February 1986 - 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. 

***

CGI? Ubiquitous as it is, there was a time when it was a mere twinkle in the eyes of its creators.

But that twinkle grew a little brighter in February 1986 when Pixar was founded by John Lasseter and Steve Jobs.

Elsewhere, President Jean-Claude Duvalier was having a less optimistic future, as he fled Haiti, bringing an end to his family's 28 years of rule.

Up above us, Halley's Comet reached its closest point to the sun, thanks to its second 20th Century tour of the Solar System. The previous one having been in 1910.

Also in the heavens, the Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.

And, strangely, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead on his way home from a Stockholm cinema.

When it came to the UK singles chart, there was only one man to watch, and that was Billy Ocean who spent the entire month at the top, thanks to his latest hit When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going. Ironically, neither he nor his song were showing any signs of going.

Also refusing to budge were Dire Straits whose Brothers in Arms album spent the whole of February at Number One on the LP sales rankings.

But what can this madness be?

An era comes to an end when Captain Britain's mag folds, after just fourteen issues!

But does it go out in the style that only the UK's greatest hero can muster?

I don't remember but I do know it exits with Cap and Meggan helping Chief Inspector Dai Thomas find out who's been killing gangsters.

That's followed by the Black Knight in sensational solo action against The Stone Killer, as reprinted from the pages of 1979's Hulk Comic #4 & #5.

Night-Raven's also in reprint action, thanks to Flashpoint. A tale which first appeared in Hulk Comic #13 & #14.

And we conclude the issue and the publication with the Cherubim in Part 4 of Playgrounds and Parasites!

No such doom awaits Doctor Who Magazine which is proving to be as unstoppable as its hero.

In this immortal issue, we encounter a look at villains of the 80s, an interview with writer and script editor Chris Bidmead, an analysis of the serial Logopolis, a look at the role of Production Assistant, an interview with Davros actor Terry Molloy and ponder upon whether Doctor Who is a threat to my morals.

I'm feeling that it probably isn't.

Of course, there's a comic strip - this one being Revelation by Alan McKenzie. And there's a selection of reader's drawings to send us to bed happy.

But I do feel the loss of Captain Britain's book brings us to a pivotal moment in time.

As Marvel UK is now down to just one monthly title - Doctor Who Magazine - and it looks like it won't be launching any new ones until the 1990s, this seems a good time to bring this feature to an end.

Doing it has been an educational experience. Especially when the company was publishing something like 25 titles a month, which taught me never to do anything like that again.

So, goodbye, Marvel UK monthlies. May you rest in peace.

February 21st, 1976 - 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. 

***

Back then, you may have thought it was February 21st, 1976, but you'd have been mistaken because, according to the Number One song on the UK singles chart, that week, it was, in fact, December '63. And you knew it was true because it was the Four Seasons who were telling you it.

Living atop the summit of the accompanying LP chart was, as it had been the week before, The Very Best of Slim Whitman by - incredibly - Slim Whitman.

That was all shocking enough but there was something else going on that was of even more importance.

And that was the fact that Marvel UK's output was suddenly reduced to just six comics, thanks to the merger of Spider-Man Comics Weekly with The Super-Heroes. Just how would we be affected by such drastic change?

And could we even survive it?

I know little of this week's Conan adventure but I do know it's called City of the Dead.

As for the Avengers, they're involved in the latter stages of their battle to keep Cornelius van Lunt off Native American land.

A battle which seems to cause the evil tycoon's death and leads to the retirement of Red Wolf.

But is van Lunt really dead?

And, if he isn't, just what is his deadly secret?

Meanwhile, in a development I doubt anyone expected, Iron Fist finds himself up against Angar the Screamer.

A meeting that could, ultimately, lead him into conflict with Iron Man!

What a beautiful cover by Malcolm McNeill.

It clearly has nothing at all to do with Conquest of the Planet of the Apes but it's a fine-looking thing and would have convinced me to buy the book, even if I wasn't already in the habit of buying it.

Inside this thrilling issue, not only is Caesar becoming ever more in the mood for an uprising, we encounter a Ka-Zar who manages to rescue the super-soldier serum from Gemini.

However, that's where the good news ends, as Professor Victor Conrad drinks the original super-soldier serum and finds himself transformed into the menacing Victorius!

And the Black Panther infiltrates Killmonger's lair but is knocked out by Sombre and dumped in the snow, for wolves to eat!

Someone's clearly getting very cross with Dracula.

And that someone's Quincy.

No, not the TV pathologist played by Jack Klugman, although that's a meeting I'd pay good money to watch.

Instead, it's Quincy Harker hitting Vlad with every anti-vampire trap he's been able to concoct, in an attempt to finally finish off the fangy fiend.

Elsewhere, Jack Russell's still having a tussle with his sister while others try to stop Dr Glitternight.

And, on a far-off world, the Man-Thing must fight Mongu, the space warrior who was, sort of, last seen in the early days of the Hulk's strip.

Following all that, we encounter a 1950s reprint in which a dodgy Indian priest is crushed by his own cart.

But forget that because this is where a whole new era begins.

A sideways kind of era!

It's true. Spider-Man Comics Weekly transmogrifies into Super Spider-Man with the Super-Heroes, as the man with the stickiest fingers in comics goes down the Titans format route.

I've always seen it claimed the Titans' landscape presentation was unpopular with readers and newsagents alike and, therefore, failed to take off. But the fact that Spider-Man Comics Weekly's been switched to the same layout, after eighteen weeks of The Titans' existence, would suggest Marvel UK sees the format as having been a major success.

As for what happens in it, Spidey decides to go on the hunt for Morbius the living vampire but this, somehow, leads him into conflict with the X-Men and the discovery that the serum that got rid of his extra arms could kill him!

Very elsewhere, while the ruler of Asgard does the Odin sleep, Loki sneaks in and steals the ring from very his finger. A fact which, it seems, makes him the new king of Asgard!

Meanwhile, Iron Man's still fighting the Gladiator. Seriously, how many issues has he been doing that for?

But, in other places, things are getting far more dramatic - and memorable. This is the issue in which Silver Dagger sneaks up on a meditating Dr Strange and gives him a good back-stabbing.

And I do believe the final tale of the issue sees the Human Torch work with the Hulk in a bid to end the latest rampage of Blastaar!

Is there any hope for the X-Men?

I suspect there is but only just, as they come up against the dread power of Merlin. Something a surprising number of Marvel heroes have had to do, over the years.

After that, Spidey and Captain America must put a stop to the latest malevolence from the Grey Gargoyle but find themselves, instead, turned to stone and chained to a missile!

Nick Fury and SHIELD are trying to thwart whatever it is that Mentallo and the Fixer are up to.

And Captain Marvel and Rick Jones have decided to recruit the aid of Bruce Banner, in their attempts to escape each other's company.

But, first, they have to survive an encounter with desert-dwelling criminal gang the Rat Pack!

And can we be about to witness the fall of Atlantis?

It seems so - because Attuma and his hordes have only gone and got their hands on a giant space-robot and programmed it to attack the city!

It's a moment of great excitement, for me, because, after an absence of some fourteen weeks, The Mighty World of Marvel! has returned to the shelves of my local newsagent!

And its return makes such an impact on me that its tale of the Hulk and Betty, stranded on an island of giant space monsters, is still burned into my memory.

As for Daredevil, the whole world still thinks Matt Murdock's dead.

And he soon may be, as Mr Fear returns to publicly challenge him, torment him and prove to a watching public that Daredevil is a coward!

As for the Fantastic Four, they're now captives of Annihilus who forces them to fight against big machines!

Speak Your Brain! Part 117.

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

***

Image by Tumisu
from Pixabay

A wise man once said, "Speak now or forever hold your tongue."

I can only assume he was a reader of Sheffield's 38th greatest website and, in particular, of the most amazing feature of which the human mind has ever conceived.

The one in which you the Reader get to decide just what the topic of the day shall be.

It could be just about any subject under the sun or even above, behind, beside, inside, around or in front of it.

All that matters is that it can be found in the comments section below and is awaiting your input, with bated breath.

2000 AD - January 1988.

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

***

January 1988 was a big month for anyone hoping to restructure the Soviet Union because it was the month in which that entity launched  its program of perestroika, thanks to legislation introduced by Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

Also in the world of Communism, vice-president Lee Teng-hui became President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang.

When it came to ventures more capitalistic, Hollywood was, no doubt, hoping to rake in the big bucks, thanks to the release of such never-to-be-forgotten blockbusters as Cop, The Couch Trip, The Telephone, Biggles: Adventures in Time and, of course, Braddock: Missing in Action III.

