Ol' Groove's Countdown: 10 Groovy Age Comics That Need To Be Collected

What it is, Groove-ophiles! All those far-out trade paperbacks Ol' Groove got for Christmas got me thinking about how many collections representing the Groovy Age there are floating around out there. I love collecting them, although I have most of the originals, because it keeps me collecting, but it's also pretty awesome to be able to grab a tpb off the shelf instead of digging through my thousands of single issues (I'm saving those for the grandkids to read, anyway). As I said on my Christmas post, it's a dream come true to be able to fill my shelves with all those cool collections.

Of course in looking at what I have (and what I still need), I notice that there are a lot of cool Groovy Age comics that still haven't been collected. Some of them need to be...some of them, due to ownership and copyrights, may never be collected--but you never know. After all, when I started The Diversions, who'd have ever thunk we'd have collections of Deathlok, Black Panther, Skull the Slayer, The Joker, and even E-Man? Anywho, here's a short version of my wish list of Groovy Age Comics That Need To Be Collected...

10) Denny O'Neil and Mike Grell's Green Lantern: O'Neil had helped keep Green Lantern going in the back pages of The Flash after GL's landmark mag had been cancelled in 1972. An exciting new artist named Mike Grell joined Denny on the GL back-up starting in Flash #237 (August 1977) and drew the feature in most issues through #243 (May 1976). New publisher Jeneatte Kahn gave the greenlight (no pun intended) for Denny and Mike to reunite GL with Green Arrow in their own mag once again with GL/GA #90 (also May 1976). They turned out some very cool stories together, giving our Green Team's adventures a more sci-fi style, but with enough down-to-earth grit to keep things balanced. O'Neil and Grell worked together through issue #100 (October 1977), with Grell coming back for issues 106, and 108-110. O'Neil stayed on the title through most of the Groovy Age, with artists Alex Saviuk and Joe Staton penciling. While Ol' Groove certainly digs the Staton-illoed issues, 'tis the Grell-illustrated stories I'd love to see collected the most.

9) Claw the Unconquered: Created by David Michelinie and Ernie Chan, Claw the Unconquered is a very cool twist on Conan the Barbarian. Michelinie's hook was that our hero, who's actual name was Valcan) possessed a demonic hand (hence the "Claw" name) that he could only control by wearing a mystical gauntlet. (The clawed hand was inspired, natch by Michael Moorcock's Elric and his sword Stormbringer). Midway through the series, an up-and-coming artist named Keith Giffen took over the art chores. The series amped up the "cozmik" side of this fun sword and sorcery series, calming the "Conan rip-off" crowd a bit, by incorporating some sci-fi elements, including the revelation that the series wasn't set on earth, but on a far-away planet called Pytharia (home of another Michelinie co-creation Starfire, who is in my top 20 for a tpb collection). Claw the Unconquered ran for only twelve issues (February 1975-May 1978), so if DC ever does collect the series, it wouldn't hurt Ol' Groove's feelings if they not only include the two completed-but-never-published 1978 issues, but the gorgeous Jack C. Harris/Thomas Yeates revival/back-up from Warlord issues 48-49, May-June 1981).

8) Claws of the Cat/Tigra the Werewoman: Greer Nelson was created as part of Marvel's push to gain a female audience for their superhero line (Women's Lib was making their romance line look a bit old fashioned, to understate the case). Claws of the Cat ran only four issues (August 1972-March 1973), but Greer's comicbook career really spiked when she was transformed into Tigra the Werewoman  in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (April 1974) courtesy writer Tony Isabella. Tigra then got a cover story in Monsters Unleashed #10 (December 1974), and eventually her own series in Marvel Chillers issues 3-7 (November 1975-July 1976). With stories by the likes of Isabella and Chris Claremont and art by folks like Marie Severin, Wally Wood, Bill Everett, Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss, Will Meugnoit, Sal Buscma, George Perez, John Byrne, Mike Vosburg, and Ernie Chan, Greer's story (including her guest appearances in Marvel Two-In-One #19, Fantastic Four issues 177-179 and 181-184, Marvel Team-Up #67, and Marvel Premier #42) is most definitely worthy of the tpb treatment!

7) Man-Bat: Created by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams, Man-Bat started as an anti-hero/adversary for The Batman in Detective Comics #400 (April 1970). The alter-ego of Kirk Langstrom had a pretty interesting history during the Groovy Age. Making many appearances with his fiancé-then-wife Francine in a variety of Batman stories (Detective Comics 402, 407, 416, 429, Batman #254, Brave and the Bold #119), two issues of his own comic, back in Detective for a two part back-up story (issues 458-459), a regular spot in Batman Family (issues 11-20), and back to Detective for another back-up spot to burn off the BatFam inventory (issues 483, 485, and 492). Toward the end of the Groovy Age, Man-Bat also appeared in Super-Friends #28 and appeared in Brave and the Bold (#165). With cool stories by Robbins, Bob Haney, Gerry Conway, Bob Rozakis and more and art by Adams, Robbins, Aparo, Steve Ditko, Pablo Marcos, Al Milgrom, Marshall Rogers, Michael Golden, Don Newton, and more, Man-Bat would make a gorgeous (and hefty) collection.

6) Rose and The Thorn: The reason Kid Groove bought Lois Lane comics  (issues 105-130, August 1970-February 1973) was to get to the magnificent Rose and The Thorn back-up strips. Inspired by the Golden Age villainess of the same name, Bob Kanigher (with artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito) created a cool, sophisticated Earth-1 version of R&T who battled a crime-mob called "The 100." Kanigher and company wisely kept the veddy inteddesting split personality of the villainous Earth-2 Rose and Thorn, giving us a mysterious grim-and-gritty hero long before The Punisher or Wolverine were ever a twinkle in anyone's eye. Besides the Andru/Esposito art team, Kanigher also teamed with illustrators like Gray Morrow, a young Rich Buckler, Dick Giordano, and Don Heck. R&S made one last Groovy Age appearance in Superman #336 (March 1979), this time written by Len Wein and pencils by the great Curt Swan. Who wouldn't wanna read these treasures?

5)  The Best of Marvel Premiere: Yep, Marvel's version of DC's Showcase ran for nearly a decade and a total of 61 issues (November 1971-May 1981) with the first 58 comin' at us during the Groovy Age. For the "best of" collection, of course you'd have to include the oft-reprinted debuts of Warlock, Dr. Strange (well, return in his case), and Iron Fist (issues 1, 3, and 15). If Ol' Groove was the editor, I couldn't resist including John Byrne's Iron Fist debut from ish 25, too. Then comes the fun stuff: Legion of Monsters from ish 28, Woodgod from #31, Monark Starstalker from ish 32, issues 35-37 featuring 3-D Man, Weirdworld from ish 38, Seeker 3000 from ish 41, issues 43-48 with Paladin, Jack of Hearts, Man-Wolf, Ant-Man (yeah, that one's in the Ant-Man Epic Collection, but we need it here, too), Alice Cooper from ish 50, Caleb Hammer's (sadly) only appearance from ish 54, and Dominic Fortune from ish 56 (of course Dominic Fortune needs his own collection, too--another tpb wish in Ol' Groove's Top 20 wish list). It would, indeed, be a big ol' volume with tons of amazing art by guys like Kane, Windsor-Smith, Giffen, Chaykin, Ploog, Nino, Sutton, Perez, Byrne, Day, and DeZuniga and awesome authors like Thomas, Lee, Mantlo, Chaykin, Moench, McGregor, Kraft, Micheline, and Gillis). You know it's a great idea to collect these babies. Do it, Marvel--then we'll talk about a similar Marvel Spotlight edition...

4) DC's The Shadow: I know that there was a hardcover reprinting the Denny O'Neil and Mike Kaluta issues, but that was way back in the late 80s, and there's more to DC's Groovy Age Shadow than just those extraordinary tales. The whole Shadow series (twelve issues, July 1973-May 1975), written by O'Neil and Michael Uslan with art by Kaluta, Frank Robbins, and E.R. Cruz is a superior, all-too-short-lived Groovy Age classic series and we need those issues (along with the two guest appearances in Batman [issues 253 and 259]) collected asap! The weed of not collecting these treasures bears bitter fruit!

