Groove's Christmas Faves: 1974 Marvel Treasury Special aka 1974 Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag

Cover art by John Buscema with tinkering by John Romita, Sr.

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Was it really forty years ago that Young Groove finagled a buck-fifty to purchase the 1974 Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (aka Marvel Treasury Special 1974)? Ol' Groove can still see a stack of those tabloid-sized treasures stuffed into the bottom of one of the magazine racks at Mack's. I remember my breath catching in my chest, and the blood rushing to my brain. I had to have it! My folks, bless 'em, saw it as an early Christmas present and didn't bat an eye (though it seems there was more garbage than usual to take out that week--or is that just me?). I didn't care. I had it! I carefully carried that card-stock covered cornucopia of comix to the car, carefully pulled back the cover, and this is what I saw on the short ride back home...

John Romita, Sr. was at the top of his game with this frontispiece. Every character looked cool and slick!

 I'd missed the first issue of Marvel Team-Up, so this was a treat! Cool story (including what many call the debut of Misty Knight) by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru. Nice Christmas-sy start...

 Didn't get a Christmas vibe from the DD vs Subby tale, but I s'posed (rightly) that it originally saw print during the Holiday Season. Loved the story, DD's never-give-up attitude and of course the Wally Wood art. I later learned that this story was important because it was the debut of DD's all-red outfit!

 I had the Amazing Adventures ish this Black Widow classic came from, and loved the sad story. Colan and Everett's art was even more amazing on those tabloid-sized pages! Wow!!

 Again, this two-parter didn't scream "happy holidays", but I was wise enough to know that this two part FF spectacular guest-starring both the Hulk and the Avengers was something so special that it definitely deserved to be wrapped up and presented as a holiday gift. Too young to have gotten FF #'s 25-26 when they came out, I was thrilled to read those classic Lee/Kirby tales here!

 Big John B.'s Thing in a Santa suit seemed natural for Benjamin J. Grimm--figured he was on the way to deliver presents to Franklin Richards--and seeing old covers was always a treat in those pre-internet days!

Loved this literally behind-the-scenes back cover by Big John B. What a cool idea! I always got a giggle out of the Hulk's scrunched-up present. Bet it was a pair of purple pants!

Ah, the memories. How many of you Groove-philes were fortunate enough to have had your stocking stuffed with this magnificent mag back in '74? Let's rap about it in the comments!

Groove's Christmas Faves: "Free Glee" and Lots of Short Gags from Archie Giant Series #216

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! What better way to enjoy the holiday than to hang out with your family? That's what Ol' Groove's doing today! Another great way to enjoy the day is to hang out with Archie and the Gang--Groovy Age style, natch! Take a break from the hustle and bustle and have a snort or a giggle, baby! From Archie's Christmas Stocking (aka Archie Giant Series #216, cover-dated December 1973), here's "Free Glee", a bunch of silly shorts, and even a puzzle page! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Christmas Memories: The 1976 Superhero Merchandise Catalog

Christmastime's a-comin', Groove-ophiles, and Yers Trooly is getting ex-CITED! Mrs. Groove has my BATMAN '66 Blu-Ray collection snuggled under the tree, just waiting for moi to rip it open for a Bat-marathon Christmas Day! We've got presents for the kids and grandbabies just waiting to be opened and enjoyed by all on Christmas Eve! Got Christmas events with the families just raring to go on the two days leading up to Christmas! And of course, Ol' Groove has lots to be holly and jolly about, so my joy overfloweth and leadeth me-eth, um, me to wanna share some Christmas Cheer wit' y'all!

One of the coolest Christmas' ever was when I was in the eighth grade way back in 1976/1977. In the fall, I had ordered some FOOM  back issues through the Ivan Snyder generated ads in Marvel's mags. When my package arrived, I found the 1976 Superhero Merchandise Catalog tucked in with my goodies (which included Marvel Treasury Edition #4 featuring Conan--wow!--as a free gift). Seems that Marvel was getting out of the merchandising biz (they'd no doubt started it for their B&W mags to have something to compete with Warren's Captain Company), so Snyder, who'd been running that branch of Marvel, bought 'em out, took it over, and eventually used catalogs like this one to build Heroes World, which would eventually become the third largest comicbook distributor, get bought back by Marvel in the 90s, and almost decimate the comicbook marketplace. (Longest sentence ever? Oh, what would my high school English teachers think?) Anyway, I got this cool catalog with my stuff! Check it out!

Oh, the wonders The Superhero Merchandise Catalog held! It looked and smelled like a comicbook (it was even written and drawn by tons of Marvel Bullpenners), but it was a bank robber, baby! I made a deal with the Christmas money I hadn't gotten yet( but surely would) to pre-order some Christmas presents for myself (Hey, I was 13! Everyone else could get their own presents, I was looking out for moi!). I ordered some more FOOM mags, the gorgeous Buscema/Sinnott 1975 Marvel-Con poster, Bring On the Bad Guys, and Batman From the 30s to the 70s, baby! Whoo, what a Christmas!

How 'bout you, Groove-ophile? Ever experience the wonder of any of Ivan Snyder's cataclysmic catalogs? If ya did, what did you get? Let's rap about it in the comments section!