Night of the Demon!

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

It's coming!

It's in the trees!

I think you know what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the never-to-be-forgotten chiller It's Coming and It's in the Trees!

Fortunately, it had another, even more magnificent, title than that.

And that title was Night of the Demon.

In fact, it had two other titles than that. For, it was known in the United States as Curse of the Demon. Presumably, for the benefit of those who might not be able to guess that a film called Night of the Demon is a horror movie.

But is it a horror movie? 

I'll come to that later.

1957's Night of the Demon is, of course, an adaptation of the M. R. James yarn Casting the Runes and involves sinister cult leader Julian Karswell. A man who's in the habit of bumping off his foes by secretly handing them a runic parchment that will lure a homicidal demon to them.

Unfortunately for Karswell, Dr John Holden, a big-shot American psychologist, is in town, determined to debunk him.

And he has the assistance of the niece of one of Karswell's victims!

And that can only mean one thing.

It's demoning time!

The protagonists are played by Dana Andrews and Peggy Cummins. One of them a brick wall  of determined scepticism. The other, all too convinced that dark forces have been unleashed upon the world.

Dana Andrews was that thing which seemed compulsory in British horror films of that era, an American guest boozer struggling to find good work in his home country. And Cummins was the star of Gun Crazy. Somehow, such is the nature of the film that Cummins' instinctive believer comes across as more rational than ultra-rationalist Andrews. Just as Mulder always seemed more in touch with reality than Scully ever did.

But the true star of the film is Niall MacGinnis as Karswell. An opponent willing to do whatever it takes to maintain his sway over his followers. But one who's never too busy to throw parties for the entertainment of local children.

And there's the genius of his characterisation. A masterful portrait in the use of bonhomie to disguise malicious intent. A man who'll welcome you into his home, with an air of relaxed generosity but who'll have you leaving that selfsame home in fear for your life.

As for whether it's a horror story, it seems director Jacques Tourneur wasn't so convinced, as he didn't want the titular demon to appear on screen, preferring a more ambiguous approach that would have left the audience unsure whether any actual supernatural events had truly occurred or whether such activities were all in the minds of the characters.

However, all was not harmonious. Co-producer Hal E Chester insisted that audiences would want to see an actual demon in a film whose title promised them one and, to his director's disgust, inserted one at key points in the film.

While I'm all in favour of ambiguity - my favourite horror film being The Innocents - I can't help feeling the oft-reviled Chester made the correct decision. Leaving aside that the demon has become an icon, appearing on record sleeves, book covers, posters and gifs, Tourneur - the man who directed The Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie and The Leopard Man - had already made several films that refused to commit themselves about the existence of the supernatural, and I can't help feeling there's a limit to how many times you can perform that trick before it becomes annoying affectation.

But what of the film itself?

It is, of course, a classic, vaguely overlooked at the time of its release but garnering critical appreciation, as the years have passed. A beautifully shot thing, making use of lighting, camera angles and sound to unfurl a truth that our world is only one brooding night away from the barrier between it and a whole other, malevolent, reality breaking down to reveal that what's really out there in the dark is what our childhood selves always feared was really out there in the dark.

And, when it comes to the cast, we should also acknowledge the presence of Brian Wilde - later to find comedy immortality as Foggy Dewhurst in Last of the Summer Wine and as Mr Barrowclough in Porridge - in his role of the doomed Rand Hobart, a man so traumatised by his dealings with Karswell that he's been left in a catatonic state that can only be escaped by hypnosis.

And we shouldn't forget Kate Bush who used an audio clip from the film at the start of her 1986 single Hounds of Love.

And we shouldn't forget me. After all, I'm the one talking about this film, and that must make me the most important one of them all.

Amazingly, from what I can determine, it seems I only first encountered it in 1980, which, for a venerable thriller, is remarkably late in my development. Surely, BBC Two must have shown it in the mid-1970s, during its famous Saturday night spooky double-bills. But, it seems it didn't.

But, however late in the day it first entered my life, it can never truly leave it, being easily one of my favourite three or four horror films of all time and one I must always watch whenever it turns up on TV.

