2000 AD - January 1983.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

 ***

Rejoice!

The lucky souls who were alive in January 1983 certainly were.

Or at least they were if they had any sense. For it was the month in which the migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP was officially completed. A move which, as I'm sure you know, is often considered the birth of the true internet.

And, as everyone, no doubt, grasped at the time, it meant that, at last, mankind's long-cherished dream that Steve Does Comics could be created could come true.

Even more relieved were the crash test dummies of this nation, as January 1983 was the precise moment seatbelt use for drivers and front-seat passengers became mandatory in the UK. Contrary to predictions at the time, the death toll since, from people steering their cars into rivers and drowning because they couldn't get their seatbelts off, didn't subsequently skyrocket.

But what did skyrocket were sales of Renee and Renato's Save Your Love, the track which began the month at Number One on the British singles chart.

Soon, though, those musical titans were deposed by Phil Collins and You Can't Hurry Love who, in turn, had to make way for the power of Men at Work's Down Under. That final track ending the month in top spot.

 

Over on the UK album chart, The John Lennon Collection held sway, initially, before being dethroned by Raiders of the Pop Charts which then made way for Business as Usual by Men at Work.

I've no idea what Raiders of the Pop Charts was and have no intention of trying to find out.

But I've a horrible feeling it was probably a compilation LP featuring the likes of Tight Fit's The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

If that was the case, then, clearly, we needed, more than ever, to seek escape in the pages of the galaxy's greatest comic.

As always, we were being treated to Robo-Hunter, Tharg's Time Twisters, Judge Dredd, Harry Twenty on the High Rock and Rogue Trooper.

We also had Alan Moore's Abelard Snazz, and celebrated the book's 300th prog with a free badge for every reader and, it seems, the chance to lay hands on a copy of Prog 1.

As though that weren't enough, we could know, at last, what day it was, thanks to Tharg's multi-part 1983 calendar.

And the very next issue saw the mag thrillingly jump on the disco bandwagon.

In 1983.