Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Black and White Wednesay: "A Picture of Dorian Gray" by Wilde, Heweston and Cesar

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! One of Ol' Groove's all-time favorite horror stories is Oscar Wilde's A Picture of Dorian Gray. Teen Groove read it in high-school and was totally wowed by the concept and Wilde's writing. Archaic Al Hewetson and Cesar Lopez Vera did a fine job of adapting the classic tale in Scream #5 (February 1974). Hope you dig it, too!









Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Decent Comics: "Black Orchid" by Mayer and DeZuniga

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna take a loving look back at one of the most mysterious super-heroines ever--Black Orchid! With the powers of flight, super-strength, and invulnerability topped off with her skills as a master of disguise, Black Orchid's short-lived run as headliner in Adventure Comics (issues 428-430, April-August 1973) left us all scratching our heads wondering who she really was. Co-creators Sheldon Mayer and Tony DeZuniga seemed to enjoy leading us astray as to her true identity--and it was kinda fun--but they never told us who Black Orchid really was. Later, our mysterious heroine got a series of back-up stories in Phantom Stranger (issues 31-32, 35-36, and 38-41) with different creators taking turns teasing us about her true identity. It wouldn't be until 1988 that Black Orchid's origin and identity would be revealed--but that's a whole nuther story. Right now let's dig on Black Orchid's debut (but NOT her origin, no matter what that cover says)!
Cover art by Bob Oksner

















Monday, February 26, 2018

Marvel-ous Monday: "Five to One, Deathlok...One In Five..." by Rich Buckler

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here we are with another Deathlok masterpiece--this one has creator Rich Buckler unleashed, baby, doing plot, pencils, script, and inks! No one did comics like Buckler! Everything in Deathlok was so fresh and daring--studded with cinematic storytelling and bone crushing action...oh, and a page with TWENTY-ONE PANELS! All this angst, adventure, drama, and sci-fi crammed into one story--they just don't make 'em like this any more! From Astonishing Tales #28 (November 1975), here's "Five to One, Deathlok...One In Five..."















Friday, February 23, 2018

Making a Splash: John Byrne's Groovy Age FF

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! We all know that in the 1980s, John Byne rocked the Fantastic Four (issues 232-293). Did'ja know that he drew several issues during the Groovy Age? Even wrote a couple! It's true (Issues 209-218, 220-221, May 1979-February 1980; March-April 1980)! Byrne joined writer Marv Wolfman as layout artist with FF mainstay Joe Sinnott finishing the pencils and inking (except for a fill-in by Pablo Marcos). Byrne helped Wolfman finish a pretty cool storyline featuring Galactus, the Nova Corps, and Nova's arch-foe The Sphinx--oh, and the comicbook debut of H.E.R.B.I.E.) then went on to do a few more storylines before writing and laying out issues 220-221. Although Sinnott's slick inks kept the FF looking consistently Marvel-ous, you could see Byrne's style come shining through, especially in the layouts and storytelling. Fun stuff that only gave us a glimpse of the glory that was to come in the 80s! Take a peek!












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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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!