Metal Mondays: "Evil Is In the Eye of the Beholder" by Gerber and Simonson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Hey, it's a new year, so you know some new departments are gonna start popping up. Today is the debut of Metal Mondays! What is Metal Mondays all about? Well, right now, it's about DC's 1976-77 Metal Men revival!

Dig it: in January 1976, the Metal Men (who'd only been seen in occasional team-ups with Batman in The Brave and the Bold and three 1973 reprint issues since their mag's demise in late 1969) were back! Editor (who'd soon take over as writer) Gerry Conway filled in the blanks about what had happened to Doc Magnus and his robotic charges over the past 7 years on the letters page (or did assistant editor Paul Levitz handle that page?), picked up the metallic ball and ran with it. Did'ja know that MM was Walt Simonson's first regular series since his legendary Manhunter strip in Detective Comics? Did'ja know Wild n Wooly Walt was so psyched about the first ish that he not only penciled and inked it, but lettered and colored it as well? (Why did they reject Simonson's--inked by Berni Wrightson!-- cover? Not to knock Dick Giordano's job...) Why did Steve Gerber script this ish? He was pretty much buried in work at Marvel at the time? Glad he did, though. Anywho, let's dig in to the return of the Metal Men as they learn..."Evil Is In the Eye of the Beholder!"

Simonson and Wrightson's rejected MM cover. Thanks for the  head's up, Jeff Clem!

Second Smash Issue: "Earth!" by Mantlo, Golden, and Rubinstein

January 2, 2015! The second day of the New Year and the day we celebrate superior second issues! Way back in December, 2008, we rapped about Micronauts #1. It's only taken six years, but here is the second sensational ish of Micronauts (November 1978)! Welcome to "Earth!" by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, and Joe Rubinstein! Check it out!

Famous Firsts: "The Joker's Double Jeopardy!" by O'Neil, Novkick, and Giordano

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2015 is here, and here's wishing you and yours the greatest year ever! We're kicking off the new year with a brand-new header, created by John Gandour, designer of The Drawings of Jim Steranko website! Thanks a ka-zillion, John! Far-out, ain't it, Groove-ophiles?

1975 was a pretty big year for first issues. Everything from Justice, Inc. and Beowulf to the Invaders and the All-New, All-Different X-Men came alive in '75! Today we're gonna rap about a Famous First that was a looooooong time in coming--the first issue of  DC's The Joker!

When the Clown Prince of Crime made his debut in the first issue of Batman way back in 1940, everyone knew that he was something special! So special that they "un-killed" him and brought him back asap. Of all the super-villains in comicdom, with the possible exception of Lex Luthor, The Joker is the comicbook villain who has become best known to the world at large. From Cesar Romero's turn on the Batman TV show (which Ol' Groove is digging daily--thanks, Santa!) to Jack Nicholson in the 1989 flick to Mark Hamill's spot-on cartoon characterization to the late Heath Ledger's evil Jerry Lewis in The Dark Knight, everyone knows the Joker. Back in 1975, comics didn't dominate the pop culture as they seem to do now, but there was still a strong interest in Jerry Robinson's villainous brain-child (thanks in no small part to Batman #251's "Joker's Five-Way Revenge"--perhaps the greatest single Joker story ever!)--and so in February, 1975, the Grinning Gangster finally got his own mag by the semi-regular Batman creative team of Denny O'Neil, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano. Check out..."The Joker's Double Jeopardy!" (Guest-starring my personal fave Bat-villain, Two-Face!)

Cover art by Dick Giordano

The Joker's mag lasted a total of nine issues, with other creators like Elliot S! Maggin, Ernie Chan, and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez adding to the ka-razee mix. So his mag didn't last as long as the lesser-known Marvel super-villain Doctor Doom's Super-Villain Team-Up (which made it's Giant-Size debut a couple months earlier), he's been treated much better by Hollywood. At least that's something, innit?