Which it does a lot.

Almost as though it's as inescapable as its titular star himself.

November 29th, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

No. It's Steve Does Comics, which is neither real nor fantasy but, rather, inhabits a hinterland located exactly midway between those arbitrary poles.

More importantly, this week in 1975, Queen smashed their way to Number One on the UK singles chart, thanks to Bohemian Rhapsody forcing You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate to settle for second place.

I can forgive Queen for many things but how can I ever forgive them for keeping a sexy thing off the Number One slot?

When it came to the album chart, it was neither Queen nor Hot Chocolate who ruled the roost. It was Perry Como with his 40 Greatest Hits, although I'm willing to bet Perry Como never had 40 hits in Britain.

Hooray! After a couple of weeks' absence, The Avengers reappears in my local newsagents, meaning I actually get to read this issue.

And how impressed I am by the artwork of John Buscema and Tom Palmer.

More importantly, how struck I am by Arkon's resemblance to Conan, even if REH's battler never got to throw lighting bolts around!

Speaking of the Cimmerian; when it comes to his adventures, my knowledge of his comings and going, this issue, are vague but I remain convinced that sorcery will be involved.

And an attractive woman.

When it comes to Dr Strange, I do believe the spooky surgeon has problems with Shuma-Gorath trying to invade our Earth, via the mind of the Ancient One.

Or via his body.

Or via both.

Or something.

I never had this issue but, from that cover, I'm convinced it features the tale in which the Red Skull brainwashes Cap into trying to kill America's top general!

Elsewhere, in The Inhumans, the soft-hearted gang release Maximus from captivity - only for him to instantly rob Black Bolt of his memory and to seize control of the Great Refuge!

The Sub-Mariner, meanwhile, manages to rescue Lady Dorma from the Faceless Ones - and gets his hands on Neptune's Trident! Now can he use it to defeat Warlord Krang?

On land, Nick Fury's still battling whatever evil plan Hydra have come up with now.

And Captain Marvel's up against some dire menace or other.

The lord of all vampires is on a quest to find a missing statuette.

And it would appear he's about to get wet.

A, presumably, drier Jack Russell's still having trouble with Atlas, the Hollywood star who's miffed about having become disfigured.

And I have no doubt the Living Mummy's up to something thrilling, as well.

Now there's trouble for Zira and Cornelius, when their human hosts discover that, back in their own time, they were in the habit of experimenting on humans!

But this issue's even more thrilling news is that we see the arrival of two brand new strips!

Granted, the first one's not that new, as the adventures of Ka-Zar featured in the book's very earliest issues. But, now, the lord of the Savage Land is back with tales we have not yet read. 

And, that means were about to encounter his first encounter with the Everglades, Man-Thing and the forces of AIM!

As for the other new feature, that's none other than Don McGregor's Panther's Rage, an epic drama worthy of the finest works of Shakespeare himself, as T'Challa returns to Wakanda to discover murder and rebellion are on the menu!

We even get a map of Wakanda thrown in. And Shakespeare never gave us a map of anywhere.

Speaking of Kevin Plunder, Spidey's still messing about in the Savage Land. But, at least now, he has the king of the jungle on his side, in his quest to prevent Kraven from taking over the world, with the aid of his humongous great Gog!

Elsewhere, Iron Man must deal with the return of the Unicorn.

On live television!

Having finally reached the end of Galactus' life story, Thor's sent back to Earth, by Odin, to deal with the threat of the Thermal-Man, a malevolent robot whose rampage across New York, the Warriors Three have signally failed to halt.

As that cover makes clear, the Hulk continues to encounter Captain Omen and his undersea kingdom - and finds himself trapped on the seabed, with nothing but an oxygen helmet for company!

Meanwhile, the man without fear is trying to prevent Starr Saxon's robot from killing the incarcerated Biggie Benson.

And, in a bid to prevent Galactus from re-hiring the Silver Surfer, Reed Richards sends the pewter powerhouse into the sub-atomic realm we all know so well.

