Groove's Faves: "King Konk '68" by Thomas and Sutton (with Severin)

HoowwWOOOOOO's about some hilarious horror today, Groove-ophiles, courtesy Roy Thomas and Tom Sutton (with lots'a help by Marie Severin on the various caricatures)? Yeah, Ol' Groove thought you might dig it! The cover-feature for Marvel's Not Brand Echh #11 (September 1968) was "King Konk '68". As you might expect, it was the Mighty Marvel Bullpen waxing cuckoo about what kinda flick King Kong would have been had it been re-made for 1968. The story is ka-razee, populated with dozens of pop-culture folk, both real and created, movie stars, monsters, TV stars, singers, and super-heroes all get their cameos. The humor is dense, found both in the prose and pictures, but man, you can spend a lot of time having a blast with all of this silliness! Are you ready for it?

All-in-all, I prefer this version to the 1976 and 2005 versions--by far!

Sunday Funnies: "Where Stomps the Scent-ry!" by Thomas and Colan

It's been a while since we got our giggles on with Marvel's self-parody mag, Not Brand Echh! Here's one for all of us Captain Mar-vell fans--Captain Marvin in "Where Stomps the Scent-ry!" What made Not Brand Echh so cool was that, whenever possible, Stan would have the regular creative team work on the parody of the very mag(s) they actually worked on. Such was the case with this silly story in Not Brand Echh #9 (May 1968). When Captain Marvel (Marvel's Space-Born Superhero, natch) got his own mag, t'was written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gene Colan--so here they are poking fun at their own stories. Silly? Yes. Strange? Certainly. Entertaining? You bet'cha!

Sunday Funnies: "Blunder Agents!" by Friedrich and Severin

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! DC Comics just released the latest updated version of the legendary T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and that got Ol' Groove wondering...will this new version be worthy to carry on the proud tradition started by Wally Wood and company? Or will it be another in a long line of Blunder Agents? That remains to be seen, but until the verdict is in, here's a real group of Blunder Agents, Marvel style! From Not Brand Echh #10 (July 1968, reprinted from NBE #2) Knock Furious and his Agents of S.H.E.E.S.H. come face-to-face with Dynaschmoe and Nobody courtesy Groovy Gary Friedrich and Mirthful Marie Severin. Dig it, baby!

Sunday Funnies: The Revengers by Thomas and Sutton

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's some Sunday silliness for ya! In Not Brand Echh #12 (November 1968) Roy Thomas got to skewer his beloved Avengers as he worked in tandem with artist Tom Sutton. "The Revengers" is goofy fun, but the really cool thing is that surprise final page drawn by Roy's (then) regular Avengers art-team of John Buscema and George Klein. Howzat for a twist-ending?

Weird Sunday Funnies: Frankenstein Sicksty-nine!

Only in comics can you get a Marvel-ously macabre and merry mess like this! From Not Brand Echh #12 (November 1968), here's Arnold Drake and Tom Sutton's "Frankenstein Sicksty-nine!"

Sunday Funnies: "The Origin of the Simple Surfer!"

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Prepare to get your giggles on! Presenting Roy Thomas and Marie Severin's side-splittng (okay, grin-inducing) "Origin of the Simple Surfer!" from Not Brand Echh #13 (February 1969)!!