Titan-ic Tuesdays: "Titans East! Titans West! And Never (?) the Teens Shall Meet!" by Rozakis, Heck, and Chiarmonte

Hey, hey, hey, it's another Titan-ic Tuesday, Groove-ophiles! Once again, Bob Rozakis gives us tons o'teen-aged heroes, more (sigh) Captain Calamity and his stooges, and more mysteries. Sadly, Don Heck's art looks really rushed, and Frank Chiarmonte's inks aren't a good match for his pencils (at least not imho), but what're ya gonna do. I'd still grab it off a spinner rack and plunk down 35 cents in a split-second! From Teen Titans #51 (August 1977) comes a tale with one of the longest titles ever! "Titans East! Titans West! And Never (?) the Teens Shall Meet!"

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Vinnie Colletta

Bring On the Back-ups: "The Man Who Skyjacked Hawkman!" by Rozakis, Rogers, Austin, and Adams

Happy Holidays, Groove-ophiles! Here's hoping the cheer of the season is rocking on for ya! We're back today with the final Calculator back-up, this time featuring Hawkman! "The Man Who Skyjacked Hawkman!", from Detective Comics #467 (October 1976), uses a tried-and-true comicbook framing device (utilizing The Batman, himself) not only to tell its story, but to set up the grand finale (which you can read right here). Bob Rozakis is still rocking the writing, Marshall Rogers is making his mark with the art, and inker Terry Austin gets help from none other than Neal Adams. Hoo-hah!

Bring On the Back-ups: "Take Me Out OF the Ballgame" by Rozakis, Rogers, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Have we got a good'un for ya today! Not only is this yet another chapter of Bob Rozakis' cool Calculator saga, but it's also penciler Marshall Rogers' dazzling debut (not counting one-page filler stuff), aaaand Green Arrow's first battle with our punchy, purple perpetrator (significant because The Calculator will soon be appearing on the Emerald Archer's live-action TV show)! From Detective Comics #466 (September 1976), here's "Take Me Out OF the Ballgame"! Who loves ya, baby?

Bring on the Back-ups: "The Elongated Plague!" by Rozakis, Chan, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with part three of Bob Rozakis' Calculator back-up/mini-series, this time inker Terry Austin is joined by penciler Ernie Chan (then Chua). Aaaaand, this time, our villain meets The Elongated Man! From Detective Comics #465 (August 1976), are you inoculated for..."The Elongated Plague!"?

Bring On the Back-ups: "A Hot Time In Star City Tonight" by Rozakis, Grell, and Austin

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're back with the second chapter of the Calculator saga from Detective Comics #464 (July 1976)! "A Hot Time In Star City Tonight" was written by Bob Rozakis (aided and abetted by wife Laurie), illustrated by Mike Grell and Terry Austin, and features Black Canary as the hero out to bring our villainous back-up star to justice...

This would be Iron Mike Grell's last outing as penciler of the Calculator series. Who would come next? Stay tuned!

Bring On the Back-ups: "Crimes by Calculation!" by Rozakis, Grell, and Austin

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Way back in Detective Comics issues 463-468, writer Bob Rozakis and editor Julie Schwartz hit upon a novel idea: make a super-villain the star of Detective Comics' back-up feature. Rozakis teamed with artist Mike Grell, and they came up with The Calculator, a super-villain based on the then-popular, just made affordable pocket calculator. A fun, if silly (at least in retrospect) villain, the purple outfit with giant buttons and LED headgear looked kinda cool back in the day. The Calculator's powers were very Green Lantern-ish, which, coupled with his extraordinarily high intelligence, made him a pretty formidable baddie. The coolness factor was upped as we saw The Calculator battle a different hero each issue drawn by far-out artists like Grell, Ernie Chan, and that "new kid" Marshall Rogers, all awesomely inked by Terry Austin! Here's The Calculator's debut, featuring The Atom, "Crimes by Calculation!" from June 1976!

Watch for more of The Calculator in coming posts! Oh, and if you want the ending ruined for ya, go ahead and leap to the final showdown from Detective Comics #468...or wait and visit that link once you've read...the REST of the story!

Titanic Tuesdays: "The Coast-to-Coast Calamities!" by Rozakis, Heck, and Geilla

It's Titanic Tuesday, so that means it's time for another Teen Titans adventure! This one comes from the TT's 50th ish (July 1977) courtesy writer Bob Rozakis and artists Don Heck and Joe Geilla. Good news and bad news with this TT tale: good news...a group of Titans for the West Coast...bad news...the villain's name is...Captain Calamity!

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel