Why?
Because it saw the release of none other than Saturday Night Fever. I'd love to claim it revolutionised my life and turned me into the disco king I am now.
But it wouldn't be true. At the time, I was being led a whole other merry dance.
A merry dance led by one comic.
And that comic was 2000 AD.
Argh! Run! Run! Mangog is here!
Apparently, this issue features the start of a strip called Bonjo From Beyond The Stars. I must confess it's a strip I have no memory of.
For some reason, this one reminds me of the cover to that Avengers tale where Psyklop has captured and shrunk the Hulk, even though it bears no resemblance to that cover other than that there's a big insect-type villain and small people.
It seems this issue sees the start of Dredd's adventure on Luna-1 and the formation of the Harlem Hellcats.
Up until they invented texting, I was never sure why phone keypads had letters on them as well as numbers. I'm still not convinced I know why but it seems they made it easier to arrange both monsters and murders.
The internet informs me that M.A.C.H. Zero makes his debut this issue.
Hooray! It's Christmas in Mega-City One!
More importantly, Walter the Robot gets a cover appearance.
It's an exciting time for us, as the comic dumps the, "Supercovers," and gets back to featuring its regular stars.
No sooner has Judge Dredd made the front cover again than Dan Dare emulates the feat. It is something of a surprise to discover the entire galaxy shares the same New Year's Day. What were the chances of that?
That flag does have more than a hint of the American Confederate flag about it.
Then again, it has more than a hint of the Union Jack about it too. Just what were the editors of 2000 AD trying to tell us?
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3 comments:
Surely Walter the Wobot? Plus this version of Dan is a kind of pulpy intergalactic space nazi so the flag is probably quite appropriate?
Great stuff as per!
Bonjo From Beyond The Stars was a brief humour strip by the reliably amazing Kev O'Neill, not unlike his later Captain Klep. Hope that clears things up for you, Steve.
Dumping the supercovers was indeed a welcome move, but you're celebrating a little prematurely as that Xmas Dredd is something of a one off - over the next few months the covers would be the first page of that weeks Dan Dare episode.
That was an obvious attempt to recall the old Eagle - along with Dave Gibbons going for a look closer to Frank Hampson's original - so it seems like Tharg was still thinking of DD as the star of the comic. Which seems odd in retrospect, given how distinctive 2000AD was becoming.
Particularly Dredd; Mike McMahon's artwork was becoming more stylish at this point, and I think that prog with Mangog on the cover was Brian Bolland's first go at the character.
-sean
Thanks for the info, Sean. And thanks for the praise, Blair. :)
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