Random Reads: "...Live or Let Die!" by Friedrich, Weiss, and Abel

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna check out the final ish of Atlas/Seaboard's The Brute #3 (April 1975). As usual with most Atlas/Seaboard mags the third (usually final) or fourth (definitely final) ish of a series meant big changes, and The Brute was no different from the rest of the line. Gone was the regular creative team of Michael Fleisher, Mike Sekowsky, and Pablo Marcos (along with editor Jeff Rovin), replaced by new editor, Larry Lieber, writer Gary Friedrich, and art team, Alan Weiss and Jack Abel. And, as usual, the new team brought a new direction--this one included a super-villain, the funky Doomstalker!

Cover art by Pablo Marcos

Wotta way to go!

Random Reads: "Attack of the Reptile Men!" by Fleisher, Sekowsky, and Marcos

Has it really been nearly four years since we last rapped about Atlas/Seaboard's Incredible Hulk rip-off, The Brute? Why has it been so long? 'Cause ya seemed to have hated the first ish (naughty airplane wing and all), that's why! Ol' Groove's been thinkin' about it, and now I'm wonderin': will time have eased some of the blecchiness, or will you hate the second ish even more? Ol' Groove's gotta know!! Here they are again, Michael Fleisher, Mike Sekowsky, and Pablo Marcos with "Attack of the Reptile Men!" from The Brute #2 (January 1975)!

Random Reads: The Brute #1

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Here's another of the short-lived Atlas/Seaboard's attempts to rip off another Marvel character. This one's pretty obvious: The Brute=The Hulk. The Brute is a hulking giant who is angry at the world; instead of being created by gamma rays, he's released from being frozen in ice (a la Captain America) by nuclear radiation. He has blue skin instead of green skin (I s'pose from being in ice all those centuries), and he's a whole lot more vicious than Marvel's mass of manic muscle. In fact, that's the thing that really sets The Brute apart from The Hulk; by the end of the first issue, he'd killed four people. It should come as no surprise that this much darker and edgier Hulk knock-off was written by Michael Fleisher, best known for his work with Jim Aparo on the epitome of mid-70s dark and edgy, The Spectre. The art by Silver Age great Mike Sekowsky is inked by Pablo Marcos--an unlikely but quite appropriate combination. When most folks think or hear about The Brute, they usually think about the--eh--suggestive tail numbers on the airplane featured on its last page, but that's doing this mag a huge disservice. Fleisher, Sekowsky, and Marcos crafted a very well done comic. From November 1974, under a far-out Dick Giordano cover lurks... "Night of the Brute!"