Our Pal Sal: "Titan's Three!" by Thomas, S. Buscema, and Mooney

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! 'Tis Christmas Eve and Ol' Groove is back to share an all-time favorite comicbook classic with you! Now, this one, Sub-Mariner #34, has no special Christmas-y memories (it came out, after all, in November 1970), but it does lead into tomorrow's look at #35 which did, indeed, come out in time for Christmas (around December 1 or so). The important thing, for now, is to spend some time together this Christmas Eve digging on the "prototype" Defenders--"The Titans Three!" with story and art by one of my early dream-teams, Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, and Jim Mooney! Enjoy!

See you tomorrow for a special Christmas post! Happy Holidays!

Marvel-ous Monday: "Within the Swamp, There Stirs...a Glob!" by Thomas and Trimpe

Greetings, my Groovy Ghoulies! We're gonna Hulk out today with Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe's love letter to the great Golden Age character, The Heap! Way back in Incredible Hulk #121 (August 1969), Ol' Jade Jaws met up with The Glob, forerunner to the soon to rock the Groovy Age characters Swamp Thing and Man-Thing. Now that Ol' Groove thinks about it, this comic is even more special to moi, 'cause it was the first Incredible Hulk comic Li'l Groove ever got! Man, I started out on a cool one! This particular version of the story, by the by, is scanned from Marvel Treasury Edition #17 (April 1978). Dig it (but don't bury it)!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Incredible Hunk" by Weiss and Gamble

Marvel Eats Its Own Children Department: In Crazy #50 (March 1979) Marvel Comics ran a parody of their most successful TV show of the 70s, Incredible Hulk. With "Incredible Hunk" writer Michael Weiss skewered both the good and the bad of the show, while artist Kent Gamble tossed in more celebrity caricatures than you can shake a gamma-bomb at! Check it out, Groove-ophiles!

Thursday Team-up: ""Hell Is a Very Small Hulk!" by Goodwin, Trimpe, and Severin

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Between issues 4 and 5 of Ant-Man's series in Marvel Feature, Hank Pym's incredible shrinking alter-ego appeared in Incredible Hulk #154 (May 1972). Strangely enough, the only mention of Ant-Man's series in the entire ish is an editorial aside mentioning that "Hell Is a Very Small Hulk!" takes place "...mere days before the epoch-making events in Marvel Feature #4--the start of Ant-Man's own series!" Soft sell, or what there Stan? Anywho, 'tis a cool little ish with superior art by Herb Trimpe and John Severin, with writer Archie Goodwin shrinking the Hulk down to tiny-size then pitting him (and Ant-Man, natch) up against rats, The Chameleon, and the hordes of Hydra! This one definitely made Young Groove's pulse pound--and it's still a fun fave! Enjoy, baby!