Making a Splash: Steve Ditko's NEW Captain Atom

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! As the Groovy Age dawned, Charlton's Captain Atom was going through some huge changes. A slight bit of de-powering. A new uniform. And even a new attitude (hipper, going for the Marvel crowd, it seemed). It wasn't enough to save his mag from cancellation, but it did make for some fun stories. Of course, Steve Ditko's art was downright supoib (usually inked by Rocke Mastroserio) as shown by this smattering of spectacular splashes (Captain Atom #84-89, November 1966-October 1967)...

Captain Atom #88

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Ditko Sees Supernatural Green

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! During the 1970s, Charlton Comics turned Steve Ditko loose on a veritable ton of their horror/mystery titles. Quite often, they'd let him loose on the covers, too! Sterling Steve, being the master of mystery and supernatural that he is, came up with covers that would make dimes veritably leap from a kid's hands. Too many to share in one post, so Ol' Groove has narrowed it down to 13 creepy covers...all featuring gruesome shades of green!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Dr. Graves Grooves

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Ya know, one place where Charlton Comics doesn't get the respect it deserves when we rap about their covers. During the Groovy Age, The Boys from Derby absolutely killed with many of their covers--especially their mystery/horror covers...especially when we're talkin' 'bout The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves! Ditko! Mastroserio! Aparo! Staton! Sutton! Byrne! Zeck! Larson! Boyette! Newton! Howard! Dig 'em, baby!

Christmas All Week 2015! "The Cosmic Quest for the Disc of Mars!" by Harris, Delbo, Heath, Ditko, Ayers, and Colletta

Merry Christmas Eve, Groove-ophiles! While you're waiting for Santa to sneak down your chimney (if ya have one--how does he get in for those of us without chimneys?), has Ol' Groove got a massive (I'm talkin' 'bout 64 ho-ho-honkin' pages plus a cover, baby) post for your dazzling day-before-Christmas! Y'see, back in Christmas 1977, DC gave Wonder Woman fans a most superior Christmas gift in the form of DC Special Series #9, aka Wonder Woman Spectacular 1978! With Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman TV series still on the air (the series had moved from WW II and ABC to 1977 and CBS in the Fall of 77, so WW Fever was still running wild (should I have saved that phrase for the Incredible Hulk?), therefore the powers-that-were saw fit to fan those flames of --er--fandom! So here we have a comic that came out in 1977, dated for 1978, set in the 1940s (and Earth-2, natch)...whew! It's a time warp, baby! Anyhoo, Wonder Woman Spectacular 1978 just goes to show that you don't need a year-long series with a hundred cross-overs to produce an epic story! With "The Cosmic Quest for the Disc of Mars!", Jack C. Harris, along with artists Jose Delbo, Russ Heath, Dick Ayers, Steve Ditko, and Vinnie Colletta gave us a monumental WW II  saga, complete with the gods of Olympus, and then tossed in a new Nazi bad-guy (The Red Panzer), a new "good-guy" (The Bombardier), and even Adolph Hitler! For one measly buck! (Oh, how I loved the Dollar Comic format, didn't you?) Snuggle up by the fireplace, but don't hit the egg-nog too hard, as you savor..."The Cosmic Quest for the Disc of Mars!"

Cover art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Dick Giordano

For those of you dying to know who-drew-what, according to Grand Comics Database: Jose Delbo drew pages 1-9, 15-17, 28-32, 35-37; Russ Heath penciled 10-14, 45, 60; Steve Ditko  drew (and inked) 18-23, 33-34, 43-44, 47; Dick Ayers penciled 24-27, 38-42, 46, 48, 49-59, 61-64; and Vinnie Colletta inked everything but the Ditko pages! Merry Christmas, baby!