Christmas 2016: Covering Christmas Memories from 1969-1973

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Today Ol' Groove is gonna truck on down the Memory Lane of Christmas' past--and I hope you'll enjoy the trip! The following covers are of comics Li'l Groove pulled fresh off the spinner-rack around Christmas time between the ages of 6 and 10 (1969-1973). Some of these comics in and of themselves may not actually be all that outstanding--at least not to you--but to moi? These covers (in no particular order) have some warm and wonderful memories attached. Trips to the store with Dear Ol' Dad. Stopping by the King Kwik after practicing for the Christmas play. Comics to read on the way to visit family. Comics read in the backseat of the car while on one of those Christmas shopping sprees with Dear Ol' Mom. Comics I read at bedtime on Christmas Eve in an effort to get sleepy enough so Santa could slip in and leave all those cool presents. Perhaps some of these comics will bring back some special childhood memories for you, too...

Enjoy your holiday (and/or your weekend), Groove-ophiles! Peace, joy, and love to you all!

Christmas 2016: "Battlestar Galactica" by McKenzie and Colon

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Hoping your holidays (or at least your December) at finding you happy, healthy, warm, and ready to dig into some far-out comics! Today we're gonna peek in on the phenomenon that was Glen Larson's Battlestar Galactica. Conceived as a series of TV movies, but quickly morphing into a standard, hour-long weekly series beginning in September of 1978, BG set out to fill the quality sci-fi void felt between Star Wars movies. Expensive, spectacular, and ultimately cursed (the much-anticipated movie-length debut episode was interrupted by an 30-or-so minute special news broadcast--okay, it was important news, the signing of the historic Camp David Accords, but still, it signaled the tough road that lay ahead of this visionary series (it would end in April 1979). Things went a bit better for the comicbook series which also debuted in more upscale formats. It hit the ground running in Marvel Super Special #8 was published both in full-color magazine format and tabloid sized in October 1978. The standard comicbook series made its debut in December 1978 and ran for 23 issues, ending in October 1981. Soooo, that means the comic actually outlasted the TV series by a couple'a years. The first three issues of Battlestar Galactica actually reprinted the MSS #8 movie adaptation (which was also reprinted in paperback format by Ace Books) before plunging into new stories. McKenzie wrote most of the series and Walt Simonson drew the majority of the issues (and even wrote the last few), often inked by Klaus Janson. The fill-ins were by Marvel luminaries like Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, and Jim Mooney, so it's no wonder the comicbook series outlasted the show, huh? Okay, enough rapping, let's read! Here's the first chapter of "Battlestar Galactica" from BG #1!

Christmas 2016: 2500th Post! "The Millennium Massacre" by Levitz, Grell, and Colletta

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Along with the holiday festivities, seems we have a Groovy Milestone to celebrate today, as well: our 2500th post! Man, that's a lotta comics! Thanks for the years (!) of loyalty, O Wondrous Denizens of Groove City! Ol' Groove loves ya, baby! Let's keep on truckin', 'cause there's plenty more wonderment to come! Now, onto our special post!

Jingle Bells! Silver Bells! The sounds of Christmas. But wedding bells? Well, back around Christmas 1977, if you had two bucks and could find All New Collectors' Edition #C-55 featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, you got a very different kind of Christmas present from DC: the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl! Produced by the series' (mostly) regular team of Paul Levitz and Mike Grell (with  inks by speed-demon Vinnie Colleta), this time-spanning epic was definitely a worthy event for DC's gi-normous tabloid-sized series!