That's right, it was the week in which Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? torpedoed its way to the top and sank his credibility forever.
Then again, I say that but I've always liked it, seeing Rod as a man who benefits from having zero credibility, and also thanks to me being someone who's found peace with the ways of Disco.
Plus, I suspect that, deep in his heart, Rod always wanted to be a Disco god anyway.
But what of Marvel UK? What was it up to while all this was going on?
Hold on to your hats because it looks like Roger Whittaker's about to lay the lightsabre smack-down on some space ruffians.
Either that or Obi-Wan Kenobi's still alive.
How that can be when I saw him disintegrated, with my own bare eyes, I cannot say.
Then again, it could be a flashback tale.
Then againerer, it seems Luke Skywalker's also in this tale, which suggests it isn't a flashback.
Where that all leaves us, I haven't a Scooby.
Nor do I have a Scooby about what else happens in this comic. Is Star-Lord still in it? Is he fighting the forces of Space Evil? The answers to these questions are beyond my grasp.
I've no idea what's going on with the Hulk Crusher but I predict it'll totally fail in its aim of crushing the Hulk.
Elsewhere, Daredevil and Shanna the She-Devil are making a right Horlicks of tackling the Silver Samurai, and Shanna's still out for revenge on the Mandrill.
For some reason, Foggy Nelson's in a wheelchair but the cause of his predicament is unknown to me.
A hypnotised Iceman's out to kill Spider-Man and the Angel.
Meanwhile, Thor's still battling Ego the living planet.
Or at least he was. This issue, he manages to get possessed by Ego who's rapidly taking action to defend himself and his population from a nearby exploding sun. It all sounds very dramatic and I have faith it'll all end happily.
I also predict it'll all end happily for Captain America and the Falcon who're still having trouble with the Grey Gargoyle who's stolen something or other that you wouldn't want him to steal.
Elsewhere, the Avengers are trying to deconundrumise the Serpent Crown on an alternate Earth and are still all set to fight the Squadron Supreme. Back on our world, Hank and Jan are having an argument about whether to rejoin the team, while, on the other Earth, the president's acting weirdly.
I predict he'll turn out to be the Beast in disguise.
Either that, or he'll just turn out to be weird.
Yes Steve-
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly it was indeed the Beast.
A master of disguise, apparently in the same league as the Chameleon, due to his early experience of having to appear as a human-like Hank McCoy after he mutated himself further into his furry persona.
If you think about it, it is plausible. His scientific knowledge of chemicals, along with his very agile fingers (which seeming have an artistic bent), would be able to construct a believable mask.
That was always my take.
Sank Rod Stewart's credibility Steve? That ship had sailed well before Do Ya Think I'm Sexy.
ReplyDeletePretty sure that Daredevil story was the Silver Samurai's first appearance.
Mind you, the only other place I recall encountering him was in Marvel Team-Up - the comic of third rate super-villains - where he had a swordfight with John Belushi (not that I knew anything about him or this mysterious "Saturday Night Live" thing at that point).
-sean
When that Rod Stewart single was out, my 11 year old self thought he was just some old bloke with bad trousers and a worse haircut. Having checked, he was 33 at the time. In the words of Michael Palin, that's no age...
ReplyDeleteI don't recall any of this week's covers. I suspect the Hulk crusher would have caught my attention and so perhaps that didn't make it to the rack.
DW
Sean- agree with you on Rod. He more or less lost me after the Faces. I think around that time Ron Wood bailed.
ReplyDeleteA local late night show here in Pittsburgh, called "Chiller Theatre", was a Saturday night staple for years.
The station was an NBC affiliate, and when "Saturday Night LIVE" became a phenomenon, they pressured our little station to air it.
They fought the corporation for 2 YEARS! "Chiller" was the top rated local show, and they made real money in their pocket from all the local advertising.
It was a great show. Two features starting at 11:30, after the news. The first film would be "kid-friendly" (old Universal or giant Japanese monsters). The second was usually European, where the nudity was never edited out (oh boy, what we talked about in elementary school Monday morning!)
