (Iron Man/Thor) #1

22. Secret Avengers #1

23,24. Brightest Day #1,2

25. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #35

26. Free Comic Book Day 2010 (Iron Man: Supernova) #1

27,28. Irredeemable Free Comic Book Day Edition (#1)/Incorruptible Free Comic

           Book Day Edition(#1)

29. Irredeemable #10

30. New Avengers Finale #1

31. First Wave #2

32. X-Men: Hellbound #1

33. The Avengers #1

34. Thunderbolts #144

35. Detective Comics #862

36. Avengers: The Initiative #35

37. Dark Avengers #16

38. Siege #4

39. Doc Savage #2

40. Action Comics #889

41. Deadpool #23

42. Fantastic Four #579

43. X-Factor #205

44. Uncanny X-Men #524

45. New Mutants #13

46. X-Men Legacy #236

47. X-Force #27

Others:

48-51. Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1-4 (2009)

52. Patrick the Wolf Boy: Mother’s Day Special 2001

53. Patrick the Wolf Boy: Valentine’s Day Special 2001

54. Patrick the Wolf Boy: Christmas Special 2000

55. Patrick the Wolf Boy: Halloween Special (2000)

56. Dragonring #6 (1986)

57. Dragonring (2^nd) #10 (1987)

58. The Infinity Crusade #6 (1993)

59. Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #40 (1976)

60. The Unexpected #217 (1981)

61. Breach #2 (2005)

62. The Sensational She-Hulk #46 (1992)

63. Marvel Presents #8 (1976)

64,65. Sock Monkey vol.4 #1,2 (2003)

66,67. Sock Monkey: The “Inches” Incident #2,3 (2007)

68. Tigra #1 (2002)

69. Resurrection Man #1 (1997)

70. Blaze: Legacy of Blood #1 (1993)

71. Marvel Mangaverse: Avengers Assemble! #1 (2002)

72. Marvel Mangaverse: Ghost Riders #1 (2002)

73,74. Batman and the Outsiders #7,8 (1984)

75. Batman #442 (1989)

76-79. Starman #12-15 (1995-96)

80. Superman #675 (2008)

81,82. Warlord 2,3 (1976)

83. Jughead Comics, Night at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, Free Comic Book Day

      Edition #1 (2008)

84. Donald Duck Adventures-Free Promotional Comic Book (2006)

85. Secret Six #3 (2009)

86. Uncle Scrooge #372 (2007)

87,88. Strange Tales #158, 161 (1967)

89-91. Tales to Astonish #72-74 (1965)

92. Batman/Grendel: Devil’s Riddle #1 (1993)

93. The Silver Surfer #104 (1995)

94. Quasar #56 (1994)

95-98. Adventures of the Big Boy #100, 106, 185, 358 (1965, 1972, 1987)

99,100. Doc Savage #5,7 (1973)

Here is the second episode, a week late.  I had to wait for account space to free up.  JJ joins me in this quick run down of what I bought last week. (7:25)

The cover image this episode is from an older comic in my collection.  I thought it might be fun to sometimes post car-related covers of comics in my collection for Comics on Wheels.

My 200th podcast!  New finds (with JJ).  Comic book numbering.  Doc Savage's comic career, with a focus on his short-lived Marvel's 1970's series, as I look at Doc Savage #5 and #7.  Finally, my visit to Geppi's Entertainment Museum.  (36:38)

The former "Drive Home from the Comic Shop" segment from the negative-numbered episodes gets its own podcast.  I talk about my May 12th purchases.  (16:05)

Found on YouTube... the newscaster isn't funny...

Detective Comics #27...

Action Comics#1...as well as Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #1...

