Byrne-ing to Read: "The Inner War!" by Gruenwald, Macchio, Byrne, and Sinnott

This is it, Groove-ophiles! The Pegasus Project officially begins here with "The Inner War!" from Marvel Two-In-One #53 (April 1979)! Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Byrne, and Joe Sinnott get it all together here--and when Ol' Groove says "get it all together", he means it! The Thing, Quasar, Thundra, Deathlok, Wundarr, and intrigue galore--and there's lots more to come! Why do we still talk about Project Pegasus over thirty years after it was published? 'Cause it's everything a Marvel story should be! Fantastic storyline and concepts, incredible art, and amazing guest-stars! If you've never experienced Project Pegasus, you're in for a treat!

Making a Splash: George Perez and Gene Day Two-In-One

The pencils of George Perez and the inks of Gene Day went together like peanut butter and jelly, man! Just dig these sensational splashes from their issues Marvel Two-In-One (56-58, 60, 64-65). They are dy-no-mite!

Happy Birthday, Sal Buscema!

Today is Sal Buscema's birthday, Groove-ophiles! You all know how much Ol' Groove loves the art of Our Pal Sal, so any excuse (like I need one) to show off his titanic talent is gonna be pounced on. How can you not love a guy who can turn out art like this terrific Tarzan page (from Marvel Comics' Tarzan #27)?
Sal can draw anyone and anything! If Marvel needed Thundra, Tigra, and the Impossible Man to rescue the Invisible Girl (in Fantastic Four #183), Sal could draw it!
Thor laying the smack-down on the Frankenstein Monster (Avengers #132)? Sal's your man!
Ghost Rider meeting the Three Wise man (Marvel Two-In-One #8)? Sal could bring it home, baby!

Here's wishing the best of b-days to the dude who put the "oo" in "groovy"!

Saturday Super-Smack Down: the Thing vs the Hulk

Welcome back, fight fans! What we have here today is one of the wildest Thing/Hulk battles of all! From Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 (February, 1974), here's Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, and Joe Sinnott's titanic twist on the monolithic Marvel match-up!

First, let's set the stage... The Hulk is back in New York! Reverting to his true self, Bruce Banner, he heads for the Baxter Building, hoping Reed Richards is there and can help him come up with a cure for his hulking-out. Reed's gone, but bashful Benjamin Grimm, aka the Thing, is there. Over coffee, they discuss Reed's attempts at curing the Thing, when Ben mentions a contraption called a "psi-amplifier"...


Banner makes some alterations on Reed's invention, hoping it will cure both himself and Ben. They hook up to the contraption...

...and of course, things just can't go as planned!
In fact, this time, things go wonkier than usual as Ben learns...

All of which leads a confused, and always agitated, Hulk--who's now in the Thing's body mind you--to attack his own Ben Grimm-inhabited bod!
No need for a bell, fans! This fight is on!!
Meanwhile, the Femizon known as Thundra (who's got the hots for the Thing at this time) stumbles across the battling behemoths. She wants to help the Thing, not realizing he's now the Hulk (getting confused yet?) and takes a clobber to the kisser for her troubles!
And the battle continues! Oh, baby! We've got a real slobber-knocker going here, fans!!
It looks like the Hulk-Thing (Banner) has the Thing-Hulk (Grimm) on the ropes, but then--
The fight moves underground to the subway, where a furious Thundra catches back up with our buffed-up brawlers...
Thundra, the Hulk-Thing, and the Thing-Hulk avoid getting run over by the subway train and fight their way to the surface where they find themselves literally replacing a main event boxing match! And that's where Ben's buddies in the F.F. finally catch up to them...
As Reed watches the two man-monsters duke it out, he figures out the sitch, concocts a cure right there at ringside, and...
..it works! As the Hulk reverts to Banner, his mind returns to his own bod, as does the Thing's. But wait! The fight's not over yet!
And here's your winnah... It's THUNDRA by a "BAPO"!!

See ya next time, fight fans!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Fury of the Femizons"

Ah, yes, Stan Lee and John Romita's Femizons. Nope, they didn't appear in a comic that came out in December (they originally appeared in the legendary Savage Tales #1 in the spring of 1971). There's definitely no Christmas theme to the story (except love and sacrifice...hmmm...). Nope, the reason Ol' Groove is layin' these barbaric beauties on ya is to create sort of a tribute to those great Christmases when Young Groove would get one of Stan Lee's "Origins" books stuffed in his stocking. Christmas 1975, it was Origins of Marvel Comics and Son of Origins of Marvel Comics. Christmas 1976 it was Bring On the Bad Guys. The last one, today's focus, was The Superhero Women, which I got for Christmas 1977. Loved, loved, loved those books. They were my gateway to the Marvel Age of Comics, Stan Lee style (Stan was easing back when yours truly got heavily into comics in 1971). I'll cover those titanic tomes before the month is out, never you fear, Groove-ophile!

Anyway, convoluted reasoning aside, I've just been looking for an excuse to unleash this little gem upon ya's. It's Stan at his "relevant" best, mixing sci-fi with a heavy message. Jazzy John Romita really cuts loose on this strip, as well. His costume designs, as well as his mixing medias like wash and charcoal, represent the most daring and original work he's ever produced, imho.

Here's how the strip came about, according to Stan from The Superhero Women, pages 195-196:

"The Femizons first appeared in Savage Tales #1, in the May '71 issue. I might add that that's when they last appeared, also; since we never did a follow-up story. You see, John (Ring-a-Ding) Romita and I were really bustin' to do a story for the first issue of an entirely new type of publication for us. For the first time, were were planning to do a comic book mag for somewhat older readers. Not an underground publication--not a so-called "adult" magazine--but rather, a selection of stories, done in black-and-white, slanted for the more mature science-fiction and adventure reader.

"Jazzy Johnny and I knew neither of us would have the time to do a sequel story after we finished the first one, but at least we'd have gotten this particular yarn out of our systems. We had been planning to do a strip about a band of warrior women for years; a strip that would take place in the future, when--owing to the ration of man/woman deaths, and the fact that the female population is increasing at a disproportionate rate of growth--women would be the dominant sex, and men would be cast in the subjective role that females had occupied for so many centuries."

It wasn't long, however, until Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway found a way to tie the Femizons into the Marvel Universe with the creation of Thundra in the Fantastic Four #129. But that's another story, man. Let's get to the Femizons!