I can.
Because I've got the internet, a thing we couldn't even have dreamt of back then.
Or could we?
Perhaps we could. For, in that very month, the Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduced the DIX standard for Ethernet, which was the first implementation outside of Xerox and the first to support speeds of 10 Mbit/s.
To be honest, I don't have a clue what that means - I just copied and pasted it from Wikipedia - but it sounds like the sort of event this site could not have come into existence without.
Possibly more comprehensibly, it was also the month in which Hercules the bear - who'd gone missing on a Scottish island while filming a Kleenex advert - was found. It's genuinely astonishing to me to discover that that event was a massive thirty eight years ago. To be honest, it astonishes me even more that I remember it.
"That's all very well," I hear you demand, "But just what would Hercules have been listening to on his Walkman as he rampaged around that island?"
I'm glad you asked because, when it came to the UK singles chart that month, the Number One spot was occupied by just two songs; Feels Like I'm in Love by Kelly Marie and Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police,
The UK album chart, meanwhile, was somewhat faster moving, with its Number One slot being claimed by Roxy Music's Flesh and Blood, Gary Numan's Telekon, Kate Bush's Never Forever and David Bowie's Scary Monsters and Super Creeps.
When it came to the galaxy's greatest comic, the big news was that, from Prog 178 onwards, Tornado officially met its maker and was removed from the masthead, meaning that 2000 AD returned to its original title for the first time since 1978.
Looking at the cover of Prog 176, I don't have a clue what The Great Human Rip-Off was. I assume it wasn't a precursor to The Great British Bake Off.
Apparently, Prog 178 came with a free badge. I have no memory of ever receiving a badge with any issue of 2000 AD. I now feel proper put out.
Prog 179 saw the Judge Child saga reach Part 24 - and it still wasn't over. They really did know how to drag out those Judge Dredd stories.
Steve, 2000AD 178 had a free badge as it was one of those progs given an extra promotional push because it featured several new series. As pointed out on the cover.
ReplyDeleteNo more Wolfie Smith (hence the end of Tornado in the title I suppose) or Stainless Steel Rat; instead we got the return of Torquemada in the proto-Nemesis two-parter Killer Watt, and Strontium Dog, and the first episode of the Meltdown Man.
Not sure offhand what the other two new stories were, but even so I do wonder how we survived such an awesome dose of thrill-power.
Prog 176 featured the featured the short Robo-Tale "The Dating Game", which I think might have been the first story by the Alan Moore droid in 2000AD; at the very least, it was his first published work with Dave Gibbons.
-sean
Thanks for all the info, Sean. I've now had a quick Google and it seems the badge featured Judge Dredd holding his gun. It rings no bells at all for me, making me suspect that, somehow, I never had it. This makes me feel that life has dealt me a great injustice.
ReplyDeleteAs I don't recognise any of these covers I guess this was about the point I stopped reading 2000AD. I assume my weekly/monthly comic budget wouldn't stretch to the galaxy's greatest comic as well as most of Marvel UK's output.
ReplyDeleteY'know, I wasn't aware that Judge Dredd was a British thing. I did not know that. Then again, it was never really a big deal over here as far as I know. I'm unfamiliar with the comics, but I'm unfamiliar with a lotta stuff.
ReplyDeleteThat movie they put out a few years ago, with that guy Karl Urban, was surprisingly good. He sure got the scowl down. And Cersie Lannister was great in that film, too.
They didn't waste time on a back story, they just got right into it. A wise move, I think. We don't need his origin. I mean, how many times do we gotta see Batman as a kid?
M.P.
Anybody see The Apprentice last week?
ReplyDeleteTwo teams tasked with coming up with a new boric for 8-12 year olds and both came up with something more appropriate for pre-schoolers. When I was 8-12, I was reading the UK reprints of US Marvel comics and others were reading war comics or football comics. If I was a bit younger, maybe I'd have hasd friends reading 2000 ad. If someone had given me a Noddy comic I wouldn't have been impressed.
Dangermash, I started reading Marvel "borics" when I was 8 - Planet Of The Apes No.5 to be precise.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wouldn't watch The Apprentice if it was the last TV show left on Earth.
I've never read 2000AD - not a single issue. Ever.
But I do remember Hercules the bear on the loose on that Hebridean island :D
Yes, sorry, borics should have said comics.
ReplyDeleteMain thing, though, is that if someone asked you to design a new comic for 8-12 year olds, you'd have come up with something an 8 year old could feel proud of reading. Not MC Gigi or Benji and his magic telescope.
Let me get this straight... this weekend was the World Conkers Championship 2018 and we are prattling about Comics??? W. T. H. !
ReplyDeleteCharlie, sadly, for some reason, the World Conkers Championship doesn't seem to have been televised this year, so I know nothing of what happened in it.
ReplyDeleteDangermash and Colin, I didn't just miss the World Conker Championships, I also missed The Apprentice.
MP, I do feel Dredd was a decent movie, although I could have done with a bit more social satire and surrealism. While enjoyable and effective, it felt a bit too straight to me, compared to the comic version of the good Judge.
Tim, my 2000 AD reading was still going strong at this point. It didn't stop until sometime around 1984. The last issue I read, Halo Jones was trapped in a giant spider's web.
Alas, not televising the Conkers Championship is just another reflection of the changing times. Same with the World Porridge Championships two weekends ago not being televised. I don't know where to turn anymore for consolation, succor, and justice.
ReplyDeleteOor Wullie?
They don't even have the Scrabble championship on tv here anymore, Charlie ):
ReplyDelete-sean
W.t.h... I am loosing faith in humanity! Well, the most pressing question here in the USA is if the orange-haired dude running the country uses spray tan or a tanning booth.
ReplyDeleteI think the most pressing question is how much damage he's gonna do before he's outta there.
ReplyDeleteTruly, he is a foulness in the eyes of Man and God alike.
M.P.
Didn't BBC2 broadcast chess championships back in the '70s?
ReplyDeleteYes Colin. That was "The Master Game". It was the players adding commentary between moves after the game that made it special.
ReplyDeleteNow I would enjoy seeing chess with commentary!
ReplyDeleteCharlie - there’s a trailer for a DVD set from the 6th series here: https://youtu.be/XIt7McTLy4Y. It will give you a flavour of what the commentary was like.
ReplyDeleteI will check it out!
ReplyDeleteSteve where’s your Tuesday post??? I’m jonesing here in Chicago for a new SDC!!!
Charlie, I've never heard the word "jonesing" before so I just googled it.
ReplyDeleteMy surname is now a verb!
And Steve's posts are mainly on Sundays and Thursdays.
Hey CJ! Steve-o always does a Tuesday more/less. He did Oct 2, Oct 9... what the heck is he biased against Oct 16 for??? (Nice question at BitBA b.t.w!)
ReplyDeleteI'm jonesing for a SDC blog!!!
Charlie, I usually only do a Tuesday post for the first two Tuesdays of the month. That's because it's the only place I can put the two Marvel Lucky Bag features. Other Tuesdays, I don't post.
ReplyDelete