Nothing.
Granted, revolutions happened and people got executed and wars started and ended but I mean things that interest me.
Therefore, in the absence of any 1979 news to relay, I shall, instead, post a photo I took, the other day, of the standing stones with eyes which are currently taking over the streets of my hometown.
Those of a certain vintage and nationality, who remember the 1972 TV show Escape Into Night, will find these objects strangely familiar - and know their presence can only lead to trouble...
Speaking of trouble, it would appear that Imperial forces have captured Leia, and imprisoned Luke in a "War Sled" that's on a collision course with the ocean!
How you collide with an ocean, I have no idea.
We also get a Tales of the Watcher outing in which only a pilot deemed too old for military service can save the world from an alien invader.
Once he's triumphed, we then discover the alien invader never existed and was just the pilot in disguise, aiming to prove he isn't too old to do his job. Some might call it showing initiative, some might call his actions irresponsible and self-centred.
Elsewhere, the Micronauts are still in Daytona, while Adam Warlock is still on his quest to find the Magus.
Isn't that cover image based on a John Buscema panel in which the Hulk's grappling with the Silver Surfer's board?
Regardless, the main tale involves Bruce Banner being chased into a swamp by soldiers, only for him to be attacked by a monster with his brain on show. Banner really doesn't have any luck, does he?
Elsewhere, Ant-Man defeats The Protector and reveals him to be a small jeweller in a big exo-skeleton.
Nick Fury's still battling to restore dictatorship to a Latin American country, the Eternals are still awaiting the arrival of the Celestials, Night- Raven's up against people causing trouble in a card game, Captain Britain and the Black Knight are up against a giant who ends up trapped in quicksand.
Bruce Banner, too, gets trapped in quicksand, in the Hulk tale. I can't help feeling that's too much quicksand for one issue.
Unless I miss my guess, that cover image is taken from the front of FOOM #12.
Unless I'm even more mistaken, I've not got a clue what happens in this issue at all, other than that Godzilla's probably in it.
Spider-Man's, clearly, still up against the Hulk, in Canada. I've no idea what story the cover relates to.
Nor can I shed light upon anything else that happens in this issue. The internet is letting me down badly this week.
I do have to say that's not the greatest SSoC cover I've ever seen. It sort of looks like something Margaret Brundage would have knocked up, had she still been doing Conan covers in the 1970s.
It seems to be a redrawn and re-painted version of the cover to issue #13 of the US version of this mag, so I wonder if it was created specially for Marvel UK. The original was by Richard Hescox but I don't have any notion who did this version.
I do know this issue contains a lovely pin-up of Red Sonja splashing about in some water.
Starburst looks forward to the release of Alien which I'm sure I remember getting lukewarm reviews when it first came out, proving you should never listen to critics.
On the other hand, Damnation Alley got terrible reviews and the critics were totally right about that one.
Bruce Banner gets work in a mine but soon discovers sinister doings are afoot.
The New X-Men are still squabbling, and battling Krakoa, The Living Island, in their debut adventure.
I believe that Doctor Strange and Clea have gone back in time and are meeting various historical figures, including Francis Bacon (the 16th Century statesman, not the 20th Century painter).
There's also a Star Wars themed competition in which, by designing a droid, you can win a day trip to watch The Empire Strikes Back being filmed.
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51 comments:
Can't remember if I read it or podcasted it recently, but the discussion was on how quick sand faded out from movies (along with savage African beasts) once man landed on the moon.
Apparently the threat of quick sand paled compared to, say, Matt Damon being stuck on Mars and eating potatoes for one year straight. And so quick sand became history.
Point being I'm shocked that Marvel UK (assuming it was Marvel UK writing a Cpt Britain story?) used quick sand, in 1979. Anyone else equally bothered by this? I hope I can sleep tonight.
Lastly, since nothing in the UK happened 40 years ago today, I'll point out that Ed Buchanan from Petticoat Junction passed 40 years ago today. As a kid growing up in the 60s, I still remember that tune, LOL. "Come ride the little train that is rolling down the tracks to the junction..." Somehow, that show about the pink submarine, around 1984, made me always think of Petticoat Junction.
Captain Britain was still a Marvel UK exclusive character at the time. I believe it was only about a decade or so ago that the period between the end of his own comic and the start of Excalibur was collected in a Trade.
Pretty sure Quicksand was still a regular source of peril in the UK. The old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzens were regular school holiday TV and so we were well used to people being saved by a luckily placed vine or stick.