3) Doomsday +1 and Rog 2000: Some of John Byrne's earliest work, done, naturally, for Charlton, appeared in the amazing Doomsday +1 series (co-created/co-written by Charlton great Joe Gill, issues 1-6, April 1975-February 1976--the rest of the series is reprints) and Rog 2000 written by Nick Cuti from the back of E-Man (issues 6, 7, 9, and 10). Yeah, this would be a much thinner volume that the ones Ol' Groove has suggested so far (even if you throw in the "seventh issue" that was published in Charlton's pro-zine Charlton Bullseye issues 4-5), but man, it would be groovy. The stories are unique and fun--very 1970s Charlton in the best way. And while Byrne's early art isn't as polished as it would grow to be, it was so filled with verve, vigor, ingenuity, and originality that it boggles the mind while simultaneously reminding us all of how this all-time super-star created such a stir back in the Groovy Age.

2) Steve Englehart's JLA: When Groovy Age superstar Steve Englehart left Marvel (after spinning unforgettable Captain America, Avengers, and Dr. Strange series) in 1976 to go off and write novels, DC enticed him to stay in comics long enough to author a legendary run on Batman in Detective Comics (469-476); he also wrote an incredible string of issues of Justice League of America (issues 139-146, 149-150, November 1976-October 1977) that for some reason haven't yet gotten the tpb treatment yet. 'Tis a mystery, indeed, why a run of stories that has inspired a cartoon adaptation (issue 140-141's Green Lantern/Manhunters epic became legendary on the Justice League cartoon), a sorta-spin-off series (yet another version of Manhunter), a definitive JLA origin (#144), and even a kind of sneaky Marvel/DC crossover (everyone knew that issue #142's Willow was really Mantis from the Avengers). On top of that all the stories (except the first one) are 34 page epics, so these stories are like a string of annuals or specials. And of course, Groovy Age JLA artist supreme Dick Dillin drew 'em, so you know they're gonna look great. What the heck is DC waiting for?

1) PLOP!: Does this one surprise you, Groove-ophiles? (If you're a long time Groove-ophile, it probably doesn't.) Kinda-sorta DC's answer to Mad, but with a macabre twist that made it kind of a Mad version of other classic EC mags like Tales from the Crypt, Shock SuspenseStories, and Weird Science, but filtered through DC's own horror/mystery mag sensibilities, complete with horror hosts Cain, Abel, and Eve. Created by accident almost by Steve Skeates, Sergio Aragones, and editor (and former EC artist) Joe Orlando, PLOP! was filled with darkly humorous twisted tales that thrilled, chilled, and tickled the funnybone in a mostly uncomfortable way. It was a unique and highly original mag that is mostly forgotten but would probably sell like crazy if collected today. Almost every talent from DC did at least a page or cover or something for PLOP: Bernie Wrightson, Curt Swan, Frank Robbins, Wally Wood, Steve Ditko, Sheldon Mayer, Alfredo Alcala, Jack Olek, George Kashdan, Nick Cardy, Basil Wolverton--and that's just the first four issues! An omnibus collecting all 24 issues (June 1973-August 1976) in time for Halloween would be amazing, wouldn't it?

There you have it, Ol' Groove's Top Ten Picks for the tpb treatment! Yeah, yers trooley has a lot more ideas, but these are my top picks (at the moment). I'd sure like to see at least half of these turn up in time for Christmas 2018 (and in time for all those bee-yoo-tee-ful Amazon gift cards that help me buy my favorite comicbook tpb collections). So, what's on your list, baby?

Groove's Countdown: Batman's Groovy Age B&B Co-stars

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We talk about Batman's team-up mag, Brave and the Bold, a lot around here. Most of us dig it quite a bit...the "zany" Bob Haney stories (which were often deftly plotted and contained just the right amount of grim-and-gritty), the glorious Jim Aparo artwork, and, of course, the co-stars! The Caped Crusader seemed to have teamed up with just about everyone during the Groovy Age--but he didn't, really. In fact, he could have teamed up with a lot more DC Super-stars, but there were a few he kept hanging out with quite often! Who were the heroes who teamed with The Batman most often during the Groovy Age? The answer might just shock ya, baby! Here come The Batman's Top 5 (kinda/sorta) B&B Groovy Age co-stars via...

