Merry Christmas 2019!

Season's Greetings, Groove-ophiles! As is our tradition in Groove City, we're sharing a favorite mag from the Groovy Age Yuletide Season, this time it's Freedom Fighters #1!

Back on December 9, 1975, DC unleashed Freedom Fighters #1 (Quality Comics heroes Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, and Human Bomb) on the spinner racks, and boy, was Young Groove ever glad! That snazzy Ernie Chan cover just begged to be bought, and the interiors by Ric Estrada and Mike Royer looked like fun (as was the story by Gerry Conway and Martin Pasko)! Len Wein and Dick Dillin had already introduced us to the super-team from Earth-X in Justice League of America issues 107-108 (June-August, 1973) and I really dug 'em, so finding this mag was quite a thrill! Ol' Groove hopes you get a kick out of it on this particular Christmas Day (or whatever day you might be reading it) four color memory!

The Story Behind the Story

And it wouldn't be a Christmas post without giving you a glimpse into Groove's Goodies for this year:

All the best to you and yours this Holiday Season! See you next year with the new, weekly Diversions of the Groovy Kind! Pax!

Random Reads: "Night Flight" by Englehart and Estrada

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Did'ja know that back in 1977/78 when Stainless Steve Englehart was at DC making history with Batman in Detective Comics, the Justice League of America, Mister Miracle, and even Starfire, he also managed to slip in a sci-fi war tale featuring a certain ill-fated zeppelin? Well, he did! It was illustrated by Ric Estrada and published in Weird War Tales #60 (November 1977)! And heeeere it is!

Cover art by Joe Kubert

Groove's faves: "Brainwave Blows Up!" by Conway, Levitz, Estrada, and Wood

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! The second ish of DC's All-Star Comics revival of the Justice Society of America is comin' at ya! "Brainwave Blows Up!" from All-Star #59 (December 1975) was written by Gerry Conway (with plotting assist by future JSA scribe Paul Levitz) with art by Ric Estrada and Wally Wood (with background inkining assist by A. L. Sirois). It's a fun story, playing up the "generation gap" with the original JSA-ers looking at the Super Squad members as junior apprentices, when Robin, Power Girl, and Star-Spangled Kid were actually the ones who saved the day. Of course, the elder heroes would have the last laugh as just over a year later, the Super Squad would be folded into the JSA proper. But hey, that's all in the future. Let's just dig on this fun super-hero yarn...and drool over all all that beautiful Wally Wood inkmanship (is that a word? It should be!)

Cover art by Ernie Chan