I am 100% sure I've never seen any of them and I must suspect that not too many cinematic fortunes were made that month.

But proving to be highly profitable were the following artists and tracks, for they each seized the top spot on the UK singles chart: Always on my Mind by the Pet Shop Boys, Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle and I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany.

When it came to the adjacent album chart, January kicked off with Now That's What I Call Music! 10 dominating before it was dethroned by Wet Wet Wet's Popped in Souled Out which was then toppled by Johnny Hates Jazz's Turn Back the Clock which was then replaced by Terence Trent D'Arby's Introducing the Hardline According to ...

But what of the galaxy's greatest comic?

As you'd expect, it was providing us with the latest thrills from Bad Company, Nemesis the Warlock, Judge Dredd and Tharg's Future Shocks.

But it also saw the return of the ABC Warriors - who found themselves up against The Black Hole - and the return of Grant Morrison's Zenith.

February 14th, 1976 - 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. 

***

Just how many claims to fame does Midge Ure have?

Millions but, back in February 1976, he only had one.

And that was the song Forever and Ever which he performed as lead vocalist of Slik. However, it was enough of a claim to fame, as it was sitting proudly atop the UK singles chart.

When it came to LPs, those rankings were being dominated by no lesser offering than The Very Best of Slim Whitman by Slim Whitman.

Well, we all know that Slik's Forever and Ever is the greatest Bay City Rollers track that wasn't made by the Bay City Rollers but there were tracks I approved of even more on that week's UK singles chart. Among them were:

Mamma Mia - ABBA

Answer Me - Barbara Dickson

Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra

Midnight Rider - Paul Davidson

Itchycoo Park {1975} - the Small Faces

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Dat - Pluto Shervington

Squeeze Box - the Who

I Love to Love - Tina Charles

and

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon.

Should one wish to investigate matters more thoroughly, that week's UK singles chart can be found here.

While the accompanying LP chart lurks within. 

 But can it be true?

The Vision?

About to be killed by common-or-garden hoods?

As he can make himself as hard as diamonds, I suspect not.

I'm not so sure about the Scarlet Witch's chances though.

This, of course, relates to the tale within, in which the Avengers are attempting to help Red Wolf rid his tribe's land of the pesky Cornelius Van Lunt and his thugs.

Before that, Conan and a friend must decide whether it's worth stealing a priceless gem from the grip of a skeleton, bearing in mind that skeletons absolutely always come to life if you try to steal from them.

And, finally, Iron Fist finds himself in a tale called Morning of the Mindstorm that may feature the first-ever team-up of John Byrne and Chris Claremont.

Drama piles upon drama, as the Hulk and Betty - now cured of being the Harpy - fall from the sky and land on an island inhabited by strange, gigantic monsters from space.

It's a very peculiar tale but one I've always had a soft spot for.

Matt Murdock continues to let the world think he's dead, for reasons I can't recall, and then has to put up with the return of Mr Fear.

As for the Fantastic Four, with Sue pregnant but unwell, the rest of the gang travel into the Negative Zone, in search of a treatment for her.

But is this only going to lead them to their first ever encounter with a certain nihilistic grasshopper?

I am impressed that Armando's main concern, on that cover, seems to be that there's a gang of apes waiting for him, rather than that he's about to hit solid concrete after falling from a high-rise building.

Needless, to say, this death is going to galvanise Caesar in his quest to right the wrongs of this world.

When it comes to Ka-Zar, he now has to contend with not just Gemini but also the Plunderer and Gog, in his bid to retrieve a stolen super-soldier serum that AIM are keen to get their hands on.

And, in Wakanda, the Panther manages to clear Monica Lynne of murder. And it's all done with kebabs!

As far as I'm aware, Dracula turns up at Quincy Harker's house, looking to polish him off for good.

But the old vampire-hunter has more than a few tricks up his sleeve...

Meanwhile, thanks to Dr Glitternight, Jack Russell must fight his own sister who's been turned into a wolf-demon, by the arrival of her 18th birthday, while Topaz and Taboo attempt to thwart the doctor himself.

I'm not sure what occurs in Man-Thing's strip but I do know it's a tale called The Demon-Plague.

In a yarn that seems to have been going on forever, our hero and Dr Strange seek to rescue Flash Thompson from those Vietnamese monks who wrongly blame him for the death of their leader.

