Groove's Faves: Famouos First Edition # C-26--Action Comics #1

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Well, it looks like the celebration of Superman's 75th Anniversary has begun, and if there's anything Comicdom needs to celebrate it's definitely the debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Man of Steel in Action Comics #1 (April 1938). But what has that to do with the Groovy Age, you wonder? Nothing really. Ha! Got'cha, didn't I? No, seriously, we appreciated Superman's Action Comics debut mightily during the Groovy Age. In 1971, t-shirts with that iconic debut cover were sold via ads that ran thru most of the DC Comics line...

...but most of all, t'was the coming of Famous First Edition # C-26 in January 1974 that really turned us on! FFE C-26 allowed us to experience what our parents and their siblings had been able to experience back in 1938 (albeit in a much larger--making it even more awesome!--format): Action Comics #1 in its entirety. For a young comicbook fiend like Young Groove, this tabloid-sized reprint was a revelation. Not only did we get to thrill to the very first Superman mini-epic (which we'd later learn was cobbled-together newspaper strip samples), but we got to see all the other non-superhero (there were no others! Superman was the first!) features starring an exciting array of cowboys, cops, reporters, boxers, adventurers, and magicians. We experienced some "big-foot" humor and were taken back to a virtual "who's who" of Depression Era celebrities. Comics were more than super-heroes, silly teens, scary tales, barbarians, and child-friendly supernatural characters. And they could all appear in one mag! It definitely made its mark on moi, baby! Read that giant-mag over and over. I still have it and pull it out from time to time. I s'pose now would be another good time to check it out!

The ad that got the heart racing!

I never dreamed of taking the outer cardboard cover off of my copy!

 

 

Neal Adams' in-freakin'-credible back cover

Groove's Faves: 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-14 and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! It doesn't seem that long ago that we were here welcoming in 2010, but sure 'nuff it's been a whole year. 2011. Wow. When I was but a Li'l Groove we thought we'd have flying cars by now. Or at least cars as cool as the Batmobile. That reminds me of a fave comic bought, believe it or not, on New Years Day 1973...

When I was but a Young Groove, the family usually spent New Years Day just hanging out at the house, enjoying each other, our Christmas gifts, and some quality time in front of the TV. On New Years Day 1973, though, Dear Ol' Dad decided to get out of the house for a few minutes and asked me if I'd like to tag along. Of course I would! I knew that a trip anywhere with DoD would mean I had a chance at a spinner-rack and a new comic. Sure 'nuff, he turned me loose at that magical merry-go-round of four color ecstasy, knowing full well I'd find something. And I did. Not just any old comic, mind ya, but DC's 100-Page Super Spectacular (DC-14) featuring Batman! DoD forked over a pair of quarters for that squarebound pile of nostalgic newsprint without batting an eyelash. Wotta guy!

It was an extra-special purchase for another reason, too--DC's 100-Page Super Specs had returned, baby! Back in the summer of 72 DC had quit making the Super Specs and replaced them with reprint mags like Secret Origins, Wanted, Johnny Thunder, Legion of Super-Heroes, Doom Patrol, and more. Those were great, and Young Groove snapped 'em up, but nothing could beat those 100-Page Super Spectaculars. They were missed. DC, bless 'em, heard fandom's cry and released this baby the day after Christmas, 1972. For more info on the return of the Super-Specs, as well as how editor-par-excellence E. Nelson Bridwell handled filling 100 pages with Gold and Silver Age classics, here are the letters pages for this ish. (And as an added bonus dig master letterhack Ricard H. Morrissey's "review" of Batman: From the 30s to the 70s--another classic Ol' Groove's gotta tackle one'a these days...)

I was glad the Specs were back, and let me tell ya, Groove-ophiles, I was in comicbook heaven. I had never seen an actual Bob Kane Batman tale before, so when I glommed his art on the two part Monk storyline (written by the great Gardner Fox making his Batman debut!), well, I flipped. Though I had really dug the art of Irv Novick, Bob Brown, and especially Neal Adams, this version of The Batman, with those long ears and the cape looking like batwings at every turn, was the ultimate version for me. (I think that's why I cottoned to Marshall Rogers' version so much.)

The Atom tale rocked me, too. Another classic written by Fox, this time the art was by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Not only did I get to read the first adventure of the Atom in costume, but it was his classic battle with the other "tiny titan" Kulan Dar!

T'was the Atom's first time traveling via telephone, as well, complete with "scientific explanation". Can he pull that trick with a cell phone, I wonder?

The Blackhawk story was cool, too. "The Treasure of Ghanpat!" had slick art by Reed Crandall and Charles Cuidera, plenty of action, and really far-out airplanes. I always dug airplanes.

Speaking of airplanes, the Wonder Woman tale put her invisible plane to good use, and the H.G. Peters art was nifty in a weird kinda way, but WW creator William Marston's stories always left me cold. This one involving riding around on saddled kangaroos was the only disappointment in an otherwise perfect ish.

