Black and White Wednesday: A Sampling of Eerie Fanfare

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! From 1968-1973, Warren's Eerie magazine ran a cool feature called Eerie Fanfare. In it, as you might guess, the mags fans could get stories and art published (and Warren could hype a few things a la Marvel's Bullpen Bulletins, as well). Just a random run from Eerie issues 31-34 gives us fan work by future professional-folks like Pat Broderick, Steve Leialoha, Rick Bryant, and the team of Greg Theakston and Arvell Jones. We also get a bio of then-newcomer Dave Cockrum and a rare art sample from Jeff Jones. Plus some cool stories by fans who don't ring a bell to Ol' Groove but might to some of you out there? Check 'em out!

Groove's Faves: "Mon-El's One-Man War!" by Levitz, Netzer, Rubinstein, Bryant

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes was one of the coolest mags of the Groovy Age, of this there is no doubt. Writers Cary Bates, Jim Shooter, Paul Levitz, and Gerry Conway made the Legion seem more hip than they'd ever been and artists Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, Michael Netzer, James Sherman, Jim Starlin, Howard Chaykin, and Joe Staton kept the team looking young, hip, and, oh, yeah, sexy. This was especially true from late 1976-early 1978 when Superboy went to a double-sized format. We got everything from 34 page epics to two or three shorter strips adding up to that 34 pages, In SatLoSH #236 (November 1978), we got three shorter strips, all of 'em cool (the other two will probably show up here someday), two drawn by Sherman and this one by our favorite former Mike Nasser, Michael Netzer.  Written by Paul Levitz and inked by Joe Rubinstein and sci-fi legend Rick Bryant, "Mon-El's One Man War!" not only gave us a look at how great a superhero Mon-El actually was, but it set up what would lead to a major storyline on down the road. And Netzer's art! Wow!  In eight short pages he gave us Star Wars level outer space action with one of the coolest space-ships ev-er. Those pages still sing with grace and cool and originality! Well, the intro shouldn't be longer than the story, so Ol' Groove is shutting up and away we go wit the comix!

Cosmic Week: Black and White Wednesday: "Alas, the Seeds of Man!" by Mantlo, Hannigan, Russell, and Bryant

COSMIC WEEK keeps on truckin' with a special pick for BLACK AND WHITE WEDNESDAY, Groove-ophiles! A while back we rapped about Star-Lord's kick-off in Marvel Preview #4 (October 1975), and how that tale was intended to appear in the first ish of Star-Lord's own stillborn mag. Today we're gonna dig on Star-Lord's back-up feature, THE SWORD IN THE STAR. Now, TSitS, created by writer Bill Mantlo abetted by artists Ed Hannigan, P. Craig Russell, and Rick Bryant (innovators and ground-breakers, all), was to run in the first 10-12 issues of Star-Lord. (It's really cool that Marvel originally had that much confidence in the mag's potential. Wonder wha hoppen to douse that confidence?) Prince Wayfinder's story was conceived as an epic in the tradition of The Odyssey and King Arthur. You can tell from the premiere story that Mantlo was pouring his all into the concept. You could also tell that he had a definite vision for Prince Wayfinder and company. Check it out (complete with an equally epic intro)!

 

Only one more episode of The Sword in the Star was completed. It was beautifully illustrated by a young Keith Giffen (his first pro work!) and appeared in Marvel Preview #7 (Spring 1976) starring...Satanna? So, as you can see, Mantlo's epic was quickly made filler-fodder. Man, reality really stinks sometimes. (And yeah, Ol' Groove'll share that Mantlo/Giffen masterpiece with ya in the near future if ya want me to, so cheer up!)

Boisterous Bill did eventually find a way to complete his epic, though it must have morphed far, far away from his original intentions as Wayfinder found his way into the pages of The Micronauts in the 1980s. Via flashbacks we learn that the prince finally found his sword which evidently led to the creation of the Microverse, Time-Traveler, and the Enigma Force, all core-concepts of the Micronauts' own mythology.