The Diversions Turns 10 "Best of" Birthday Bash! Mighty Marvel Rocks the Groovy Age!

Happy anniversary, Groove-ophiles! This coming Saturday Marks 10 years since the Diversions hit the interwebs, so Ol' Groove thought we'd celebrate by looking back at some his favorite, but least viewed, posts from our first fateful year! We'll be back new and live next Monday with a special anniversary post. Until then, enjoy these "reprints" and rap with us about 'em!

(Now, before we even get started, I know that both the Beatles and Kiss had made cameo appearances in comics before the books I'm gonna rap about, so please don't go sending me nasty messages about it. The Beatles (as a group or as individual members) appeared in anything from a Thing/Human Torch issue of Strange Tales (#130), to satirical strips in Not Brand Echh (#8 reprinted in Crazy! #1, f'rinstance) and Spoof.  (They appeared in some DC comics and under other publishers, as well).   I know KISS appeared in Howard the Duck #13. The Beatles' stories I haven't had the pleasure of reading (besides, except for the Spoof appearances, they came out pre-Groovy Age), and I've not seen the ish of HTD--yet. So I'm gonna start where I started...thanks for your kind indulgence. )



Ol' Groove was 13 years old and just getting into rock (as opposed to Top 40/Pop).  If you were 13 in 1977, chances are your favorite rock group was KISS.  If you were a KISS fan and a comicbook fan, 77 was a great year!



Being a member of F.O.O.M., I knew about the coming of a KISS comic (actually Marvel Comics Super-Special #1) months before my buddies. Good thing, too, 'cause when I found a copy at a local convenient store, it was the only copy on the rack! I snatched it up, plunked down a week-and-a-half's allowance and was blown away by the insanity that KISS, writer Steve Gerber, and artists Alan Weiss, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, and Al Milgrom cooked up.



The first thing that struck me is that this was an event, not just your average comicbook. It was magazine sized, in full color, and was twice the number of pages of a regular comicbook. About half the book was devoted to KISS' superheroic exploits (more on that below), the rest of the book was like a fan/rock magazine devoted to the real KISS, complete with group history, discography, and loads of pics.  Oh, and it was printed using the band's actual blood.  (Honest!)  It's been reported that the first KISS comic was Marvel's best-selling comic, and held that title until 1990s Spider-Man #1 by Todd McFarlane.



Let's just say it was a hit with Teen Groove, too!  After all, the boys gained cool powers and fought Dr. Doom and Mephisto--two of Marvel's greatest villains. What's not to love? I read it til it fell apart (and looking at what it goes for in the back issue market, it makes me kinda sad!). If you'd like to read a good summary of the story, it's right here, along with a summary of the second KISS comic, Marvel Comics Super-Special #5.



Now, the second KISS comic didn't have near the cool factor as the first one (even the Creem style articles were gone), but it was a good comic.  Nobody does weird like Steve Gerber, so writer Ralph Macchio (no, not the actor) went for more of a fantasy bent, with bits of humor. The mage had a great poster--and even better cover!



A few months before the second KISS comic, Marvel released Marvel Comics Super-Special #4 which featured the comicbook biography of the Beatles.  Now this mag was in the same style as the first KISS mag, but instead of making up a story with the Beatles as superheroes, Writer David Kraft and artists George Perez and Klaus Janson set out to present the whole history of the Beatles in comicbook form. It was an original and intriguing idea for a comic, and Teen Groove surely enjoyed and appreciated it. The creators obviously put their whole hearts into the project, and it was also obvious that they loved the Beatles.  Made for one of the most heartfelt and bittersweet comics I've ever read.



I've heard stories told in hushed whispers about Marvel Comics Super-Special #7...an adaptation of the BeeGees/Peter Frampton film fiasco Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (based on the Beatles' album, natch). From all accounts, the comic was never released in the U.S. but sadly, the same can't be said about the movie. (The soundtrack was pretty good, though. As was Steve Martin--but of course!)



The next rock n roll Marvel Teen Groove got his hands on was none other than Marvel Premiere #50, featuring the one and only (thank goodness!) Alice Cooper! Now, this was a standard comic in size and dimensions--but the story and art were definitely out there (and in a good way). "From the Inside" was a side-splittingly hilarious adaptation of AC's then recently released album of the same name. Written by Alice Cooper (himself!), Jim Salicrup, Roger Stern, and Ed Hannigan, with pencils by the criminally underrated Tom Sutton and inks by the legendary Terry Austin, this comic was unlike anything Ol' Groove has seen before or since. Captured and placed in an insane asylum, AC has to learn to adapt or escape--and meets up with folks way crazier than himself in the process. The story was done as an homage to the old EC horror comics, right down to the lettering style, by way of EC's own Mad (the comics version, not the magazine).  Hard to believe, but it's even better than the first KISS comic!



