Thursday, November 21, 2013

Groove's Faves: "The Man Bear Stalks at Midnight"/"Hospital of Fear" by Conway, Nasser, and Austin

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove's been thinking (scary, I know): we love Green Arrow and Black Canary. We love Michael Netzer (Mike Nasser) and Terry Austin art. We love to share hard-to-find, far-out comics. So why haven't we done more with the little-seen GA/BC strips from the Dollar Comics era of World's Finest (issues 244-282)? The answer? I dunno. Since I can't explain my gigantic gaff, all I can do is try to rectify the sitch starting today! In WF #245 (March 1977), Netzer and Austin ably illustrated a Frankenstein/Island of Dr. Moreau-inspired mini-epic written by Gerry Conway, "The Man Bear Stalks at Midnight" and "Hospital of Fear". Creepy, action-packed, kinda twisted and cool story. In-freakin'-credible art, to put it mildly. I mean, how 70s-slick can you get! Ollie and Dinah look like movie-stars in action (and Netzer's cinematic action scenes were awwwwwweeeesssooooooooommmmme!). Not only that, but--aw, you don't wanna read all this ramblin'! Check out the truly far-out  Conway/Netzer/Austin team for yourself!



















9 comments:

  1. Wow, I haven't seen these in ages, and I loved the GA/BC stories in World's Finest. In fact, I loved all of the back-ups in WF when it was a dollar comic - they were usually better than the main Superman/Batman story.

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  2. the quality of this work demands better paper ...a good bit of it is lost in the old newsprint......I need to find me some of these

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  3. I wish DC would reprint these forgotten 70's comics in trade format. Michael Netzer's Black Canary is gorgeous. Simply beautiful artwork and well-deserving of a far wider audience. Thanks for sharing it.

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    1. Que asi sea en especial este numero canario negro contra ursus el oso humano en espaƱol

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  4. Please make GA/BC reprints a regular thing. I love these strips!

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  5. They changed Dinah into her costume... Okay, that's not only illogical but seriously creepy. :P

    I remember reading this one when it came out. I was really intrigued by the mystery but disappointed that I never saw it followed up. I wondered who Ursus was before he was transformed. This story reminded me a lot of Man-Bat's transformation in 1970, and Anthony Lupus, the werewolf who fought Batman in detective Comics in 1974. I wondered at the time if the Doctor's mysterious higher up could have been Professor Milo.

    Did they ever resolve this storyline? I'd love to know what was behind it all.

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  6. Ojala que reimpriman este comics me encanta cuando canario llega a la carcel y lucha contra los pillos,cuando se desviste en su cuarto y se va al hospital a buscar a luis dolchak y es sorprendida con cloroformo la desmayan y le cambian su vestido amarillo con blanco a rayas x su traje negro su peluca rubia y despierta todavia mareada x el cloroformo cuando le dicen que va a morir y ella pregunta si es el doctor pero le dicen que va a ser ursus y ella dice que el no pelea pero le ponen una inyeccion y ursus ataca a canario negro y la abraza con una fuerza descomunal y diana(canario negro)se empieza a afixiar x la enorme fuerza de ursus el oso humano cuando hace un exfuerzo sobre humano y le da un golpe a los hombros y fue tan fuerte el golpe de canario que ursus la suelta y ella toma la manguera contra incendios y moja a ursus para saber a quien obedece que lastima que nunca se supo quien era el siniestro personaje que ella andaba buscando

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  7. Cuando sacaran a la venta este numero en especial?me encantaria que lo sacaran a la venta en espaƱol con buena calidad de papel

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    1. I am not when it will be published anywhere. As far as I know, this story has never been reprinted. There's supposed to be a Black Canary collection coming out soon, but, sadly, I don't think these World's Finest stories will be in it.

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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!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


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As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!