Hello! Welcome to the Atomic Junk Shop! We’re your friendly proprietors. Think of us as the bookshop owner that can trace the history of a genre, a record shop clerk that can point out the influences of your favorite bands, the person at the comic store register that can tell you all about the run of comics that you’re sure to love based on what’s in your pull box.
Feel free to rummage around and see what we have to offer you. While we came together through a mutual love of comics, our tastes are varied and eclectic. You’ll see our latest acquisitions there in the display window. There’s a spinner rack over there with pulps and comics and paperbacks. In that corner, we have old movie posters and toy robots. OK, not really, this is just virtual space on a blog that isn’t selling anything, but use your imagination! You know, the thing that gets fired up by this stuff, and pretend!
Basically, we’re here to discuss anything that a teacher or librarian used to frown upon, or a jock would give you a wedgie for liking, or that your parents would tsk tsk with disapproval for your interest in it.
We’re not opposed to the flood of the new, but we do wish to take the time to stop and appreciate the junk culture foundation that modern nerd fandom is based on. You’ll find the old and the new and the forgotten and the unearthed here at the Atomic Junk Shop.
Stay awhile, browse all you like at what we’re discussing, and if you have anything you’d like to contribute, feel free to get in touch!
I hope the email works and gets out. I’m not going to turn this into a CBR bash fest or anything (maybe later) but I do really miss the community the CSBG had more than anything. The news is the news. Can get that anyway. The discussion that followed it was elite. And while boards are more moderated, the discourse always seemed to be of a lower level there so I never bothered. Hope to see some people pop up back here, even if Brian’s still stuck over at the other site.
I don’t want us to beat up on CBR either. But the style guide we got from the new owners might as well have been titled, “You know all that stuff Hatcher does? We’re not doing that.” They didn’t come out and SAY so– that is, mention me by name– but they might as well have. And the hell of it is, they’re not WRONG. Their business model is valid and clearly very profitable. But it’s not what we’re good at doing and it’s not what we like to read. So here we are… no hard feelings, no harm no foul. Sometimes “going in a different direction” really IS what happens.
And we certainly hope to build a community here. We did everything we could to let the old CSBG regulars know, everyone we had contact information for. In fact, it was one of the first things Travis mentioned when he came on board, that he wanted us to get the comments section the way it was at our former address. So please pass the word!
Bland, generic writing; amazing how something totally devoid of personality can be money-making; but, that’s the modern world. I did my griping, saw nobody was willing to answer criticism and just stuck with occasionally posting on the forum. I’m looking forward to getting back to some writing with depth and silliness and trading bad jokes back and forth.
“We did everything we could to let the old CSBG regulars know, everyone we had contact information for.”
I’ve actually kind of been wondering about that. I know people like Greg B would’ve had our emails from being admins (not to mention anyone could’ve copied it down during that mess towards the end), but I’ve wondered how you chose who to email?
I’m assuming it’s based on number of posts?
(Now… where’s Rene? Where’s Fraser? Buttler? 🙂 )
I saw Fraser post before me i one of the other posts on here. Haven’t seen Rene yet. If we don’t see him in awhile I might email him….I think his email popped up in the “we don’t care that our system is so buggy it’s giving out other people’s emails to you” era, and I jotted it down in case I ever needed to say hi.
Cool. I saw his email a couple of times, but neglected to keep it handy.
I dropped him an email. If it was a real email and not just a set up one for posting maybe he’ll pop in. Or call the Brazilian IT cops for violating his privacy. But I immediately got some email spam back in Portuguese, so I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one.
Probably meaningless – you sent to a Brazilian email address, you got Portuguese spam.
Also, I’ve just figured out that I’ve actually been posting on a thread that Fraser’s been posting on, so I’m embarrassed.
Yeah, even beyond what it became, I got the feeling this was kind of a typical “people come up with something, sell it when it becomes profitable, and then when it gets sold again the owners are all ‘thanks, but no thanks.'” Which is their right. But it completely misses what the site strength was. There’s a list of sites that post the news just as fast, and often just straight news and not the dumb slant the site would try and attach to everything. (Which is funny because if you’re all doing the same thing the one advantage you CAN have is format and ease of use…and the new version sucks for that). But what WAS the strength was the opinions, research, and historical knowledge base the blog type writers had, which you can’t really find everywhere or anywhere else. While I feel worse for the people who were given the heave, gently or not, I do feel bad for a few people who are still stuck behind there, doing their work, but with no audience or feedback because that work has been completely marginalized. But you pay for it you can do what you want with it. Just like I don’t have to regularly click on it either.
“I hope the email works and gets out. I’m not going to turn this into a CBR bash fest or anything (maybe later) but I do really miss the community the CSBG had more than anything.”
That’s how I feel, too. I’m still reading CBR articles, but the changes have killed the sense of community, and any desire on my part to post comments there. Also, while I’m not disinterested in reading about current comics/etc., I also have a strong interest in, uh, “legacy pop culture” for want of a better term- whether from my own youth, or earlier (or, for that matter, later). I wish everyone involved in this venture well.
Welcome, indeed! This is most welcome. For we dinosaurs, who actually like to have a discussion, not just a “like”, this is a godsend. Sharing knowledge, poking fun, hanging out with similarly warped people; this is what comics and “junk” culture are all about.
Junk should be good!
* The Outhouse got the word out.
* I commented at The Beat to
scoop* Maybe someone wants to spread the word at PipelineComics (where the comment form is broken for standards-compliant browsers) or CBR’s CSBG message board (where I don’t have an account)?
P.S.: This is probably as intended, but your home RSS exposes full articles. (Most sites expose first-para summaries to preserve bandwith and encourage pageviews or adviews.)
Thanks for the note re: RSS. I overlooked the setting for that.
This all makes me so happy. Congratulations to everyone on the launch; I’m looking forward to many great posts and discussions.
Glad to see you’re continuing! I’ll send out a plug on Speed Force as well.
One note: Looks like your social media links in the sidebar are still placeholders. Though I have to admit I got a laugh out of the “needlessly_long_google_plus_id”
Hey guys, Travis here.
Just to be clear, Comics Should Be Good still exists as a tag on CBR. To get to those posts directly, the link is the following:
http://www.cbr.com/tag/csbg/
And if you want to read Brian’s posts, go for this link, since not all of his are CSBG:
http://www.cbr.com/author/brian_cronin/
Go there to see Brian? We need Brian to come here! 😀
But at least they got the links fixed. When they started clicking on his stuff just sent you to the front page. You had to go through a website maze to find anything. Though it’s really not the same without the comments. (More below). Though at least the posts aren’t 3 or 4 pages long anymore.
I’ve been using the ‘CSBG’ tag to surf that site for a while now (but thanks for spreading the word, Travis!). It does nothing to get rid of those stupid clickbait article titles down the side, though. 🙁
The comments still exist, they just don’t have the same community they used to. Few of the old crew post there, at least not recogniseably.
Hi, M-Wolverine. I’m one of the founder-owners of AJS; the site is actually hosted by me, and I was the one who initially proposed it to Greg H., and he invited the rest of the CSBG crew, with one exception: Cronin and I have a contentious history, and he was excluded from the outset at my insistence, and that is not going to change. I won’t get into the details, but it’s my decision and it’s final. Sorry.
Huh, it was more facetious. I figured there was some contractual thing that wouldn’t let him take his IP elsewhere anyway. Can’t say I’m surprised. I like the content, but it did seem like he could get….prickly…at times, if you disagreed with something.
And as for “how we chose who to email”, well, yeah, the system was buggy at the end. That is in fact how I got your emails….
Hmm… Way to turn a bug into something good! 🙂
And your SSN, credit card numbers, mortgage info, name of your pets…….
I promise to only steal a little bit from all’a yas. I’m not greedy, just a little here and there will do me 😉
DELETE ALL MY INFO ABOUT MY DARLING FLUFFY!!!!!!!!
Blackmail is such an ugly word, so I’ll use extortion instead.
Let’s just say, how important IS it to you that we delete the info about Fluffy?
Extortion: the ‘x’ makes it sexy!
Dammit, man, you know my horse is dead. >:(
But do they know HOW the horse died? That’s the exxxtorion material.
Oh, we know HOW the horse died. It’s the WHY that bothers us most!
Well, I’m glad this is back. Damn shame the Top 100 Comic Book Runs probably wont be getting an update this year, I was really looking forward to that.
Yeah, this is the see below. A lot of those articles don’t work without comments. I mean, even beyond the technical aspect of voting for Top Ten Whatevers (which were great) how does a “Fight that should have gone the other way” have much merit if the system isn’t really set up for a debate about the validity of the fight? And so many other of those types of articles that are just web filler without anyone commenting on them.
Thanks for showing up Jeremy!
As for the Runs, I hope that Brian gets a chance to update it, but based on the way the site over there is set up, it seems doubtful.
I do have to say, you guys are tough, making me do math to log in. I’m waiting for it to go nuts and ask me to do differential equations. Math be hard.
I’m not sure how that proves you’re human, anyway. All robots is good for is mathin’.
I am not a computer. Test me. Ask me to solve any– Equate– Transmit–
EX-TERM-INATE!
“Nought goes into nought, nought times………..”
“That’s some mighty fine cypherin there boy!”
It’s been plugged over at the Classic Comics Board. That started just after CBR nuked the boards a couple of years ago. A lot of posters navigated over there. The hotlink brought me over here to you guys.