I lived about 300 yards from a fenced off area where far in the distance was an old faded sign that sad "Danger Quicksand" and even the most adventurous kid never chanced it. That's a housing estate now so I assume it wasn't as dangerous as they let on.
Is anyone else bothered by how poor the covers look. The Hulk and Marvel covers look like like they were rush jobs on a Friday at 4pm. No wonder I was only getting Star Wars at the time.
That Savage Sword cover is a bit of a mystery Steve. I found a credit for it online and, funnily enough, its also by Richard Hescox.
Given that this one is a bit more basic than the US version, it seems more likely that its a preliminary work-up that some editorial wonk sent by mistake instead of the actual cover to Marvel UK.
Those old Black Knight/Captain Brexit stories from Hulk Comic were a big improvement on the earlier CB. But they were still pretty basic compared to the Moore/Davis stuff, which was only from a couple of years later.
That shows how much the domestic comic biz changed in a short period of time; Sez Dez - who was gone from Marvel by then - should definitely get a fair share of the credit for that, as he gave some of the key creators of the next decade their early break.
As well as the blame for those hacked up reprints.
-sean
Looking at those standing stones, it seems like Sheffield might be a good place to hold a free festival for the summer solstice. Who knew?
-sean
Hey - how do they move the stones at Stonehenge when you change the clocks an hour?
Dudes - you won't believe this... check out Alex Ross does Flash (AAAHHHHH) Gordon!
https://www.alexrossart.com/Flash-Gordon-Gicl%C3%A9e-on-Paper--Signed-Numbered_p_351.html
Charlie, it's done with cranes. Here's a photo of the dismantling work being started this Tuesday. Work should be completed by the weekend. It's a big ritual and people travel from all over the country to watch it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/6120162699 .
Sean, thanks for the SSoC cover research.
Aggy, the UK weekly covers in this era really did look terrible. It's baffling because it would clearly have been easier to just reuse the original US covers, instead of butchering images to create new ones.
Yeah, the covers of the weeklies were grim at this point. Not just because of the move away from glossy covers, the early Marvel UK covers on non-glossy stock looked great. I think it's a combination of using smaller sections of artwork blown up too large and the attempt at the 'graphic design' style of the time, aiming for simple and uncluttered but just ending up bland.
Steve W - Oh brother... I told this guy at work he was off his nut when he told me they move the Stonehenge stones when the UK moves the clocks!
The uninspiring UK covers... I just assumed your UK Marvel Big Wig (Dez Skinn?) was just giving someone he knew a job, kind of like Stan Lee kept giving Don Heck work, as a favor.
Quality stuff.
I’ve always said Steve Does Comics is the thinking man's Peerless Power of Comocs.
Charlie brings up a good point. I don't know if you guys have Daylight Savings Time or not, but if ya do it must be an incredible pain in the ass to move them big rocks around twice a year.
I imagine some Druid saying, "Somebody invent the clock already! This is killing me!"
M.P.
-Artistic Actuary
PPOC is a different venue. Apples and oranges.
I love both sites.
Why they put up with me, I dunno.
...and I really don't know why they put up with Sean, because that guy has completely gone around the bend.
We all saw it coming.
M.P.
Slip of the finger there. Used my google account name by accident.
The Artistic Actuary is actually my loud and brash twin brother Mike.
MP, we do indeed have Daylight Savings Time but we don't call it that. On March 31st the clocks moved forward one hour which was the start of BST (British Summer Time). On the last Sunday in October the clocks will move back one hour, the start of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
I wonder if Charlie - the thinking man's M.P. - agrees with you Artistic Actuary?
-sean
Wow... I never heard of the PPOC until just now. Looks boring... nothing but comics talk.
Nothing about Workers Actions, Blizzards, DC Thomson, Brexit, Brexit MPs, Brexit Famine, Flash Gordon (When will we finally get around to Flesh Gordon?), Music... Movies...
I mean that's what makes this blog, this blog! A bit of magic in it, IMHO!
PPOC - It's run by MP's brother?
I'm still tickled they move the stones at Stonehenge with the clock change! I often wonder if the shift in the magnetic poles will affect Stoney?
Charlie, that reply to dangermash's secret identity referenced a comment of his on Peerless. So far as I know Comicsfan is not related to M.P., and I hereby publicly apologise to CF for any defamation of character that may have been inferred.
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Have you seen Flesh Gordon? I looked it up on youtube - purely out of curiosity you understand - after the chat about Flash Ah-haaaaa! here the other day.
Theres a trailer which looks seriously terrible. And not anything at all like I'd been lead to believe from seeing a poster for it ages ago.