The station eventually sucumumed to corporate pressure, aired their show and "Chiller Theater" was reduced to one film, at the end of their show.
I wasn't completely unhappy with that, after awhile. The show was funny, and I got the hots for Lorraine Newman. I'm a sucker for redheads.
UK Dudes - this stuff wasn't being printed form the same month/year. E.g. the DD - Samurai was like DD 108ish and was three years after the Cap-Falcon-Gargoyle story line running around Cap 140.
ReplyDeleteDid this ever, years later, get you out of sequence?
I mean, I get my yayas looking at Mikes Amazing World of Comics and seeing what I bought off the spinner in, say, July 1971 (ASM 101, Cap 141 the Gargoyle Story). It's really a rush! Are you guys able to experience same? I think you said you could buy the reprints as well as the actual comics so maybe you weren't out of sequence? Just like we could buy ASM and Marvel Tales at same time?
Here's maybe an american-centric thought about Rod?
ReplyDeleteHe had one - two big hits before I'm Sexy came out (Maggie May and something else). So, since I was born in 61, I was not exactly anchored to any version of Rod and I did not see this disco tune as a big deal.
I mean all those names from the 60s... they weren't on the tip of my tongue (but for the biggest groups like Beatles, Stones, Who, etc.) until a decade or two later. E.g., Steve Winwood to me is that big hit "Roll WIth It" from like 1987, when I was haunting the German clubs, not Blind Faith and all that.
Point being that if Steve Winwood had gone from British Rock to punk/disco/acid house it would not have ruined an image I had of him. So why get uptight about Rod?
Hey - Did you UK guys get that big rumor around 1976 that Rod had to be rushed to Emergency Care because his stomach was full of (I won't say it). KD - You must have heard it in Pitt? I mean, you can even google the stupid rumor and it comes up.
Charlie
ReplyDeleteYes Marvel Uk did print the stories out of sync to their US publication. They did occasionally re-draw a character that had not yet entered the continuity. An Avengers story springs to mind, and has been mentioned on here a few times, in which the vision was redrawn because he hadn't yet been introduced. From memory this was from a Christmas annual, which often printed stories out of continuity. I doubt much of their audience had complete runs of the British weekly, and so (like myself) assumed any "new" characters had simply been introduced in another title.
I hadn't heard that Rod Stewart story (likely too young at the time) but I suspect its similar to one concerning Marc Almond, that did the rounds in the early 80s.
DW
Kd, I've seen John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd in films, but still have no idea who "Lorraine Newman" is (apart from being a character in an issue of Marvel Team Up).
ReplyDeleteCharlie, yes there were also import American Marvels and DCs here; seems some parts of the UK didn't get them at all, but I lived somewhere that did so experience Mike's the same way as you. Except they arrived here after a few months, so on sale dates were the same as the cover dates.
That really confused me for a while as a little scrote because you'd get an American comic cover dated, say, Nov in November - that makes sense, right? - yet at the end it would say "continued next ish, on sale second week of September" or something.
Eh? Second week of September?!?
No wonder it was tricky following ongoing storylines.
Wasn't into 60s music at all; in fact, only the other day I was baffled by you lot going on about Jefferson Spaceship in the comments.
At least I didn't mention anything that might remind you of the Grateful Dead.
(Uh-oh... hopefully I got away with that and no-one'll notice)
-sean
KD, thanks for confirmation of the Beast's disguise. My local TV station used to have a feature similar to Chiller Theatre. It was called Appointment With Fear and used to show Horror films every Friday night.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, I have never heard that rumour about Rod's need for emergency medical treatment. When it comes to his Disco antics, people did seem to get very het up about him doing it. There was a lot of snobbery against Disco at the time and any established artist who made the switch was accused of selling out.
