Thursday, December 1, 2011

Bring on the Back-ups Week! Seven Soldiers of Victory by Samachson, Dillin, Chaykin, Elias, and Grell

What it is, Groove-ophiles! As Ol' Groove mentioned last week, Adventure Comics editor Joe Orlando had a knack for rescuing unpublished Golden Age comics from the dust-bins. With Adventure Comics issues 438-443 (December-October 1975), Orlando went even further: he took an unused Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory script by long-timer Joe Samachson and assigned six different Groovy Age artists to draw each chapter. Simple. Elegant. GENIUS. Way to go, Joe!

Today we're gonna dig on the first four chapters: Chapter 1 featuring the whole team (Green Arrow and Speedy, Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Wing, Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, and Vigilante--yeah, I know, the math is bad, but don't blame me!) with art by definitive JLA penciler Dick Dillin and Tex Blaisdell; Chapter 2 starring the Shining Knight with Howard Chaykin providing some beautiful Frank Frazetta-style art; Chapter 3 featuring Green Arrow and Speedy by their very own Golden Age artist Lee Elias (who was still turning out classics for just about every comicbook company during the Groovy Age); and Chapter 4 starring the Crimson Avenger and Wing with art by "Iron" Mike Grell!



















I think now would be a good time to mention our old pal Booksteve's latest blog, Days of Adventure, spotlighting--what else?--every single issue of Adventure Comics! Go dig on that for a while, then be back tomorrow for chapters five through seven of this Seven Soldiers of Victory Golden Age/Groovy Age mash-up, baby. Don'tcha just love it?

3 comments:

  1. Great post, Groove. Dick Dillin was amazing. He could draw any character you put in front of him.

    Darpy

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  2. How weird to see Dillin & Chaykin in the same place! Both stunning, but in completely different ways. And Lee Elias' piece! ( like Dillin, a ridiculously underrated artist )Everything that is, was & should be great about comics but, sadly, no longer is. Comics that make you smile.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are preachin' the Groovy Age gospel, Pete! Hey, if you're not gonna revive your most excellent blog, you know you can shoot me a guest post any ol' time and I'll use it. Just sayin'...

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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