Yes, today is the second anniversary of this blog’s launch. I hope you took the over!
As many of you know, this blog rose from the ashes of Comics Should Be Good, which was an excellent blog hosted by Comic Book Resources for several years. After Jonah sold CBR so he could sail his yacht around the world fighting crime (I assume), the new overlords of the site gradually wrecked our blog and, many say (you know who you are!), the site itself. I still head over there occasionally, but it’s still a bit of a mess. One thing that was lost was the amazing comments we had on the old blog, which is why I link to old posts on that blog through the magic of the Wayback Machine when I can, as it shows the old comments (I can’t do that with every post, but when I can, I do it). As you know, Greg Hatcher and I used to write for CSBG, and so when Jim suggested to Greg that they should start a new blog that kept the good parts of the old blog and expanded on it (as ours is not comics-specific, even though we used to go far afield at CSBG too), things were set in motion and we got the Atomic Junk Shop. Huzzah!
We have a good team here, and while our ambitious posting schedule when we started has gone by the wayside (real life interferes, yo!), I hope that we do a good job writing about the many neat aspects of pop culture that we love, because we’re here to entertain and inform! We would love to get more traffic, of course, and we hope that you can help out by spreading the word if you happen to read something here that you really like. And if you’ve been lurking, now’s the time to say hello in the comments and let us know you’re there. Even if it’s the only time you comment, we appreciate it!
As always, the writers make the site what it is (whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you, of course). There’s me, of course, but the less said about me the better. Greg Hatcher, as usual, continues to write amazing, erudite stuff about all the weird corners of pop culture, because he has more knowledge in his pinkie than I have in my whole body. Jim MacQuarrie is always interesting to read, and his recent interview with Tony Isabella is fascinating stuff. John Trumbull is busy being famous on Twitter these days and won’t return our calls, but his fame will be fleeting!!!! Travis began the year on fire but has calmed down over the past few months, but he’s still joining me to go over Previews, so we’ll cut him some slack. Al Kennedy hasn’t posted a podcast in a while, which is too bad because they’re always interesting. Spencer Keane has been MIA for a while, but you can still go back and read his posts, which are quite good. Toni Adams also doesn’t post too often, but she did have some interesting stuff earlier this year. Sarah Beach’s post about Wonder Woman is worth reading if you missed it the first time, as is Patrick’s look at Infinity War. Pol Rua writes infrequently but very well, Le Messor brings an interesting perspective to his writing (you’ll have to read him to find out what it is!), Edo Bosnar has written some very cool pieces for us, Fraser is our resident Dr. Mabuse expert (Atomic Junk Shop – the only site on the internet with a resident Dr. Mabuse expert!), and Matt, our newest writer, has not posted anything controversial at all, so that’s nice. It’s very cool to have so many writers (unfortunately, it would be nice to have more women, so we’ll see what we can do about that), because we all have different perspectives, yet we all share a love of the weird. We hope that makes it a nice community.
So we’re into Year Three, and as always, we’d like to thank you for reading and we hope you continue to do so. Let us know how we’re doing, and we’ll keep on sharing our bizarre thoughts with you!
I’ve actually occasionally linked to your colleagues. Heck, I’ve even linked to YOU.
I am well aware of that, sir, and I thank you very much for it! 🙂
Feels like 20 years. 🙂
Happy Anniversary!
Hope you survive the terrible twos!!! LOL
Thanks, sir. You’re right, though – I’m getting so old every day feels like a damned year! 🙂
Congratulations to all of you guys. I’m almost ending my second year being divorced. But don’t worry. I entered the world of online dating. After 2 bad dates I had a wonderful time yesterday and we want to see each other for another walk.
Eric: Congratulations on getting back out there. I’ve actually been talking about this a lot at my comics store recently, as one of the dudes has decided to start dating again after some years of self-imposed celibacy. He’s in his mid-40s, and I’ve told him that I don’t know what I’d do if I had to start dating again (I’m a year older than he is). So I know a little about your situation, and I’m glad you had a good one!
Thanks for you kind words. At the end of this month I’ll be 55. Not an age to visit bars regularly anymore. So I selected some decent pictures from this years vacation and the reason I want to meet people again (with some lyrics from Room for Happiness by Kaskade). Some people are surprised about the bird-nesting situation but it’s a good opening to start a conversation. I’ll keep you in touch.
I’m honored and deeply moved.
I didn’t realize it had been two years. Cool. On to S3!
Fraser: Times flies when you’re having fun! And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m having fun! 🙂
Hey Yo, Greg! Congrats on hitting 2 years! Let me know if you ever want to talk comics like… Full Tilt… or KAM. 🙂
Thanks, Jason! I’ve been watching your Full Tilt progress, so I’ll get in touch with you about it soon. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about!
No rush… It won’t be done for many months. sob sob sob
Ha! But whenever you’re ready, I’ll be there! 🙂
Here’s to another year of atomic junk! The site has a great collection of authors and I always enjoy the articles I read here, even if I don’t always comment.
Thanks, Peter! We appreciate that you read the blog, and I’m glad you do comment at least once a year! 🙂
Nothing controversial?
Right. That’s it.
