Marvel-ous Monday: "...Under the Name of Ritual--" by Conway, Colan, and Grainger

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! A few weeks ago (right 'chere) we rapped about Daredevil #77 and the DD/Sub-Mariner/Spider-Man free-for-all that ended with Spidey and Subby following a mysterious lady into another dimension via a tear-drop shaped mystic portal. Well, today we're gonna find out where our sensational super-heroes went--and what kinda trouble they got into! Sub-Mariner #40 was one of three extra-special comics that Dear Ol' Dad bought me to cheer me up while I was feeling under the weather one fateful Sunday in May 1971, so it's a sentimental fave. (The other two were Fantastic Four #112--Hulk vs. Thing, and Batman #232--the first appearance of Ra's al Ghul--yeah, DoD had great taste in comics--and a lotta luck, too, since the Batman comic was a couple months old! Ya had to love comicbook distribution in the 70s, baby!) Young Groove really dug the Gene Colan/Sam Grainger art, and Gerry Conway's story was pretty cool, too, especially that weird villain, Turalla. I still think it's a fun yarn. Hope you dig..."...Under the Name of Ritual--"

Cover art by George Tuska (Turalla looks like very Gene Colan-ish to moi), Frank Giacoia and John Romita.

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Bob Larkin Made Me Buy These!

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Artist Bob Larkin just had his 68th birthday this past Tuesday, so why don't we wish him a belated happy one by ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a few of his captivating covers from the good old Groovy Age? Larkin did tons of covers for paperbacks, merchandising, and other comic mag publishers, but it's his Marvel-ous covers that still turn Ol' Groove on! Here are some of my favorites (and yeah, the insides of these are pretty cool, too!)...

R.I.P. Sam Glanzman

Sam Glanzman, a comicbook creator who got his start at the dawn of comics in 1939, has passed away at age 93. Glanzman's energetic, detailed style was published by almost every publisher ever, but he's best known for his work at Charlton and DC. His war comics, especially his autobiographical U.S.S. Stevens, were best known and best lauded, and Ol' Groove really dug his work on Westerns, too. He had a long, great career, and you can learn all about it via Mark Evanier's News From ME. Here are some of Mr. Glanzman's \ stunning covers and splashes...

Sadly, Stan Lee's wife, Joan, also passed away this past weekend. Our condolences to Stan and his family.

Black and White Wednesday: Gene Day's Scream-ing Psycho Nightmares

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna dig on some stunning and scary art by none other than the late, great Gene Day. Day was best known during the Groovy Age as an awesome Marvel Comics inker, making an indelible mark on Master of Kung Fu, as well as Marvel Two-In-One and elsewhere. Post Groovy Age, his penciling talents were allowed to shine, again on MoKF, as well as on Star Wars. But seeing art both penciled and inked by the amazing Mr. Day was usually seen in the b&w mags and the "ground-level" comics from companies like Star*Reach. Day's earliest U.S. work, however, appeared in the waning days of Skywald's wild n spooky Horror-Mood mags, Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. Day did ads, spot illos, and pin-ups from late 1973-early 1975, and Ol' Groove's dug up most (if not all) of those pages for your perusal! Enjoy!

Decent Comics: "Multi-Man's Master Plan!" by Conway, Netzer, and Wiacek

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! The Challengers of the Unknown got their own mag back with issue #81 in March 1977 after spending the majority of the Swingin' Seventies in limbo (discounting a few reprint issues). As we've seen here, here, and here, the Challs made their triumphant return to new episodes in Super-Team Family. Those issues sold well enough that publisher Jenette Kahn green-lit the resurrection of Challengers' own mag...and it lasted an entire year. But what a year! It kicked off with a continuation of the storyline that had begun in their last Super-Team Family outing, but with a brand new creative team. Writer Gerry Conway took the helm, losing some of the quirky-cool that former author Steve Skeates brought to the Challs, but bringing some action-packed scripts and Marvel-style soap-opera-ish subplots with him. Penciler James Sherman's other assignment, Legion of Super-Heroes, had gone monthly, so he chose to give up the Chall's strip, so the exciting Michael Netzer (known then as Mike Nasser) drew the first two issues, inked first by Bob Wiacek, then by Joe Rubinstein. After that, another young, exciting penciler, Keith Giffen took over the penciling, inked quite nicely by veteran John Celardo. But enuff wit da info! On with da comics! Here's "Multi-Man's Master Plan!"

Cover art by Michael Netzer and Neal Adams