Happy Bicentennial (Plus 35) America!

July 4 is a fun-and-family-filled day in Groove City, and it's probably that way for you, too, Groove-ophiles! So why waste time? Let's kick back and enjoy some classic (and sometimes, yes, a little silly) art by some of the greats of Groovy Age Marvel. Oh, in case you're the skeptical sort, the art credits come from the calendar, itself--so if there are any boo-boos, the batty Bullpen made 'em! Ready to party like it's 1976? Then let's dig on... the pin-ups from the pulse-pounding Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar 1976!

Jazzy John Romita

Free-Wheelin' Frank Robbins and Fearless Frank Giacoia

Happy Herb Trimpe

Battlin' Bob Brown and Mighty Mike Esposito

Gil "Sugar" Kane

Big John Buscema and Fearless Frank Giacoia

Ross "The Boss" Andru and Mighty Mike Esposito

Jazzy John Romita

Joltin' Joe Sinnott

Our Pal Sal Buscema

Frightening Frank Brunner

Judo Jim Starlin and Awesome Alan Weiss

Jim "Madman" Mooney

Let's not forget, though Ol' Groove hasn't posted the actual calendar pages, Tony "The Tiger" Isabella wrote all the text!

And  when the party's over, why not visit The Veterans Site where one free click can provide a meal for a homeless and hungry veteran? You'll feel really far-out for it!

To the rest of our Groove-ophiles 'round the world, have a great day!

Summer of '76! Grooviest Covers of All Time: Beatin' the Heat with Archie, Dagar, Richie, Baron Weirwulf, and Friends

The spinner racks were full-to-overflowing in the Summer of '76, and it wasn't all Marvel and DC! Charlton, Gold Key, Harvey, and Archie were all going strong, with as many--if not more!--titles on the stands as the Big Two. Ol' Groove thought about sharing a summertime cover for each and every mag the "little four" put out, but I didn't wanna break the Internet! Here then is but a small sampling of what kids like Young Groove (and their younger siblings, pals, older siblings, and moms) spent their extra change on when they'd nabbed all their fave superhero comix...

 

Ol' Groove's gotta lavish a bit of praise on the vastly underrated Charlton Comics for introducing us to Groovy Age greats like John Byrne, Mike Zeck, and Don Newton. Can you spot some'a their early work in this mix?

Summer of '76! Grooviest Covers of All Time: Black and White and Hot All Over

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! We're still groovin' to the Summer of '76, but today we're adding a twist. Most of ya came here expecting your usual Black and White Wednesday feature (perhaps the top feature in Groove City), so we're gonna dig on the covers to the b&w mags found on the magazine shelves during our Bicentennial summer. You'll notice that Marvel's line has slimmed way down, exorcising all of their supernatural mags (but they're shoveling the left-over stories into various issues of Marvel Preview). Warren's output is cruising along with Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, but The Spirit will disappear from the shelves in the fall, landing in comix and head shops under the Kitchen Sink umbrella. And Charlton, bless 'em, hired the likes of Neal Adams and Gray Morrow to spearhead their b&w line of TV adaptations: Space: 1999, Six Million Dollar Man, and Emergency! Lots of cool stuff to be found for the discriminating Groove-ophile!

 

Be back tomorrow as we check out the offerings from Charlton, Gold Key, and more!