Groovy Age Gold: "An Orchid for the Deceased!" by Kanigher, Infantino, and Giacoia

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! A Golden Age Black Canary strip from one of Ol' Groove's all-time favorite comics, DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-20 (June 1973)! Talk about a Golden Age team of creators clicking on all cylinders! Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino, and Frank Giacoia gave us a fun, polished, thriller that really shows off what made the Golden Age so great! Here is..."An Orchid for the Deceased!"

Oh, yeah, the above mini-masterpiece was originally published in Flash Comics #95 (cover dated May 1948)!

Groovy Age Gold: "The Count That Never Ended!" by Kanigher and Kane

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! How 'bout some early Bob Kanigher and Gil Kane on Wildcat? It's a match made in heaven when Wilcat meets The Huntress in "The Count That Never Ended!" This one originally appeared in Sensation Comics #71 (November 1947), but we got to read it in 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-20 (June 1973). Check it out!

Groovy Age Gold: Hourman vs. Dr. Togg by Fitch and Baily

Young Groove loved the zany, imaginative, stylized art of Bernard Baily, so any time I came across a Golden Age reprint of a Baily Spectre or Hourman story, I grabbed that mag! Today's Hourman classic (written, according to sources, by Hourman co-creator Ken Fitch) was nestled comfortably inside DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #18 (April 1973)--a mag I would have bought no matter what with its very cool Golden Age Superman story, Golden Age Atom, Captain Triumph, Silver Age Atom, and Superman Red/Superman Blue, baby! Anywho, Fitch and Baily took what could have been a pretty pedestrian superhero and turned it into one of the wildest, wonkiest, most far-out strips ever! For example, dig this page-turner in which our Man of the Hour tackles the nightmarish creatures of Dr. Togg!

Oh, yeah, this masterpiece of comicbook ca-razeeness originally appeared in Adventure Comics #57 (Dec 1940).  

Groove's Faves: 100-Page Super Spectacular DC-14 and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! It doesn't seem that long ago that we were here welcoming in 2010, but sure 'nuff it's been a whole year. 2011. Wow. When I was but a Li'l Groove we thought we'd have flying cars by now. Or at least cars as cool as the Batmobile. That reminds me of a fave comic bought, believe it or not, on New Years Day 1973...

When I was but a Young Groove, the family usually spent New Years Day just hanging out at the house, enjoying each other, our Christmas gifts, and some quality time in front of the TV. On New Years Day 1973, though, Dear Ol' Dad decided to get out of the house for a few minutes and asked me if I'd like to tag along. Of course I would! I knew that a trip anywhere with DoD would mean I had a chance at a spinner-rack and a new comic. Sure 'nuff, he turned me loose at that magical merry-go-round of four color ecstasy, knowing full well I'd find something. And I did. Not just any old comic, mind ya, but DC's 100-Page Super Spectacular (DC-14) featuring Batman! DoD forked over a pair of quarters for that squarebound pile of nostalgic newsprint without batting an eyelash. Wotta guy!

It was an extra-special purchase for another reason, too--DC's 100-Page Super Specs had returned, baby! Back in the summer of 72 DC had quit making the Super Specs and replaced them with reprint mags like Secret Origins, Wanted, Johnny Thunder, Legion of Super-Heroes, Doom Patrol, and more. Those were great, and Young Groove snapped 'em up, but nothing could beat those 100-Page Super Spectaculars. They were missed. DC, bless 'em, heard fandom's cry and released this baby the day after Christmas, 1972. For more info on the return of the Super-Specs, as well as how editor-par-excellence E. Nelson Bridwell handled filling 100 pages with Gold and Silver Age classics, here are the letters pages for this ish. (And as an added bonus dig master letterhack Ricard H. Morrissey's "review" of Batman: From the 30s to the 70s--another classic Ol' Groove's gotta tackle one'a these days...)

I was glad the Specs were back, and let me tell ya, Groove-ophiles, I was in comicbook heaven. I had never seen an actual Bob Kane Batman tale before, so when I glommed his art on the two part Monk storyline (written by the great Gardner Fox making his Batman debut!), well, I flipped. Though I had really dug the art of Irv Novick, Bob Brown, and especially Neal Adams, this version of The Batman, with those long ears and the cape looking like batwings at every turn, was the ultimate version for me. (I think that's why I cottoned to Marshall Rogers' version so much.)

The Atom tale rocked me, too. Another classic written by Fox, this time the art was by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Not only did I get to read the first adventure of the Atom in costume, but it was his classic battle with the other "tiny titan" Kulan Dar!

T'was the Atom's first time traveling via telephone, as well, complete with "scientific explanation". Can he pull that trick with a cell phone, I wonder?

