Sunday Funnies: Sugar and Spike in "Zelda Rides Again!"

Ya seemed to dig Sheldon Mayer's treasured tykes, Groove-ophiles, so here's more Sugar and Spike as they meet up once more with Zelda, the not-so-livin'-doll, in "Zelda Rides Again!" from Sugar and Spike #96 (March 1971).

Saturday Super Smack-Down: The Thing vs. Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu

Salutations, slobber-knocker supporters! Today's bout is a wild one, beginning with yet another of those famed Marvel super-hero "I-thought-you-were-the-bad-guy-because-I've-never-seen-you-before" free for alls from Marvel Two-In-One #29 (April 1977), this one by Marv Wolfman and Ron Wilson. Picture this: Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu is taking a lonely walk through the streets of London, England; Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, idol o'millions is also strolling those same streets with his best gal, Alicia Masters on his way to visit a pal. When Ben and Alicia arrive at the friend's house, Alicia slips in something--which turns out to be blood--which, naturally makes her scream in horror. Shang Chi hears the scream and...


I didn't even hear the bell ring, did you?

But I bet bashful Benjy's hearin' 'em! Of course, kung fu isn't the best style of fighting when you're caught in a bear-hug that could crush a Chrysler...


THING-FU!


Uh oh, looks like the Idol O'Millions is flipping for Shang Chi...(Insert "groan" here.)


...so when all else fails, and if you've got super-strength, you can always throw furniture at your opponent.


Incoming!!


And the winnah isssss....ah, shucks, there ain't a winner, since Shang Chi has reasoned that he and the Thing shouldn't be fighting after all. This bout is "called" on account of intelligence.


(Side note, just 'cause--Shang's "inner narration" must've been popular with the Marvel Heroes, 'cause that's how just about all of their books are "narrated" today. Just sayin'...)

Famous First Fridays: Barry (Windsor) Smith's Marvel Comics Debut

One of the greatest artists to every grace the comicbook universe had one of the most humble beginnings of all. In the U.S. for only a short time, trying to get work in the comicbook industry, Barry (pre-Windsor) Smith finally got an assignment from Marvel's Roy Thomas--to draw X-Men (no adjectives, Wolverine, or spin-offs back then) #53 (November 1968). As the story goes, Barry had been kicked out of his hotel and was forced to draw the entire issue on whatever unoccupied New York park benches he could find. Barry's crude-yet-energetic Kirby-inspired art proved good enough to land him a few more gigs at Marvel (Daredevil issues 50-52, Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #12, some covers, and a handful of shorts in Marvel's mystery titles). In 1970, Thomas hired Smith to draw Conan, and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history. Let's take a look at a few choice pages from that premiere penciling job, shall we?

Oh, in case you're wondering... BWS did finally draw Wolverine. He came a long way, huh, baby?

Bring On the Back-ups: Hercules in "Welcome to the Hotel Macedonia"

While DC has a long tradition of running back-up features in their comic mags, over at Marvel during the Groovy Age, back-ups were quite rare. However, during Archie Goodwin's tenure as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, he gave several newcomers (and a few pros who hadn't yet worked for Marvel) a shot at creating six page featurettes that would run where needed (before this, when Marvel needed filler they usually ran a short from one of the pre-Marvel Atlas mystery/monster mags). The following short wound up in the back of an all-reprint issue of the tabloid sized Marvel Treasury Edition (#24, 1979) that starred the Incredible Hulk. (I guess all the regular sized comics were running on schedule by this time.) Anyway, there it was and here it is, a fun little short starring Hercules, Marvel's Prince of Power in a story by Mary Jo Duffy and Ricardo Villamonte called "Welcome to the Hotel Macedonia!" (Somebody'd been listening to the Eagles when they named that one, eh, Groove-ophile?)

Black and White Wednesday: The ORIGIN of Iron Fist

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Here's a combination Black and White Wednesday/Secret Origins post featuring one of the grooviest, most far-out of all Marvel heroes, none other than Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist! This version of IF's origin, from Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #10 (cover dated March 1975), combines both the Roy Thomas/Gil Kane and Len Wein/Larry Hama stories from Marvel Premiere #'s 15-16 (February-April 1974) into one handy, dandy story called "The Shaping of Vengeance". Written by Doug Moench with art by Don Perlin, this piece was to have been part of the sadly aborted Iron Fist magazine. And now, heeeeeeeere it is!

Making a Splash: Jim Steranko's S.H.I.E.L.D.

Can you believe this is post #300, baby? Time sho'nuff do fly! If you're a regular reader, then you know Ol' Groove digs the work of Jaunty Jim Steranko the most! Look up "far-out" in the dictionary and you'll see samples of his artwork next to it. So to make my 300th post extra-special, I thought I'd share a few Steranko splash pages with ya. Then I thought, why not share all of Jim Steranko's Nick Fury, Agent of Shield splash pages? Then I thought, why not toss in all the S.H.I.E.L.D. splash pages he did for Strange Tales? So I did! Why go to all of this trouble? 'Cause you-know-who loves ya, baby! Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!

Now, don't be surprised to find a truckload of full- and double-page Steranko splashes filling up another post one'a these fine days...