-sean
Hi Sean,
No I never saw it but for the trailer, too. Seemed to appeal to the 16 year old in me, at that time, LOL. But I think there were other competitions for my "interests" LOL. (Back then there were these things called magazines starting with the letter"P" LOL.)
Indeed, the only reason I mentioned it was because it seemed, in those days, you could not mention Flash without the inevitable follow up, from someone, about 'Flesh."
I always think of M.P. as a close, but unknown kin, of Killdumpster... chock full of interesting, tangential comments! I could only hope to be that tangential. I'll work on it.
Speaking of work, I was thinking of tilling the back 40 today and planting lettuce, beets, carrots!
Help! My obsessive disorder has kicked in and I can't stop listening to Love + 1 by Haircut 100!
You Brits and that New Wave... I'll love it til I'm in the grave!
Haircut 100? You really do need help Charlie.
I think it was around the time I was 16 that I saw the Flesh Gordon poster, possibly in an issue of Starburst (let it not be said that I go off-topic in the comments!), which was shall we say intriguing at that age.
But that trailer looked like it was made by Ray Harryhausen with severe dementia.
No doubt my ol' frenemy will be along later to complain. And Killdumpster too...
-sean
PS Sorry Charlie, that should have been " ol' frenemy M.P..." in that last line (he doesn't really mean all that stuff about being round the bend you know).
-sean
C'mon Sean! You know Haircut 100 was the bomb, back in the day! One can only imagine what they would have become had they been a Sheffield band with free bus transit!
Charlie and MP, I do feel guilty that you're now going to go through life thinking they keep moving Stonehenge around. I can confirm that it stays exactly where it is and I was only joking about it being moved twice a year.
Charlie, when it comes to early '80s music, just being from Sheffield - or even (sorry Steve) Berlin - isn't enough. If its not played with one finger on a monophonic synth forget it.
-sean
I know Flesh Gordon is awful, but I love it! Probably to no one's surprise.
Seemed like every 60's-early 70's adventure TV series used quicksand as a plot device.
I certainly never mean any real insult to Sean, and I'm sure he knows that.
In fact, a day for me isn't complete without him questioning my sanity or logic, and I always relish crossing the occasional lance with him.
In fact, I'm not even offended by people questioning my very lineage, which I hasten to assure all, is impeccable.
I am descended from some of the finest people to ever get thrown out of Europe.
Why, my great-great grandfather was chased out of East Prussia by the Kaiser himself, according to family lore. Something about adultery and a stolen horse, I believe.
Or, maybe adultery with a stolen horse. I'm not sure.
M.P.
Steve - let's just keep the Stonehenge thing between us. I already have half the County of DuPage, in the State of Illinois, thinking you guys move the stones. I have no intention of backtracking on that! Quite the opposite, I intend to continue propagating said story, based on my friends in the UK telling me so!
MP, KD, Sean, et al. I think we should make fun of each other more. Like I said, talking about comics all the time has its limits and not talking about comics all the time is what makes this blog unique and a destination of choice!
(Actually, I can't even tell where anyone made fun of anyone... then suddenly everyone starts apologizing... I must be out of it today.)
Charlie, we're gonna have to start making fun of you, full of bullshit as you are.
We've been remiss in this regard!
M.P.
C'mon M.P., you're better than that - we shouldn't mock the afflicted, its not nice.
-sean
There was a story in the news recently that the "quarry" where they think the rocks for Stonehenge came from was discovered.
It was a couple hundred miles away! Man, for back then, that was dedication! Holy back-break, Batman!!
Unless there were supernatural/alien forces at play. Hmmm...
I'm also intrigued about the theories concerning the Egyptian pyramids.
Anyone remember "Chariots of the Gods"?
Sean, MP, As long as we aren't talking about comics its much appreciated! Speaking of stones, the outside of Chicago's Amoco building was originally covered with Carrera marble from the famous quarry in Italy. All 100 stories of it.
It could not take the extreme heat / cold of Chicago and started breaking off. So the stripped the whole building and ground the marble into landscaping stone.
I'm not sure that little story was tangential to Stonehenge BUT it was tangential to KD telling us that the stone came from a far-away quarry! Hence it fits perfectly here!
Anyhow, another day and another 10 folks are going to learn they move the stones at Stonehenge!
Charlie-
An early 70's Thor issue had him fighting a guy called Super-Druid at Stonehenge.
Great battle scene, and the Super-Druid was cool. A forgotten antagonist that should have been used again.
You'd dig that issue. Don Blake stops at a pub, and gets a ham sandwich & a pint before the fight.
