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"!

Black and White Wednesday: Jack Kirby's "Murder, Inc."

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Been digging through the Files of the Far Out and here's what Ol' Groove's got for you today: from DC's fab fan-mag Amazing World of DC Comics #1 (April 1974), here's what would have been the lead feature in the never-to-have-been second issue of Jack Kirby's legendary black and white mag, In the Days of the Mob! Story and art by the King, inks (and letters?) by Mike Royer! Duck and cover! It's "Murder, Inc."!

Shades of Gray: Forgotten Vigilante Adventures

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today Ol' Groove is tossin' a Tuesday Two-fer at ya featuring Gray Morrow's short-but-stunning Vigilante revival (using the Earth-1 Vigilante introduced in JLA #'s 78-79) from Adventure Comics #'s 417 (December 1971) and 422 (May 1972). Both of these tales, due both to Morrow's realistic and moody art and the haunting, gritty, and relevant stories by writers Marv Wolfman, Steve Skeates, and Bill Meredith, are the epitome of "hidden gem"; as "now" and "with-it" as any issue of the celebrated O'Neil-Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow mags, these heavy tales of morality were shuffled to the back of a mag featuring Supergirl that many fans either overlooked or have completely forgotten. But that's why the Diversions exists, ain't it? Right on, baby! Look out! Here come "The Cop Killer!" and "Rodeo of Death"!

Bring On the Back-Ups: A Hidden Treasure by Adams, Thomas, Severin, Trimpe, and Sutton

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! I can't say that I understand how things like today's sci-fi shocker happen, but I can say that I'm sure glad they did back in the Groovy Age! In 1971, most of Marvel's color monster-mags had reverted to reprint mags, running mostly pre-Fantastic Four and Spidey Atlas yarns by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko. No problems with 'em reprinting those--good stuff! The odd thing is that, while most fans thought of those mags as all-reprint, if they'd taken the time to peruse those pulpy publications they'd have learned that many of them had brand new terror tales hidden within. Tales like today's focus from Creatures On the Loose #14 (August 1971), "Forewarned Is Four-Armed!" What a pedigree this buried gem has, seeing as how it was written by Neal Adams and Roy Thomas (who were in the midst of their mythical Kree/Skrull War over in the Avengers' mag) with art by Marie Severin with Herb Trimpe and Tom Sutton. Ol' Groove will be uncovering a pile of such hidden treasures during next month's Halloween Countdown--this is just the appetizer. Dig in!

Sunday Funnies: Historical Plops

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Hey, we haven't PLOP!ped in a while--whaddya say Ol' Groove lays some highly hysterical Historical Plops upon ya? Yeah, I thought you'd dig it! This series of Plop!-ular punnies ran for almost the entirety of PLOP!'s life-span and could be found in most issues from #4 through the final ish, #24. Get ready to get your giggle on!