What's happening, Groove-ophiles! Well, what's happening here today is yet another example of the genius of uber-fan turned uber-pro Roy Thomas. In 1969, Roy unleashed Marvel's evil version of DC's Justice League, the Squadron Sinister, in the pages of the Mighty Avengers (issues 69-70). A little over a year later, Roy sprang an alternate-Earth/heroic version of DC's greatest heroes on us and called them the Squadron Supreme (Avengers 85-86). Fans seemed to dig it, so both Squadrons Sinister and Supreme would pop up in the Marvel Universe from time to time just to make things interesting.In 1972, Marvel revived their space-born super-hero Captain Marvel's mag, post Kree-Skrull War. With Roy at the editing helm, issues 22-24 featured stories by Gerry Conway and Marv Wolfman and inspired art by none other than the primo Superman artist of the 1950s, Wayne Boring. Boring was working in the comic strip field at the time, semi-retired from comicbooks, so it was a real treat to have him back, even for so short a time.
But our story doesn't end there, baby! Fandom got a big surprise in November, 1978, when they opened up to the superior splash page of Thor #280: if only for one issue, Wayne Boring was back, superbly inked by Tom Palmer. Roy had taken over the writing reins of Thor months earlier, giving us an early Christmas present as Thor teamed up with and battled both Marvel's versions of Superman, Hyperion, as well as the whole Squadron Supreme for a far-out and fun tale that blended fandom (the story was plotted by Don and Maggie Thompson, future editors of The Comics Buyer's Guide and two of the greatest comics historians of all time), Marvel, DC, the Golden-Silver-and-Groovy Ages, mythology and superheroes, fantasy and sci-fi into 17 pages of just plain enjoyment. It had to be a labor of love all-around and Ol' Groove digs it to this day. Bet you will too! Are you ready to face a..."Crisis on Twin Earths"? Yeah, I thought you were...
Groove:
ReplyDeleteMan, I've never read this one. What a treat! I'll be adding Thor #280 to my want list ASAP.
By the way, the site is looking great. I love the Kirby header (where is that piece of art from?) A busy summer has kept me from visiting as much as I'd like, but I'm hoping to stop by more often!
Cheers,
Andrew
ComicsBronzeAge.com
It's an interesting tale and I love the Lois Lane and Lex Luthor send-ups but I have to say I'm finding it hard to decide which was the bigger jerk, evil Hyperion or heroic Hyperion. If I'd been Thor I'd have wanted to flatten the pair of 'em.
ReplyDeletewhat'ya want the guys name is Milton!
ReplyDeleteYou can just tell that Roy was itching to head over to DC and work on their multiverse. If he'd arrived a few years sooner from Marvel, perhaps we wouldn't have the convulted mess that DC turned into after Crisis
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot. Always wondered what the Wayne Boring work at Marvel looked like.
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