Whoo! And away we go!

#4: In fourth place, we have a SEVEN-WAY TIE! Yep, The Metal Men, Plastic Man, The Atom, Deadman, The Flash, Aquaman, and the Teen Titans all joined The Darknight Detective on (can you believe this?) four cases apiece! It's a fact, Jack!

#3: Coming in third--another tie!? S'true! Sgt. Rock (!), Black Canary, and Wildcat all teamed with The Batman on five adventures each!

#2: Okay, no tie here, but this one was the shocker! Believe it or not, Wonder Woman teamed with the Caped Crusader on six different occasions during the Groovy Age--and yeah, a couple of them were during her powerless stage! How 'bout those Amazonian apples?

#1: And the hero who teamed with The Batman most often during the Groovy Age era of B&B? None other than Green Arrow! Yep, the hero who started out (during the Golden Age) as a Batman clone joined his blue-and-gray inspiration on no less than eight different B&B adventures (over the course of nine issues--one case was a two-part/two issue affair)!

And there ya have it, Groove-ophiles! Don't never say Ol' Groove ain't never leart ya nothin'!

Groove's Countdown: Top 10 Wolverine Moments of the Groovy Age

The Wolverine hits theaters 'round the U.S. today, and Ol' Groove is rarin' to see it. Yeah, tall and handsome Hugh Jackman isn't our Groovy Age Wolvie, but in the Marvel Movie-verse he's got the swagger and attitude to pull off playing our fave berserker. That's not the point of today's post, though, Groove-ophiles. Ol' Groove'll stop the pluggin' and get on with it! Today's all about...

The Top Ten Wolverine Moments of the Groovy Age! 

NOTE: These events are in chronological order, not order of importance. Just sayin'...

10) X-Men #96: First view of Wolverine's Berserker Rage! We'd heard about Logan Unleashed, but we finally saw Wolvie cut loose with all his fury on one of the N'Garai...did a super-HERO ever go that nutso before?

9) X-Men #98: Wolverine Unmasked! He has a face! And a funky hair-do. Who'da thunk it?

(Yeah, Logan was unmasked on page one of ish 98, but we didn't know it fo sho until the panel above that it was Wolvie. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...)

8) X-Men #98 (again!): Wolverine's Claws Are a Part of Him! Here we were thinking those adamantium Ginsu knives were in his gloves...

7) X-Men #101: Wolverine Says It with Flowers (Or Not)! A rare early glimpse of Wolverine's tender side as he deals with his feelings for Jean Gray in his own inimitable way...

6) X-Men #108: Wolverine Is HOW Tough? While battling the Imperial Guard, Logan is punched literally into orbit and survives. Yeah, the scene is played for laughs, but think about it. Approaching escape velocity. Alive. Wolverine. One tough dude!

5) X-Men #109: Wolverine's Not Just About Killing... Logan has a sensitive side and  a depth neither the X-Men nor many of us readers had given him credit for up to this point...

4) X-Men #116: ...But Wolverine Will Kill Without Mercy! When lives are on the line and stealthy assassination is a must, Logan will do what he has to do . And his fellow X-Men will just have to live with it...

3) X-Men #118: Wolverine Meets Mariko. Logan meets the love of his life, giving us a new and very unique wrinkle in our enigmatic hero's personality--the romantic ronin. (And she'd better be in this new flick!)

2) X-Men #132: Wolverine Emerges from the Sewer, Ready to Kick Butt! ZOOM! Logan's cool-factor multiplied by triple-digits with the last page of X-Men 132, one of the all-time iconic images in all of comicdom. Beaten and humiliated, his teammates captured, the baddies aren't a bit worried about Wolvie. They think he's dead. Their bad.

1) X-Men #133: Wolverine Lives Up to His Promise (and Does a Pretty Good Dirty Harry)! We expected to see Logan go to war on the Hellfire Club's minions when we got our eyes filled with that last page of X-Men 132. We tear back the cover of ish 133 to see if our expectations are fulfilled. Boy, are they ever!

What d'ya think, Groove-ophiles? Those are my picks. What are yours?

