For years, my browser’s homepage has been Mike’s Amazing World with its array of comic-book covers, credits and synopses. I was thrown Monday morning when I opened up Firefox and saw the site’s landing page had changed.
I never met Mike though we emailed once or twice and I got to tell him how much I appreciated his work. IIRC I stumbled across what was originally Mike’s Amazing World of DC Comics ā the name harks back to a 1970s DC promotional/informational magazine ā around 20 years ago. As Mike explained it, he’d been a 12-year-old in 1985 when he heard a kid his age brag about owning every DC comic book. Mike liked DC so he decided cool, he’d do that too! He had no suspicion the kid might have been exaggerating, or that it would be a larger task than he’d ever complete.
Around 2002, he turned his hobby into a website. Digital images of DC covers, credits, character lists, synopses. Speculation on the dividing line between Earth-One and Earth-Two for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and other characters who showed up on both Earths. Later he expanded it to Archie Comics, Marvel, Charlton and a few other publishers.
As I’m a comics nerd (you may have noticed), stumbling across Mike’s was a blessing. Just looking through the covers for different series was a great way to pass the hours, or using the chronological listing to see what was for sale when I was born, graduated high school, etc. (and more recently to track month-by-month publishing for my Silver Age reread).
This was an era when searching the Internet for stuff like that, let alone getting useful search results, was way harder than today. Golden Age stuff was only available in DC’s pricey Archives and similar books from Marvel so reading the synopses was fascinating. Mike’s was also helpful keeping track of what’s come out since I moved to Durham and stopped checking the comic-book stores regularly.
Even now with so much more information available online, Mike’s is a fabulous resource for this stuff. I still sometimes take a break and flip through covers.
I’m glad the site will continue even without him. I’m glad it exists at all. Thank you Mike.
#SFWApro. Amazing World cover by Carmine Infantino. I can’t make out the artist’s signature on the Death piece [update: Conrad in comments says Chris Bachalo]
I saw this a few days ago on Facebook, and it bummed me out, even though I’d never had any interaction with Mike. It’s such a valuable resource, and it’s so cool he was able to do it for so long.
The cover I think is by Chris Bachalo, unless Iām mistaken
I use the site regularly, to identify what I bought 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago, for threads on Classic Comics Forum and also for references to appearances of chronology for reviews I also do there. I was happy when he added more indie comic material, as references outside of DC and Marvel are sparse and my memory ain’t what it used to be.
Never conversed with him or met him; but, when someone is younger than I and passes, it sure feels wrong.
Oh, I know, the age hit me too ā I double-checked to confirm I was older even though I knew I was.
Conrad, added your suggestion to the OP.
I did correspond with Mike once or twice in response to points where we disagreed (Earth-One vs. Earth-Two continuity) or for added information about a couple of synopses. He was always helpful.