It's time to get your white dress on, wave your arms around like a fool and put on your best banshee voice because, in this week of 1978, Kate Bush finally hit the UK Number One slot with her debut single Wuthering Heights. Not only was it one of those tracks that was impossible to ignore but it was also, by repute, the first female-written song ever to top the UK charts, which does seem a remarkable thing, bearing in mind just how many women had had hits, over the previous decades.
Much as I love it, I have always found it odd that, at one point, the lyrics seem to make reference to the 1960s TV drama Cathy Come Home, which is a strange thing to allude to in a song about Wuthering Heights. That's what happens when you let teenagers write songs. They get too clever for their own good.
Meanwhile, on this very evening of forty years ago, BBC Radio 4 was broadcasting the first episode of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I do remember being highly impressed by it.
And, not to be outdone on the sci-fi front, BBC Two was, that evening, broadcasting an Arena special filmed on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I do remember just how mysterious the movie seemed at the time and I was definitely more excited by the prospect of going to see it than I had been by the thought of going to see Star Wars.
Speaking of Star Wars...
Maybe it's just me but I do find great amusement in the fact that Luke And Han are in the same pose on the cover.
Not that that matters because, this issue, we have the chance to win the entire cast of Star Wars!
Blimey, that's a prize and a half. Whoever would have thought that publishing a Star Wars comic would be so lucrative that Marvel UK could afford to purchase a film's entire cast and then give them away? I'd love to know who the lucky winner was, and if he still has them.
Oh no! Spider-Man is falling! How will he ever survive such a thing? It's not like he has any means at all for dealing with a plunge from a great height.
But it's interesting to see that Spidey's been redrawn for this cover, to make him far more prominent than he was on the front of the US original. It's a rare case of a Marvel UK cover being an improvement on the American version. Larry Lieber is definitely earning his pay lately.
In other news, it seems the White Tiger wasn't the one who stole whatever it was that was stolen during the campus riot. It was some foul and villainous wrong-doer who'd been dressed as him.
The Sons of the Serpent are up to no good again.
It does seem remarkable that just a bunch of socially challenged people in masks would ever be able to give a group of people as powerful as the Defenders any trouble. But that's the nature of super-teams. They always, somehow, collectively struggle to defeat foes that any one of them on his or her own could probably flatten within seconds.
It is, though, pleasing to see Nova finally get a mention on the cover. It's nice to know he's still with us, even if he's trapped in a funhouse of terror. I suppose that at least it's more dramatic than being trapped in a terrorhouse of fun.
The FF and Silver Surfer are having all kinds of problems with Dr Doom and his giant yellow man. All of which means Medusa is back to fulfilling her traditional duty of being gripped by a giant hand.
Marvellous as that all is, in all honesty, I'm more excited by the fact that this issue would appear to be reprinting the team's first ever encounter with the Hulk, from back in the days when it was still possible to argue about who was stronger, the Thing or the Hulk.
I do feel that a lot of the charm of early Marvel was down to the fact that their heroes weren't all that powerful. Back then, the Hulk had to put some effort into it to even bend a steel bar. Now, he can probably bend the universe in half if he wants to.
Having said that, it would seem that, in the late 1970s, he couldn't even bash his way through a plate glass window.
I genuinely can't remember what the Bi-Beast's plan was. Once he had control of SHIELD's Helicarrier, what, exactly was he planning on doing with it?
If they were giving away the cast of STAR WARS and I won, they could keep them all. Except Carrie Fischer. I never thought she was that attractive till I saw her in the slave costume. Wow! God rest her soul.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read you mentioning banshees I thought you were going to talk about late 70's punk rock. I'm a HUGE fan of Siouxsie & the Banshees. I worked in the music biz for 30 years, and though I know her name, I've never listened to Kate Bush. I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that Siouxsie and the Banshees will get a mention at some point on this site. They were always a band who had great appeal for me.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Sons of the Serpent were an allegory for the KKK. Which made them an even more lame supervillian organization. They gave the Avengers more trouble than what they were worth also.
