Marvel-ous Monday: "Morbius, the Living Vampire!" by M. Friedrich, Gulacy, and Abel

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! October is here, so it's time to start getting cracking creaking with the haunted Halloween side of the Groovy Age! We're kicking it all off with Morbius, the Living Vampire's solo color comic debut from Fear #20 (November 1973). Ol' Groove's already given ya a short history of Morbius' Groovy Age career right here, so let's just grab our stakes, tiptoe ever so carefully into Fear, and get reacquainted with "Morbius, the Living Vampire!" by Mike Friedrich, Paul (making his Marvel-ous debut right here, baby!) Gulacy, and Jack Abel...

Cover art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

And how 'bout those Marvel-ous cameos by a certain Web Slinger and a skeleton crew of Merry Mutants?

Oh, and if you're in a hurry to find out what happens next ish, just click here, my Groovy Ghoulies!

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: The Groovy Age JLA Covers That Really Grabbed Me

The title says it all, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove is just in the mood to pore over those Justice League of America covers that grabbed my imagination when I was just a Li'l Groove. Not just the awesome artistry of talented titans like Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, Carmine Infantino, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and Nick Cardy, but the total package these covers presented. The logo, the layouts, the roll call, the colors, the lettering, even the judicious use of word balloons, captions, and titles all came together to create a magic spell that made quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies all disappear from my pocket. Feast your eyes, baby!

Decent Comics: "Multi-Man Rules the World" by Skeates, Sherman, and Abel

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna dig on Super-Team Family #10 (January 1977) featuring the Challengers of the Unknown in "Multi-Man Rules the World!" The team of Steve Skeates, James Sherman, and Jack Abel were clicking right along on all cylinders, bringing back some classic characters from the Challs' past, most notably the villainous Multi-Man. Sales must have been pretty good, because if you look at the blurb in the final panel of the final page you'll see that the Challs would be graduating to their own mag two months later. Strangely enough, even though this particular story would be continued in the revived mag, not a single one of the men who brought the Challengers back so successfully would be assigned to the new mag...

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel

Decent Comics: "To Doomsday and Beyond!" by Skeates, Sherman, and Abel

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Here's the second of Steve Skeates, James Sherman, and Jack Abel's three Challengers of the Unknown stories for Super-Team Family! "To Doomsday and Beyond" is from Super-Team Family #9 (November 1976) and it's another tale that features the Challs acting kinda like Doc Savage's Amazing Five--without Doc around. It also features a mad scientist, bombs, a volcanoe, and a hidden civilization. In other words..."Ho-hum! Saving the world again..." (Ol' Groove loves that line!)

Cover art by Rich Buckler and Jack Abel