Thursday, May 31, 2012
Amazed by Aparo: "The Fastest Gun in De Wast" by O'Neil and Aparo
Saddle up, Side-winders! It's time Wander down the ol' dusty trail again for another chapter in the greatest sci-fi/western series ever produced by Denny O'Neil (under the pen name of Sergius O'Shaugnessey) and Jim Aparo! From Cheyenne Kid #70 (October 1968) here comes..."The Fastest Gun in De Wast"!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Black and White Wednesday: "The Wrath of Raga-Shah!" by Gerber and DeZuniga
Question time, Groove-ophiles! What do you get when you mix Shanna the She-Devil (Marvel's answer to Sheena), Steve Gerber, Tony DeZuniga, boa constrictors, evil high priests, human sacrifices, and a middle-eastern setting? You get "The Wrath of Raga-Shah!" in which Gerber and DeZuniga push all the boundaries, baby! Would it have been as risky if it had been a back-up in Savage Sword of Conan rather than in the back of Rampaging Hulk #9 (April 1978), which featured a Silver Age style Hulk/Avengers slugfest? Hmmmmmm...
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Makin' Chaykin: "Though This Means Madness..." by O'Neil, Chaykin, and...Shakespeare
Yeah, Groove-ophiles, so you think the 80s were the decade of excess and pretension? Think again! We had excess and pretension aplenty during the Groovy Age...but doggoned if we didn't have the talent to back it up! I mean, take titanic talents like Denny O'Neil and Howard Chaykin and mix 'em with science fantasy, retro space opera, sword-and-sorcery, and some pushing-the-limits-of-the-Comics-Code-sexiness--then add "...additional dialogue by Wm. Shakespeare"and you get the sensational second Ironwolf tale from the pages of Weird Worlds #9 (October 1973)!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Groove's Faves: "Gerald's World" by Tom Sutton
Young Groove always loved it when Marvel gave one of my fave Boys from Derby, Tom Sutton, the chance to cut loose on a wild and wacky weird humor tale. Imagine my delight when I got my hands on Arrgh! #2 (November 1974) and found..."Gerald's World"!
Man, bet Gerald would'a made a heckuvva blogger!
Man, bet Gerald would'a made a heckuvva blogger!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Groove's Faves: Limited Collectors' Edition C-25
Greetings, Groove-ophiles! One of the most cherished mags in Ol' Groove's comicbook collection is the first Batman tabloid, Limited Collectors' Edition C-25. I remember seeing this ad...
...and instantly wanting, nay, NEEDING to get my hands on those twin tabloids. The Action Comics #1 reprint I found quite easily at my local drugstore (which at the time was my main comicbook haunt). The Batman tabloid, though, I searched high and low for, eventually accidentally finding it at a "strange" (i.e. one I'd never been to before) drugstore near my pediatrician's office (Young Groove had recently broken his arm and was due a check-up). After all the hunting (my dad, bless 'im, even took me out on a long drive to search for it on one of his days off earlier in the month) I lucked out and found it on January 15, 1974. T'was a true red letter day for Young Groove. Not only did I possess a copy of the coolest Bat-comic on the planet, but I finished reading it before the debut of Happy Days on ABC. Broken arm or no, it was one great day!
What made that tabloid (besides its humongous size) so cool? Neal Adams' cover, which re-worked the cool splash from Batman #251...
Classic Golden Age stories drawn by the likes of Bob Kane (with a Joker story I'd never seen), Jerry Robinson, and Dick Sprang...
A Silver Age winner drawn by Carmine Infantino...
Plus a "How to Draw Batman" page (again by Infantino)...
One of my all-time fave Batman stories, "Hot Time in Gotham Town Tonight!" with Irv Novick art (I'll have to share that whole story in the near-future)...
Adams art on "Ghost of the Killer Skies!"...
A mini-lesson on "Batman on the Screen" (I always loved photo-features! Who wrote it? Bob Rozakis? Allan Asherman? ENB?)...
And even the "table-top diorama" was cool--more Adams!
Even at the unthinkable price of a whole buck, that, babies, was a bargain! Wheeeeee-O!
...and instantly wanting, nay, NEEDING to get my hands on those twin tabloids. The Action Comics #1 reprint I found quite easily at my local drugstore (which at the time was my main comicbook haunt). The Batman tabloid, though, I searched high and low for, eventually accidentally finding it at a "strange" (i.e. one I'd never been to before) drugstore near my pediatrician's office (Young Groove had recently broken his arm and was due a check-up). After all the hunting (my dad, bless 'im, even took me out on a long drive to search for it on one of his days off earlier in the month) I lucked out and found it on January 15, 1974. T'was a true red letter day for Young Groove. Not only did I possess a copy of the coolest Bat-comic on the planet, but I finished reading it before the debut of Happy Days on ABC. Broken arm or no, it was one great day!
What made that tabloid (besides its humongous size) so cool? Neal Adams' cover, which re-worked the cool splash from Batman #251...
Classic Golden Age stories drawn by the likes of Bob Kane (with a Joker story I'd never seen), Jerry Robinson, and Dick Sprang...
A Silver Age winner drawn by Carmine Infantino...
Plus a "How to Draw Batman" page (again by Infantino)...
One of my all-time fave Batman stories, "Hot Time in Gotham Town Tonight!" with Irv Novick art (I'll have to share that whole story in the near-future)...
Adams art on "Ghost of the Killer Skies!"...
A mini-lesson on "Batman on the Screen" (I always loved photo-features! Who wrote it? Bob Rozakis? Allan Asherman? ENB?)...
And even the "table-top diorama" was cool--more Adams!
Even at the unthinkable price of a whole buck, that, babies, was a bargain! Wheeeeee-O!