Black and White Wednesday: Rudy Nebres' REH Portfolio

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Rudy Nebres is another was another Filipino artist whose art made a huge impact on the American comicbook scene during the Groovy Age. He mostly worked as an inker, but he also did full art on many U.S. features (Ol' Groove's fave example being his work with Chris Claremont on Iron Fist in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu issues 19-24--you can read 'em starting right here, btw). He inked several Conan and Kull stories, which was cool, too--but t'was a rare treat to get to see Mr. Nebres penciling and inking till his talented heart's content as he did on the following portfolio featuring some of Robert E. Howard's greatest creations (and Red Sonja, too). Feast your eyes on these mini-masterpieces from Savage Sword of Conan #39 (January 1979), baby!

Decent Comics: "Is This My Foe?" by Skeates and Aparo

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's the third chapter in Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo's sensational Aquaman saga! From Aquaman #42 (September 1968), here's Aquaman vs. Black Manta in..."Is This My Foe?"

Cover art by Nick Cardy

Yesterday was Sir Steve's birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Skeates!

Marvel-ous Monday: "Dead Reckoning!" by Moench, Buckler, and Marcos

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! All of Groove City knows what a huge fan of Rich Buckler and Deathlok Ol' Groove is (you can read my thoughts along with the first two Deathlok tales here and here, by the by). I'm in the mood to re-read a classic Deathlok adventure--one of my faves, in fact. "Dead Reckoning!" from Astonishing Tales #27 (September 1974) was actually the second Deathlok story Young Groove ever got to read. Somehow, during our move from Ohio to Kentucky, I s'pose, I missed ish 26 (traded a friend for it later, never fear!), so was I ever thrilled to find ish #27. Creator/plotter Buckler was doing things Young Groove had never seen in comics before. His layouts were cinematic to the extreme, his themes of war, death, and authority were admittedly beyond my eleven year old grasp, and the violence truly shocked me, but it was a world that was so different from any I'd seen in comics before, it just grabbed me and held onto my imagination. Moench's script was grim and gritty before the term ever applied to comics--coarse and realistic. Perhaps it was good for a young kid to see that the world of the future was going to be a much rougher and tougher place. All I knew then, though, was that I was reading some ground-breaking, exciting comics!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: More Comics Our Pal Sal Made Me Buy

Another birthday this week? Yep, today is the 82nd birthday of Silvio Buscema, better known as Young Groove's first favorite artist, Our Pal Sal! Man, oh, man, was I ever bowled over by Sal's covers! They were always so action-packed and exciting, dramatic and deft, fun and far-out!  Avengers, Subby, and DD got most of the Sal covers when I first started throwing three nickels at a time at whomever was behind the King Kwik counter back in 1970/71, and those are the ones Ol' Groove wants to focus on today. Just plant your peepers on the sheer awesomeness below and try not to smile...

Happy birthday, Sal! And thank you!!