I started taking a rather crappy video that I abandoned after a minute:

Watch this official video instead:

A new podcast that has fun with comic book related audio, especially old radio shows.  Enjoy the adventures of Superman and the Fantastic Four plus a lot more. (40:03)

For me as a kid, the normal edition of Overstreet's price guide was way out of the scope of my small allowance, so when the first edition of the smaller, cheaper Price Guide Companion came out, I got it as soon as I was able.  It was a revelation to see all the different titles I'd never heard of.  I looked at and studied this guide so much that the spine split into two halves.  I still have it, though.  From there, I graduated to borrowing the normal editions from the library until I was finally able to afford to buy them.  I buy a new Overstreet guide every few years, but it never has the same effect as that first little abridged pocket edition.

The Comic Book Heroes: From the Silver Age to the Present by Will Jabobs and Gerard Jones.  I bought this book when I was a kid and DEVOURED it.  It was the first history of the comic book heroes I ever read, and it was so intensely fascinating, I can't even put in to words how valuable this volume was to my young comic-reading mind.  Its history only began with the Silver Age, but I wasn't complaining; up until this book, the only history I got to experience was issues of Marvel Saga and reprint comics.  Highly recommended then and now.

Collecting Comic Books by Marcia Leiter.  I got this book at a yard sale as a kid, and it helped shape the comic collector in me at an early age.  I learned all the basics of comic collecting, including the terminology, the grading system, and the ways one could hunt down comics (at least 20 years ago). 

Make Your Own Comics For Fun and Profit was a book I read a lot as a kid.  It was among the books in the library where I went to 6th grade, and I checked it out again and again.  As a youngster, I made my own comics-- hundreds of them.  This book was an inspiration to my young comic-creating mind.  As an adult, I found this book secondhand and bought my own copy. 

I talk about Firestar #1 ('10).  (11:46)

This is a placeholder link to my other podcast/blog page, The Attic of Babel.

http://atticofbabel.libsyn.com

I plan on adding more comic book themed podcasts to this page.  Some may be segment spin-offs (like maybe a Run With It! podcast), others will be new ideas (like a podcast on Marvel's alternate Earths or a podcast on anthropomorphic animal comics or a podcast paying tribute to deceased comic creators, etc.).  That's all the info I have at this point, and I don't want to announce a bunch of things I never deliver.

I am, however, hoping to deliver at least one new podcast next week (fingers crossed).  This will require me to go into the category listing of all the CBA episodes and change them from "podcasts" to "The Comic Book Attic" so that I can categorize the new ones appropriately.

In this episode, I run down some recent finds, look at the 1950/51 promotional comic Joe the Genie of Steel, and talk about why I buy so many comic books.  (25:58)

It's always fun to discover something I didn't know existed.  Found this 1977 Challengers prose novel at an antique shop for $4 today.

From 2009/2010:

1. Action Comics #887

2. Adventure Comics #8

3. Avengers: The Initiative #34

4. Blackest Night: JSA #3

5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #33

6. Captain America #604

7. Dark Avengers #15

8. Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1

9. First Wave #1

10. Flash: Rebirth #6

11. Green Hornet #1

12. Green Lantern #52

13. Guardians of the Galaxy #24

14. Haunted Tank #3

15. Justice League: Cry For Justice #7

16. Justice Society of America #36

17. The Marvels Project #7

18 &19. Mighty Avengers #34, 35

20. New Avengers #63

21. Nova #35

22. Siege #3

23. The Stuff of Legend (Free Comic Book Day issue)

24. Supergirl #51

25 & 26. Superman #697, 698

27. Superman: Last Stand of New Krypton #1

28. The Torch #6

29. Transformers: Bumblebee #4

30. Uncanny X-Men #522

31. Wednesday Comics #2

32. X-Factor #203

The rest:

33. Adam Strange Special (2008) #1

34. Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006) #2

35. Between the Cracks (2003) #4

36 & 37. Captain Marvel (2000) #9, 11

38. Catwoman: When in Rome (2005) #6

39. Futurama Returns (2007) mini-comic

40. Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such (1995) #1

41. Justice Society of America (1991) #1

42 & 43. Silver Surfer (vol.3, 1990) #42, 43

44. Silver Surfer: Dangerous Artifacts (1996) #1

45. Stupid (1993) #1

46- 48. Sub-Mariner (2007) #4-6

49-53. Suicide Squad (1988) #21-25

54. Young Avengers (2005) #4

JJ joins me in this episode. I describe the oddball comic that is Popeye and Business and Office Careers #E-10 from 1973 (with some thoughts on promotional comics); JJ and I talk about Fantastic Four #275; and finally, we briefly discuss superhero toys. (27:27)

In the midst of a spam-'splosion on this blogpage, I have turned on comment moderation.  I will begin weeding out the already posted spam a bit at a time.