Groove's Countdown: 5 Super-Villains that Bugged Me

It's back!

 ...is BACK, baby!

Today's countdown focuses on five super-baddies who could'a been contenders but wound up scraping the bottom of the garbage pail. Ready? Let's get buzzin' with...

5 Super-Villains that Bugged Me

5) Dragonfly: Those blank eyes! That purple hair! That red skin! Those antennae! A winged chick who can hypnotize ya sounds kinda interesting, huh? Co-creators Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum must've thought so, since after she got her wings clipped by the X-Men in All-New, All-Different X-Men numbers 94-95, they planted a panel in ANADXM #104 showing that our hot li'l hypnotist had escaped imprisonment. Dunno what those plans were 'cause Dragonfly never made another Groovy Age appearance. She did make a comeback in the 90s, but who wants to think about the 90s? Sheesh!

4) Tarantula: This South American baddie, debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #134, had a very cool costume, but a very lame m.o.--his pointy-toed boots were actually spiked, leading Tarantula to employ kung-fu style foot-fighting; kinda like a pointy-toed Batroc the Leaper. You can only jump and kick at Spider-Man for so long until the Amazing Web-Headed Dude takes you down. Senor Rodriguez was a slow learner, though, since he kept on trying to keep his toe in the bad-guy clubhouse by appearing in ASM numbers 135, 141, 147-149, 181, Spectacular Spider-Man numbers 1-3, and Captain America #224.

3) Hellgrammite: When Hellgrammite first appeared in Brave and the Bold #80, he seemed like a pretty tough customer. Armor, strength, leaping ability, and some sort of sticky stuff he could use to make cocoons to imprison his prey. He gave Batman and the Creeper a pretty rough way to go, and it seemed that Gothamites had another weird-but-powerful super-villain on their hands. When Hellgrammite next appeared nearly a decade later in the pages of World's Finest numbers 248-249, he didn't seem as intimidating. In his battle with Green Arrow and Black Canary, Hellgrammite was more of a con-man, using his cocoons to make old people young again. Yeah, he didn't show his face again until after Crisis on Infinite Earths.

2) The Fly: Another cool looking baddie (inspired by Archie Comics' Fly/Fly-Man?). Another baddie with cool powers (almost just like Spider-Man, just swap the webs with wings). Another baddie with tons of potential swatted down in his prime. The Fly made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man Annual (Summer 1976), and then in Amazing Spider-Man #193 a couple'a years later. His biggest claim to fame (if it's the same guy--the costume is subtly different) is battling Spidey in a Hostess ad that started running just weeks after his debut in the aforementioned Spidey Annual. Again, he reared his bug-eyed head in the 80s and 90s--but those decades were anything but kind to the former Mel Cooley. Huh? Oh, that's a different Richard Deacon...

1) Mantis: He was created by Jack Kirby as a villain for the Forever People and the New Gods. He could go toe-to-toe with Orion. He appeared in Forever People #2, New Gods numbers 2, 9-10, and Secret Society of Super-Villains numbers 2-5 (what's up with all those number twos?). And yeah, he looked awesome! What else do ya need to know?

Groove's Countdown: Top Five Groovy Groupies

Just when you thought it was safe to surf the Internet...it's the return of Groove's Countdown!

This time we're gonna take a look at Ol' Groove's fave five Groovy Age characters who were true team players--"Groovy Groupies" if you will. In fact, they were such ardent allies that one rarely appeared solo outside their team's titles...

5) Starhawk: You know of Ol' Groove's weakness for cosmic heroes, so it was only natural that the appearance of "The One Who Knows" in Defenders #28 (July 1975) knocked me out. Here was an enigmatic hero in a cool costume (loved the way the stripes on his costume became stylized wings) with some far-out powers (energy manipulation, precognition, flight, invulnerability, and who-knows-what-else) hooking up with the Badoon-bashing freedom-fighters from the future, the Guardians of the Galaxy. When the GotG got their own feature in Marvel Presents (issues 3-12), Starhawk muscled his way into it, adding power and mystery (why did he sometimes turn into a woman?!?) to author Steve Gerber's already wild-n-wacky cosmic drama. He even took the spotlight with his origin story in issues 9-10, and then with the tragic story of his children in ish 11.