DW, the time I was really confused about different strips being out of sync was when the Psyklops/Avengers story showed up in the Hulk's strip. Because he was further ahead in his timeline than the Avengers' strip was, the tale featured the Clint Barton version of Goliath, while the Avengers' comic still featured Hank Pym in that identity. Reading that Hulk tale, I couldn't understand why Hank Pym seemed to have had a complete personality change.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSean-
ReplyDeleteLorraine Newman didn't really do much outside of Saturday Night Live. She did co-star with Dudley Moore in "Wholly Moses", which was a box office bomb. That may explain why she didn't get a lot more roles. I find it entertaining, but I'm her fan. It's no "Life Of Brian" though.
Well, for what it's worth, if one googles Rod's rumored issue with "indigestion" one can find scientific analysis worthy of the great British Historian Donald Keegan's analysis of the Battle of Agincourt in "The Face of Battle."
ReplyDeleteKeegan soundly, and objectively, demonstrates that the British could not have killed 50,000 french on the field b/c it would have been physically impossible for 50,000 or even 25,000 to fit on the field (not to mention the addition of Henry the V's troops.) The analogy applies to the indigestion.
My lordie... Kenneth Branagh's "St. Crispin's Day" speech, in the movie Henry the V, is one stirring speech! Made we want to grab a sword and become a knight errant and rescue some damsels!!!
Oh, and Sean...
ReplyDeleteI gotta throw out an "AARRRGH!" for just mentioning the Grateful Dead. Lol.
I'm too tired to go on a rant about those damn hippies, which in the back of my clouded, beer-soaked mind I think I've already done before.
Stay tuned, folks. Lol.
Grateful Dead... I only know "truckin" I think. Never heard an album, went to a concert, etc.
ReplyDeleteOddly last week at Thanksgiving several of us said the same thing. THen my cousin, who has a fairly successful band in our region said that a few months ago, not sure why, he gave the Dead a listen. So did my brother. They both said the Dead are actually highly listenable and seem to find every last note and chord and harmony and whatever...
Well maybe one day I'll do same... LOL
Somebody just played REO Speedwagon "Like You Do", live version, on the jukebox.
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot those guys could rock occasionally.
I must confess that my knowledge of the Grateful Dead is zero, beyond having heard of them.
ReplyDeleteColin, I agree. I've always liked Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? even if it is heavily plagiarised from Bobby Womack's (If You Want My Love) Put Something Down On It and Jorge Ben's Taj Mahal. I do feel he improved on both of them.
Steve- do yourself a favor. Don't waste any of your life on the Grateful Dead. "Boring hippy shit".
ReplyDeleteI was taught punk-bass by a local band called Grateful UNBORN, cuz the real guy went to jail for stealing a car.
I had previously made a backdrop for them. Casper the Friendly Ghost laying in a puddle of blood, with a coat-hanger in his belly.
We did originals but had a lot of Dead. & tv theme parodies.
Soon later, when I was a sound/light tech (I.e. "roadie"), I worked with a band called Sandoz, who did a lot of Dead covers. FOR YEARS!!!!
Man, if it wasn't for the cornucopia of free drugs & loose hippy women, I wouldn't be able to handle it.
Occasionally..? Now you're just trolling us Kd.
ReplyDelete-sean
Sean-
DeleteYou gotta admit, their biggest hits were mellow-ass ballads that my kid sister liked
Sorry guys.
ReplyDeleteI now think I might have brought that up before. Blame it on brew.
Weirdness here in Chicago... Most of us cannot think of REO without also thinking of Foghat. Riding the Storm Out was big hit same time as Fool for the City and were played back to back more than I want to recall!
ReplyDeleteKD and UK Gents - Maybe Foghat was a Chicago Regional Band like Styx was? I know I sound like a dumb ass asking this but I don't want to offend the UK gents by assuming they know what I know here in the USA. Even more so after Steve DC the Go Gos never broke the charts in the UK!
Kd, I've no idea what their biggest hits were; that kind of stuff wasn't big here at all - none of those bands were even in Marvel Team Up, so it was easy to grow up in the UK not knowing anything about them.
ReplyDeleteNow, one fingered synth music from the peoples republic of Sheffield on the other hand, that was everywhere...
