Funny Stuff: Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny-Art By Fred Abranz

Has Ol' Groove ever mentioned that he absolutely loves the old Looney Tunes cartoons? Fave cartoons of all time. As much as I dig Bugs and Daffy, the character that tickles my funny bone the most is Yosemite Sam. Did'ja know that he had his own comic from Gold Key? No Jive! It ran 81 issues (September 1970-December 1983). While it featured a lot of reprints, it was always good for a chuckle or two. Here's a fun one that really feels like one of the cartoon episodes with lovely art by Fred Abranz from ish #2 (December 1970--which is actually one of those reprints I was talking about from Dell's Looney Tunes #148 from 1954)...

Marvel-ous Mondays: "Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant!" by Wein, S. Buscema, and Esposito

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's part two of Len Wein and Sal Buscema's Defenders (with the help of Professor X) vs. Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants mini-epic from Defenders #16 (July 1974)! After meeting a gigantic Inhuman called Omega months earlier in the FF, I suppose it was only natural that someone at Marvel would respond with a mutant called Alpha (though, Omega might've made more sense as a moniker for this villain, too, but what'cha gon' do?). Young Groove loved how Alpha started out looking like Bugs Bunny's nemesis The Crusher--thaaa Crush-AH!  (sans the beard)--

--and continued to morph into a truly alien-looking-yet-humanoid creature by the end. It's also worth noting that, while not as cool and moody as Klaus Janson on the previous ish, Mike Esposito's inks are pretty solid over Sal's pencils here. In some places it almost looks like Sal inked himself. Big difference, imo, in Esposito inking Sal compared to him finishing/inking over Sal's layouts. And of course Wein's story has that crazy-but-cool 70s vibe (almost like a re-imagining of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's intro of Him in FF issues 66-67) with a killer ending (that Chris Claremont would put to magnificent use in the X-Men's revamped mag a couple years later). Have fun with this one, baby!

Cover art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia (with John Romita)