I always thought Doll Man had a dumb name and a dumb costume (sorry, but it's true), but danged if he didn't have fun adventures and great art (Reed Crandall? Bill Quackenbush?). Just take this1950 tale, f'rinstance. It was a hoot. And any superhero that has a dog--especially one named Elmo!-- for a sidekick was always cool with Young Groove.

After Batman, for some reason Wildcat was always my fave Golden Age DC hero. Was it the all-black costume? The wildcat mask? The motorcycle? The fact that he was a boxer? His sidekick/manager Stretch Skinner (introduced in this Bill Finger/Irwin Hasen classic)? Maybe it was all of the above.

Finally, "The Batmobile of 1950!" was the kind of story that really fired up Young Groove's imagination. All the stuff Batman could cram into that super-car just blew my mind! And as a fan of Speed Racer, watching the Batmobile leap across a crumbling bridge made me cheer. Joe Samachson, Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris could do no wrong in my eyes!

Yeah, it was a great New Years Day. I still have that tattered, coverless mag and great memories to go with it. Thanks again, Dear Ol' Dad! (Special thanks to The Old Warrior for the excellent scans on his truly far-out blog, DC 100-Page Super Spectacular Comic Book Downloads.)

The Grooviest Covers of All Time #6

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove's back with a grab-bag of cool covers to blow your mind and make you feel so fine! I couldn't settle on just one cover this time, so I'm gonna lay a Tuesday Triple Play on ya, baby! Plant your peepers on these pupil-pleasers:




Secret Origins was a truly swingin' comic that reprinted classic origins of the greatest DC heroes and villains. Though it only ran seven issues (November, 1972-July, 1974), editor E. Nelson Bridwell supplied us with some of the best origin stories the Golden and Silver Ages had to offer: Batman, Superman, Silver Age Flash, Golden Age Gentleman Ghost, Supergirl, Silver Age Green Lantern, Silver Age Atom, Wonder Woman, Wildcat, Vigilante, Kid Eternity, Spectre, Legion of Super-Heroes, Blackhawks, Robin, and Aquaman! Before the days of Essentials, Showcases, Masterworks, and Archives, Secret Origins was where it was at, baby!

But the thing that kept drawing Li'l Groove back issue after issue was the mind-blowing covers by Nick Cardy. Cardy was the DC cover artist of the early 70s, and he made everything look cool. From horror/mystery covers, to Superman, to the 100 Page Super Spectaculars, to Batman, Cardy's covers jumped out and screamed, "Buy me, Groove!" So I did.

Above are my top three Nick Cardy Secret Origins covers, from issues 1, 3, and 5. I was amazed at how Cardy could lay down just the right scene to summarize the whole origin of a character, then place it just so behind a cool super-hero pose (as he did with numbers 1 and 3). The use of color holds (dropping the black lines) really made those scenes look far-out! My favorite of all faves, though, is the cover of issue 5. The origin of the Spectre summarized in three magnificently rendered panels. That's why they invented the word "awesome"!

The Groovy Agent's Birthday Comics, Part 2

And the birthday hits just keep on comin'! This time, let's travel back to 1973, when Lil Groove was turning ten and knew how to handle getting comics for his birthday--find the biggest, most expensive one ya can, baby! This time, it was DC 100 Page Super-Spectacular #22 featuring the Flash, and it was a gasser!

Back then, the only way to get to read classic blasts from the past was with reprint comics, but there were tons of them back then (book reprints were scarce, usually paperbacks, and anything like the Essentials, DC Showcase, Archives, Masterworks, etc. that we have today hadn't been dreamed up yet). The best reprint mag going was DC's 100 Page Super Spectaculars (we called 'em Super-Specs). 100 pages (counting covers) of ad-free comics for fifty cents. Editor E. Nelson Bridwell was great at picking the best of the best from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, so every Super-Spec was a real treat.

Little did I know that this particular gem would mark a turning point. It was the last of ad-free issue, as well as the last to actually go under the Super Spec title; each succeeding 100 pager would be an extra-sized issue of an existing title, like Detective Comics, Justice League of America, Superman, etc. (If you're interested in more info on the Super Specs, visit Brian G. Philbin's awesome 100 Page Super-Spectacular Site!)

This issue had some really cool stuff in it. Besides such John Broome/Carmine Infantino goodness as the Flash teaming up with the Elongated Man to battle Captain Cold (from Flash #134) and "Secret of the Three Super-Weapons" (from Flash #135) in which Kid Flash got his unique gold/red costume, we got a sweet Elongated Man solo tale by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson (from Detective Comics #359) and a Golden Age Johnny Quick with amazing Mort Meskin art (from Adventure Comics #129). the biggest thrill of the issue, though, was the Golden Age Flash reprint by Gardner Fox and E.E. Hibbard (from All-Flash #13) "Campaign Against the Flash" in which the Flash mixed it up with a baddie called the Djinn and a mystery man called (how's this for originality) Muscle Man! What was so cool was that it was a full-length Golden Age gasser (40 pages!) featuring the Flash's goofy side-kicks, Winky, Blinky, and Noddy (the DC Comics equivalent of the Three Stooges). The whole mag was tons-o-fun and a true birthday treat!