Marvel-ous Monday: "Twice Removed from Yesterday!" by Moench, Buckler, and Janson

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! With Astonishing Tales #31's (May 1975) "Twice Removed from Yesterday!" the Deathlok series is really starting to hit its stride. It looks great and seems to have found a direction. Unfortunately, most likely due to deadline pressures, the feature is a scant 10 pages, forcing a partial reprint/fill-in, but packing in a lot of story with its six-to-nine panel pages. Inker Klaus Janson is back, but it's scripter Doug Moench's final ish. Buckler's the real star here, though, with his plotting and innovative storytelling. And dig that Ed Hannigan/Bernie Wrightson cover!

If You Blinked You Missed..."Omega the Unknown" by Gerber, Skrenes, and Mooney

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! For those of us who were growing up during the Groovy Age, one of the most unique and well-remembered Marvel mags was Omega the Unknown. Co-created and written (mostly) by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, designed by Gerber, Len Wein, and John Romita, and illustrated (usually) by Jim Mooney, OtU was dark and mysterious--and yes, grim and gritty--long before it became "The Thing To Do." Gerber wanted to create a new kind of mag; one about a kid (James-Michael Starling) facing the dangers of the real world. Being 1970s Marvel, the powers-that-were there knew that a comic called "James-Michael the Emotionless" wouldn't long survive the spinner-rack jungle, so there had to be a super-hero headliner. Enter strong, silent (and I do mean si-LENT), and enigmatic Omega. He looked like a grown-up James-Michael, was super-strong, had strange mental and energy-based powers, and sported an omega motif. Gerber and Skrenes made him purposefully uninteresting so the focus of the story would remain on James-Michael who faced the horrors of growing up in Hell's Kitchen. J-M faced horrific living conditions (rats, roaches, winos--and those are the cheerful problems) at home with his young guardians, nurse Ruth Hart and photographer Amber Grant (who had the annoying habit of calling J-M "punk"), as well as flat-out hate and brutality at the local public school.  James-Michael's experiences were so similar to (but so much more frightening than) Young Groove's own school experiences, I felt the need for escapism--while I was reading the comic! Things were so rough for the kid that when Omega fought the (usually second-rate) super-villains, it was acually a relief. The villains didn't seem as bad as the "real" bad guys J-M faced. Says a lot when the "lightest" ish of a series is the one in which the protagonist sees his own parents die!

Cover art by Ed Hannigan and Joe Sinnott

Omega the Unknown lasted 10 issues (December 1975-July 1977). Hardcore fans mourned the mag's passing because of the myriad questions that were left unanswered by writers Gerber and Skrenes. Gerber planned to tie-up Omega's (and of course, James-Michaels') loose-ends in Defenders, but he was fired from Marvel before that came to pass. Writer Steven Grant would valiantly try to do "what Gerber might have done" by wrapping up the OtG storyline in Defenders 76-77 (July-August 1979), but while Marvel was satisfied, fandom was not. Gerber never got to finish James-Michael's story, which is sad, to put it mildly. But we still have those ten amazing issues (well, two of 'em were fill-ins, but they weren't bad) to enjoy on a totally different level than most any other comic mag...ever.

More Omega next month!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Deathlok!

Check it out, Groove-ophiles! As much as Ol' Groove digs Deathlok the Demolisher (brainchild of Rich Buckler, natch), for some reason I've never run the oh-so-cool covers from his original series in Astonishing Tales! Where here they come, baby! Pencils by Buckler (except #31 which was penciled by Ed Hannigan) with inks by a great line-up of inkers including Buckler, Klaus Janson, Bernie Wrightson, and Dan Adkins...masterpieces all! (But Ol' Groove has his favorites. Which are yours?)

Never fear, Ol' Groove'll get around to sharing the non-Astonishing Tales Deathlok covers one of these fine decades...

Grooviest Covers of All Time: Ed Hannigan's Early Marvels

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Way back when I had a second blog, Blinded Me With Comics, one of the most rewarding moments was when I did a post on the 80s cover innovations of Ed Hannigan (which you can read here if ya wanna). Ed was kind enough to thank me for the post via e-mail; made my day to put it mildly. Well, Ol' Groove thinks it's about time to look at the early days of Energetic Ed's comicbook cover output. Bet ya didn't realize how many Groovy Age Marvel Comics you had with Ed Hannigan covers, did'ja? Of course this isn't all of 'em, just a handful of faves, but something tells me you might have a bunch'a these yourself...

Making a Splash: Chillin' with Marvel Chillers

Ya know, Groove-ophiles, when you think about it, Marvel Chillers was quite a wonder. In it's seven short issues, (July 1975-July1976), the title sported two lead features, three editors, four writers, seven pencilers, and ten inkers--and that's not counting cover artists (or that Atlas-era reprint in ish #1)! And while Ol' Groove never really warmed up to Modred the Mystic, I always dug Tigra, so naturally I hadda get my hands on every ish. Another thing Marvel Chillers provided was a mini-vanload of spectacular splashes...and heeeeeere they are!