The Super-Druid was not cool, Kd - he didn't even look like a druid!
Neither did Dr Druid, now I come to think about it.
-sean
KD - I actually remember that Super Druid Thor story! One of the handful of Thors I bought as a kid! Which was weird, b/c whenever I would read a Thor I found it quite a good story!
But I could say the same for Archie and the occasional Brave and the Bold or Action, too. Seldom buy them but really enjoyed them when I read them.
DO you recall if Thor or Druid knocked over a stone at Stonehenge? I hope not... not sure how they'd be able to tell time in the UK were that to happen?
Sean-
You're right about Super-Druid & Dr. Druid not looking like "real" mortal druids. No self respecting druid would prance around in a red leotard onesie like Dr.Druid did. He was a lame-ads villain in Ghost Rider, and I still can't believe he became an Avenger, even with his mesmerizing powers.
The look of the Super-Druid can be explained, though. He wasn't actually a druid, but a star-being/ alien that was conducive in starting the Druids' religion worshiping rites, in Marvel lore at least at that moment anyway.
I still think that was a great issue. Imagine if Mar-Vell & Rick ran into him, when they were riding their robotic space-donkey.
There you go Charlie! I wouldn't want to disappoint you, oh my brother.
Ahhh, Druids, Stonehenge, and comics; a perfect mental respite from a rainy Sunday.
KD- Yes, Erich Von Daniken! My poor mother was quite upset to find me reading that way back when, certain I'd be leaving the church forthwith. I quickly put her mind at ease.
Whats in a name, is that it Kd? Sorry, call me simple (thats not an instruction by btw) but if a character is called Super-Druid I expect them to look like a druid. Or at the very least be bitten by a radioactive druid.
Charlie, I don't recall Thor knocking any stones over, but I do remember the army turned up, which was surprisingly accurate for an American comic set in Britain as Salisbury Plain is an army testing ground.
Right next to an ancient pre-historic monument. Brilliant. Only in the UK.
And it wasn't that long ago you could just turn up with loads of people and have a completely illegal degenerate festival there.
-sean
Redartz-
My mother was in hyper-mom mode when she saw a copy of Son Of Satan in my room! Lol!!
Ahhh... I love the tangents!
Red has led us to Holy Books!
I am thinking of where young David is hiding in a cave from jealous King Saul who wants to kill him. King Saul enters that very cave to "do his business." David contemplates whether it would be appropriate to kill a man while in the middle of "doing the business."
Now, if Marvel had been writing that story 2,500 years ago, one can only imagine what David would have found in the cave!!! (Bracelets anyone???) And of course Saul would have been revealed to be a Skrull, lol... And David's son Solomon, possessing such wisdom, would have been a Watcher or Reed Richards. Unless Gary Conway was at the helm, lol.
LMAO to the 9th power!!!
Sean, I am sorry to hear that you can no longer have degenerate festivals at Stonehenge. Maybe it's time for "you" to do some "Flash Mobbing?"
Sean - b/c you are Irish - When my brother lived in London, his roommate was from Ireland and this guy swore that they'd get drunk at night and pee on this Blarney Stone thing and then laugh as tourists would come by to kiss the Stone the next day? Do you think there is something in that or was the guy just BSing my brother for several months?
Geeze, can you imagine if the testing around StoneHenge accidentally disturbed the grave of a truly super druid who then breathed hell fire on the lot of you?
Hey - wasn't the Hulk a Druid in Marvel lore, at some point? Like he went back in time?
Oh boy! Illegal degenerate festivals!! Wish I would've belonged to that club!!!
To be young again....
I have no idea about your brother's mate might have done Charlie, but I have to say it doesn't sound unlikely.
The testing near Stonehenge is probably less likely to disturb any kind of super-druid than the digging currently going on underneath Stonehenge to (supposedly) upgrade the road nearby.
-sean
*Apologies for typos and repetition there in that last comment.
-sean
I'll bet the roadwork at Stonehenge is just a cover to unearth the philosopher stone
Oh, and by the way, Steve..
Although a little on the trashy-side, DAMNATION ALLEY is good, cheesy fun!
Hail Jan Michael-Vincent & George Peppard!
May they be racing dirtbikes and clunky sci-do land rivers all over Valhalla!
I'm popping that girl in the DVD player tonight!
Meant "sci-fi land rovers"
KD - you hardly seem the type for illegal, degenerate festivals. Though I could easily imagine you at Woodstock, lol.
Maybe, but my punk-rock heritage doesn't lend itself to a fondness for hippies.
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