*rolls up sleeves*
Pineapple definitely belongs on pizza.
Matt: I love Hawaiian pizza, and I don’t care who knows it!!!!
Hip hip hooray! Thank you Greg and the rest of the AJS team for being so darned entertaining and informative! Congrats on two, and keep on keeping on!
BB: Thanks for the nice words. We aim to be both entertaining and informative, so we must be doing something right! 🙂
I’m working on the newest Flippin’! I’d like to thank you and other Greg for giving me the thumbs up on joining this band of misfits, and boy oh boy, do I need to start posting again!
Go us!
Well done on Two Glorious Years! 😉 It was a real shame to see Comics Should Be Good reduced to a zombified corpse of its former self and its community ruined but Atomic Junkshop is a swell substitute. Ah, if only Brian Cronin would have left Stepford behind too! (I don’t think he’s been mentioned here once but I may be wrong.) Perhaps then the old community could have been fully recreated here. Oh la! Here’s to many more years – hopefully out from under the shadow.
P.S. Who is this Travis fellow of whom you speak, Greg?! BWAHAHAHA! Et cetera.
Hal: Where have you been, sir? We’ve missed you! Thanks for the nice words – we appreciate it. Brian does well over there, as far as I know, which is good for him. We want to create our own community!
Thank you, Greg, I have to admit that is touching. (I am *not* tearing up, it’s a trick of the light… 😉 ) I have been unwell blah blah yawn yawn. I wouldn’t want to send you to sleep, you’re a busy guy as it is!
You are certainly gentlemanly, good sir! It is just annoying how many people are missing out on what you, Mr MacQuarrie, Hatcher, Matt, the elusive Trovis Pickle, and Co. are building here. Although you should all be proud of what you’ve accomplished.
Muchas gracias for the Wayback Machine links in your eulogy for the Great Norm Breyfogle. It’s great to read your posts (and others) in their original form with the original comments. (Reading your posts on a certain G. Hardman gets the old red mist descending like lies from the mouth of a supreme court candidate. You were so pleasant, even laudatory toward him yet he responded with… Ach. Righteous fury? Me?! Hah.) Absolutely love your idiosyncratic high-meets-low style, your Year of the Artist posts, What I Boughts, occasional political commentaries, and You Should Owns. Marvelous to see them continue here. Good fortune to you and yours, G.B. Viva AJS. (Even if that acronym puts me in mind of A*L*S, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Yes, I have a peculiar mind!)
P.S. It’s been great to see righteous posts from Matt, Hatcher, and yourself that are neither narrowly self-righteous nor wishy washy.
P.P.S. I’ll let you off for the post where you suggest national service would be a good thing! How ’bout that, ain’t I generous?! Ha! 🙂 Kidding!
Hal: That’s too bad. I hope all is well and you’re feeling spry!
If people are missing out, that’s too bad. We’ll keep doing our thing! 🙂
Cronin has been mentioned here. I have a personal beef with him and he will never be welcome here as long as I’m part of AJS.
Fascinating. I’d apologize for riling you without meaning to Mr MacQuarrie, but it’s a little hard with this foot in my mouth. Yipes. (I must admit I had not an inkling you knew Mr Cronin, unlike the Gregs. Mea culpa.)
“John Trumbull is busy being famous on Twitter these days and won’t return our calls, but his fame will be fleeting!!!!”
New phone, who dis?
You can blame the fall of Comic Book Resources on me. It seems whenever I find a site I like, it implodes.
On that note, make the best of this, your third, and FINAL year! Mwah-ha-ha!
Seriously thought, keep it going guys, I don’t have many friends who share my “nerdier” interests, so it’s nice to have this bastion against normalcy.
Terrible-D: Oh dear. Maybe we should hunt you down and keep you from coming here!!!! 🙂
I think we all lack a ton of friends with nerdier interests, which is why the internet is awesome. I still get to hang out at the comic book store and chat with a bunch of nerds, but I do love the fact that the internet gives you so many more connections!
The inspiration is a big part too. If it wasn’t for you, I may never have tumbled across what is now one of my all time favorite stories (that being Planetary).
That’s awesome. I’ve always said that my biggest joy about writing is sharing knowledge of stuff with others, because that’s one of the coolest things I find on the internet as well, so I’m glad I was able to get you into that!
We lack those friends CLOSE BY, which is why the old CBR barbecues at SDCC and the more recent CBR NW dinners at Emerald City tend to be so raucous– it’s so much fun to see one another actually in person. The “Captain Picard Day” December dinner that Mike and Casey from Radio Vs. The Martians do is always a hoot as well.
You might remember your old Si McLurk from such other places as “CSBG: FTP” and “CBR: WIB”?
– “We would love to get more traffic”
See notes to Y0 and Y1?
– “we all share a love of the weird”
Then you may wanna treat yourself to Lisa Ramstein hieratically martial-art dancing her way around the jazzy grooves of Nik Bärtsch? (Gesundheit!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-9lkmCZso
(Official video of “Modul 29_14”, from Mobile’s 2016 album CONTINUUM, an ECM release of slowly-evolving “zen funk” maybe not unlike some Philip Glass and Wim Mertens plotting with Keith Jarrett and James Brown?)