Wednesday 19 February 2020

February 20th, 1980 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

If you sometimes feel like you're being kept in the dark, fear not, you're not alone because, in this week of 1980, so were the people of North Africa and West Asia, as those regions were treated to a total solar eclipse. According to Wikipedia, it was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.

Frankly, I don't have a clue what that last bit means.

Rather less thrillingly, three days later, AC/DC frontman Bon Scott died, following a night of heavy drinking in London.

Incredible Hulk #51, Tyrannus

Despite the cover, the issue kicks off with a reprint of the Fantastic Four's first-ever encounter with the Hulk.

The Black Knight finds his way to Camelot.

The Defenders are still out to rescue Jack Norriss from Scorpio but are having trouble giving the Hulk the necessary motivation to fight.

In the Silver Surfer's strip, the Stranger's planted a bomb designed to destroy the Human Race.

The Beast is still grumpy about being furry.

And now he has Iron Man to contend with!

And the Hulk's still polishing off Tyrannus in the Andes.

Star Wars Weekly #104

In this sensational issue, Luke's impressed that Leia's so good at fighting and she tells him of how and where she learned her epic combat skills.

We get a 6-page article about Harrison Ford. I have no doubt it includes the story of how he was fitting a door for George Lucas when he was cast as Han Solo.

Elsewhere, Deathlok's after a mobster who knows the identity of the doctor who turned him into a cyborg.

In this week's Tales of the Watcher, a man becomes famous for writing articles complaining about how a robot replaced him in his old job at a factory.

He then realises that, if it hadn't, he wouldn't have become a famous writer and he, therefore, owes his entire success to that machine.

Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly #363, Swarm

I can exclusively reveal Spider-Man's up against Swarm who's on the rampage at Empire State University.

I can exclusively reveal nothing else about this issue.

However, it is surely enough to know that our hero's facing imminent doom at the hands of a flock of Nazi bees, as they set about trying to sting him to death!

Doctor Who Weekly #19, Romana II

My information about this issue is also limited. However, even I can spot that Romana 2 is on the cover.

I must confess I prefer Romana 1. Her imperiousness seemed far more appropriate for a Time Lord.

As far as I can make out, the issue kicks off with the Doctor in a brand new tale called The Star Beast.

We also get what I suspect is a text adaptation of The Space Museum and a feature on Katy Manning, the only companion I can think of who's ever posed nude with a Dalek.

At least, I hope she is. Please tell me the Brigadier never posed nude with a Dalek.

I suspect we also have more from a man who would never pose nude with a Dalek - and that's Abslom Daak, the man who hates the creatures far too much to even contemplate such a thing.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

O comments??? Where is everybody?? I'm never the first!

Didn't Harrison Ford also say "You can write this sh*t, George, but you're not the one who has to say it" (or something similar). I wonder if that was in the article?

dangermash said...

Sorry Colin - we're all too busy googling for photos of Katy Manning with a dalek.

Anonymous said...

Steve confused us all by posting on a Wednesday, Colin.
Big Ben isn't bonging, and now Marvel UK Forty Years Ago This Week appears on a different day... I'm not sure even 70s Dr Who themed soft porn will be enough of a reassurance in these changing times.

-sean

Timothy Field said...

I probably had this week's Star Wars and Dr Who issues, which seems odd to me now as they are the two titles I'd be least interested in. The past really is a foreign country.

Killdumpster said...

I still love the first FF/Hulk battle.

I had tickets for AC/DC when Bon died. It was the Highway To Hell tour. So bummed out. Did see them a couple years earlier, with Scorpions & Ted Nugent.

The band died for me as well. Never cared for Brian Johnson.

Steve W. said...

All I can say is it's the last time I use Blogger's automatic scheduler for publishing a post. It was supposed to appear in the early evening, tonight, and, instead, appeared in the early hours of the morning, which Blogger insists was Wednesday night.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Sticking with Doc Who... If I had to indulge in inspirational fotos, I'd go with Jodi Whitaker's. Admittedly she is not foto'd in a Doc Who theme setting but she actually is a Who so that balances that out!

