Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bring On the Back-Ups: Mike Mauser in "The Hit"

Dig this, Groove-ophiles! A few weeks ago (2/9/10, to be precise), some fella by the name'a Nicola Cuti stopped by the Diversions and had this to say:

"Wow! I didn't know our (Joe and me) creation had such a devoted following. I always liked him and would love to be given an opportunity to do more Mike Mauser stories. All I need is a venue. You caught on to all the puns I used to get his name, not quite a Nova Kane, which Joe tells me I'll never be able to top, but I keep trying."

So today Ol' Groove's mission is two-fold: first, I wanna let Mr. Cuti know that in no uncertain terms that he, Joe Staton, and Mike Mauser have a hardcore and devoted following here in Groove City (you guys know what to do about that, right?); second I am presenting Mike Mauser's second solo outing from Vengeance Squad #2 (July 1975), "The Hit" in order to remind everyone what a great strip/character Cuti and Staton's Mauser is in hopes that some enterprising publisher might heed Mr. Cuti's words and provide the venue for some brand new Mike Mauser adventures. How 'bout it?

3 comments:

  1. awesome post, groove! the team of cuti and staton were hugely influential on me in my formative years. two greatly underrated creators who really deserve all the praise in the world! love it!

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  2. Long have I loved the awesomeness that is Mike Mauser. Let's get a collection of all solo Mauser stories, and some new material while we're at it!

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  3. What a gem that story was! As nicely written a yarn as anyone could ask for.

    If Mr. Cuti has occasion to stop by here, I can't resist taking advantage of the opportunity to say that he was one of the very first comics writers I actively followed, i.e., buying a comic specifically because he had a story in it.

    I think he may also have been the first guy who made me realize a good writer could write more than one thing well -- not just SF, or just superheroes, or just comedy, but any kind of story. Later I discovered all my other favorite writers had that in common as well. He was my first model for "what a writer ought to be."

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