ReplyDeleteI had the US version of the issue when the Hulk met the for the first time. One of my favorite stories of all-time, Kirby art action. I drew a oversized version of the cover, with no wording. Just the Hulk in the one tunnel waiting for the FF in another. It wasn't bad for a six year old effort. Had it on my wall for years. My friends tryed to buy it of me. It just screamed suspense
ReplyDeleteAs far as Star Wars vs Encounters, apart from the then groundbreaking sfx,the only appeal Encounters had for me was Terri Garr. I so much had the hots for her. Young Frankenstein also showcases her "broad" appeal.
ReplyDeleteLarry Lieber was Stan Lee's brother who left Marvel to helm a competitor called Atlas/Seaboard comics. They died pretty much in a year due to distribution problems, but I'd pick an issue up of their titles when I'd find them on an newsstand. Did you ever see any across the pond? They really weren't bad, and they had a few legendary artists .
ReplyDeleteFinally you posted for Thursday (though it is now Friday in the UK)!
ReplyDeleteI never read these and have no idea what they are about!
Phew, that felt good!
Charlie, I'm proud to announce that it was posted at 6:59 pm, Thursday, UK time, 27 minutes after you demanded it.
ReplyDeleteKilldumpster, not only did we get Atlas comics over here, if you click on the, "Atlas Comics," link in the sidebar, you'll find reviews I did of large numbers of their books.
It's kind of odd because I've seen Americans complain that Atlas suffered from poor distribution but, in Britain, you seemed to be able to get them everywhere. In the space of just two weeks, I managed to get my hands on virtually every issue they published. Something clearly went wrong somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWell at least the music, radio and TV were good in 78 as imho Marvel UK were not at their best badly edited stories, too much "grey tone" horrible covers, (although the look mostly OK here) and titles that had more letters than a Welsh town name. I was only picking up MWOM regularly at his time and that was only out of habit as I had been buying it since issue 1 (most went unread just scanned)
ReplyDeleteIt was the same in the Glasgow area Steve re Atlas comics they were everywhere I got almost every single issue not long after they came out with the exception of "Vicky" and "Gothic Romance" which I never saw (I managed to picked up the "Vicky" issues about 10 years ago at a local comic mart all 4 issues for £2 - I have still never seen "Gothic Romance" (although I hear it wasn't a comic more text stories with spot art from the likes of Adams etc) imho Atlas did some great comics (some rubbish as well) but I do recall the utter excitement of seeing all these new exotic American comic back in the mid 70s from a new comic company, I was sure my first issues would be worth hundreds, if not thousands of pounds today instead of about 50p - £2 each :(
You UK guys were lucky if you had no distribution problems. It plagued me/us all thru out the 60s, much of the 70s.
ReplyDeleteI know I read a bunch of Atlas (Scorpion by Chaykin being my fav until like issue 3 they put him into a blue superhero suit with zero explanation) but honestly can't recall if distro was an issue. Geeze, why can't I remember 40 years ago if I had trouble finding any Atlas issues on the spinner racks? What is wrong with me???
There's another video for "Wuthering Heights" in which Kate Bush wears a red dress and prances around in a wood. Apparently she'd never read the novel and the song was based on a TV adaptation.
ReplyDeleteBut is it really so strange that "Wuthering Heights" was the first UK No.1 performed and written by a woman? Remember, in March 1978 the UK singles chart was barely more than 25 years old (it began as a Top 12 in November 1952) and most artists didn't write their own songs. There must have been women who had previously sung AND written their own songs (for example Barbra Streisand wrote "Evergreen" in 1977) - but Kate Bush was the first CHART-TOPPER in the UK.
By the way, Steve - have you heard that New Musical Express is to cease publication? I must admit that I've never actually read the NME - I read 'Smash Hits' for a while in the '80s but that's as far as my interest in music magazines went. But the NME is legendary despite me not buying it - I mentioned that the UK singles chart began in 1952 and I think it was in the NME that the first chart was published.
Chaykin has always been great - still producing very readable comics forty years on (even if his digital artwork doesn't quite hit the spot).
ReplyDeleteMy theory on the distribution of imported comics in the 70s is that that the UK was a bit of a dumping ground for the returns of titles that didn't sell too well in the US; the wide availability of Atlas over here would seem to back that up.