Speaking of things that seem to have been going on forever, Iron Man's still battling the Gladiator.

The good news is the story's titled, A Duel Must End! From this, I'm assuming this is the issue in which Shellhead finally triumphs over the foe that Daredevil usually defeats in about five pages.

Elsewhere, while Odin sleeps, Loki and his allies attack Asgard. An act which leads to the villain declaring himself supreme ruler of the kingdom!

But none of that's the big news.

The big news is this is the last-ever issue of Spider-Man Comics Weekly!

Does this mean we've seen the last of our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler?

We'll have to visit our nearest newsagents, next week, to find out.

Captain Marvel may have the cover but I do believe this issue's first thriller sees the X-Men having to tackle the copycat might of the Super-Adaptoid.

And that gives us the Mimic vs Super-Adaptoid fight we've all wanted!

Now we just need the Absorbing Man to join in.

Then, Spider-Man and Captain America have plenty on their plates when the Grey Gargoyle returns.

Next, Nick Fury and SHIELD set out To Free a Brain Slave!

From that cover, I'm going to guess we encounter the first part of the adventure in which Rick and Mar-Vell set off to recruit Bruce Banner's help in permanently freeing them from the Negative Zone.

And I do believe that, at last, Subby rescues Lady Dorma from Krang, returns to Atlantis and exiles the villain, yet again, from the environs of that fair kingdom.

And I'm sure he'll never return and never cause any more trouble.

And what's this?

Not only is Spider-Man Comics Weekly hitting the buffers. So is The Super-Heroes?

It's true. The comic that never quite managed to get its arse in gear has reached its very final issue.

And, as the cover features various people whose strips have sustained its fifty weeks of life, I think we can assume it knows it's the last issue.

But does it go out in style?

It goes out with the Man-Thing and Thing defeating the all-new Molecule Man.

The Black Knight must stop the revived threat of Modred.

And Giant-Man and the wondrous Wasp overcome the mighty Colossus.

Thus, are all loose ends tied up.

The Marvel Lucky Bag - February 1986.

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

***

Movies?

I know where to find them.

In the paragraph below.

One which lists the more famous ones released in February 1986.

And those movies are F/X, Hannah and Her Sisters, 9½ Weeks, The Hitcher, House and Pretty in Pink.

I think F/X, 9½ Weeks and House are the only ones of those that I've seen and I think House was the one I enjoyed the most. That is, therefore, the official Steve Does Comics Movie of the Month.

But can it be?

After 75 issues, has Rom reached the end of his space road?

He truly has because this is his very last issue and, to be fair, as his mag was launched purely to promote a toy, the lad's done well for himself.

In fact, he's done exceptionally well, as I can sensationally reveal that this is the issue in which he regains his humanity!

Mike Kaluta gives us a typically stylish cover when Starstruck hits its sixth and final instalment. Doing so with a tale called Kiss Daddy Goodnight.

And I haven't a clue what it's about.

But you know what I've been demanding?

If that cover's to be believed, I've been demanding the dramatic return of the original X-Men!

Granted, I have no recall of ever demanding such a thing, having always found them almost as uncompelling as Nick Fury's Agents of SHIELD. However, the gang discovers Jean's still alive, and this calls for a reunion that leads them to re-brand themselves as, "X-Factor!"

That's a very striking cover from Al Milgrom but didn't an issue of Moon Knight once have a cover very like it?

I don't know much of what goes on in this one but I do know the gang's fangy foe is none other than Jack Russell himself who it's hard to see giving an offshoot of the mighty Avengers much trouble.

Rather more menacingly, however, it would seem that Ultron's also involved...

Here's a thing you don't see every day; Benjamin J Grimm in wrestling action with Vance Astro.

Mostly, you don't see it because one of them lives on Earth and the other lives in space, and one lives in the present and the other in the future.

I suspect such minor obstacles will not be enough to get in the way of a tale called Home.

Secret Wars II rumbles on, as, frustrated by his experiences on our world, the Beyonder consults the Molecule Man.

Somehow, this leads to the all-powerful alien losing his temper and deciding to destroy the multiverse!

But can the Molecule's Man's unique skill-set thwart that drastic plan?

No sooner does Rom leave our lives than a new mag based on toys hits our spinner racks.

I know little of this but can reveal it's written and drawn by Herb Trimpe and, after crash-landing on the planet Skalorr, the crew of a spaceship team up with a band of nice robots to fight a band of nasty robots.

