2000 AD - March 1983.

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

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Some things in this world were invented well before they should have been. The fax machine, for instance, was invented way back in 1843.

Another perfect example is the 3D printer which some of us always regard as the living embodiment of cutting-edge technology. But, in fact, the 3D printer was invented in the dim and distant days of March 1983 by a man with the distinctly uninventory name of Chuck Hull.

I am assuming he wasn't a relative of Rod.

Whether he was or not, he clearly deserves a round of applause for his ingenuity. I don't have a clue just how a 1983 3D printer would even work. I'm just hoping it wasn't relying on the 1980s miracle that was the dot matrix.

Nothing quite so futuristic was occurring in the cinema, that month, which saw the release of two notable films, in The Thorn Birds and Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

I must admit, I'd always been under the impression The Thorn Birds was a TV mini-series, so it shows how much I know. And I must confess to never having seen The Meaning of Life either. Fair play to me, though, I was, at least, aware it's not a mini-series.

But what of the music charts?

The UK album chart saw U2 top of the pack, at the month's outset, thanks to their LP War. However, a week later, it was deposed by Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Knowing, as we do, that the album went on to become the best-selling album of all time, we could be forgiven for thinking that, having hit the top spot, it stayed there for months.

In fact, it stayed there for just one week before being clobbered by Tears for Fears' The Hurting. However, that too had to make way, just seven days later, when it was KO'd by Pink Floyd's The Final Cut. There's no getting round it, that month's album chart was all action.

The UK singles chart, that March, was mostly dominated by Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, which seems topical, given the death of Jim Steinman, just the other day. But, right at the end of the month, even Bonnie's leathery lungs had to submit to the chart powerhouse that was Duran Duran who grabbed the Number One perch with Is There Something I Should Know? 

I could not say what Duran Duran should or shouldn't know but I can confess there's something I should know.

And that's what the galaxy's greatest comic was up to at the time.

Obviously, I don't know.

I am aware, however, that Tharg's Time Twisters, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Robo-Hunter and Harry Twenty on the High Rock all featured, that month.

Perhaps more intriguingly, we got the start of a brand new Alan Moore series called Skizz. Even though I must have read it, I've no memory of it. Nor do I have a clue what it was about.

Speaking of new series, we also got the start of a storyline called Invasion of the Thrill Snatchers, starring Tharg. I don't have a clue what that was about. Could it be that we got to see the enigmatic alien editor indulging in super-heroics?

Also worthy of note is the fact that we got the final pages of the miniature reprint of the first-ever issue.