Looking forward to watching this develop.
Good luck !
Thanks, Hondobrode!
Edo turned me on to this site and I have to say, it looks pretty cool so far. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Nice to have you here, M.S.! Hope you enjoy!
I was really hoping something would pop up as at least a spiritual successor to CSBG. Glad to see it did, and thanks for the email letting me know. I’m looking forward to being here on the ground floor, so to speak.
Thanks for showing up, birthday buddy! Good to have you around!
Now that I can finally log in. . . (my phone apparently doesn’t want to show me my junk folder)
Really excited for the new site! I wasn’t a frequent poster on CSBG, but I had been following the blog for years. I was very disappointed by CBR’s “New Direction”, and am glad that some familiar favorites have landed at a new home, and also looking forward to new material from new names.
P.S. Thanks for the help with getting logged in Mr. Pelkie.
Oh, Terrible-D! Now I remember you. I think. So many names to keep track of!
But yeah, no problem, glad you figured it all out. Good to have you and I hope you’ll show up regularly!
“New Direction,” no doubt provided by Wrong Way Feldman.
I was hoping for an EC pun.
PIRACY! . . of a beloved site.
They’re getting kind of touchy about sarcasm, about the site content, too. Okay, maybe “12 superhero supporting characters with cats named Muffin” and “Minor actor cast as even more minor supporting character for media property that won’t sell one issue of the comic.” was a bit harsh (and juvenile); but, it’s pretty darn accurate. I actually got a warning. First time I’ve ever been chastised like that. Like I say, it was juvenile and I should know better; but, no one seems willing to publicly address the criticism of the the new look and content. Kind of frustrating. Ah well, it’s their site, not mine. The forum is the only thing left of interest and that’s only about 1 in 100 threads. I promised to be good. I’m sure the moderators have enough headaches.
Mostly posted on Mr. Burgas’ Comics you should own. I do hope we’ll see a continuation in some form or another.
So, the site has no favicon yet.
Since there are already comic sites whose icon is an ‘A’ (newsArama), a ‘B’ (The Beat), and a ‘C’ (CBR), why not an… iconic icon with just a plain ‘J’ in some color, over a square or circle of another color?
For instance a red ‘J’ in a white circle, in the same font as the logo’s “ATOMIC”, if that would shrink nicely?
We should have an icon now.
Yep, it’s showing up.
Hello everyone!
It’s nice to read you all again.
Nice to have you with us again, Ronconauta!
I can’t post under the toy article, it says “Page not found” for /wp-comments-post.php — I wonder if I can post here?
OK, solved:
(1) If you comment and get a weird “Page not found” error, it means you’ve used a “bad word”.
(2) For instance, I got that using, er, OKER-PAY! (I mean, I was just trying to mention, er, “Dogs Playing P0ker”.)
But if you get that error, you can just click the browser’s Back button to find back your comment in the form, then try to identify the “bad word”!
Watson, thanks. (Well, my browser shows favicons at 16px, which makes the shrinked logo look, sorry, kinda like an iceberg, but maybe someday a dedicated 16×16 version could be more iconic? S’not important, just feedback.)
Talking about updates, you may want to add the site to the Update-A-Tron? BobH recently said he can add to it again, at http://fourrealities.blogspot.com/2016/09/linking-around.html
glad i found this place. i only started reading CSBG the last few months before the switch so i’m glad it’s spirit is continuing on.
Good to have you with us, xy0002!
I found a strange e-mail in my inbox
not knowing what it was about and not expecting anything from anyone called “T P” I, of course, put it in the “junk mail” with the rest of the spam
Glad you decided to look into it further, John!
You’ll notice it soon enough, but on the Flippin’ page, the ARCHIVES foooter says things like:
“Warning: Error while sending QUERY packet. PID=21929 in /home/atomicjunkshop/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1868”
“Warning: Error while sending QUERY packet. PID=30905 in /home/atomicjunkshop/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1868”
(Maybe related to the new month? But it doesn’t happen on other pages I checked.)
@Jim or Watson: The new redirects seem to have problems?
— For articles, old links jump through 2 redirections:
http://atomicjunkshop.com/2016/11/24/cerebus-hell-comics-fans-heaven/
http://atomicjunkshop.com/(.*)/cerebus-hell-comics-fans-heaven/
http://atomicjunkshop.com/cerebus-hell-comics-fans-heaven/
So links to old pages work, but oddly.
— For RSS, old links are sent to a “404 Not Found”:
http://atomicjunkshop.com/2016/11/24/cerebus-hell-comics-fans-heaven/feed/
http://atomicjunkshop.com/(.*)/cerebus-hell-comics-fans-heaven/feed/
So old feeds are broken, currently.