Groovy Guest Post by Mike Mikulovsky: "Codename: The Cold Warrior!" by Thomas, Craig, and Hunt

Here 'tis, Groove-ophiles! Mighty Mike Mikulovsky's thoughts on 3-D Man's final Marvel Premiere appearance! Dig it!!

What it be, cool kats! Have you been chillin' out this winter? Speaking of cool, here's (sadly) the final adventure for our red, green & gold hero! We get yet another great cover by the dynamic duo of Gil Kane & Jolt'in Joe Sinnott... 

Mighty Mike would like to thank Anthony Snyder for selling him this glorious Gil Kane preliminary piece!

 

 

 

Thanks, also, to Michael "One Minute Later" Finn for sharing his original cover art!

The interiors of Marvel Premiere #37 (May 1977) were again penciled by the great Jim Craig and inked by Dave Hunt! Of course, our tale was written by rascally Roy Thomas! This issue we get some great battle scenes as 3-D Man battles none other than the Cold Warrior! This tale has it all! Skrulls! Commies! The Cold Warrior, and even Tricky Dickie Vice President Nixon himself!!?? Where's the commie bustin' cop Officer Kirk when we need him! I always wondered if the 3-D Man had gotten his own solo series, would he have battled giant insects or the Blob? Met the 50's Captain America, Bucky, or the original Human Torch? OK I've rambled on here enough! Bust out your 3-D glasses and hop to it! AAhhh what might have been..... HHHmmmmm What If??? To be continued???    

The Grooviest President!

Does anyone reading this blog not know it's Election Day here in the good ol' U.S. of A.? If you didn't know, you really need to read something besides Ol' Groove's blog every once in a while, man! Sheesh! In fact, if you're over 18, registered, and a U.S. citizen, I urge you to get out there and vote if you haven't voted already. It's a right and a privilege, and it's also very, very cool. (Just got back from doin' it m'self!) End of ever-lovin' sermon!

Now, I know what you're expecting--something about DC's wild and wacky Prez comic. Well, I ain't goin' there today. I figure there'll be tons of blogs covering that kooky comic. If I'm wrong, and if you ask real nice, I'll share the first issue of Prez with ya this coming Famous First Friday. But only if you ask. Nicely. And I do accept bribes.

Nope, I was gonna focus on Presidential Appearances (just seemed right to capitalize that) of the Groovy Age, but there wasn't a lot of excitement in that. I did do some research though, looking at superhero comics produced by Marvel and DC only (hadda narrow it down somehow), and if you're interested in my findings, Jimmy Carter appeared the most times (14), followed by Gerald Ford (12), and Richard Nixon (7). Lyndon Johnson who was Prez during the dawn of the Groovy Age didn't make any Marvel or DC super-appearances that I could find (though he did seem to pop up in Herbie quite a bit...) Franklin D. Roosevelt deserves an honorable mention here, I suppose. Although he wasn't Prez during the Groovy Age (duh!), he did make quite a few appearances in the Invaders, which was set during WWII (when he was Prez. There, don't never say this blog ain't ejimicational!) Here's a quick look at those grooviest comicbook Commanders-in-Chief:

That's Richard Nixon, from Fantastic Four #104 (August, 1970) by Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr.; Gerald Ford from Defenders Annual #1 (July, 1976) by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema, and Klaus Janson; and Jimmy Carter from Justice League of America #150 (October, 1977) by Steve Englehart and Dick Dillin, just in case you're wonderin'.

I had actually planned on running the whole Ford appearance from Defenders Annual #1 'cause it's so far-out, but then I remembered an issue of the Flash (by Cary Bates and Irv Novick, natch) Li'l Groove read way back in 1971...that's the one I have to share with you today. According to DC, in the future we'll have a different kind of President. And it'll be up to the Flash to keep him alive and kickin'! From the Flash #210 (August, 1971), ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 2971!

Ah, the way-out whimsy of DC in the Groovy Age. Kinda brings a tear to your eye, huh? But if you want something a little grittier; a little more down to earth and thought provoking, where better to go than to Stan Lee and John Romita's op-ed piece that ran in the 16 April, 1972, issue of the New York Times Magazine (and was reprinted in FOOM Magazine #17)? (A special "thanks, man" to my pal, Barry Pearl for the scan!)