Random Reads: "...Live or Let Die!" by Friedrich, Weiss, and Abel

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna check out the final ish of Atlas/Seaboard's The Brute #3 (April 1975). As usual with most Atlas/Seaboard mags the third (usually final) or fourth (definitely final) ish of a series meant big changes, and The Brute was no different from the rest of the line. Gone was the regular creative team of Michael Fleisher, Mike Sekowsky, and Pablo Marcos (along with editor Jeff Rovin), replaced by new editor, Larry Lieber, writer Gary Friedrich, and art team, Alan Weiss and Jack Abel. And, as usual, the new team brought a new direction--this one included a super-villain, the funky Doomstalker!

Cover art by Pablo Marcos

Wotta way to go!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Cursing of Captain Skull" by Fox and Hickman

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Here's a supernatural pirate tale written by Golden Age great Gardner Fox and illustrated by sci-fi and fantasy master Stephen Hickman! Where, oh where, would one find such a rare and unlikely team-up of talented titans? Why, in the pages of Skywald's 1972 Psycho Annual, baby!

(P)Raising Kane: "What If...the Avengers Had Never Been?" by Shooter, Kane, and Janson

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Hey, we dig the Avengers, don't we? We dig the power-house pencils of Gil Kane, don't we? We dig the incredible inks of Klaus Janson, don't we? Well, you put all'a that together with one of the most awesome tales Jim Shooter ever thunk up, and you've got "What If...the Avengers Had Never Been?", an epic that belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Bronze Age comics! And what a powerful tale it is. Few comics can match it for it's depiction of the grit and guts that make the members of the Avengers (even if they're an alternate dimension version of the Avengers) so heroic and admirable. And as for the art? Hoo-hah! Kane's depiction of the Hulk's brute force, Iron Man and Sub-Mariner's sleek-yet-immensely powerful forms, and the humanity of the Avengers out of costume should bring a joyous tear to your eye. Check it out, Groove-ophiles!

Cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott