2000 AD - September 1983.

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

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They say you should live every day as though it's your last.

And, in September 1983, it very nearly was 

It was the month in which nuclear annihilation was avoided by a hair's breadth, thanks to Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov who prevented a worldwide catastrophe by realising a detected American missile attack was a false alarm.

I think we can safely say he deserved a pay rise.

And there was also good news for those who hate being stopped in the streets and asked for directions, when President Ronald Reagan announced the new-fangled Global Positioning System (GPS) would be made available for civilian use.

Elsewhere in the USA, Vanessa L. Williams became the first African American to be crowned Miss America.

I'm sure she remembered to put her makeup on for that one but a group of people who decided to go without such decoration were American rock band Kiss who startled the world by appearing in public without makeup, for the first time ever, on MTV.

A slightly lesser shock, at least to the people of  Saint Kitts and Nevis, was that it was the month in which their land was granted independence by the UK.

However, it was a relatively low-key month for the world's cinema, with a noticeable dearth of blockbusters. We did, though, get to see the release of two notable films, in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and Educating Rita, neither of which I've ever seen.

But there's more to life than just seeing. What about hearing?

The UK singles chart was a tale of two songs, with September's first half finding the listing dominated by UB40's Red Red Wine before that was deposed, for its second half, by Culture Club's Karma Chameleon.

I've heard it claimed Karma Chameleon was the last British Number One that had universal appeal, in the sense that everyone in the family, from the grandparents to the grandchildren, could know it, like it, recognise it and sing along with it. Whether this is true or not, I shall leave to the judgement of others.

Over on the British album chart, the month kicked off with The Very Best of The Beach Boys at the summit, before that succumbed to Paul Young's No Parlez which, in turn, succumbed to UB40's Labour of Love before a late rally saw No Parlez reclaim the peak just in time for the month's death.

That was all, clearly, a frenzy of excitement and I've no doubt the galaxy's greatest comic could easily match it.

After all, the month gave us such strips as Judge Dredd, Sláine, Nemesis the Warlock, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper, Robo-Hunter and Tharg's Time Twisters. Imperishable classics, all.

And, as if that wasn't enough, Prog 333 gave us the chance to win a BMX bike, while Prog 335 offered us the prospect of securing our own Atari home computer.