Thursday 16 January 2020

January 16th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Beware the Death Mist!

I know I am. That's why I won't go near it.

But Flash Gordon's made of sterner stuff. That's why he has his own movie serial and I don't.

You guessed it. On this night in 1980, BBC Two was again showing Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and, this episode, if its title's to be believed, he was indeed up against that murderous miasma.

Despite its fearsome-sounding name, I suspect he still somehow came through it unscathed.

With total inevitability, that episode was followed, immediately, by an episode of Pride and Prejudice.

Flash Gordon and Pride and Prejudice, two franchises that will forever be associated with each other in people's minds.

Over on the UK singles chart, after ten weeks on the hit parade, the Pretenders' Brass in Pocket suddenly leapt to Number One, knocking Pink Floyd off the top spot and providing that decade with its first new Number One.

Unless, of course, you take the view that the 1980s began in 1981.

Whether you do or don't, it was a week of perfect triumph for the Pretenders because their self-titled album simultaneously smashed straight in at the very top of the UK album chart.

I have a copy of that album.

And I've just realised I've never actually played it.

Star Wars Weekly #99

My knowledge of what happens on that Pretenders album may be almost zero, but my knowledge of what happens in this issue is even less.

I gather that Luke Skywalker gets to splash around in some water with a homicidal knife-wielder.

I do know, though, that this is the book's 99th issue and it has to be congratulated because not many Marvel UK mags ever reached the century mark.

In fact, off the top of my head, Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-Man Comics Weekly, The Avengers and Planet of the Apes are the only others I can think of that managed it.

It is, though, questionable whether Deathlok will live to see that 100th issue, as he spends this week's offering being being chased around by a tank.

Hulk Comic #46, Scorpio vs the Defenders

Scorpio turns up at Kyle Richmond's country retreat, in search of its owner, only to find the Defenders are there.

Cue the obligatory scrap but what can the astrologically obsessed villain want with Kyle?

Elsewhere, in his own strip, the Hulk's still in El Dorado and meeting the mysterious trio known as They.

You do wonder what kind of people would refer to themselves as, "They," rather than, "Us."

The Black Knight's in a mystical realm, his quest for King Arthur leading him into the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon.

Elsewhere, a villain whose name totally escapes me has cured Ant-Man's problem of being permanently stuck at insect size.

But there's a catch. He's going to kill the Wasp unless Ant-Man helps him break into the Avengers Mansion.

And Loki's still in the process of trying to trick the Silver Surfer into fighting Thor.

Doctor Who Weekly #14, the Ogrons vs Jon Pertwee

Hooray! The Ogrons make the front cover!

I've always assumed the Ogrons were the show's attempt to jump on the Planet of the Apes bandwagon but that doesn't mean that I didn't love them and that they shouldn't bring them back.

I do recognise that cover shot of the Doctor from Day of the Daleks in which he attempts to flee the Ogrons on a motor tricycle so slow that, even at walking pace, the actors playing the Ogrons are having difficulty avoiding catching up with it.

Anyway, my knowledge of this issue's contents is sparse but I do know that in City of the Damned, the Doctor's having trouble with a tank.

And he doesn't even have a motor tricycle to flee on!

But, first Deathlok and now the Doctor. I think it's about time they banned people from having tanks.

Spectacular Spider-Man #358, the Iguana

By the looks of it, Spidey's about to come up against the Iguana, product of yet another of Curt Connors' ill-advised lab experiments. Will the man never learn his lesson?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Steve - Deathlok sees off that tank with a crossbow, as you do. I remember that from an issue of Astonishing Tales, where something other than Deathlok wandering round an empty near future New York arguing with his computer actually happens.

It occurred to me the monthly UK Savage Sword of Conan was around for quite a while and might have hit the hundred mark, but I looked it up and the last one was #93. Ooohh, so close.

You may be interested to know that the second hit I got searching for info on Google was a SteveDoesComics post. Seems you're a globally recognized authority on Marvel UKs SSOC monthly.

-sean

Anonymous said...

PS Dr Who made it well past a hundred issues.
Starburst is still going too, so...

-sean

Anonymous said...

That Pretenders album is pretty darn good, Steve.

I suppose it's a little late by this point, but you should give it a whirl. It has "Kid" on it too - which is even better than "Brass in Pocket".

Timothy Field said...

I too recall Deathlok's showdown with the tank and his McGyver crossbow. Seemed cool at the time, just silly now.

Steve W. said...

Tim and Sean, I'm delighted to discover Deathlok survived his tank trauma.

Sean, blimey, you're right about the SSOC thing. I even rank above Wikipedia! I have no doubt that, when they make the next Conan movie, they'll hire me as their Conan expert and pay me vast fortunes for pretending I know how to pronounce BĂȘlit.

Anon, I shall make it a priority to listen to that Pretenders album. I do know some of the tracks from it, like Kid, Stop Your Sobbing, Brass in Pocket and Private Life, all of which I approve of.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

On first blush, it looks like Luke Skywalker is in the death grip of Kang the Conqueror (at least when viewed on a smartphone, lol).

Did you guys know that Tony Isabella’s first assignment at Marvel was to do “sub-editing” of MWOM starting like around 1973? Wow!

Glad to see Harpo on the cover two weeks running! And it is most impressive Who is still running as a comic. Holy Bullwinkle, Rocky!

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Steeeeve…. My Mannnnnn…… “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe” baby…

We're on episode 7 of that serial with the now-adult kids. In all seriousness, it is quite decent for 1940 stuff.

I must say, me and me kids were really, really impressed at the kamikaze robots blowing themselves and the miners up to stop the mining of the Polarite! I mean, this presages Japan’s kamikazes or Quality Comics’ Human Bomb character!!!

Regards, Charlie

Anonymous said...

I actually did know that about Tony Isabella, Charlie.
He was interviewed in an online piece about Marvel UK a while back, where he mostly complained about having to spend a lot of his working day editing out references to the evils of communism in old Marvel comics - making sure the Red Ghost was called the Mad Ghost throughout a story, that kind of thing - to keep some pinko Brits happy.

Holy smokes brother Bullwinkle, I bet he wasn't happy when they started reprinting Iron Man...

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Sean... I never really appreciated that type of editing until I was reading UK's Comic Scene this past month.

There was an article on Marvel UK, not that I need such an article on Marvel (or Conan) given I read this blog!!!

But they showed the panel from a US Hulk (?) comic (1965?) in the USA of an early Rick Jones with Captain America. They then showed the same panel in a Marvel UK book (1972?) and Cap had been redrawn as a dude in a suit.

I just kept thinking "surely these lads in the UK won't be gobsmacked by acknowledging Captain America exists prior to an official UK reprinting of presumably Avengers # 4"???

And God knows if UK Marvel carried on with that logic in like Cap 148 where they bring back the Cap and Bucky from the 1950s? I am curios to know that? I mean, if the logic holds, Marvel UK really could not print all the 1950s Cap stuff for fear of rocking the UK chronology?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Thanks for that Sean!

I didn't know the commie pinkos' tentacles spread to Marvel UK! What about DC Thomson and IPC and all that?

I now have to reopen all my Victors, Valiants, Hotspurs, etc to see if they fought Commies during the Cold War?

I knew the pink bastards stopped the first printing of Tintin in France for 50 years called Tintin Au Pay Soviet! (Tintin in the land of the Pinko Commmies!)

Holy Moley Captain Bullwinkle! I need to be off to work! It's a balmy 15 degrees out here in Chicago land at 6:30 AM! UK's Hawksbee and Jabobs come on in 30; that'll warm me up!

Thank the lord (and Flash Gordon) for smartphones (and the Universe)!

Anonymous said...

Yes, the UK Savage Sword Of Conan magazine lasted until No.93, dated July 1985 - and the US Savage Sword ended exactly 10 years later with the issue dated July 1995!!

And spookily while we're on this subject - Volume 2 of Marvel's 2019 Savage Sword Of Conan (now a colour comic-book, not a b&w anthology magazine) went on sale two days ago, featuring #6-11 of the new SSOC, by Crom!!

Anonymous said...

Well, call me a red stooge Charlie, but personally I don't have a problem with getting rid of the more obvious elements of neo-imperialist Amerikkkan propaganda - or, in the case of Tintin, French fascism - from comics.

There were commies in IPC's Battle - Charley (of Charley's War) was part of the 1919 British Expeditionary Force sent to Archangel to put down Johnny Bolshevik.
It was surprising to see a children's comic story in the 70s showing the Brits gassing the Russians, but thats Pat Mills for you. He's not appreciated as much as he should be.

You will be relieved to hear the kids' bodily fluids were saved by 2000AD though, as Judge Dredd nuked the Sovs.

-sean

Anonymous said...

"Kid" and "Brass in Pocket" are both great but they're not even the best tracks on that amazing album! "Precious", "The Wait" and "Tatooed Love Boys" :100% fire!

"Precious" even name-checks Howard the Duck :)

-b.t.

Killdumpster said...

Steve, the villain that cured Hank Pym's size-change stall was Doctor Nemesis.

That actually was a very good story.

Anonymous said...

If Marvel was gonna have a lizard guy for every type of lizard, I would suggest one based on the only type of lizard we got around here, the skink.
A super-villain known as The Skink with the proportional powers of a skink would be really, really fast, maybe faster than Spider-Man.
That's about it. Skinks only have one power, speed. And they're really small and eat bugs.
I guess I haven't thought this out very well.

M.P.

Steve W. said...

MP, sadly, we don't have any lizards at all round my way. Curt Connors would have to do all his experiments on hedgehogs.

KD, thanks for the Dr Nemesis info.

bt, if that Pretenders album name-checks Howard the Duck, I definitely want to hear it.

Colin, it all goes to show that the power of Conan can never be underestimated.

Anonymous said...

I'm an even bigger fan of Chrissie Hynde than I was before, if she was at all into Howard the Duck.
And I am a big fan. That band was fantastic. They knocked it outta the park very often. From hard-ass raunchy to achingly beautiful, they covered the spectrum.

M.P.