After the demise of Marvel Presents, Starhawk appeared (usually with the Guardians) in Thor Annual #6, several issues of Avengers between #s 167-181, Marvel Team-Up #86, and Marvel Two-In-One #s 61-63.

4) Mantis: "This One" (what was up with all'a this first-person hoo-ha back in the 1970s?) was supposedly a Vietnamese barmaid who inspired the once-villainous Swordsman to change his evil ways and join the might Avengers. Once in the Avengers, Steve Englehart's brain-child became one of the most intriguing and often aggravating characters in comicbook history. In a FOOM interview, Englehart revealed that he had intended Mantis to be a--let's put it delicately--a floozy. She was going to flirt with every Avenger, punching Swordsman's jealousy buttons in a way that would have made the original flirtatious Avenger, the Wasp, blush.

For some reason, though, when Mantis started coming on to the Vision, Englehart found his soap-opera gold. Vision, our android hero (more on him later), had just come to terms with the fact that he had emotions and declared his love for fellow Avenger, the Scarlet Witch. Vision and Wanda didn't have much time to enjoy their "happy couple" status until Mantis crashed the party, throwing herself at our red-faced (no wonder!) hero at every opportunity. Add to that the fact that Mantis turned out to be the Celestial Madonna (cosmic mother to a being of immense power) by way of her upbringing at the hands of Kree priests. And don't even get me started on the fact that she was the love child of a super-villain named Libra! Mantis' story was wild, twisted, original, and ground-breaking. The ultimate fusion of Marvel super-heroic soap-opera and the good ol' "cosmic zap"!  

Mantis appeared in most issues of the Avengers issues 112-137, Giant-Size Avengers 1-4, Defenders 9-11, Captain Marvel 31 and 33, and Fantastic Four #150--always in the company of her fellow Avengers. Her only solo appearance was in the guise of Willow in ish 142 of DC's Justice League of America. Yeah, that Mantis (and Steve Englehart) is a sneaky one!

3) Nighthawk: Marvel's original Nighthawk, who first appeared on the final page of Avengers #69 (July 1969), was conceived as a villainous version of Batman who was part of a twisted version of the JLA called the Squadron Sinister. Soon after his Avengers appearances (Avengers 69-71), Nighthawk showed up in the pages of Daredevil #62 (December 1969) to battle our horn-headed hero. The next Nighthawk sighting was in Avengers #83 (September 1970), but instead of our favorite beak-faced villain, it was actually the comicbook version of uber-fan Tom Fagan in a Halloween costume. I suppose either Stan or Roy (or both) really dug the name and costume, 'cause with Avengers #85-86 (November-December 1970) a new, heroic, alternate-earth version of Nighthawk debuted as part of the heroic, alternate earth version of the JLA called the Squadron Supreme. The bloom quickly fell off that black rose, and it would be over three years before a Nighthawk would show up in the pages of another Marvel comic.

In Defenders #13 (February 1974), the original, villainous version of Kyle Richmond's alter-ego made his comeback, with his fellow Squadron Sinister members in tow. The bad-guys had teamed with a god-like alien called Nebulon, and only the Hulk, Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, and Valkyrie (more on her later, too) stood between them and earth's demise. In Defenders #14, Nighthawk had a change of heart and helped our non-team battle his blood-crazed former compadres, seemingly at the cost of his life. Dr. Strange lived up to his title and made him all better. Nighthawk immediately joined the team, got himself a brand new costume (one of the coolest sets of super-threads ever) and a jet-pack that would let him fly like the night-bird he resembled. Whew! We're only getting started here, Groove-ophiles! Nighthawk's millionaire status would make him an important part of the Defenders, 'cause even a non-team will have bills to pay when they're responsible for the Hulk and his rampages!