The Blackhawk story was cool, too. "The Treasure of Ghanpat!" had slick art by Reed Crandall and Charles Cuidera, plenty of action, and really far-out airplanes. I always dug airplanes.

Speaking of airplanes, the Wonder Woman tale put her invisible plane to good use, and the H.G. Peters art was nifty in a weird kinda way, but WW creator William Marston's stories always left me cold. This one involving riding around on saddled kangaroos was the only disappointment in an otherwise perfect ish.

I always thought Doll Man had a dumb name and a dumb costume (sorry, but it's true), but danged if he didn't have fun adventures and great art (Reed Crandall? Bill Quackenbush?). Just take this1950 tale, f'rinstance. It was a hoot. And any superhero that has a dog--especially one named Elmo!-- for a sidekick was always cool with Young Groove.

After Batman, for some reason Wildcat was always my fave Golden Age DC hero. Was it the all-black costume? The wildcat mask? The motorcycle? The fact that he was a boxer? His sidekick/manager Stretch Skinner (introduced in this Bill Finger/Irwin Hasen classic)? Maybe it was all of the above.

Finally, "The Batmobile of 1950!" was the kind of story that really fired up Young Groove's imagination. All the stuff Batman could cram into that super-car just blew my mind! And as a fan of Speed Racer, watching the Batmobile leap across a crumbling bridge made me cheer. Joe Samachson, Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris could do no wrong in my eyes!

Yeah, it was a great New Years Day. I still have that tattered, coverless mag and great memories to go with it. Thanks again, Dear Ol' Dad! (Special thanks to The Old Warrior for the excellent scans on his truly far-out blog, DC 100-Page Super Spectacular Comic Book Downloads.)

The Grooviest Covers of All Time! Neal Adams' 100 Page Super-Spectacular Wrap-Arounds

One of the coolest things DC did back in the Groovy Age was to publish a series of 100 page, ad-less, reprint comics under the umbrella title of DC 100 Page Super-Spectacular. Another really cool thing they did was to get Neal Adams to draw three of 'em. A total of ninety-nine heroes (some, like Superman and Batman appear more than once) populate those three covers! Can you stand all the far-out awesomeness, Groovester? (Click 'em to see 'em in all their groovy glory!)

DC 100 Page Super-Spectacular #6: World's Greatest Super-Heroes!


Batman #238 (October, 1971)


Superman #252 (March, 1972)

Lost In Licensing 2: A Groovy Guest Post by Barry Pearl

Lost and Found…in Licensing: The Adventure Continues:

In 1895 H.G. Wells wrote “The Time Machine” and 55 years later it is the subject of a Classic Illustrated comic. That could never happen again. Once there was a 35 year limit for how long a book could retain its exclusive copyright then. Now, called the “Mickey Mouse Law” so Mickey could not become public domain, it has been extended for over 100 years.

So 70 years after Conan was introduced, he is still not out of copyright. Marvel could not just have waited and republished him. I have learned, from my friend Markus Mueller (of the Unofficial Marvel Handbook of Marvel Creator’s Website) that there was an Essential Conan the Barbarian, published in 2000. I have also learned that we probably will not see Rom, Spaceknight and the Micronauts again. But let us first see something that we can see, but could have lost:

1970’s Science Fiction in Comics: Going, Going, Gone
June 1938: Jor-El puts his son in a rocket and aims it towards Earth. He gets here with no GPS, no food, no water or diaper changes, but every since then, science fiction, or science fantasy, have been part of comic books. Before Superman, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon filled the Sunday color sections with their exploits in space.

Comics were the stepchild of the pulp business. The same printers owned the presses. They used the same type of materials: glossy covers and newsprint insides. They also had writers and artists. Many comic book publishers, including Martin Goodman, started out publishing pulps and continued into comics. Whatever genre was popular in the pulps, crime, mysteries, westerns sci fi, and adventure stories were brought to the comics. Marvel Science Stories (later re-named Marvel Tales) was Goodman’s first major publication; the pulp would give the company its eventual name. It was a pulp that featured adventure and science fiction stories published around 1940.

Starting in 1950, DC published Strange Adventures; (244 issues from 1950 through 1973) which was joined a year later with Mystery in Space (1951 to 1966). The DC line was always a bit tame compared to EC. Although it was aimed at a younger market, it often included such top artists as Frank Frazetta and Joe Kubert. Science fiction stories also made their way into the adventure comics edited by Jack Schiff, including HOUSE of Mystery; My Greatest Adventure and Tales of the Unexpected. Schiff was not nearly as respected as Schwartz. Martin Goodman could always spot a trend and introduced Journey into Unknown Worlds (1951-1957); Space Squadron; (1951-52) and other comics like Mystic, which used “science fiction” themes. The memorable sci-fi era was developing across town.

