Black and White Wednesday: "Ghoulish Encounter" by Skeates and Brocal

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's the third chapter of Steve Skeates and Jaime Brocal's THE MUMMY WALKS. This episode is scanned from Eerie #78. If you missed the first two parts click here and here. Dig it!

Byrne-ing to Read/Tuesday Team-up: "Where is Karen Page?" by Wolfman, Byrne, and Mooney

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! I'm sure you've heard it said many times, "John Byrne worked on just about every major Marvel comic except Dr. Strange." It's a fairly accurate statement. Early in his Marvel career, one of Jocular John's most offbeat assignments was a two-part crossover between Daredevil and Ghost Rider. No jive! If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'! Seems that DD's former love, Karen Page, did a stint as a supporting character in Ghost Rider's mag for a while, opening the door for the superhero who dressed like the devil to team up with the guy who got his powers from the devil. Don'tcha just love those ka-razee Groovy Age coincidences? Anyway, today we'll dig on the first part of the crossover from Daredevil #138 (July 1976). The story is by regular (at that time) DD series writer Marv Wolfman and inked by the veteran madman Jim Mooney. Mooney's inks over Byrne's pencils are interesting, to say the least. While Mooney's inks are usually completely overpowering, you can see Byrne's style come through pretty strongly in most places. Sometimes they mesh quite nicely (the splash, page 16, and the final page, especially), while other times--not so much (pages 6 and 15). But that's just Ol' Groove's opinion. Check it out for yourself...

Be on the lookout next Tuesday for the Ghost Rider half of this BYRNE-ING TO READ/TUESDAY TEAM-UP extravaganza, baby!

Random Reads: "A Rendezvous with Reality" by Harris, Weiss, and Rubinstein

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-philes! Here's a superbly illustrated Supergirl saga to kick off our week. The art team of Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein gave us a slick, hip-looking Supergirl to keep up with the disco-era Superman Family #186 (August 1977) was a part of. Writer Jack C. Harris was doing his darnedest to give us a Supergirl sci-fi epic (which included both her foster and real parents, a trio of Silver Age super-villains, and a mysterious and evil group called the Visitors), but was never allowed a regular art-team to give his epic the continuity it needed. To make matters worse, instead of a "now" art team like Weiss and Rubinstein, Harris was usually saddled with solid-but-unspectacular workhorses like Jack Abel, Don Heck, and Jose Delbo. With "A Rendezvous with Reality" Harris crams a lot of story into a mere 12 pages and is lookeeng goo-hood thanks to the Weiss/Rubinstein duo. Dig it!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Sci-Fi Kaluta Style

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Mighty Mike Kaluta was best known for illustrating DC's The Shadow and his mystery/horror work during the Groovy Age. Post Groovy Age, he hit it big as co-creator (with Elaine Lee) of Starstruck, a retro-sci-fi romp for the stage and the comicbook page. Groovy Age fans knew Kaluta had a sci-fi streak in him, as the following covers will diligently demonstrate. Dig 'em!

Makin' Chaykin: "All in Color for a Crime!" by O'Neil and Chaykin

What it is, Groove-ophiles! A short while back Ol' Groove rapped about Howard Chaykin's Dominic Fortune and promised you more of our favorite "Brigand for Hire", remember? Well, here's where I keeps me promises! Today's Dominic Fortune masterpiece, "All in Color for a Crime!" was the first in a series of Fortune back-ups for Marvel's full-color The Hulk! magazine. Denny O'Neil wrote the series while Chaykin provided the full art--including painting said art for the special full-process coloring Marvel used on The Hulk! mag. Dominic Fortune, Brigand for Hire ran through ish #25 of The Hulk!, keeping it's full-color glory even while the lead Hulk features went black and white in issues 24-25. Are you ready for some high-quality comicbook fun, Groove-ophiles? Then here ya go!!

And just for fun, here's the erudite editorial discussing Dom's dazzling debut!