Marvel-ous Monday: A Loving Look At Marvel Treasury Edition #1 Featuring the Spectacular Spider-Man

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Remember that giddy feeling you'd get when you'd see an ad for a mag that you just had to have? Young Groove got that feeling a lot, especially, it seems, when it came to gi-normous comicbooks. Like those promised in this DC ad:

That one kept me on the prowl for weeks. But nothing. No-THING beat this ad for what would have to be the absolute greatest Spider-Man collection of all time:

Young Groove bought a comic he didn't even want just to get that ad. I'd stare at that ad, as if a genii was going to appear and give me a copy. That didn't happen, natch, but I did  get a copy the day it went on sale...from a musty drug store shelf about three hours from my home (after searching every store in Harlan, KY). And it was worth it! Just check out the goodies and splashes from the enormous 100 page hunk of comicbook heaven that was Marvel Treasury Edition #1 (which went on sale on this very date in 1974)…

An awesome original feature just for MTE#1 by Gerry Conway and Marie Severin

Sigh. Man, Ol' Groove loves this comic!

Black and White Wednesday: Ring-a-Ding Original Art

Happy birthday Jazzy John Romita! Where would we Groovy Age fans be without this phenomenal artist and his art direction at Marvel during the 1970s? Would Punisher, Wolverine, Luke Cage, the Savage Sub-Mariner, or Kingpin or so many other heroes and villains have looked as cool? Would the "Marvel House Style" been as glitzy and glamorous? Would Marvel's covers grabbed us nearly as much? Glad we don't have to find out, huh? Let's celebrate John Ring-a-Ding Romita's 88th birthday with a look back at some cool covers and sensational splashes that he created to take our dimes, nickels, and quarters! Thanks for all the great art and memories, O Jazzy One!

Pencils by Don Heck

Pencils by Ron Wilson

Addicted to Alex Nino: "People of the Dark" by Thomas and Nino

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Roy Thomas and Alex Nino adapted Robert E. Howard's classic "People of the Dark Circle" in Savage Sword of Conan #6 (April 1975). About three-and-a-half years later, that story was reprinted in gi-normous tabloid size and in color in Marvel Treasury Edition #19 (October 1978). While you can't enjoy it in all its humongous glory online, you can still thrill and chill to Nino's incredible artistry right here, right now!