Merry Christmas 2019!

Season's Greetings, Groove-ophiles! As is our tradition in Groove City, we're sharing a favorite mag from the Groovy Age Yuletide Season, this time it's Freedom Fighters #1!

Back on December 9, 1975, DC unleashed Freedom Fighters #1 (Quality Comics heroes Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, and Human Bomb) on the spinner racks, and boy, was Young Groove ever glad! That snazzy Ernie Chan cover just begged to be bought, and the interiors by Ric Estrada and Mike Royer looked like fun (as was the story by Gerry Conway and Martin Pasko)! Len Wein and Dick Dillin had already introduced us to the super-team from Earth-X in Justice League of America issues 107-108 (June-August, 1973) and I really dug 'em, so finding this mag was quite a thrill! Ol' Groove hopes you get a kick out of it on this particular Christmas Day (or whatever day you might be reading it) four color memory!

The Story Behind the Story

And it wouldn't be a Christmas post without giving you a glimpse into Groove's Goodies for this year:

All the best to you and yours this Holiday Season! See you next year with the new, weekly Diversions of the Groovy Kind! Pax!

Happy Halloween 2018!

Happy Halloween, Groove-ophiles! As usual, we've got all the comicbook goodies you're gonna need right here, so grab a bag of candy and enjoy!

Kicking things off light, here's our favorite kid ghost Spooky, with kind of a weird message from Harvey Comics to their fans (meta before meta was cool, baby)! Here's "Spooky Meets #1" from Spooky #121 (September 1970)…

Next we go waaaaaay back to the dawn of the Groovy Age, September 1967 for a classic creeper by the super-star team of Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo! From The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #4 it's Case #333..."The Cat!"

Speaking of super-stars, how about Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow? Here's an early DC attempt at the Gothic Romance genre, done in sort of, what Ol' Groove calls, a "Prince Valiant" style--meaning there are no word or thought balloons. The script (dialogue and captions) is written in prose form sans word and thought balloons. It's different and kinda creepy! It's "Where Dead Men Walk!" from House of Secrets #89 (October 1970)!

And finally, it's not Halloween without a visit from the Lord of Darkness--Count Dracula! This one has a superior script by Doug Moench and awesome art by Paul Gulacy (with Mike Esposito on inks)! From Dracula Lives! #9 (September 1974), it's "Scarlet In Glory!"

Have a spook-tacular day, Groove-ophiles!