Black and White Wednesday: "The Right Hand of Doom" by Moench and Gan

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Hands down (ouch! don't hit!) Robert E. Howard's "The Right Hand of Doom" is Ol' Groove's favorite Solomon Kane tale. Yeah, Kane doesn't have a whole lot to do in this story, but man, it's one of the spookiest, creepiest fear-fables ever! In Savage Sword of Conan #13 (June 1976), Doug Moench and Steve Gan adapted that classic to comicbook form--and they did a Marvel-ous job. Okay, I'm gonna hush--whaddya think, I get paid by the (horrible) pun?

Making a Splash: Star-Lord

Man, does Ol' Groove ever love Star-Lord--but I'm sure I'm not the only one! Created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan for Marvel Comics way back in 1975, Peter Jason Quill's alter ego remained a cult favorite during the Groovy Age, went through a lot of changes over the past decade-plus, and has become a movie star via the excellent Guardians of the Galaxy movies (though he's a very different Star-Lord in those). Star-Lord was originally going to headline his own b&w sci-fi mag, but those plans fell through, so his debut was in Marvel's b&w try-out mag, Marvel Preview #4 (October 1975). He disappeared until July 1977 when he re-surfaced in MP #11 under the care of the new creative team of Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin (who would soon go on to make history with some mag with an "X" in the title...). In May 1978, Claremont teamed with a new artistic team: Carmine Infantino and Bob Wiacek to produce a more hard-sci-fi styled Star-Lord for MP #14, then that same team got it all together one more time in MP #15 (July 1978). In March 1979, Star-Lord finally appeared in full-color, under the creative team of Doug Moench, Gene Colan, and Tom Palmer in Marvel Super-Special #10 (March 1979). A couple months later, it was back to black and white for MP #18 where Moench was still writing, but for that ish, he was teamed with a new guy who would soon become a legend: Bill Sienkiewicz (with stunning inks by Bob McLeod). Not long after that, Star-Lord made his standard color comics debut in Marvel Spotlight Volume 2, in issues 6-7 (February-April 1980), once more with Moench at the typewriter who was joined by Charlton mainstay Tom Sutton on the art. That same team produced a third Star-Lord fable, but that one didn't see print until the final issue of Marvel Premiere (May 1981). Whew! That's a lot to read in order to get to these sensational splashes, huh? Weeelll--it's worth it! Blast off!

Black and White Wednesday: "The Rites of Every Citizen" by Mantlo, Perez, and Gan

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Bill Mantlo and George Perez are back (with the help of inker Steve Gan) with the first part of a multi-issue epic featuring the Sons of the Tiger! This one's from Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #16 (August 1975--don't worry, you didn't miss anything from #15; that ish was a reprint/annual with no SoT in it)--here it comes!

Cover art by Luis Dominguez

Black and White Wednesday: "Dark Island of Doom" by Conway and Gan

Hey, hey, hey! Here's one for all you Ka-Zar fans! And all'a you Steve Gan fans, too! We're heading to the Savage Land courtesy a titanic tale by Gerry Conway called "Dark Island of Doom"! It first appeared (with a far-out Mike Kaluta cover) in Savage Tales #9 (January 1975), and here it is, Groove-ophile!

Yeah, the hand of art director John Romita did, indeed, move 'pon the art in this ish--including on Kaluta's cover!