Kyle Richmond's background and private life proved to be fodder for some great stories especially when Steve Gerber took over the writing reins. We learned that Nighthawk's corporation was actually the financial backer of the hate-group called Sons of the Serpent. His supermodel girlfriend was also the niece of super-baddie Egghead--a relationship which cost her an arm and her career. A group of villains called the Headmen captured him, took out his brain (!), and replaced it with one of their membership's brains so they could spy on the Defenders. And if that weren't enough, we found that he was the original "poor rich kid", surviving a childhood that would have made anyone turn bad. Eventually Dr. Strange left the Defenders and Nighthawk took over as leader, trying (in vain) to turn the Defenders into a "real" team. With that costume and those story-lines is it any wonder Teen Groove dug Nighthawk so much? Whew, again! Ol' Groove's not even gonna try to head into the weird, post-Groovy Age life of Nighthawk (except to say he died and got better quite often).

Let's just round up the rest of his Groovy Age appearances: Defenders 15-90-and-beyond, Giant-Size Defenders 2-5, Defenders Annual #1, Marvel Team-Up #33, Marvel Treasury Edition #12, Incredible Hulk 206-207, Marvel Two-In-One #34, Avengers #167, Dr. Strange #29, Tales To Astonish #13, and Fantastic Four Annual #14. If you really need more Nighthawk info, just read my Secret Origins: Nighthawk post. Ol' Groove's fingers are tired and we've still got two more Groovy Groupies to go!

2) Valkyrie:  Besides also being a non-member of the non-team the Defenders, Valkyrie has a few other things in common with Nighthawk. The character was co-created by Roy Thomas as the villain for an issue of the Avengers (#83, the very ish Tom Fagan dresses up as Nighthawk for Halloween), and there has been more than one Val. The first, the one that made her debut in Avengers #83 was really Thor's arch enemy, The Enchantress, in disguise. The second Val was society-gal-cum-feminist Samantha Parrington given Asgardian power by the Enchantress to fight the Hulk (?) in Incredible Hulk #142 (May 1971). The Valkyrie who would eventually join the Defenders (with ish #4, November 1972 and would stay on for most issues of the Groovy Age) was the spirit of a real Valkyrie, Brunnhilde, trapped in the body of a madwoman named Barbara Norris. Val's good looks and god-like strength made her a fave, and her level head made her a perfect foil for fellow hot-head Defenders the Hulk and Sub-Mariner. Steve Gerber milked the "trapped in another woman's body" situation by having Barbara Norris' ex-husband, Jack,  follow her wherever her adventures took her in an effort to reclaim Barbara's love. Jack Norris just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the bod was his ex-wife's but the mind and soul was an Asgardian. Made for some good soap opera, don'tcha know.

Besides her Asgardian roots, Val also had a couple more cool things going for her: an enchanted sword named Dragonfang and a flying horse (a gift from the Black Knight) called Aragorn. What cool visuals she brought to the table! A sword-wielding, opera-threaded chick on a flying horse? The costume (more specifically the "metal bra") was always a source of controversy, so Marvel messed with Val's look a couple of times, but the original would always come back.

Where else did we find Val during the Groovy Age? Avengers 116-118, Giant-Size Defenders 1-5, Defenders Annual #1, Marvel Two-In-One #7, Marvel Team-Up #35, Marvel Treasury Edition #12, and Incredible Hulk 206-207.

1) The Vision: You knew this one was coming, didn't ya, Groove-ophile? Roy wanted to introduce a new Avenger. Stan wanted to introduce a new hero called "Android Man". A compromise was made, with Roy taking Stan's basic "Android Man" idea, tossing in a touch of Mr. Spock, and mixing it with a Golden Age Simon/Kirby/Timely hero called The Vision. When the new Vision appeared in Avengers #57 (July 1968) Marveldom was blown away. Garbed in green and gold, wrapped in a high-collared golden cape with a simple gold diamond on his chest--and in spite of his strangely red face--The Vision totally looked the part of an enigmatic, dramatic, and powerful new hero. His power of controlling his own mass and density was very cool and original. The first time you see Vizh materializing through a wall is, indeed, unnerving. More than a "ghost" though, Vizh could also increase his mass and density to that of a boulder made of diamond. He could fight Thor hand-to-hand, dude! In keeping with the almost-tradition of villains becoming Avengers, The Vision started out as the pawn of Hank Pym's evil robot Ultron. Vizh turned on his "creator", proving himself to be truly good and was welcomed into the Avengers' ranks with the very next issue. Roy's intent was to make a creepy-cool hero with an unhuman bearing that could even give members of our favorite Assemblers' pause...and yet, as The Vision's second appearance closed we saw him shed a tear of joy. After that, Roy kept us guessing. The Vision had the "brain patterns" of (then-dead) former Avenger Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. So was The Vision "just" a machine who acted human...or was he a human trapped in the body of a machine?