Sadly, despite providing us with all the robot-on-robot violence we could ask for, this appears to be the only issue ever published.

Longshot's mini-series draws to a double-length conclusion when its protagonist, Dr Strange and Quark discover that someone called Rita's been turned into a mere husk, by Mojo who then sets up a church on Earth and begins to brainwash its followers.

Forty years ago today - February 1986.

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

***

February. The month named after...

...

...

...whatever it is it's named after.

But will there be equal uncertainty within the pages that contain our favourite Marvel scrappers?

It's every thunder god's worst nightmare.

He's been turned into a frog!

By Loki!

Needless to say, he can't wait to get back to Asgard and sort out that pesky god of evil.

But, before he can do that, there's other matters to attend to.

Like helping a bunch of New York's finest frogs in their battle against evil rats, in some sort of remake of Watership Down that has everything in it but rabbits.

It's an odd one in which the FF encounter the Invincible Man and proceed to vince him but it turns out he's not the Super-Skrull, as any reasonable person would have assumed. He's some random bloke who wants to get into the Latverian embassy to claim revenge upon Dr Doom for stealing one of his inventions.

Or is he?

Is he, instead, Dr Doom who's tricked the team into helping him get back into that embassy, after discovering he can't access it now that his consciousness is trapped inside the body of a totally random bloke dressed as the Invincible Man?

For reasons I'm struggling to remember, Rachel Summers decides to kill the Beyonder, using the Phoenix powers she inherited from her mother.

But is even the power of the Phoenix enough to stop him?

And will she learn a valuable lesson, along the way?

But, hold on. Have I spotted a plot hole here? If Jean Grey was never the Phoenix - as recently revealed - how come her daughter's inherited those powers from her?

It looks like Rachel's going to have to wait her turn if she wants to kill the Beyonder - because the Puma's decided he wants to do it.

But, given that the Beyonder's all-powerful and all-knowing, how can the furry feline fury possibly do that?

As far as I can make out, the logic is the Beyonder's decided to fulfil the destiny of everyone he encounters and the Puma's been created to kill him. That means that, in order for the Beyonder to fulfil his stated mission, he has to let the Puma kill him.

Needless to say, the ever-interfering Spider-Man's got his doubts about it all.

Thanks to the actions of Doc Samson, the Hulk's on the rampage and has no mind that could stop him.

Fortunately, there's a whole bunch of Marvel's mightiest heroes on hand to do that for him.

Except they fail miserably and Samson, feeling guilty about his part in it all, wants to tackle the brute, single-handedly.

Meanwhile, the She-Hulk must decide whether to let doctors perform a procedure that might bring Bruce Banner out of a coma but may also kill him!

Things look bleak on the Squadron Supreme's homeworld where the team have taken over the planet and are ruling like brutish tyrants.

Due to this, Nighthawk travels to our dimension, in a bid to get the Avengers to help him overthrow them.

But will they be interested?

And will Cap and he be able to thwart the antics of a trio of Silver Age DC style super-villains who've fled to this world, seeking to escape the Squadron Supreme's thuggish rule?

Yet another size-changing character is added to Marvel's universe when a mystery woman steals Hank Pym's Yellowjacket costume and formula and, in doing so, attracts the wrath of the winsome Wasp.

In a shocking twist, Karen Page's desperation for a fix leads her to tell a crook the true identity of Daredevil.

Needless to say, it's not long before that information's sold to the Kingpin and the rotundly rapacious rascal reckons he can recklessly wreck the reputation of Matt Murdock.

Unfortunately for him, by the issue's end, the lawyer's realised just who's behind his sudden run of epic misfortune, and is on the lookout for revenge.

I'm not familiar with this one but it seems that, in a place called Becharadur, Conan finds himself being hailed as a saviour - but that's when the cheeky demon Imhotep turns up.

And I have no doubt the battling barbarian will, indeed, turn out to be a saviour.

As mentioned previously in this post: the Puma, the Beyonder, Spider-Man, destiny, furry feline fury, all-powerful, etc, etc.

Little does our hero suspect that Beth Cabe and Madame Masque have swapped bodies, meaning the woman who looks like Beth is out to kill him and the woman who looks like Masque is out to save him.

But before that, he must invade a computer, at microscopic size, in order to nobble it and regain the money Obadiah Stane stole from him.