Groovy Age Gold: "Invasion!" by Bill Everett

What it is, Groove-ophiles! During the early 1970s, DC made a habit of reprinting their Golden Age classics as regular back-ups or in mags of their own. Marvel mostly focused their reprints on their early 1960s Marvel Age material, but occasionally some Golden Age strips would sneak through, especially those that featured the Sub-Mariner (editor-in-chief Roy Thomas' fave G.A. strip). "Invasion!" (originally published in Sub-Mariner #35 (August 1954) turned up in--of all places--Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #15 (August 1973). Kinda crazy, but who cares? It's a cool comic with creator/writer/artist Bill Everett in top form. Dig it!

Random Reads: "The Claws of Lionfang" by Englehart and Graham

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! A short while back on the DotGK Facebook Fan Page (What? You haven't joined yet? For SHAME!), we had a discussion about our fave Groovy Age writers. A name that popped up on most everyone's list was Steve Englehart. Stainless Steve ranks high because of his stellar runs on Avengers, Batman (in Detective), and  Captain America, not to mention his awesome takes on Captain Marvel, the Defenders, JLA, and so many others. But even a writer as far-out as Mr. E can have an off day. "Claws of Lionfang" from Hero for Hire #13 (July 1973) is what I'd consider an off day for the Stainless One. There are some great pieces of dialogue (check out Cage's funkified badness in panel 1, page 2, f'rinstance), some nice twists on the Spider-Man school of soul-searching (dig that last page), but the villain of the story, Lionfang, is soooooo silly. His powers are silly, his motivation is silly...let's face it, besides his name, he's just plain silly. His costume is kinda funky mixing cool with silly in a creative way. That is thanks to artist Billy Graham who saves the day with his stunning storytelling and luscious inks. No matter how lame the story gets, Graham's art keeps you hangin' on.

Remembering the Comic Book Art of Billy Graham

No, ya turkey, not the Reverend B.G., the comicbook artist par excellence! Ol' Groove can't find a lot of information about the amazing Billy G., except that he was also a sometimes actor and stuntman (even appearing in a beer ad back in the 70s) who passed away sometime during the 1990s. His comicbook legacy, though, is pretty amazing for a dude who worked in the industry for a comparatively short time.

Billy started at Warren Magazines, with a story in the legendary first issue of Vampirella (cover dated September, 1969) written by Don McGregor called, "Death Boat!"



As you can see, his inking was quite lush and organic, which led him to gaining work at Marvel Comics. That work, natch, included helping create Luke Cage, Hero for Hire (aka Power Man, member of the Defenders, the Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, and of course the Avengers) along with doing lots of inking (usually over George Tuska) and some penciling on that title, as well as a nigh-legendary stint as artist on the McGregor-scribed Black Panther strip in Jungle Action (issues 10-22).

Graham also took some side-trips into Marvel's supernatural mags, like Journey into Mystery, Haunt of Horror, Vampire Tales, and Monsters Unleashed. Check out "More Than Blood", written by George Alec Effinger, from Journey Into Mystery #2 (September, 1972).