Black and White Wednesday: "Blackmark Triumphant!" by Goodwin and Kane

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! We're back with more of Gil Kane's masterpiece (scripted by Archie Goodwin, natch) Blackmark! Chapter 4, "Blackmark Triumphant!" (like all these Savage Sword of Conan-published Blackmark stories) was re-formatted from the paperback book format to the magazine-sized format (overseen, Ol' Groove s'poses, by editor Roy Thomas and Marvel's art department) with varying results. The large blocks of copy and the cropped artwork doesn't feel at all like a normal comicbook page laid out by Kane, but the power of the individual images makes up for a lot to these old eyes!

This version comes from Savage Sword of Conan #4 (December 1975), natch.

Black and White Wednesday: "The Testing of Blackmark" by Goodwin and Kane

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! From Savage Sword of Conan #3 (October 1974), here's chapter three of "The Testing of Blackmark" written by Archie Goodwin and (natch!) created and drawn by Gil Kane!

Black (and White) Friday: "Blackmark Chapter 2" by Goodwin and Kane

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Whether you're getting ready to head out or coming home from the big sales, has Ol' Groove got a treat for you! Waaaaaay back in November of '09 we looked at the first chapter of Gil Kane's Blackmark as it was reprinted in Savage Sword of Conan #1. Well, today we're finally gonna plant our peepers on the second chapter of Kane's sci-fi/fantasy stunner from Savage Sword of Conan #2 (August 1974)! Scripted by Archie Goodwin, here's "Blackmark: Chapter 2!"

Warriors and Wizards Week! Black and White Wednesday: The Birth of Blackmark

You can't have a Warriors and Wizards Week without including Gil Kane and his creation, Blackmark. Kane had intended to self-publish Blackmark as a black and white comic magazine, but instead saw it published in paperback format by Bantam Books in 1971. The very first, by the way, non-reprint, straight-to-paperback comic ever. Today's offering is the preface, the birth of Blackmark, as reprinted in Marvel's Savage Sword of Conan #1 (cover dated August 1974). Art by Kane! Words by Archie Goodwin! Dig it, baby!