This week in 1979, you almost found out.
That's because NORAD, and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Maryland, detected a massive incoming Russian nuclear attack.
Happily, it was all a misunderstanding and we're all still alive to laugh about it.
What else are we all still alive to laugh about?
Penelope Keith!
And Peter Bowles!
That's because, even as we were avoiding nuclear holocaust, the UK gathered around its TV sets to watch the final episode of the first series of that duo's sitcom To the Manor Born. In fact, so popular was it that 23.95 million of us did so, making it the UK's all-time highest viewing figure for a recorded TV show.
Elsewhere, on the singles chart, that week, the roost was suddenly ruled by When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman by Dr Hook, the song which first made us aware of the full tragedy of those who must date the gorgeous.
Over on the album chart, the top slot was claimed by ABBA's Greatest Hits Vol 2. It seems amazing to think there was a time when the world had never heard of ABBA Gold and had to seek solace in a totally different greatest hits package.
Speaking of hits, what were Marvel UK's smash hit comics up to that week?
I don't have a clue what this smash hit comic is up to but I do know Darth Vader's in it, because he's on the front of it - and has clearly decapitated most of the main cast, having done it so recently that their heads are still flying through the air from the strike.
I would assume Deathlok, The Guardians of the Galaxy and Tales of the Watcher are also included.
The Hulk's still on a mission to rescue Trish Starr from Machine Man who doesn't have her.
Finally rid of the origin and uninteresting backstory of Captain Britain, we get the origin and uninteresting backstory of the Black Knight.
Ant-Man's reunited with the Wasp but, thinking him dead, her chauffeur's making moves on her - and we all know who he really is.
We get the origin of the Silver Surfer.
And Egghead's out to steal a mysterious jewel from the Defenders, not grasping that they don't actually have it.
There's been an awful lot of Egghead/Trish Starr action in this book over the last few weeks. I'm starting to wonder if it's all some sort of masterplan by Dez.
The Iron Legion are still causing trouble.
War of the Worlds is still going on. How appropriate, bearing in mind that, mere days from now, the BBC will start broadcasting its own adaptation of that book.
A Cyberman's out to learn more about human emotion, that he might better be able to defeat us. I think we can all guess where that's all going to lead.
But none of that matters. All that matters is we can win a Raleigh Chopper bike! Why, if the Doctor had a Raleigh Chopper, I bet he'd never bother with the TARDIS ever again!
It's the return of the one foe Spider-Man can never hope to beat. Why? Because he has the powers of a fly and, as we all know, spiders can never hope to defeat flies.
Hold on, I think I'm starting to spot a flaw in the logic behind this match-up.
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34 comments:
Charlie digs the color picture of Harpo Marx on the cover of Dr. Who!!!
And Charlie wonders what’s with Luke Sky Walker’s red boots? Is it related to Princess Layla’s red dress a few weeks ago, that you showed us?
Charlie assumes the blond male is Luke and the headless brunette male is Hans Solo? Or was Luke decapitated and this is some creature fighting Darth Charlie does not know?
Lastly, the picture of Machine Man reminds of Monty's search for the Holy Grail. MM just seems to have the look of someone who just got beat up by a bunny rabbit?
That Hulk cover would be greatly improved by a word balloon, with Machine Man saying "'tis but a scratch!" Charlie.
I like your Hans Solo typo - for you Hans, ze Star Vars is over!
Steve, I'm always impressed with how often you're right about comics you haven't even read - that Cyberman story WAS predictable. And not very good, but it was drawn by the late Steve Dillon which made it worthwhile - his work had improved greatly since those SHIELD stories in Hulk Comic, even though I think he was still only 17 at this point.
-sean
The Christmas 1979 episode of 'To The Manor Born' was on YouTube but now it isn't (or it wasn't when I last looked).
Did the covers of Dr. Who Weekly ever get more exciting than just photos of Tom Baker?
Steve, do you know that tomorrow (November 16th) is the 50th anniversary of the Clangers first appearance on BBC One?
And November 16th is also the 45th anniversary of me buying Planet Of The Apes No.5 - my first ever Marvel comic :)
Colin, I am indeed aware of the Clangers' 50th birthday. Even as we speak, I'm knitting some soup in celebration.
Sean, I've clearly read too many comics in my time.
Charlie, I can offer no explanation for Luke's boots.
Dr. Who was indeed a wise man not to ride a bicycle. That scarf definitely would have gotten into the chain or spokes.
Too bad the Hulk didn't completely demolish Machine Man.
It's amazing how many hits Dr.Hook had.
