Monday Miscellanea/Bring On the Back-ups: Hercules in "In His Footsteps...the Huntsman of Zeus!!"

One of the downfalls of keeping DotGK at least a couple weeks ahead post-wise is that Ol' Groove sometimes gets behind on what's going on in the "real" world. In other words, it's time to play a little catch up with a new installment of Monday Miscellanea. Onward!

ITEM! Ol' Groove is truly humbled and honored to have been awarded the Kreative Blogger award from not one, but two pulse-pounding blogs! Both Electic Banana and Dear Bastards have bestowed the coveted Kreative Blogger award 'pon yers trooly, and I have to say it feels pretty doggoned good! So here's a giant-size "Thanks, Man" to Drake at EB and Mob at DB for adding to the list of things that make doing this blog worthwhile. Hookay, part of the deal is that I need to give y'all 7 things about me that people might find interesting. I did a meme similar to this a while back, so if there's some overlap, blame it on my truly uninteresting life, dig?

1. I still write comicbooks occasionally. I have a five pager in the first issue of Surprising Comics' Surprising Theater #1 due out next month.

2. I sing baritone in a gospel group called Change of Heart, and we actually have a song on the charts.

3. I am an educator who teaches Language Arts to fifth and sixth grade students at a local school.

4. I passionately hate beans of any kind.

5. I am an uber-fan of the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team. Have been all my life. I actually got to attend their 2000th win.

6. Besides the comicbooks of the 1970s, I am also a great fan of other areas of 1970s pop culture, especially TV, music, and movies.

7. I actually like some things that aren't stuck in the 70s; movies like O Brother Where Art Thou and Zombieland, TV shows like Lost and Fringe, books by A. Lee Martinez and Victor Gischler, comics like All-Star Superman and Wednesday Comics, and even some music by Norah Jones and Daughtry

Now I need to nominate 7 more blogs. This is tough, 'cause as you can see I have tons of them over there in my blogroll, and they all deserve to get this award. After mucho debate here are my 7 Kreativ Blogger picks (in no particular order):

Bronze Age Babies: Doug and Karen do a fantastic job of covering not only the comics of the Bronze Age but they throw in some other great pop-culture insights as well. This blog is so great that if I didn't love it so much I'd be jealous.

Comics Bronze Age: Andrew Wahl is the dean of Bronze Age reviewers. I read every post, and you should too!

Booksteve's Library: Booksteve's blog is a wonder to behold. He is a great writer with a huge range of interests. Pop culture, famous or obscure, old or new, Booksteve's got ya covered. He also has several other blogs that are far-out as well, but this one started it all (for me at least).

Grandbridge Street and other misadventures: You knew my pal Joe Bloke would be here, didn't ya? Joe's tastes in comics are almost a carbon copy of my own, making it a challenge to get some stuff out there before he does--but that's part of the fun. If you like the Diversions, you'll love the Street! Hey, Joe--we still need to do a cross-over!

Silver Age Gold: Aaron Bias is tops at giving the Good Old Days that irreverent treatment that makes Ol' Groove giggle just a bit too much.

Gold Key Comics: Mykal Banta runs a bunch of classy blogs, any of them award-worthy, but GKC is my fave. Yeah, I was one of those kids who would pick up Gold Key Comics on purpose. Mykal gives those classic mags the treatment--and respect--they deserve.

Silver Age Comics: Pat Curley's blog is one of the classiest, best written blogs around. He's always interesting and entertaining, and I love his interactive stuff--especially the quizzes. An all-time fave, baby!

Whew! There ya go. If you haven't checked those bodacious blogs out yet, Groove-ophiles, do it today!

ITEM! While Ol' Groove's givin' shout-outs, I need to mention a couple'a new blogs that are currently blowing my mind! First up, Charlton vs. Mighty MLJ just cracks me up. Earth-Two shows us the similarities, differences, and downright zaniness inherent in the make-up of this dynamic duo of comicbook universes. It's fun, it's original, and it is dy-no-mite! Another new blog that is really grabbing Ol' Groove's attention is Apocolyte's World of Comics. Apocolyte was already groovin' with Black 'N' White and Red All Over and The Blog at the End of Time, but his World of Comics is not only great looking (love the titles and fonts) but filled with so much neat stuff that the mind verily boggles. And finally, Mykal Banta is at it again with yet another high-class blog, this one is called Star-Studded War Comics and focuses on (duh!) classic war comics of the Golden through Bronze Ages. A must-read, Groove-ophiles!

ITEM! The polls have closed on whether or not Ol' Groove should post non-Groovy Age stuff from time to time (yeah, I'm adding this part in "real time") and I have to say the voting was close! 33% of ya voted "Yes!", 27% rode the fence with "Well...Okay", and 39% voted a resounding "No!". So do I compare the "Yes" and "No" votes dead on, or do I add the "Well...Okay" votes into the mix. And if so on what side? I was hoping for a huge swing one way or another, to tell ya the truth. Ol' Groove's gonna have'ta mull this over a bit, but for the time being, the "No" votes have it. Probably...

ITEM! On to da comix! Here's a little-seen oddity from Ka-Zar #1 (May 1970) starring Marvel's version of Hercules. Extra cool factor: a special guest-appearance from the Kree/Skrull War era Avengers: Black Panther, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Goliath. Not too cool factor: Herc is scared outta his gourd by the skinny little villain. Here's Allyn Brodsky, Frank Springer, and Dick Ayers' one-and-only Hercules outing..."In His Footsteps...the Huntsman of Zeus!!"

Sure 'nuff Herc and the Huntsman popped up in Sub-Mariner #29 the very next month (June 1970). Ol' Herc has come a long way from this back-up to his current "Incredible" comic, huh?