What it is, Groove-ophiles! Now, when Ol' Groove lays the fact on ya that the following rare and classic collaboration between titanic talents Archie Goodwin and Michael Golden (with Steve Mitchell on inks) came from a comic published in August 1981, you're probably gonna give me a wide-eyed "What the--?!?" What am I doing rapping about a story from a mag...
shudder...
post Groovy Age? No, Irving, it's not a sign of the apocalypse. It's a sign that sometimes Groovy Age stuff saw print
after the Groovy Age, 'tis all. Y'see, the mag in question is the former
Marvel Preview, which had months earlier changed its name to
Bizarre Adventures and the story in question was actually created as a fill-in issue of
Logan's Run (published by Marvel circa 1976-77). That's right, "Huntsman" is actually a re-worked "Untold Tales of Logan 5" job that would have saved the regular
LR creative team from the "dreaded deadline doom"--had the mag run long enough to get into deadline trouble. Instead of letting it sit forever in a musty ol' filing cabinet, BA editor Denny O'Neil snatched it up and ran it in
Bizarre Adventures #28.
So ya see, Ol' Groove's still on the up-and-up.
Mostly.
If you need any more reasons for tracking down your own copy of
Bizarre Adventures #28, check this out: along with the Goodwin/Golden "Huntsman" story, there's a Triton story by Jo Duffy and Wendy (Elfquest) Pini, a one-shot hero called
Shadow Hunter by Doug Moench, Larry Hama and some guy named Neal Adams, aannnd...the very first
solo Elektra story by Frank Miller.
Yeah. eBay sellers can start thanking Ol' Groove right now!
Gone are the days of a quality anthology comic,sporting top-notch work by masters of the industry.Bizarre Adventures/Marvel Preview gives the reader: Adams,Miller,Goodwin,Pini & Golden ALL
ReplyDeleteunder one cover !! How I miss those days.
I remember this issue! I still have it somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI loved Bizarre Adventures and picked up every issue. All of the "Unlikely Heroes" were great, except for the Triton story, which was pretty bogus in a fun way. Although the Elektra and Shadow Hunter stories were more visually stunning (Miller, Adams - duh), "Huntsman" always really stuck with sixth-grade me for that downbeat, depressive feel that Groovy Age Marvel did so well. Y'know, before Frank Miller turned all that somber depression into RAGE, RAGE, RAGE! SLASH, STAB, PSYCHOTIC GRIN! Ah, I miss the olden times.
ReplyDeleteZING!that's the stuff, Groove!
ReplyDelete