Hold on. Can it be? An Old X-Men story that actually looks interesting?

Admittedly, I only think that because the cover depicts them up against villains you wouldn't normally expect them to come up against.

In fact, that's one of the most random collections of super-criminals I've ever seen.

Apparently, it's all down to the machinations of Count Nefaria who's assembling a gang of lackeys and assumes the X-Men will be willing to join it.

Elsewhere, the Porcupine's out to revenge himself upon Giant-Man, having previously been thwarted by him in his Ant-Man days.

And the bounder drags the Giant-Man fan club into it!

But what's this? Marvel UK may have run out of Cat stories to use but that's not going to stop it.

No, it doesn't decide to redraw Killraven adventures as Cat tales. Instead, we're presented with a reprint of a Marvel Team-Up yarn in which she and Spider-Man must defeat a female assassin called the Man-Killer.

Speak Your Brain! Part 113.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Once again, mystery, drama and intrigue descend upon the hallowed halls of Steve Does Comics, in much the same way that a dread mist descends upon every moor top in this land whenever there is a devil-hound on the prowl.

And that's because no man can know what is to happen next.

No one but one man.

Or possibly, one woman.

Or even one household pet.

Because whomsoever posts tonight's topic for debate, in the comments section below, can know.

Therefore, if you are that person, make sure to do just that and disperse those nightmarish mists of intrigue, in order to allow through the revealing rays of uncanny enlightenment.

November 1985 - Marvel UK monthlies, 40 years ago this month.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

This month in 1985 was great news if you were an aircraft that was tired of flying round and round over the sea, looking for somewhere to land before your arms got tired.

And that's because it was the month in which the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was commissioned by the Queen Mother.

Elsewhere, in the UK, unemployment for September fell by nearly 70,000, bringing the total to less than 3,300,000.

When it came to board games, in an all-Soviet match, 22-year-old Garry Kasparov defeated Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest-ever undisputed World Chess Champion.

And there was epoch-making news for computers everywhere when the Microsoft Corporation unleashed the first United States release of Windows 1.0.

When it came to music, November launched with Jennifer Rush's The Power of Love still hogging the Number One spot on the UK singles chart. However, even Jennifer's cast iron lungs weren't enough to save her from an attack by Feargal Sharkey whose A Good Heart managed to depose it, before that track itself had to make way for Wham!'s I'm Your Man.

Things were decidedly more soothing on the accompanying album chart, with the month beginning with George Benson's Love Songs ruling the roost before that was gently dethroned by Sade's Promise which then had to make way for The Greatest Hits of 1985 by those always unstoppable Various Artists. 

After their recent jaunt to Africa, the good Captain and Meggan visit the far cooler climbs of the Russian wilderness in which they encounter legendary folkloric character Baba Yaga.

Up against far more metallic opposition is Abslom Daak who gets caught up in a tale the world knows as The Dalek Killers.

Elsewhere, Night-Raven finds himself in not one but two adventures. The first being Showdown and the second bearing the title Midsummer Madness.

And, then, as far as I can make out, Cap Brit's back for a five-page thriller called Playgrounds and Parasites! 

Jon Pertwee may be on the cover but, inside, the star of the show is 5th Doctor Peter Davison who grants the mag an interview!

And that's appropriate because this issue also contains a look back behind the scenes of his serial Resurrection of the Daleks.

We also encounter a look at some of the strange planets the Doctor's visited, uncover an interview with the show's Production Associate Angela Smith and visit a retrospective of the villains of the 1970s.

But all of this, I'm sure, pales into insignificance before the true highlight of the issue. 

Which is that we get the announcement of the winners of The Doctor Who Songwriting Competition!

If two young lads called Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty don't win it, there's no justice in the universe.

As we may have guessed, from that cover, the UK's Number One source for news of sci-fi, Fantasy and horror is, this month, carrying Interviews with various people involved in the making of Mad Max III.

And they're not the only ones, because we also stumble across a chat in which Ridley Scott talks about the creation of his film Legend.

