Black and White Wednesday: "Time Eater" by Butterworth and Neary

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Before super-star inker Paul Neary became partner-in-comix to super-star pencilers like Alan Davis and Brian Hitch, he was a pretty far-out penciler in his own right. His work for Warren's b&w mags was always top-notch, as the following piece, "Time Eater", written by Warren regular Jack Butterworth, proves. This was a heavy dose of sci-fi, baby, popular enough to be reprinted in summer 1979's Galactic War Comix number one-and-only (reprinted from Creepy #73).

Ol' Groove's Request Line: "Where Broods the Demon!" by Effinger and Mayerik

Okay, Groove-ophiles! When you speak, Ol' Groove listens. Might take me a while to follow through, but I listen! You've been demanding more Thongor (whom I previously posted on here)--specifically Creature on the Loose #23's (February 1973) "Where Broods the Demon!" (thanks and you're welcome, Matthew H. Camp!) based on Thongor creator's "Thieves of Zingabal". Where, here it is in all its George Alec Effinger written, Val Mayerik penciled, and Vinnie Colletta inked glory! This savage story has it all! It's got evil wizards, minor demons, major demons (Aqquoonkagua--wotta name!), and even the "no, no" word "flicker"! Dig it, baby!

Bring on the Back-ups: "The Ghost with Two Faces!" by Kanigher, Buckler, and Giordano

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna focus on DC's greatest schitzoid super-heroine, Rose and Thorn. Young Groove was never a big fan of the Lois Lane mag (don't really think I was the target-audience, to tell the truth), but man, did I ever go ape for those Rose and Thorn back-ups! Thorn was where it's at, baby! Beautiful, mysterious, and did she ever have a hip costume! One of the best of her awesome adventures was Lois Lane #117's (October 1971) "The Ghost with Two Faces!" by co-creator Robert Kanigher, a young Rich Buckler (I do believe it's his first DC super-hero work), and the incredible Dick Giordano. What I really, really dig are Buckler's layouts here. The storytelling is awesome (love the way he splits panels to "slice moments"), and the fight scenes are outtasite! Methinks Frank Miller might've studied this story for some of Elektra's moves. Check it out!

Grooviest Covers of All Time: Gil Kane's Groovy Age Green Lantern

DC has this character you might've heard of called Green Lantern. Seems there's some buzz around him right now 'cause they're making a live-action flick about him or somethin'. People seem to think he's cool now! Well, Groove-ophiles, we've always known that GL was cool, and one'a the dudes who made him that was is none other than co-creator Gil Kane. Kane was always a master cover-artist, and the following cover-shots should leave zero questions about his coolness factor. Or GL's, either, for that matter.

Diggin' Ditko: "Class Reunion" by Gill and Ditko

What it is, Groove-ophiles! We all know that Sturdy Steve Ditko co-created Dr. Strange with Stan the Man back during the dawn of the Marvel Age. We also know that Ditko left the strip in 1966, leaving the Master of the Mystic arts behind for good. Thing is, fandom would have loved it if Ditko had ever returned to Dr. Strange, 'cause nobody could draw creepy-cool-cosmic-conjuring like him. Every once in a while, we got a taste of what might have been, like this tale of revenge (almost like a twisted version of Dr. Strange's origin, y'think?) from Ghostly Haunts #48 (November 1975) written by Joe Gill (under the nom de plume "Tom Tuna"). As for the theme for today's sorcerous shocker, look at it this way: the only thing that could ever be worse than high school itself would be a..."Class Reunion"!