Marvel-ous Monday: "Morbius, the Living Vampire!" by M. Friedrich, Gulacy, and Abel

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! October is here, so it's time to start getting cracking creaking with the haunted Halloween side of the Groovy Age! We're kicking it all off with Morbius, the Living Vampire's solo color comic debut from Fear #20 (November 1973). Ol' Groove's already given ya a short history of Morbius' Groovy Age career right here, so let's just grab our stakes, tiptoe ever so carefully into Fear, and get reacquainted with "Morbius, the Living Vampire!" by Mike Friedrich, Paul (making his Marvel-ous debut right here, baby!) Gulacy, and Jack Abel...

Cover art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

And how 'bout those Marvel-ous cameos by a certain Web Slinger and a skeleton crew of Merry Mutants?

Oh, and if you're in a hurry to find out what happens next ish, just click here, my Groovy Ghoulies!

Making a Splash: Fear the Man-Thing!

What it is, Groove-ophiles! We can't let another October slip by without a loving look back at the macabre Man-Thing! After a thimble-full of nigh-legendary appearances (Savage Tales #1 and Astonishing Tales #'s 12-13), Manny finally got a regular swamp to haunt in Adventures Into Fear. He Burned Anyone Who Knew Fear for issues 10-19 (July 1972-September 1973) before graduating to his own mag (which ran for 22 issues, plus five unfortunately named Giant-Size issues). Check out the spooky/sludgy splashes with art by Gray Morrow, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Rich Buckler, and Val Mayerik (usually inked by Sal Trapini)...but whatever you do--don't let Man-Thing know you're afraid!

Bring on the Back-ups: "The Spell of the Sea-Witch!!"

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's a sensational shocker from the Files of the Forgotten. "The Spell of the Sea-Witch!!" by Allyn Brodsky, Jack (The First Kingdom) Katz (as Jay Hawk), and Golden Age Great Bill Everett (as Black Bill) first appeared in Fear #10 (July 1972) as a brain-blasting back-up feature to the macabre Man-Thing's lead. Check it out!

Shock Theater: A Bill Everett Double Feature

Here are two (count 'em) TWO Bill Everett-illustrated shockers from the Groovy Age for ya, Groove-ophiles! First up, dig on "The Man Who Stole Eternity" written by fellow Golden Age great Gardner Fox. This titanic tale was originally presented in Skywald's Psycho #3 (cover dated May 1971); this scan is from the reprint in the 1974 Psycho Annual.


Our second feature in this devilish double-bill is "The Greatest Magician of All!" Written by Mimi Gold, this spooky saga is from Marvel's Fear #9 (May 1972).


Take it from the Groovester, Groove-ophiles: for lush, detailed art--not to mention murky and macabre mood, Wild Bill was hard to beat! Pleasant nightmares!