FORTRESS OF BAILEYTUDE

All-Star Comics #68

Hey! HEY!! The week ain’t over yet, fanboy! Not until you’ve had your heapin’-helping of another fun-filled, exciting, and thrill-packed episode of TALES OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA!

Scott and Mike kick lucky #13 off with still more of YOUR thought-provoking e-mails and have SO MUCH FUN reading and discussing them that they spend over an hour doing so! Yikes! A whole lotta ground gets covered, including a discussion of geek elitism and just exactly why Mike HATES Johnny Thunder with the fire of a thousand suns!! (He has anger management issues, folks)

After that, the guys discuss All-Star Comics #68 and ask the HARD QUESTIONS!! Such as — What the hell did the Gotham Airport do to piss off so much Alan Scott anyway?! — And — If nothing less than a bursting shell can break Power Girl’s skin, why does simply running into a wall knock her the f*** out?!

Sadly, no Hostess ad again this week (there really oughta be a law!), but there was a TON OF AWESOME going on elsewhere in the DC Multiverse and so the guys try to take some consolation in covering that.

All of this PLUS — Mike and Scott fight a grizzly bear with nothing but guts, determination, and a spork!!

Just kidding on that last one… or — are we…???

Simply The Bestest Podcast You’ve Ever Heard… or my name isn’t William Howard Taft!!

We hope you enjoy our show and will join us each and every Friday for more Tales of the Justice Society of America!!

Be sure to check out Scott and Mike’s other podcast Back to the Bins!

Episode 38: February 1989

Welcome to the thirty-eighth 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.

In this episode Jeff and Mike kick off the Superman in Exile storyline with the books that came out with the cover date of February 1989. In Superman #28 we see a very lonely Superman and the death of Clark Kent. In Adventures of Superman #451 Superman gets swallowed by a space whale as Lex Luthor makes a move on Professor Hamilton. All of that plus elsewhere in the DCU/the real world and even more e-mails!

Oh and Jeffrey gives his take on Superman’s role in Death in the Family. It’s…interesting.

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.

Man I got a lot done today.

I had the day off today, which I really needed because work has been really stressful as of late.  We had the threat of a visit from corporate and that usually throws everyone into a tizzy and results in working more hours and generally trying to kill ourselves to get the store in fighting shape.

I was really at the snapping point yesterday.  Yes indeed I was.

Usually I spend my days off far away from the computer so I can spend some time with Rachel.  Rachel puts up with me doing all of these reviews and podcasts so it is only fair if I don’t have to work that I devote my full attention to her.  Today, however, was a special day as writer Laurell K. Hamilton was doing a store signing at one of the Barnes and Noble in Atlanta and since Rachel loves her some Laurell K. Hamilton I was going to do everything possible to get her there.  I am not a big fan of Hamilton’s work, so I figured I would bring the laptop with me, sit in the Starbucks and catch up on some “busy work”.

Boy did I catch up on some “busy work”.

I don’t know if it was being away from the house or the fact that I had to kill about five hours but I was able to get so much done today it’s not even funny.  Here is what I was able to accomplish…

• Wrote two reviews from the Superman Homepage.  They were for Justice League of America #41 and Justice League: Cry For Justice #6.  I was even able to e-mail those to Steve because of the free wi-fi.
• Wrote a review for the Spider-Man Crawlspace.  Amazing Spider-Man #618 to be exact.  I was able to post that because of the previously mentioned free wi-fi.
• Made four posts to this blog to catch up on the Tales of the Justice Society of America and From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast entries I haven’t been able to do.
• Catch up the episode listings for both Views From The Longbox and From Crisis to Crisis.  I was a few months behind on both.
• Delete the spam and do general site business, including finding a neat new plug-in for the Pages feature, on both blogs.
• Get the audio for this week From Crisis to Crisis ready for editing tomorrow.

And all of this was after spending about an hour or so cleaning up the XML code for Views and FCTC while Rachel was getting ready, which should clear the way for me setting up a new feed for Views so I can better track the downloads and subscriptions to that show.

I feel as if a great weight has been lifted and I am pretty much caught up on everything except one Amazing Spider-Man review, but I will knock that out tomorrow.

All while Rachel attended her Q & A and signing.  It’s been kind of interesting sitting here in Starbucks and doing all of this.  I was somewhat amused to see how all of the Laurell K. Hamilton fans dress alike, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering the commonality of “my people”.  This is one of the few times where if I had to find my wife the description, “She’s about five foot two, wears glasses, a lot of black clothing, boots and a corset, ” wouldn’t get me very far.

Tomorrow I go back to work but I am so much more on track than I was yesterday.

And that…is…awesome.

DC Special #29

It’s that time again, folks! No not Miller Time, you lush! I’m talking about “Tales of the Justice Society of America” time! Whoo-hoo!!

This week, Scott and Mike kick things off with more of YOUR e-mails and the usual discussion/tangents/rants that they inspire. Listen to hear The Amazing Scott predict something eerily close to the I-Pad well before it was even announced!!

Then, it’s on to DC Special #29 which features the Most Sensational Secret of World War II — The Untold Origin of the Justice Society and how they came to be!! See (or at the very least hear anyway) how it all began as the guys cover this spectacular issue from top to bottom — including Mike proving that he does indeed have a very large chip on his shoulder when it comes to proving how what a big comic book brain he supposedly has!!

Special appearance by Uncle Adolf!!

After that are the ads and, sadly, they’re not quite up to par. I mean, For Pete’s Sake, there wasn’t even a Hostess ad in this one (which Mike and Scott are fairly certain violated some law from this time period)!!

All of this — PLUS — What else was lookin’ good in the DC Multiverse at this time!!

:Sigh: I still can’t get over there not being any Hostess ad in this issue. That’s just downright Un-American!