Speaking of which, a man named Martin Asbury talks about visualising scripts for that film - and for Labyrinth and Greystoke.

For fancy people, there's a look back at Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast.

And there's a retrospective of The Man from Uncle.

But the issue closes with a feature upon which I can shed no light at all; The Filing Cabinet of Dr Sally Gary. Just how Expressionist that turns out to be, I cannot say.

November 22nd, 1975 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

On November 22nd, 1975, BBC One showed The Vengeance of She, a film that made such an impact on my soul that I can recall nothing of it other than that Ursula Andress wasn't in it.

My Googling tells me this was the most interesting thing that happened anywhere in the world on that day.

Clearly, I was going to need to fling myself into the pop charts, for excitement.

And what excitement I got, with a brand new Number One on the UK singles rankings.

Granted, that brand new Number One was D.I.V.O.R.C.E. by Billy Connolly but perhaps I could find more thrills atop the accompanying album chart.

No, I couldn't because the peak of that listing had now been claimed by the Godfather of Punk himself Perry Como, with his 40 Greatest Hits.

Perhaps I could find, within the pages of that week's Marvel UK publications, the excitement I craved.

Except my local newsagent only had one of them in stock.

What kind of madness was this?

I'm getting the feeling this week's Inhumans tale may pivot around Black Bolt using the devastating power of his voice.

So, that's basically the same as every Inhumans tale ever.

But what is new is that Jack Kirby's departed the strip and a new artist has taken his place.

And that artist is Nefarious Neal Adams who adds a whole new visual sophistication to events.

The Sub-Mariner, meanwhile, has tracked down Lady Dorma and must now liberate her from a vast horde of unfriendly sea-creatures they call the Faceless Ones.

I do believe Nick Fury and SHIELD are up against Hydra.

Meanwhile, it's deadly peril for the free world, as Captain America's been captured by the Red Skull and brainwashed into wanting to kill a big-shot American general!

And Captain Marvel is having to battle a giant robot created by Walter Lawson, the man the captain is pretending to be in his bid to avoid detection by the humans!

I don't remember much about this week's Conan thriller other than that the barbarian famously wrestles a horse into submission.

But, of course, the big story is one which involves another barbarian.

One who comes from another dimension and can throw lightning bolts at you.

You guessed it. It's the electrifying debut of Arkon! 

And that,'s not all because we're also treated to the thrilling return of the Scarlet Witch and her brother!

Not to mention that of the mighty Toad!

Meanwhile, Dr Strange's Shuma-Gorath epic drags on and on, as the master of mystic arts now encounters a giant monster that probably doesn't exist.

Rather like an end to this saga.

What's this? I do believe this is the first issue of Dracula Lives not to feature the book's title character in the main cover image.

In London, the lord of all vampires gets caught up in an investigation into the theft of a statuette.

But, first, he must see-off a gang of muggers.

No problem for a man with the power to mesmerise the feeble-witted.

Speaking of which, Jack Russell continues to have trouble with Atlas, the Hollywood star who's more than miffed about having become disfigured.

And the Living Mummy's still having to contend with the fact that the Elementals have taken over Cairo and are lording it over the local populace, like the wrong 'uns they undoubtedly are.

Cornelius and Zira have escaped the Planet of the Apes but how are they going to escape the Planet of Mankind now mankind knows the truth of what happened to Taylor and his friends?

Not to mention knowing the fate of the world itself?

I have no doubt this issue is where we'll start to find out.

Following that, I think we reach the final part of Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars, with their leader departing for other worlds, after getting a cavewoman up the duff.

And we finish the issue with a Tony Isabella, Robert Shaw, Gene Colan short called The Star-Magi, although I struggle to recall anything of what happens in it.

It all starts off as fun and games in the Savage Land, for the crew from the Daily Bugle - until a giant reptilian space alien called Gog shows up to poop the party.

Meanwhile, Iron Man's trying to cure Happy Hogan of being the deadly Freak.

But that's soon going to be the least of his worries - because the Unicorn's back and looking for trouble!