-sean
I will say that, in my opion, live Reo was able to rock the Hammond organ better than a lot of other bands, but some of the other bands were either over-produced (ex.Boston) or over-powered the rest of the band (ex. Uriah Jeep). My favorite band that utilized organ more than frequently, as an accent, was UFO.
ReplyDeleteMy brother is a fan of Foghat, which he jokingly refers to as "Hogfat".
ReplyDeleteHe's quite the card, my brother.
That Grey Grey Gargoyle story you mentioned, Steve, was one of the ones where he got accidentally shot into space. It seemed to happen to him a lot. He could be stepping out his front door in the morning to get his newspaper, and suddenly be hurled into orbit.
I dunno. He just wasn't livin' right, I guess.
M.P.
Haha! Meant "Heep".
ReplyDeleteUriah Jeep sounds like a paramilitary tribute band. Lol.
Sean - the big difference is that in the Peoples Republic of Sheffield had free public transportation and that spurred on the whole Sheffield one-finger synth success. And thus they got ABC, Human League, Heaven 17... It's a well documented fact.
ReplyDeleteAnd frankly, REO was quite popular here but I think they blow goat. The last years, when they were most popular, was this syrupy, electric guitar merde. But if you want a nice dose of the better stuff just youtube "Riding the Storm Out Live 1981." Just remember it is 1981 hair, clothes and production. I mean they are playing real drums and guitars and keyboards and voices no fake news crapola. No one-finger synth stuff, though I prefer one-finger synth stuff.
ReplyDeleteSteve, Sean, UK Gents all around! - Me and the missus been watching the UK show "Escape to the Continent" on Netflix and one of the episodes is a Sheffield couple moving to sunny France. (Sheffield does seem rather dreary in this episode; I'd move too?)
Anyhow they show the couple intending to move walking through some woods in Sheffield where trees appear to be carved into gnomes, elves? Are you familiar with this?
Though why the couple would want to leave dreary Sheffield for sunny France where they do not have free public transportation is beyond me.
M.P. - We all called them Hogfat too! I guess we all had one wicked sense of humor, no??? LOL
ReplyDeleteActually I just youtubed them, live, too. Check out Fool For the City Live 2007. Them dudes are obviously no stranger to bacon (hogfat) lol! But like I just wrote about REO they are indeed singing and playing the guitars, drums, etc. No one finger synth stuff here!
Actually all this retro stuff has me inspired to see who will be doing the local town festivals this coming summer: Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, Hogfat, et al! I'm ready to rock!
MP-
ReplyDeleteA record store I worked at sold concert tickets and asked for "Hogfat". There actually is a tribute band by the same name.
When I worked a couple different record stores, I heard all kinds of mispronounced names.
A old lady asked me for "Hinky Dinky" tickets. I said "What?" Again "You know, Hinky Dinky!!"
It was Englebert Humperdick. Lol!
Xmas time: " My grandson wants the new album by Yingwing Malcomnsteen" lol!
There's people out there who think like my brother? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteREO had a few good tunes, but those power ballads are unbearable to me. Went the same route as Chicago, and cashed in. A sad commentary on the times.
I've been getting into BTO lately, particularly the "Not Fragile" period. Randy Bachman was a no foolin' kind of guy. He put a song together like you would put together a sandwich, and those guys looked like they knew a thing or two about sandwiches. The cover of that album says it all. Heavy music, man.
M.P.
"Fool For The City" is my fav Do that song.
ReplyDeleteThe production company ( I use that term loosely, as we were a 2 man team),
had a chance to work with Foghat.
Bands on "tour" have a traveling contract called a "rider". It's virtually a list of demands on what they expect to be at the venue they play at.
Its always specific brands of sound equipment, number of stage lights (sometimes specific colors for different stage areas) and TONS of food that they'll put in the tour bus' frig to get them to the next town.
I've worked with "up & comers" and "has-evens" but never saw a rider like Foghat's. They wanted a set-up like they were still playing areas!