Simply The Bestest Podcast You’ve Ever Heard… or my name isn’t William Howard Taft!!

We hope you enjoy our show and will join us each and every Friday for more Tales of the Justice Society of America!!

Be sure to check out Scott and Mike’s other podcast Back to the Bins!

Episode 37: Cosmic Odyssey

Welcome to the thirty-seventh 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.

Presenting another side-trip episode as Mike and Jeff put off Exile for one week to examine the four issue, prestige format series Cosmic Odyssey. Written by Jim Starlin with art by Mike Mignola this Fourth World fueled story threatened the entire galaxy and since Superman was a major part of the fight the boys are covering it here. This is probably the most contentious episode as Jeff and Mike argue a great deal about how the Man of Steel is presented so if nothing else you can listen for the “bloodbath” that ensues.

Or just listen because it turns out that Cosmic Odyssey was a lot better than either of the guys remembered. It’s your choice really.

Next week: Exile.

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.

All-Star Comics #67

Scott and Mike kick this episode off by going through some of the awesome e-mails that have accumulated over the past few weeks. That is, I suppose what Scott and Mike do could technically be called just reading e-mails. Other people might call it a more of a two-man support group as the guys get a whole LOT of stuff off their chests — which was exasperated by the fact that both of them were in VERY foul moods before they even began recording (these are two grumpy ol’ bastids, don’t forget!).

Afterwards, they delve into All-Star Comics #67, which, SHOCKINGLY, the verbose ones don’t have surprisingly little to say about!!

Are they ill??!! Listen to Find Out!!

And, of course, they love you so there is another hilarious Hostess ad this week — which begs the question: How precisely pray tell do you steal a F***ing Mountain?!!

Pigeon Person is stealing the mountain, why is she stealing the mountain?*

*with apologies to William Shatner

Simply The Bestest Podcast You’ve Ever Heard… or my name isn’t William Howard Taft!!

We hope you enjoy our show and will join us each and every Friday for more Tales of the Justice Society of America!!

Be sure to check out Scott and Mike’s other podcast Back to the Bins!

Episode 36: January 1989

Welcome to the thirty-sixth 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.

The cover date returns as Mike and Jeff bring you an extra sized episode that examines the books that came out with the mark of January 1989. In Superman #27 the final fight between Gangbuster and Guardian which leads right into the shocking revelation of Gangbuster’s true identity and Superman’s fateful decision in Adventures of Superman #450. Both of these issues inspire some spirited debate and the boys actually disagree more than once. After that there’s talk of Invasion #3 and a handful of e-mails to round out the show.

Next week: Cosmic Odyssey.

Next, next week: Exile.

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.

All-Star Comics #66

The latest “Tales” is up and ready for download! So what the hell are you waiting for??!!

This week, Scott and Mike go off on a number of lovely tangents, including why Batman is a super-hero, dammit!! They also discuss the final story from All-Star Comics #3 (the first appearance of the JSA), which concerns the original Emerald Gladiator — GREEN LANTERN! Then they dive into All-Star Comics #66, which is an important issue not only because it has awesome Joe Staton/Bob Layton artwork but also because the name “Super Squad” is dropped from the book like a bad habit. Yaaay!

There is also the Character Spotlight feature (profiling Hawkman this time ’round) and a brand-spanking-new segment where Scott and Mike spend some time seeing what else was going on in the DC Multiverse at the time this issue of All-Star came out.

Oh, and there are the ads. Oh boy, are there ads!! Including — a Batman and Robin Hostess ad (which should surprise no one really since Batman and Robin starred in like 98.7% of all Hostess Ads, even the ones that appeared in Marvel Comics)!!

Simply The Bestest Podcast You’ve Ever Heard… or my name isn’t William Howard Taft!!

We hope you enjoy our show and will join us each and every Friday for more Tales of the Justice Society of America!!

Be sure to check out Scott and Mike’s other podcast Back to the Bins!

Episode 35: “Winter” 1988

Welcome to the thirty-fifth 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.

The “gray months” conclude this time out with the second set of Superman books that had no cover date. This doesn’t stop Jeff and Mike from looking at Superman #26 and Adventures of Superman #449, both of which bore the Invasion: Aftermath trade dress in addition to talking about Invasion #2, which Mike makes no bones about loving. So this week you get the first appearance of Baron Sunday, Guardian vs. Gangbuster, the return of the Newsboy Legion, Jimmy meeting Bibbo and lots and lots of super-heroes and villains versus lots and lots of aliens. It’s an action packed episode, folks with action, suspense and even a smattering of voodoo.

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.

Episode 9: All-Star Comics #65

This whacky episode begins with a discussion of Chewbacca’s comic book dialogue and just gets weirder from there. Hosts Michael Bailey and Scott H. Gardner bring you yet another exciting chapter in the ongoing saga of comicdom’s first super-team!! First up, Michael recounts The Atom’s Indiana Jones-esque adventure from All-Star Comics #3 (the JSA’s very first get-together). Then it’s on to the feature event, an in-depth discussion of All-Star Comics #65 where we find Superman battling for his very life against the fiendish schemes of Vandal Savage!! Character Spotlight this issue zooms in on Alan Scott, the ORIGINAL Green Lantern, and last but not least — BECAUSE YOU DEMAND IT! — still more zany comic book ads!!

In “That Dirty Beach” (hey, that’s seriously the title! I don’t make this shit up, okay?), We find out that Aquaman and Hostess Twinkies are the reason why we continue to have used rubbers and medical syringes washing up on our shores…

Simply The Bestest Podcast You’ve Ever Heard… or my name isn’t William Howard Taft!!

We hope you enjoy our show and will join us each and every Friday for more Tales of the Justice Society of America!!

Be sure to check out Scott and Mike’s other podcast Back to the Bins!