I may have to listen to some of Spanky and Our Gang from the 60s and take a look again, with the obvious song being "I'd like to get to know you."

Anonymous said...

Everything's gonna be okay. I'm here now.
Steve, I remember that issue where Valkrie, Hellcat, and Moonknight (who loudly protested this course of action) had to irritate the Hulk to the point where he would chase them to Scorpio's hideout. Greenskin was in Central Park and had his head in a picnic basket that belonged to a family that had fled screaming in terror. To get the Hulk's attention Val tore the wheel off a taxi and bounced it off his head.
This only heightened Moonknight's anxiety. It was all he could do to keep from getting turned into a smear on the ground, and he probably decided right there and then that he was gonna keep fighting crime on a solo basis.

M.P.

Anonymous said...

Charlie, my brother is quite the fan of Spanky and Our Gang. He listens to the Pipestone True Oldies channel outta Pipestone MN.
You don't know what you're gonna hear, but it's gonna be classic and most of the people who made it are now dead. A lotta people who listened to it are now dead.
"I am a lineman for the county..."

M.P.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

M.P. I just interneted Pipestone Oldies and am streaming live. I'll give it a try for a while. But if I am cruizin in the car I do 87.7 MeTV FM which reigns supreme!

But if these dudes play Spanky and Our Gang, Donovan, George Formby... well I'll switch and stream 'em when I'm driving in the car!

But right now they are playing Clapton stuff from the 70s (If I saw you from Heaven)...

Steve W. said...

MP, it's things like that which make you realise there was something odd going on in The Defenders. Even at a time like that, when he was just enjoying himself in the park, the Hulk didn't turn back into Bruce Banner.

Steve W. said...

Charlie and MP, I am totally unaware of Spanky and his gang. Are they something to do with The Little Rascals who I recall turning up on Saturday morning TV when I was little?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Hey Steve-O! I wondered the same thing. I mean, given the show was called "Our Gang" and "Spanky" was the lead child...

But according to the radio station, the group's lead singer simply had the same nickname (Spanky) and last name (Mc...) as the Spanky from the 1940s short movies called "Our Gang."

And... as I google... that is indeed the case!!!

FWIW, Sean, et al. the Single Jewish Women (SJWs) won't allow Our Gang to be shown on TV anymore. So my kids, I guess anyone born 1990s or later (?), don't have a clue...

Now that being said, Eddie Murphy opened up Saturday Live for 2020 a few months ago, and he did all his famous skits from the 80s including his rendition of Buckwheat from Our Gang. Eddie did a great job busting down every wall ever built up by the SJWs, LOL! But I wondered if anyone under 30 was watching, would they understand the context? I mean, they wouldn't know who Buckwheat was so the skit had to be totally lost on them? (Assuming anyone under 50 was watching, LOL!)

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Steve, UK Gents, Anyone!

I was listening to the "Morning Flashback" on WXRT and they were featuring the year 1986. They played something by an Irish Group called "Kiral?" (I have no idea how close I am to that since it was 12 hours ago.) Anyhow the group used Bono from U2 as a singer.

The announcer simply said their name, Bono was a singer, they were from Ireland starting in the 1970s, and the song was very popular.

Well, I was flying choppers in Germany at the time and never heard it. But it sounded intriguing? Can anyone help?

Who was the group?
The name of the song?
Was it all that popular a song in 1986?

Cheers!

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Steve, UK Chaps - I am listening to Talk Sport and they keep running these "public service announcements" about untaxed cars in Britain. Ummm... how do you drive around in an untaxed car? Here in the USA you get taxed each year via license plate renewals. So, it is eazy peazy for the police to spot your "untaxed" car b/c the color of your license plate, or the color of the sticker on it, are out of date. (My wife knows first hand, lol.)

