Marvel-ous Mondays: "The Vampire Machine" by Englehart, Sutton, and Mooney

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! 'Neath a captivating cover by Gil Kane and Jim Mooney lies a new (to Groove City, at least) adventure of Hank McCoy, aka the bludgeoning Beast! "The Vampire Machine" by Steve Englehart, Tom Sutton, and Jim Mooney pits our furry and freaky hero against one of Marvel's strangest villains--the computerized Quasimodo! Plus we have cameos by Iron Man and Patsy Walker, romance, intrigue, a touch of horror, and tons o'super-heroic action! From Amazing Adventures #14 (July 1972), prepare to face..."The Vampire Machine"!

Making a Splash: The Marvel-ous Doc Savage

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today, whaddya say we rock some Doc? Doc Savage, that is! Young Groove had been quite tempted by the variety of Doc Savage paperbacks on his visits to the local library, but was not quite ready to take the dive into "real" novels (I was only 9, man!). As usual, it was Marvel Comics to the rescue! In July 1972, the first ish of Marvel's Doc Savage hit the stands, and I could not wait to slap my twin dimes down on the counter so I could find out just how cool Doc and His Amazing Five really were. Young Groove truly dug the stories adapted by Steve Englehart (who was quickly becoming my new fave Marvel author with Captain America, Avengers, and the Beast) and Ross Andru (along with a bevy of awesome inkers), so naturally I quickly became a frantic Doc fan. It wasn't long before I was tackling those Doc paperbacks from the library, which carried me through a couple disappointing years of no new Doc comics until Marvel's all-new b&w mag brought him back to us (bigger and better than ever under Doug Moench, Tony DeZuniga, and friends, might I add). But enough yang-yang, let's get on to the incredible artistry of Ross Andru, Rich Buckler, John Buscema, Tony DeZuniga, Marie Severin, Val Mayerik, and Ernie Chan in bronze, black, and white!

Groove's Faves: "Unknown Soldier and Sgt. Rock" by Kanigher and Kubert

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! When is a team-up not a team-up? When the story is a reprint ret-conned into a team-up via a frankly fabulous framing sequence! Either the economy or the Dreaded Deadline Doom was bearing down on the powers-that-were at DC when Star Spangled War Stories #157 (April 1971) was being put together, so (artist/editor Joe Kubert along with author Bob Kanigher, I'm sure) whipped up an Unknown Soldier framing sequence that made our favorite bandaged battler part of a Sgt. Rock story that was published four years before the star of Star Spangled War Stories was even created ("I Knew the Unknown Soldier!" from Our Army at War #168 (April 1966).)! Now that's how you make a reprint worthwhile, baby!