Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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I have great news for all fans of Prime Minister's sons because, this week in 1982, Margaret Thatcher's spawn Mark was found safe and well in the Sahara, six days after going missing during the Paris-Dakar Rally.
He may have had trouble knowing just where he was but there was once a man who knew exactly where he was.
He was in Troy.
That man was German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and, many decades earlier, he'd rediscovered the notorious city, millennia after its location had been lost to history.
And we know that because, on this very night in 1982, BBC Two's Chronicle was broadcasting a documentary about him.
Schliemann's life story is, legendarily, explosive. Mostly because he did most of his excavating by dynamiting everything in sight, destroying great swathes of priceless artefacts and evidence, along the way.
Spider-Man finds himself having to stop Moonstone when she decides to commit a memorable crime, in order to restore her reputation with potential employers.
How memorable that crime is, I can't say, as I can't remember it but it doesn't matter, because Spidey soon puts a Schliemann-sized dent in her hopes.
But wait! What's this? Not only do we get Spider-Man, we have the chance to win a Corgi Superbike!?!
To be honest, I don't know what that is but it has the word, "Super," in it. So, it must be good.
Apparently, Cap has to deal with the menace of Big Thunder. I don't recall much about the villain but suspect he's a fairly bog-standard gang leader of the kind who shouldn't give America's greatest scrapper much trouble.
If the cover's to be believed, we also get mad action, mad trolls and mad mind control.
I'm going to guess the mad trolls are in this week's Thor strip.
And the trolls aren't likely to be the only ones who're mad, as our hero's in the Netherworld where he finds Pluto has Jane Foster hanging, suspended, over a pit of lava.
Of Daredevil and the FF's strips, I can say nothing, this week.
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38 comments:
As Charlie looks at the Cap cover, it is very clear that Big Thunder didn't know squat about Cap's weaknesses.
Just a little bit of research would have shown that machine guns, axes, chains, etc. are likely to fail.
He should have armed everyone with 8-foot long scarves like Bellini of the Exiles. I mean, the only way Cap escaped Bellini on that Carribean Island was because the Falcon, who happened to be living there, happened to have a Falcon. Thank god for that!
Regarding that Dakar road race, I was listening to Talk Sport H&J two days ago and they interviewed this year's winner (A Brit I assume).
I don't know how many thousands of miles they raced but he won by 3 minutes. Now that is simply kray kray!
Will this become like the olympics and victory measured in hundreths of a second?
Mad trolls! Mad mind control!
A bit like the internet then... Who ever thought a Marvel UK Captain America weekly would be so influential?
I'm just amazed it's managed to get to #48.
This is now the main point of interest in the Marvel UK feature, not counting the first post of the month - will Cap's comic defy all the odds, and actually last a whole year?
Don't tell me Steve, it'll ruin the suspense!
-sean
Spawn of Thatcher!
That sounds like the title of what could be a really scary horror film Steve.
Brrrrrr...
-sean
Hey? Where is everyone? Is the Queen giving another presentation on the Telly?
SEAN - my head is still spinning with your music revelations yesterday!
That Corgi Spider-bike was a few years old at the time because I remember having one at a much younger age than I would have been in 1982. A quick check suggests they were released in 1978 which sounds about right. Obviously nothing to add with regard to the weeklies, however I do remember Mark Thatcher being mocked on Spitting Image. What a plumb.
DW
Thanks for all your comments, so far.
I've just heard on the radio that Meat Loaf's died. I knew it was tempting fate to be talking about his health, the other day.
You took the words right out of my mouth, Steve.
Although that style of rock musical/ stadium rock isn't my cuppa tea "Bat out of Hell" was a brilliant album and I even bought it at the hight of punk. Sadly that's 3 or the 4 talents most folk associate with that album no longer with us with Richard Corben ( legendary album cover artist) and Jim Stienman song writer / producer having passed away recently. Only Todd Rundgren left.
Charlie:
I saw what you did there. Cheeky devil!
Colin:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is kind of a joke anyway. The list of acts that haven’t been inducted versus some who already have been is crazy.
Re: Mark Thatcher and that time he went missing while his mum was PM — after he turned up, what was the explanation? I’m only mildly curious.
b.t.
Bt, I've looked at Wikipedia's summary of the Mark Thatcher disappearance and it has to be said it's not great when it comes to providing a full picture of events. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher#Missing_during_1982_Paris-Dakar_rally
That road race sounds like a very ramshackle event.
He did it during the years they raced through the desert (vs. South America for last 10 years).
The guy who I heard on UK Talk Sport, who won this year's race, said (the gist of it all assuming I recall correctly!),
"you are very much own your own to get from point a to point b. There are no search and rescue, tow trucks, no rest stops, etc."
My guess is Mark Thatcher probably had some type of major screw up and they did not want him to appear as weak, having the DNA of the PM.
Perhaps his / his crew's brains baked in the sun and they were lost and dehydrated and delirious?
B.T.
I'm with you on the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame . Who gets in, and why...
The museum should be in Chicago anyhow not the city known as "the mistake on the lake." I mean, Chess Records, the Rolling Stones, Muddy Waters, the first US Beatles Contract, etc. etc. how does Cleveland outdo Chicago?
As far as that goes, the Blues Hall of Fame should be in Chicago too, not Memphis. There's like two famous blues songs and the best of the two is from Muddy (Manish Boy). He lived in Chicago. What a joke...
And George Lucas was going to put his museum in Chicago and that got botched up last year.
FYI - Manish Boy is not about a boy living on the Isle of Man.
What do the Rolling Stones have to do with Chicago? They're from the Thames delta.
I actually thought that Northern Soul comment might have been boring Charlie, so it's nice to know someone got something out of it. Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that that scene seems little known outside the UK, as it was a fairly local phenomenon.
But if you really want a musical revelation, b.t.'s subject got me looking up who the best selling artists actually were/are...
Forget gold and platinum, the real megastars measure success in diamond discs, which are given out for records that sell at least 10 million copies. Now, who would you think recorded the most diamond albums?
Here are the top 3 in reverse order:
3. Led Zeppelin
2. The Beatles
Which is what you'd expect - well, it's what I'd expect - but who could be in the top spot? Why, only the best selling solo artist in America ever!
Who happens to be...
1. Garth Brooks
How's that for a revelation?
Talk about Transatlantic differences! Not only would I never have guessed that, turns out I didn't even know who he was (apparently the 'Achey Breaky Heart' fella was some other stadium country bro).
No wonder the US is in crisis, eh?
-sean
Sean, speaking of GARTH BROOKS (wth???)
My family (excluding the French aspects) is clearly of "non-country" music persuasions.
YET!
For the last several years my brother and son have been firing up the guitars at the holiday - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, July 4 - and playing Garth Brooks "FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES." The whole gathering joins in using the smart phones for lyrics.
This last xmas we were 20 -25 PERSONS aged 18 - 86 singing it! We chased it with WILLIE NELSON'S"Momma's don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys."
Seems odd but hey... a good song is a good song. Friends in Low places is a great song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvCgSqPZ4EM
Sean - C'mon Mate! Show Chicago the love amigo! (I don't much but I'm from here!)
Chicago and the Stones are tight!
That's were they befriended Muddy Waters, at Chess Records, and learned the blues like 1964!
They recorded their first #1 UK hit at Chess in Chicago "It's All Over Now" which had more weeks on the UK charts and was #1 for just as long as Satisfaction in the UK.
The STONES first recorded Satisfaction at Chess in Chicago! It's where Richards unveiled that famous "riff!"
Below is a nice summary.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-viz-ae-rolling-stones-in-chicago-timeline-0616-htmlstory.html
Sean, Billy Ray Cyrus has A LOT to answer for, in this life or the next (and I'm not just talking about HIS music).
His karmic debt is staggering.
...and Garth Brooks shouldn't get off easy either.
M.P.
Completely agree M.P. - what is it was about geezers called Garth, eh?
And don't get me started on Billys...
-sean
Woe betide mankind, that Billy chose to drop progeny.
God save us from the children of celebrities.
...and "royalty", for that matter, eh, Sean?
M.P.
Yeah, the Rock Hall of Fame is a joke.
Anyway it should be in Detroit :-)
STEVE!
ebay just had a bunch of super nice lots of Falling in Love go up for bid!
The immortal #121 is there, with 5 others, lookin stunning!
Point of interest: on the back of 5 of 6 are ads for important womanly things like wigs and how to fatten up your legs! Funny thing is Charlie rather prefers the skinny legs in the photo! Link below!
*And MP - you being in Dakota may prefer that odd back-cover ad for fishing lures. Charlie suspects you are a mean ice fisher! He can imagine you sitting in one of those little hovels, 20 below zero, pole in hand...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224802572601?autorefresh=true
I must admit that I knew almost nothing about the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame beyond the name itself, so I've been reading all about it on Wikipedia including the criticism. I also looked at the list of inductees since 1986 - now I'll spend the rest of the day thinking of who WASN'T on the list but I can confirm that Meatloaf wasn't there and neither was Ringo Starr (as an individual, but he was included as part of the Beatles).
And the list didn't include Bucks Fizz either which is obviously outrageous.
It's a positive scandal, Colin.
The weird thing is Roy Wood's in it, despite being totally unknown in America, thanks to ELO being in it.
Charlie, I don't think I've ever met a woman who wants to have fatter legs.
STEVE- I'm in your camp! I prefer the thin legs.
Thank god Francoise Hardy (and Mick Jagger?) didn't read that comic!
Gotta love the photo of Mick and Francoise - London - 1964 IIRC?
And for you Stones hard core fans Francoise Hardy and Brian Jones!
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/39z32x/1965_mick_jagger_fran%C3%A7oise_hardy/
https://iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1901974,1902067
Colin - I think the problems, to the extent there are some, with the R&R Hall of Fame have always been:
1) Why is it in Cleveland? Well b/c they offered the most $$$. Chicago was the obvious, objective choice unless you want to look at Rocks origins as the Blues and then put it some place like in Biloxi, Mississippi or New Orleans, Lousiana.
2) There is always a bit of "well if he/she is in it, why not he /she then?" But all those wrinkles have probably been fixed at least for the older, original rockers from the 50s and 60s.
That said, Charlie is 60, the Museum is now like 40 years old, and I am probably just regurgitating arguments from the 1990s?
IS THERE A UK ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAME? OR SOMETHING APPROXIMATE?
You won’t get any respect out of me for the Hall until Pat Benatar stops getting snubbed!
I don't think Throbbing Gristle are in it either.
But so what? Who would want that kind of 'recognition' anyway? The same sort of tedious pensioners who get knighthoods and OBEs, that's who.
Not very sex, drugs and rock n roll, is it?
-sean
That's why David Bowie turned down a knighthood - he knew how ridiculously uncool a knighthood is.
Not everyone welcomes being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame - according to Wikipedia the Sex Pistols described their induction as "a piss stain" and "urine in wine".
Sean, I've never heard of Throbbing Gristle but you keep mentioning them so I've been reading about them on Wikipedia - apparently they are pioneers of "industrial music" which I'd also never heard of.
Charlie, you should read the Wikipedia article on the R & R Hall Of Fame because it mentions all the criticism of the project. Apparently early pioneers of rock & roll have never been inducted because they aren't famous enough.
Charlie, I don't ice-fish. Tried it as a kid, didn't dig it.
It looks like a miserable way to spend a day off. Show me an ice-fisherman and I'll show you a guy who will do almost ANYTHING to avoid being at home with his wife, including freezing his ass off.
It is not a sport, it's an act of quiet desperation.
Killraven, I don't really follow the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame much but I'm surprised to hear that Pat Benatar isn't in it by now. She oughtta be. I always thought she was cool personified. And what a voice.
Them Hall of Fame voters need to recognize!
(Did I say that right? Is that an expression? I dunno anymore)
M.P.
COLIN - You know, with the fragmentation of mass media I almost know nothing about "what's going on' about anything, anymore.
Used to be I would just pick up the latest issue of Rolling Stone... but at 60, I read their occasional article about politics not rock. In part b/c I feel no connection to today's rockers (since 2000 lol)
MP - I still see folks ice fish here on lake michigan in chicago's harbors. It looks miserable and impenetrable, in no small part b/c it is recommended nobody eat any fish from lake michigan.
I see 'em ice-fishing for carp on my daily walks.
Who wants to eat a big-ass goldfish?
There's gonna be more of 'em out there when football season is over, I'd wager.
What was it Oscar Wilde said about fox hunting?
M.P.
The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible, M.P.
-sean
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