Showing newest posts with label comic books. Show older posts
Showing newest posts with label comic books. Show older posts

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Sunday Funnies: The Flintstones

Back in the Groovy Age, every kid watched the Flintstones. We loved Fred, Barney and the gang. We loved 'em so much that the Flintstones actually ran under three different publishers back then! They started at Gold Key, flourished at Charlton, and finished out the decade at Marvel.

I hope you dig this sampling of Charlton's version of our favorite stone age family from the Flintstones and Pebbles #31 (May, 1974). Yabba-dabba-doo!

(Click to enlarge 'em, ya bonehead!)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Weird Adventure Comics: The Spectre

Good eeeee-vening, Groovesters! Ol' Groove is proud to participate in the Halloween Countdown, 2008, with the cool folks at Jon's Random Acts of Geekery, Wonderful Wonderblog, and all the other creature connoisseurs around the Internet! I'm shooting for a whole month of monster madness. Can the Groovy One pull it off? Betcha a bowl of Booberry Cereal I can!

I'm gonna start off with the ghost with the most, the Spirit of Vengeance, himself, the Spectre, as presented in Adventure Comics (issues 431-440). The Spectre was a Golden Age super-hero brought back during the Groovy Age, written by Michael Fleisher (with help from Russell Carley),drawn by Jim Aparo (with occasional help from stalwarts such as Ernie Chua/Chan and Frank Thorne), and edited by Joe Orlando (former EC superstar, editor of most of DC's horror/mystery titles). Legend has it that Orlando, who had recently inherited the editorial reins of Adventure Comics and was searching for the proper lead feature (Adventurer's Club and the Black Orchid hadn't worked out) was mugged. The mugging supposedly angered the (usually) mild-mannered editor so much that he was inspired to bring back the Spectre as an anti-heroic ghoul who wreaked sadistic vengeance on evildoers. Some say that story is all jive, but it sounds pretty cool, huh?

The indisputable facts are that Orlando hired newcomer Fleisher, who had been hanging out at the DC offices doing research for the superhero encyclopedias he was working on, and veteran Jim Aparo as the Spectre's creative team. I don't know if anyone knew what to expect when Adventure Comics #431 appeared on the stands back in late 1973, but it sure got comicdom's attention! Fleisher gave the Spectre, and his human host/alter-ego Jim Corrigan a Marvel-like cast complete with Marvel-style subplots, and the ever-present Marvel-style impossible romance (a dead guy can't have a real girlfriend, can he?). He also did some things fans like me had never seen (and older fans hadn't seen since the Golden Age). Y'see, the Spectre killed the bad guys. He didn't just kill 'em, he executed 'em. He didn't just execute 'em, he mutilated 'em. What I'm trying to say is...you don't mess with the Spectre. He made Wolverine and the Punisher (both of whom he pre-dated) look like wimps. Freddy and Jason? Pikers. Don't believe me? Ooookey dokey...

Adventure #431: Why just melt the rifle, when you can melt the bad guy, too?


Adventure #432: The Spectre shows the evil hairdresser (s'truth, I swear!) what a cut-up he is.


Adventure #434: The Spectre proves the crazed mannequin maker is a real dummy.


Adventure #435: The Spectre proves to be a real cut-up.


Adventure #436: The Spectre turns the table and serves the squid some sushi.


Adventure #439: The Ssssspectre turnsssss a group of kidnapperssssss' own massssscot againssssst them.


Adventure #440: Ducky McLaren and his gang have murdered the Spectre's alter-ego, Jim Corrigan. As retribution, the Spectre feeds Ducky to his good luck rubber ducky, then sends the rest of McLaren's gang on a trip that is truly out of this world.
Pretty gruesome stuff, huh? Remember this was the time when the movies were giving us anti-heroes like Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry and Charles' Bronson's Paul (Death Wish) Kersey. Cops who take matters into their own hands was hot. Orlando's genius was to combine that tough cop genre with superheroes and horror to create something new and sensational. By giving us villains who were truly heartless and evil--true monsters in every sense--Orlando and company had us cheering for the Spectre, sitting on the edge of our seats to see what kind of punishment he would inflict upon each villain.

A lot of folks (fans and pros) were shaken up by the Spectre's grisly deeds, and the big question on everyone's mind was, "How is this stuff getting past the Comics Code Authority?" Well, all you have to do is take a look at how tastefully Jim Aparo handled the Spectre's brand of justice. Obviously from the Alfred Hitchock "your-imagination-sees-something-worse-than-I-can-show-you" school of art, Aparo kept the really gruesome stuff off panel--or at least hidden by the Spectre's flowing cape.

Sadly, as quickly as he'd returned, the Spectre was gone again. In fact, the decision was so speedily made to dump him from Adventure that there were a couple stories left unpublished. Those stories eventually saw the light of day in the Wrath of the Spectre mini-series back in the 80s. The whole series is now available as a a trade paperback. Check it out and let the chills and thrills begin!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Famous First Fridays: Wolverine

While the Groovy Age gave birth to many popular characters, you'd be hard-pressed to find one more popular than that midget-misfit mutant, Wolverine. Created by Len Wein (who also gave us the Swamp Thing and the All-New, All-Different X-Men) and John (Ring-a-Ding) Romita, Wolverine first appeared as "The Wolverine" on the last page of the Incredible Hulk #180 (August, 1974). The claws, cool, and cockiness we came to know and love were all there in that pulse-pounding panel. We knew Wolvie was destined for greatness from the get-go! He was far-freakin'-out, baby!

The first full-length appearance of the mutant we'd come to call Logan was in Incredible Hulk #181 (September, 1974, written by Wein with art by Herb Trimpe). Wolvie, that 5 foot 3 inch (or one, or two, or four or five, depending on who's writing the Who's Who entry) bundle of berserker rage took it to old Jade Jaws (and villain the Wendigo) like nobody's business.

According to various interviews, Wein created Wolverine at the behest of then-editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. Wein says that Thomas wanted to see how Wein could handle a character with a Canadian accent. They then decided that the new hero should be based on an animal, since animal-based heroes usually sold well. Since wolverines were dangerous creatures who would fight other animals no matter what their size, Thomas and Wein figured a wolverine would make a perfect antagonist to take on the gigantic Hulk.

Thomas approved Wein's proposal, Romita began working on Wolverine's costume, and Wein started coming up with Wolvie's back-story. Wein had many cool ideas in mind for Wolverine like, yes, he was a mutant, but he was to have been a wolverine mutated to human form by the High Evolutionary. His powers were his healing factor, heightened senses, and berserker fighting fury. The claws were originally conceived as being part of the gloves, not part of Wolvie. They simply telescoped in and out of the casings on the back of Logan's gloves. (The "...yer claws are a part of ye, laddie", along with the adamantium skeleton scenes were long-time X-Men writer Chris Claremont's flourishes added later.) Finally, Wein created Wolverine as a teen super-hero so he'd fit into the new X-Men line-up. It wasn't until All-New, All-Different X-Men artist/co-creator Dave Cockrum drew Wolverine with his mask off (X-Men Vol. 1, #98), that we learned Logan, as he was being called by that time, was actually much older than his peers at Xavier's.

All-in-all, Wein and Romita created a sensation, whose history, personality, and coolness factor was built upon by other great creators like Claremont, Cockrum, and John Byrne. Thanks, dudes!

Oh, in case you're wondering how Wolverine's tussle with Jade-Jaws panned out, here's the splash from his third appearance (his final appearance before the legendary Giant-Size X-Men #1, btw) in Incredible Hulk #182:

That was the last time you'd see Wolvie playing the good soldier, man! Next time he was given orders it was cuttin' ties--literally and symbolically!

Right on, Wolvie!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Costume Ch-Ch-Changes Part 1: Groovy New Looks for Marvel's Finest

Nowadays, costume changes are a dime a dozen. Everyone does it, even superheroes who don't need to (Spidey, Cap, I'm looking at you!). Back in the Groovy Age, costume changes were big deals and didn't happen too terribly often (unless you were a Pym). Ol' Groove has done some diggin' to come up with some cool costume changes I hope you'll dig! Dig?

I had to lay down some ground rules so I wouldn't overload the whole Internet and make it implode. First of all, the costumes I share had to be worn for a few issues; one-shots, flashbacks, and civvies don't count. Second, I tried to find pics from the Groovy Age, or at least drawn by certified Groovy Age artists. And finally, I just picked the ones I really, really liked or hated. Don't wanna bore anybody. Got it? Okay, then, let's boogie!

