Black and White Wednesday: "Among the Great Divide" by Gerber, Starlin, and Wiacek

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin were to of the strongest, most unique, most, yes, idiosyncratic voices of the Groovy (or any) Age. Their comics were the ones you looked forward to because you really didn't know what to expect--except that it would be a comicbook experience like no other. They worked together a few times, with varying degrees of success. An early collaboration in Iron Man #56 (legend has it) got 'em fired from the mag by Stan Lee, himself. Then you get a macabre, thought-provoking, uncomfortabley amazing piece like "Among the Great Divide" from Rampaging Hulk #7 (December 1977). Since the story features one of Gerber's signature characters, Man-Thing, when Teen Groove flipped to the back of the mag, he knew he was in for a treat. When I saw that the art was by Jim-freakin'-Starlin (inked by Bob Wiacek)--yeah, I knew I'd spent my buck well. Everyone was still buzzing about the TV mini-series Sybil (starring future Aunt May (!), and soon-to-be Emmy  and Oscar winner, Sally Field), but of course Gerber and Starlin took their look at the serious subject of Dissociative Identity Disorder (then known as Multiple Personality Disorder) and gave their story--and the disorder, itself--its own twists...though most of my friends didn't know that this, superior, story even existed. Many folks still don't. Well, if you're reading this--you know it now...

Black and White Wednesday: RIP Ken Barr

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! As most of you probably know, artist Ken Barr passed away about a month ago, just a few days after his 83rd birthday. Barr was an artist of international renown (you can read a wonderful tribute to the man on Down the Tubes), but to kids like Young Groove, he was the master cover artist for many of Marvel's b&w mags. Ol' Groove posted a few of them back in 2012 (which you can see here), so here are a few more faves from the brush of a master of action and adventure!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Other Side of Night!" by Starlin, Warner, and Nino

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Some of the absolute greatest comics of the Groovy Age could be found in the pages of Marvel's black and white mags! Just take for instance "The Other Side of Night!" from Rampaging Hulk #4 (May 1977). Believe it or not, almost six years ago, Ol' Groove did a write up on this outrageously outstanding mag (which you can read here) and shared some of the awesome art by the titanic team of Jim Starlin and Alex Nino, but today you're gonna get the whole magilla, plotted by Starlin and scripted by John Warner. This is an all-time fave, baby! Hope you dig it as much as Ol' Groove does!