The Boys from Derby: "The Night Visitor" by Gill and Larson

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! It's time hit the Spinner Rack of the Supernatural for a cool and creepy tale from Charlton's Ghostly Haunts #50 (March 1976)! Beware as Joe Gill and Rich Larson introduce us to..."The Night Visitor!"

The Boys from Derby: "The Swamp Creature" by Gill, Larson, and Boxell

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Ya know how much we love swamp creatures here in Groove City, so anytime Ol' Groove chances upon a tale featuring some sorta muck we're gonna put it up here for all to see! This one, the oh-so-brilliantly titled "The Swamp Creature" by Joe Gill, Rich Larson, and Tim Boxell is no Swamp Thing, but it's still pretty cool. Can you hear it sloshing your way from The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #58 (May 1976)?

The Boys from Derby: "The Stones of Brytagalon" by uncredited, Larson, and Boxell

What it is, Groove-ophiles! After artists like John Byrne, Joe Staton, and Don Newton were snapped up by Marvel and DC, Charlton needed new blood! One of the most promising and energetic of the new crop was Rich Larson. Larson's Joe Staton-esque pencils were loose, fun, dynamic, and able to move from horror to sci fi and back again with ease. Later, he would team with Steve Fastner to produce beautiful painted posters featuring super-heroes, and as the decades went on, much more. In fact they still work together producing absolutely gorgeous (if not completely safe for work) art which you can gaze 'pon at their wondrous website! Oh, yeah, Ol' Groove (nor the GCD) knows who wrote "The Stones of Brytagalon" from the final ish of Beyond the Grave (#6, March 1976), but I know Larson's art (inked by Tim Boxell) is dy-no-mite!

And remember, the legacy of Charlton lives on! Fine out more about the following mags at the Charlton Neo Facebook page!

Black and White Wednesday: 1973 FOOM Character Contest

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Jaunty Jim Steranko mentioned it in his editorial in FOOM Magazine #1, but it wasn't until getting the second ish that Young Groove realized that Marvel was really serious about their FOOM Character Contest. All'a those cool looking characters other FOOMers were coming up with spurred me into creating...Bird Boy! Thankfully, Marvel was merciful as well as mighty, and didn't run my illegible illo (complete with traced Neal Adams Robin head! Though they did include my name in the contestants list in FOOM #3...)

Bet you'd like to see all of those cool creations the elite of Marveldom Assembled concocted for FOOM numbers 2-4, wouldn't ya? As ever, Ol' Groove aims to please...

Winner Mike Barreiro had to wait a little longer than expected for his character Humus Sapiens to make his debut...28 years, in fact! Yep, though Humus Sapiens won the 1973 contest, he didn't appear in a Marvel comic until 2001...and even then, it wasn't in X-Men, but Thunderbolts, and as Humus Sapien, sans the "s" at the end of his monicker. Dunno much about the character, but his power must be super-patience...

Did'ja notice there is a character in there by the name of Wolverine? And check out the background depicting his origin. Makes ya go, "hmmm", huh?

And did you catch some of those contestants' names? Are they who we think they are? Steve Rude? Trevor von Eeden? Rich Larson? Grant Miehm? Mike Chen? Dough Hazlewood? Bill Morrison? Steve Saffel? And who did I miss? Any of you Groove-ophiles represented in those pages?