Thursday, August 17, 2017

They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore--Or Do They? Forbidden Gallery


Check it out, Groove-ophiles! What mag gives you new, Groovy Age style talent mixed with brand new horror and sci-fi tales by Groovy Age luminaries like Joe Rubenstein, Paul Kupperberg, Roger McKenzie, and Nick Cuti (plus post-Groovy Age talents like Craig Hamilton, Brian Postman, Lou Mougin, Sandy Carruthers, and more)--in color? ACP's Forbidden Gallery, baby! Dig it, Forbidden Gallery is like a combination of a Warren horror mag (Creepy or Eerie, take yer choice--and yeah, that mean's FG isn't for the kiddos) in a format and (sometimes) feel of the DC's classic mystery mags (House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and the rest), but updated with new writers and artists who totally "get" the great mystery/sci-fi comics of the 1970s and 1980s.


The first ish (with a cool painted cover by Paul Tuma and Joe Rubinstein) came out back in the fall and it blew Ol' Groove away with it's cover-to-cover (literally! No ads--and the framing story starts on the inside front cover) motherload (36 pages) of cool comics: "Archimedes" by editor/publisher William Mull and Paul Tuma, "Kenny's Very Bad Dream" by Paul Kupperberg and Sandy Carruthers, "Greenhouse Effect" by Roger McKenzie and Jack Snider, "Destroyer" by Lou Mougin and Mike Montgomery, "Two Kingdoms" by Mull and (art director) Dærick Gröss Sr., and "Twin Moons Over Theroin" by Ed DeVore and Jeff Austin (who really captures the feel of Groovy Age artists like Bernie Wrightson and Dan Green). Gröss' art direction and colors (along with the other colorists, on a roster that includes Matt Webb)  give Forbidden Gallery #1 a slick, modern look, but with a decidedly wonderful retro palette that truly pleases these groovy ol' eyeballs! Frightening fun all the way with the first ish...


Which leads me to...


Forbidden Gallery #2 which is on sale any day now! It's another gore-geous package of more of the same Groovy Age style wonderment, with more stories (very well) written by editor/publisher Mull, but also tales from Charlton Neo's Rene King Thompson and the (Ol' Groove doesn't use this word lightly) legendary Nick (E-Man) Cuti! The artists in this ish include Craig Hamilton, Carl Comendador, Tim Holtrop, Brian Postman, and (Ol' Groove's partner in The Creeps #8's "Clownin' Around") Nik Poliwko. Gröss' brilliantly art directs and leads a crack team of colorists again. The stories are a hoot, the art is gorgeous, and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy of Forbidden Gallery #2 (Mull was kind enough to let Ol' Groove have a sneak-peek via .pdf, don'tcha know)!




Ol' Groove tips his kreeblah to Editor/Publisher William Mull for making lightning strike twice by heading up two sensationally spooky issues of a comic that is sure to appeal to fans of Groovy Age! Here's to many, many more issues, William!

To order your copies (or for a link that will take you to comiXology, if you dig your comics in digital form) go to the ACP website right now--and tell 'em Ol' Groove sent ya!

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


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As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!