Black and White Wednesday: The Fiendish New Features of Monster Madness #3

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Waaaaaay back in the spring of 2009, Ol' Groove shared a post about Marvel's Monster Madness mag in which Stan Lee put goofy gags into the mouths of still pics from a variety of classic monster flicks--like the one on the cover to 1973's Monster Madness #3...

But that third issue also beget some far-out creature-featurettes about horror movies and Marvel monsters, kinda sorta previewing Marvel's Famous Monsters--rip-off--er competitor, Monsters of the Movies that would debut in 1974. Lotsa cool stuff from magnificent Marvel scribes like Chris Claremont, Don McGregor, and Tony Isabella, plus some superb art by Dave Cockrum, Neal Adams, Mike Ploog, and Herb Trimpe. Let's take a look-see!

Scarier than Doing Your Taxes Week! (P)Raising Kane: "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper!" by Bloch, Goulart, Kane, and Reese

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! If you live here in the U.S. of A., tomorrow's the day you've been dreading: your last chance to do your taxes! What could possibly give you more chills, shivers, and white-knuckled nerves than doing your taxes? Probably nothing, but Ol' Groove's gonna lay some creepy-cool on ya all week long, just to try to take some'a the chill off your wallet and onto your spine? How're we gonna kick things off?

 Why, with one of Gil Kane's best jobs of the early 1970s, that's how! You really get Kane's mastery of making his characters "act". Their facial expressions and body language keep propelling the story forward, drawing you into the terror that awaits. Editor Roy Thomas did a great job of teaming Kane with high caliber talent on "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper!" considering it's based on a classic short story by Robert ("Psycho") Block, scripted by one of my all-time favorite authors (and comics historian supreme) Ron Goulart, and inked by the incredible Ralph Reese. Yeah, it would have taken a strong, strong fan to have passed up Journey into Mystery #2 (September 1972)!

Cover art by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer

Shock Theater: A Ron Goulart, Jim Starlin, Gene Colan, and Rich Buckler Triple-Feature of Terror

One of Ol' Groove's all-time favorite authors, Ron Goulart, dabbled with writing comics for Marvel during the early-70s. The writer of sci-fi, horror, humor, mystery, adventure, fantasy, and comics history spent the better part of 1972 writing terrific tales for Journey Into Mystery, Supernatural Thrillers (you can find two of those tales here and here), and Warlock. Today's focus is on a trio of terrifying tales Mr. Goulart authored for Journey Into Mystery issues 3-5 (November 1972-March 1973). The first, "The Shambler from the Stars!"with art by Jim Starlin and Tom Palmer, adapted a 1934 Robert Bloch classic. The second, "The Haunter of the Dark!" with art by Gene Colan and Dan Adkins, adapted an H.P. Lovecraft shocker, and the third, "The Shadow from the Steeple!" with Rich Buckler/Frank Giacoia art, was an all-original sequel to "Haunter". Turn down the lights, pull the covers up to your chin, and prepare for some high-quality chills, Groove-ophiles!