Making a Splash: 13 Splashes from Marvel Team-Up

Remember these issues of Marvel Team-Up, Groove-ophiles? A lot of far-out Groovy Age artists (besides the already spotlighted Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, and John Byrne) left their mark on Spidey and friends battles with baddies. Here are 13 (for Friday the 13th, natch) to blow your mind...

Groovy Christmases Past: 1977

Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove is back with another trip back to the December offerings that could be found on our favorite spinner racks (or, by now in a lot of places, the bottom shelf of the magazine display) in the month of December. Today we're going back to Ol' Groove's (ugh!) high school freshman year of 1977. Going from grade school to high school was a huge change for Teen Groove, and it seemed that changes were in the offing for my beloved comicbooks. December 1977 was a month filled with highs and lows. A lot of shuffling of creative teams was happening (SHAZAM!, Daredevil, Captain Marvel, and Iron Man), a very cool and an admittedly just okay debut (Firestorm and Steel), and some head scratchers (Man from Atlantis and Human Fly)--but Teen Groove bought 'em all. Okay, not "all" but a lot. Probably too many. But hey, what better way to spend a cold winter break than with our super-pals from Marvel and DC?

 Steve Ditko drew a buncha Wonder Woman pages! Steve Ditko!!

 Yep, the conclusion of Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin's "Laughing Fish" Joker two-parter! 

 Another extremely anticipated DC December debut!

 Shockingly awesome new version of the Marvel Family by artist Alan Weiss. 

 Longtime writer Scott Edelman's final ish/artist Pat Broderick's CM debut.

 Writer Roger McKenzie's DD debut (with Gil Kane/Klaus Janson art)!

 Gil Kane's final Warlord ish.

 Waaay up high on Ol' Groove's list of "comicbook perfection"! Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, and Marie Severin? Happy Holidays, by Crom!

 Claremont and Byrne, baby! Meee-YOW!

 Walt Simonson layouts (yay)! Jack Abel finishes (what th--)?!

Black and White Wednesday: The Power of Pat Broderick

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! One of the unsung heroes of the Groovy Age is one Mr. Pat Broderick. His cool, unique style made him one of Teen Groove's favorite artists. He did so many great comics, starting as an apprentice at Neal Adams and Dick Giordano's Continuity Studios and doing contents pages and filler images for DC's 100 page comics. He made a splash with the fledgling Atlas/Seaboard drawing the Dark Avenger back-up in Phoenix #3 (which you can read right here) and, of course, Planet of Vampires #1 (and yes, you can read that one here) and 2 (you guessed it! Right here). From there he went to Marvel and did a couple Marvel Premiere issues of Iron Fist, a variety of kung fu strips (in both Master of Kung Fu and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu), then finished out the 70s knocking us dead with his cosmic work on Captain Marvel and Micronauts. He'd go on to wow us even more throughout the 80s and 90s on mags like Fury of Firestorm, Legion of Super-Heroes, Detective Comics, Captain Atom, Doom 2099, and many more. So why is he an "unsung hero"? Because he's one of the many, still-vital, still uber-talented creators still going strong--but mostly ignored by fandom and the larger comics companies. It's a shame that he's not still a super-star, but Mr. Broderick just keeps on truckin', putting out awesome commissions and comics like his self-published Niburu (which you really should check out)! Meantime, dig these in-freakin'-credible Groovy Age masterpieces!