The Empire's podcast strikes back!

Episode 1 - We're so excited about Guardians of the Galaxy!

Here it is: Episode 1 -- 2014. Our first ever podcast hit the digital airwaves way back in 2011. We'll be sprinkling in excerpts or full episodes down the road, but best of all, we'll have all new episodes headed your way.

Our new format is shorter, 30-minute episodes. We'll get in to a topic, then we'll get out. We'll talk comics, movies, and gaming from time to time.

In this episode

Two guests joined us for this return episode: Jake DeSersa of Con Nachos Podcast and Kris Saldana of Wee Little Monsters. In this episode we talk about movies, from Guardians to Wonder Woman, and then wrap up with the comic book titles we're reading. We hope you enjoy it.

 

Join us for some shop talk

If you want to join us, just talk to Ben and he'll put you on the waiting list. Yes, there's already a waiting list!

Listen on the go using Stitcher radio on your mobile device. Stay tuned for our iTunes listing. We'll update that information right here.

Ride The Wild Spinner Rack - Part 1

Editor's Update 10/17/2014: The Ride The Wild Spinner Rack series appears in multiple posts, including, so far, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Enjoy.

Part 1: A Grocery Cart Full of Comics

Way back during the Silver Age, I was a pre-pubescent DC Comics fan: Carmine Infantino was a favorite artist, Gardner Fox was a favorite writer, and anything edited by Julius Schwartz was right about in my science-fiction possessed wheelhouse. 

There was a drug store about six blocks from my home where adults would get their fix from pharmaceuticals and I would get mine from the comic the book spinner rack.

I would scan it and bring home Mystery in Space, Strange Adventures, Justice League of America and all the rest.  I was hooked on DC and there didn’t seem to be anything else out there that mattered. 

My only other interest was music: what I played on the piano, movie musicals, and what I heard on the radio.  Around this time I bought my first record, a 45 (look it up) by Dickey Lee, a teenage tragedy song called “Patches."

Revisiting Legion of Super Heroes

  Since day one of reading comics I have been a Marvel Zombie. Not the nicest way to describe those of us who found their love of comics and passion for characters in the 616…but probably an apt one. There were only a couple DC titles I read as a kid and Legion of Super Heroes (LOSH) was my favorite. Back in the day, it was hard to find every issue of a book at your local convenience or grocery store so I missed a lot. As I got older and had more money, I completed some but not all of the LOSH. But it was not till yesterday that I had the opportunity to read a complete run from #283 all the way to the end of the 80’s.

     My good buddy Douglas Briel has spent the last couple years putting together this great run and last night he let me borrow the first box. I opened it to find a reprint of Adventure Comics #247, the first appearance of the LOSH from 1958.  In typical Silver Age fashion, Superboy is introduced to the Legion through a series of humiliating encounters that end in a big laugh as they take him to the 30^th century aboard their Time Bubble. Awesome!