Making a Splash: Mister Miracle, Jack!

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Mister Miracle, the jelly to Orion's peanut butter in Jack Kirby's Fourth World saga, had one of the wildest costumes, coolest concepts (inspired by Jim Steranko's real-life professional escape-artist phase), and superior spouses (well, Big Barda would eventually become M.M.'s spouse) in all of the Groovy Age! Young Groove loved the costumes and action, and even today Ol' Groove still digs the far-out fun of this kool Kirby kreation! The original series ran 18 issues (January 1971-November 1973), making it the longest-lived of the Fourth World mags...Looks like Young Groove wasn't the only fan of red-green-and Barda! Check out these smashing splashes (with inks by the titanic talents of Vinnie Colletta and Mike Royer), baby!

MM #2

MM #3

Groove's Faves: "It's All in the Mine" by Englehart and Rogers

One of the (many) highlights of DC's Summer of 1977 output was the return of Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle. Though The King was no longer at DC, the powers that were placed the Super-Escape Artist's re-vamped mag in the hands of the super-star team that was wowing us in Detective Comics, writer Steve Englehart and artist Marshall Rogers. Thanks to this ad...

...Teen Groove was psyched and ready when he got his hands on Mister Miracle #19 (June 1977), and lemme tell ya, I was not disappointed in the least. Not only did Englehart and Rogers craft an action-packed, explosive tale to knock my socks off (though truth to tell I usually spent my summers barefoot), but editor Denny O'Neil allowed Rogers to enlist the amazing Ilya Hunch to ink this minor masterpiece! Dig it!

What? You wanna know who the heck Ilya Hunch is? So did we, baby! O'Neil laid the truth behind "Ilya Hunch" on us in the letters page of MM #20. Check it out!

Who says Diversions can't be edumicational?

Happy Birthday Plus One Day to the King!

Yesterday would have been Jack Kirby's 91st birthday. There's nothing I can say about the man and his magnificent body of work that others haven't already said, and said better. Instead, I thought I'd share a few mind-blowing memories of Jack's work from the Groovy Age. Now dem's comics!!