Bring On the Back-ups: "The Man Who Skyjacked Hawkman!" by Rozakis, Rogers, Austin, and Adams

Happy Holidays, Groove-ophiles! Here's hoping the cheer of the season is rocking on for ya! We're back today with the final Calculator back-up, this time featuring Hawkman! "The Man Who Skyjacked Hawkman!", from Detective Comics #467 (October 1976), uses a tried-and-true comicbook framing device (utilizing The Batman, himself) not only to tell its story, but to set up the grand finale (which you can read right here). Bob Rozakis is still rocking the writing, Marshall Rogers is making his mark with the art, and inker Terry Austin gets help from none other than Neal Adams. Hoo-hah!

Bring On the Back-ups: "Take Me Out OF the Ballgame" by Rozakis, Rogers, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Have we got a good'un for ya today! Not only is this yet another chapter of Bob Rozakis' cool Calculator saga, but it's also penciler Marshall Rogers' dazzling debut (not counting one-page filler stuff), aaaand Green Arrow's first battle with our punchy, purple perpetrator (significant because The Calculator will soon be appearing on the Emerald Archer's live-action TV show)! From Detective Comics #466 (September 1976), here's "Take Me Out OF the Ballgame"! Who loves ya, baby?

Bring on the Back-ups: "The Elongated Plague!" by Rozakis, Chan, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with part three of Bob Rozakis' Calculator back-up/mini-series, this time inker Terry Austin is joined by penciler Ernie Chan (then Chua). Aaaaand, this time, our villain meets The Elongated Man! From Detective Comics #465 (August 1976), are you inoculated for..."The Elongated Plague!"?

Bring On the Back-ups: "A Hot Time In Star City Tonight" by Rozakis, Grell, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with the second chapter of the Calculator saga from Detective Comics #464 (July 1976)! "A Hot Time In Star City Tonight" was written by Bob Rozakis (aided and abetted by wife Laurie), illustrated by Mike Grell and Terry Austin, and features Black Canary as the hero out to bring our villainous back-up star to justice...

This would be Iron Mike Grell's last outing as penciler of the Calculator series. Who would come next? Stay tuned!

Bring On the Back-ups: "Crimes by Calculation!" by Rozakis, Grell, and Austin

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Way back in Detective Comics issues 463-468, writer Bob Rozakis and editor Julie Schwartz hit upon a novel idea: make a super-villain the star of Detective Comics' back-up feature. Rozakis teamed with artist Mike Grell, and they came up with The Calculator, a super-villain based on the then-popular, just made affordable pocket calculator. A fun, if silly (at least in retrospect) villain, the purple outfit with giant buttons and LED headgear looked kinda cool back in the day. The Calculator's powers were very Green Lantern-ish, which, coupled with his extraordinarily high intelligence, made him a pretty formidable baddie. The coolness factor was upped as we saw The Calculator battle a different hero each issue drawn by far-out artists like Grell, Ernie Chan, and that "new kid" Marshall Rogers, all awesomely inked by Terry Austin! Here's The Calculator's debut, featuring The Atom, "Crimes by Calculation!" from June 1976!

Watch for more of The Calculator in coming posts! Oh, and if you want the ending ruined for ya, go ahead and leap to the final showdown from Detective Comics #468...or wait and visit that link once you've read...the REST of the story!

Bring On the Back-ups: "Up Pops the Atom!" by Maggin, Dillin, and Giordano

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a classic Atom back-up from Action Comics #430 (September 1973) by Elliot S! Maggin, Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano! Did Mego even get a mention in this "superhero-toy"-centric tale of "Up Pops the Atom!"?

Bring On the Back-ups: Thursday Two-fer! "With This Ring, Find Me Dead!" and "The Mystery Murder of 'Mrs. Batman'!" by Rozakis, Newton, and Hunt

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Most folks think the late, great Don Newton's Batman debut was in Detective Comics #480 (August 1978), but in truth, Don's debut was a month earlier on a back-up strip called "Unsolved Cases of the Batman" in Batman #305 (July 1978), written by Bob Rozakis and inked by David Hunt, "With This Ring Find Me Dead!" was the first part of a two-parter that would climax in Batman #306 (September 1978) with "The Mystery Murder of 'Mrs. Batman'!" Of course, those of you well-versed in all things Batman know that the talented Mr. Newton would become a major Darknight Detective artist from 1979 until his untimely passing in 1984, making this two-parter quite a hidden treasure, don'tcha think?