Groove's Faves: "Full House--Dragon's High!" by Gillis, Miller, and McLeod

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today's subject is a true-blue fave: Marvel Two-In-One #51 (February 1979). That George Perez/Joe Sinnott cover featuring The Thing, The Beast, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, and Nick Fury comin' atcha was enough to tug a quartet of dimes out of Teen Groove's pocket, but when I got inside the covers and saw the awesomely far-out art by that new guy Frank Miller and the magnificent Bob McLeod--my mind was officially blown! Writer Peter Gillis could have adapted a Mork and Mindy plot for all I cared, but (thankfully), he didn't. He gave us a cool action/espionage tale (that started out as a friendly poker game), allowing for some great character moments and some sweetly choreographed battle scenes. Yep, this one's an all-time fave, baby! Can you dig it?

If You Blinked You Missed: Caleb Hammer

What's happening, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna strap on our six-guns and hit the trail with Caleb Hammer. Hammer was Marvel's first new Western hero in nearly half a decade and man, did he ever have potential! Created by Peter B. Gillis and Gene Day for Marvel Premiere #54 (March 1980), "The Devil's Starry Anvil" was our hero's one-and-only Groovy Age appearance. I suppose superheroes had such a hold on comicdom that too few fans cared about reading any westerns, other than the adventures of Jonah Hex over at DC, no matter how well done they were. Those not in the know regarded Caleb Hammer as Marvel's attempt to mimic Jonah Hex, but aside from the inks of Tony DeZuniga (semi-regular artist and co-creator of Hex) and the fact Hammer was a western, that's all the similarities. If anything, in fact, Gillis and Day set out to create the anti-Hex. Hammer was a violence hating, deeply religious man until his life is turned upside down. Even then the former seminary student shunned the seedy life of a bounty hunter to become a Pinkerton agent. No, if Hex was tails, Hammer was heads. It's just a shame he didn't get the chance to shine!