Showing posts with label detective comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label detective comics. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Merry Christmas 2018 with Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, Jim Mooney, Len Wein, Walt Simonson, Jim Aparo

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Not only do we have (as promised) part two of the awesome Roy Thomas/Sal Buscema/Jim Mooney Titans Three Saga, but we have some little-seen classic tales from the amazing Detective Comics #500! Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a trio of barely-clad outcast heroes and detective-themed superheroes, right? When it's happening in Groove City--RIGHT ON!

When Young Groove got his hands on  Sub-Mariner #35 (December 1970), second grade me was just starting to become enraptured by Mighty Marvel. This was the warm-up for Avengers #88, the mag that hooked me forever. Why is Ol' Groove rappin' about this mag in a Christmas post? 'Cause this is another of those (for me) legendary comics I picked up on the way home from Christmas play practice, baby! I read and re-read this mag pretty much every day leading up to Christmas--and many, many times after. Check it out...



















Detective Comics #500 (December 1980) is a milestone, natch. An 84 page, square bound cornucopia of comicbook treasures. I have great memories of discovering the last copy on the spinner rack at my grandmother's local Piggly Wiggly (in Rose Hill Virginia). Man, I'm so glad she sent us to pick up an extra can of yams for our Christmas Feast! Anywho, I've shared the Walter (The Shadow) Gibson-penned prose-piece in the past (read it here), so I thought we'd share a couple more faves from that magnificent mag for this Christmas--both of 'em written by the late, great Len Wein. First is the legendary, Snoopy-inspired "Once Upon a Time..."


And finally, this cool tale teaming some of The Batman's non-super-hero back-up pals from the first five hundred issues of 'Tec, starring Slam Bradley with art by one of the all-time greatest Batman artists, Jim Aparo…"The 'Too Many Cooks' Caper!"











 And here's an extra Christmas surprise--the gorgeous wrap-around cover and the story-behind-the-story of Detective Comics #500!


I hope you've enjoyed this visit to Christmas' past with moi, Groove-ophiles! Better to spend time with Subby, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Batman, and Slam Bradley than those spooky ghosts that keep tracking Ebenezer Scrooge down year after year, right?

Oh, and it's not a Christmas post without a look at some presents from Ol' Groove's Christmas Present...



Hope you enjoy your day! Spend quality time with the ones you love, remember the Reason for the Season, and share the love all year long! Meeeeeeeerry Christmas! (See ya New Years Eve!)

Friday, September 14, 2018

Making a Splash: Walt Simonson's Groovy Age Batman

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Let's end this week on a high note: digging on the sensational Batman splashes penciled by wondrous Walt Simonson for Batman and Detective Comics! Mr. Simonson didn't do nearly enough Batman stories to suit moi (a fact Ol' Groove has rapped about in the past), but those he did were Classics with a capital "C"! The Batman/Manhunter "meeting" in Detective Comics #443...the 450th and 500th anniversary issues of Detective Comics...the first two Steve Englehart era Batman stories in Detective #s 469 and 470 (inked by Al Milgrom)...the 300th issue of Batman...and just a couple extra-cool tales written by Len Wein and inked by Dick Giordano (Batman issues 312 and 321 featuring Calendar Man and the Joker). Masterpieces all, as you'll be able to tell by the glory of the following splash pages...


(Okay, so this one's not really a splash, but who'd want to leave this page out?)





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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!