Hey, Kids! Comics from 50 Years Ago!
June 9 & 11, 1970
Groovy Age Splash Page of the Week
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| Art by Dan DeCarlo and Rudy Lapick |
Groovy Age Spotlight On... Len Wein!
Here's to remembering one of Ol' Groove's favorite Groovy Age authors, the late, great Len Wein, on the date of his birthday! Len's famous for co-creating Swamp Thing, Wolverine, the All-New, All-Different X-Men, among many more achievements, but today, I wanna celebrate by sharing splashes from comics and stories that made the Groovy Age even groovier for me thanks to the talent of Mr. Len Wein...
What are some of your favorite Len Wein comics and stories? Share 'em in our comments! Pax!
Here's to remembering one of Ol' Groove's favorite Groovy Age authors, the late, great Len Wein, on the date of his birthday! Len's famous for co-creating Swamp Thing, Wolverine, the All-New, All-Different X-Men, among many more achievements, but today, I wanna celebrate by sharing splashes from comics and stories that made the Groovy Age even groovier for me thanks to the talent of Mr. Len Wein...
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| Hot Wheels #4 |
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| Twilight Zone #35, art by Alberto Giolitti |
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| House of Mystery #191 |
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| House of Secrets #92 |
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| World's Finest #207 |
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| Adventure Comics #413 |
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| Phantom Stranger #21 |
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| Swamp Thing #1 |
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| Superman #258 |
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| Action Comics #419 |
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| Marvel Feature #11 |
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| Batman #255 |
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| Giant-Size X-Men #1 |
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| Marvel Preview #10 |
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| Fantastic Four #184 |
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| Adventure Comics #459 |
What are some of your favorite Len Wein comics and stories? Share 'em in our comments! Pax!
I see that not only Spidey is baby blue on the cover of #88, but the Fantastic Four is too on theirs. Much prefer the deeper hues.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Len Wein's work on Swamp Thing. Some of his other scripts I wasn't as excited about, such as that first appearance of Wolverine in Hulk #181. It was hard for me to believe it was the same writer.
Of course, I love the Adams & Kubert covers this time around, as always.
I guess you are aware that Denny O'Neil passed away. Actually he died over ten years ago. Yes, he was clinically dead for several minutes on the operating table, but the doctors were able to revive him. Talk about the mercy of God!
Regards,
Chris A.
Yes, I head about the passing of Denny O'Neil as the news broke yesterday. I immediately posted about it on our DotGK FaceBook page and will be dedicating a full post here next Friday. As the 111 posts in which I've included Mr. O'Neil attest, he was a huge favorite (and a huge influence on my own writing). Most of all, he was a major force in changing comics for the better during the Groovy Age.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten that Len Wein wrote "Night Prowler" in HoM no. 191. It was a nice three pager, and in my opinion the very first story Berni Wrightson had drawn in his mature style. He had just come back to DC after a short stay at Marvel where Stan Lee had encouraged him to use bolder brushwork and less "scratchy" crowquill pen rendering, and the results were gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteLen's script on the original "Swamp Thing" short story in HoS no. 92 was really heartfelt, and very interesting in having two narrators---one being the Swamp Thing himself in first person, and the other in third person omniscient. Even the lettering was adjusted to reflect the difference. Very bold move, especially in an 8 page short story, but it really worked well.
Gene Poole
I just caught the news about Denny O'Neil, and it has me thinking about how he was the "writer of my youth" because I caught the comic book bug with his Batman and Superman stories. Since this week is about the late, great Len Wein, I thought I would reserve my ideas about Denny until next week. Looking forward to your thoughts on him, Groove.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Len Wein tales? Here's what I came up with:
Adventure Comics 462 (A great Deadman tale called "The Sins of the Father" with art by Garcia-Lopez)
Batman 255 ("The Moon of the Wolf" art by Adams)
Swamp Thing 1-10 (I can't separate any of these from the rest, I love 'em all! If I had to, I would choose 1-3,7,10)
The Untold Legend of the Batman 1-3 (All sorts of good Batman stuff here, including John Byrne's first DC work in #1)
DC Comics Presents 27-29 (Warworld! Mongul! The Spectre! all drawn by Jim Starlin)
Giant-Size X-Men 1 (started it all, and is wonderfully rendered by Dave Cockrum)
Man, so many others too numerous to name. A great comic book writer with a love and respect for the medium.
All the best,
John
I also liked some aspects of Len's scripts on Swamp Thing 11, 12, & especially 13. Len knew this was his last issue, so he has some pivotal events in that one: the Swamp Thing is captured at last, he reveals to Matt Cable that he was once Dr. Alec Holland, & we have a nice montage of various monsters & villains from prior issues. The finale is a great recap of the end of House of Secrets #92, & a fine way for Len to say good-bye to the series.
DeleteRegards,
Chris A.
In 1971 Len Wein wrote "Spectre of the Stalking Swamp," a backup story in Phantom Stranger no. 14 featuring ghost-breaker Dr. Thirteen and villain Zachary Nail who had a domed city hidden beneath a bayou.
ReplyDeleteThree years later Wein wrote a sequel to that story in Swamp Thing no. 11, the first non-Wrightson issue. It remains the only Wein-scripted issue with a reference to characters and a story outside of the Swamp Thing continuity.
Though I liked Nestor Redondo's art, I remember feeling like the story belonged to a different genre. "The Conqueror Worms" felt like more of an action-adventure movie with a touch of super-hero sci-fi. It was also Len Wein's first full script for the series (previously he plotted the stories "Marvel style" then Wrightson drew them, and Wein added the captions and dialogue last).
Gene Poole
Positively BOGgling that Len Wein and Marv Wolfman were roommates and scripted the first Swamp Thing and Man-Thing stories at the same time, totally unaware of each other's stories!
ReplyDelete- Neil
Actually, you mean Gerry Conway, not Marv Wolfman, but yeah, comics are funny that way. And to top it off, Wein would write the second Man-Thing story... (published in Astonishing Tales #12, illustrated by Neal Adams).
DeleteYes, it was Gerry Conway, but Roy Thomas actually plotted the first Man-Thing at the behest of Stan Lee. Gerry and Len were roommates at the time, but Len and Marv were old friends before they broke into comics. Confusing, eh?
DeleteComics were done "by committee" quite often from their beginnings. More so in the 70s. Stan would come up with a name, the editor would find a team to make a book around it. Happened a lot back then. And the young talent at Marvel and DC were mostly on friendly turns, going back and forth between companies.
DeleteI was amazed to see Tom Palmer doing some solo stories in the DC horror titles in the early '70s. Always thought of him as strictly Marvel and inker only.
Delete- Neil
Len Wein did a lot of scripting in the world of animation too.
ReplyDelete- Neil
Len Wein had some great moments, as did Denny O'Neil, but my favourite groovy age comics writers were Archie Goodwin & Bruce Jones.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Chris A.
Steve Englehart is on the list, too. Even Robert Kanigher & Bob Haney had some good moments. Then there's Budd Lewis, Greg Potter, Bruce Bezaire, & a host of Warren writers. Even Jeff Jones & Berni Wrightson wrote some good yarns.
DeleteRegards,
Chris A.
Chris, you can send me an email pertaining your response to the Denny O'Neil post. Thanks! Groove
Delete