Greetings, Groove-ophiles! We're back with another episode of The All-Star Super-Squad and the Justice Society of America, this one from All-Star Comics #60 (February 1976)! Things really get cooking with "Vulcan: Son of Fire!", baby! (No extra charge for the bad puns, either!) Keith Giffen's layouts give the JSA a "modern" feel, while Wally Wood's inks keep things cool and traditional. A perfect blend of Golden and Groovy Ages is what Ol' Groove thinks! Conway is doing some pretty keen stuff too, going beyond just the "generation gap" stuff of the first two issues--and you know I dig the spotlight on Dr. Fate!

Happy New Year, Groove-ophiles! 2015 is history and 2016 is here! Kinda exciting, huh? More excitement for ya, baby: the first issue of DC's All-Star Comics revival from October 1975! Remember the excitement this ad generated?

The legendary Justice Society of America, the original super-team, had only existed in annual team-ups with the Justice League during the Silver Age and early Groovy Age, though fans clamored for more, more, more (true, Andrea)! Well, in 1975, Gerry Conway teamed with Ric Estrada and Wally Wood to bring that fabled super-team out of retirement. Sorta. As you'll see, Conway's revival was to have centered on three "younger" heroes: Robin (in his Neal Adams designed threads from JLA #92), Star-Spangled Kid, and a brand new heroine, Power Girl, the All Star Super Squad, but that didn't last long. Why? 'Cause fans wanted the JSA, baby! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's dig the very first issue of the ASC revival, ish #58, and take a look at the energy and excitement that went into bringing back some of DC's finest! Here we'll see the seeds planted that would inform how DC would handle the JSA to this very day! The ties to the Golden Age, the (grudging) passing of the torch to younger heroes (legacy heroes), and best of all, the series would eventually lead to Paul Levitz taking the helm and setting the pace for how writers would handle the JSA for decades to come. Whoops, strayed away from ish #58 again! Let's get on with it, shall we?

Cover art by Mike Grell

Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Didja know that when DC revived Showcase in 1977 (May 1977-June 1978) the venerable title lasted only 11 issues before going under in the DC Implosion? Didja know that, for some reason, Joe Staton drew the first 7 issues of that run? Joe did all three Doom Patrol issues, all three Power Girl issues, and the double-sized 100th issue which featured every character who ever appeared in the first 100 issues (sixty characters if the cover copy was right)! It's true! It's also true that Mr. Staton did a far-out and fan-tabulous job on each and every ish. Just to give you an idea of how great Joe was on Showcase, here are the splashes (plus a few extra full -age illos from ish 100). Dig 'em!

Welcome back, Groove-ophiles! I'm comin' at'cha with a new semi-series, Famous First Fridays. Every Friday (at least, that's the plan) I'll be layin' a "famous first" on ya, whether it be a first issue, first appearance of a great character, first story by a fave writer or artist, or maybe even the first issue of a particular comic I ever glommed on to. You catch my drift? Good! Then, onward!


I was trying to think of something special to start off with, and I thought back 33 years to the return of All-Star Comics and the debut of the captivating cousin of the Earth-2 Superman, Power Girl! PG (as we came to call her) was created by writer Gerry Conway and designed by Joe Orlando, Ric Estrada, and/or Wally Wood (the world may never know) for All-Star Comics #58 .

Right from the beginning, we all knew PG was gonna be the coolest chick in comicdom! Just check out her dynamite debut:


For years, fans had wondered if there would be an Earth-2 version of Supergirl. The answer was yes and no. Yes, we got Kara Jor-L, but man, she wasn't your daddy's Supergirl! A little older, quite a bit more of a feminist, and a LOT more--eh--developed. For once, DC was stirring things up. And guess what? It WORKED. Comics fans went wild for PG, and she's pretty much remained a constant force in the DCU: she survived the (in)famous Crisis on Infinite Earths (while her Earth-1 counterpart Supergirl did not); starred in a few mini-series; and, of course, has held membership in both the JSA and the JLA.

She's come a long way, baby!