Black and White Wednesday: "The Deadliest Enemy of Gotham City!" by O'Neil and Robbins

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove doesn't know how he missed this gem when it hit the Interwebs back in 2016, but here ya go! While scrounging for some cool original art to share in future posts, yers trooly ran across some original Frank Robbins Batman art--from an unpublished story! Lucky Paul Handler actually owns the original pages to the whole story and was kind enough to share the pages on his Comicartfans page...which you can check out here. (I hope you're okay with my posting those pages here, Paul--hopefully we'll drives some traffic to your pages.) According to Paul, "The Deadliest Enemy of Gotham City!" (written by Denny O'Neil) was to have been part of a special anti-drug book DC was putting together with an unnamed agency back in 1974. The plan fell through, and the book, as far as we know, was never completed, but the Robbins Batman pages were. Check it out!

Titan-ic Tuesdays: "Titans East! Titans West! And Never (?) the Teens Shall Meet!" by Rozakis, Heck, and Chiarmonte

Hey, hey, hey, it's another Titan-ic Tuesday, Groove-ophiles! Once again, Bob Rozakis gives us tons o'teen-aged heroes, more (sigh) Captain Calamity and his stooges, and more mysteries. Sadly, Don Heck's art looks really rushed, and Frank Chiarmonte's inks aren't a good match for his pencils (at least not imho), but what're ya gonna do. I'd still grab it off a spinner rack and plunk down 35 cents in a split-second! From Teen Titans #51 (August 1977) comes a tale with one of the longest titles ever! "Titans East! Titans West! And Never (?) the Teens Shall Meet!"

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Vinnie Colletta

Famous Firsts: "All Star Super Squad" by Conway, Estrada, and Wood

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2015 is history and 2016 is here! Kinda exciting, huh? More excitement for ya, baby: the first issue of DC's All-Star Comics revival from October 1975! Remember the excitement this ad generated?

The legendary Justice Society of America, the original super-team, had only existed in annual team-ups with the Justice League during the Silver Age and early Groovy Age, though fans clamored for more, more, more (true, Andrea)! Well, in 1975, Gerry Conway teamed with Ric Estrada and Wally Wood to bring that fabled super-team out of retirement. Sorta. As you'll see, Conway's revival was to have centered on three "younger" heroes: Robin (in his Neal Adams designed threads from JLA #92), Star-Spangled Kid, and a brand new heroine, Power Girl, the All Star Super Squad, but that didn't last long. Why? 'Cause fans wanted the JSA, baby! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's dig the very first issue of the ASC revival, ish #58, and take a look at the energy and excitement that went into bringing back some of DC's finest! Here we'll see the seeds planted that would inform how DC would handle the JSA to this very day! The ties to the Golden Age, the (grudging) passing of the torch to younger heroes (legacy heroes), and best of all, the series would eventually lead to Paul Levitz taking the helm and setting the pace for how writers would handle the JSA for decades to come. Whoops, strayed away from ish #58 again! Let's get on with it, shall we?

Cover art by Mike Grell

Titanic Tuesdays: "The Coast-to-Coast Calamities!" by Rozakis, Heck, and Geilla

It's Titanic Tuesday, so that means it's time for another Teen Titans adventure! This one comes from the TT's 50th ish (July 1977) courtesy writer Bob Rozakis and artists Don Heck and Joe Geilla. Good news and bad news with this TT tale: good news...a group of Titans for the West Coast...bad news...the villain's name is...Captain Calamity!

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel