Groove's Christmas Faves: "The TT's Swingin' Christmas Carol!" by Haney and Cardy and "The Silent Night of the Batman" by M. Friedrich, Adams, and Giordano

Meeeeeerrrrrrrry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove warmly wishes you the very best of the season! Here's hoping your day is merry and bright, filled with friends, family, and laughter. If it isn't, dive into Christmas in Groove City and share in our Christmas cheer--we have plenty and plenty to spare!

Today we're gonna unwrap two of the most lauded and applauded comicbook Christmas tales to ever be found between four color covers, "The TT's Swingin' Christmas Carol" and "The Silent Night of the Batman". Both these festive features can be found on many a "best of" list year in and year out, and deservedly so! But hey, you don't want someone telling you all about your presents before you unwrap 'em, do ya? Then get to tearin' that paper, baby!

From Teen Titans Vol. 1, #13 (November 1967), here come Bob Haney and Nick Cardy with "The TT's Swingin' Christmas Carol!" (The Charles Dickens you say!)

And here's the real Batman--the one with the really boss baritone singing voice--care-free and caroling on "The Silent Night of the Batman" by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams, and Dick Giordano from Batman Vol. 1, #219 (December 1969)!

Peace on earth and good will to all! Merry Christmas from Groove City, baby!!

Making a Splash: Neal Adams' Spectre

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove knows how we are. When we think of Groovy Age Neal Adams at DC, we think Batman and Deadman. When we think The Spectre, we think (Golden Age) Bernard Baily or (Groovy Age) Jim Aparo. But what about that oh-so-short time (issues 2-5, November 1967-May 1968) Nefarious Neal drew The Spectre? Anyone who picked those mags up definitely had their minds blown, baby! The following Spectre-acular splashes simply smash any spooky, spectral images that had come sooner...see?

Can you dig it?

Secret Origins: Two-Fer! Drax the Destroyer and Gamora--the Green Guardians of the Galaxy

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna catch the slightest glimpse of how Drax the Destroyer and Gamora, The Deadliest Woman in the Whole Galaxy came to be! Yep, the jade-hued (but not related--except by their creator, Jim Starlin) foes-turned-allies of the Guardians of the Galaxy* both got their starts during the Groovy Age at the hands of Judo Jim Starlin!

Drax the Destroyer made his debut in Iron Man #55 (November 1972). Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin introduced and gave us Drax's origin in that fateful ish, but you've seen that one all over the Internet. Here's Drax's origin retold  from Captain Marvel #32 (February 1974), complete with an awesome (if one-sided) battle with the reason for Drax's existence...Thanos!

You'll note the Groovy Age origin bears little resemblance to the movie version--but 'tis 'nuff, t'will serve.

Gamora made her debut in Strange Tales #180 (March 1975). It's in that ish she meets Warlock's sidekick Pip the Troll, and we learn that she's out to assassinate Warlock...

In the next issue (ST #181, May 1975) we learn why she thinks she's up to the task of killing Warlock...

But it's not until the ish after Warlock moves back into his own mag that we get Gamora's short-but-sweet origin (Warlock #10, September 1975)...

Very much in common with the movie version--just without the Warlock stuff. Here's hoping Marvel's Movie Universe will soon include Adam Warlock and our Kree Captain Marvel! Without 'em, we'd have fewer greens in our Guardians!

(*Yeah, Ol' Groove's doing another Guardians of the Galaxy post 'cause I really dug the movie! It's tons o'fun and the sound track rules, baby!!)

Groove's Faves: "Ant-Man No More!" by Friedrich and Russell

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Today we're wrapping up Mike Friedrich's nearly-forgotten Ant-Man series from Marvel Feature. As a kid, this was one of my fave series, and I have to say, despite the silly villain, I dig this finale from Marvel Feature #10 (April 1973). My reasons? 1) P. Craig Russell is coming into his own as an artist. Frank Chiarmonte's usually heavy inks don't hide Russell's rapidly-growing style. 2) A super-villain who lives in a trailer. (As I've said before, Friedrich was great at giving us weird/ironic twists a la Steve Gerber before Gerber started in that direction, himself!) 3) An Avengers cameo! 4) And that final page, in which Friedrich and Russell totally and charmingly capture Hank and Jan's relationship--plus the reveal of how/why Hank was narrating this whole series in such a, as Jan puts it, "poetic" way. Check it out, baby...

Cover art by P. Craig Russell and Dan Adkins w/Frank Giacoia