Marvel-ous Monday: "It" by Sturgeon, Thomas, Severin, and Giacoia

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Halloween is almost here, so let's kick off this week with classic Marvel adapting classic pulp--Theodore Sturgeon's "IT" from Supernatural Thrillers #1 (September 1972)! As Rascally Roy explains in the editorial (there it is, right under Ol' Groove's words), Marvel intended to do more classic and literary type "mystery" tales--not "horror" tales--with Supernatural Thrillers, and they did--at least for the first four issues. They also did H.G. Welles' "Invisible Man", Robert E. Howard's "Valley of the Worm", and Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde" before the mag was taken over by the Living Mummy (with a single side-trip to give us a modern sequel to "The Headless Horseman"). This is one of the best--obviously a labor of love on writer/editor Thomas' part. First, here's Roy's editorial (as promised above)…

and now...get ready to get your creepy on!

Cover art by Jim Steranko

If you wanna read Sturgeon's original tale, you're in luck! Click here--and if you can't get enough Sturgeon, check out "Killdozer" right here!

Marvel-ous Monday: "And All the King's Madmen..." by Mantlo, Buckler, and Janson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's another Deathlok masterpiece by the team of creator/plotter/penciler Rich Buckler, scripter Bill Mantlo, and inker/colorist Klaus Janson! Astonishing Tales #34 (December 1975) is loaded with action, character moments, plot twists, and incredible art--and it's pretty much just the build-up to next issue's tour de force! "And All the King's Madmen..." was definitely a quarter well-spent, baby! See for yourself...

Funny Stuff: John Costanza One-pagers

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! While John Costanza is best remembered as an ace comicbook letterer, he's also a dyn-o-mite cartoonist, to boot! He did tons of humor strips for Gold Key, lots of humor fillers for DC's war mags, and every once in a while he'd do a one-page filler in some other DC comics. In Aquaman #'s 49 and 51 (November 1969, February 1970), Costanza gave us Scuba-Man. Super-Goof appeared in Detective Comics #392 (August 1969), and in Teen Titans #27 (March 1970) and Tomahawk #140 (March 1972) his fillers sort of echoed the lead feature's setting (the moon for the Teen Titans issue and the great outdoors for Tomahawk). Rarely seen stuff here, Groove-ophiles! Hope ya dig it!

Groovy Posts of Christmas Past: DC Super-Star Holiday Special

Happy Holidays, Groove-ophiles! For the rest of the week we're gonna be showcasing Posts of Christmas Past--in other words, re-runs or reprints of some of Ol' Groove's fave posts from Decembers other than this one. ;D Hope you enjoy 'em!

This one's from December 25, 2008!

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove wishes you the best of the best today. By now you've probably opened all of your presents, but I have one more for ya, baby! From 1979, here's DC's Super-Star Holiday Special (DC Special Series #21) featuring Jonah Hex, Batman (Frank Miller's first-ever Batman art!), DC's horror hosts, Sgt. Rock, and the Legion of Superheroes (with gorgeous art by Jose Louis Garcia Lopez, who also provided the magnificent cover). A more dazzling and dy-no-mite array of Christmas comics you'd be hard pressed to find! Eat your heart out, Santa!