Black and White Wednesday: "The Right Hand of Doom" by Moench and Gan

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Hands down (ouch! don't hit!) Robert E. Howard's "The Right Hand of Doom" is Ol' Groove's favorite Solomon Kane tale. Yeah, Kane doesn't have a whole lot to do in this story, but man, it's one of the spookiest, creepiest fear-fables ever! In Savage Sword of Conan #13 (June 1976), Doug Moench and Steve Gan adapted that classic to comicbook form--and they did a Marvel-ous job. Okay, I'm gonna hush--whaddya think, I get paid by the (horrible) pun?

Makin' Chaykin: "Fangs of the Gorilla God!" by Howard, Thomas, and Chaykin

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! With Thanksgiving coming up in a few days here in the U.S., Ol' Groove thought he'd spend this week looking back at some November-released mags that he's thankful for! (Don't worry, this is all leading up to our annual Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday, baby!) So how 'bout let's truck on back to November 1976 for a look at Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin's take on Robert E. Howard's immortal Solomon Kane! (Two of my fave creators on one of my fave characters--something to be thankful for, right?) "Fangs of the Gorilla God!", which appeared in Marvel Premiere #34, was based on Howard's story "Red Shadows", and it's a doozy! Because it appeared in a Comics Code approved comic (instead of the b&w Savage Sword of Conan), this version isn't as gruesome as Howard's original, but it's still gritty, spooky, and action packed! Chaykin's art here, to moi, is stunning with its bold use of blacks and lively layouts. Kane's outfit is a bit bizarre for a Puritan, but hey, Howard had to have some fun, right?

Black and White Wednesday: "The Chan Barbarians" by Ernie Chan

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Ernie Chan, one of the main inkers on Conan the Barbarian, one of the chief artists on Savage Sword of Conan and the Conan newspaper strip of the late 70s, created six smashing double-page spreads featuring Robert E. Howard's finest (plus one)--and Marvel was smart enough to publish 'em in Savage Sword of Conan #52 (April 1980)! And you, you lucky Groove-ophile, get to plant yer peepers on 'em right now!

Marvel Premiere-ing Through the Groovy Age: Why Marvel Premiere Rocked

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna trip through the Groovy Age once more, this time with one of Ol' Groove's fave Marvel mags...Marvel Premiere! MP ran throughout most of the Groovy Age, debuting in January 1972 and lasting until May 1981. That's sixty-one issues in all, a long and successful run considering the high-end life-span of a comic born in the Groovy Age was maybe (maybe) two dozen issues. MP hung on for nearly a decade and probably would have lasted even longer if not for the late-Groovy Age innovation we lovingly call the mini-series. 

The first two issues of Premiere featured Adam Warlock. Now, right off the bat, Marvel is ignoring their own title, since Warlock isn't technically a premiere but a re-vamp of an old Lee/Kirby character called "Him" (thus you'd think he'd have appeared in MP's sister mag, Marvel Spotlight. But no, Marvel was busy turning out brand new heroes like Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, and Son of Satan over there. Go figure...). Young Groove didn't care, though. This was Roy Thomas and Gil Kane at their most marvel-ous, taking Stan and Jack's artificial man, hooking him up with the maddest scientist of 'em all, the High Evolutionary, and sending him on a path not totally unlike that of a certain Man from Galilee.

Warlock quickly graduated to his own mag, which made room for Dr. Strange to make his series comeback in ish #3 (April 1972). Doc's series started out under the very cool but highly unlikely team of Stan Lee and Barry (pre-Windsor-) Smith, bounced through a variety of creative teams (guys like Archie Goodwin, Gardner Fox, Mike Ploog, and Jim Starlin) before settling on Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner, who would bring Doc such heat that he'd graduate to his own mag (again!) after ish #14 (December 1973).

Two "premieres", two successful spin-offs. Was the third time to be the charm? Well, when you consider issue 15 (February 1974) featured an actual, honest-to-Irving debut of a brand new character...a fella known as Iron Fist, I'd say, yeah, third time was the charm. Created by the Warlock team of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane as a combination homage to Bill Everett's Golden Age hero, Amazing Man/jump on the kung-fu craze bandwagon, the saga of Danny Rand proved quite popular. Though his popularity waned a bit as he passed through a variety of creative hands (Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Larry Hama, and Arvell Jones to name a few), magic happened when two young mavericks by the names of Chris Claremont and John Byrne teamed up to produce Marvel Premiere #25 (July 1975). They clicked with each other and with fandom, carrying Iron Fist to his own mag which ran 15 issues, then combined with Power Man for a run that would last far into the 1980s under a variety of creative teams. Claremont and Byrne? They moved on to some comicbook about a bunch'a mutants...

After that, Marvel Premiere spent most of the rest of its run as the Showcase-style mag it was originally intended to be. There was some good stuff mixed among the clinkers, clunkers, and catastrophes. For every Hercules and Torpedo we got a Woodgod, Monark Starstalker,  Ant-Man, or Alice Cooper. Remember any of these?

The Groovy Age of Marvel Premiere ended with a bang (Caleb Hammer) and a whimper (Wonder Man)...

...then segued into the 1980s with Dominic Fortune, a short run of Dr. Who reprints, and finally, Star-Lord. And yeah, NONE of those were actual debuts, either.