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 As Ol' Groove mentioned last week, Adventure Comics editor Joe Orlando had a knack for rescuing unpublished Golden Age comics from the dust-bins.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?
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 1:14 AM

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

    Darpy

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  2. pete doreeDecember 1, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    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. The Groovy AgentDecember 10, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    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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