Marvel-ous Monday: "Nighthawk's Brain!" by Gerber, S. Buscema, and Mooney

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! A mere 10 issues after their introduction (Defenders #31, October 1975), Steve Gerber finally went all out to unleash the horrible Headmen upon the dynamic Defenders! The weird factor ramps up to 150 (on a scale from 1 to 10) as Nighthawk is "possessed" by the mystic headman Chondu (who again uses drugs to enhance his mystical power!), Hulk "adopts" a baby deer, a certain Elf With a Gun makes an appearance, and Dr. Strange unleashes his full power...with dire results. Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney are a perfect art team for "grounding" the way-out proceedings of "Nighthawk's Brain!"

Cover art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Marvel-ous Monday: "Enter: The Headmen!" by Gerber, S. Buscema, and Trapini

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Yeah, Ol' Groove knows that he wasn't fooling anyone with last Monday's post, but it was fun to write. Here, today, is the comic you knew was coming...the comic in which Steve Gerber really started to make the Defenders his own...Defenders #21 (December 1974) and "Enter: The Headmen!" This weirdo trio of baddies made life pretty rough on our favorite non-team for quite some time...and it all started right here (with art by Sals Buscema and Trapini)!

Cover art by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson

Black and White Wednesday: Frank Brunner's Mind Blowing Original Art

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Believe it or not, Ol' Groove has been to only one (!) comicbook convention in my life (that's what I get for living out in the boonies--literally, Daniel Boone Memorial Park is just out the road...), and that was last September's Cincinnati Comic Book Expo. I didn't get Stan Lee's autograph (but I did manage to snap a blurry pic before security tried to nab my phone), but I did get to meet Neal Adams and get him to autograph my copies of Avengers 93 and Batman 232. My favorite moment, though, was just walking up to Frank Brunner who was sitting alone at his table drawing away. I asked him if I could shake his hand and thanked him for all the cool comics he'd drawn that I loved so much, especially Dr. Strange. I got to tell him that the work he and Steve Englehart did on Doc "Totally blew my nine-year-old mind!" Then the real moment came: as soon as I said that, Frank's eyes slowly widened as what I'd said sank in. He replied, "You were reading that stuff when you were NINE?" "Well," said I, "I didn't say I understood it!" We had a great laugh and it was a cool moment. So when Ol' Groove set his thinking cap for something cool this Wednesday, that conversation and Brunner's kaptivating and kosmik art came swiftly to mind. Here are some exquisite examples yers trooly managed to steal--er--scavenge from the InterWebs...

From the fanzine days...

Inks by Ernie Chan

Inks by Dick Giordano

Inks by Dick Giordano

Inks by Dick Giordano

The owner of the original art peeled off the blurb to see what was underneath...

Marvel-ous Monday: "The Hottest Slot In Town!" by Gerber, Skrenes, and Mooney

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here we are with the final ish of Steve Gerber, Mary Skrenes, and Jim Mooney's Omega the Unknown. What an ending! Talk about a cliffhanger! Oh, how Ol' Groove wishes that, even if Omega wouldn't have continued, that Gerber and Skrenes could have actually finished the story in the Defenders as they'd envisioned it. Marvel has made some baaad moves, and that was one of the worst. Still, this ish still has some interesting stuff (besides that ending): Omega in glasses (but still wearing his headband--a dig at Clark Kent?); getting rich in Las Vegas; Nedley's funeral; a seemingly random monster just popping up out of nowhere; and Defenders' foe Ruby Thursday. (A hint of what could have come? We'll never know.) Let's travel back to June 1977 for..."The Hottest Slot In Town!"

Cover art by Dave Cockrum and Pablo Marcos

(Note to Groove-ophile keythd23: Your long nightmare is over! No more Omega! ;D)