William Gaines at EC produced the most famous crime, science fiction and, of course, horror comics that were dominating the industry at the time. Gaines said that DC, Marvel and many other comic book companies were not offering true Science Fiction stories. They were, in his words, presenting “cowboys and Indians” in space. He was right. Using the background of sci-fi, Marvel, then known as Atlas, had adventures strips in outer space, underground and in different dimensions. It was most often good guys versus bad guys. In EC’s Weird Science and Weird Fantasy there was very little of that. They even adapted from Ray Bradbury. The art at EC was by Frank Frazetta, Harvey Kurtzman, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, and Graham Ingles who became leaders in their field. However, it was Horror Comics that were taking over and slowly. At both Marvel and EC, horror was infiltrating their science fiction stories.

DC converted Mystery in Space and Strange Adventures to super-hero/outer space adventure titles, featuring such characters as Adam Strange and Hawkman. It was at this time, with Julius Schwartz as editor at DC, that many of his characters all began to have a science fiction background.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970’s, pure science fiction faded away in both the comics and in the pulps. So popular a decade or two earlier, the pulps had begun to disappear totally. DC did not completely abandon the science fiction genre, producing “Strange Sports Stories” (Brave and the Bold #45-49, 1962-3). I personally asked Carmine Infantino why these stories faded away so quickly and he said, “Didn’t Sell.” Two words that summed up sci-fi in the 1970s.

As EC had done, Marvel presented stories by established Sci Fi writers, and published a few of my favorite comics ever. Unfortunately, we may never see any of these again because of licensing and copyright.

In 1973, Marvel began publishing Worlds Unknown, a purely sci fi book. It contained adaptations of great pieces of science fiction and kept them great. One of my favorites was the first issue containing a great story with a social message, “The Day after the Martians Landed” and a beautiful heart tugging story, “He Who Hath Wings.” Authors included Frederick Pohl and L. Sprague DeCamp. As with so many ideas then, Marvel did not stay with it long. Eventually the comic simply adapted stories from the then-popular Sinbad movies. It lasted eight issues. A similar approach was tried, a short time later, in a black and white magazine called Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. It didn’t last long either. Marvel would return to the Sci-fi genre, but mostly with movie adaptations such as Planet of the Apes, 2001 and Logan’s Run. All had limited runs. War of the Worlds (out of copyright) adapted from the book was converted into an adventure series featuring Killraven and lasted 21 issues (AMAZING ADVENTURES #18-39).

Genres do mix. In the 1950’s, with horror doing so well, EC mixed Sci Fi with horror and even crime. In the 1970’s, with Conan doing so well, Marvel decided to mix it’s licensed and unlicensed super-heroes with the Sword and Sorcery genre. We have also “lost” Thongor, (Creatures on the Loose: #22-29) and Gullivar Jones (Creatures on the Loose: #16-21, Monsters Unleashed #4 and 8) took up swords on other planets. Even the Man-Wolf, a Marvel product, took up a sword (Creatures on the Loose: #30-37, Marvel Premiere #45-46).

Sadly, other items seemed lost and not just due to licensing. Let me just add that Marvel had the Watcher (In Tales of Suspense) and the Wasp (Tales to Astonish) tell some great stories in the early 1960s. During the Groovy Age the Watcher was brought back, in Silver Surfer comics, to retell some of those stories. However, these stories are mostly lost also. When Marvel Reprints the Masterworks and Omnibuses (Omnibi?) they do not include these wonderful tales. Gene Colan’s work on the Watcher stories was just beautiful.

Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe were teamed to create a super-hero, Captain Britain, to be published in England, in hopes of duplicating the success Marvel was having in the colonies. The hero was to be bundled with reprints of the Fantastic Four, Captain America and several others. To my knowledge, those stories are not exclusively owned by Marvel, but licensed to the Panini Publishing company of Great Britain. While the character has been seen here, the original stories have not.

Marvel also did work for other companies. When Ideal was creating EvEl Knievel toys, they hired Marvel to create a comic book making him a hero. The Art was Mike Sekowsky, most famous in that era for the JLA. Herb Trimpe did a Big Little Book that featured the Fantastic Four.

I thought the Hostess ads were great and very much fun. Since they are a licensed property we may not see them again. Markus informs me that a villain from these stories has been integrated into the Marvel Universe.

Who can forget the Spidey Super Stories done for the Children’s Television Workshop, creators of Sesame Street and the Electric Company?

James Bond was also presented in DC’s Showcase comics, something that has never been reprinted.