Far-Out Fantasy Week! Making a Splash: Big John Buscema's Conan, Phase One

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! What better way to end the week than with some sensational splashes by Big John Buscema? Big John's run on Conan the Barbarian is considered by many to be the definitive version of Robert E. Howard's greatest creation, and though Barry Windsor-Smith fan I most certainly am, 'tis hard for me to argue! Following is a mere handful, but a fragment--though the fragment on which the legend was built--of savage splashes, starting with Mr. Buscema's debut on Conan the Barbarian #25 (January 1973) through CtB #33 (September 1973), including his awesome double-page center-spread from ish 33--wow!

 And yeah, those inks by brother Sal and Ernie Chan (Chua) are pretty suh-wheet, too, aren't they?

Far-Out Fantasy Week! Random Reads: "The Eater of Souls!" by Michelinie and Giffen

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Let's check out another fantabulous ish of DC's Claw the Unconquered. "The Eater of Souls!" heralded Claw's return to the spinner-racks after a sixteen-month hiatus, and it showcases writer David Michelinie and artist Keith Giffen in full-on, Michael Moorcock mode, baby! To call Claw the Unconquered #10 (January 1978) "kinda trippy" would be like calling Tiny Tim "a little odd", ya know? But it's sooooooo cool! Check it out...

Cover art by Joe Kubert

Far-Out Fantasy Week! Black and White Wednesday Groovy Guest-Post: "The Isle of Fear!" by Mantlo and Mayerik

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Mighty Mike Mikulovsky is back with yet another Groovy Guest-Post! This time, the Mighty One is reminiscing about the far-out Hercules back-up found in Marvel Preview #10 (early 1977). Ready? Set? Go!!

I've always been a big Thor fan, but I'm an even bigger Hercules fan. After grabbing Marvel Preview #10 off the shelf, I learned that not only did it have a great Thor cover by Ken Barr, but also a beautiful frontispiece by Jim Starlin! The Thor feature was by Jim Starlin, Tony Dezuniga, and story by Len Wein! To my pleasant surprise, when I got to the second half of the mag I found a even greater feature to me: Hercules by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Val Mayerik of Frankenstein and Man-Thing fame. Val drew similar to Barry Windsor Smith in this story! It looks spectacular! "The Isle of Fear" retells the story of Hercules' greatest battle during his time with  Jason and the Argonauts. Bill sure knew how to write entertaining tales, too. His work a few years later on the Micronauts, then on Rom, Spaceknight, and the Incredible Hulk were always, well, incredible! (Bill's on FaceBook for anyone who like to write on his wall.) Whenever I think of Marvel's/Kirby's Hercules, I think of Steve Reeves! (I was always disappointed Marvel wrote Herc as a buffoon, which I didn't like. Herc could be a hot-headed, ego maniacal, party animal and womanizer--and he could be careless at times, sure. But I never thought of him as stupid.) I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did in the winter 1977 and still do today. For Olympus! No wonder I ended up naming my huge maine coon cat Zeus!

Far-Out Fantasy Week! If You Blinked You Missed: Gillivar Jones

Yeah, this one's been a long time coming, Groove-ophiles! Actually Gullivar Jones in Creatures on the Loose has been on my radar (and in my scan file) for almost as long as the Diversions has existed. Why? Well, for lots of reasons! To many scholars, Edwin L. Arnold's naval lieutenant on Mars may quite possibly be an inspiration for the great Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, as his book, Lt. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation was published seven years before Burroughs' Barsoonians saw the light of day, so that makes Gully interesting historically. Next comes the fact that the first two of Jones' adventures (though a mere ten pages each) were written and illustrated by my dream team of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. Add to that the following issues were illustrated by such fab-a-mundo and diverse talents as Ross Andru, Wayne Boring, and Gray Morrow--well, you can figure out Ol' Groove's interest in G.J., now, can't you?

Marvel's adaptation of Gullivar Jones (aka Warrior of Mars) ran in Creatures on the Loose numbers 16-21 (December 1971-October 1972), with the threads picked up and completed later in Marvel's black and white mag, Monsters Unleashed in issues 4 and 8 (which, par for the crazy course for moi, I have already posted the story from MU #8 and you can read it here). The run was short but sweet, with George Alec Effinger writing most of the series (Roy only wrote issues 16-17) and Tony Isabella writing the two b&w tales (tales which sported art by George Perez, Rich Buckler, and Dave Cockrum). Yeah, Gully seemed to have it all. Pedigree. Awesome creative teams. A blend of sci-fi and sword and sorcery. It had everything it needed--except readers. Man, sometimes no matter how good ya are, ya just can't win!

But we don't wanna end on a down note! Big hearted Groove has got both of Roy and Gil's G.J. efforts ready and rarin' for ya to read! Here come "Warrior of Mars" (with inks by Bill Everett) and "River of the Dead!" (inked by Sam Grainger). Who loves ya, baby?