Roy and The Vision grappled with our crimson-skinned hero's identity in many an issue of Avengers in the early 1970s. In Avengers #78 (April 1970), Vision tried disguising himself as a human, complete with a synthetic mask he'd created, but his eyes and voice still creeped normal humans out. In that same issue the villainous Grim Reaper learned that Vision had his brother Wonder Man's brain patterns--a revelation that would lead to some interesting stories down the road. In Avengers #81 (July 1970), Vision showed strong feelings for the Scarlet Witch when he thought she was in danger, leading Wanda to start looking at our synthetic hero in a different light. A light which led to a near kiss (!) in the pages of Avengers #91 (May 1971). Off the beaten path a bit, Roy and Neal Adams had Ant-Man enter the Vision's injured body in the legendary Avengers #93 (July 1971), and Neal gave Vizh's innards a much more mechanical look than we'd imagined. Hmmm. Three issues later (Avengers #96, November 1971) Thomas and Adams had Vizh almost kill a Skrull soldier when interrogating him about the Scarlet Witch's location. In Avengers #99 (February 1972), Vision sat out a major battle to (in the words of Hawkeye) "...play nursemaid to a chick (Scarlet Witch) who just had the wind knocked out of her!" Yeah, "Android Man" was struggling with an crazy little thing called love. In Avengers #102 (May 1972), the Grim Reaper/Scarlet Witch story-lines merged, with the Reaper offering Vizh a chance to inhabit the "long-preserved body" of Simon Williams. As the android Avenger is mulling this over, he sees Hawkeye coming on strong to the Scarlet Witch. Ah, the drama!

When Steve Englehart took over the writing reins of the Avengers with ish 105 (August 1972), he began pushing the Vision and Wanda closer together, having them declare their love for one another in issue #113 (April 1973) and eventually marrying (despite Mantis' throwing herself at Vizh over the course of a dozen or so issues) in Giant-Size Avengers #4 (March 1975). Englehart also gave us the "definitive" origin of The Vision, showing us that Ultron had used the body of the Original Human Torch in the creation of our favorite android Avenger (Avengers 133-135, December 1974-February 1975). In Avengers #137 (April 1975), Englehart and artist George Tuska did the unthinkable--they gave us The Vision in all of his red-skinned glory wearing only a pair of swimming trunks. T'was quite controversial, since he'd always been depicted wearing his costume--even under "civilian" clothing. As the Groovy Age progressed, Vizh pretty much came to grips with his humanity and his role as a loving husband while adding mightily to the power of the already mighty Avengers.

Appearances outside the Avengers, you ask? Okee dokee... Sub-Mariner #8 and #35, Captain America #113, 114, 116, 154, 224, 228, 242, 250,  Iron Man #18,115, 125, Fantastic Four #94,150, 220, Incredible Hulk #128and #153 , Ka-Zar #1, Amazing Adventures #8, Marvel Team-Up #5, 41-44, , Thor #208, 271, 280, Daredevil #99, Captain Marvel #27, 28, 31-33, Marvel Feature #10, Defenders #7, 9-11, Giant-Size Avengers 1-4, Avengers Annual #6-9, Super-Villain Team-Up #9, 14, Invaders Annual #1, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 and 4, Ms. Marvel #5, 18, Marvel Two-In-One #39, Fantastic Four Annual #14, Black Panther #14-15, Godzilla #23-24, Spidey Super Stories #43-44, Daredevil #164, Tales to Astonish #12, and to infinity and beyond after the Groovy Age. Whew!

There ya have it, Groove-ophiles! The TOP FIVE Team-mates of the Groovy Age! Hope you enjoyed this encyclopedic entry. Ol' Groove's gonna go have a quiet little nervous breakdown now. But I'll be back on the morrow, you betcha! Pax, baby!