The bar was a dinghy, rotten, biker-bar hellhole. I told Ron, the owner, forget about us (we only charged $250, sound & lights, that's why we got so much work)
Sorry for the typos. We got a new barmaid at my hotel and she's cute.
ReplyDeleteMP- NOT FRAGILE RULES!!!
ReplyDeleteI met Randy Bachman. He was cool.
Amen, brother!
ReplyDeleteBoogie's still alive.
M.P.
Listen here boys... I'll see your BTO and raise you Bad Company's "Bad Company" which kicked @ss on both sides of the pond from what Wiki tells me!
ReplyDeleteSeems like Bad Company was even bigger in the USA than the UK if you can believe that??? I'm watchin' "SHe's Gone, Gone, Gone" live from 2008 on Youtube. Sheeeeet! THat Paul ROdgers can still sing and they can still jam! (OK it was 10 years ago but sheeeet! They are still rockin!!!)
ReplyDeleteHoley Smoke! Check out "Paul Rodgers singing Bad Company at Woodstock in 1994" with Slash on guitar and Jason Bonham on drums! Un forking believable performance! You will not be disappointed!
ReplyDeleteI checked it out and it's pretty cool, Charlie. Thanks! I'll run it by my brother.
ReplyDeleteI might recommend ACDC live in Paris, "Sin City." He turned me onto that.
Sorry about the topic drift here, Steve, but you know how we get. Also sorry about typing the same word twice sometimes. It may be a form of dyslexia, or possibly the early onset of being a crazy old bastard.
M.P.
Charlie, that woodland sounds familiar but I don't have a clue where it is.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, its beyond me why anyone would move to France from sunny Sheffield when brexit is about to turn the UK into a free trade paradise.
ReplyDelete-sean
Sean - you have a great point! I mean everything will be really cheap in the UK, except baguettes and bratwurst and spaghetti and... actually what the hell do I know about what Brexit will do? I just wish the best for you guys!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that Brits want to "Escape to the Continent?" I never really heard of Continentals escaping to the UK but for working in finance in London? Again... what the hell do I know beyond Netflix and what I read in the funny papers? There is also a companion series on Netflix where Brits "Escape to the Countryside" and move to the boonies. Haven't watched yet.
Is it OK to refer to you as Brits? (I never take anything for granted after a UK CH47 Chinook Captain read me the riot act at an airshow in Belgium, LOL. I said something typically american but the way he took it was not my intention.)
MP -I'll have to check out AC/DC in Paris on the sly. MY wife thinks they are possessed of the devil and I don't want any fallout, lol.
ReplyDeleteI will say this... the single best youtube performance for a 70s band I ever have seen is Black Sabbath doing War Pigs in Paris in 1970. It is beyond me how 3 guys + Ozzie can make that much music. That performance is powerful and smokes Bad Company (but it's different so...)! Reminds me of the Who live in that each is clearly a master of their craft! Ozzie is even fairly cogent!
Steve, et al. - I too apologize for topic drift. It is a rare day that anyone chats about 70s metal.
The topic drift is perfectly acceptable, Charlie, as is the word, "Brit."
ReplyDeleteTHank heavens... I was afraid the Scotch, Welsch, Irish contingent might not prefer that term!
ReplyDeleteCharlie, the Irish don't find it acceptable - we aren't British.
ReplyDeleteI expect the Scots will have more of a problem with Scotch than Brits(;
-sean
I do like a bit of Grateful Dead but when I'm browsing live albums I do tryt to skip over these that have 30+ minute renditions of The Other One of Dark Star in the second set. That means I'm not a proper deadhead though.
ReplyDeleteLaraine Newman actually hosted a "Chiller Theater"-type show in 1986. They showed camp classics like Robot Monster, Bride of the Monster, and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
ReplyDeleteI thought maybe she died or retired after that, but, according to Wikipedia, she has been doing a lot of voice-over work in cartoon movies and TV shows, including Wall-E, Spongebob Squarepants, Finding Nemo, Jimmy Neutron, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.