Tuesday Two-fer: "Duel at Dawn" and "The Vampire King" by Fallberg (?) and Arens(?)

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today just happens to be the 50th anniversary of the debut of Batman on ABC-TV! It's Li'l Groove's love of that show that grew into the all-out fanatic that blogs for you five days a week as Ol' Groove, so I hadda do something to celebrate! Of course, being who I is, of course we're not gonna celebrate in a way that you'd expect.

Of course I MUST share a cool Adam-West-as-Batman pic!

Nope, to celebrate the impact Adam West and company made on moi, I'll use this time to show just how quickly the love of Batman grew into a love for comicbooks, cartoons, and superheroes. Y'see, as much as Li'l Groove loved Batman, when he learned that there were other superheroes (most of the following wouldn't have existed had it not been for Batman), he went a little bit bonkers. Absorbed everything from Archie's Mighty Comics line to shows like Captain Nice to (of course) Marvel Comics (and their cartoons) to (of course, again) Hanna-Barbera's line of cartoon superheroes, which included such luminaries as Space Ghost, Atom Ant, the Herculoids, Frankenstein Jr., the Impossibles, Young Samson, and today's focuses (foci?), Birdman and Mighty Mightor!

Both of these tales first appeared in Gold Key's Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #1 (January 1968), and one (or both) were written and/or drawn by Carl Fallberg and Mike Arens (even the magnificent Grand Comics Database doesn't know for sure).

First up, here's Birdman in "Duel at Dawn"!

And here's Mighty Mightor battling "The Vampire King"!

Random Reads: "Threat of the Cavern Creatures" by Christensen and ?

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! We have a happen' Herculoids short feature written by Don R. Christensen and drawn by a really good Gold Key artist who didn't get any credit. From Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #4 (cover dated January 1969) prepare to face the "Threat of the Cavern Creatures"!

Those Groovy Saturday Mornings: More Mighty Mightor and Birdman

More far-out fun from Hanna-Barbera TV Super-Heroes #5 (January 1969), Groove-ophiles! Check out the action with Mighty Mightor and Birdman. Don't touch that dial!

Those Groovy Saturday Mornings: A Shazzan/Herculoids Double Feature

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's a double feature sure to take you back to the days of a bowl of Kaboom!, Major Matt Mason commercials, and Saturday Morning Cartoons the way they were meant to be! From Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #5 (January 1969) here's Shazzan! in "Curse of the Cloud-Wizard"...


...And for the second part of our double feature, from the same glorious Gold Key mag it's The Herculoids vs "The Diamond Demon"!

Those Groovy Saturday Mornings: A Mighty Mightor Saturday Double-Play

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Here's a double-dose of Li'l Groove's favorite caveman-superhero, Mighty Mightor! First, dig on "Beware! Skullarva!" from Gold Key's Super TV Heroes #2 (April 1968).


Aaaaand, get your kicks with "The Piper's Plot" from Super TV Heroes #4 (October 1968).