While I wasn't a fan, I didn't mind them when played on the radio.
I did have one of their albums, though.
The Bankrupt album, only because my assistant manager at the record shop I worked at recommended it.
Virtually every song was drug-related. The ones I remember the most were "Quaaludes Again" & "I Got Stoned & I Missed It".
I personally miss quaaludes.
Sean - I do agree with your suggestion for a word balloon on Hulkie.
KD - I don't know if you know but ludes are illegal even for the horses, their intended target, lol.
Steve - just by chance, you aren't per chance the Hurdy Gurdy Man of whom sang the Donovan?
I was unaware Steve Dillon had passed. That's sad news.
On a lighter note, I think wearing a long scarf whilst operating a time-space machine might be even more perilous than riding a bicycle with one on.
That thing gets stuck in the hatch and your head might end up light years away from your ass.
As far as Dr. Hook goes, what the hell happened there. They went full disco. No more Shel Silverstein stuff.
And not even good disco, either. And all the guy with the eye-patch did was back-up vocals and slappin' the tambourine.
Pirates and disco don't go together. Maybe in the Village People, it would work...
M.P.
Dr. Who with his scarf vs. Bellini from the Exiles (Cap America 116-118) with his scarf. Don't forget Bellini beat Cap whilst Cap was in Red Skull's body by lassoing him with that wicked woolen scarf his gma knit him back in 1935 when he was an aspiring Hitler Youth.
B.t.w it was Harpo Marx often wore outlandish ties... The more I think about it the more I suspect Harpo was the inspiration for the visage of the Dr. Who. There are simply too many similarities.
Does anyone else think that Raleigh bike on the Who cover has a front wheel that's too small?
Was that the design? Doesn't seem very functional, or aesthetic. I wonder what the ride was like. Doesn't look good for rolling up on street curbs, or doing stunts. I could be wrong.
Yeah, Charlie.
Give Dr. Who a top hat & a horn and he would be Harpo's mutant clone.
Are you into Preacher then M.P.?
Most American readers familiar with Dillon's work probably became aware of it with Hellblazer or Preacher but over here it could easily have been much earlier, through Dr Who Weekly. I'd seen a few of his early SHIELD stories in Hulk Comic, but it was the DWW back-ups where he really registered with me.
SezDez gets a bit of stick round these parts - some of which is fair - but you have to give him credit for starting off people like Steve Dillon. And I think possibly the DWW back-ups written by Alan Moore might be his first published comic stories (not counting the Sounds cartoon strips he was doing as Curt Vile).
-sean
I guess we're all emotionally invested in whatever incarnation of Dr. Who we grew up with.
I grew up with NONE incarnation of Dr. Who, but my screwball uncle always had public T.V. on, and it was Tom Baker at the time.
He was a big spooky bastard, with a voice like Lucifer himself. He was a very convincing Rasputin in one movie, and a very good villain in the Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
Of course, nobody paid much attention to him in that movie, because we watching the walking statue of Kali, that weird centaur-cyclops, or Caroline Munro about to burst loose from that blouse she was wearing. Any second now...
All this made a ten-year-old M.P. very discombobulated.
M.P.
Sean, I just noticed your comment.
I have mixed feeling about Garth Ennis. I loved Hitman, which was drawn by John McCrea, I'm familiar with his stuff on Punisher and Preacher, which was drawn by Dillon.
Sometimes I liked Ennis' stuff, sometimes I thought it was a little too much, frankly.
Sometimes it was laugh out loud funny.
I guess maybe Preacher wasn't for me, not for any religious reason, I just don't need to see a guy beating a gorilla to death with a baseball bat. It's too much. But I did like Dillon's work, particularly on the Punisher.
M.P.
Same here M.P. I think Garth Ennis is a fairly good writer, but his sense of humour and fondness for a kind of tough guy romanticism - not unlike Quentin Tarantino, but with less depth - gets in the way.
Plus, he lost the benefit of the doubt with me when he did that stupid Judge Dredd story set in Ireland. Seriously, spud guns? Thats giving Chris Claremont competition (Ennis doesn't get a pass just because he is Irish).
-sean
Maybe there's a thin line between romanticism and nihilism.
Don Quixote? Terry Gilliam? Colonel Kurtz? Hemmingway?
At any rate, Ennis sped over it doing 150 mph.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
M.P.
Recently, I read the Machine Man tpb that collected all the Kirby and Ditko issues plus the Hulk sequence. I just couldn't finish those stories. For me, Roger Stern is the one of the most overrated and tedious of Bronze Age scripters. There's that one bit in the mid-80s where he brings Cap to tears but, plot-driven and hooked on Marvel 60s-70s continuity, he's like Mark Waid without the flair.
