R.I.P. Steve Ditko

Never wanted to write this post, Groove-ophiles. Steve Ditko has passed at the age of 90. Ol' Groove has struggled with how to best honor, nay, celebrate the memory and talent of Steve Ditko. He always seemed to prefer to let his work represent him. I think it's most fitting to do the same....

The man will be missed, but his legacy will last forever!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The New Kids of 1968

50 years ago, Li'l Groove was actually too little to read comics, but I picked up a few here and there and grew to love them passionately. I had no idea of the changes that the comicbook industry was going through, mostly because Marvel got a new distributor and was going to be allowed to publish as many books as their publisher, Martin Goodman, saw fit. This also meant that DC was going to have to up their game so as not to lose rack space. Marvel's "split books" (books that featured two Marvel heroes) split into their own titles. Tales of Suspense begat Captain America and Iron Man. Tales to Astonish split into Incredible Hulk and Sub-Mariner. Strange Tales birthed Dr. Strange and S.H.I.E.L.D. The Silver Surfer got his own mag. Marvel even gave us some new heroes in 1968: Captain Marvel, debuting in Marvel Super-Heroes in 1967, got his own mag in 1968. Guardians of the Galaxy came to be, also in Marvel Super-Heroes. The Vision and Yellowjacket were introduced in The Avengers. Over at DC, Wonder Woman chucked her costume and powers to become a "mod" spy-type of heroine. Aquaman was taken over by the immortal S.A.G. creative team of Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Dick Giordano. But more than that, brand new concepts saw the light of day in DC's venerable Showcase mag (with a couple going straight to debuting in their own comics), and many of the best of them got their own (sadly usually short-lived) mags. The "new kids" of 1968 are the focus of today's cover-fest. Enjoy!

Making a Splash: The Hawk and The Dove

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Way back in April 1968, DC allowed Steve Skeates, Steve Ditko, and Dick Giordano to spring one of the most way-out features ever upon fans of their Showcase mag. Inspired by the heated controversy (to put it mildly) caused by the Vietnam War and the increasing gulf of the Generation Gap, Steve, Steve, and Dick combined their awesome talents to give us The Hawk and The Dove. Hank Hall ,The Hawk, was, not surprisingly, a pro-war, might-makes-right scrapper. His brother, Don Hall, The Dove, was his opposite number; a strong-willed pacifist. Their father was a judge, whose job, thematically, is to try to teach the boys to balance their ideas--or at least to be tolerant of those with different moral and/or political leanings. What we got in Showcase #75 (and The Hawk and The Dove issues 1 [June 1968]-6 [April 1969]), besides two of the coolest costumes ever, was a controversial, original, and extremely cool pair of super-heroes. Skeates stayed on as writer through issue #4, while Ditko left the series with issue #2. The loss of Ditko's sublime pencils should have sounded the death-knell for H&D's mag, but DC hired Gil Kane to provide the art for our battling siblings--and Ol' Groove has gotta tell ya--Mr. Kane was especially right-on during this period! He took over scripting with issue five, then, another all-Gil issue, the series ended with ish six. Here are the splashes from those seven superb  issues...prepare to have your mind-blown, baby!

(P)Raising Kane: "Judgment in a Small, Dark Place!" by Gil Kane

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna glom onto the final ish of the first Hawk and The Dove series from Groovy Age DC! When Hawk and The Dove #6 rolled around in April 1969, Gil Kane had taken over the writing as well as the penciling chores (with inks provided by John Celardo). Our battling brothers definitely went out in style, didn't they?