If you're a lover of theme parks, you may have been in Staffordshire because that was the month in which the good people of Madame Tussauds opened the Alton Towers Resort, and one of Britain's most successful tourist attractions was born.
Then again, you may have been too busy banging your head against thin air because it was also the month in which Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album escaped and found its way into the record shops.
Was it an equally great month for fans of the galaxy's greatest comic?
I can't say, as my knowledge of the contents of that month's issues is even more limited than normal.
Will I let that prevent me having an opinion about them?
Of course I won't. I'm just going to follow my usual policy of hitting the keyboard with my fingers and hoping that viable sentences emerge.
Looking at the cover to Prog 159 does make me wonder if this was the first time we saw Dredd communicating with his bicycle.
Whether it was or whether it wasn't, it is at least clear that the Judge Child storyline is still going on - and not just going on but dominating the front of the comic, with three of that month's covers being dedicated to it. The one issue that isn't fronted by it, Prog 162, has a Dredd significance all of its own because it's the issue which first introduced the world to Judge Hershey.
Judging by his dominance of the covers, Dredd was clearly now seen as the comic's superstar and main selling point.
Breaking that run, the not quite as iconic Robo-Hunter gets a cover, even though he himself doesn't actually appear on it. I have a vague notion in my head that the robot on the cover was based on Edward G Robinson. If it was, I suppose that would make sense, with the Robo-Hunter himself having clearly been inspired by Humphrey Bogart.
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22 comments:
Hi Steve,
I have a comics related question... But, it doesn't have anything to do with Dredd as far as I can tell.
When I open your blog I see Marvel Feature #7 in the upper right with Red Sonja. What would one call the metal-scaled thing between her legs? Loin cloth doesn't make sense since it is not cloth.
Also, what would one call the type of scales / metal work? I don't think it would be chain mail since that refers to tiny little metal rings fascinated together like chains connected side by side.
Help? It's been bugging me for the past few weeks... I mean, I can't sleep at night.
Cheers!
Hi Charlie,
Personally, I'd call it a skirt.
As for the type of metal work it's made of, it's always been a bugbear of mine when people call it chain mail. As far as I'm aware, the correct term for it is scale armour.
Well, what bug-a-bears me is that the metal scales would surely create a rash / cut along the inner thighs, whilst riding horses or whatever barbarians did back then.
I mean, it just seems absurdly impractical.
And I really do not recall Knights wearing scaled armor? (Anyhow we did not have any of those here in the USA so we don't have much exposure to knights in armor.)
Was, was it just an aesthetic creation by Marvel's artists?
If I recall correctly it seemed that Captain America's top once had that scaled effect in the 70s which always suggested to my young mind that his uniform afforded some level of protection?
Whatever its called, it looked like it must have been kinda painful for the Sonj to wear. Still, not our problem, eh?
It makes sense that the progs cover featured Dredd regularly at this point Steve, as the Judge Child storyline was his first and greatest epic. The Cursed Earth and Judge Caligula have a lot to recommend them, but the classic character and setting weren't all quite in place until the Judge Child.
How can you not get excited about the first appearance of the Angel gang, and the artwork of Mike McMahon and Brian Bolland? And even Ron Smith - I realize some people are down on his work, but for an old skool geezer he did a pretty good job adapting to the cutting edge requirements of thrill power.
A little surprised you didn't have anything to say about prog 162 promising the return of Wolfie Smith. Its not that one, but anyway - Power to the People!
-sean
Seems like Charlie got in there just before me on the subject of Sonja's somewhat impractical fashion sense.
From what I've seen, the body armour of Captain America's costume has had much more emphasis since the 70s, as many artists have moved in the direction of greater "realism". Alex Ross is an example that springs to mind - his Cap definitely has a chain mail top.
-sean
Sean are you the "Sean Howe" who wrote that famous book on Marvel? Just wondering b/c you seem to have quite a ton of knowledge on our hobby! Thanks!
No - I am an anonymous boring git with nothing better to do than comment semi-regularly on a few comic blogs who just happens to have the same first name Charlie.
-sean
PS No criticism of those comic blogs should be inferred from that comment!
SteveDoesComics is generally an entertaining read. Thanks, Steve.
I must say I find Steve's blog highly entertaining except for the Judge Dredd stuff b/c we did not really have it growing up much over here, so I have zero context. (Well, there was a bit of it but it wasn't exactly front and center with Marvel, DC, etc.)
Thankfully you UK guys had Marvel o/wise I would not have exposure to your observations, witticisms, etc. which make for exceptional reading enjoyment! Plus I never would have found out what a Pims is and that I would be considered posh attending classes at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies!
Charlie, I think scale armour was more of an ancient Middle East thing than a medieval European thing. You need to think of places like Persia, Assyria and Sumeria.
Sean, I was going to crack a joke about Wolfie Smith's name but I suspect I'd already made one in an earlier post and, so, resisted the urge.
And thanks to both of you for the praise.
April 1980 was the month I started buying American Marvel comics regularly every month rather than just sporadically as I'd been doing since 1976.
I've never read 2000AD but could somebody explain who Wolfie Smith is? I only know Wolfie Smith from the TV series "Citizen Smith".
Colin, I must confess that I remember nothing of Wolfie Smith (the 2000 AD one) other than that he had some sort of psychic power.
The armor in Capt. America's was scaled. Much like a form of armor that was popular in medevival Spain.
That's what I akin to Red Sonya's "metal bikini". The Black Knight From Marvel's silver age was dressed in chain mail. Cap made a comment about saying how that was going to be a problem someday, when they were submerged and needed to swim to the surface.
Steve-
You're right about Persian armor. Maybe some Spanish knights brought the idea back from the crusades. I did illustrations for a high school report on medevival armor and one example I did I believe was Spanish.
Thanks, Killdumpster. It's nice to know I wasn't mistaken.
I believe most knights rode horses instead of prancing in front of pages with coconuts.
There were many things gleamed from the crusades. Historical, imformatle and tragic. Many things were learned but I feel over the years the knowledge has been lost.
I think I remember seeing Henry VIII's suit of armor at the Tower of London a long time ago.
As I recall, the thing was about the size of a Volkswagon.
M.P.
Re Killdumpster,
There was a time when the Arabs and the Ottoman Empire were the apex of civilization, like the ancient Greeks.
They nurtured ancient knowledge and writing that the Church condemned, while advancing it in the fields of science, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy, while my ancestors were about two steps away from barbarism.
Western civilization owes a lot to eastern influences.
Did you know playing cards came from the Crusades? We didn't come up with that.
M.P.
Well the dark ages were called " dark" for a reason. That being said if you drive around France it is full of Romanesque churches built in that time frame. And eventually you end up with incredible works like Chartre and La Chapelle in Paris. Not totally dark but certainly had stumbled after Rome collapsed. Damn barbarians , lol.
MP-
The Knights Templar invented check writing during the crusades.
Granted, that's a far cry from the eastern accomplishments you stated.
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