Anonymous said...

Charlie, I haven't the faintest idea of what you're going on about, or what its got to do with me.

I looked up Our Gang on the wiki anyway - don't ask me why - and apparently it was regularly shown on Saturday morning tv from the mid 80s on and more recently on cable in the US, just with some edits to "dated racial humour".
So that sounds like a bit of a reactionary urban myth. You're not turning into a paranoid right-wing nutcase are you?

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Sorry Sean! Got my names mixed up! In any case I was joking around...

I think one of my fav Our Gangs is when Spanky, Alfalfa, and the boys created the "Women's Hater Clubhouse" LOL.

Lots of racist humor along the lines of stereotyping such as poor english, eyeballs rolling around in their head, acting unusually superstitious or scared...

Anonymous said...

PS Charlie, sounds like you might be going on about Clannad - they've been recording appalling new age "Celtic" rubbish since the 70s, and Bono "singing" with them does seem inevitable.

-sean

Anonymous said...

No worries Charlie, it didn't seem like you were being serious there (can't imagine who you were getting me mixed up with... ;)

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Sean - LOL!

Thanks, that's it! Clannad did "In a lifetime" with Bono. It did have some chart success in 86. To be honest, when I first heard it this morning (coming back from the Ukulele Saturday Morning Jam Session, lol) I initially thought it was Kate Bush...

(Don't shoot me if I just uttered something sacrilegious!)

Thanks Sean!

Anonymous said...

You guys are confusing "Our Gang" which was associated with an old black and white t.v. show from the '30's called "Little Rascals". It was a comedy about the misadventures of a bunch of little kids.
"Spanky and Our Gang" was a California band from the '60's. They sounded sorta like The Mamas and Papas. In that vein. That's what Charlie was referring to.
It's a perfectly understandable mistake! They only had two moderate hits over here. I rather liked them. You can see 'em on You-Tube.
Their drummer looked pretty weird.

M.P.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Hey Buckwheat - we are talking about the 1960s musical group, Spanky and Our Gang and how their name was based on the 1930-40s black and white 15-minute serial called "Our Gang" and featured Spanky as the head of the gang.

Eventually, when they started showing Our Gang on TV, I assume starting in the 1970s cause I don't recall calling any of my buddies "Buck Wheat" in the 1960s, it was called "The Little Rascals."

Why they decided to call "Our Gang" "The Little Rascals" is beyond me.

O-Tay Buck Wheat???

Anonymous said...

The female singer had the nickname "Spanky". Maybe because she was kinda short, round, and spunky. That's where the name of the band came from.
I remember them showing reruns of the Little Rascals on T.V. when I was a kid too, Charlie.
They would show them after school along with re-runs of Star Trek, Batman, and the Munsters.
It was good for children to be exposed to a wide spectrum of culture.
I generally watched these only during very inclement weather, otherwise I was running around outside, with the other goofy kids from the neighborhood.

M.P.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I can see getting Clannad mixed up with Kate Bush - its a similar sort of prog-lite take on inventing a local identity for the international market.

-sean

Anonymous said...

It's hard for me to imagine anybody mistaking anybody with Kate Bush. I've had a crush on her since the late '80's.
There was this little German foreign exchange student in college who bore a passing resemblance to Kate. I was still hanging around with Krauts at this point. They were good drinkers.
I asked her out and she said "Nein, danke."
Ich war enttauscht! Das war ein bummer.

M.P.

Anonymous said...

She doesn't particularly float mein Boot M.P., but I don't think you're in the minority on Kate Bush round these parts.

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

MP - I'm afraid I'm likewise regarding Kate Bush.. my boot stays in the dry docks... no floating.

Although that could be an interesting question for Steve Does Everything... "Are there any damsels for the world of rock that float your boat?"

UK dudes - your Tyson Fury rocked the USA's boxing world last night. Congrats! (Though licking the blood off Wilder's neck was a little unusual.)