Thanos Week! Secret Origins: Thanos

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Well, this is it! The big week when Avengers: Infinity War hits the big screen here in the U.S. Young Groove had an extremely vivid and memorable dream one night waaaay back in 1973 in which The Avengers and tons of other Marvel super-heroes fought aliens out to destroy earth. I'm thinkin' this movie might be as close to that dream as I'll ever see! Of course, the big hoopla is gonna surround the flick's major villain Thanos, Jim Starlin's college creation. Thanos has become (since the 90s, especially) THE villain to bring the Marvel Universe together in comicbook battle, so is it any wonder Hollywood is using all those Infinity Gauntlet/War/etc. comics as their inspiration? The question some movie-goers might still be asking is the same question most of my family members asked me when we saw the after-credits scene in The Avengers (2012): Who is that purple guy?

Well, we all know he'll be similar-yet-very-different from his comicbook counterpart, but still, seeing the condensed version of our favorite Mad Titan's origin from the legendary Avengers Annual #7 (August 1977) might be at least of some help. Besides, any excuse to see some far-out Jim Starlin/Joe Rubinstein art is A-Okay here in Groove City, right?

And, yep, this was the first time Thanos tried to get all'a those Infinity Gems together for his own pernicious plans!

Be back tomorrow for the comicbook scenes Ol' Groove HOPES will be in Avengers: Infinity War!

Secret Origins: "Expose" by McKenzie, Miller, and Janson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Whaddya say we kick off the new week (and month--wowzers, already?) with the awesome origin of Daredevil by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, and Klaus Janson! Ol' Groove thought you'd dig that idea! DD's origin was always one of Groove's faves, so this ish hit all the right buttons, ya know? Oh, and yers trooly really digs the extra details Rog and the Lanky One added to DD's origin, how 'bout you? From Daredevil #164 (February 1980), here's "Expose"!

Cover art by Frank Miller and (!) Wally Wood

Secret Origins: Two-Fer! Drax the Destroyer and Gamora--the Green Guardians of the Galaxy

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna catch the slightest glimpse of how Drax the Destroyer and Gamora, The Deadliest Woman in the Whole Galaxy came to be! Yep, the jade-hued (but not related--except by their creator, Jim Starlin) foes-turned-allies of the Guardians of the Galaxy* both got their starts during the Groovy Age at the hands of Judo Jim Starlin!

Drax the Destroyer made his debut in Iron Man #55 (November 1972). Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin introduced and gave us Drax's origin in that fateful ish, but you've seen that one all over the Internet. Here's Drax's origin retold  from Captain Marvel #32 (February 1974), complete with an awesome (if one-sided) battle with the reason for Drax's existence...Thanos!

You'll note the Groovy Age origin bears little resemblance to the movie version--but 'tis 'nuff, t'will serve.

Gamora made her debut in Strange Tales #180 (March 1975). It's in that ish she meets Warlock's sidekick Pip the Troll, and we learn that she's out to assassinate Warlock...

In the next issue (ST #181, May 1975) we learn why she thinks she's up to the task of killing Warlock...

But it's not until the ish after Warlock moves back into his own mag that we get Gamora's short-but-sweet origin (Warlock #10, September 1975)...

Very much in common with the movie version--just without the Warlock stuff. Here's hoping Marvel's Movie Universe will soon include Adam Warlock and our Kree Captain Marvel! Without 'em, we'd have fewer greens in our Guardians!

(*Yeah, Ol' Groove's doing another Guardians of the Galaxy post 'cause I really dug the movie! It's tons o'fun and the sound track rules, baby!!)

Secret Origins: "The Jor-El Story" By Kupperberg, Chaykin, and Anderson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! As Ol' Groove promised ya on Thursday (man, you guys really dug this post according to the number of hits it's gotten!), here comes the first ish of the first-ever comicbook mini-series (or limited series, if you're a Marvelite)--World of Krypton! According to most sources, World of Krypton was conceived as a three part tryout for DC's Showcase mag, but when Showcase was cancelled (along with a gazillion other DC titles) during 1978's DC Implosion, someone at DC had the inspiration that led to the mini/limited-series format that would become all the rage in the 1980s-onward (a format that would produce some of the greatest comics ever--Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and many others). Besides that, who would want this three-part epic that pulls together the events leading up to Kal-El's journey to earth to sitting on a shelf--especially in the days following Superman: The Movie's success?

Of equal interest (and mystery) are the credits for World of Krypton. Sure, the blurb says, " Paul Kupperberg-Writer/Howard Chaykin and Murphy Anderson-Artists", but according to the author, himself, Paul (Life With Archie) Kupperberg, editor E. Nelson Bridwell's input was "invaluable" due to his vast knowledge of all things Superman. Paul also states (in a comment to Win Wiacek's wonderful Now Read This! blog) that his brother, Alan Kupperberg, ghost-penciled the mini-series for the credited Chaykin (which is why I chose to post this under "Secret Origins" rather than "Makin' Chaykin"). Man, there's lots-o-stuff that goes on behind the scenes of these classic funnybooks, huh? Enuff yappin'! From April 1979, here is..."The Jor-El Story"!

Cover art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano