Grooviest Covers of All Time: Ken Barr Made Me Buy These!

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Okay, the title of this post says, "Ken Barr Made Me Buy These!", but to tell the truth, Young Groove'd bought these particular mags, anyway. Still, the following works of muy macho art made it waaaaay easier to part with the buck it cost to buy the mags they covered, y'dig? Barr's covers were always action packed, rip-snorting eye-grabbers. Just dig this heart-stopping handful!

The Boys from Derby: "Last of Its Kind" by Cuti and Staton

E-Man. Mike Mauser. Sci-fi. Fantasy. Romance. Horror. You name it, and Ol' Groove's fave Boys from Derby could deliver! From Midnight Tales #1 (September 1972) here's "Last of Its Kind" by Nick Cuti and Joe Staton. Oh, yeah!!

Black and White Wednesday: "Warriors!" by Gene Day

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Y'know, the late, great Gene Day was well known for his inking prowess during the latter part of the Groovy Age. His work on mags like Marvel Two-In-One (over George Perez and Jerry Bingham), Star Wars (over Carmine Infantino), and Master of Kung Fu (over Mike Zeck) is the stuff of legend. In the 1980s mainstream comic fans learned what a far-out penciler Day was as he strutted his stuff on Star Wars and MoKF. Fans of "ground level" comics already knew of Gene's powerful pencils 'cause they'd seen cool stuff like "Warriors!" from Star*Reach #15 (cover-dated December 1978). Dig it!

Random Reads: "Chariots of the Stars!" by Uslan and Villamonte

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Wanna get literary? DC claimed to be trying to spark the cerebellum as well as stoke your inner swordsman with their Beowulf mag. How did they try to reach such a lofty goal? Well, by mixing all kinds of cool--and mostly unrelated--stuff into each of their 18 page epics. Take "Chariots of the Stars!" from Beowulf #5 (September 1975) by writer Michael Uslan and artist Ricardo Villamonte (from an idea by assistant editor Allan Asherman), f'rinstance. Not only do we get the further adventures of the educator-friendly Beowulf, but also Ulysses, Atlantis, druids, witches, and monsters all tossed into a plot inspired by the then-popular book/fad Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken. Remember: I said this story was 18 pages, not 18 issues, baby! Yeah, we got our quarter's worth back in the Groovy Age!

Cover art by Dick Giordano

Secret Origins: "The Origin of Spider-Man!" by Lee, Romita, and S. Buscema

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna get down with the origin of the Amazing Spider-Man (Peter Parker, not Anthony Davis, Wildcat--er--Tiger)! This particular trip down memory lane is from the hard-to-find All Detergent give-away version of Amazing Spider-Man from 1979, and yes, you're right, it first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #94 (December 1970) as part of "On the Wings of Death!" in which Spidey battles the Beetle. For some reason the folks at All just wanted the origin part of ish 94--but then reprinted Spidey's first battle with the Beetle from ASM #21. Why? Who knows? All Ol' Groove knows is that this Reader's Digest condensed version of Spidey's origin by Stan Lee, John Romita, and Sal Buscema is suh-WEET!

Ol' Groove remembers seeing those Spidey posters in stores, but man, I would've loved to have snagged the T-shirt and one'a those pens!