Now, if you've got the time/money/inclination to track these magnificent mags down, have a blast!  ROCK ON!

Marvel Premiere-ing Through the Groovy Age: Why Marvel Premiere Rocked

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna trip through the Groovy Age once more, this time with one of Ol' Groove's fave Marvel mags...Marvel Premiere! MP ran throughout most of the Groovy Age, debuting in January 1972 and lasting until May 1981. That's sixty-one issues in all, a long and successful run considering the high-end life-span of a comic born in the Groovy Age was maybe (maybe) two dozen issues. MP hung on for nearly a decade and probably would have lasted even longer if not for the late-Groovy Age innovation we lovingly call the mini-series. 

The first two issues of Premiere featured Adam Warlock. Now, right off the bat, Marvel is ignoring their own title, since Warlock isn't technically a premiere but a re-vamp of an old Lee/Kirby character called "Him" (thus you'd think he'd have appeared in MP's sister mag, Marvel Spotlight. But no, Marvel was busy turning out brand new heroes like Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, and Son of Satan over there. Go figure...). Young Groove didn't care, though. This was Roy Thomas and Gil Kane at their most marvel-ous, taking Stan and Jack's artificial man, hooking him up with the maddest scientist of 'em all, the High Evolutionary, and sending him on a path not totally unlike that of a certain Man from Galilee.

Warlock quickly graduated to his own mag, which made room for Dr. Strange to make his series comeback in ish #3 (April 1972). Doc's series started out under the very cool but highly unlikely team of Stan Lee and Barry (pre-Windsor-) Smith, bounced through a variety of creative teams (guys like Archie Goodwin, Gardner Fox, Mike Ploog, and Jim Starlin) before settling on Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, who would bring Doc such heat that he'd graduate to his own mag (again!) after ish #14 (December 1973).

Two "premieres", two successful spin-offs. Was the third time to be the charm? Well, when you consider issue 15 (February 1974) featured an actual, honest-to-Irving debut of a brand new character...a fella known as Iron Fist, I'd say, yeah, third time was the charm. Created by the Warlock team of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane as a combination homage to Bill Everett's Golden Age hero, Amazing Man/jump on the kung-fu craze bandwagon, the saga of Danny Rand proved quite popular. Though his popularity waned a bit as he passed through a variety of creative hands (Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Larry Hama, and Arvell Jones to name a few), magic happened when two young mavericks by the names of Chris Claremont and John Byrne teamed up to produce Marvel Premiere #25 (July 1975). They clicked with each other and with fandom, carrying Iron Fist to his own mag which ran 15 issues, then combined with Power Man for a run that would last far into the 1980s under a variety of creative teams. Claremont and Byrne? They moved on to some comicbook about a bunch'a mutants...

After that, Marvel Premiere spent most of the rest of its run as the Showcase-style mag it was originally intended to be. There was some good stuff mixed among the clinkers, clunkers, and catastrophes. For every Hercules and Torpedo we got a Woodgod, Monark Starstalker,  Ant-Man, or Alice Cooper. Remember any of these?

The Groovy Age of Marvel Premiere ended with a bang (Caleb Hammer) and a whimper (Wonder Man)...

...then segued into the 1980s with Dominic Fortune, a short run of Dr. Who reprints, and finally, Star-Lord. And yeah, NONE of those were actual debuts, either.

Weird Sunday Funnies: Alice Cooper From the Inside

Greetings, my groovy Ghoul-ophiles! Today let's talk about the legendary 50th issue of Marvel Premiere (July 1979). Funny, kooky, creepy, spooky--nope, I'm not rappin' about the Munsters, baby, I'm talking about Alice Cooper as a comicbook character. I blogged on Marvel's rock and roll comics, with a mention of this masterpiece of macabre mayhem, way back in September of last year, and I can't think of anything more (or better) to say now than I said then, so here goes:

"Now, this was a standard comic in size and dimensions--but the story and art were definitely out there (and in a good way). "From the Inside" was a side-splittingly hilarious adaptation of AC's then recently released album of the same name. Written by Alice Cooper (himself!), Jim Salicrup, Roger Stern, and Ed Hannigan, with pencils by the criminally underrated Tom Sutton and inks by the legendary Terry Austin, this comic was unlike anything Ol' Groove has seen before or since. Captured and placed in an insane asylum, AC has to learn to adapt or escape--and meets up with folks way crazier than himself in the process. The story was done as an homage to the old EC horror comics, right down to the lettering style, by way of EC's own Mad (the comics version, not the magazine). Hard to believe, but it's even better than the first KISS comic!"

I can't add anything myself, but check out the editorial from MP #50 for the lowdown behind how Marvel and AC got it all together:

'Nuff said! Now read it, already!