If You Blinked, You Missed: The Teen Titans Revival

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! In 1976 (August, to be exact) DC brought back the Teen Titans after a four year hiatus. Bob Rozakis was the writer of this revival (Paul Levitz assisted on the first ish), and his idea was to expand the "Junior Justice League" into a larger, more varied team of young heroes. He messed around with non-powered  Mal Duncan, trying to find him a super-identity; added new (and old) team-members like Lilith, Beast Boy, Hawk and Dove, Golden Eagle, Harlequin, Bumblebee, and the original Batgirl. He tried to add some "Marvel-style" characterization and sub-plots, but the mag never set the world on fire (having a different artist almost every ish didn't help), ending with ish 53 (November 1978). It did point the way to what the TT's could be, but it would take three more years and the team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez to make that happen. Meantime, here's the comeback ish, #44, with art by Pablo Marcos and Bob Smith..."The Man Who Toppled the Titans"!

Groove's Faves: "The Cloud with the Lethal Lining!" by Bates, Netzer, and Colletta

How cool is this, Groove-ophiles! A short Flash shocker penciled by Michael Netzer (then Mike Nasser) and inked by Vinnie Colletta! Of course, this forgotten classic from Adventure Comics #466 (August, 1979) was written by regular Flash author Cary Bates and features one of Flash's top rogues, The Weather Wizard. Check out "The Cloud with the Lethal Lining!"

Bring On the Back-ups: "Let There Be...Darkness!" by O'Neil and Grell

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Can ya believe it? Today is six years since Ol' Groove started blabbin' on this here blog! Six years of cool comics, terrific trivia, and rancid ramblings, all made possible by you! Yeah, I'm blamin' you, Groove-ophiles! If it weren't for your enthusiasm and support, Yers Trooly would'a quit this bloggy thing (apologies to Tony Isabella) bleems ago! But no! You keep encouraging me, so I keep on truckin'! Really, all kiddin' aside, Ol' Groove humbly thanks ya from the bottom of his tie-dyed heart!

Since the Diversions started with a Mike Grell-centric post, Ol' Groove thought it only fitting that we celebrate the occasion with a Mike Grell-illoed masterpiece. Whaddya think? This particularly superb sci-fi short, "Let There Be...Darkness!", was written by Denny O'Neil and inked by Bill Draut. It first appeared in the back of The Flash #237 (August 1975), during the time when O'Neil and Grell were working toward bringing Green Lantern back to greatness (and back into his own title). Their cosmic style clicked with both fandom and editorial, so about a year after this tale was published, GL would, indeed, get his own mag back under Denny and Iron Mike. Don't ya love happy endings?

Ol' Groove's Request Line: "Who Stole My Super-Powers?" by Shooter, Swan, and Roussos

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! A short while back, Groove-ophile Dave B. sent Ol' Groove an e-mail that read thusly:

"I know sometimes you take requests, so maybe I'll get lucky if I hit you with the right pitch. One of the funnest comics I ever read as a kid was SUPERMAN # 220, a sort-of team-up with the Flash titled, "Who Stole My Super Powers?" For my money it was the last great story Mort Weisinger ever edited. Even though it doesn't have Murphy Anderson on the inks (George Roussos inked Curt Swan, and he was just so-so on the Master's pencils), the story itself is wall-to-wall fun, with humor, mystery, suspense, the whole nine yards of grooviness.

"And here's the thing: I no longer have that comic and I can't find the durn thing anywhere! It was never reprinted except it one of those digests that are even harder to find than the original. So you'd be doing a public service good deed by making that comic available to the masses."

Answering requests for true-blue Groove-ophiles, bringing back fond comicbook memories, public service good deeds--yeah, that's what Ol' Groove's all about! So here ya go, Dave! Written by a young Jim Shooter (one of the last assignments of his first tenure at DC), from August 1969 here is..."Who Stole My Super-Powers?"

Cover art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson

And all of Groove-dom thaks ya, Dave!