Bring On the Back-ups: "Battle Cry" by Starlin and Tanghal

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! The final chapter of Jim Starlin's OMAC revival from Warlord #39 (August 1980)! "Battle Cry" (with finishes/inks by Romeo Tanghal) is an all-out action epic with two full-page splashes of piled-up and piled-upon warriors.

Is it just me, or did Hitler and The Whizzer cameo on page 3?

Bring On the Back-ups: "The Decision!" by Starlin and Tanghal

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with the third chapter of Jim Starlin's OMAC revival! "The Decision!" from Warlord #38 (July 1980) was written and laid out by Judo Jim, the finishes and inks were provided by future New Teen Titans super-star inker Romeo Tanghal. (Tanghal gives Starlin a very different look, to say the least--and his style would change a lot over George Perez's pencils in NTT.) Things are getting ready to get even wilder (and just look at how cram-packed this 8 pager is--no wonder us Groovy Agers have such a hard time with today's glacially paced comics), so let's up, up, and aw--wait, wrong mag. Er, um, Dig it, baby!

Team-up Week! Thursday Team-ups: "The Gravity War!" by Conway, Edelman, Jones, and Tanghal

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Another day, another day of Team-up Week! Today we're wrapping up the Supergirl/Doom Patrol team-up from Superman Family! "The Gravity War!" plotted by Gerry Conway, scripted by Scott Edelman, and illustrated by Arvell Jones and Romeo Tanghal appeared in Superman Family #193 (October 1978)...

Thursday Team-ups: "What Goes Up...Can't Come Down" by Conway, Jones, and Tanghal

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! It's part two of our Supergirl/Doom Patrol team-up (though this part doesn't feature much DP) by Gerry Conway, Arvell Jones, and Romeo Tanghal! "What Goes Up...Can't Come Down" first appeared in Superman Family #192 (August 1978).

Part three next week. Miss it not!

Thursday Team-Ups: "A Matter of Gravity" by Conway, Jones, and Tanghal

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! When the All-New Doom Patrol finished their three-part Showcase intro (issues 94-96, check 'em out here, here, and here) who'd'a thunk their next appearance would involve them teaming up with Supergirl! S'truth! At the beginning of the DC Explosion, June 1978, the All-New DP teamed with the Maid of Might in her berth in Superman Family (ish #191, to be exact). Now, this ten-pager by Gerry Conway, Arvell Jones, and Romeo Tanghal was, Ol' Groove strongly suspects, was to have been part of a 34 page ish of Super-Team Family, based on the fact that the story runs 32 pages all totaled through ish 193 and the writer/art team was the regular writer/art team on STF. STF was cancelled when DC went to it's all-fourty-four pages for fifty cent line, so a little creative editing made for a pretty smooth transition from STF to SMF. Only hadda change one letter! (I kill me sometimes!)

Fun fact for moi: Teen Groove bought this ish of Superman Family off the spinner rack the very same Friday evening he went with the fam to see Grease on the big screen! Sandy!

Making a Splash: Ditko and Tanghal's Starman

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Near the end of the Groovy Age (October 1979, to be precise), DC turned Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko, and Romeo Tanghal loose on a brand-new Starman series. This Starman really was a man from the stars, a prince-in-hiding, kind of a science-fantasy riff a' la Star Wars. The strip lasted from Adventure Comics #467 through 478, and Teen Groove definitely dug it. It was the first time I'd ever experienced a Sturdy Steve series inked by another artist in the now (I'd seen a very few back issues of Captain Atom at that time), and I thought Romeo did a fab-a-mundo job on giving Ditko a stunning seventies sheen. Later, Mr. Tanghal would become a sensation inking George Perez on New Teen Titans, but those few of us Starman fans knew him when...