Sensational Seventh Anniversary! Titanic Tuesdays: "Trouble--Which Rhymes With Double!" by Rozakis, Brown, and Blaisdell

Dig it, Groove-ophiles! Today is Diversion of the Groove Kind's sensational SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY! Man, time doth fly when you're having fun, dunnit? Ol' Groove just wants to say "Thanks" and send a big ol' Dating Game-style "mmmMMWAH!"  to all'a you far out fellas and fems who have made Groove City their cyber-home-away-from-home! Ol' Groove loves ya, baby!

And now, welcome back to our regularly scheduled Diversions and  Mal and His Pals, er, Teen Titans, Groove-ophiles! Teen Titans #47 (January 1977) had a bit more "oomph" than the ish before it. Perhaps it was the author Bob Rozakis' plot in which Two-Face sent pairs of evil-doers after our heroes (goofy those twin terrors might have been--like something right out of Archie's campy Mighty Heroes line of the 60s). Perhaps it was the art by Bob Brown who was moving back to DC after spending most of the 70s at Marvel. Sadly, this was one of Bob's last completed jobs (or was it even completed? Looks like some art-tinkering went on here and there), as he passed away the very month this mag hit the stands. Ol' Groove's not sure, but I do know that ending was certainly an attention getter (as was that groovy Rich Buckler/Jack Abel cover)!

Titanic Tuesdays: "You Can't Say No to the Angel of Death! (Or Can You?)" by Rozakis, Novick, and Colletta

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Well, you seemed to get a kick our of our last visit to the Teen Titan's  1976/77 revival, even though you know it wasn't a blockbuster mag by any stretch. Still, it's fun to see what happened between the classic Silver Age Titans and the superstar Titans of the 80s, so--ta-dah! here's yet another new departmant: Titanic Tuesdays! We know Bob Rozakis is gonna try to give us our quarter's worth each month with cool plots, DC-filtered, Marvel-ized characterization, and the continuing quest to make a super-hero out of Mal. Artistically we'll get a very mixed bag, let Ol' Groove warn ya! But hey, t'was part of our beloved Groovy Age! Today we're peeling back the pages of Teen Titans #45 (September 1976) for "You Can't Say no to the Angel of Death! (Or Can You?" with art by Irv Novick and Vinnie Colletta!

Cover art by Ernie Chan (Chua) and Vinnie Colletta

Famous First Fridays: Jerry Bingham's Debut

What's happening, Groove-ophiles! Today's Famous First post focuses on the dazzling debut of Jerry Bingham. A lot of ya may not remember Bingham since he left comics in the 1990s and turned his artistic focus on animation, film, paperback covers, advertising, etc. He is still working away today, and you really should bop on over to his website (after ya read this post, natch) and check out his pulse-pounding paintings. The dude is awesome! In the comics world during the late '70s through the '90s, Jerry was quite prolific. You could find his art at just about every publisher during that time. He drew everything from Marvel-Two-In-One to Marvel Team-Up, to Black Panther, Iron Man, Warp, V, Warlord, Beowulf, to his masterpiece, Batman: Son of the Demon. Yep, with co-creator Mike W. Barr, t'was Bingham's powerful art that picked up the story of Batman's marriage (read more about that here) and gave us the birth of Damian Wayne, today's Robin.


But we're here to see how it all began, aren't we, Groove-ophiles? Well, the story goes that Dan Adkins, former Wally Wood assistant and comicbook talent scout par excellence, helped young Bingham land this first gig in which he illustrates a moving and melancholy masterpiece featuring Green Arrow and his former side-kick Speedy. Gerry Conway's tale is a good one, building on the legendary and ground-breaking Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams "Speedy's On Drugs" storyline from Green Lantern/Green Arrow #s 85-86 (May-July 1971). Bingham, ably inked by the mega-talented Bob Layton, hit the ground running. Like many of his contemporaries, he was obviously inspired by Neal Adams, but his own style was developing page by page. His storytelling chops are quite strong which makes it hard to believe we're looking at a new artist's debut--but we are! Kick back and pull out the Kleenex, Groove-ophiles! From World's Finest #251 (March 1978) here comes "No Home For the Hero"!