Not really up on Roger Stern's work, but I really enjoyed his Dr Strange.
Funnily enough, I didn't care much for Englehart's Cap either, but loved his Strange run... I reckon the quality of those 70s writers was very much tied up with the specific comics they worked on.
Even Marv Wolfman wasn't bad on Tomb of Dracula.
-sean
Sean - You were a comic artist if I recall?
Was the pool of artists so slim in the 70s that Marvel/DC needed Frank Robbins to simply turn out pages? I.e., they just needed artists regardless of style? I'm still perplexed at how Frank (or Don Heck) were so heavily used.
Hokey BLOODY SMOKES BULLWINKLE!!!
Charlie, oh my brother!!!
I am so "triggered"!! Lmao!!!
Ahem, after catching my breath...
Charlie, my theory on part of why so mediocre artists received so much work was quick productivity. When you mentioned those "other artists", you should've included Sal Buscema. The man was a cracker, drawing EVERYTHING the same way.
They had too many titles, and not enough talent.
Meant to say Sal was a "crank".
And he was.
Don Perlin was horrid also. Worst Ghost Rider issues ever. He couldn't even draw the same engine on the bike panel by panel.
I would've loved to see a Kirby or Ditko Ghost Rider. Did get some Kirby covers, which were great.
Well KD,
Sounds like I got you rolling like some "hair of the dog" does on a Saturday morning!
Well, there were more than a few artists who were not my favs: Robbins, Heck, Milgrom.
Others, I grew fatigued of, though they they were masterful at various times: Ditko, Sal B, Kane, Perez
Ditko is the odd one to me. I really dig his quirky Spidey! Truly! But his Charlton Cpt Atom or later DC work... not at all. The comic book world had passed him by.
Charlie, You have to admit that Ditko's art was excellent for suspenseful horror stories.
Charlie, I mainly drew kids comics in the 90s - that doesn't give me any special insight into 70s Marvel.
Generally, I'd say for a publisher the key quality they want in an artist is reliability - if they know for sure someone can draw twenty pages of comics every month they'll keep using them.
-sean
Every once in a while I'd pick up a Charlton "Ghostly Haunts", or some such ,if the shop had no Marvel superheroes/horror.
Just like you, Charlie, it was take what you could get back then.
Thanks Sean. Good point. I assume we've all heard stories about artists needing help with their work loads. Is it fair to say a better artist would sell more books though? I wonder...
KD - Yep. Ditko's early horror was nice stuff for late 50s / early 60s. But were he to produce work like that today, I don't think it'd grab me.
IIRC, we are going to be able to read a lot about the mysterious Steve Ditko via his relatives in the near future with a book? I did read where he suffered from TB his whole life.
I lived down the street from a TB sanitarium and they'd wheel out the folks into the sunshine, weather permitting. Charlie Finley was there. Not sure if that 's where he thought up orange baseballs and the mechanical baseball "rabbit" LOL.
What do you mean by better artist though Charlie?
If you look at comics from the newstand era, I'd say DCs original Swamp Thing had the best artists; who was better than Berni Wrightson and Nestor Redondo back then? But it didn't last too long...
Conversely, I never thought Our Pal Sal or Herb Trimpe's artwork was up to much, but they worked on some popular titles (and its obvious from blogs like this that I'm in the minority on both of them).
Pretty sure theres some connection between quality and sales - its hard to believe, say, John Buscema wasn't a factor in the success of Conan for Marvel - but you'd probably have to do a fair bit of research to figure out the extent.
Have you seen the BBC documentary In Search of Steve Ditko? (If not, its on Youtube and well worth watching)
-sean
I'm inclined to say Our Pal Sal and Happy Herb were functional. Sometimes quite good but more often than not functional? I'd read them, if the story line was compelling enough or necessary for continuity but o/wise...
That BBC DOcumentary is what I heard of "In Search of Steve Ditko," I'll check it out!
That documentary is pretty good, Charlie. But amazingly little is really revealed about the man himself. just what you can infer from his art, which is how he wanted it.
A real strange bird.
As I remember, Charlton Comics were what you read if there wasn't anything else. They were pretty funky. But my local comics store sometimes sells back issues of Charlton for a quarter a pop, so it's kinda neat sometimes to pick up a few. What the heck.
M.P.
Sometimes the Charlton horror titles had pretty grisly story endings. Almost EC level. That was always a plus.
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