Murphy Anderson Week Concludes! The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Murphy Anderson Made Me Buy These!

Time to wrap up our week-long tribute to Murphy Anderson, Groove-ophiles! Hope you've dug it! Ol' Groove thought we'd wrap things up with a dyn-o-mite dozen of Anderson's awesome artistry on a variety of DC mags. Can you dig it?

Murphy Anderson Week: "The Case of the Off-Key Crimes!" by Wein and Anderson

Hawkman! We can't possibly spend a week celebrating the work of Murphy Anderson without including one of his Hawkman masterpieces! And if Ol' Groove's not terribly mistaken (and I'm sure someone out there is ready to correct me if I am, so lay it on me, baby), this is Anderson's next-to-last  Hawkman job as both penciler and inker, so that makes it kinda special. From Detective Comics #480 (August 1978) here's "The Case of the Off-Key Crimes!" written by Len Wein!

Murphy Anderson Week: Black and White and Anderson (with Swan and Infantino)

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! For this particular Black and White Wednesday, here's a bunch of b&w Murphy Anderson art--either solo or in tandem with Carmine Infantino or Curt Swan. Your eyes will thank you later!

Murphy Anderson Week: "Brother for a Day!" by Bates, Swan, and Anderson

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with day two of our week-long tribute to Murphy Anderson! Today we're gonna dig on yet another of Ol' Groove's faves, "Brother for a Day!", a very cool Private Life of Clark Kent back-up from Superman #256 (July 1972). Written by Cary Bates and penciled by Curt Swan, Anderson's slick inks made Zeena, the Tiger-Woman a most memorable character for Young Groove--was that costume dynamite or what? And check out that bratty kid, Mickey Moran. It'd be a miracle if he grew up to be someone we'd marvel at, huh, man? What Ol' Groove also most remembers (besides Zeena) is getting this particular ish of Superman in one of those three-packs you used to find in grocery stores. (Oh, the other two mags in that pack? Batman #244 (!) and Mister Miracle #10. What a find, huh?)

Murphy Anderson Week: "Arrival!" by Wolfman, Kubert, and Anderson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! As most of you no doubt know, the great Murphy Anderson passed away on October 22 at the age of 89. Anderson was one of the all-time masters of the comicbook form, having worked nearly his entire adult life in the field (beginning in 1944). During the Silver and Groovy Ages, nearly all of his energies were spent at DC comics as a penciler and inker. Anderson's work as an inker with Carmine Infantino (on Batman and Adam Strange) and Curt Swan (on Superman) are the stuff of legend, while his solo art on strips like Hawkman, the Spectre, Korak, and the Atomic Nights are also held in extremely high regard by most of fandom. He also founded Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts in 1973, supplying color separations and lettering for many comicbooks. His powerful, yet elegant, inks were immediately recognizable and always top-notch. Ol' Groove (and many of you who commented on our Facebook page) felt that it was fitting that we devote and entire week to Anderson's amazing talents.

Today, we're going to take a look at Anderson's pencils and inks on John Carter of Mars, from the back of Tarzan #207 (February 1972). Anderson drew the strip  in issues 207 and 209, then in Weird Worlds issues 1 (with Alan Weiss), 2, and 3. Gorgeous stuff--especially the debut strip, "Arrival!", plotted by Marv Wolfman and scripted by Joe Kubert (based, of course, on Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars). Enjoy!