The 40th anniversary of David Bowie‘s breakthrough album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars has been reached this year, and to celebrate this, there is a free stream of the entire album to listen to below, AND there will be a full scale special re-release of the album on CD, MP3, and limited edition vinyl formats on June 5th.

The album, which propelled Bowie into mythical status, stands as one of rock and roll’s all time great albums. Bowie, who had rotated his way around the musical landscape for a few years prior to this with a few releases and even a hit in “Space Oddity,” finally hit the jackpot with Ziggy Stardust. The album, a concept one which tells the tale of an alien mired in androgyny who fell to Earth with a hopeful rock and roll message and became a rock star of superstar proportions that would also happen to Bowie in real life as a result of the album in an amazing case of art imitates life, is almost a roadmap for glam and early punk and hard rock sounds. Bowie was hinting at this sound on earlier albums, “The Width of A Circle” on The Man Who Sold the World and “Queen Bitch” on Hunky Dory, but on Ziggy Stardust, the sound became fully realized, the attitudes and style he was carving and carving finally came to whirlwind musical fruitions. Not only did the album put Bowie in a higher musical echelon, it also almost singlehandedly started the entire glam movement, a movement started in a way by Marc Bolan and T-Rex, who certainly was the Chuck Berry to Bowie’s Rolling Stone glam, but Bowie had the superstar power and muscle to put him over the top and arguably become the sole heir of the glam rock mantle with this release.

Oh my! Oh my! Comixology is having a Grant Morrison sale! For a mere 99 cents a piece, you can pick up several of Grant Morrison’s finest DC/Vertigo comics, including Doom Patrol, Batman, All-Star Superman, and more.

What’s the catch? Well, let’s get into that. Barely any of the comics on sale will provide you with a full story. While you may be teased by the mention of Batman R.I.P., Batman and Robin, and Batman Incorporated, the first thing you need to realize is that this isn’t the entire run. If you’re not reading Batman and Son or Club of Heroes, then the rest of this run won’t make any sense. But beyond that, the entire run of Batman and Robin that leads directly into Batman Incorporated is not in this sale. If you want to do that, you’re going to want to buy the regularly priced Batman and Robin #10-16. So, if you’re wanting to check this out, I really suggest you go back to Batman #655 and start from there and keep going. You won’t regret it, it’s one of the finest runs on Batman, for sure.

Another great deal on a live record is available on Mp3 format via Amazon for only $5.00 right now through the end of today (PST). American rocker Bob Seger rocks, rolls, and then some with his Silver Bullet Band on Live Bullet, a 1976 release showcasing the band at Detroit, Michigan’s Cobo Hall at its absolute peak.

Seger remains one of this country’s most successful blue-collar style rock singer/musicians. His gritty style has been successful for decades now. Starting in the late 1960s during that famed Detroit hard rock/early punk genre but arguably second rate to the kinetic sonic frenzies of fellow city mates like The Stooges and The MC5, Seger took an altogether different direction as the sun of the 1970s rose. Seger eventually became a hero to the rock and roll working man as the decade wore on, he became a Midwestern artist mired in sounds and heavy rock and ballad rock styles which became his stock in trade. By the 1975 Cobo Hall show, he was a sensation in Michigan, a few years later, the rest of the country would take notice.

For those of you who have never had the opportunity to play You Don’t Know Jack, it’s one of the better trivia games ever created. Not only is there a nice mixtures of topics and a variety of different segments to keep things fresh, but it’s hosted by a sarcasm maestro named Cookie Masterson who uses an often hilarious composition of words to insult you into the ground when you answer questions wrong.

Thankfully for all of us, You Don’t Know Jack will now be available on a much larger scale than it ever has been before. The game has officially arrived on Facebook, allowing you to square off with your friends and find out who of you is in fact a god of the trivial arts.

You can read more and check out a trailer for the game below.

Doctor Solar: Man Of The Atom, Volume 2
Script by Jim Shooter
Art by Roger Robinson, Agustin Alessio, Diego Bernard
Cover by Michael Komarack
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 30, 2012
Cover Price: $15.99

I chose to review Doctor Solar: Man Of The Atom, Volume 2 because I really wanted to believe that Jim Shooter still has it. The “it” that I’m referring to is Shooter’s ability to create brilliant comics like the kind Marvel published with him in the 80s. I was still a young kid when Shooter was in his prime, but his contributions to comics are still felt to this day. That being said, when Shooter returned to Doctor Solar in 2010, the result was average at best. The first volume of Doctor Solar, Man Of The Atom was convoluted and utterly perplexing. With volume 2, I hoped that somehow, Shooter had turned it around. Fortunately, this time around the result is better, but not by much.