First up, is Dr. Strange who tried to change his image by adding a mask, gloves, and boots. Maybe folks were looking at him sideways for wearing that skirt so he tried the macho superhero look. Didn't last for some reason...

Next is Young Groove's favorite Merry Mutant, the X-Men's very own Warren Worthington III, the Avenging Angel. Naturally, WWIII (hey, Stan, did you...?) started out his comicbook career wearing his own tailor-made X-Men uniform.

Eventually, Professor X's students graduated into their own individualized uniforms (X-Men #39). Jean Grey took credit for designing them, but I think Dashin' Don Heck might've lent a hand... (But Jaunty Jim Steranko made it look extra cool on the cover of X-Men #49)










In X-Men #62, artists Neal Adams and Tom Palmer created the Angel's most fab and longest-lasting outfit (seen here in this Dave Cockrum panel from X-Men #100):








When Warren helped start up the Champions, he was saddled with these hideous threads:

Dunno who to blame for that one (John Romita? Don Heck?)

By Champions #8, Marvel had come to its senses and put Angel back in his Neal Adams designed costume, but changed the black and white color scheme to red and gold so our winged mutant wouldn't get lost in the crowd of leather worn by Ghost Rider, Black Widow, and Black Goliath.

Whew. Glad I'm just covering the Groovy Age, 'cause WWIII has had lots more costumes. He must be having a contest with the Wasp!


From a hero with wings on his back, we're gonna switch to a hero with wings on his feet. Yeah, the Sub-Mariner changed from his green swimming trunks to a snazzy black ensemble in his sixty-seventh issue.


Mystical doctors, rich mutants and undersea monarchs weren't the only ones who needed a change of threads during the Groovy Age. Kree captains, one Captain Marvel, f'rinstance, decided green just wasn't his color and changed to the tried and true blue and red (courtesy the far-out Gil Kane) in CM #17 (the actual change took place at the end of #16, just to level with ya).


Even Russian-spies-turned-superheroines like the Black Widow got off on changing their threads in Spider-Man #86):










The Widow's sometimes beau, Hawkeye (or should we call him her "bow"? Ugh, Ol' Groove's puns are reeeeeally bad, aren't they?) traded his classic carny threads for some bodaciously ugly ones when he returned from the Kree/Skrull War in Avengers #98. That's him trying to hide behind Thor on the cover of Avengers #100.



Hawkeye was a good pal of Captain America who had a partner that started off with a hideous costume but wound up with one of the cooler Marvel Superhero uniforms. Yep, Sam Wilson, the high-flying Falcon went from fashion don't to fashion do in Captain American and the Falcon #144 (the supremely cool wings were added in ish #171).

Whew! Ol' Groove is worn out, Groovesters! I'll stop here, but be back next week when I tackle the costume ch-ch-changes some of DC's characters underwent during the Groovy Age!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Topps and Marvel Stick(er) Together: The 1975/76 Marvel Super Hero Sticker Sets

Back in 1975/76, Topps, the premiere bubble-gum card company of the Groovy Age (dare I say, of all time?), put out two sets of comic book stickers. Each set had about 40 stickers and 9 checklist cards (the backs of the cards formed a puzzle). Nearly every character Marvel published at the time got to pop off at least one corny one-liner. Some character choices were obvious like Spidey, Captain America, the Hulk, Daredevil, and the FF, while some were really weird like Conan, Deathlok, Killraven, Frankenstein, Howard the Duck, Master of Kung Fu, and...Son of Satan?!? A few characters who had more than one super-identity appeared in each guise, like Clint Barton aka Hawkeye and Goliath. It was a fun way to spend those extra dimes (yep, they were ten cents a pack!), and you could spend hours trading, wheeling, and dealing with your friends. Young Groove had 'em all (I still have the Conan puzzle)! Check 'em out, Groovesters!

(Click 'em to super-size 'em!)

The 1975 set was just called "Comic Book Heroes Stickers"; it wasn't until 1976 that the mighty Marvel brand got its name on the pack as "Marvel Super Hero Stickers". Can you dig it?



Here's the Conan puzzle the backs of the second set's checklist cards made:

Far-out, huh? And 'cause Ol' Groove is so big hearted, here are a few from the 76 set to drool over:



Hope you really dug sticking around (ugh!) the Diversions HQ today! Peace!

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Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.

All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!