Marvel-ous Monday: "The Runaway and the Rescuer!" by Kraft, Zimmerman, and Chan

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's a little-seen piece from The Hulk! #10 (the first full-color ish of the former Rampaging Hulk magazine) by David Anthony Kraft, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (yep, the acclaimed author), and Ernie Chan. "The Runaway and the Rescuer!" blew Teen Groove away simply because of its existence. A brand new illustrated prose story featuring Ol' Jade Jaws--in full color! Yours truly always loved experimental stuff in his mags, so this was a welcome treat (along with the comics and the articles we'd grown accustomed to).  

Groove's Faves: "Masks" by Moench, Zeck, and Tartaglione

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Mike Zeck fans, rejoice! Today we're gonna check out a rare and totally far-out Hulk outing by the incredible Mr. Z. from The Hulk! #16 (June 1979)! "Masks" is a pretty cool little morality play written by the amazing Doug Moench. It's an action-packed epic involving a search for treasure in a sunken Spanish galleon, which takes Lettuce Lips from New Orleans to the Florida swamps, and along the way pits our gamma-irradiated hero against a unique mad scientist, an alligator, a manta, and even a mutated octopus! Inked by John Tartaglione and colored (in Super Marvelcolor!) by Steve Oliff, 'tis definitely one of the best issues of Ol' Jade Jaws' full-color magazine!

Groove's Faves: "It's a Monster!" by Moench, Colan, and Wiacek

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Teen Groove (and a lot of other Groove-ophiles, no doubt) really, really dug The Hulk! color mag. Not only was the MarvelColor technique totally far-out (pointing toward today's computer coloring and heavier paper stock), but writer Doug Moench's stories took on the tone of the even more popular Hulk TV show of the day, with it's down-to-earth morality tales. The coolest part was that while The Hulk! had the realistic feel of the show, it featured the real Hulk who could smash stuff like no TV budget would ever allow! So in The Hulk #19 (December 1979), Moench gives us a cool, thoughtful story enhanced by the power-packed art of Gene Colan and Bob Wiacek! John Tartaglione's colors add greatly to the realistic feel. But that's my opinion about "It's a Monster!", your opinions may vary. 'Cause like the story poignantly points out, what we think about something is all based on our own individual perspectives...