Speaking of which, Thor's found the biggest trouble in the universe, in the form of Galactus!

But, fortunately, the planet-eater's too busy, determined to tell the thunder god his origin, to do any of his usual devastating.

The Super-Heroes is still trundling along, inoffensively.

And is doing so by offering us the second part of Giant-Man's first encounter with the Black Knight. One which takes place in a funfair!

Elsewhere, The Cat must fight the Man-Bull after bumping into him in a bar.

And, this time, he's got a herd of cows with him!

And, not having to deal with any cows, the X-Men defeat Dominus and Lucifer by destroying the robots that have been doing all the work for them.

I may never have had this issue but I did have a copy of its Hulk tale, thanks to the 1975 Marvel Annual. So, my sense of deprivation is not as great as it might have been.

As for what happens in it, the Hulk only goes and bumps into a man called Captain Omen and, as we can all spot, "Omen" is "Nemo" backwards.

And that gives us a clue as to what kind of tale we're heading into.

A very watery one.

On far drier land, Daredevil's in his gym and still fighting Starr Saxon's murderbot!

And, in the Fantastic Four's strip, Galactus has taken a break from chatting with Thor, to scour the Earth for the Silver Surfer, so he can re-hire him as a herald.

Speak Your Brain! Part 112. Patterns, coincidences, duos and corn.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

Can it be true?

Can there really be barely more than a month to go before Christmas is once more upon us?

Yes, it can.

But is that what's on the minds of dear visitors to this dear journal?

That, I cannot say.

But I know how to find out.

And that's to fling the doors of Speak Your Brain open to the world again!

That's right. It's the return of the feature in which you The Reader get to decide just what the topic for debate shall be.

Therefore, waste no time in posting that topic and we shall see in just which direction our collective wind is blowing.

2000 AD - October 1987.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

How much do you love new countries?

Is it as much as I do?

If so, you were no doubt as thrilled as I, in October 1987, to hear Colonel Gaddafi announce that Algeria and Libya had agreed to a proposed union of the two states, with the brand new nation being called Algibya.

40 years later, we're still waiting for that to actually happen.

What we didn't have to wait for was Fiji becoming a republic. That's because it happened that very month.

When it came to the UK, it was a period in which the Great Storm of 1987 hit southern Britain - as well as northern France - and was one of the strongest storms to ever hit the region.

And there was more bad news. This time, financially, because it was a month that saw the arrival of Black Monday in which stock market levels plunged, notoriously, all around the world.

But the bad news didn't stop there.

At least not if you were a legendary British jockey called Lester Piggott because, if you were, you were jailed for three years, after being convicted of tax evasion.

And what of the cinema? Could we find refuge from all that calamity in there?

We might do, should we possess a hankering to watch such brand new fare as Near Dark, The Princess Bride, Someone to Watch Over Me, The Glass Menagerie, The Killing Time, Prince of Darkness, Suspect and The Sicilian.

The only ones of those that I've seen are Near Dark, The Princess Bride and Prince of Darkness. Of those, I shall vote for The Princess Bride as my Film of the Month.

And what of the UK singles charts?

October began with M|A|R|R|S' Pump Up The Volume at Number One but that soon had to make way for the irresistibly crunching beat of the Bee Gees' You Win Again.

When it came to the accompanying album chart, the month crept in with Michael Jackson's Bad in pole position before that was deposed by Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love which then had to make way for Sting's Nothing Like the Sun which then had to flee before the might of Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night.

And the galaxy's greatest comic?

It was still bringing us a steady flow of such strips as Zenith, Universal Soldier, Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd and Tharg's Future-Shocks.

But there was also innovation to be found in the form of a three-page tale called Bradley which appeared in Prog 545, brought to us by Alan McKenzie and Simon Harrison. While Prog 542 saw the debut of Freaks, as delivered by Peter Milligan and John Higgins. As far as I can make out, Freaks is a series in which a young man called Carl Woolf is abducted  by hostile aliens who demand he gives them Earth's military secrets, even though he doesn't know any of them.

Needless to say, this can only lead to trouble.