Random Reads: "Pingo!" by Fleisher, Carley, and Thorne

Greetings, my Groovy Ghoulies! Today we're feasting on a fear-fest that encompasses so many of our modern-day fears: the unknown, insanity, murder, kidnapping, spousal abuse, clowns, hitch-hiking--all in a mere eleven pages. Writer Michael Fleisher, lay-out artist Russell Carley, and penciler/inker Frank Thorne knew how to thrill and chill us, baby! From House of Mystery #221 (October 1973), prepare to meet..."Pingo!"

Black and White Wednesday: The Art of Haunt of Horror #2

Oops! Ol' Groove goofed again! Back during Halloween Countdown 2010, Ol' Groove shared the awesome art from marvel's prose digest Haunt of Horror #1 with ya and promised to do the same with the art from HoH #2 in 2011. Well, for some reason that didn't happen, but today I'm making amends! The second ish of Haunt of Horror (Summer 1973) might've been the final prose digest ish (it would soon return as a standard b&w comic mag), but boy did editor Gerry Conway send it off with a bang! Stories by Denny O'Neil, Arthur Byron Cover, Harlan Ellison, Fritz Leiber, Ann McCaffrey, Ron Goulart, and more? Art by John Buscema, Walt Simonson, Dan Green, Frank Brunner, Kelly Freas, and Billy Graham? What a mag, baby--what a mag! Wanna take a peek inside...?

Happy Halloween, Groove-ophiles!

Groove's Faves: "Child" by Potter and Corben

It's October! Didja think Ol' Groove was gonna forget about...

No way!

Though it only lasted for three installments (Eerie #'s 57, 58, and 60), Richard Corben's Child (written by Greg Potter and Budd Lewis), is a short series that is still fondly remembered by Warren buffs. This touching and twisted take on the Monster of Frankenstein still grabs Ol' Groove. I mean, how can you not feel for a monster with a child's head/face? Child's innocence reminds me of the Wein/Gerber era Hulk, but set in a darker, more Swamp Thing-like "reality". So poplar was the debut of this feature that it was reprinted in both issues 1 and 4 of Comix International (1975-1976). This set of scans comes from CI #4. Dig it!

Countdown to Halloween 2010! Sunday Funnies: Wrightson Goes Plop!

This is it, Groove-ophiles! We've counted down another dreadfully dy-no-mite 31 days--and it's Halloween once more! Ol' Groove's layin' a double-size treat on ya so we can party like it's 1499! Here come two--count 'em--TWO of Bernie Wrightson's most memorable masterpieces of the macabre, both from--where else?--PLOP!

We'll kick things off with Steve Skeates' immortal "The Gourmet" from Plop! #1 (July 1973). This tale is legendary, and if you've never dug it before, boy are you lucky!


And to wind things down, we're pulling out Plop! #5's (February 1974) "Molded in Evil", scripted by George Kashdan.


Hope you enjoyed this year's tricks n treats, Groove-ophiles! Tomorrow it's back to normal (whatever that is), but Ol' Groove'll do his best to make it worth you while to join us!