The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The New Kids of 1968

50 years ago, Li'l Groove was actually too little to read comics, but I picked up a few here and there and grew to love them passionately. I had no idea of the changes that the comicbook industry was going through, mostly because Marvel got a new distributor and was going to be allowed to publish as many books as their publisher, Martin Goodman, saw fit. This also meant that DC was going to have to up their game so as not to lose rack space. Marvel's "split books" (books that featured two Marvel heroes) split into their own titles. Tales of Suspense begat Captain America and Iron Man. Tales to Astonish split into Incredible Hulk and Sub-Mariner. Strange Tales birthed Dr. Strange and S.H.I.E.L.D. The Silver Surfer got his own mag. Marvel even gave us some new heroes in 1968: Captain Marvel, debuting in Marvel Super-Heroes in 1967, got his own mag in 1968. Guardians of the Galaxy came to be, also in Marvel Super-Heroes. The Vision and Yellowjacket were introduced in The Avengers. Over at DC, Wonder Woman chucked her costume and powers to become a "mod" spy-type of heroine. Aquaman was taken over by the immortal S.A.G. creative team of Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Dick Giordano. But more than that, brand new concepts saw the light of day in DC's venerable Showcase mag (with a couple going straight to debuting in their own comics), and many of the best of them got their own (sadly usually short-lived) mags. The "new kids" of 1968 are the focus of today's cover-fest. Enjoy!

Avengers 2 Week! The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Groovy Age of Ultron

What's up, Groove-ophiles! Are ya excited about Avengers 2: Age of Ultron?  Weird as it seems, so is Ol' Groove! Yeah, I know I told ya I was gonna see the sneak preview on Thursday (and I hope I do/did), but ya'see, Groove City is a myriad of time-warps, as Ol' Groove writes these posts far in advance! So when you read this, it'll be the day I'm watching Avengers 2! But depending on what time of the day you read it, I might not have seen it yet! Oh, for Kang's sake, let's get to this short-but-oh-so-sweet pile o'Groovy Age covers featuring our favorite Oedipus-wired robot from The Avengers' first series (and an extra special Ultron-in-the-FF cover, to boot)!

Avengers 2 Week! Black and White Wednesday: "Vision, This Is Your Life!" and more by Klorese, Kraft, and friends

One of Teen Groove's all-time fave issues of FOOM Magazine was ish #12's spotlight on The Vision and Scarlet Witch. Yeah, Marvel's oddest Odd Couple was that popular back in the mid-70s. Roger Klorese, David Anthony Kraft, and others filled FOOM #12 with suh-weet historical articles plus interviews by the main Groovy Age Avengers writers Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart. Filled with art by many of Marvel's Finest, these articles captured all that was great about our Android Avenger and his Mutant Mrs. Dig it, Groove-ophiles!

Avengers 2 Week! The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Your Young Men Shall See Visions (...and Scarlet Witches and Quicksilvers)

We're back with day to of Avengers 2 Week, Groove-ophiles! The thing that has Ol' Groove most excited about the new Avengers flick is the fact that Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver are being introduced into the cinematic Avengers Universe! As I've said before, they were "my" Avengers (along with Black Panther and Hawkeye in his Goliath phase) when I got hooked on Marvel. I literally dreamed of the day when I could see these heroes on the big screen. Yeah, Ol' Groove is pretty giddy. Speaking of pretty, dig these commanding covers from the Groovy Age of Avengers featuring Vizh, Wanda, and Pietro (not to mention the greatest Marvel artists of all time)!