The Sons of the Serpent storyline in the Defenders was poorly done; whatever point Gerber was trying to make, having a black character as the secret leader of a bunch of loony-tune racists sounded a sour note.
Did you catch the first episode of the new Hitchhikers Guide on the radio last night, Steve?
A bit underwhelming I thought...
-sean
Sean you ever read Chaykins Cpt Flagg?
ReplyDeleteYeh, we thought all our christmas' had come at once when all the Atlas' came in. And some of them were even pretty good!
ReplyDeleteOur distribution got better with Marvel & DC as the 70's went on, but forget Charlton or Warren. Even now, they feel like special comics, just cos they were so rare.
Pete, I always found Charlton comics really easy to get. I had tons of them. Warren, however, were much rarer.
ReplyDeleteSean, I'm afraid I didn't catch last night's Hitchhiker's. I have to confess I didn't even know about it until you mentioned it.
Wasn't it a tradition for the leader of the Sons of the Serpent to turn out to be black? I remember one of their two leaders in The Avengers #74 also turning out to be black.
Colin, I have indeed heard about the NME ceasing publication. I used to read it in my teens. In truth, at that time, it was a bit pretentious and possibly a little out of touch with the 1980s.
I've seen the Kate Bush red dress video. If I remember rightly, it was created for the American market, while the white dress one was for the UK market. I must admit I've always found it completely risible, even though she's basically doing the same moves as in the white dress version. It's amazing how changing the colour of a dress and letting trees into shot can make such a difference.
Paul, it is amazing how exciting Atlas comics seemed at the time. Reading them now, their flaws are blatant but, at the time, it felt like we were in on the beginning of the future of American comics.
Actually it's probably because of dry spells in distribution of new Marvel and D.C. product that I read Charlton , Warren, etc because I needed a fix! I know that's how i discovered Eman and Warren's Spirit.
ReplyDeleteSteve-
DeleteIs it just me, but do you think the guys at Atlas Comics were obsessed with cannibalism? Seems like more than a couple of characters indulged in human flesh. For that matter I seem to recall at Marvel, Killraven's Martians & Deathlok's mutant zombies were cannibalistic.
No need to answer, Steve. Just read your Morlock review, and you had come to the same conclusion.
DeleteCharlie, yeah - American Flagg was great. I don't really get why the first dozen issues or so, along with Time2 didn't get Chaykin a broader audience, like Frank Miller or Alan Moore.
ReplyDeleteCan't say Charlton made much of an impression on me, but I was mad for the Warren mags once I found somewhere near me that sold them (would love to say The Spirit was the first one that grabbed my attention, but inevitably it was Vampirella - hey, I was thirteen at the time)
Steve, I'm not familiar with the earlier Sons of the Serpent storyline, but repeating a tradition doesn't make it any less iffy.
That's a problem with continuity in American comics generally - like, once the Silver Surfer starts whining about being stuck on earth, you have to put up with him doing it all the time.
Hope I haven't put you off trying the new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with (mostly) the original cast - Radio 4, 6.30 on Thursday evenings - as maybe it'll get better.
Douglas Adams will be hard to replace though...
-sean
I was aware of the new Hitchhiker's series on Radio 4 but I didn't listen to the first episode. It'll be repeated on Radio 4-Extra next Thursday so I'll probably hear it then :)
ReplyDeleteGood question Sean. Chaykin is well known and done a ton of work on a variety of characters. "No accounting for taste," as they say.
ReplyDeleteI think I was actually in a "terrorhouse of fun" once, but luckily I got out before the Polizei raided it.
ReplyDelete"Kiss them for me, I may find myself delayed..."
M.P.
In their first appearance the leader of the Serpents was revealed to be a General Chen who'd been denouncing America to the UN for its racial problems. Good old Commie villains!
ReplyDeleteRe NME, the surprising thing is that it managed to keep going for years when the other music weeklies had long since packed up.
Thanks for the Sons of the Serpent info, Joe. I was trying to wrack my brain to remember who their original leader was. I vaguely remembered that he wasn't what he claimed to be.
ReplyDelete