Whoopi

Super Cops

SUPER COPS, the comic book, was a one-off title from Archie's more serious Red Circle imprint of the mid-seventies and, like many of that company's titles, featured a cover and a story by Marvin Channing and Gray Morrow.

The real life so-called Super Cops were a couple of small time showboaters who got lucky on the New York City police force and got nicknamed by the press "Batman and Robin" due to their acrobatic outings. They were also known for fighting corruption on the Force. In the wake of SERPICO, that got them a book contract and a breezy bestselling memoir. Although some of that story was later questioned, it was told well enough to get them what had been expected to be a major film bio!

Starring DARK SHADOWS actor David Selby and Broadway vet (and future TV star) Ron Liebman, the picture, directed by the brilliant photographer (and director of SHAFT) Gordon Parks received a tepid reception for some reason. In my area, it was barely released and I had to wait for the TV showing a couple of years later.

A barely remembered side product of this initial burst of popularity, however, was this comic book. One presumes it had not been intended as simply a one-shot. It's clearly not a tie-in to the film as the characters look nothing like the movie actors. More than likely, though, when the movie sank, it took the comic down with it.

Gray's Covers # 10

Worlds of Tomorrow

Three Perry Rhodan Covers

A Couple of Supergirls

Graphic Showcase/Spy Smasher

Gray Photo

Gray's Covers # 9

Gray Morrow, Robot Fighter

Just got this beautiful scan from Ronn Sutton and had to share it right away!

Sci-Fi Sketch

Another one of those "I'm not sure what it was done for" sketches but ain't it pretty?

Frontier Art

Gray's Covers # 8

Tarzan Original Art

Gray's Prince Valiant

Alan Kupperberg passes along these snippets of Gray Morrow's early seventies PRINCE VALIANT tryout page and notes that while Wally Wood's tryout is oft-reprinted, Gray's tends to go unnoticed.

El Diablo Debuts

From 1970, our friend the Groovy Agent shares the debut of Robert Kanigher's mysterious western hero, El Diablo. This story is made even more interesting by the cameo from Gray's fellow artist Gil Kane and...is that Dick Giordano as a smiling Mexican bandito? I'd be willing to bet the other faces belong to real people, also. I'm sure someone out there knows the story behind this nicely drawn little gem.

http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2010/05/shades-of-gray-devil-has-two-faces.html

The Missing Link

The enjoyable blog, TALES OF SWORDS AND VEEBLEFETZERS offers up a showing of Gray's CHILLING TALES OF SORCERY story, THE MISSING LINK! Check it out and then backtrack to read the rest of the blog!

http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2010/04/chilling-adventures-in-sorcery-3.html