What I read in February...

From 2009-2010:

1&2. New Avengers #61, 62

3. The Transformers: Bumblebee #3

4. Blackest Night: JSA #2

5. Action Comics #886

6. Superman #696

7. Blackest Night #7

8. Blackest Night: The Flash #3

9. Justice League: Cry For Justice #6

10. Captain America: Reborn #6

11-14. Superman: World of New Krypton #4, 5, 6, 12

15. Justice Society of America #35

16. New Mutants #10

17. Dark Avengers #14

18. Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13

19. Siege #2

20. Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3

21. Suicide Squad #67

22. Secret Six #16

23. Nova #34

24. The Torch #5

25. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #32

26. Justice Society of America Annual #2

27. Superman: Secret Origin #4

28. The Phantom Stranger #42

29. Weird Western Tales #71

30. The Question #37

31. The Atom and Hawkman #46

32. Catwoman #83

33. The Power of Shazam #48

34. Adventure Comics #7

35. Captain America #603

36. The Perhapanauts: Molly’s Story (Special) #1

37&38. Guardians of the Galaxy #22, 23

39&40. Justice League of America #41, 42

41&42. Green Lantern #50, 51

43&44. Supergirl #49, 50

45. Atomic Robo and the Revenge of the Vampire Dimension #1

46. Titans #19

47. Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1

48. (X-Men) Second Coming: Prepare #1

49&50. Fantastic Four #575, 576

51&52. X-Factor #201, 202

53. Ms. Marvel #50

54. Domo: The Manga (Diamond mini-comic)

55&56. Deadpool #19, 20

57&58. Avengers: The Initiative #32, 33

59. Thor #606

60. The Marvels Project #6

The rest:

61-65. Starman (1995) #5-9

66&67. The Defenders (1972) #3, 12

68. Wild Knights (1989) #7

69. The Unexpected (1976) #175

70. Zero Assassin (1996) #4

71. The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes- The Ghost of Mary Shelley Preview (2008)

72. Toyboy (1987) #3

73. Superboy (1965) #123

74-76. Hercules (1982) #1, 3, 4

77&78. Hercules (1984) #3, 4

79. House of Mystery (1982) #306

80. Howard the Duck: The Movie (1987) #3

81. Popeye (and Business and Office Careers) (1973) #E-10

82. Dune (1985) #3

83. Justice League of America (1973) #106

84-87. The Huntress (1989) #1-4

88. Suicide Squad (1988) #20

Trades:

89. Atomic Robo Vol. 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin’ Scientists of Tesladyne

It's the snowed-in edition of The Comic Book Attic!  Along with a Silver Age Superman Spotlight on Superboy #123, I talk about The Defenders #s 3 and 12, Toyboy #3, The Unexpected #175, and Wild Knights #7. (41:22)

No elaborate "best of" list or anything.  I just want to make note of some 2009 reads that stood out to me.

My most fun with a comic in '09: Nova

My most detested book of '09: Hulk (the adjectiveless book)

My nicest comic discovery of '09: Atomic Robo

A few words regarding my local shop's big sale (see some of the buys in the accompanying video), a contemplation on the inhabitants of fictional universes, and What's That About? with JJ. (24:29)

Just a quick note:  I've decided that the negative-numbered episodes will undergo a bit of a redesign.  In addition to whatever I talk about (whether it be what I bought that week or a review of a new comic), I will mix in other fun audio bits that are comic-related.  Old radio shows, songs, theme songs, or excerpts from anything comic-themed will be fair game. 

The next proper numbered episode is half done.  It's been a busy couple months...