Black and White Wednesday: "How a Comic Is Created" Parts 1 and 2 by Paul Levitz

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove's love for comics was always so strong that I always wanted to create 'em myself. I wanted to draw, write, everything--and eventually I did start making my own comics (on typing paper, natch). Eventually I got into self-publishing, and now I'm writing for lots of great small press comicbook publishers--and it all started with tutorials like these from Amazing World of DC Comics (issues 1 and 2). Pros like Paul Levitz gave us creatives-in-training the low-down on how things really worked, and to this day Ol' Groove appreciates and treasures articles like these...

Groove's Faves: "The Treasure Vaults of Opar!" by Wein and Thorne

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ya know what an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan Ol' Groove is, so it's about time we visited DC's Korak, Son of Tarzan, innit? Korak ran for 14 "DC Issues" (March 1972-July 1975) before converting to the extra-sized Tarzan Family (which featured a mix of new material and reprints), but, just to confuse things, DC didn't "reboot" the title (previously published by Gold Key/Western for 45 issues) with a first issue, but continued the Gold Key numbering. Thus, the "First DC Issue" of Korak, Son of Tarzan was ish #46. And what an ish it was! Editor Joe Orlando kicked things off right by handing the reins of Korak's lead feature to writer Len Wein and Artist Frank Thorne. The backups, Carson of Venus and Pellucidar were handled by Wein and artists Mike Kaluta and Alan Weiss (which you can read here and here). Orlando would soon be replaced by cover artist Joe Kubert as editor, Wein's words would give way to those of Robert Kanigher and Kubert, and artists Murphy Anderson and Rudy Florese would eventually handle the illustrating chores, but Korak was continually in great creative hands for its short life. But for today, let's focus on Wein and Thorne's debut Korak tale, "The Treasure Vaults of Opar!" 18 pages (plus Kubert's awesome cover) of pure jungle action! (Hey, wouldn't that make a neat title...?)

Black and White Wednesday: "The Many Worlds of Joe Orlando" by Paul Levitz

 Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! It's still October, and we're still celebrating...

Here's an awesome interview with the late DC editor Joe Orlando conducted by future DC publisher Paul Levitz from Amazing World of DC Comics #6 (cover-dated May-June 1975). Besides his fame as a member of EC's artistic stable in the 1950s, Orlando is best known as DC's "weird" editor. Under his editorial guidance, we got such classic characters as Jonah Hex, Cain and Abel, Captain Fear, Swamp Thing, Warlord, Black Orchid, the Phantom Stranger, Bat Lash, Claw, and  the Spectre (by Fleisher and Aparo), along with mags like Plop! and Weird War, and so much more. It's an awesome article about one of the most important and innovative editors of the Groovy Age, baby. Bet you'll dig it!

If You Blinked You Missed; Kong the Untamed

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! If you were a kid who was a fan of cavemen and dinosaurs in 1974, you were having a pretty good year. Saturday mornings were filled with 'em: Valley of the Dinosaurs (CBS); Korg, 70,000 B.C. (ABC); and of course Land of the Lost (NBC). I s'pose this came about due to the heavy influence of parent educator groups on the networks to make Saturday mornings more (blech) educational. The caveman/dinosaur shows looked educational enough to satisfy the establishment, but had enough action and sci-fi to hold the kids attention.

Comicbooks are always late to the party when picking up on trends, but they always get in the door. DC made a few attempts to cash in on this short-lived craze. They greenlit Warlord which would almost completely miss the party, but showed 'em all by hanging around for a decade after the party was over. They reprinted Joe Kubert's classic 1950s caveman strip Tor (with new covers and some new material by Kubert). You'd have thought they would have brought back Anthro, created by Howie Post in 1967, but they didn't. They created a brand new character, Kong the Untamed, who bore quite a bit of resemblance...to Anthro (both were aided in their creation by editor Joe Orlando, just so ya know). In today's market, Kong the Untamed would have been a "reboot of the Anthro franchise", but in those days--nope.

Although Kong sported the same basic story as Anthro (young  Cro-Magnon destined to become his tribe's chief during the waning days of the Neanderthal) and a less cool and highly derivative name (King Kong? Konga? Korg, 70,000 B.C.? ), it was still kinda neat. The first two issues (March-May 1975) with their Bernie Wrightson covers, Jack Oleck stories, and Alfredo Alcala interior art were all kinds of far-out. With ish #3 (July 1975), Gerry Conway took over scripting and the cover was by Bill Draut, who's a fine artist, but no Bernie Wrightson. Conway took total control of the writing with #4 (September 1975) while Alcala associates Tony Caravana and Jo Igente provide the art, blending Alcala's style with a style similar to Nestor Redondo's. Surprisingly, Conway doesn't upset the ship, story-wise, but keeps things moving along at an even keel. Unsurprisingly, ish 5 begins to usher in the inevitable "change of direction" that signals a sales slump. The art style has already completely changed as  artist David T. Wenzel makes his pro comicbook debut as penciler (he would soon become one of the top sci-fi/fantasy illustrators ever, natch). Wenzel does a nice job, the storytelling is very exciting, but the inks of cover artist Bill Draut lack the luster and organic feel of the previous issues under Alcala and friends. Kong the Untamed #5 (November 1975) also turned out to be the series' final issue. Oh, well, it was a nice run, and it did, at least, outlive Valley of the Dinosaurs and Korg 70,000 B.C. Small victories are better than none!

Here's the far-out first ish by Oleck and Alcala (complete with Wrightson cover and behind-the-scenes info from the letters page. Who loves ya, baby?)!