Famous Firsts: "The Sandman vs. General Electric" by Simon and Kirby

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2018?! Where does the time go? Well, at least we still have our own time machines here in Groove City--comicbooks, baby! Let's kick off the new year with one of the wildest comics of the Groovy Age: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman #1! DC kicked off 1974 with the re-teaming of one of the most famous and prolific writer/artist teams of all time: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Both men had been working at DC on separate projects, then someone finally realized that they had one of the Dream Teams of the Golden Age under their Decidedly Creative roof and put 'em back together for, it seemed, a one-shot. Due to a major winter storm on the East Coast, a lot of comics didn't make it to the stores for a few weeks, which helped that wild and wacky first ish of Sandman sell enough copies to make DC wanna bring it back--exactly one year later. When Sandman returned to the spinner racks in January 1975, neither Simon nor Kirby returned with it, instead Spectre writer Michael Fleischer and penciler Ernie Chan (then "Chua") took over the creative chores, joined by inker Royer. While Chan did his best to ape Kirby, he only completed two issues before Kirby himself returned to team with Fleischer and Royer to complete the series (inked by Wally Wood in the last ish, number 6, September 1975). An unpublished Sandman story stayed "in the editor's drawer" for a few years (You can read all about it right here). Okay, that's your history lesson--now here come da comics!

Groovy Age Gold: "The Secret of the Buzzard's Revenge!" by Simon and Kirby

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Flipping through Jack Kirby's awesome New Gods #4 (June 1971), the very first 52 page, 25 cent ish, what jumped out and grabbed me by the brain but a reprint Jack and Joe Simon's inaugural Manhunter strip from Adventure Comics #73 (February 1942)? Wanna see it?

I knew you would!

Groovy Age Gold: "Last Mile Alley" by Simon and Kirby

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Joe Simon! Jack Kirby! The Guardian! The Newsboy Legion! Groovy Age Gold from Jimmy Olsen #142 (August 1971), reprinting Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's "Last Mile Alley" from Star Spangled Comics #8 (March 1942)! Dy-no-MITE!

Random Reads: "Invasion of the Frog Men!" by Fleisher and Kirby

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! One of the wackiest, most far-out features of the Groovy Age was Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Sandman. The Golden Age team-supreme did one ish and parted ways. DC revived it months later with writer Michael Fleisher and Ernie Chan. Chan did one more ish, then co-creator Jack Kirby returned to draw Fleisher's scripts. "Invasion of the Frog Men!" from Sandman #5 (July 1975) is an example of the wild wonder Fleisher and Kirby (along with inker Mike Royer) imparted on us back in the Groovy Age. Check it out!