Happy Groovy Thanksgivings of Yore!

Some of Ol' Groove's favorite comics came out in November, and I've shared a whole lot of 'em here on the blog. In a weird bout of nostalgic nostalgia, Ol' Groove would like to help you (in the U.S.A) celebrate Thanksgiving (happy Thursday to the rest of the world!) with some of my most favorite faves that I've shared here with you in our past Thanksgiving Feasts! So, instead'a cooking to enjoy these tasty morsels of comicbook wonder, all ya have to do is click! Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!

Strange Tales #178 (Jim Starlin's Warlock epic begins!), The Destructor #1 (Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko, and Wally Wood give us a most unexpected super-hero), and Scorpion #1 (Howard Chaykin's pulp-hero supreme)! Click here to read 'em all!

Ol' Groove's all-time favorite ish of Creepy! Read the best of this issue's best here, here, and here!

Marvel's greatest one-shot mag featuring early solo tales starring The Punisher and (Howard Chaykin's "reboot" of Scorpion) Dominic Fortune and the twin debuts of The Huntress (better known as Bobbi Morse/Mockingbird) and Weirdworld!

A special (or should I say Super Special) "issue" of Savage Sword of Conan in full color!

And finally, one of the best b&w comic mags of all time! The debut of Tigerman, Lawrence of Arabia...The Sting of Death...and Escape from Nine by 1!

The Diversions Turns 10 "Best of" Birthday Bash! Tigerman and Lawrence of Arabia from Thrilling Adventure Stories #1

Happy anniversary, Groove-ophiles! This coming Saturday Marks 10 years since the Diversions hit the interwebs, so Ol' Groove thought we'd celebrate by looking back at some his favorite, but least viewed, posts from our first fateful year! We'll be back new and live next Monday with a special anniversary post. Until then, enjoy these "reprints" and rap with us about 'em!

Atlas/Seaboard's Thrilling Adventure Stories made its debut in November, 1974. To make this an extra-special Thanksgiving treat, I thought I'd share not one, but two far-out features from that magnificent mag's pulse-pounding pages. See who loves ya, baby? First up is "Tigerman and the Flesh Peddlers" by John Albano and Ernie Colon!

Now dig into "Lawrence of Arabia" by Jeff Rovin and Frank Thorne!

Groove's Faves Week! Black and White Wednesday: "Temple of the Spider" by Goodwin and Simonson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove is having a birthday this coming Saturday, I've got a brand new grandchild (#4!) on the way, and school has started back. Instead of struggling to keep up or (heaven forbid) getting behind, Ol' Groove is going to try something I've been toying with for a long time: re-runs! Yep, there are a lot of old posts that I'm really proud of that don't seem to have gotten the attention I'd have liked, so I'm going to run them this week. Next week, Ol' Groove'll be back with new posts, but 'til then, enjoy and comment on these Favorite Posts!

From November 5, 2008...

What's happening, Groove-ophiles? I thought after all the big events of the past several weeks (Halloween Countdown, 100th Post, and the election), it'd be nice to unwind with a flat-out great comicbook story by two of the most talented dudes to ever grace the pulpified pages of our favorite medium. I mentioned this story in my post on Thrilling Adventure Stories back in August (you can read it here), so I'm not gonna waste space repeating it all today. Suffice to say, the two issues of Thrilling Adventure Stories produced by Atlas/Seaboard back in 1975 are treasure-troves of comicbook excellence. This story by Goodwin and Simonson, who had just finished their magnificent run on Manhunter in the back of Detective Comics (issues 437-443), is one of the absolute best black and white comics ever. And because Ol' Groove loves ya, here it is!

Black and White Wednesday: Thrilling Adventure Splashes by Simonson, Severin, Toth, Heath, Thorne, and more

Season's Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna look back at the superior artistry of Atlas/Seaboard's two (wish it'd been a few hundred) issue Thrilling Adventure Stories (November 1974/May 1975)! Ernie Colon! Jack Sparling! Leo Summers! Frank Thorne! Russ Heath! Walt Simonson! John Severin! Alex Toth! Dang, no wonder Ol' Groove still prizes those two magnificent mags so highly!

Oh, and if you find the "Thrilling Adventure Stories" link in the Stream of Comicbook Consciousness over in the sidebar, you can read most of these titanic tales--if you've the notion...

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: No DC for Neal!

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Y'know, there was a time during the Groovy Age when DC's fave artist, Neal Adams, was on the outs with them. He was trying to make the comics industry more fair and employee friendly, mainly by taking on the cause of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who felt--and Neal agreed--that DC (and the upcoming Superman film) were gypping the creators out of their fair share of what would be a multi-million dollar proposition. Of course, while Neal was crusading, he had to make moolah, so he turned to Marvel, Charlton (!), newcomer Atlas/Seaboard, and once, even a "ground-level" publisher, Sal Quartuccio for some income. He did mostly covers, while he and his cohorts at Continuity Associates took care of whatever interiors needed taking care of. But it's Neal's covers we're celebrating today! One could imagine Neal finishing a piece and thinking, "Look what you're missing, DC!"