Countdown to Halloween! The Boys from Derby: "Curse of the Byrnwyres"

HoWOOOOOO's it shakin', Groove-ophiles! Today's terror tale is a hoot. Thrills and chills, hearts and flowers, and werewolves--all in eight short pages. It's a trick-or-treat by the dream-team supreme of Nick Cuti and Joe Staton, "Curse of the Byrnwyres" from Haunted Love #5 (September 1973).

Countdown to Halloween 2010: Making a Splash: Val Mayerik's Frankenstein Monster

Val Mayerik had one of the most intriguing and compelling art styles of the Groovy Age. His characters were dark, moody, and a bit quirky. They weren't mannequins; they had life. How ironic that one of his best renditions was of the Monster of Frankenstein? Val drew the adventures of the patch-work dead man for the final seven issues of Marvel's color-mag version. He also drew a few Frankenstein episodes in Marvel's B&W Monsters Unleashed, but those are fodder for a later post. Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!

Countdown to Halloween 2010! Sunday Funnies: Scooby Doo in "Spooky Wooky"

Welcome to Day Three of Countdown to Halloween 2010, Groove-ophiles! For today's Sunday Funnies feature, there's no way I could pass up this classic Scooby Doo ditty from March of Comics #391 (1971/1974). I mean, how can you turn away from a story with a title like "Spooky Wooky"? You can't, baby! Take Ol' Groove's word for it, you just can't!

Countdown to Halloween 2010! Random Reads: Forgotten Dave Cockrum..."The Fireplace"

What it is, my goulish Groove-ophiles! Here's one of those hidden/forgotten treasures Ol' Groove is so fond of excavating for your excitement! From Gold Key's Ripley's Believe It or Not #46 (January 1974), here's a freaky fable called "The Fireplace" with art by Dave Cockrum and Jack Abel. As far as I know, this was the only story the late, great co-creator of Nightcrawler (and many more) ever drew for Ripley's--I wonder if he ever drew anything else for Gold Key for that matter. Still, even under Abel's unmistakable inks, this is a rare treat--not a trick! After all, this is part of the cool and kooky Countdown to Halloween! Enjoy!

Halloween Countdown 2010! Famous First Fridays: The Debut of the Fleisher/Aparo Spectre

Welcome to the world of weird, wild, and wacky, Groove-ophiles! It's Countdown to Halloween 2010, so of course Ol' Groove is gonna kick things off with his favorite scary spook, The Spectre! Since it's a Famous First Friday, we're gonna dig into the darkling debut of Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo's legendary Spectre series from Adventure Comics. You can read all the background in my first-ever Countdown to Halloween post from 2008, then come back right here for the story that started it all from Adventure Comics #431 (October 1973). Every legend begins somewhere...so here it is..."The Wrath of the Spectre!"

Diggin' Ditko: "Frogman" by Cuti and Ditko

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Here's a teaming of the titanic talents of Nick Cuti and Steve Ditko on a real chiller-diller from Monster Hunters #8 (August 1976). Keeping it short and sweet, read "Frogman"!