The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Rich Buckler Made Me Buy These, the DC Edition

From 1976-1978, DC wised up and turned the amazing Rich Buckler loose on tons of covers for a variety of mags. Were those covers any good? Is water wet? Here's a mere sampling of Rich's awesome artistry. Just a random glimpse of why Teen Groove turned loose so many quarters and dimes on DC during that exciting era...

Bring on the Back-ups: "Babes in the Woods" and "Into the Nooblian Valley" by Michael Kaluta

What have we got here, Groove-ophiles? It looks like Mike Kaluta's final Carson of Venus story for DC's Korak mag! We've just gotta dive into this one..."Babes in the Woods" from Korak...Son of Tarzan #56 (November 1973)!

But wait, there's more! While that was Kaluta's last CoV tale for Korak, his final CoV mini-epic appeared a few months later in Tarzan #230 (February 1974), "Into the Noobolian Valley".

Sadly, "The Black Castle" never appeared, though DC did reprint several stories from this series in Tarzan Family in 1975-76.

Black and White Wednesday: "The Gnark Is Coming! The Gnark Is Coming!" by Skeates, Ditko, and Wood

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a mini-masterpiece of maniacal and macabre mischief by the super-team of Steve Skeates, Steve Ditko, and Wally Wood called "The Gnark Is Coming! The Gnark Is Coming!" This one was intended for an ish of Plop! but only saw the light of day (as far as I can discern) in Amazing World of DC Comics #13 (October 1976). Why would a story with such pedigree go unseen by only the most hardcore of DC fandom? Inquiring minds would like to know!

Tuesday Team-up: "A Fire in the Sky!" by Conway, Vosburg, and Smith

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with part two of a truly far-out Wonder Woman/Sgt. Rock team-up by Gerry Conway, Mike Vosburg, and Bob Smith, can you dig it? If you haven't done it already, read yesterday's post then come back here for "A Fire in the Sky!" from World's Finest Comics #249 (November 1977)!

Groove's Faves: "The Amazon and the Rock!" by Conway, Vosburg, and Giordano

Happy Memorial Day to all in the U.S., and happy Monday to the rest of Groove-dom! We're kickin' the week (and unofficially the summer) with a classic Wonder Woman tale guest-starring Sgt. Rock! Leave it to writer Gerry Conway to come up with the cool idea of pitting WW and the Rock against Dr. Psycho in the heat of WWII! And the oh-so-gorgeous art of Mike Vosburg and Dick Giordano makes Ol' Groove wonder why DC never made Mike WW's regular penciler. Between his talent for drawing beeyooteeful ladies and his skillful action scenes, a Vosburg WW mag should'a been a no-brainer (at least after Starfire and Isis finished their runs)! Oh well, we'll enjoy what we've got, and what we've got is "The Amazon and the Rock!" from World's Finest Comics #248 (September 1977). Dig it!

Be back tomorrow for the rip-roaring wrap-up, Groove-ophiles!